The After-After-Party Is Where The Real Fun Begins

"Dammit, Johnny, just... just..." Cassie's games lasted for anywhere from a few seconds to several hours. Taylor had become accustomed to suffering through them, and knew that it was generally better to persevere than to blow her off and run the risk of hurting her feelings.

"No talking! You better not come after me! You might be wondering..." She said in a lower voice, deadly serious, holding up her imaginary thing, displaying it to Johnny. "Why I am holding a giant fish. And the answer is because I AM THE WORLD'S MOST DEADLIEST FISH-FENCER IN THE WORLD!" She proclaimed loudly and began winging her invisi-fish around, parrying and thrusting and flailing around until a door on the opposite side of the hallway and an irritated woman poked her head out. Cassie immediately wilted, Taylor smirked.

"Oh, hi, I mean, konbonwa, nipon-jin san... watashi... Cassie... sorry. Gomenasai for... the..." She stammered. She hadn't learned much Japanese yet. Everyone spoke English! The woman scowled and slammed her door. After an embarrassed moment, Cassie snapped right back into character. "So don't come any closer if you don't want a face-full of fish teeth!"

She had backed Taylor all the way to the elevator and slapped call button with her palm. "This'll just take a second. Don't try anything funny." Taylor chastised Johnny with her eyes.

Johnny watched as Cassie kept in character and kept backing away. "C'mon, dude." He protested slightly but when she admitted that she was the world's greatest fish-fencer, Johnny let out loud laugh. "Ha! For fuckin serious?" He said, not believing.

"I wouldn't admit that in public..." He muttered through a chuckled and snapped to attention when Cassie suddenly broke character. He was half tempted to help her with her Japanese when the lady disappeared and the playacting resumed.

"Yeah, yeah, fishmonger." Johnny said with a grin and then turned his head to avoid Taylor's glare. "What!?" He protested. "I don't want to get hit with a f.. hehe.. with a fish, haha!" It was hard to even get the word out. "You want me to tackle you two or somethin? You're goin along with it too, man!"

Johnny was as puzzled as Taylor was perturbed. But really, Taylor could just not go along with it so Johnny couldn't really do much else.

The elevator door slid open and Cassie tugged Taylor inside and hit the '1' button. She laughed evilly, for show, but as the doors began to slide shut she quickly hopped back out. The doors closed with an only slightly confused Taylor still in the elevator.

Cassie's attitude suddenly changed and she rushed to Johnny's side. "Johnny Higu... Higa... Johnny, I know you don't know Taylor very well yet, so you probably don't know that she's a spy! She's the most wanted spy-criminal in Japan and Canada and stuff, and you've got to help me stop her. I had to get her away from the room... I have secret things in my bag, and I didn't know until I saw her eyeballing it that she's after my precious secret documents! I know this because... I'm a spy too. You've got to trust me." She pleaded convincingly. She leaned in a little too close and jumped back suddenly when she nearly brushed Johnny with her giant fish. She breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"I needed you to know that but I couldn't tell you in front of her." She rushed off, back into the room and came back out with her backpack. "I have to move my documents, and you have to protect me from her. You've got to help me take her down. Maybe... you'd be up for a mission. You could get her back to the room, after I'm gone, and just watch to see what she goes for first. Then you'll know for sure, and you can catch her for good!" Cassie was well aware that she only had a tenuous grasp on what the hell she was talking about. But spy things were supposed to be a little confusing, like the movies.

"So..." she asked, and sheathed her fish. "Will you help?"

Johnny ran his hands through his hair as Cassie and Taylor disappeared. He really didn't understand what this was all about. Maybe the two needed some time for some girlie talk or something. He would have ducked out for a few minutes or something. But instead, Cassie came back and exasperatedly began to ramble on about something. He could barely keep up and held up his hands, pushing them forward to try and pantomime that Cassie should calm down and speak slower.

"Woah woah woah, chill for a sec, dude." He said but she persisted.

"Dude, are you serious? That's messed up. I think you're a little loopy, squirt. " Johnny then turned his head and scratched the back of his head. He decided to at least humor her.

"Ok, let's say I don't think you're completely whacked in the head. How exactly do I 'stop' her? You're the 'super secret spy' or whatever. What am I supposed to be looking for? What is she "going for first?" He couldn't really help but laugh. "Geeze.. You fuckin crazy, ya know?"

