"I'm sorry, I really tried my best…," Mimi had pinned him down to the bed, kissing him as if he was the last man on earth.
"It's fine, honestly…," Izzy between kisses. He gingerly glided his fingertips underneath Mimi's shoulder straps, shyly fidgeting with them. Mimi's handiwork was much more confident; Izzy's shirt had been already unbuttoned and tossed to the floor.
"I've got this. These dresses can get kind of tricky…," Mimi broke away from the kiss and sat up. She wrapped her legs around Izzy's waist as she tried to untangle herself from her dress.
"Let me help you with-" Izzy tried to intervene but Mimi swatted his hands away.
"It's okay, I've got it. Trust m-uh oh," Mimi lost her balance and fell backwards.
"Mimi, hold on-" Izzy tried to catch her in time, but was unsuccessful. He fell right on top of her.
*crash crash crash crash crash*
"Oh crap, I think we knocked something over…," Mimi bit her lip.
*knock knock*
"Hey, is everything okay in there?" Yolei aske through the other side of the door.
"Just fine!" Izzy turned red.
"Okay! Just checking!" Yolei yelled.
"Mimi, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Izzy rolled off of her.
"Just peachy," Mimi groaned.
"Uh, listen…maybe we should take things a little slower," Izzy reluctantly uttered.
"Oh?" Mimi stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Look, it's definitely been an experience running into you again- but maybe we're rushing into things. Maybe we should take things a little slower and get to know each other again. So much time has passed between, I think we should do a start over," Izzy paused.
"Maybe you're right," Mimi exhaled deeply.
"For what it's worth, I'd like to continue, I just don't think it's in the cards tonight at least," Izzy got up from the floor. He walked over to a shelving unit and picked it up.
"Don't worry about that. I'll clean that up. I like things in a certain place," Mimi said.
"Okay. I'm sorry…," Izzy buttoned his shirt and fixed his hair.
"It's fine," Mimi forced a smile.
"I should go," Izzy pinched the bridge of his nose.
"If you want," Mimi said.
"I think it's best. I'll see you around," Izzy nodded.
"Okay, I'll see you around," Mimi sighed.
*buzz buzz buzz*
"Tai? What's up?" Izzy groggily answered his phone.
"Soooo, how did last night go?" Tai cooed.
"It's seven in the morning, why are you calling this early?" Izzy groaned.
"Cause I was hoping you'd pass the phone to Mimi, if I caught you in time," Tai mischievously said.
"Well, nothing happened, I went home," Izzy sighed.
"What? What happened to three time's a charm?" Tai huffed.
"You know there's also three strikes, you're out," Izzy groaned.
"Dude, it couldn't have been that bad," Tai sucked his teeth.
"Look, I don't think it's meant to be. We're moving way too fast for people who haven't had a conversation past 'how's the weather?' in the last several years," Izzy walked over to his kitchen and started the coffee maker.
"Fine, valid point. But you guys can start over again, right?" Tai asked.
"Tai, I'm starting to think you want this to happen more than I do," Izzy rummaged through his cabinets and pulled out a bottle of Jameson.
"I just want you to be happy, okay?" Tai sighed.
"Well thanks for the sentiment, but that might be a while before I get there. I wouldn't hold your breath," Izzy pressed his lips together.
"Hey, have you met me? I'm stubborn as hell. I'll get what I want eventually," Tai scoffed.
"You are stubborn," Izzy smirked.
"Shit, I gotta go. I'm gonna be late for work," Tai groaned.
"But it's Sunday," Izzy raised an eyebrow.
"No, my dude. It's Monday," Tai paused.
"Pffft…it is Monday!" Izzy spit out his coffee. "Forget about you being late to work, I wasn't even going to show up!"
"How did you forget it was Monday?" Tai scoffed.
"I had a stupid meeting downtown, and then the wedding- I thought it was, who throws weddings on Sundays? Whatever, I don't have the time. Ugh, I gotta go!" Izzy groaned.
"Oh classic Izzy," Tai sucked his teeth.
