Chapter Twenty-Seven: Employee of the Year…Month?
Song for the Chapter:
Money, Money, Money by Abba
A couple weeks passed by quickly. What with school, then work, then hellish studying with Seto, Joey's plate had never been fuller. Now they had reached the weekend before finals, and all the teachers were wishing their students luck.
"I really hope I do well," Tea stated as the group of friends left school.
"Honestly, as long as I don't flunk out, I'll be happy," Tristan stated.
"So what do you wanna do guys?" Yugi asked them. "I think since it's the weekend before exams, we should all go out and do something fun."
"Sounds good to me," said Joey.
"I'll bet," Tristan said, grabbing Joey's shoulder. "We barely ever see you outside of school anymore ever since you've become a regular bookworm."
"Well, I think it's good that Joey's knuckling down and starting to take his schoolwork seriously," Tea defended. "His grades are getting better every week."
"He must have one hell of a tutor," Tristan noted.
"You don't know the half of it," thought Joey dismally. Seto was kind enough to give Joey the weekend off though, which the blonde was very grateful for. Any more cramming and he was positive his brain would start corroding.
"I have an idea," Ryou piped up. "Why don't we go to that sushi place?"
"The all-you-can-eat one?" Joey's eyes glimmered at the dreams of stuffing himself with sushi and sashimi, his stomach getting so full that he would have to unbutton his pants to be comfortable. "Let's go!" Joey started to run off, thinking purely with his stomach.
Everyone else followed behind him with the same enthusiasm. "Joey has been acting different again," Tristan thought as he caught up to Joey. "He seems like his old self again, but still something's changed about him. I haven't seen him this happy since we started high school…" His thoughts started to trail off after when he noticed Joey was talking to him.
"I bet I could eat more sushi than you," Joey challenged Tristan with a goofy grin.
"Ya right, man," Tristan shot back.
"Come on, guys," Yugi said, opening the door to the Sushi place for everyone. As they entered, the cashier was right at the entrance, and everyone could smell the food past her.
"Welcome. Have you ever been here before?" The cashier asked as the five teens approached her.
"No, we have not," Tea chimed in since the boys were all looking around and talking amongst themselves.
"Well, it's all you can eat from the conveyor belt for only $23 and if you want a platter it will cost extra," She said pointing to the sign that was next to her.
"I'll pay, guys," Joey said getting out his wallet. "After all it's been awhile since we all hung out together, so it's my treat."
"Come on, man, you don't have to do that," Tristan started. "After all you still need too…"
Joey interrupted Tristan. "It's ok man I can do it." Joey knew what Tristan was going to say. His father's debts. Ever since Joey got his first pay check, he had been slowly paying them off piece by piece. He had about one third of it paid off, but he still had a long way to go.
Everyone thanked Joey as they entered into the giant room and headed towards five stools at the conveyor belt. "Ready to start, Tristan?" Joey asked, prepared to stuff himself with as much sushi as humanly possible. They both started grabbing at everything that passed in front of them, and just stuffing it into their mouths.
"Slow down guys, or you are going to choke," Tea scolded, but it was of little effect, because they were both still too focused on beating each other. Yugi and Ryou cheered for them, as they both tried to grab what they could before Joey or Tristan took it.
The gang lost all track of time and completely threw their worries out the window, taking pleasure in each other's company. Most of the dinner entertainment came from Joey and Tristan who were trying to be creative by inventing different eating games, ordering round after round of food, trying to outdo one another. Three hours of this passed until the group left, not because they had wanted to, but because the owner was afraid if he didn't make them leave they would drive him to bankruptcy.
"Only you two could get us kicked out of an all-you-can-eat place," Tea stated as the five friend's walked down the street lamp lit side walk.
"At least we got our money's worth," Joey said, happily.
"Did we ever figure out who won?" Tristan asked.
Joey shrugged. "Beats me. I lost track at round 32."
"Oh dear," Ryou said checking his watch. "It's late, so I better be getting home. Cheerio, everyone."
They watched Ryou run off into the darkness. Tea was the next to speak. "I need to get home too."
"I'll walk you home Tea." Yugi offered.
"Guess that leaves you and me, pal," Joey said to Tristan.
Tristan smiled. "Just like always."
The two walked together in friendly silence. The atmosphere was a good one, which Joey was happy about. He knew that Tristan had been a little sore at him lately for rebuffing a lot of his offers to hang out so that he could study. Tonight was an assurance that nothing had changed between them, they were still best friends, and nothing was about to ruin that. So then why was he so afraid to tell Tristan about Seto? Couldn't he trust his best friend to be understanding about something like this? But then, he knew Tristan's animosity towards Seto. It was the same animosity Joey had once felt. If their places were switched and Joey found out Tristan was dating Seto, he would have thought Tristan had lost his mind.
