Playing with Fire - Chapter II: Raising the Stakes

Playing with Fire
Chapter II: Raising the Stakes

"Master Tom, as your life coach, I'm STRONGLY advising you to reconsider this." Brian stared with concern at the note with Janna's phone number scribbled on it.

"Brian, aren't you the one who always tried to get me to deal with the things that make me angry instead of avoiding them?" Tom reached down and pulled Marshmallow from his cage, setting him on the couch in his room.

"Yes, but... this is different. This girl is a button pusher. If what you said about her having other victims is right, she may even be a serial button pusher. People like Janna find buttons, and they push them. And let's be honest Master Tom, you have a LOT of buttons." Brian had dealt with Janna's type before. He knew that Tom taking the bait would only drive her to toy with him even more, even if really she was interested in him. ESPECIALLY if she really was interested. "So why are you so determined to expose your buttons to her?"

"Easy. She still has my wallet." Well, that was the reason Tom kept telling himself, anyway. The truth was, Tom felt like he had lost a fight where he should've had the home field advantage. It wasn't a feeling he enjoyed, and he was eager for a rematch. And besides that, though he hadn't admitted it even to Brian... he was curious to know more about the strange girl who had paid him a surprise visit the night before.

"Tom, look at me." Brian put his hands on Tom's shoulders, staring him straight in the eyes. "You can get a new wallet. You can get new money and new ID cards. But can you get new inner tranquility?"

"I mean, I'm rich, so... probably?" Brian opened his mouth to object, but Tom put his hands on Brian's and gently pulled them off his shoulders. "Brian, relax! She just caught me off guard before, that's all. It was a long day, and who the heck expects to find somebody just chilling out in their bedroom when they get home? This time though, I'm ready." Tom took a deep breath and closed his eyes, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I have to do this."

"Then I can't stop you." Brian sighed softly as he handed back the note, turning toward the stairs leading out of Tom's room. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay here with you?

Tom shook his head at his life coach. The prince considered this one to be a private conversation. Besides, he really HAD prepared himself. He'd just enjoyed a relaxing lava bath with his favorite death metal playing, and with Marshmallow already waiting on the couch for him, he felt as calm and confident as he had in weeks. "Nah, I'll be fine. It's just a phone call."

"Alright. I'll be upstairs on standby if you need me." Brian hesitated and watched his client for a few more seconds, concerned, but eventually headed up the stairs to the exit of Tom's room. As he opened the door, he turned back one more time, frowning at the prince. "Good luck." With that, he left the room and closed the door behind him, worried for a patient who simply couldn't be made to understand what he was getting himself into.

Tom took a seat on the couch, Marshmallow instantly jumping into his lap. He held Janna's note from the previous day in one hand, and his phone in the other, smiling as he started to punch in the numbers. And yet with each digit, he felt his previous confidence slowly begin to drain out of him. "Okay. This is no big deal. It's just a phone call. Just calling a girl." He hit the cancel button, then began again, hesitating before entering a few of the numbers from the paper. "Simple, right? Done it tons of times." He continued to dial the number until he was halfway through, when he hit cancel again. "Never been a problem before..." He took a deep breath and dialed once more, only to stop after the last digit, just before hitting the call button. As he set the note on the couch next to him, he reached his now free hand down to stroke Marshmallow's fur. "Sooooo... what the heck is going on today?" Tom carefully set the phone beside him on the couch, staring at the nearly complete call.

Tom paused and sighed deeply, starting to have second thoughts about his plan. "Maybe Brian was right. Maybe I should just let this one go. Maybe..." Before Tom's feet could get any colder, Marshmallow hopped up from his lap and over to his phone, pressing up against the call button with his nose.

"MARSHMALLOW!" Tom stared in disbelief at the bunny, sliding his hands under his hind legs and lifting him up to eye level, holding the animal out in front of him as he heard the phone start to ring. "How could you betray me like this!?"

Marshmallow lifted up his front paws beside him, giving Tom a gesture he could only describe as a shrug.