"Bye!" Izzy hung up abruptly and tossed his remaining coffee in the sink. He didn't necessarily believe in signs from the universe, but the next time Mimi knocked on his door, Izzy thought it would be best to pretend he wasn't home. It seemed like everything got more messy with her around.
"Mimi, you look stressed," Yolei pursed her lips.
"Wouldn't you be if you have thousands of new followers and thousands of DMs across all of your social media platforms asking about your new boyfriend?" Mimi ran her fingers through her hair.
"I can't say I know what that's like," Yolei shook her head.
"And don't forget all of the new content under my tags…people are making videos analyzing where my relationship with Jason went wrong- and who's really at fault," Mimi huffed.
"The suspense music in the background is a nice touch though- hey, pause right there! Where did they find that picture?" Yolei looked over Mimi's shoulder.
"This is like a high school photo," Mimi zoomed in on phone screen.
"Look at that, even in this picture, the two of you guys…ugh, ship it! Chef's kiss," Yolei pinched her fingertips together and kissed them.
"That was a good night. Fall fest," Mimi paused.
"Hey Izzy! I didn't expect you to show up to the fall fest! You should have let me know, we could have went together!" Mimi trudged up to Izzy. She wore a loose fitting, orange cheerleading uniform.
"I figured everyone would be busy. Besides, I'm just here cause you guys needed help with the speakers?" Izzy said.
"Oh, right…," Mimi said. "Well, let me show you to where the DJ's at. I can't believe we paid this guy and he can't even figure out how to hook himself up. I thought he was supposed to be one of the hottest DJ's in the city."
"I am, but I can't do it with a bear suit on," the DJ said.
"Can't you take the suit off?" Izzy asked.
"Part of my intrigue is that no one knows who I am. Suit stays on. Besides, you're here now," the DJ scoffed and walked away.
"Well, DJ's right. I'm already here," Izzy shrugged.
"Thanks a lot. I really appreciate this," Mimi gushed.
"Not a problem. I'll send the school an invoice," Izzy sighed.
"So you're charging us?" Mimi winced.
"Mimi, I made other plans. Why else am I in stupidly stiff suit right now?" Izzy sighed.
"Uh…I thought you were just experimenting with your style? I noticed you don't wear your T-shirt and hoodie combo lately," Mimi fiddled with Izzy's blazer.
"I..I guess not. I just don't want to walk around in the same outfit as an iPad kid, I guess," Izzy shrugged.
"You're funny," Mimi smirked.
"So you put all of this together this year?" Izzy asked.
"I didn't do it by myself, but most of the ideas were mine. I did get some help executing them. We had to nix or modify certain activities from last year, since adults were showing up," Mimi said.
"Oh, like what?" Izzy asked.
"So as you may have noticed, middle-aged men and underage cheerleaders don't mix, so we got rid of the car wash. We also swapped out the cheerleaders in this year's kissing booth for the football team, but the English and History teachers bought most of the tickets. I feel like we should have done something about that," Mimi pursed her lips.
"Something tells me that seems illegal," Izzy paused.
"I was able to snag a couple of tickets for myself before they sold out," Mimi pulled out a strip of tickets the length of her forearm.
"Oh?" Izzy felt himself turn red.
"Yeah. Since the girls can't do the kissing booth, I was gonna go up to people and resell them to whoever I wanted. That way we get double the profit and I'm in control of the people. Genius, right?" Mimi smirked.
"I guess," Izzy pressed his lips together, trying hard to concentrate on fixing the DJ station. "Any takers?" he reluctantly asked.
"I haven't asked anyone yet. I was waiting until the right person showed up," Mimi paused.
"Did he?" Izzy winced.
"Yeah, he's kinda busy with the DJ booth at the moment, but I'll ask him when he's done," Mimi casually said.
"Right," Izzy nodded as he flipped some switches and adjusted some control knobs. "Wait a minute…"
"Are you done yet?" Mimi shook the string of tickets.
"Yeah, you should be all set-wait, what?" Izzy stammered.
