Me: So...it's been a while, huh guys?
Lightning: That's because you don't get off your lazy butt and actually update like you're supposed to.
Me: Shove off! Anyways, how'd you guys like that last chapter?
Lightning: I approved only because now I don't have to hear people complaining about how you only have one story!
Me: Selfish!
Lightning: Duh, I'm a part of you.
Me:...touché. But your still a cocky-ass arrogant bastard.
Lightning: Hey!
Me: Don't even try to deny it. I nearly died the other day and you did nothing!
Lightning: you said I wasn't allowed to make appearances in public anymore!
Me: Yeah but there's an exception to that rule when I'm ducking dying! *storms off*
Lightning: *sigh* Sorry guys. She's been having a rough couple weeks. She had so much crap to do and then she spent the entire night last night writing this.
Me: *re-enters* yep and I do it all for you guys.
Lightning: We should probably start the story now huh?
Me: Yeah probably. O.k. Without further ado, I present chapter 2 of Grains of Sand! YAY!
Disclaimer: Seriously guys, don't we all know I don't own Yugioh by this point? Because I don't.
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Oh yeah, remember when I said that hour in the car would last forever? Yeah, that was the understatement of the century. God it was...well it was a little like torture. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't like I was physically hurt or anything, but knowing that Kaiba was staring at me for whatever reason, it was weird.
Yeah, really, really uncomfortable. But that unfortunately is the situation I was stuck in. It wasn't all bad. Molina ended up dragging me into a conversation about Duel Monsters. That was an entertaining five minutes, you know, till Noah fell asleep leaning against Mokuba. It'd be an understatement to say that boy shut his mouth in an instant. Seriously, it was like he was the friggin flash.
I thought it was kinda cute, then I looked at Kaiba and saw his reaction. It was totally the complete opposite of what I imagined. His eyes, they weren't cold and indifferent. They were full of warmth. Freaking warmth! I think my brain shut down for a minute when it tried to register that fact. Oh no, but it didn't end there. Nope, it was about that moment that those ice blue orbs swung my way, and they were still warm and caring. Nope, this can't e happening, I'm totally imagining all this. Though that didn't explain why my breath got stuck in my throat and my heart started beating faster.
Oh. Hell. No. I diverted my attention back to the window. Not cool, not cool, seriously not cool. What the hell was up with this car ride? Since when had Kaiba been able to affect me like this? Better question, WHY could he affect me like this? I mentally slapped myself. Why do I care? It's only Kaiba, nothing new. He's never mattered before, he shouldn't matter now. But even this thought couldn't still my rapidly beating heart or erase the blush on my face.
0
The rest of the car ride was uneventful. I fell asleep shortly after Noah, dreaming about an ice blue dragon that shot out hot water instead of flames. I didn't wake up till we were at the beach and Mokuba started cheering.
"Come on Noah! Lets go! Wake up Joey, we're here!" He was out the door before he finished the sentence, dragging Noah with him. I took a minute to follow, still groggy from my nap. I stretched outside the car, admiring the scenery. It'd been a while since the last time I'd been to the beach. The last time I came had been with Serenity, and that was like three years ago. In truth, it was the reason I didn't come here anymore. I couldn't really take the memories associated with the place. Visiting the beach with Serenity was the last thing we did together. Her mom, I should say my mom, didn't like me much, always going on about how I'm too much like my dad. Needless to say she made sure I wouldn't get to hang around Serenity enough to "corrupt her".
"You gonna follow Mokuba, or are you just going to stand around looking like a lost mutt?" Ahh, Kaiba. He knew how to pull you out of unpleasant memories and into the equally unpleasant present.
"Screw off, moneybags."
"Your comebacks get weaker every time Wheeler."
"Whatever," I grumbled and started walking towards the spot where Mokuba and Noah were setting up the beach towels they'd grabbed for the trunk. Kaiba lagged behind me, looking around at the scenery disdainfully. Guess he didn't like the view of hundreds of half naked people in swimsuits, some of which were making out on top if beach blankets.
I stifled a laugh. Poor Kaiba, out among the common folk, observing their unkaibaly ways. Wait, did I really just say unkaibaly? I needed to upgrade my vocabulary. Even for me that was a stupid word.
Kaiba must've gotten tired of taking in the view because he suddenly caught up to me and started walking at my pace, and this for some reason, made me really uncomfortable. So I did the natural thing that anyone in my position would do. I took off running towards the ocean, scooping up Mokuba along the way, and lucky for him, he'd worn his swim trunks here, and rushed right into the waves.
When the first wave hit, I let go of Mokuba an let the ride carry me back to the shore. I stood up laughing, completely soaked and blinking salt water out of my eyes as I watched Mokuba swim back to shore and run up to Noah.
Noah was sitting on one of the beach towels, smiling at Mokuba who came running up to him. He slowly got up and took off his shirt and started to race Mokuba back down to the waves. They looked so young, running around in their duel monster swim trunks, and splashing each other. I laughed and walked back towards the beach towels, taking in the sights around me. It was beautiful here, and even though I had some bad memories of this place, I had some good ones here too. Like all the times I had come here with the gang, or the time I got my first kiss. Wait, scratch that last one, that memory turned out bad in the end.
