Chapter 12 : A Friendly Chat
Yuko hid the duel disk into one of his coat pockets and quickly ran back to Crow, who had finished bragging and was ready to leave. Yuko and Crow both hopped on to the duel runner after saying goodbye to the kids and they hastily left.
As the two friends arrived back outside their house, Yuko found that his hair was once again sticking out in all directions, after it had been pulled back from all the wind that had pushed hard against his face (since Crow still hadn't given Yuko an extra helmet).
Crow couldn't help, but laugh as he noticed Yuko's pissed off expression and parked his duel runner out of view, into the small garage. "Yeah, sorry about that, Yuko. I guess I went a little to fast on the way back", he said grinningly and rustled his hair in Yuko's pale white hair, making it even messier.
Suddenly, Yuko saw Jack walk briskily past him and seemed to be covered in hot coffee, staining his white suit. He had an angry look on his face and entered through the front door of Yusei's, slamming the door shut behind him.
"What was that all about?" said Crow confused.
Yuko's eyes widened and turned to face Crow. " I think I might know, but it doesn't look good".
Crow nodded and quickly ran though the front door after Jack. Yuko took a deep breath and slowly followed the trail of freshly spilt coffee that Jack had left behind him. The trail ended at the entrance of the "Cafe La Green" where Yuko had been sitting just this morning.
He quickly strolled over to where Jacks usual seat was, and too his surprise, it was drenched with coffee as well. "Oh crap", moaned Yuko and ran inside.
It was crowded. There were a lot of people seated around and were all watching the duels that were happening live on Tv. Yuko dashed past them, not wanting to draw attention to his crazy hair and went over to the bar.
He then found a tall girl with long dark brown haired was standing behind the bar table and was serving the drinks to waiters and waitresses for them to distribute. She caught eye of Yuko staring at her and smiled. "Can I help you sir?"
"I'm looking for a girl named Stephanie. She works here, but I can't seem to find her?"
The girl shrugged. "She left work early. Apparently she had to leave urgently. When I saw her leave, I could swear that she looked as if she was crying. I can't imagine what must have happened. Maybe someone in her family has died?"
"Well can you at least tell me where she is!" bellowed Yuko, trying to make his voice clearly heard from the crowd of people talking.
The girl shook her head and went back to work. Yuko left the Cafe and sighed. "This is all my fault", he whispered to himself and began to make his way back to his new home.
Just as he began pacing away down the street towards Yusei's, he heard the sound of crying.
He listened attentively, trying to find where the crying was coming from and found a girl who was sitting on a small wooden bench, behind the cafe with her hands covering her face as she sobbed.
Yuko came closer and noticed that the girl had her hair tied back in a bow and was wearing a waitress dress similar to the ones at "Cafe La Green.
Yuko decided to walk over to the vulnerable looking girl and sat down next to her on the same bench, trying to comfort her.
There was no doubt about it. The girl who was crying was Stephanie.
Stephanie turned to face Yuko, her face flooded with tears. She rubbed her irritated eyes and chuckled while crying as she noticed Yuko's hair. Yuko rolled his eyes, but smiled comfortingly, wiping away a tear from Stephanie's cheek. "Come. I'll buy you lunch".
He took Stephanie over to his now favorite shop and bought noodles for both of them. She smirked and they both eat it quietly on two white chairs, next to each other and situated just outside the shop. Yuko still found the noodles to be too salty, but turned to find that Stephanie wasn't complain, and seemed to be enjoying the meal.
As she finished, she sniffed and a few more tears fell. Yuko shrugged again and handed her a big box of tissues from his other coat pocket.
Stephanie blew her nose a few times and sniffed, pulling her hair back behind her ears. "So how was your duel?" she asked softly.
Yuko smiled and through his empty cup at a bin a few feet away from him (and missed). "I lost...again", he said grumpily. "I guess we both have something to be sad about".
Yuko looked at Stephanie with bright chestnut eyes and smiled at her reassuringly. "I'm still starving. You?"
Stephanie nodded quickly. "Same, but now it's my turn to buy the noodles". Yuko smirked and they both ate two more pots of noddles each before Stephanie decided to explain to Yuko what happened.
Flashback!
It was 11:30am and Stephanie was staring through the cafe window, awkwardly waiting for her prince Jack. She had already began to prepare some of his favorite cup of "Blue Eyes Mountain Coffee" and was beginning to feel impatient, when there came strolling Jack, in his "white knight in shining armor" costume and took a seat comfortably on his usual seat. Stephanie jumped with joy and quickly fetched Jack cup of coffee, while trying to pluck up enough courage to tell Jack how she felt about him.