"Oh look, what are those doing in your hand?" Mimi crammed the tickets in Izzy's hand. "Luckily, those are redeemable at…me! Here, I'll take them."
"Huh?" Izzy held up the crumbled tickets.
"Geez, looks like you bought enough to keep me for the whole festival. Oh dang, I guess you're stuck with me now," Mimi put her arms around Izzy's neck.
"Huh?" Izzy trembled.
"There's a reason you had those tickets," Mimi leaned in and kissed him.
"Mimi," Izzy turned red.
"Yeah?" Mimi blushed.
"What's going on? Why are you doing this?" Izzy asked.
"Cause I like you?" Mimi smiled.
"I…me too," Izzy dumbly said.
"Come on, let's go somewhere more quiet. We'll have more privacy!" Mimi pulled Izzy by the arm.
"Oh my god, oh my god! This is the 'we just hooked up' face! Mimi, shut the hell up! No you didn't, you dirty bitch! How could you do that and not tell me?" Yolei smacked Mimi in the arm.
"We wanted to keep it a secret," Mimi covered her ears.
"We? Are you sure both of you wanted this?" Yolei squinted her eyes.
"Yeah…you know how private he is and I was a cheerleader, so…," Mimi paused.
"I see…," Yolei curtly said.
"If I could take it back, I would. Honestly! I would do things all over again!" Mimi stammered.
"Well, you're doing a great job of that. Repeating the same mistakes. Maybe all of your clout-chasing friends still act like this is high school, but you need to grow up. You've been seeing this guy behind everyone's backs for months and the only reason people found out about you two is because you were using him as a little pawn in your little popularity contest. Izzy's a real person with real feelings, you know. Are you even sure you care about him?" Yolei asked.
"I do…," Mimi twirled her hair. "But after last night, I'm not sure he likes me."
"I don't blame him. You know I love you Meems, but if you like him, you need to get over yourself. You have to show him you're serious," Yolei said.
"Right," Mimi bit her lip. "I just don't know how."
"Hey Izzy, I didn't even think you'd show up considering the busy day you had yesterday," a guy with messy brown hair grinned at him.
"Leave him alone, Mikey. His personal life isn't any of our business," another man tousled his short, blue hair through his fingers.
"Thanks Henry," Izzy said.
"However, it would have been nice to know you were going out with one of the biggest influencers on RickRoll. Didn't know you had it in you," a girl with long, brown hair brushed a nail file against her nails.
"Nene...," Henry groaned.
"Ugh, you're no fun either," Nene pulled out her phone.
"RickRoll celebrity, Mimi Tachikawa has been off the market- but how long is the question?"
"Skip!" Mikey flicked his finger up.
"Who is Tachikawa's mystery man-"
"Skip!" Mikey yelled.
"I was gonna...," Nene squinted at him.
"Mimi Tachikawa and her new bf have known each other longer than they've let on-"
"Pause! Didn't see that one yet," Mikey walked over to Nene and looked over her shoulder.
"Are you serious? I'm right here," Izzy raised an eyebrow.
"But are you gonna tell us anything?" Nene smirked.
"Well..…what do you want to know?" Izzy asked.
"Uh oh, I can't watch this...," Henry walked away.
"So how long have you known Mimi for?" Mikey asked.
"Since we were kids. We grew up together," Izzy said.
"Interesting," Nene narrowed her eyes and continued to play the video.
"According to some deep, deep research, there are photos of them from what appears to be in high school. So to say they have history is a total understatement!"
"Okay, can you stop playing that nonsense? And why are they playing spooky music in the background, as if it's some conspiracy theory?" Izzy snapped.
"Well, you kinda ruined the relationship between Mimi and Jason," Mikey shrugged.
"No! That Jason guy ruined it by cheating on-no, no, no! I'm not getting myself tangled in that! I had nothing to do with that drama, I never even met the guy!" Izzy stammered.
"Is that so?" Nene put her phone to her chin.
"No, I don't know who any of these celebrity people are, I don't do social media. I honestly didn't even know how famous Mimi was until yesterday," Izzy said.