Cassie gave Johnny the same look Taylor had. "You are obviously not a spy. But that's okay, because it's really simple. She's going to try to come back to the room, because she wants to steal my precious documents. She needs to think that you're on her side, so go get her and bring her back to the room and see what she does. Okay? Go! Go get her!" Cassie shooed Johnny away and took off down the hall and around the corner.

Taylor, meanwhile, stared blankly at the empty lobby. She had expected Cassie to have caught up to her when she got off the elevator. No Cassie, no Johnny, nothing. This was not an improvement. She sighed heavily and then turned to get back in the elevator, but it was already on it's way back up. She sighed again and started in on the stairs back up to their floor.

"Dammit, Cass." She muttered under her breath.

Johnny shook is head and turned around, grinning a bit as he went back into the room. "Preeeetty sure spies don't just announce they are spies to everyone either." He said as he hopped onto the bed and leased onto it.

He looked around as he waited for Taylor. "How old is she?" He wondered aloud. "She's like somekinda kid or something. He looked around at the room and grinned. He pictured being alone with Taylor in it but then sighed. Today was good but it also had been pretty frustrating. Cassie seemed cool enough and he was happy for Taylor but at te same time he just wanted to spend some time with her without a fight breaking out or some spy games happening. Was it going to be like this the rest of the time they spent together?

He hoped not but shrugged it off. He rested his head back on the bed and kicked his feet a little bit as he leaned on the bed and waited for Taylor.

Taylor trudged up the stairs and wished she hadn't been abandoned by the entire world in the middle of the night. Who knows what Cassie was trying to accomplish up there, but she certainly couldn't assume that Johnny had the patience for her. Poor Johnny.

But it was so hard to be angry at Cassie. It was her infectious damn cheerfulness, and she was too unselfish and too naive, she could never really get mad at her. As much as she always had tread on Taylor's patience, she could never bring herself to just tell her off. That was good, it meant that Taylor wasn't a total jerk.

When she reached the floor, there was no one in sight. She made her way to Cassie's room and knocked on the door. She adjusted her bangs and straightened her dress while she waited.

Johnny let out a contended sigh as he nestled into the bed, feeling it's awkward comfort. He popped in a piece of candy into his mouth and chewed on it a bit. Some pretty delicious salt taffy. As he silently enjoyed his treat, he wondered where Taylor, or Cassie had run off to.

But then, when he heard a knock, he hefted himself of the bed and strolled towards the door.

He looked into the peephole and then grinned when he saw Taylor. He backed away and then grabbed a chair and pulled it with him. He opened the door.

"Hey, get in quick!" He yelled and grabbed Taylor's arm and pulled her in. Then he shut the door and jammed the chair under the door handle and awkwardly sat in it.

"What happened?" He asked coolly as if what he did was perfectly normal. He then grinned up at Taylor and waited for an answer.

As Taylor waited for the door to open, she could only imagine Johnny being totally put off by Cassie and her shenanigans. She heard Johnny coming inside the room and gave him an enticing look through the peephole.

"Hey, so IiiIEEE!" She squealed an stumbled into the room. She looked at Johnny, surprised and bewildered, and then at the chair. She grinned, and gradually started laughing. She couldn't help herself, she threw her arms around him and hugged him.

"I like you." She said.

There was a light knock at the door and a piece of paper slid underneath it. Taylor looked at it curiously and went over to pick it up. She went back to Johnny to lean up against him while she looked it over.

It read, in very neat handwriting: "It was really great to see you again, and really great to meet you. Running into you guys made this whole trip worthwhile, and it made my whole day. I'm going to stay with my friend that I'm traveling with, she has a room on the second floor. Maybe we could have breakfast together tomorrow before I leave." there was a small heart drawn after the period.

Taylor was quiet while her brain struggled to process all the different emotions she felt, but the inevitable, unavoidable realization that they were finally alone eventually took over. She looked up at Johnny, wide eyed, and bit her lower lip.

Johnny grinned widely as Taylor hugged him. He hugged her tightly back and ran his hands up and down her back gently. "I like you too, babe." He whispered back, squeezing her a little more tighter.

When she pulled away, grabbing a not e that slipped through the door, Johnny furrowed his brow in confusion. "Eh?" He then shook his head. "Let me guess? She wants to know if I've gotten the location of the microfilm out of you yet?" He then chuckled. "She's like... ok right? I mean, I know she's cool and all but, I don't know if she's quite all there..."

Johnny stopped when he saw Taylor's face. "Huh?" He said. "W-What's that look for...?" Johnny really didn't understand.