Are You Hungry? The sequel to "Are You Crazy?" The experiences of the girls happen and end around the same time. I'm planning a third and final installment to the "Are You...?" series. But I can't guarantee it'll be out soon. I'll see how this one fares.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Powerpuff Girls or any of the books/series mentioned.
Awkward. Awkward has been defined as "causing or feeling embarrassment or inconvenience." For example, that awkward moment when you see your grandma at a strip club. Well, taking that definition of awkward, you have an awkward situation in the hotel room of the Utonium family as they currently have the Jojo Brothers as their marvelous guests. If you don't like reading about awkward situations, then go read other stories because this story is the awkwardest of them all (at first)...
Blossom refrained herself from twitching as she ate her plate of food. After the "fight" on the rooftop with the Jojo Brothers, the girls, followed by the boys went inside their hotel room. And now they were all eating. Well, except for the professor. He went to his room to watch tv or something like that. But whatever. The dining room was pure silent... pure silent...
"So... The food's delicious..." Boomer began, trying to get rid of the awkward vibe. "Who made it?"
"The professor," Buttercup bluntly answered.
"Oh..." Well, there goes the rest of the conversation.
"The professor learned from our aunt, his sister, which is why he's good at cooking now," Bubbles stated, feeling bad at Boomer's failed attempt.
"She taught him most of the things he knows now," Blossom offered. Bubbles gave her a thankful look. "Which is why he isn't incompetent as he would have been."
Brick raised his eyebrow. "Incompetent as he would have been?"
Blossom shrugged and looked at the boy sitting directly across from her. "The professor himself told us that he would not have been able to raise us 'correctly', as he put it, if it weren't for our aunt."
"Wow. Some guy he must be," Butch mumbled in a bored tone.
"Hey!" Buttercup barked as she slammed her hands on the table and stood up. "Don't talk about my dad like that!"
"Look who's talking, b****!" Butch yelled as he also stood up. "You just called him 'old' like 20 minutes ago!"
"Well that's because I can! He's my father!"
"That's not an excuse to-"
"Enough!" Brick and Blossom bellowed. The two of them, Butch and Buttercup, glared at each other and then sat down to resume eating.
Blossom sighed and resisted the urge to rub her temple. She succeed. And thus, the awkwardness returned to the room. But this time, it only lasted five minutes when they all heard something ring. It was obviously a phone... They just didn't know who's.
Blossom narrowed her eyebrows as she saw the Jojo Brothers take out their cellphones and checking if it's their's ringing. It wasn't. She turned to her sisters, who have also done the same thing, but it wasn't their's either. That could only mean...
"Professor!" Blossom called. "Is that my cellphone, or is it yours?"
"It's yours Blossom!" the professor called back. "Come get it!"
Blossom stood up and looked at the people at the table. "I'll be back." And then she left.
Everyone watched as she walked into the professor's room and shut the door. Immediately as she did that, Bubbles turned to Buttercup.
"Who do you think it is?!" Bubbles squealed. "Her boyfriend?!"
Brick widened his eyes, Boomer gasped, and Butch choked on his food. A girl like Blossom has a boyfriend?! Well, not that she wouldn't be able to have one. But with someone as intelligent as her, one would think that she would put her studies and family first before anything else.
Buttercup ignored them and just answered Bubbles. "She doesn't have a boyfriend..."
Bubbles pouted. "I know. But it would be nice if she had one."
Buttercup rolled her eyes. "You don't have a boyfriend, Bubbles."
"I used to though. He was the best boyfriend I ever had," Bubbles answered as she had sparkles in her eyes.
The boys and Buttercup sweatdropped at Bubbles' expression. "Uh, Bubbs. He's the only boyfriend you've ever had..."
Once again, Bubbles pouted. "I know! But that doesn't mean - Oh! Blossom is back!"
Everyone, once again, turned their eyes towards Blossom as she walked back to her seat. Blossom raised an eyebrow. "Why are you guys staring at me?"
"Who was it?" Bubbles and Buttercup asked simultaneously. The boys had to stifle their laughs at the perfect synchronizing.
"My boyfriend," Blossom immediately replied.
"WHAT?!" Bubbles and Buttercup bellowed.
Blossom laughed at her sisters' expressions. "Calm down. I'm joking. It was the bookstore where I ordered something. They told me I had to pick up my package today because they would be closed tomorrow."
Buttercup scrunched her eyebrows. "Wouldn't it be better to pick it up the day after tomorrow?"
Blossom shook her head. "It wouldn't be. We are leaving the day after tomorrow, remember? Well, granted it's during the night. But I want to use the first half to finish this one project."
"Oh. Right. Well then. Has the professor given you permission?"
Blossom nodded and smiled at her sisters. "He gave me permission to take my little sisters as well."
At Blossom's statement, Bubbles and Buttercup smiled. "Oh my gosh!" Bubbles squealed cutely. "A field trip!"
"How long has it been since we went to a shopping center together?!" Buttercup exclaimed. She was also very excited about the upcoming trip. She hated shopping, but if it was with her sisters, she was all for it. "Wait. They're going to be open at this hour?"
Blossom nodded. "They will. The local shopping center doesn't close until twelve am or something like that. It's barely ten. We have time to go and explore."
"Yeah!" Bubbles and Buttercup shouted excitedly.
"Wait!" a strong voice called out. Everyone turned to look at Brick. But he only met Blossom's eyes. "Your father gave permission for his daughters to walk at night by themselves?"
The girls stared at Brick. Then they stared at each other. Then they stared back at him.
