"Come on, Joe?" Vanessa pleaded. "Just this once..."

Joe shook his head, adamant. "I am NOT going to let you drag me to that place ever again. Uh-uh." Joe shook his head, crossing his arms across his chest defiantly.

"It's not going to be long," Vanessa tried again. "Besides none of my girl friends is free and I really, really need a manicure."

"So that makes it okay for you to drag your boyfriend instead?" Joe grabbed Vanessa hands, studied her nails and dropped them again. "Your nails are fine. And besides who cares how your nails look like? Man, girls are so superficial!"

Vanessa fumed. "Superfici-"

"Alright, alright, I'll go," Joe sighed. Shesh, he thought. This is the last time I'm letting Vanessa talk me into it. His last visit to the nail parlor had lasted for hours, but then again Vanessa had had a really bad day then, and Joe had felt sorry for her.

 

"Looks like nobody's home," he whispered, craning his neck to get a glimpse of the Hardys' home.

"Are you sure?" His partner asked doubtfully. "Coz we need to get rid of whoever's in the house before we do this." He took out a pair of binoculars. No cars, no van, all windows closed... "Yep, looks like nobody's home."

"You got the stuff?" he whispered again. "We're on a very important mission here. We can't afford to mess up."

"Yeah, it's right here," his partner said, patting the sack lying on the ground. He leaned over to grab it. "Hey, be careful. It's fragile."

"Are you sure you saw them leave?" he asked again.

"Yeah, he left with the blond girl." He nodded, and stood up.

"Let's do it."

When they reached the front door, he peeked in the window. He didn't see anybody. Satisfied, he straightened. "How are we gonna get in? Break in?"

"No need to. I've got these," his partner said, jingling a set of keys. He broke into a smile.

 

"What?" Joe asked incredulously. "You wanna go shopping?" He groaned inside. First nails, now shopping. What next? Hair salon? Facial wash?

"My whole wardrobe is soooooo last season," Vanessa complained, holding up her hand, inspecting her perfectly done nails. "Haven't exactly done much shopping these past few months." She had said it so casually Joe couldn't help feeling guilty. She had been so busy worrying about him, staying with him at the hospital, visiting him at home whenever she was free, Joe owed her that much to go shopping with her. Well, at least this once, he thought. But he still couldn't see why she couldn't wait until one of her friends was free to accompany her.

"You gonna stand there all day?" she asked. Sighing, Joe got into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. Oh, the things I do for love, he thought grumpily.

"You owe me," he hissed, igniting the engine. "You owe me big time for this."

Vanessa just laughed.

 

"Where do you want me to put this?" he asked, holding it up.

His partner looked around, looking for the right spot. Then he pointed to the corner of the room. "There, put it there. The perfect hiding spot. They won't know what hit them."

"What time are they coming back home?"

"Everyone's going to be here at 7."

"7 huh? That's 3 hours from now. Not much time."

"Yes, you're right. Not much time. But if you'd just shut up instead of gabbing away that wouldn't be a problem right?"

"Sorry." They worked in silence.

 

Joe sat slumped on the bench outside the boutique, watching dully as Vanessa shuffled through an outfit after another. He'd refused to come in, claiming that he was tired. Thankfully, Vanessa was perfectly content with finding the clothes she wanted alone. The truth was, Joe was feeling a bit tired. He had secretly wished Vanessa would just buy the first clothes she set her eyes on so that he could go back home to sleep. But now he knew that wasn't going to happen. They've gone from store to store and Vanessa had barely bought anything. Personally Joe didn't know what the deal was with girls and clothes. He would like Vanessa just fine no matter what she wore.

Sighing, Joe flipped out his cell phone. Might as well call somebody while I'm at it, he thought.

"Hey, Frank." Frank told him that morning that he had a study session with Callie. Yeah right, study session, he thought. With Vanessa and him, it was never a study session when they got together.

"Hey, bro. What's up?" Frank's voice chirped.

"Nothing, really. What are you doing? You sound winded," Joe spoke into the phone. Vanessa caught his eyes and waved at him, holding up a really ugly black dotted, lavender-striped, yellowish-orangish spaghetti strap dress. Joe smiled at her and gave her a thumbs-up sign. Vanessa's eyebrows rose and she smiled widely. Please don't, Vanessa, he thought, shivering at the thought of yet another fashion disaster on his hands. You're gonna be the death of me, do you know that?

"Oh, no, we're, uh, studying. Aren't we, Callie?" In the distance, Joe heard Callie shout 'yeah'. Joe grinned.

"Just making sure you're both behaving yourselves."

