The History of a Runner/10

Chapter 10: Turning Events
"Later, man!" Matt called out to Jamey as he, Mike, Jackie, and Craig drove off. As soon as they had turned the corner, the smiles on their faces vanished, Jamey's slip-up from earlier crossing their minds. It wasn't long after they thought about it when Craig broke the silence.

"Okay...I think we can all agree we all heard the same thing in Jamey's radio host impression. And we can all agree on what we think it means.  Correct?" Everyone else in the car nodded. "So, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to do something about it?"

"I dunno..." Jackie commented. "Matt, where'd you meet Jamey?"

"...I met him at a Braves game," Matt replied. "He seemed like a cool guy. We hung out, and..." He trailed off. Mike, who was driving the car, made a turn and pulled up at the apartment complex.

"You get out here," he said. "I'll go park." A few mumbled "okay"s, and everyone was out of the car. Mike drove some more, parked, and started walking home.

"Mike?" a faint voice called out. Who could that be? he wondered. He shrugged it off and continued walking.

"Mike?" There it was again. Mike's stomach turned. The voice sounded familiar.

"Mike!" the voice cried for a third time, and before he knew it, Mike was getting hugged.

"Oh...hi, Missy." Mike took a quick look at the hugger &mdash; sure enough, it was his old friend, Missy Palmer.

"It is so good to see you! I wondered where you live."

Mike rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. "Hey. Good to see you, too.  Why you here?  The Olympics."

"Yeah, but I talked to your parents, and they said you and Matt were living here, so...I thought I'd visit you guys."

Mike thought a bit. This was a nice thing for Missy to do. He should probably continue it. "Okay. C'mon, I'll show you where I live." As the two of them walked to the apartment, they told each other about their adventures. For some reason, Mike felt nervous...but not in the normal way. It was almost as if...no, he thought. It couldn't be. He pushed that thought away. It must be the reunion feel. After all, he hadn't seen Missy since high school. It had to be that.

"...and then I went to the store to get some Tylenol," Missy recalled as they reached the apartment. Mike went up to the door and opened it, presuming the others had already arrived. "But it turned out that somebody had already grabbed..." Missy stopped, seeing what was inside the apartment.

"Oh, look!" Homestar quipped. "It's Mike! And anothew pehson we don't know!  Hi, Pehson We Don't Know!"

Missy was shocked. What IS this? she wondered.

"Well, this is a turn of events..." Matt remarked. "Hey, Missy."

Missy turned to Mike. "What is going on?" she asked.

Mike chuckled nervously. "Well, it's a long story..."

Fun Facts

 * I've had the Missy scene in my mind for the while. Specifically, Mike's line, "Oh...hi, Missy."  After all, we already have one family member of TBC in there &mdash; why not throw in another? :)
 * The story Missy is telling Mike when they reach the apartment was inspired by Matt's "Marzipan impression" from "Sample of Style," on strongbad_email.exe Disc 3.