"Uh. Duh," Buttercup deadpanned. "Didn't you just see us in action up there? You think we're incapable of defending ourselves?"
Butch rolled his eyes. "Please. You couldn't even free yourself from..." He stopped though when he felt Buttercup's raging aura.
"I dare you to finish that sentence..." Buttercup growled.
Blossom sighed. "Buttercup. Just leave him be." She then turned her gaze back to Brick. "Look. We have been trained in martial arts-"
"And you think that's enough to protect you from perverted men? In my life, I have come to know many girls, who are black belts in many forms of martial arts, that get raped or kidnapped," Brick calmly interrupted, with a hint of irritation in his voice.
If Blossom didn't have control over her facial features, she would have been twitching all around. But she did, so she didn't twitch. "Thanks for the concern but-"
"You're still going?" Brick correctly guessed with a raised eyebrow.
Blossom shrugged. "Yeah. I got permission from the patriarch. That's all we need. Come on, girls. Get your coats and money and whatever else, and let's get going before it starts getting real dark."
Buttercup and Bubbles nodded. They went to their respective rooms and got out everything they needed from their rooms. As for Blossom, she already had her stuff with her.
"Now..." Blossom began as she addressed the boys. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but we need you guys to leave as we will be heading out."
Butch and Boomer looked at their brother. No one had ever gone against his suggestions and concerns. How is he going to-
"Fine. Then we'll go with you guys."
"WHAT?!" everyone, minus Brick of course, yelled.
"Hey! Quiet down over there!" the professor exclaimed from his room.
There was no answer back as the five people kept staring at Brick. Once again, Brick only met Blossom's eyes.
Blossom raised an eyebrow. "So you guys are going to tag along with three girls whom you haven't even known for half a day? That's not crazy at all."
"No..." Boomer began. Everyone turned their attention to him, but he mainly focused on Bubbles. "In fact, Brick is right. What's more crazier is for you guys to be out alone at this time."
Buttercup facepalmed and glared at the brothers. "Like I've said-"
"And like I'll counter!" Butch rudely interrupted. "You couldn't even free yourself from me. What makes you think you'll be able to handle others out there?!" he spat.
The sisters looked at each other. It was nighttime, and they really did not want to spend the whole night arguing instead of exploring.
"Fine," Blossom sighed as she looked at her sisters, who nodded in agreement. "Let's go guys..."
The guys were a little surprised that they had agreed so steadily. But then they brushed it off because had they been in that situation, they would have agreed immediately as well. Who wants to spend the whole night arguing?
"We're going now, Professor!" Blossom called. "I'll lock the door."
"Please do! Be safe girls! Call me if you need anything!"
"Will do!" the girls chorused.
The boys walked out first, and the girls followed out shortly. Blossom locked the door, and they began their way downstairs.
They all were now at the main lobby, walking towards the main doors when Blossom suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong, Bloss?" Bubbles asked in a worried tone.
Blossom grunted as she looked through her tote. "I don't have cash on me... Ugh... Wait here, guys. I'm going to go to the ATM on the other side of this lobby to take money out." She then looked at Brick. "Is that okay?"
Brick nodded. "Go ahead."
And with that, Blossom made her way to the ATM. She could feel Brick's gaze burning on her back, but she ignored it. When a minute had passed after Blossom left, Bubbles turned to Buttercup.
"Hey... BC... Could you help me with something?"
Buttercup twitched as she looked at her little sister. "It better not be..." Buttercup trailed off when she saw the sheepish smile on her sister's face. She sighed. "Really? Is your sense of direction that bad?"
Bubbles nodded. "Yeah..."
Buttercup groaned. "You have got to be kidding me..." Not wanting to continue any longer with the conversation, Buttercup turned to the guys. "Hey. Bubbles here doesn't know the way to the restroom, so I'm taking her. See you in a few."
Boomer nodded as he looked at a sheepish Bubbles. Bubbles met his gaze and blushed as she looked down. "Okay. We'll be waiting for you guys."
As soon as Boomer said that, Buttercup began leading Bubbles to the restroom, leaving the three brothers behind.
After ten minutes though, the girls have not returned yet.
"Man, what's taking them so long?! Like we have all day!" Butch exclaimed as he noticed the girls were taking a long time. Way too long...
Brick narrowed his eyes. "When you think you can trust someone, they go and do something that will make you not want to trust her anymore..."
Boomer looked sadly at his brother. "Don't hate her though..."
Brick shook his head. "I won't. But she is going to be in a lot of trouble..."
Butch looked back and forth between his brothers. "What? What's going on-" Butch cut himself off when he realized what had happened. "UGH! Those stupid girls!"
Not wasting anymore time, the boys bolted out of their hotel and began running towards the shopping center.
"Took you quite a while!" Blossom whispered as her sisters came to her. As soon as they saw each other, they immediately began walking towards one of the many doors of the hotel.
"Sorry, Bloss. We had to make it look natural," Buttercup also whispered as they walked out of the hotel and into the street.
"But guys... They're being nice to us. I feel bad that we're ditching them," Bubbles rationalized. Buttercup and Blossom looked at her worriedly. They had a feeling she would react this way.
"Don't feel bad, Bubbles. We're doing them a favor. They won't waste their time taking care of girls who don't need protection," Blossom offered, already had that excuse in mind.
That was not enough to convince Bubbles though. "Still..."
"Oh quit your whining, Bubbles!" Buttercup snapped. "We barely even know the guys. They really have no right to 'protect' us from the 'dangers of the world' or whatever it is. If it was someone like Mitch or Ace who offered it, sure. Why not? We know them. But not these random guys."
