Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Tony Prito sat at an empty table near the cash register, his textbooks spread out on the table. The Pizza Palace had been open for ten minutes that Sunday afternoon.

“Hey college boy, the lasagna will be done in five minutes – and I got the pizza dough ready and the sauce is simply perfection!”

Tony smiled up at the older gentleman. “Thanks, Big Tony – I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

Antonio “Big Tony” Ribsi was a long time family friend of the Pritos. He had grown up with the Prito family when they had first lived in New York. He was chosen to be Tony’s godfather when the young man was born. Big Tony had a lopsided grin on his face.

“Definitely not get any studying done, that’s for sure!”

Tony laughed and then he turned when he heard someone walk into the restaurant. His heart began to pound when he saw who had walked in.

“Hi, you’re Tony, right?” asked Rayne a smile on her face.

Tony just sat staring at Rayne; it wasn’t until he felt Big Tony nudge his shoulder that he realized he hadn’t answered her.

“Um – yeah, that’s me – Tony Prito at your service!”

“Liscio, reale lisci (Smooth, real smooth),” whispered Big Tony. He gave Rayne a low bow as he went back to the kitchen.

Tony wanted to sink underneath the table when he heard Rayne giggle.

“Did you want to order something? Or I can get you a drink – soda, tea or water?”

“No, thank you. You have Calculus with Professor Hays, don’t you?”

“Yes I do – in fact I was about to do a little studying for the final.”

“That’s great!” Rayne replied with a smile; she then sat down across from Tony. “I was looking for a study partner and I was hoping we could study together.”

As much as Tony wanted to, he hesitated for a moment. He quite attracted to Rayne but he knew that Joe had taken her out on a date. Tony wasn’t sure if wanted to be around someone he couldn’t express his feelings to.

“Joe won’t mind that you’ll be hanging around one of his more handsome friends?” teased Tony.

“Why would Joe mind?” asked Rayne with a puzzled expression on her face.

It was Tony’s turn to be puzzled. “Well – uh – aren’t you and Joe going together? I mean – I know he took you out last weekend.”

“Ooh – yes we did, but Joe and I came to a mutual agreement: we’re better off as friends.”

A slow smile spread across Tony’s face; he reached out and took Rayne’s hand in his. He leaned forward as he raised her hand and kissed her fingertips. “I’d be honored to have such a beautiful person as yourself as a study partner.”

“Joe warned me about you!”

Rayne burst into laughter at the innocent look that Tony gave her. Glancing at his watch, Tony quickly became serious.

“Well we better get to work! The lunch rush will start soon and I’m on the register today.”

Big Tony came up to their table. “You may have to do more than that, college boy. We’re short one waitress. Carly called in sick….again!”

“Aw man! What was her excuse this time?!”

“I don’t remember – I tuned her out when she said she couldn’t make it today.”

Tony shook his head. “Carly is a really nice girl but – she’s a bit of an airhead. If the sun is out or if the trees are blooming she calls in sick,” he explained to Rayne.

“If you need an extra hand, I can help!” Rayne offered.

“Have you waited on tables before? It may not look it now but this place gets really busy!”

“I use to work as a car-hop after school and on weekends when we lived out in California! At least I don’t have to be on roller-skates!” Rayne laughed.

It was a few minutes past one o’clock when Joe walked into the Pizza Palace. He wasn’t surprised to see how busy the restaurant was; what did surprise him was the “new” waitress carrying a large pizza and a pitcher of soda to a group of teens.

Making his way up to the register, he sketched a wave at Big Tony who was putting an order out on the counter.

Tony hadn’t seen Joe yet, he was busy boxing a pizza in a to-go container.

“Hey Prito, I see you got yourself another pretty new waitress!”

“Hi Joe – yeah, I lucked out! Carly called in sick again and Rayne volunteered!”

Joe recognized the look Tony gave Rayne as he watched her from across the room. As much as Joe cared about Tony, he also knew what a flirt he could be. Before Joe had met Vanessa, he and Tony had a reputation for never dating the same girl twice. Some of their friends teasingly nicknamed them ‘Romeo’ and ‘Casanova’.

“She’s my kind of gal – not only is she pretty but smart too!” Tony sighed.

Joe let out a sigh; he was seeing all the classic signs of Tony ‘being in love’!

“Listen Tony – don’t take this the wrong way, but….”

“But what?” asked Tony with a frown.

“I really care about Rayne and I wouldn’t want her to get hurt – in other words I hope you’re not just toying with her!”

“I didn’t know you felt so strongly about her – I was under the impression you were just friends.” Hurt and anger flitted across Tony’s face as he spoke.

Joe was puzzled by Tony’s reaction, then it slowly dawned on him what his friend was implying.

“Hold on, Tony – you got it all wrong! Rayne and I are just good friends! But after what happened with Daniel Reese – well you can understand if I’m a little overprotective!”

Tony shuddered as he thought about Daniel Reese and the pain he could have caused Rayne. “I know I haven’t known Rayne that long and understand what you’re trying to say but I’m not that guy anymore, Joe.” Tony looked over at Rayne and a smile crossed his face.

“I know that I just met her but – there’s just something about her! She makes me feel like – I don’t know – like no matter how much I try she’ll always be one step ahead of me! And I kind of like this feeling of having to play catch up!”

Joe knew that feeling well, that was how Vanessa made him feel.

“Hi Joe – what are you two talking about so intently?!”

“Tony was just telling my about this new waitress of his – how terrible she is – gets all her orders wrong—” Joe teased.

Rayne folded her arms across her chest as she mock-glared at Tony. “Oh really?!”

“Was there a reason you came by or did you just come to torture me?” asked Tony as he gave Joe a stern glare.

A mischievous grin on his face, Joe gave Rayne a sly wink.

“Well I was hoping the pizza that Frank called in was ready for pick-up!”

*****

Vanessa Bender sat in the waiting area of the Tokyo Narito airport as she waited for American Airlines flight 168 to board. She let out a sigh. Christmas vacation had finally arrived. Vanessa had wanted to go back home for Thanksgiving but that was such a short holiday that she didn’t feel it would be worth it. In almost fourteen hours she would be back home.

Vanessa wondered how Joe was. She never realized how much she would miss him. She also felt terrible for not writing to him as often as she wanted. When Vanessa first arrived in Japan she had emailed Joe almost every day describing all of the exciting things she saw, how homesick she was.

Then she had gotten so busy with her classes and then there was Scott – Scott Calhoun from Columbia, Maryland. He was 6’1” with dark, almost black hair and blue eyes. He helped fill a void in Vanessa’s life; she didn’t feel as lonely. But Scott wasn’t Joe – even if his eyes were an intense blue, they weren’t Joe’s vibrant blue! There was no one like Joe, Vanessa realized.

Taking a worn paper out of her purse, Vanessa gazed down at the picture she had printed out from her computer. Callie had emailed her the photo. It was Joe with his arm around a pretty girl of African-American decent. He looked so happy in that picture – happy and in love.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.