"Speak for yourself, kid," Frank said. He sandwiched his phone between his ear and his shoulder, and tried to entangle the ribbon from his hands. "Where are you now?"

"The shopping mall. Can you believe it?" Joe sounded weary, Frank noticed. Vanessa must be really working him out.

"Still?" Frank looked up and his eyes went wide. He gestured wildly. No, not there, he mouthed. Callie stared at him questioningly. Where? Callie gestured with her hand. Frank turned around, and pointed to wall on the other side of the room. There, he mouthed. Callie nodded and jumped off the ladder, running over to the other side of the room.

"Yeah, we've been here for 3 hours." Suddenly Joe felt a tickle in his throat. "Excuse me." He turned his head sideways and coughed.

"3 hours?" Frank had to laugh. Joe must be going bats right now.

"Yeah, and I'm going out of my mind," Joe said hoarsely. "Frank, if Callie asked you to go shopping with her from now on, tell her you won't go, okay?"

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind," Frank said, amused. He frowned a little when he heard Joe cough again.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a tickle in my throat," Joe said. He shivered when a sudden chill went through him. That's strange, he thought. He had taken his shot that morning like every other morning. So why was he feeling so strange?

"Okay." Frank paused, remembering something. "Hey, Joe, tonight Callie and I are going out for dinner. Wanna come? You can bring Vanessa."

"I don't know, Frank..." Joe was really, really tired. All he wanted to do was go home and sleep the rest of the day off. If only Vanessa was done with her shopping.

"Come on, Joe. My treat," Frank persuaded. Joe's eyebrows lifted.

"Your treat? Wow, that's new. Anything special going on?"

If you only knew, Joe, Frank thought, rolling his eyes. "No, nothing special. Just feel like Japanese food tonight. But you've got to stop by the house and pick us up. Callie and I will be waiting for you. We'll take the van."

"OK, Frank," Joe sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes tiredly. "What time shall I pick you guys up?"

"Around 7?"

"Sounds great. I'll see you then. Bye." Joe hung up. Great. Joe really didn't feel like going out. Glancing at his wristwatch, he punched in the numbers on his phone again.

Vanessa was trying on a knee-length skirt when her phone suddenly rang. Must be Frank, she thought.

"Hello?"

"Hey." Joe.

"Joe, why are you calling me?"

"I'm right outside."

"I know, I told you to stay outside remember?" Vanessa laughed.

"Uh," Joe hesitated. "Are you done yet?"

Poor guy, he must be getting REALLY antsy, she thought, feeling a little sympathetic. "Uh, just about. Why, what's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering. Are we going straight home after this?" Joe asked hopefully.

"Uh-" Vanessa didn't know what to say. "Gee, Joe, I-I really want to do my hair..."

"Vanessa!"

"Please, Joe? I'll make it up to you..."

Joe closed his eyes in frustration. Vanessa had really got him wrapped around her little finger. "Alright, babe."

"Love you."

"I love you too." Then why else would I be doing this? Joe sighed and hung up, preparing himself to do more waiting. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. A nap sounded like a good idea. He was exhausted. He was about to drift off when a sudden coughing fit overcame him.

 

"It's nearly 6.45 p.m. They're gonna be here any minute," he hissed to his partner.

"Wait a sec, it's nearly finished." His partner stepped back, admiring his work. "What do you think?"

"It needs to be a little higher on the right side," he commented. He looked around. "Have you seen her?"

"She went into the kitchen just now to make sure everything's ready."

Then the doorbell rang. "That must be them." He went to the front window and peeped out. "No, it's not them."

He went to the door and opened it.

"They here yet?" The person at the door asked.

"No, not yet. Come on in. You brought the stuff?"

"Of course. Man, we're going to have a blast." He grinned. You bet we are, he thought.

 

"Hey, can I just leave these shopping bags at your house while we go out for dinner? They're taking too much space," Vanessa said.

"Why didn't you just buy the whole store?" Joe asked jokingly.

"Oh, I wanted to. But then my baby would have had to wait longer and he'd waited long enough." Vanessa put her chin on Joe's shoulder, staring at him dreamily. I love him, she realized, feeling a little surprised.

"Hey, babe, you're distracting me," Joe laughed, making a left turn into Elm Street. "We're here."

"Let me help you with that," Joe offered after he parked the van in front of the house. He threw a set of keys at Vanessa who caught them easily. "You just go open the door. And tell Frank and Callie to hurry, will you?" Joe juggled with the enormous heap of shopping bags, gathering them all in his arms while Vanessa went up the house.

Joe had just managed to collect all of the bags when he suddenly heard Vanessa scream in terror.