It seemed like that statement was what made Bubbles feel a little better. "Yeah... I guess you're right..."
The girls continued walking to the shopping center. They were almost there. They could see the center from where they were walking. Seeing the shopping center made Bubbles immediately forget about the brothers.
"Oh my gosh! It's so big! It's bigger than the one we have at home!" Bubbles squealed.
Wasting no time, the girls scurried in. Once inside, Blossom told them the plan. "Okay girls. Let's see. It's ten-thirty right now. And the center closes at twelve-thirty. One hour for us to explore. And when it's eleven-thirty, we'll meet by the food court and eat! Sounds good?!"
Bubbles and Buttercup nodded. "Yes, m'am!"
"Good!" Blossom exclaimed as they each went their separate ways. Bubbles went into a clothes shop, Buttercup into a sports shop, and Blossom went into the bookstore in where her package lay.
At the exact moment the girls walked into their respective shops, the three brothers walked in the shopping center.
"Okay," Brick began, signaling for his brothers to stop walking and listen to him. "As payback, we are going to annoy those girls as much as possible. The best way to annoy them is to stick by them no matter where they go. Understood?"
Boomer and Butch nodded. "Gotcha." With that, they each went to a different shop, seeing if they could find the girls.
Blossom's Experience
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Blossom silently squealed as she walked through the massive shelves of books. She looked around and was surprised to see a good amount of people sitting on couches or on the floor reading. Then, in a spur of a moment, Blossom wandered her eyes directly into the eyes of a handsome guy around her age, or maybe a bit older. He kept staring at her which unconsciously made her blush.
'Why am I blushing?! I don't blush around guys...' In order to get away from the guy's gaze, she walked into the first aisle that she came upon, opposite from him. Not even a few seconds had passed when that same guy came up right behind her.
"Hello. I'm Shane," the guy introduced himself as he stuck out his hand.
Blossom blinked in surprise and stalled for a few seconds before she extended her hand as well and shook his. "Blossom."
Shane scrunched his eyebrows in curiosity. But then he smiled. Blossom noticed that his brown eyes sparkled as well. "Blossom? That's a very unique name."
Unable to help herself, Blossom smiled. "Thank you. You are the first ever to tell me that."
"Really?" Shane asked. Blossom could hear his bewildered tone. "I would think that a beautiful girl like you with such a beautiful name would get that frequently."
Blossom laughed quietly. "I wish. But it would have been a very awkward conversation."
"You feel awkward right now?" Shane asked, eyes wide.
"No, no, no, no!" Blossom quickly answered. "For a strange reason, this is the most comfortable conversation I've ever had."
Shane raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. "This is the only comfortable conversation you've ever had."
Blossom smiled sheepishly. "You got me there. I don't talk much without confusing people."
"Most of the time," Shane added.
"Most of the time," Blossom agreed.
Shane was about to speak but something unexpected happened. A guy with a red hoodie, black pants, and red/orange hair that reached to his shoulders came behind Blossom and pulled her in a hug, with her face facing his chest. Shane's eyes widened as he listened to the guy speak.
"Blossom! There you are, honey! I've been looking everywhere for you! Why did you leave me hanging?" Brick asked with an obviously fake smile as he pressed Blossom to his body, enough that she would not be able to move no matter how hard she tried to.
"Oh..." Shane began, with a tone of disappointment. "I didn't know you already had a boyfriend, Blossom."
As much as Blossom tried to, she couldn't speak and invalidate that statement; she couldn't even get out of Brick's arms. 'I can't breathe!'
Brick just smirked at Shane, neither conforming nor negating the "boyfriend" statement. "We're busy here."
Shane could not look Brick in the eyes, so he just went back to his spot, got his book (already paid for), and left the store. Once Brick was sure that Shane was gone, he abruptly let go of Blossom.
Once Blossom was out of his death grip, she breathed heavily. She got her breath together, death glared at Brick (who smirked wider in return), and swung her fist at him. Of course, he caught it.
"What's your problem?!" Blossom harshly whispered, trying to take her hand back.
At her question, Brick's smirk disappeared and glared back at Blossom. "What's my problem? Considering that you bailed out on us and risked coming here by yourselves, you ask me what my problem is?! Hey Blossom, that's my question. What's your problem?!" Brick ended, his voice slightly higher in volume than when he first spoke. But he managed to keep his angry tone to a whisper.
Blossom rose her eyebrow in a "you've got to be kidding me" manner. "We barely know you guys! We just met like three hours ago!" Blossom paused for a few seconds before she continued. "No offense, but I don't trust you guys. You may be owners of a luxurious hotel but that's not enough to cover the fact that you guys could be knights in shining armor! Think about it Brick: how would you feel if adults wanted to come with you guys every where you went because you're still teenagers?"
As Brick pondered on Blossom's words, he realized that she had a point. They were strangers, technically. The guys did not really have a right to follow them to "protect" them when they could very well turn out to be the people they were going to protect from the girls, from the girls' point of view. With that in mind, he let go of her fist.
"You're right," Brick admitted. Blossom looked up at him in shock. She did not expect for him to agree so easily. "I apologize for my actions. It wasn't right of me to force my brothers to follow you guys."
Blossom blinked in astonishment. "Uh... Thank you..." Blossom began unsure. "And I'm sorry that we bailed out on you guys when you just wanted to see that we were alright."
Brick smiled down at Blossom. A blush began to creep up on Blossom's face. 'He looks so handsome when he smiles.'
"Now that we got that out of the way, have you gotten your books?"
Thank goodness that Brick broke the silence because Blossom felt her face go red. "No. Not yet. I'll go get them now."
