Chapter Seventy-Two: The Romance of Chuckles and Giggles
“And THAT, my good fellows, is how Sir Lionheart conquered the heart of the fair Sidewinder and got himself a pretty decent new girlfriend.” Daniel bragged as the Noble Knights of the Last Order played a game of cricket by the creek (I think we all know where this is going). “After we talked about me being a Noble Knight and her being a Mobster, she agreed to at least not work against us. I think I'm a genius.”
“I'm happy for you. Now will you bowl please?! I don't want us to get done for slow over rate!” Sammy groaned.
“You're already two overs behind.” Petunia deadpanned.
Annoyed, Daniel bowled, nearly taking off Tammys head.
“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!” Sammy was ready to strangle Daniel.
“Are you okay Tammy?” Sunny rushed to her friends side.
“Guys, break it up!” Patrick tried to stop Sammy and Daniel from destroying each other as Melody laughed. “Seriously, you're as bad as Belle and Charlie!”
“Don't compare us to those two lovebirds!” Sammy jumped back.
“Well, stop squabbling.” Patrick said firmly.
“Are they even a thing yet?” TJ asked. “I mean, it's fairly obvious they're into each other.”
“They're 'best friends', remember?” Sunny said, the slightest suggestion of jealousy in her voice. She picked up Melody and hugged her.
“They awfully close for 'best friends' though.” Daniel sat down. “Have you ever noticed how affectionate they are with each other?”
“They've always been like that.” Tammy pointed out. “They're both from naturally affectionate familes.”
“True, I mean, have you ever known Belle to turn down a hug? Or Charlie for that matter?” TJ mused. “But still, they're extremely close.”
“Maybe all they need is a little push. It WOULD be lovely if they were together.” Petunia smiled.
“Maybe…” TJ agreed. “After all, didn't we need one?”
“You two needed to be glued together before you got it.” Sunny said dryly, earning dirty looks.
—
Belle had her nose firmly planted in a book while her pumpkin soup cooled off. Across the table, Sunny, Tammy and Petunia watched her.
It was a beautiful sunny day in Pleasantville, and they could have been outside, except that Belle wanted to read. So they were at Bills Resturant, and the girls were trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Charlie to Belle.
“So, read anything interesting?” Tammy started. Sunny and Petunia looked horrified.
Belle slowly lifted her head from the book, and looked suspiciously at Tammy.
“I mean, surely you've come across something that WON'T put us to sleep, right?” Tammy tried to dig herself out of the hole she'd gotten herself in.
Sunny groaned. Petunia rolled her eyes.
Belle returned to her book.
“Seriously Belle-Belle, can't you get your nose out of that long enough to acknowledge our existences?!” Sunny groaned.
“We spent the last hour gossiping!” Belle fired back, exasperated. “And before THAT we spent two hours shopping, with a brief scuffle with the Crusaders to make things fun.”
(Seriously, don't try and destroy a shopping mall when there's a 50% storewide sale on. You will lose.)
“It's just that we feel like we don't spend enough time together, us girls.” Petunia said, trying to get the conversation back on track.
“We see each other literally every day.” Belle narrowed her eyes again.
“Yeah, but even when you're with us most of your attention is on Charlie.” Tammy muttered.
“We've been best friends since we were little, we're next door neighbours AND our fathers are best friends, AND his sister works for my uncle.” Belle rolled her eyes, putting the book down and testing the temprature of her soup. “Oooh, yummy.”
“You ARE pretty close.” Sunny said wistfully.
Belle glared at her. Tammy and Petunia tensed up. Not this argument again!
—
Meanwhile, the boys were also out and about. They were still shopping.
“Tammy LOVES this Chocolate River colour, and Lizzy often goes for Strawberry Wishes.” Sammy held up two containers of lip gloss.
“'Tuney loves Blueberry Passion. Goes with her rotating hair colours.” TJ held up a lip gloss that looked purple and blue.
“Do you know what Belle wears Charlie?” Daniel asked innocently, looking at some eyeshadows for Judith.
“No idea. I don't know why she wears makeup anyway, her face is always buried in a book or paperwork.” Charlie laughed.
“Don't you wish she'd get out of those books sometimes?” Sammy asked.
“Nope.” Charlie shook his head. “Even though I roast her about it, I know that the knowledge she's getting from those books is going to save Pleasantville one day. Count on it.”
Charlie went back to looking at shoes while the others looked at each other, defeated. How on earth were they going to get Charlie to talk about his feelings for Belle?
“I guess you'd know better than any of us, you two spend a lot of time together.” Daniel decided to go a more direct approach.
“Well we ARE best friends. We also live next door to each other. Our fathers are best friends, plus Lizzy works for her uncle.” Charlie pointed out. He looked at a pair of high heels. “How Marion can be a competent swordswoman in these things I'll never know.”
Daniel looked at TJ and Sammy. Sammy shook his head and TJ shrugged.
It was IMPOSSIBLE!
—
“Well, we had absolutely no hope with Charlie, how about you guys?” Sammy flopped down on the sofa in Sunnys house.
“Belle had her nose in a book.” Petunia sighed. “And Sunny nearly started a fight.”
“REALLY Sunny?” Daniel groaned.
“I didn't mean too!” Sunny sighed. “It's just that I still get a smidge jealous sometimes and even though I try to hide it, it still leaks out a little bit.”
“It's okay.” Tammy put an arm around her. “But we're still at square one when it comes to the romance of Chuckles and Giggles.”
“They're just impossible!” Petunia groaned. “They're so smart when it comes to fighting crime, but bloody thick when it comes to their own love!”
“What are we going to do?” TJ sighed.
“Maybe we need to switch things up a bit.” Daniel suddenly had an idea. “I mean, Sunny and Belle have history, and Sammy is dating Charlie's little sister. Maybe we can swap teams for the next assault.”
“Or, y'know, we could let things take their natural course.” Tammy pointed out.
There was a brief silence.
“Nah.”
Suddenly Daniel got a message on his phone. “Guys, problem, apparently the city has been brought to a standstill by weirdly dressed guys standing in the middle of the street.” He flicked through the message. “Multiple streets even.”
“Who NOW?” TJ groaned.
“Nevermind who, let's go Knights!” Daniel commanded.
The Noble Knights of the Last Order headed to the tip, suited up, and headed to face Pleasantvilles newest threat.