After a few minutes of rehearsing to herself what she was about to declare, Stephanie walked outside of the cafe doors, holding tightly onto a tray, carefully carrying Jack's hot cup of expensive coffee.
"H-hi Jack! How's are you this m-morning?" stuttered Stephanie, trying her best to control her emotions.
Jack looked up indifferently. "Oh, hey Stef. Bought me the usual?"
Stephanie nodded and placed the coffee down on the small table in front of Jack. Jack then blew on it gently and took a small sip, leaving Stephanie to stand next to him awkwardly.
"Once again, not even a thank you!" thought Stephanie, feeling a little offended.
Jack took another sip then caught sight of Stephanie's hurt expression. "Is something wrong Stef?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Stephanie jumped at the question. "What!? Oh no no, nothing wrong...", she repelled, now trembling as she tried to regroup her courage. "Well, actually I...I...there is something that I must...confess..." she began, fixing Jacks attention as Stephanie's face brightly turn red
"Well?" asked Jack curiously.
Stephanie gulped, took a deep breath and tightly shut her eyes before declaring her love for Jack. "I just want you to know that I...I...I really...like you! No, I mean I..."
Jack stared at Stephanie, rather confused. "Well, thats nice, I guess", he replied casually.
Stephanie shook her head quickly. "No no, thats not what I meant. What Im trying to say is that I...I...I LOVE you, Jack! I've loved you ever since I first saw you and I hope that you too feel the same way towards me!"
Jack (who had been taken by surprised from the declaration) jerked and accidentally spilled his coffee all over himself, causing his face turning a bright red either from the boiling hot coffee or from blushing. Stephanie gasped and was about to wipe away the boiling hot coffee, when Jack got up quickly, almost tripping over and took a few steps back.
"Wait...What?", said Jack, the confession having completely rattled him.
Stephanie tried to steady her breathing, and her trembling legs. "I...love you...Jack...", she whispered softly, unable to raise her quivering voice any higher.
Jack sighed. "Stephanie...I...I appreciate that fact that you like me...in that way, but...I'm afraid that...my heart...already belongs to someone else. Some one who I cannot betray. I...I am sorry", he explained slowly, and noticed Stephanie's eyes begin to fill up with fresh tears that began to trickle down her soft, rosy cheeks.
Jack stared at Stephanie for a few moments and for the first time, felt a surge of guilt rush through his entire body. He began to fell stupid and reached over at another table to snatch another cup of coffee from another client and poured the hot substance over his now murky stained hair and clothes, as if to punish himself for being so cruel.
He then told Stephanie that he had to go now, and was going to pay for the coffee tomorrow, leaving Stephanie heart broken.
End of Flash Back -_-
Stephanie blew her nose after finishing the story and wiped a few remaining tears from he cheeks and eyes. It wasn't really how Yuko expect to story to turn out. He had assumed that Stephanie had splashed coffee all over Jack from the rejection.
Yuko scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I'm sorry, about what happened to you". He took a deep breath and continued. "I feel like its my fault. I was the one that talked you into declaring. This would have never happened if I had kept my mouth shut this morning".
Yuko then got up from his seat and as he did, he felt Stephanie suddenly gently grab his arm.
"Thank you...for listening", said Stephanie, blushing. "It wasn't your fault. I never got the courage to declare my feelings for Jack until this morning. Like I said, I wanted to try. Even if I would get hurt because now I know who Jack's heart truly belongs to".
Yuko turned back round, a little alarmed by the reaction, but grateful she didn't explode with anger. Stephanie got up and hugged Yuko tightly. "Thank you" she said in a soft, sweet tone.
Yuko smiled and wrapped his warm, muscular arms around her while whispering gently at Stephanie's ear, "Don't mention it".
Yuko: Please Review, Follow or add to Favorite, and thank you all for reading! :D
Yusei: Hey Yuko, where is Stephanie at the moment?
Yuko: I think she went shopping with Akiza.
Yusei: Oh yeah, that's right. Oh well, you wanna duel :3
Yuko: Yusei, your a Signer. I should just forfeit before we even start dueling :P
Yusei: Your too hard on yourself. Jack's a Signer and lately you've beaten him!
Yuko: That's true! But your still a better duelist than Jack so the odds of me winning are still very much against me.
Yusei: Luna beats me.
Yuko: You let her win most of the time! -_-
Yusei: X3