With that Blossom and Brick walked up to the counter to ask for Blossom's books.
"Hello," the cashier began cheerily. "How may I help you?"
"I got a call today that my books were ready for me to pick up. Here is my number order," Blossom explained as she handed the woman her order i.d.
The woman looked at it and nodded. "Okay. I'll be right back with your books." With that, she disappeared into the back.
Blossom and Brick remained there in silence until Brick broke it. "So. What type of books did you order?"
"Hm. Let's see. I got Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, Metamorphosis, and the series of Clifford: The Big Red Dog," Blossom listed.
Brick did a double take and looked at her incredulously. Clifford? Did he hear wrong? "I don't mean to sound rude but..."
Blossom laughed at his expression. "My three baby cousins are turning five very soon, and they love Clifford. And by love, I mean they're obsessed!"
Brick nodded. "That explains. But why order the books here?"
"My aunt and uncle begged me to find a place where they sold the whole set of books for a very cheap price. They told me that they would pay for the books, and even a little extra for my troubles, but I told them that I would just give them as a birthday present," Blossom answered.
"Wait. The whole set of books?" Brick asked. "How many books are that?"
As soon as he finished asking that, the woman came back, put five boxes (one at a time) on the counter, and read a list. "Okay. In this box," she pointed to a box, "the books Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, and Metamorphosis are inside." Then, she pointed to the rest of boxes. "In these boxes are the series of Clifford: The Big Red Dog, twenty in each box for a total of eighty" the woman finished. She looked at the boxes and then up at Blossom and Brick. "Thank goodness your boyfriend is here to help you carry these boxes!"
Blossom twitched. Not again. "He is not-"
"I know right," Brick began, interrupting Blossom, with no care in the world. "She did not even want me to come!"
The woman's eyes sparkled as Blossom gaped at Brick's words. "How adorable! I wish I had a boyfriend as caring as you!"
Blossom twitched some more and spoke again, "M'am. He is not-"
"This is it, right?" Brick asked the woman, ignoring Blossom again. The woman nodded. "Great." He put the five boxes in one stack and lifted them up. "Thank you for your help!" With that, Brick began walking away.
Blossom could only gap at the events that unfolded in front of her eyes. "T-Thank you!" Blossom decided to finally say as she bowed to the woman and ran right after Brick.
When she caught up to him, she tried to take the boxes from him. He would not budge a bit. "Brick. I bought this stuff. It's only fair I carry them."
"Yeah. Sure," Brick shrugged. He made no move to hand the boxes to her.
Blossom sighed and looked up at Brick. Why did he not clarify to the woman that they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend? Why did he lie to Shane about that? Was he still mad that she and her sisters ditched him and his brothers? Probably.
"Blossom! Buttercup!" a voice called out. Blossom and Brick looked straight ahead to see Boomer and Bubbles standing in front of the empty food court, save for the workers. And thus, they joined them.
Bubbles's Experience
"The dresses here are very beautiful!" Bubbles gushed as she looked around a dress shop. She found dresses of all shapes, colors, and sizes. Although some colors were not Bubbles's favorites, she had to admit that the design of the dresses made up for the color that she wouldn't have minded if she had to wear them.
Bubbles kept looking around and saw the dress. She quickly walked over to it, and her eyes began to sparkle. The dress was a light blue and went up to the knees. From the waist down, the sides were ruffled and puffed but in a way that did not look bulky. It had ruffles around the neck and around the shoulders. All in all, Bubbles loved the dress. She kept staring at it until-
"What are you looking at?" a voiced asked right next to her ear.
"AH!" Bubbles jumped in surprise as she spun around. She blinked when she saw who it was as she put her hand to her heart. Boomer. "You scared me, Boomer."
Boomer chuckled and gave her a bright smile. "My apologies."
After Bubbles was done calming down, she looked up curiously at Boomer. "What are you doing here?"
At hearing her question, Boomer smirked. "I'm here because I, along with my brothers, was supposed to escort a beautiful young lady and her sisters to the mall. But they ran off on us. Do you know where I may find them?"
Bubbles's eyes widened. But then she sheepishly rubbed her head. "I have stubborn older sisters. Since I'm the 'small' one, I don't usually get a say in what goes."
Boomer sighed in agreement as he started looking at the clothes rack Bubbles was in front of, wondering if she was looking at a certain dress or dresses in general. "I know how that feels."
"Yay!" Bubbles cheered. Boomer looked at her in confusion. She smiled sheepishly and clarified, "I have someone to connect with."
Boomer chuckled again. "Glad to know," he responded.
After that, the two lapsed into a comfortable silence. However, that soon was broken when Bubbles asked the question.
"By the way, did you guys really follow us here?"
Boomer stared at her, one eyebrow raised. "Yes. Which is why I'm here."
Now it was Bubbles's turn to stare at him. Why was he act- Oh... "No. I phrased that wrong. I mean, how did you know exactly where I was? This mall is really huge! And did your brothers find my sisters?"
Boomer shrugged as he first answered Bubbles's last question. "I don't know if they found them already. But we have the home court advantage: we know where all the shops, and what type of shops, are."
Bubbles thought about it for a moment when she finally nodded. "That makes sense. But you still haven't answered my initial question."
"Hmm," Boomer began. He did a once over on Bubbles and saw her blush when she saw that he was "checking" her out. "You are a girl that has a good taste of fashion and clothes. Which brings me to my brothers' and my final advantage: we know which shops are still open."
"Just because the mall remains open until midnight, it doesn't mean that all the shops remain open!" Bubbles declared and finished.