"Thanks again for tonight man. It was fun," Tristan said, finally breaking the silence as the two males reached the crossroad where they part paths.
"That's what friends are for. Besides, I owed ya for all the times I had to bail," Joey added. He really wanted to tell Tristan then and there, "Oh ya man, I'm dating Kaiba. Thought I would let you know. G'night." But he didn't. The two boys lingered there as if both had something they wanted to admit but couldn't, and that made things worse for Joey.
After a few more moments of silence, they finally parted ways. "See ya later, man. If you are not working we should hang out." Tristan left and Joey watched him disappear into the darkness.
Joey went the opposite way and headed to his apartment. Approaching the building, he saw the windows were dark, which was a good sign for him. His father almost always fell asleep with the lights on, so the dimness of the apartment window was a good sign. He quietly opened the door to his apartment and peaked his head around the door. He was use to the strong scent of alcohol that seeped from the open door. There appeared to be no bodies in the living room of his apartment, causing his shoulder to slump back into its natural position. Even though there was no sign of his father, he still trotted through quietly just in case. Finally making it into his room he plopped on his bed, he placed his hand on his silver dog tag necklace. Staring at the ceiling wondering what he should do. "Maybe I should tell Tristan. He deserves to know the truth. We have gone through so much together since junior high if we were able to get over that, then I think he can get through this." With a sigh Joey fell asleep for the night, still unsure if Tristan was ready to handle the truth.
The weekend went by faster than any of them would have liked, and before they knew it, Monday had rolled around and finals week had started. Before the beginning of school, the friends got together to cheer each other on.
"Let's do our best, guys," Tea said supportively. "Just one week and it'll be all over."
"This week is going to drag on forever," Tristan foreshadowed, rubbing his head. "Oh well, I managed to stay in school this long."
"We're all going to do great, I just know it," Yugi said with pep.
"After this week I'm gonna rot my brains out with some good ol gaming," Joey declared, giving himself something to look forward to.
They all did a group high five and when the bell rang they sat in their designated seats and waited for the teachers to come in with their tests. Before that, Joey received a message on his phone. He checked it, and what he saw made him grimace:
If you fail, I'll make sure you regret it.
"Thanks for the confidence, Kaiba," Joey thought.
"Yeah! Freedom!" Joey cried as he ran out of the school building, his friends trying to catch up with him. At last, tests were over and they could relax.
"Joey sure seems excited," Ryou commented as he watched Joey waving his arms in freedom as they exited the main doors of the school.
"Joey was never a big fan of tests, or school in general," Tristan explained.
"So, should we celebrate by going to the arcade?" Yugi asked them.
"Sounds like something we could all use after this week," Tea agreed.
"Alright, last one there is a rotten egg!" Joey stated but stopped when he felt his phone go off. He checked it and saw it was a message from Seto. Curious, Joey opened it.
Go to the udon shop down the street from school. I'll be there to pick you up. You have five minutes.
'What the heck could that guy want?' Joey wondered to himself. He debated on what to do. He wanted to hang out some more with his pals, but at the same time, he did owe it to Seto for helping him get this far.
"Sorry guys, looks like I won't be able to join ya," Joey told them putting his phone away. "Work's calling me."
"Bummer man," said Tristan. "Well, your loss I guess."
"Heh, yeah. I'll catch ya guys later, alright?" Joey stood and waved his friends goodbye as they left to go do some fun things. Whereas he, well, with Seto he never knew if he was in for a good time or not.
Joey walked down the road and turning the corner at the Udon shop. He saw the slick black limo sitting there at a stop and, getting in the car, he saw Seto sitting in a tux.
"Whacha' all dressed up for?" Joey said sitting down in the car, closing the door behind him. The tux was certainly eye-catching, a pure white suit with light blue undershirt and dark blue tie. As much as he hated to admit it, he really did think Seto looked attractive in the outfit.
"We are going to a business event," Seto simply stated. "You need to change into your suit before we get there." Seto handed Joey a black garment bag. Joey hesitantly unzipped the bag, seeing a charcoal gray suit and pants with a black undershirt and a crimson tie.
"So why exactly do I gotta go to this business event?" Joey knew not complain about wearing the suit and just started stripping and putting it on. He didn't want to get in a spat over something that he knew he would lose in the end.
