Chapter 6
'What am I doing? I can't kiss Joey! Not now…'
The female teenager pulled away from the tall, blond haired boy. The attraction that drew them together was broken, and Mai Valentine was filled with worry.
Tears streamed down her face before Joey Wheeler noticed that she was crying.
"What's wrong, Mai?" He asked worriedly.
"I can't, Joey, I just can't. I'm sorry," she said hurriedly and couldn't meet Joey's eyes.
He grasped her hand lightly. "Don't worry, Mai. I'm here… Don't cry. Tell me, what's wrong?"
Mai ignored his question and pulled her wrist away from him. Without another word, she ran away from him. She couldn't remember how long she had run, or what it felt like. All she remembered was that she had come home with no one to greet her.
On her way to her room, she paused outside her mother's door. It was silent, which meant that her mother was sleeping. Her sister was sleeping in the room beside her mother's. She hoped that they were both all right.
She stayed awake for most of the remainder of the night. It was a good thing that no homework awaited her so that she could think freely. As she tossed and turned in her bed, she kept thinking about Joey Wheeler.
The moments she had relived the most were when she was with him that night—and when he gave her that kiss. Mai knew she had kissed a few boys before, but none of them gave her the same effect as Joey had.
She knew if only she gave it a chance, she and Joey would have a good relationship.
But now, she had matters she had to attend to—her mother was going to attend rehab, and to stop her craving for drugs. It was one of the hardest challenges she and her sister had to face.
She also wondered what Joey had done after she had run away from him. She hoped that he wasn't mad at her. She had to face him tomorrow, after all.
Joseph Wheeler stared after the disappearing image of Mai. He came to his senses at once and began to run after her, calling her name. But no response came.
Soon he gave up, thinking that she went home. He wondered what he had done wrong. What about him caused her to run away? It didn't make any sense.
Deep in thought and misery, he trudged back to the Wheeler apartment.
That was when he was surprised to find his sister, Serenity, absently flicking through her schoolbooks.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be asleep, Serenity? You need some rest. School can't keep you up like this… okay?" Joey told his sister reproachfully.
"I know, Joey, but I can't sleep." She found herself saying, aware of the concern in her brother's voice. She knew that she was just causing him more problems, so she gave it up. Closing her schoolbooks, she stuffed them in her bag for the next day.
"Guess I'm going to bed, Joey, thanks for being so concerned about me."
"No problem Serenity, you know I'll always be. Sleep well. Love you, sis."
"Love you, Joey." She headed to her bedroom and left Joey to his thoughts.
He was tossing and turning endlessly on his bed. Why he couldn't get to sleep, he didn't know why. He had the faint inkling that it was because he was so worried about Mai. Maybe he should just call her…
He had never felt this way about a girl before. Especially one he had just met. He saw in his mind's eye that she was special, way more special than anyone he had ever met.
Then why did she pull away from his kiss? Was the kiss too horrible for her? Was he… so bad at kissing? He could not fathom what was going on through Mai's mind at that moment. Maybe Joey was rushing everything, and taking it further than he should have.
That's it—maybe she just wanted the both of them to stay friends. Oh, how that was going to torture him. He couldn't resist that longing for Mai—he felt it the moment that she helped him out of the dumpster—and he definitely couldn't stop his pining now.
He would do it all for Mai. 'If that's what she wants,' he thought, before finally closing his eyes, 'then that's what she'll get…'
Joey wasn't the only Wheeler who had trouble sleeping that night. Serenity was in the same boat as he was, although about an entirely different matter. She was despairing over her own love life—not that Joey knew about it.
The worst thing about it was that she had no chance with him. Absolutely none. The unfair part: She had no chance with him just because she was Joey's sister, and an extremely beautiful woman was in her way to get through to Kaiba. Life was no fair.
She couldn't even admit it to Tea. Heck, she couldn't even admit to her own brother, who was, after all, Kaiba's enemy. That was another thing, though. Would they even begin to understand how she felt? Or would they view it the same way as the families of Romeo and Juliet did?
She and Kaiba were from two different worlds. He was filthy rich, and she was average. He was super smart, a whiz at Duel Monsters, and the enemy of her own brother. Frankly, she didn't stand a chance, and it was getting her desperate.
She needed something to save her from this misery. She needed to find a way to make Kaiba like her—and she knew that she wouldn't be able to do it alone.
She was going to talk to Tea first thing tomorrow morning.
A/N: The long delay on Chapter 6 has finally finished. Chapter Seven cooking up.