Boomer nodded. "Exactly. Now that I'm done answering your twenty questions, why don't you answer mine?"
"Huh?" Bubbles asked confusedly. She thought back to when she heard his voice next to her ear. What are you looking at? "Oh! Now I remember!" Subconsciously, she grabbed the beautiful dress and showed it to him.
"Ah," Boomer nodded as he took the dress from her hands. "Are you going to buy it?"
Bubbles smiled sadly as she redirected her gaze to the floor. "I want to. But it costs too much."
Boomer glanced at the price tag of the dress. "One hundred sixty dollars... That is a little expensive. But then again, how could you have afforded our hotel? Not to rain a bad image to our hotel, but it is pretty expensive."
At his statement, Bubbles laughed. "If a hotel is expensive, it means it's a good place to stay at. I'm not exactly the rich one here. Our Professor is. He may be rich, but he told us that he would only provide the basic necessities and vacation spots and some other stuff. But if we want a superlative, we would have to buy that on our own."
Boomer nodded at Bubbles's explanation. "That's actually good parenting."
"I know. I used up my paycheck to pay for my high school tuition and put some of it towards college and a car. Now, I'm going to have to wait until my next one," Bubbles commented as she sighed. "But by the time I receive it, I won't be here anymore. And I do not like buying stuff online."
Boomer kept glancing at Bubbles, trying to figure out a way to help her. That didn't take long for him to think. "I'll pay it for you."
That statement caused Bubbles to snap out of her trance. "WHAT?!" she bellowed, receiving looks from the cashier and the only worker at the store. "Sorry..." she whispered quietly.
"Let me finish," Boomer calmly replied as he tried hard to not laugh right in front of Bubbles. "I'll pay for it, but you will pay me back. With interest, of course."
Bubbles stared curiously at him. "Are you saying this just so you could have my number?"
Boomer grinned and chuckled. "Caught red-handed. But seriously, we'll keep in contact, and I'll give you my bank account number, so you could deposit monthly payments."
"I feel like I'm doing business negotiations," Bubbles commented as she began exchanging numbers and all that stuff with Boomer on pieces of paper that they both happened to carry.
"It is," Boomer confirmed. Bubbles stared at him, waiting for an explanation. "For one, I'm charging you interest. Second, you have to make monthly payments. Cut the fact that we don't have an official contract, but it's still the same concepts."
Bubbles nodded understandingly. "I get it now," Bubbles began in a normal tone. "But do you trust me that much? The girl that abandoned you for her sisters? The girl who would not fight to stay by your side?" she finished dramatically.
Boomer laughed outright, receiving the same stares Bubbles received when she exclaimed as well. "Sorry. Good point. But think. I have your number. And I'm rich. I could easily report you to the police for anything I accuse you of."
It was Bubbles's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You wouldn't do that. Besides, like you said, we do not have a contract. How do they know you are telling the truth?"
Boomer smirked. "I'm rich. Rich people get what they want without much trouble. And try me, Bubbles."
Even if Bubbles knew he had the truth spot on, she smiled and playfully rolled her eyes. Ignoring Boomer's challenging words, she stuck out her hand. "Well, business negotiator. Let's put this deal to work."
Boomer nodded and smiled as he shook her hand. "Of course."
Once they finished the negotiations, Bubbles and Boomer went up to the cashier and paid for the dress. As soon as that was done, they walked out of the shop, with Boomer carrying the back.
"So," Boomer began. Bubbles turned her head to look at him. "Where are you meeting your sisters?"
"At the food court," Bubbles answered immediately. "Where are you meeting your brothers?"
"Wherever you guys are meeting," Boomer smiled while Bubbles blushed. "I mean, you guys are the reason we are here."
Bubbles grinned. "Admit it. You had a wonderful time," she teased.
"True," Boomer admitted as he winked at Bubbles, causing another blush to fill her cheeks.
"L-Let's just get there," Bubbles stammered. But then she glanced at him. He met her eyes. "Are you hungry?"
Boomer chuckled and nodded. "Yep." Thus, they walked to the food court, making them the first pair to be there.
Buttercup's Experience
"Such a boring sports shop this mall has..." Buttercup murmured as she walked in and only saw equipment for various of sports that they were selling. The shop may be as huge as a high school but that didn't mean it had anything fun to offer.
"May I help you?"
Buttercup turned to the side and saw a worker, she assumed by the uniform, standing next to her. "Not really. This is a boring shop." Unlike her sisters, Buttercup did not care at all if she was being rude.
The worker was not at all fazed at her rude tone. "Would you like to play a sport?"
At that question, Buttercup's eyes sparkled. "No way... You guys have sports rooms?!"
The worker nodded. "Yes. We do. Name the sport, and we will most likely have it."
"Baseball?" Nod. "Hockey?" Nod. "Rollerblading?" Nod.
"Wow... I take back all the bad things I said about this shop! This is so amazing!" Buttercup announced.
"Glad to hear that," the worker commented sincerely. "Did you decide which sport you would like to do?"
"Tennis!" Buttercup answered immediately. The worker nodded and motioned for Buttercup to follow him. He led her to the counter.
"Please wait for a few minutes while I get the tennis room ready. Would you like to borrow some workout clothes?"
Buttercup gaped at him. "Wow. You guys are so prepared!" But before she could answer his question, Buttercup just remembered a drastically important detail. "Wait... How much does all of this cost?!" she asked in shock. How could she forget that she only had a limited amount of cash and credit on her?
The worker smiled. "After ten thirty pm, it is free until the moment we close."
