Okay! Got another miracle of an update ya'll! Haha. But, seriously, I just really wanted to get this chapter out since I have another round of tests coming up for my class I'm taking. This chapter picks up right after Eustace goaded Jimmy into a fight. Hope you all enjoy the chaos that's about to ensue! Lol. :D
(Cindy's POV)
"James?!" I got out in annoyed concern about the HELL my boyfriend thinks he's doing.
That and he's NOT EVEN LISTENING TO ME RIGHT NOW!
It was clear he was determined to keep ignoring me as we got outside and he proceeded to look through the pockets of his suit jacket with an almost determined scowl on his face as he continued to ignore my existence.
Finally, I grit my teeth, narrowed my eyes, grabbed his shoulder, and spun him around to face me as I pretty much exploded, wondering why he was ignoring me and why the hell he just accepted Eustace's stupid challenge, "JIMMY! WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME ALREADY?! And what the hell is wrong with you?! Are you out of your mind?! Why are you?!..."
But he didn't even let me finish as he cut in with an energy that matched mine as he pretty much fired back, "Me?! What's wrong with ME?! What's wrong with YOU?! You seriously went out with that spoiled, overbred sociopath?! When did you even date him anyway?!"
Even though my knee-jerk reaction was to be both humiliated and offended simultaneously at basically pointing out my idiotic decision I made to be sweet-talked by and pretty much swooning over that rich jerk…. I couldn't help but pick on something else.
But, I was more offended at the moment than anything else as I explained/defended and crossed my arms, "Look! I only went out on 4 dates with him over the summer. So stop making such a big, stupid deal about it!"
That was actually true.
Honestly, and as much as I wish I could say I didn't, Eustace was the only guy I went out with on more than one or two dates other than Jimmy. And especially with 'how we stopped dating' or the exact 'thing' that made it stop... ugh, dammit.
I could feel my entire being internally converging on myself in embarrassment and rage as I thought back to it.
Jimmy's face just kept twisting in almost disbelief, rage, and wait is he actually… jealous, or something?
Hmm…
But, I had no other time to think on it again as he pretty much exploded, "WHAT?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"
I just snapped as I cut in, getting right in his face, "YES! APPARENTLY, I WAS OUT OF MY MIND! IS THAT WHAT WANT ME TO?!… UGH, forget it! YOU are out of YOUR big-brained gourd right now! You seriously took up challenging him to a fight?! Are you crazy?! Eustace will kick your ass six ways to Sunday!"
He got right back in my face as he shot back, "What?! You think that just because he looks taller and stronger than me that I can't beat him?! I'm far intellectually superior to that pampered, snobby pretty boy! AND I've got my inventions on my side!"
I felt like I wanted to pull out all my hair at this point as I shouted, "JIMMY! THAT'S NOT THE POINT, YOU OVERINFLATED DUNCE CAP! Point is that!…"
"My, my. Apologies for interrupting your pathetic little lover's quarrel, but I am out here to settle a wager." Jimmy's entire body looked like it tensed up and so did mine involuntarily when I saw the smug smirk on Eustace's face over Jimmy's shoulder.
Oh, that smug piece of…
Although, Jimmy immediately turned around and almost pointed for emphasis right at Eustace as he directed, "Okay, Strych. If you want a fight, then let's…"
Jimmy looked like he was about to pull something (probably one of his inventions) out from the inside of his suit jacket until Eustace wagged his finger at Jimmy and mocked, "Ah, ah, ah, Neutron. Don't you recall our 'agreement' for this gentleman's wager? Or did your vast memory seem to gloss over when I said to have this be a 'fair fight'? And since I don't have any technological advantages then neither can you. All I have are my own two hands and I intend on using just that since I am not going to hide behind anything. You hid behind technology and your robot dog the last time and I can see you're still determined to hide behind your inventions instead of facing things yourself, aren't you?"
Jimmy immediately got right in his face as he said, "Oh yeah? Ironically that's rich, coming from someone who hides behind money that's not even his. I don't need to hide behind anything! I can beat you with or without my inventions!" I just stood there with my mouth agape, my eyebrows narrowed, and my hands outstretched as I was contemplating/attempting to understand whatever the hell was happening.
That and also wondering what my boyfriend was even thinking right now and if he was SERIOUSLY out of his mind since he's thinking he can take on Eustace in a fistfight.
SERIOUSLY?! Did his BTSO stuff and Jet Fusion movie obsession make him delusional enough to think he can take on Eustace like this?!
Okay look, Jimmy can barely do half a pull-up and can't hold a flex-arm hang for more than 5 seconds in gym class and he SERIOUSLY thinks he can keep up with Eustace in any way physically?! Much less ACTUALLY land a punch on Eustace?!
Even if he doesn't know Eustace is a champion boxer, is he STUPID?! Look at him! Don't get me wrong and as much as I hate to admit it, but even I would put money on Eustace winning this fight and say Jimmy has ZERO chance in a 'fair fistfight'.
