My Funny Valentine

"Dude, chill!" Johnny said as Jamie whipped the yo-yo past him to sack Gum. He held his palms out flat, hoping that neither of them would try and close the distance between his arms.

"I ain't gettin out of the way, dude!" Johnny said to Gum. "Just take a step back man!" he pleaded. "Wouldn't it be better to just be cool, dudes?" Johnny said, looking back and forth between Gum and Jamie, especially keeping an eye on Jamie as he felt like he was holding up pillars rather than keeping the two cuties at bay.

"Man, can we at least go somewhere that's not the middle of the damn street!?" He urged with a bit of frustration in his tone.

Jamie slid back a little. The headphone girl knew how to fight? That didn't sound good. Jamie decided that unless she could intimidate her with her yo-yo's, it was best to just run away. Which would be terrible, because she'd have to ditch the handsome boy too! What a world.

"Hey," she said. She had a plan. She always had a plan. "Watch this."

With a flick of her wrist, she set her purple yo-yo in motion. She let it hang down for a moment while she anchored herself in place with a heel-brake, and then, perhaps unexpectedly, she began to make it dance.

She used all of her fingers, like a kind of cat's cradle, to catch the string and set the yo-yo spinning and swinging and bobbing around in intricate patterns. She looked as much like she was playing the harp as playing with a yo-yo, and her eyes focused solely on what she was doing, seeming to forget about everything else, an absent smile forming on her lips.

She spun in a quick circle on her rollerblades, and lifted her foot to catch the string and fling the purple ball upward, used her hip as a ramp to jump it back to her hand. When she was done, she palmed the thing and stood with her arms at her sides, plainly facing the other two. It was actually a little uncomfortable. She didn't know what to do.

Gum glared at Johnny for a moment, then relented, taking a short step back and holding up her hands. "Fine! But if she doesn't tell me what she did with my 'blade, I'm still going to kick her ass!"

She looked back at Jamie as the girl began to swing her yo-yo around, her eyes transfixed on the toy as it spun and danced about. She went quiet, watched it as Jamie worked it, and couldn't help but be a little impressed by the girl's skill. Just a little though, a tiny bit.

When Jamie finally finished, Gum folded her arms over her chest and looked at her, frowning. "...is that it?" she asked, confused by trying to figure out what Jamie was trying to accomplish. "Was I supposed to be impressed, or something?"

Johnny was grateful Gum relented. He watched Jamie's yo-yo trick with a skeptical eye. He had been expecting her to attack Gum or distract them or something.

However, Jamie concluded her show and looked genuinely proud of her efforts and sincere in showing off to the two. Johnny was impressed, he certainly couldn't do it. Unfortunately, Gum wasn't having it and Johnny frowned. He gave the blonde a nudge.

"C'mon, dude! She did good!" He said to Gum. He looked to Jamie and grinned. "That's pretty cool, dude. You're not bad at all!" He turned back to Gum. "Can you do anything like that, man?"

Jamie lowered her eyebrows, first one, then the other, at Gum.

Then the unthinkable happened. She got quiet.

Handsome guy was being nice and everything, but it didn't make her feel any better. What was even the point of being the best yo-yo'er in Japan if nobody liked it?

Without showing any other signs of leaving, she began to subtly roll backwards on her rollerblades, away from the other two. She would have lots of time to practice other stuff, now that she had to quit yo-yo's. Nevermind all the years she spent on them. Whatever, it was stupid anyway.

There was something about Jamie's sudden shift in attitude, something about her sudden aura of quietness, that was unsettling to Gum. Something she didn't like.

"H-hey!" she yelled, taking a step towards Jamie as she began to roll backwards. "What's wrong with you?" She looked back at Johnny, and looked honestly confused. "What's wrong with her?" Was the girl honestly expecting her to be nice to her and tell her what a good job she had done, after she had stolen from Gum?

Argh.

It didn't matter now, not if Jamie got away. Then Gum would never find out what had happened to her rollerblade!

She looked back at Jamie, and took several more steps towards her. "That was awesome! Really! I mean it! I just...I'm still mad about my 'blade! You understand, right?"

"Wrong?" Johnny said, looking at Gum. "I dunno, man." He said. "I guess she thought you'd like the trick, dude."  Johnny stepped away from Gum and looked at Jamie. "C'mon dude, you don't need to get all mopey. It was good! She said she liked it!" Johnny said, pointing a thumb back at Gum.

"What about that magic trick?" Johnny said. "Why don't we all just go somewhere where you can show us? Where everyone can be cool?" Johnny said as he nodded forward towards the cafe.

Jamie furrowed her brow at Gum. "You never found that?"

But she hadn't even hidden it very well! Any idiot could've found it. What did Jamie need one skate for, anyway, it wasn't like she had a place to put it.

"Well..." She said, looking up at Johnny and then cautiously eying Gum. "What about her? I don't want to show her any tricks. Why don't we just go to the cafe?"

Gum glared right back at Jamie, then threw her arms up in the air, as if she was defeated. "Fine! Whatever. Like I'd want to go with you somewhere anyway, dork."

She turned away from the pair, and took a step away, as if she was starting to leave, then looked back over her shoulder, looking Johnny right in his eyes again. "Obviously I'm getting in the way, and I would just hate to ruin your date."

Fount it? Were they playing hide and seek with the rollerblade or something? e shook it off as Jamie spoke, telling Gum, essentially, that she needed to go. Well, he couldn't expect them to suddenly be best friends and Gum seemed content to leave. Crisis averted? Johnny sighed until he caught Gum staring into his. Hers were surprisingly pretty. Infectious maybe or something else. He'd seen these looks before too. However, it was her words that shook him out of it.

"What!?" He said. Johnny shook his head. "No way man, we aren't on a date!" Johnny said and pointed back at Jamie. "Her and I aren't dating and junk, dude! She crashed and I was just going to make sure she was ok! That's it!"

He continued to explain. "She was still dazed and junk so i thought she could rest at the cafe instead of out in the middle of the street! But she wanted to show a trick and then you showed up. That's it, dude..." Johnny said, turning his head away from Gum's accusing eyes and sheepishly looking back at Jamie.

"C'mon, dude." He said to the skater. "Tell her that's all it was."