Buttercup blinked at him, not knowing whether to be happy of such a great offer or question why such a luxurious shop would be very generous with that offer.
"Hardly anyone comes to the shopping center around this hour," the worker explained, answering her unspoken question. "There really is no reason to charge for zero amount of people."
"That's reasonable," Buttercup agreed. "Well, if that's the case, I would like to borrow some clothes then." She didn't bother asking if they had shoes as she was already tennis shoes.
"Of course, m'am." Thus, the worker went to get the room ready and brought out a set of clothes. He handed them to Buttercup. "The tennis room is ready. And here is the sign to put outside the door. But since there is no one around, I doubt you'll need it. The sports rooms are over there. Have fun!" He pointed to the direction of the rooms.
Buttercup nodded. "Thanks!" And made her way over there. Once she got there, she found the bathroom and changed into the workout clothes. Then she put her regular clothes in a locker, locked it, and went to the tennis room. Just a minute later, she began playing.
"Take that!" Buttercup yelled as she hit the tennis balls to the cushion wall. The machine spit out the final tennis ball. Buttercup waited until the ball was in front of her, swung her arm, and hit the ball. "And that!" Buttercup kept playing for quite a while.
When the machine gave a notice that there were no balls left, Buttercup began picking up the balls and throwing them back into the machine. When she finished that, she went outside the tennis room and sat on a bench directly outside of the room. She looked around and saw the various sports rooms that filled the back of the sports store. Then, when Buttercup looked down, she found a notepad and a pencil right next to her.
"Heh. I was so wrong about this shop! This is far from boring! They even have a notepad and a pencil on the benches," Buttercup commented as she leaned back and began writing her scores. "Let's see... In this round, I hit forty two balls over the net... So I missed eight. Hm. Not bad."
"Not bad? That is a terrible score!" a new voice spat.
Buttercup twitched as she looked up. Butch Jojo was the last person she expected (and wanted) to see. He walked towards her and stood in front of her. Instead of asking him anything like why he was here or how did he find her, Buttercup went straight for bait. "Think you can do better?"
Butch smirked as she knowingly challenged him. "You're on."
Buttercup smirked as she stood up. "You really don't know who you are going against do you?"
Butch's smirk grew as he motioned for Buttercup to wait for him. He left the sports rooms for a few minutes before he returned with a racket. "Let's go!"
Buttercup raised an eyebrow as she saw his attire. "You're not going to change clothes?"
At her statement, Butch snorted. "You're checking me out?" Buttercup gave him a death glare while Butch winked at her. "I don't need need to." With that, he took off his hoodie and carelessly threw it at the bench.
Now Buttercup could see why he didn't need to change. He was wearing a tank top underneath. Granted, he already had shorts on.
"Impressed?" Butch asked with a smirk since he noticed Buttercup became quiet.
Buttercup rolled her eyes. "You wish. Come on, green boy! Let's go in there!"
So the battle began. Luckily for both of them, in theory, there were two tennis balls machines in the room. Buttercup stood in front of the one that she had used, and Butch stood in front of the other one, which were about seven feet apart from each other.
"Are you ready to lose, home boy?" Buttercup taunted.
Her "new" nickname for him made Butch snicker. "HA! Get ready to be kissing the ground!"
Buttercup rolled her eyes at his lame comeback. "Whatever. Machine One & Two!" Buttercup called. (The machines were voice automated.) "Throw the balls at twenty miles per hour!"
"Balls. Ready to serve at twenty miles per hour," the machines said simultaneously. Butch and Buttercup got into their tennis stances. "Shooting in three. Two. One. Zero."
And the first ball (for each machine) speeds towards them. They hit it. This goes for the next twenty balls until Buttercup missed one.
"Dammit!" Buttercup hissed. Butch smirked at her struggle. But that second that he paid attention to her, he missed a ball of his own.
"Sh**!" Butch cursed. Now, it was Buttercup's turn to smirk. She added a snicker to that. Not as strange as she had previously thought, she felt herself doing much better than when she first started. Shaking her thoughts out of her mind, she remained focused on the balls.
Other than that mishap the two of them faced, they were both evenly matched. The machine was down to ten balls. These ten balls will determine who the victor and loser are going to be. These ten balls will decide who has bragging rights. These ten balls will-
"I WIN!" Buttercup screamed as she jumped up and down while Butch sighed in defeat. They both hit the first nine balls of the last ten correctly. However, Butch hit the ball a little too low and did not hit over the tennis wall line.
He looked over at Buttercup and couldn't help but smile as he saw her happy form. He quickly got rid of it though when she stopped celebrating and turned to face him. She grabbed one of the many tennis balls on the ground and threw it to him. He caught it with ease.
"Good game, Butch," Buttercup stated sincerely. "Let's play together some other time."
To be honest, those were the last words Butch expected to come out of her mouth. Since he could not stand mushy moments for more than a minute, he smirked. "Right. You mean give me more opportunities for me to beat you?"
Buttercup rolled her eyes as she grabbed two balls from the ground and threw them both to Butch. He immediately let go of the one Buttercup previously threw at him and grabbed the two balls she just threw. She had no idea what impulsed her to do this, but when she saw his hands full, she just had to attack him. She quickly grabbed a bunch of balls and began throwing them at him.
"Hey!" Butch barked as he began to swiftly dodge the balls. "No fair! You have most of the balls on your side!"
Buttercup smirked as she continued throwing, not noticing that he was coming closer towards her. "I don't care!" When she finished that statement, she realized that she ran out of balls (sans for one) and that Butch was much closer to her than before. Out of reflex, she threw that last ball in her hand. Well, she thought she did.
