Phoenix Wright: Everything Gone Wright

Chapter 12: Larry's Tale, and Memories

Phoenix spun around. As he expected, in front of him stood a brown-haired man. This man, as he recognized instantly, had a dumbfounded look on his face, wore an orange jacket over his plain white t-shirt, as well as baggy blue jeans. Phoenix noted the usual manner that this man took while wearing his coat; one of the jacket sleeves moved left and right, in a 'waving' formation, as if his arm was only halfway through that particular sleeve.

Since Phoenix was too busy staring, the boy spoke up, his face breaking into a huge smile. "It's been so long, Nick! Where have you been!? It's been ages!"

Phoenix finally found his voice, and spoke up. "H-Hi, Larry..."

"'Hi?' ... 'Hi?'" Larry's facial expression changed; he rose an eyebrow and his mouth slanted as he spoke. "You haven't seen me in years, and all you can grant your old best friend with is a 'Hi'!?" He looked very irritated for a moment, before his expression changed back into the smile. "Aw, Nick, you haven't changed a bit, man! Still forgetting things so quickly!"

Iris whispered to Phoenix, "Feenie, who is this man?"

Upon seeing Iris whisper to Phoenix, Larry looked dumbfounded yet again. "And you got yourself a girl as pretty as that!? Man, Nick, you DOG!"

Phoenix's face reddened at that. He decided to quickly introduce them. "Iris, this is Larry Butz, an old friend of mine from grade school. Larry, this is Iris."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Iris, curtsying politely.

"And this is Maya," Phoenix said, indicating Maya, who was on the other side of him.

"Hiya!" Maya waved cheerfully, grinning wide again.

"Whoa! You got TWO girls, Nick!?" Larry's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "Dude, when did you turn into a pimp!?"

"Whoa, no, no, no!" Phoenix took defense quickly. "Maya's a friend of ours! She's not... we're not..."

"... Oh, okay." Larry stood up straight again. "Man, I would have never have you pinned as that kinda person."

"And be glad you still don't," said Phoenix nervously. "I'm not that kind of person..."

Larry nodded, suddenly looking serious. He turned his attention back to Nick, and said in a lower tone, "I really need to speak with you, man. I was hoping I'd run into you."

"You were?" Phoenix tilted his head. Why Larry would have been looking for a friend he hadn't seen in years by walking the street seemed very odd to him. "Why would you walk the streets of the city just looking for me?"

"Well, isn't it obvious!?" Larry's expression turned suddenly defensive, as if Phoenix had just offended him verbally. "You never told me what college you went to, so how was I supposed to know where you were!?"

Phoenix backed away. "Whoa, Larry, calm down. It just seems odd that you'd walk the streets blankly like that, without even asking around."

Larry stared at Phoenix for a second before turning serious again. "I didn't know where I could go, or who I could ask." He scratched the back of his head. "I had no leads on where you went, man."

Maya decided to speak up, as people were beginning to stare at them from the commotion. "Why don't we go and talk while we eat in the restaurant? I'm hungry."

The others nodded. Phoenix opened the door, and stood back, allowing Iris, Maya and Larry to go in ahead of him. He quickly followed them in, the door shutting smoothly behind him. They walked around until they found a square table with four chairs around it. They each sat in one, Iris taking care to sit beside Phoenix, but away from Larry; she was a bit wary of his behavior before they had entered.

"So, what do you guys want?" asked Maya, standing up. Phoenix and Iris piped up and spoke their orders, but Larry sat back and declined.

"No thanks, Maya. I'll pass," he said, putting his hands on the back of his head, as if relaxing.

"Are you sure? My treat!" Maya's perkiness refused to give in; she always wanted the people around her to be happy, no matter what. And besides, Mia had given her some money before she left the previous day, making sure to note that while she had guests, she needed to keep them happy. She remembered commenting that she'd probably spend it on burgers again...