Look, Jimmy may be a genius, but… Agh, stupid boys.
Then my thoughts on me thinking Jimmy is being a total idiot right now were pretty much sealed when he took off his jacket and tossed it back to the point where I pretty much unintentionally caught it from falling on the concrete as he directed almost through his teeth as he started unbuttoning and rolling up the sleeves on his dress shirt to his elbows, "Bring it on, rich boy."
Finally, I got myself back in check as I came forward and put my hand on Jimmy's shoulder as I directed in unfiltered disbelief, "ARE YOU OUT OF?!..."
But, then Jimmy just ripped his shoulder away from my hand and gave me this slight look out of the corner of his eye, making me back away slightly on reflex and tilt my head at him in confused disbelief.
What?
But, Eustace just pulled both of us out of it as he took off his own jacket and rolled up his sleeves as he started, "Oh… I am very much going to relish in this."
Crap…
(Jimmy's POV)
I kept staring Eustace down as he kept looking at me in smug vindication as he put his fists up, making me mirror him and also like I was on the verge of an enraged aneurysm.
Look, I may not be athletically inclined, but I am still an official spy with the BTSO and I've studied methods of self-defense and offensive strategies in countless texts. Eustace may be physically stronger than me, but my brain is stronger than his by leaps and bounds.
All I have to do is counteract his movements and use mental geometry to calculate the perfect… Before I could even find any time to act; however, I barely had time to process as Eustace threw a quick yet forceful right hook across my face that was so strong it made me immediately fall to the pavement holding my jaw, surprised none of my teeth shifted out of alignment since I could taste blood in my mouth a little.
I mean, my jaw hurts too, but still! I looked up to see him now with this cocky and sneering grin as he looked down at me.
My pride and intolerance of Eustace thinking he can beat me seemed to outweigh my pain as I got back up and put my fists back up.
I narrowed my eyes and tried to get a punch in until he immediately and easily ducked and evaded the punch before coming back around to punch me in the stomach with his right fist, causing me to double over. Then before I could even react to that, he immediately threw his left fist across my face and made me fall to the ground again and hold my left eye, knowing I was probably going to have orbital bruising and swelling there later.
I whipped my head back up at him in disbelief.
I don't understand?
How was Eustace this good at something like this?! I still remember him being a snotty brat who barely did anything without any 'hired help' back when we were kids.
So HOW IS HE BEATING ME LIKE THIS?!
Eustace was almost parading around me in a boxer's stance as he laughed and taunted, "What's the matter, Neutron?! Can't keep up, can you? You may have your absurd intellect, but I am a decorated golden gloves boxer with the highest record of knockouts in the history of my academy's program. And I have dreamed of finally having my chance to get back at you with my newly found prowess for humiliating me years ago."
I kept looking at him in disbelief, and also feeling slightly out of it from being punched in the face a few times.
Well, until he pretty much grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me back to my feet only to give me another gut punch before punching me right in the nose, causing me to yell out in pain and I could already feel my nose bleeding.
But, before I could lift my hand to my nose to try and stop the bleeding, he gave me an uppercut and knocked me down again. Then, feeling as if I couldn't sink even lower, he kicked me in the ribs while I was down before continuing, "Though don't take it too personally, Jimmy. I'm not trying to 'kick you while you're down'. As an elite, I am merely just trying to show a supplanting pauper like you… your… PLACE!"
He pretty much kicked me on emphasis with eash of the last 3 words before laughing at me, with me feeling almost on the verge of fully collapsing.
Eustace kept standing over me with that satisfied yet sneering grin still stuck to his face before he continued, "And I intend to make sure of it that said message finally sinks into your damn head."
He seemed like was about to kick me again… well, until all of a sudden I saw Cindy come in and throw a very forceful punch of her own across Eustace's face, causing him to recoil and hold his jaw. Somehow, I managed to have the mental capacity to bring up my modified smartwatch and fired a micro-tranquilizer dart at Eustace's neck.
Fortunately, my aim was still somewhat accurate as the dart hit its mark and both of us watched as Eustace's eyes rolled to the back of his head before fully collapsing and going limp to the ground. We just stood there for a second, almost trying to process everything that just happened.
Or at least I was until I felt Cindy pull me up from the ground by my arm before dragging me and almost commanding, "C'mon!"
Even though I felt my chest tighten up and deep down I didn't want anything to do with Cindy right now after everything tonight… even I knew we had to get out of there to at the very least avoid being questioned by security if we got caught.
And I wasn't willing to wait and find out when that would happen either.
20 minutes later
After possibly the most tensely silent car ride since the Betty Incident, we finally pulled up in front of Cindy's house and both of us remained sitting there in dead silence.
But, considering neither of us has said anything since we got into the hover car and I was pretty much 'white-knuckling' the steering wheel for the entire way home and clenching my jaw so hard that I thought I was going to develop TMJ at this point… it wasn't exactly hard to guess why.
