Bobby seemed aloof about the whole situation unfolding before him and proceeded to get into his limo. "If you two idiots can stop bickering, we can go have lunch. You know Cleo will get what's coming to him," he proclaimed from inside the limo. Harold and Sean managed to stop their arguing but grumbled with annoyance as they got into the limo one after the other.
"Hmm... nom nom." Cleo was currently at work, chewing on a powdered mochi ball, and sifting through books on travel. His eyes glossed over a few pages until he finally found what he was looking for.
"Ah ha! 12 hours!" Grabbing the book, Cleo went over to Luke and showed him the page. "Hey, Luke. I found the time difference between the Philippines and Massachusetts. It's half a day. 12 hours."
Luke continued his task of cleaning the glass counter, undisturbed by Cleo's comment. He only momentarily stopped to ask, "Okay, what of it?"
"I'll inform Ashley of it when I see her again. She was wondering about the time difference, and I think it'll be good to give her the answer," Cleo replied.
"You like this girl or something?" Luke commented, never having seen this side of Cleo that made him want to do something for a girl. "She's the only one you've spoken nicely about from the B4."
Cleo's scowl deepened, as if Luke was thinking about the situation too deeply. "No, she's just a nice girl that I don't mind being friends with. Plus... I don't think she'd be interested in me anyway."
"So you do have some sort of liking for her," Luke concluded from Cleo's response. Cleo's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, and he mumbled something inaudible that Luke couldn't catch. Luke still couldn't understand why Cleo was trying to make an ally with someone who may already be loyal to the enemy, but he decided to proceed further.
"Either way, I don't get why you're befriending her. She's part of the B4. She's the one who's passing out those red notices."
"She's not the one who does that, Luke. That's all Grace's doing. Maybe even Calex or that Lucas kid, but I don't care about them. Ashley is different. Like I said... she's nice."
Luke gave a slight nod. Then, out of the blue, he decided to say, "I've never told anyone this, but... I've done it before."
Cleo's jaw dropped as he almost fell over from Luke's revelation.
"OH NO! Luke, why didn't you tell me?" Mr. Martin suddenly appeared behind them, doubly shocked by Luke's randomness. "This candy shop is supposed to be run by innocent virgins! It's a clean shop for children, for kami's sake!"
"V-virgin?" Luke blinked in puzzlement. He instantly understood what Martin was referring to and shook his head. "I didn't mean it that way..."
"Well then, whatever could you possibly mean when you said you've done 'it' before?" Cleo questioned.
"I meant that I kissed a girl before," Luke answered bluntly.
Cleo's eyebrows rose in surprise. He never thought Luke could be that smooth. "Wow, way to go, man. I would have never suspected. I guess it's safe to say I've never thought about or kissed a girl before. So good going, Luke. You're more experienced than I am." He grinned approvingly at his friend.
"Ah, but you inexperienced boys," Martin raised an eyebrow at Cleo, "you should be careful of girls who've been around," Martin added and unraveled his fan in a flash. "I've dated a rich girl who, I can safely say, I liked for quite a while. She gave me many gifts and offered to buy me things I didn't need. But alas..." He folded his fan in a snap. "She left me and this shop, and here I am as a single man, trying to support myself with candy."
Cleo and Luke eyed their boss as if his green and white striped hat wasn't the only weird thing about him. Martin merely waved at them and proceeded to the back, ordering them to get back to work.
"Mr. Martin seems to have been around, eh?" Cleo said to Luke when the boss was out of sight.
Luke nodded in agreement and went to pick up a box of candy from behind the counter. As he did so, he spotted a customer coming inside and greeted him with a low "welcome". Cleo heard Luke's greeting and turned to greet the customer too. He stopped himself when he recognized who the customer was.
"Inu?" Cleo was taken aback when he saw his classmate standing there nervously.
Inu waved timidly and gave a small smile. "Hello, Cleo. I hope I'm not bothering you."
"And I have a full house. You both lose again!" Calex exclaimed and cackled menacingly as he gathered all the money in the center of the table to himself. Across from him, Lucas merely mumbled something about Calex cheating and threw his cards carelessly on the tabletop.
Azumi's eye twitched slightly. She usually had the upper hand in their games of poker. This was the fourth game of poker they had played today, but she had performed poorly in each round.