"... Yeah, alright, I'll take a couple of burgers too. Thanks, Maya," said Larry, giving off a smile. With that said, Maya tottered off to the front to order their food.

Phoenix decided to get down to business. "So, Lar... what did you want to talk about?" He was a bit uneasy, as he hadn't seen Larry in years. He had no idea what his old best friend could want, nor what had happened to him since they graduated grade school.

"Well... I kinda need a place to stay," said Larry, instantly rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I kinda made some people mad, and I need to lie low for a while, y'know what I'm saying?"

Phoenix nodded. "Well, I can't really give you one right now, as I'm not really staying at my dorm..."

"Why not?" Larry tilted his head, confused. "Shouldn't you be staying at your dorm if you're in college?"

"Well... it's a long story," said Phoenix, side-glancing at Iris; he didn't want to have to tell the entire thing, and was sure Iris didn't want to have to talk about it again. "But I can't go back to the college right now. We're staying with Maya, for around the same reason you want to stay somewhere."

"No way!" Larry's eyes widened at this. "You cheated on your girl too!?"

Iris put her hand on Phoenix's shoulder, letting him know that he shouldn't take offense to that. Feeling her warm hand on his shoulder, Phoenix shook his head at Larry. "I would never cheat on Iris... I'm not you, Larry."

"What's that supposed to mean, Nick!?" Larry was the one to take offense. "I mean, I see a girl or two, maybe three at times..."

"That's what we refer to as 'cheating,' Larry," said Phoenix, not being able to help but crack a small smile.

"What!? ... Aw man! Well, t-that's not the point!" said Larry, attempting to change the subject. "What I mean is--"

"Burgers!" exclaimed a very happy Maya as she came around with their orders. She sat each one down by the person who ordered them, and sat down with her own stack of burgers. "Chow time!" She then fixated herself on eating her lunch.

Iris began eating her food delicately; she couldn't help but stifle a giggle at Maya's eating pace.

Phoenix and Larry both shrugged and began to eat as well.

Time passed silently as each ate their food; it was starting to become uncomfortable for Maya, since she was used to being very social. "Come on, come on, let's talk about something!"

Phoenix chuckled, stopping his eating for a second to throw in a comment. "You finished faster than us, Maya. Let us finish first."

"I had more burgers than you, AND I finished faster than all of you!" said Maya.

Larry stopped eating to throw in a comment as well. "You're a machine, Maya," he said, going back to his burger.

"Hey!" Maya crossed her arms, shooting him a rare glare. "That was mean!"

"Don't pay him any mind, Maya," said Phoenix. "He doesn't mean to offend people like that."

"Nn... alright." Maya bounced right back to happiness. "But it's so quiet! It's getting kinda boring..." She waited patiently as the others finished. Larry had begun eating faster, and finished right before Phoenix. Iris, however, kept eating at her leisurely pace, not wanting to dissolve into a coughing fit if a piece of bun or meat happened to lodge itself in her windpipe.

Maya spoke up before Larry had the chance to. "So you're best friends, huh?" she glanced at Larry. "Back in grade school?"

"Yup!" Larry smiled, temporarily forgetting about what he wanted to talk about. "We were best friends, but we also had another best friend by the name of--"

"Don't." Phoenix's face turned serious. "Don't mention him." He didn't want Larry to mention a name he knew all too well, and didn't want to talk about; their other best friend, Miles Edgeworth.

"Aw, come on, Nick! Tell me!" Maya grinned. She then tilted her head. "I can call you Nick, right? It's a really cool name!"

"It's just a nickname..." said Phoenix. "But you can." He chuckled a bit.

"Okay!" Maya clapped her hands together. "But come on, tell me! Who was this other person!?"

Phoenix looked at Maya, and sighed. He figured that as long as he refused to tell, she would keep bugging him. What he remembered, and what he knew, he had trouble meshing together. "Alright, alright... I'll tell you..."