The phone stopped suddenly part way through the third ring, and Tom faintly heard a young female voice coming from the phone as it sat on the couch next to him. "Hello?"

Tom scrambled for the phone, letting Marshmallow plop down in his lap, trying to regain his former cool. "Heyyyyyyyy, Janna! It's Tom."

"Tom? Tom who?" It almost sounded genuine, but Tom could detect just the faintest hint of something else underneath the question. Whether it was playful or malicious, he couldn't tell.

Either way, Tom knew she couldn't really have forgotten him so soon. "Tom Lucitor? Yesterday you somehow broke into my room in a fortified castle in the Mewni Underworld to sexually harass me and steal my wallet, then left me your number? Any of this ringing a bell?"

Tom waited through a short pause on the line. "Doesn't sound like me. You sure that wasn't some other Janna?"

The prince pulled the phone away from his face and swore under his breath, but otherwise held his temper in check before returning to the conversation "... I was the guy with the pink bunny."

"Ohhhhh, right. Marshmallow!" Tom suddenly heard recognition in Janna's voice. "Is he there?"

"Huh?" Tom looked down to the rabbit in his lap, who seemed to be staring back up at the phone. "Oh, yeah, he's here with me."

 "'sup Marshmallow?" Janna seemed to perk up as she called out to the bunny.

Marshmallow climbed up on Tom as best he could, chattering happily in the direction of Janna's voice coming from the phone.

"Aww, he needed help with it? That's adorable." Janna's tone was halfway between pity and condescension.

Tom looked skeptically down at Marshmallow, who squeaked back what sounded like a response to Janna. "Are you... are you having a conversation with my rabbit?"

"What? No, of course not. That would just be weird." Tom could swear he somehow heard Janna rolling her eyes at him through the phone. "Anyway, what did you call about?"

"Well, ah... funny you should ask." Tom figured getting straight to the point was probably his best chance of survival. "The thing is, you kiiiiiiiinda still have my wallet."

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that!" Janna laughed, as though Tom had reminded her of something funny. "I haven't even had a chance to go through it yet."

"YET?" Even though there was nothing especially secret or personal in his wallet, Tom wasn't fond of the idea of anybody looking inside it. "Look... nevermind. Let's just make this as quick and painless as possible for both of us. Can I have my wallet back... chickenbutt?"

"Well... since you said the magic word..." Tom could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He felt like Janna was drawing him deeper into a trap every time he opened his mouth. "What's it worth to ya?"

Tom's jaw dropped open in shock. He could hardly believe he was being extorted by a thief for his own wallet. He put on the most serious voice he could muster before responding. "Janna... I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have any money... because it was all in my wallet."

"Pfft, last time I stole Marco's wallet he had a cool 650." Tom heard a rustling on the other side of the line that might have been Janna's flipping through paper, or bills. "You only have like 13 demonbucks or whatever in here."

Tom did a mental double take before realizing what was wrong with Janna's statement. "Wait, didn't you just say you hadn't looked in it?"

"So what are you doing this weekend?" Janna countered without missing a beat.

"Don't change the-" Tom stopped like he had been struck by lightning. He was sure he must've misheard. Janna had jumped tracks so fast he barely had time to process it, and there was no way she could really be asking what he thought she was asking. Or at least, not for the reason he thought. "I'm... I'm sorry?"

Janna repeated herself slowly, as though speaking to a child. "You. Doing. This weekend. What are?"

Tom felt sure he had plans, even if he couldn't exactly think of any at the moment. "THIS weekend? Oh... you know. I'm pretty busy."

"Yeah? With what?" Janna's voice was tinged with something that sounded almost predatory. As he drew in a breath to speak, Janna cut him off immediately. "Rhetorical. You're playing paintball with me."

"So... this is really the conversation we're having right now?" Tom had played paintball a few times in his life and rather enjoyed it, even been reasonably good at it. Paintball with Janna though? He somehow suspected she was the type to mix in a few marbles. "You left me your number because you wanted to play paintball?"