"Woah! Calm down, Buttercup," Butch said hotly as he tightly held Buttercup's wrist that held the ball.
Buttercup twitched. "Okay, I'm calm. Let go now."
"Let go of the ball first," Butch commanded, clearly not trusting her with a ball.
Buttercup shook her head and began to pull her wrist back. He held it tighter. "Hey! Come on! I promise I won't throw!"
Butch sighed. They weren't going to get anywhere at this rate... He let go of her wrist. Buttercup let go of the ball. Butch stared at her with wide eyes. What? She smirked as she brought his hand to his shoulder and patted it.
"See? I told you-" Buttercup cut herself off when she realized she was falling. At a desperate attempt to remain standing, she grabbed the nearest thing her hand could reach. The nearest thing being Butch's shirt. And so, the pair went tumbling down. Butch on top of Buttercup, their faces a mere centimeter away.
Butch reacted first. He smirked as he saw Buttercup's wide eyes. "If you wanted to go all the way, you could have just told me."
That seemed to wake Buttercup up. She glared at the boy on top of her. "Who would want that with you? Get off of me!" she demanded as she used her hands, that were at her side, put them on his chest, and began pushing him off. Not that she succeeded.
"And you guys said you could protect yourselves," Butch reminded as he shook his head at Buttercup's futile struggling.
Buttercup twitched and carefully turned her head to the side. She murmured, "Guys are not generally strong as you..."
Of course, Butch heard every word she said, but he pretended he didn't. "What was that?"
Before Buttercup could retort, the worker came in...
"Hey guys. I just wanted to let you know that..." the worker began but trailed off when he saw his customers on the ground. "Sorry for interrupting. But letting you know: if you guys have se-" He didn't have to finish his sentence as Butch and Buttercup immediately got off of each other and stood in front of the worker.
The worker kept his laugh in. "We're about to close soon. Please put the balls back into the machine." Nods from both of them was all the worker needed to walk out.
"Well," Buttercup began as she began picking up the balls. This time throwing them back into the machine. "Let's get cleaning."
Butch nodded as he began to help her. Once they were done, Butch followed Buttercup to the locker room. He waited outside until she was done changing. They headed to the counter and gave the worker the stuff they borrowed back. They thanked him for a good time and walked out of the shop. As they walked out, Buttercup took out her phone.
"Eeeh..." Buttercup grimaced.
Butch glanced at her. "What?" One look at Buttercup's screen told him all he needed to know. Before he could check his own phone-
"Blossom! Buttercup!" a voice called out. Both of them looked up to see Bubbles waving at them. They began walking faster.
11:23 PM
"Has she answered?" Boomer asked Bubbles as she tried dialing Blossom's number, again. They were currently standing in front of the food court.
Bubbles shook her head as she began dialing another phone number. "Nope. What about your brothers?"
Boomer shook his head. "Nothing. Brick always pick up his calls," Boomer commented suspiciously as he stared at his phone.
Bubbles sighed. "That was the fifth time I've called her. Let me try Buttercup again-"
Before Bubbles could finish her sentence, she saw her respective sisters with Boomer's brothers. She glanced at her phone to see 11:30 blinking on the screen. She smiled as she waved her sisters over.
"Blossom! Buttercup!" Her sisters and Boomer's brothers apparently heard her because they began walking towards her and Boomer.
"Bubbles!" Blossom and Buttercup exclaimed as they hugged their sister. The guys, meanwhile, stared at them. Once the mini reunion was over, the six walked over to a table. All of them, except Boomer and Brick, sat down. Boomer and Brick each both grabbed a chair and put down the girls' stuff on them. Then, they sat down.
"How are we going to do this, Bloss?" Buttercup asked. Before Blossom could answer, Brick spoke.
"I have a proposition," Brick announced. Everyone stared at him. "Since it was Blossom's idea to run off, she has to pay for everything."
"Okay," Blossom casually agreed. Everyone, including Brick, gaped at her. "What? Why do you think I took cash out of the machine?"
"You mean... You knew this was going to happen?" Boomer asked in bewilderment.
"Not everything," Blossom admitted. "I did not know that you guys were going to follow us, to be honest. However, to apologize for wanting some girl time with my sisters, I was going to bring back food for you guys."
Butch raised an eyebrow. "Don't you guys already have 'girl time' every day?"
"And why didn't you guys stick together, then?" Brick questioned as well.
Blossom sighed, clearly not wanting to answer the questions. So Buttercup and Bubbles helped with the answers.
"Nope. We have different classes and activities in our high school. We barely see each other at home as well because of our schedules," Bubbles answered Butch.
"With that, in case you haven't noticed, our tastes are completely different," Buttercup began, answering Brick's question. "We were going to spend an hour here at the food court either way. That's enough bonding time."
The brothers shrugged. "If you say so."
The girls stared at the brothers and burst out laughing. Simultaneously, the brothers rose an eyebrow, which just intensified the laughter. After a while, they calmed down, the brothers still staring at them.
"Sorry," Bubbles spoke. "You guys said that in such a good synchronization that it sounded funny."
"What do you guys want to eat?" Blossom asked the group after Bubbles explained.
The guys gave their list. The girls gave their lists. Taking a mental note of the things they ordered, Blossom stood up and went to go and order.
"Blossom." Blossom turned around to see Brick coming up to her. "I'll pay for my brothers. You take care of your sisters."
Blossom shrugged and smiled. "If you say so."
Brick did a double take. "Aren't you supposed to fight me on this?"
"It's night. I'm tired. Let's just order," Blossom curtly commanded as she ordered what her sisters listed. Brick did the same but with his brothers' demands.