I shook my head to clear it of all the memories floating around, and plopped down onto the towel. Like Mokuba and Noah, I'd worm my swim trunks here, so there wasn't any problem there. On the other hand, my coat and T-shirt were completely soaked, and I had a feeling that they wouldn't be dry by nightfall, even if I left them to dry in the sun.
I sighed, I hadn't even thought to bring a spare set of clothes in case some got wet. Typical planning on my part. I stripped off my coat and set it to the side, opting to keep my shirt in for certain reasons. I lay down on my back, my hands under my head, and made my self cozy, waiting to do anything else till the rest of the gang came. Unfortunately for me, they wouldn't be there for a while. A really long while.
0
I must've dozed off for a couple of minutes because the next thing I remember was the sound of my cell phone ringing. 'Radioactive' let me know it was Yugi, even before I answered. "What's up Yug? Where are you guys?"
"We'll we're...probably not gonna be there for a while, Joey."
"What? Why!?" I heard Yugi sigh.
"We're caught up in traffic on highway three. There's an accident up ahead an it looks like it could be a while before they get it sorted out." Yugi sounded tired and unhappy. I felt bad for him, stuck in traffic on a sweltering day while the beach called to him.
"It's okay Yugi, don't worry bout it. As long as you guys are okay, then I'm happy. What about Marik and Malik? Did they get through?"
"No their right next to us actually. They tried to get through earlier but the roads so packed they only got like, ten feet before they had to stop. We could hear the swearing as if he was sitting right next to us. They backed up and ended up next to us again." I let out a snort. Yep, sounded like Marik and Malik. To them, Bakura and even Yami at times. Swearing was like breathing.
"Joey did you hear me?"
"Huh? Sorry Yug, I was zoning out."
"Heh, I figured. I said we should meet up somewhere when we actually get there."
"Sounds like a plan. Where'd you have in mind?"
"I was thinking we should just meet up at a hotel. You know like the holiday Inn."
"What? But I thought we were gonna camp out on the beach"
"We were, until I checked the trunk at a rest stop and realized that Tristan had only packed one tent."
"Damn, okay. How many rooms do you think we'll need?"
"Umm...well probably four. Yami, Bakura, Ryou and I can share a room. Duke and Tristan will want their own room, and you, Marik and Malik can share a room. Kaiba and Mokuba can have their own room."
"And Noah."
"Who's Noah?"
"A friend of Mokubas. He invited him along and we picked him up in the way here."
"Oh, I see. Okay then. So four rooms. I'll pay you back when we get there."
"Nah don't worry 'bout it. We'll call it even for all those lunches you bought me in school."
"But Joey-"
"Seriously, it's cool Yug."
"We'll okay, but are you gonna have enough money?"
"Yeah, I gotta couple hundred hidden in my tennis shoes in Kaibas trunk."
"Okay. Oh crap, I gotta go. Marik just got in a fight with the guy in front of us. See you when we get there. Bye."
"Bye." I hung up and sighed. Great, I get to spend the night in the same room as Marik and Malik. This day just kept throwing me curveballs.
I got up and brushed stray sand off my legs, then I went to get the boys. "Guys, change of plans. We're sleeping in a hotel tonight. Come on, we have to go book reservations. Where's your brother Mokuba?"
"Right behind you mutt. What's this about reservations?" Damn Kaiba, sneaking up on me.
"We'll idiot Tristan only packed one tent so now we have to go book rooms at the Holiday Inn."
Kaiba snorted. "It figures one of the geek squad losers would fail to come through. However, the real thing that interests me is how you think your going to pay for the rooms."
"Shut up moneybags. Contrary to what you think, I'm not completely broke, ya know."
"Whatever you say, Mutt."
I sighed. I really didn't have time to deal with this, if we wanted decent rooms. "Whatever. Will you please just help me pack everything up?"
"Was that a request for help? Coming from you Wheeler? That's the most amusing thing I've heard all day."
I growled. Gods he got underneath my skin. I grabbed my coat and a couple beach towels as Mokuba and Noah grabbed their shirts and a beach towel each. We walked back up to the limo and shoved everything into the trunk, Kaiba following closely behind us, a smirk on his face. I looked at him and his smirk got bigger.
"Like what you see, Mutt?"
Oh yeah, time for another fun car ride with the prince of ice and annoying. God help us all.
0
Me: So, what'd ya think?
Lightning: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually didn't mind this.
Me: HAHAHA! DO YOU HEAR THAT WORLD! I'VE CONVERTED LIGHTNING!
Lightning: I didn't say I was converted, just that I didn't mind the story.
Me: mhmmm *to everyone else* he's totally converted.
Lightning: I am not!
Me: Whatever you say. Anyways, sorry if there were any grammar or spelling mistakes in here. I'm doing this from my iPod so I don't expect it to be perfect. I'd also like to apologize for not updating this in a while. School really sucks. Crimson and Amethyst chapter 10 is currently in the process of being written. I promise ill update it as soon as possible.
Lightning: reviews?
Me: Oh yes. I don't have everyone's specific names who reviewed, so I'm just gonna do one giant shout out and say THANK YOU! Your reviews make my world go round.
Lightning: hey, don't you have to go Skype your friend?
Me: Crap! Review, Follow and Favorite! Till next time!
Lightning: Bye!