"Well, I guess we can unfollow Miss Ménage-a-Moi. She was trying to start drama about how the two of you don't follow each other on RickRoll, but if you don't have a RickRoll account..," Mikey said.
"I don't. Isn't that stuff for kids?" Izzy asked.
"No, just think of normal videos, but like 30 seconds long, and right to the point. And there's so many topics, like how to fix cars, getting good deals on everything, learning how to math, or even cooking cheap and easy meals- which is how I follow your girlfriend," Nene said.
"Didn't know that," Izzy said.
"Ooh, pause, pause! She put out a new video!" Mikey smacked Nene's arm.
"Hi everyone! Before we start, I just want to let you know that I won't be putting a live out today. However, I'd like to share a throwback recipe, one that I haven't shared until now. It's my secret snickerdoodle recipe, which is also a favourite of a special person I know. So I have my ingredients out here, and if you've been following me and copying some of my recipes for a while, you might have some of these already. So I'll mix everything together like so, then roll out the cookie dough- and don't worry, the recipe is right on the description and it will also be in the link tree on my bio. So just pop these babies in the oven, boom, and voila! Oh, they smell amazing! Just let them chill on a cooling rack and after that, give these to your most cherished person- after you sneak one for yourself first. Let me know how this recipe worked out for you. I'm off to make a special delivery now, toodles!"
"Oh..…, so that's one of her videos," Izzy paused.
"Yeah. She's pretty squeaky clean, so it was a little out of character when she was going out with that idiotic Jason Peter," Mikey said.
"She's almost cottagecore, and he's like..…if you pissed Monster Energy drink back into the can," Nene said.
"Oh," Izzy winced.
"But hey, don't let that bother you. You got the girl now!"
"Thanks, but-"
"Hey, Izzy. Hate to interrupt this shindig but someone wants to see you," Henry peeked his head out from the doorway.
"We should probably get back to work," Mikey sheepishly said.
"After my smoke break," Nene pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket.
"Uh sure. Is everything okay?" Izzy asked.
"Hey..…," Mimi gingerly walked into the break room.
"Mimi..…what are you doing here? How-"
"Hey, you're Mimi! My name is Mikey, and I'm a close friend of Izzy!" Mikey introduced himself.
"Me too! I'm Nene, we all work together...but we'll catch up later. I see you made a special delivery?" Nene pointed at a pink cardboard box.
"Oh, yeah. You guys saw the latest video I take it?" Mimi turned red.
"It looks like a good recipe. Hopefully Izzy will save some for us. We'll give you some space. Come on, Mikester," Nene pulled Mikey by the arm.
"Okay…nice to meet you," Mikey glumly said.
"Same," Mimi smiled.
"Hey, so how did you find me?" Izzy asked.
"You still didn't turn off your GPS setting," Mimi smirked.
"Oh…so what brings you here?" Izzy paused.
"I was just thinking about last night and..…if you mean it, I'd be happy to see where this leads us. I'll do things your way, anything to show you I'm serious. I just don't want to mess things up this time. There's a reason the two of us met up again," Mimi said.
"Mimi..., it's not like we went anywhere. It could have happened to any one of us. What if it was Matt or Tai in that town car? Would they be in my situation?" Izzy paused.
"You know what? I think I remember why things didn't work out the first time around. I know, I wasn't perfect, but what did I have to do to prove to you that you were the one? You were my first..…everything," Mimi sighed.
"Mimi...," Izzy reached out for her hand, but she snatched it away.
"You're right. Maybe we should go slow. Really, really slow. I should go," Mimi rubbed her wrist.
"Sure…whatever you'd like to do," Izzy looked down at the ground.
"Ugh," Mimi shook her head and left.
"What the fuck?" Izzy whispered to himself.
"Hey, everything good here?" Mikey walked back inside.
"Yeah..…help yourself," Izzy pointed at the box of cookies.
"Don't mind if we do," Nene smirked.
"Go nuts," Izzy shook his head. He didn't even do anything, and she was already pissed at him. What did she mean by things not working out the first time? She wasn't perfect, but what did he do wrong?