"What, not exciting enough for you?" Every one of Tom's instincts told him that Janna was getting ready to pounce. "Why don't we make things a little more interesting?"

The way things were going, Tom was starting to regret not listening to Brian. He wondered if he might still be able to cut his losses and escape with what remained of his dignity. "Let me guess... we're playing for the wallet? I mean, I want it back, but come on. I'm pretty sure I can get another wallet."

Janna snorted at Tom derisively. "Please. We're making it WAY more interesting than that. If you win, which isn't gonna happen... I'll not only give you back your wallet, I'll leave you alone forever."

Tom was surprised to find that he had mixed feelings about Janna's offer. A small part of him did actually want to see her again, though under very different circumstances than she was proposing. Yet a much larger part was telling him that the whole thing was a ruse. Still, Tom figured it couldn't hurt to at least hear her out.. "Uh-huh. And if you win... you'll keep harassing me and you're keeping the wallet?"

"You can have it back either way. You're gonna need it after I win, because WHEN I do..." Just when Janna had stayed silent long enough that Tom was about to ask, she finished her thought. "You're going to take me on a date."

Tom pulled the phone away from his ear, staring down at the screen, completely dumbfounded. "What."

"You heard me. A date. A REAL date. We're gonna get you out of those ripped clothes..." Tom felt a blush rising as Janna let the statement hang in the air. "... and into some nice ones, and then you and I are going on a date. Maybe dinner and a movie?"

Despite being a powerful demon and prince of the Underworld, Tom had some concerns about going on a date with Janna. Concerns like waking up in a ditch with his internal organs missing, assuming he ever woke up at all. "No. No, nonononono, no. All those things you just said we're doing? We're not doing them. Challenge declined."

Janna gave Tom a disappointed sigh before responding. "Yeah, okay....I understand. It was worth a shot. And to be honest, I'm actually pretty impressed with how secure you are in your masculinity."

"Well, yeah, I- wait, what?" Tom hesitated, not sure if he liked, or even fully understood, what Janna was implying.

"I mean, I'm just sayin'. You of all people?" Janna's tone was condescendingly casual as she continued. "I really didn't think you'd be able to admit you're afraid of getting your butt kicked by a girl."

Tom had long since realized he was being baited, but still somehow he had a hard time letting Janna's barbs slide. Still, even if she was winning the battle by getting under his skin, he was determined not to lose the war. He took a deep breath and silently counted to five before replying. "Forget about it. I know better than to go with a predator to a second location. And honestly? I don't even think I want the wallet back."

Janna responded without hesitation. "What, you're finally switching to a purse?"

"THAT'S IT!" That was the last straw, and Tom felt himself lose control. Marshmallow jumped from his lap as the flames started to rise around him, his eyes going blank. "You wanna do this? You REALLY wanna do this? You want me to bring it? Because I'll bring it!"

"You think you can bring it, huh? You talk big, but I don't think you've even got it to bring, wuss." If Janna was intimidated at all by Tom's temper, her voice didn't indicate it in the slightest.

Tom was yelling almost loud enough to wake the dead now as he continued his tirade. "Oh! OH! I'm warning you sister, once it's brung, IT CAN'T BE UNBRUNG!"

"Then you and your A-game better be at the Echo Creek Paint-o-rama Saturday at 4. If you haven't grown a pair by then, don't bother showing up." With that, Tom heard a beep from his phone as Janna hung up on him.

Tom heard a knock at the door to his room, then Brian's voice from behind it. "Master Tom? Are you in there?"

The words snapped Tom out of his rage. He looked up at the door, taking deep breaths as his fire started to fade. "Yeah... yeah, I'm here. It's okay, you can come in."

Brian opened the door and slowly descended the stairs, watching Tom warily, not yet sure if he had fully calmed down. "I heard you yelling from all the way upstairs. What happened?"

The demon prince stared back at the phone, the words 'Call Ended' still flashing on the screen as the conversation replayed in his mind.

"... I have absolutely no idea."