I kept looking straight ahead in front of me, my right eye already swollen to the point that I could hardly see anything out of it and luckily my nose stopped bleeding but I could feel dried blood underneath my nose still.
But honestly… that all was the least of my problems right now personally.
My stomach just felt tense and nauseous, but not from constantly getting hit in the stomach. Sure, getting beaten up by Eustace hustling me into a fight in front of Cindy was already a gut punch to my pride.
But, I could barely even look at her right now as my chest and stomach just felt like they were being constricted tighter and tighter as the seconds went on.
Everything was dead silent as the engine kept running until I heard her start, "James, I…" "Don't." I cut in, not even wanting to talk to her at all anymore.
"Look, I just want to say that…" She tried to start again and immediately looked her right in the eye as I said, almost seething at this point, "Well, I don't want to hear it. Like I'd want to hear about anything that has to do with that rich, insufferable… pompous ass."
I could tell she was getting frustrated with me as she slammed her hand on the dash board before retorting, "Okay! That's it! Will you stop being an annoying jerk and just listen to me already?! You don't think I don't already know any of that about that jerk?!"
"So then WHY in the name of Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen did you even date him in the first place?! And you were on me about just liking Betty?! At least she isn't a total spoiled sociopathic snake!"
"Well maybe if you just listened to me about?!..." She tried to cut in again, but I immediately shut her down.
"WHY SHOULD I?! What possible justifiable reason can you give for even going out with him after he almost hurt Goddard just to hurt me, used you, and then did this to me for almost some kind of sick sport?!" I called out and pointed to my face after the ass-kicking I just went through.
Her expression kept contorting in almost flustered frustration as she almost looked like she was chewing off her bottom lip at one point.
Then, and maybe a little too far, I scoffed and sat back before remarking indignantly, "Yeah, that's what I thought."
Right then, I knew I went too far as she slammed her fist down on the dashboard again before standing up and saying, "OKAY! That's it, Louis the Pious! Since you won't listen to me and you apparently are 'always right' and apparently the all knowing Oz, then I don't want to talk to you either!"
My eyes went wide until I narrowed them (or at least my one good eye) at her before firing back out of frustrated anger, "Well, fine then!"
"FINE!" She yelled back before exiting the hover car and stomping back to her house.
I didn't even stick around to watch her go in as I immediately sped across the street to my backyard and parked the hover car. I just sat there in frustrated, flustered, and seething rage at everything that happened and only now just realizing that not only am I pretty sure that me and Cindy were probably over, but that I also just missed out on a night to accumulate more scientific grants for my research.
All because of Eustace Strych.
Right as he came into my mind, I felt my stomach turn again as I thought about him, and then twisted even more and felt my jaw clench as I thought about him with Cindy.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore as I grunted and slammed my fist down so hard that I hurt my own hand on the dashboard of the hover car, causing me to bite my lip and hold my hand.
Now hurting both mentally and physically, I thought it couldn't get any worse until I heard, "Jimmy? What's going on? Did the Gala end early or… OH MY GOODNESS! What happened?!"
I had no time to react as Mom immediately came over and put her hands on either side of my face and looking nothing short of horrified.
But, considering the swollen and bruised shut eye and copious amounts of dried blood around my nose and mouth, it wasn't exactly difficult to guess why.
And to make it worse, I know there was no talking my way out of it since I knew my mom wasn't going to let it slide.
Agh… gas planet.
Well, it looks like Jimmy's hate and now jealousy of Eustace Strych seemed to cause Jimmy and Cindy to go back to square negative 1000 and make the 'Betty Quinlan Fiasco' seem like NOTHING by comparison. But, what I really wanted to show in this chapter was how equal Jimmy and Cindy are in their faults, particularly with their pride and egos. While Cindy is a bit more temperamental and stubborn than Jimmy is, that still doesn't mean that Jimmy also doesn't have a stubborn temper with always needing to be right either. I mean, I feel like people play up more how Cindy is kind of a gray character, but honestly Jimmy really is one too when it comes to him being reasonable and rational in terms of his ego and pride. But, that's what I love about the characters in this show! Even though Jimmy, Cindy, Sheen, Libby, and Carl are all characters with 'good alignment', they all still have flaws and gray areas that make them more realistic and relatable. And one of the things I always found interesting was how, despite all his enemies and/or people who irritate him (Cindy included), Eustace was one of the few characters that genuinely irked Jimmy and got under his skin the most to the point where he causes Jimmy to act impulsively and irrationally. So, I could easily see him let Eustace get under his skin out of confused jealousy that he and Cindy used to have a 'thing' and ultimately gets Jimmy to the point where he gets in over his head and allows Eustace to pretty much beat him into the ground. In short though, looks like Jindy is now 'off again' and these two still suck a communication. *facepalm* So, where will things go from here? What happened to Libby and Sheen in the woods? All that and more next time! Thank you again as always for taking the time to read and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated. :)
Stay Classy!
Dexter1995