As there was no one else around, the staff quickly got their food together. Brick and Blossom did not even bother to sit down because they knew they would be done very soon. They were. The two of them got their food and walked back towards their table.
12:15 PM
"And that was the time that I slipped on water and fell down on a plate of meatballs," Bubbles sighed as everyone on the table laughed.
"Let me tell you this one time," Buttercup began. "This guy tried to flirt with me."
Butch snorted. "You? What makes you- Oof!" Butch howled in pain when Buttercup kicked him in the shin.
"Ignoring him. He was failing so badly that his face turned red!" Buttercup exclaimed as she laughed, unable to finish the story.
Blossom smiled and shook her head. "She just glared at the poor guy in front of her. Bubbles and I were like a foot away from her, motioning for her to be nice."
Brick raised an eyebrow. "What's the punchline?"
"We are getting there!" Buttercup announced once she stopped laughing. "Bubbles. The punchline please."
Bubbles cleared her throat. Then, in a five-year-old voice, Bubbles exclaimed, "Mommy, mommy! Look at that man over there! I think he's dead! He's so red!"
The table burst out laughing. "Everyone in the mall turned to stare at the poor guy, and he turned even redder. He stammered a good bye and ran off," Blossom ended as she took a fry and popped it into her mouth.
"Poor, poor guy," Bubbles sniffed. "I felt so bad for him!"
"Tch. I didn't," Buttercup gritted. Bubbles playfully glared at her sister and stepped on her foot. "Ow!" The six laughed again and calmed down after a few minutes. Then, a worker came up to them.
"Excuse me," he began. "We are about to close soon."
"Oh okay," Blossom answered. "We will be on our way shortly."
The worker nodded. "Thank you." And he left.
"Well," Boomer began as he stood up and grabbed his tray of food. The others following suit. "That's our cue to leave."
They all poured their trash into the trash can and began discussing how many of Blossom's boxes each boy was going to carry, ignoring Blossom's protests. In the end, Brick and Butch ended up carrying two while Boomer carried one. Bubbles grabbed the bag her dress was in, and they were set to go. They were out by twelve twenty eight and walking back to the hotel.
"You know, today was kind of fun," Bubbles reminisced as the bag in her hand swung as she walked.
Boomer smiled at her. "It was too eventful. But I do agree with you."
Buttercup and Blossom twitched at the two's flirty nature. "Please," Blossom began, looking at Boomer. Boomer stared at her with a confused expression. "Stop flirting with my sister," she deadpanned. At her words, both of the blues blushed.
Before Boomer or any of his brothers could retort, Buttercup asked the question that should have been the first thing asked at the beginning of this adventure. "Wait a minute... Why were you guys here following us? Don't you have hotel to manage?"
Again, the boys shrugged and answered simultaneously, "We do. But that doesn't mean we can't have days off."
The girls were too tired this time to laugh again. Instead, they nodded, accepting their reason. "Good for you guys," Buttercup said as she stifled a yawn.
Butch smirked as he noticed her tiny yawn. "Tired?"
"Yeah," Buttercup deadpanned. "You got a problem with that?"
He shook his head. "Nope. I was wondering if you'd be too weak to go on and needed me to- OW!" Butch screamed when Buttercup kicked the back on his knee. Before he could hit her back, Buttercup had already ran off.
"Haha! Catch me if you can!" she taunted when she looked back.
Butch glared at her running form and began running after her. "Just wait until I catch up with you...!" The rest of his words were lost as he sprinted. Bubbles and Blossom sighed while Boomer and Brick smirked.
"Oh Buttercup," Bubbles whispered as she shook her head. "She never..."
Blossom and Boomer looked at her. "She never what?" Blossom asked.
"I just remembered..." Bubbles began. "Blossom. The guy that tried to flirt with Buttercup some time ago..."
Blossom scrunched her eyebrows. "What about him?" This conversation now had Brick's and Boomer's attention.
"I think I saw him... When I was in the clothes shop... It looked like he came out of another shop. I remembered he was holding a book," Bubbles described.
At this description, Brick and Blossom glanced at each other. Then they looked at Bubbles. "Did he happen to have brown eyes?"
Bubbles shrugged. "I don't know. But he was very handsome," Bubbles sighed dreamily. Boomer could feel his insides churning and flaring.
"That's Shane alright," Blossom confirmed as she also sighed dreamily. Unbeknownst to Brick, he subconsciously glared at Blossom.
"Hey," Brick called to get the two sisters' attention. They turned to him. "Let's pick up the pace before it gets even darker."
Blossom and Bubbles nodded as they began walking faster, the guys in tow. And thus, that was the end of an eventful day. But wait! What about Butch and Buttercup? They both were in front of the hotel, panting. What were they doing? Well...
"I got here first!"
"NO! I did!"
"Yeah right! You couldn't even beat me at tennis!"
"I let you win!"
"You keep telling yourself that!"
The two kept arguing until Butch's brothers and Blossom's sisters came. And now, the eventful day has ended.
Well. That was long. This is the longest one shot I have ever written. Wow. I realized that each of the girls' experience is as long as one one shot. Which I do not know why I didn't just separate them into different chapters (Probably because I was already done when I realized that). But whatever. Here is the sequel! I hope it is satisfactory to your wants and needs! Thank you to everyone who reviewed "Are You Crazy?" I'm sorry for not responding to the wonderful reviews you guys left me! Tell me how this one turns out. By the way, I do not know the speed of tennis balls, so sorry if I got that info wrong. (I just play the sport. Not analyze it. XD)