"These things are boring and I don't want to go alone." Seto saw Joey messing with the tie and failing miserably at it. He reached over to Joey and started to tie the tie himself. Joey was flushed red with embarrassment that he could not tie it, but told himself he had never worn a suit before, so of course he didn't know how. Seto fixed the tie to perfection. "Can you not do anything right, Wheeler?" Seto sat back to look at Joey in the outfit to make sure he look presentable for the event. Seto leaned over once again to Joey, placing his hand in his hair. "If only there was something we could do about your hair."
"Hey, what's wrong with my hair?" Joey knew he didn't have the most cooperative hair, but it gave him character and he loved how it looked on him. Seto just ignored his question and he continued to attempt to style it with his hand, but even Seto could not tame the golden locks. The car eventually pulled up to a fancy cocktail restaurant and bar. Joey saw other well dressed business men with beautiful women around them, talking outside the place, having a smoke. "Kaiba, what kind of business meeting is this?" Joey questioned before they stepped out of the car.
"Just another humdrum gathering," Seto stated as they got out of the limo and it drove off. "It's more for appearances than anything. I look at it as an opportunity to scope out the competition."
"You really are always in business mode, ain't ya?" Joey asked rhetorically. "But am I seriously allowed ta be here?"
"We're allowed to bring guests, so long as they have a somewhat notable title."
"And mine would be?"
"I forgot to mention, you're employee of the year. Congrats," Seto stated blandly. "Let's let's go. I'd like to hurry and get this over with."
"I know I should be happy, but he's making it really hard," Joey thought as he followed the prestigious president inside.
The place was bigger and even more lavish than the last party he attended. Though that could be because people were wearing designer clothes instead of costumes. Joey didn't pay too much attention to all that though. His eyes immediately went to the food table, and he perked up immediately when he saw it. "Hey, Kaiba, can I…?"
"Not this time, Wheeler," Seto told him sternly. "At a costume party, you blend right in, but in a setting like this you're hardly inconspicuous."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Joey demanded.
Before Seto could even dignify his question with a response, they, or more specifically, Seto, was approached by some important and much older-looking business executives. Joey stood by while Seto exchanged stiff pleasantries with the other company owners. Unfortunately, it's not good to leave Joey with nothing to do. After it became clear that the conversation was going to be going on for a while, Joey quietly snuck off, making a B-line for the buffet table. He loaded his plate and grabbed himself a glassful of some bubbly drink from one of the servers that he guessed was some kind of rich soda. Then he relocated to the least populated corner of the room to enjoy his find.
"Man, these rich folks got it made," Joey thought as his munched on his food. "I know I'd like to eat like this every day." He took a swig of the drink and was taken aback at the sweet yet invigorating punch it held. "Whoa, this fancy soda is pretty good," he thought out loud.
"It's called champagne, moron."
Joey whirled around, recognizing the voice before he even saw the face. Duke Devlin, wearing a black pinstripe suit with a dark green tie. "You again!" Joey exclaimed.
"That should be my line," Duke said, crossing his arms in front of his lithe form. "This is a formal event for people who have actually managed to become successful. Yet a second time I've found you some place where you don't belong."
Joey frowned. He was beginning to think Duke was bipolar or something with the way he treated Joey. It seemed like whenever they were with the gang, he was cool, but when it was just them, he made Seto seem like a prince by comparison. "I'm employee of the month. Got a problem with that?"
Duke moved in close to Joey, gingerly grabbing his tie lightly twirling it. "My problem is that you don't look nearly as good in this outfit as you did at the Halloween party."
Joey really didn't know how to respond to this. It appeared, once again, Duke's mood swings were in full effect. Joey was spared the need to reply.
"There you are, Wheeler,"
Duke looked over his shoulder and saw none other than Seto Kaiba approaching them. "Kaiba," Duke said in a mocking formality, letting go of Joey's tie.
"Devlin," Seto said with a bit of spite in his voice. No one, and Seto meant no one, could touch Joey in that way except for him. He didn't understand why that small tie twirl upset him, but he could see that Duke's action was not a friendly one. Kaiba softly grabbed Joey by the arm. "I told you not to leave, Wheeler."
The brief tension between the two boys didn't escape Duke's notice. He slowly started to put the pieces in his head together, but was still hesitant about it. Joey and Kaiba could be, but he had no proof. "Besides, why would someone like Seto Kaiba be interested in a guy like him?" Duke thought to himself as he saw the two teenagers walk off deeper into the room.
KD: What does Duke have in mind? Well we are not telling… For a very long time. So just keep guessing for now ^_^
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