"How long is your tongue? Seriously?"
"About one foot, really" Tak said with a slight grin as she observed the disgusted human adults around them; desired affect acheived. She pulled back from Keef as they resumed walking down the street.
"I'm just saying you don't have to shove the whole thing into my mouth" Keef said stumbling slightly trying to keep up with his fast walking (fake...sorta) girlfriend.
"Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it" Tak said walking "You're pants lump gives it away" this comment Caused Keef to suddenly look down and cover his crotch in embarrassment. They were supposed to meet up with their friends at the mall. Three weeks had gone by since that whole kissing incident. And everything was pretty good for the most part. Keef had gotten used to whole 'public displays of affection' thing...for the most part anyway (knowing they were mostly to keep the relationship image going made it slightly easier to adjust), heavy make out session's in the hallways of school still made him lightheaded, as did the moment where she'd randomly grab him and do it just to disgust the surrounding adult's. With all honesty though Keef had sorta grown to like a lot of things about Tak; She rarely slept so he had company when he couldn't sleep, they walked alot, went to movies and restraunts, Talked about anything they could. Yeah, Keef enjoyed being with Tak, though that was the part that confused him, was it just a friendship thing, or something more? Was it stockholm syndrome maybe? Was he...getting feelings for her? The alien? The alien thing was still slightly difficult to get used to also; Tak could only eat certain foods, snacks and sodas, as well as meat based foods. Rain was also bad; going out in the rain required a large umbrella and layers and layers of rain clothes that covered most of her skin.
In the short three weeks they'd live together they slowly allow eachother to see bits of themselves that had yet been revealed. Tak, while still very confident, cunning and demanding of respect; she'd also revealed a rather dark and snarky sense of humor. And Keef kinda felt himself loosening up a bit around people now, knowing that not all humanity was out to kill him, he found himself actively starting conversations with Tak and other's.
"Don't you think it's odd that we've became friends with the girlfriends of the people we killed?" Tak asked as they waited inside at the front of the mall gate for Gretchen and Zita, Fall had kicked in.
"What do you mean?" Keef asked.
"Well if I remember Gretchen and The Dib were dating" she explained "and I remember Zita having mentioned a thing about Zim, I may have misheard of course."
"That is rather ironic, I think" Keef replied. "What do you think we're all gonna do once Zita and Gretch' get here?" He asked regarding their two best friend, The town wouldn't exactly expect the school loner and the new student, to make an instant couple, but what was harder to beleive was the 'former' school loner, the new student, one of the popular girls, and the local punk girl to form what may have been the most well balanced team of friends in the school; Tak was what they considered partly the leader, while Zita the crazy eccentric member. Gretchen was the brainy and resourceful one, and Keef rounded it all out keeping everything grounded as the down to earth (and only) guy.
"Speak of the devil" Tak interrupted
"or devils" Keef added as the The other half of their group approached.
"Hello, hello my lovelies" Zita greeted them,
"Why hello" Tak said to them with a smile while Keef waved kinda akwardly "So what plans do we have to do today?"
"oh, y'know" Gretchen started with a grin
"Kidnapping you guys" Zita finished before both of them grabbed Keef and Tak and ran in different directions.
Next thing Keef knew he was being yanked into a men's clothing store full of finely made suits, blazers and other fine men's wear. His eyes spinning, not quite sure how he got there or who pulled him there Keef dizzily stumbled forward
"Sorry I pulled you so hard" Gretchen appologised
"It's...woah" Keef stumbled a tiny bit to the side "I'm okay"
Gretchen giggled a little bit "so let's get you something to wear" before turning thumbing through the racks of clothing
"huh?" Keef finally regained ballance," something to wear"
:"Me and Zita are setting you and Keef up on a date tonight" She stated
"Wha..?" Keef arched his eyebrows in confusion
"We're putting you guys up on a date" Gretchen looked through a set of button up shirts "A romantic evening for you two since you guys don't seem to do much outside of school, hmm I definetly think blue is your color..." She said holding a Dark blue button up shirt to his chest
"Why?"
"well you guys are always hanging out with us, and so Zita Thought we'd pay you back and set you up with some alone time tonight"
" I don't think you have to go to all the trouble"
" Well you like Tak right?"
Actually he wasn't sure, but he wasn't gonna tell her that
"Yeah, she said you'd look unsure" gretchen said turning back grabbing a couple tie's "here go try these on"
"unsure? who said that?" Keef said
"Zita did" Gretchen said matter of factly as she and him proceeded to the fitting rooms
"I'm not getting what you mean"
"Get in there and I'll let you in on the details" She said pushing Keef into a fitting room "You're probably not gonna beleive it, but Zita's, sorta...Clairvoyant."
"Clairvoyant?" Keef asked from behind the door
"She can read emotions...and sorta vaguely see the future"
"So she's psychic?"
"She refuses to use that word" Gretchen gestured spinning her hand in the air, despite Keef not being able to see her doing it "she says that it's too...mainstream"
"okaaay." Keef said walking out in the dress shirt with the tie poorly tied around his neck "how does that have anything to do with me and Tak"
"Here, let me fix that" She said undoing and retying the tie properly "she's told me that you guys are gonna have issues in the future, and that you're both unsure of things, there" she said happily with the tie fixed up "so...we're arranging to get you guys a date...and some clothes for the fall ball in a couple weeks, oh yes you are date worthy...that went faster than I thought actually."
"so wait, we're both unsure of things?" Keef went back in the room getting his regular clothes back on
"yes, she didn't say how...but you're bothing kinda doubtful of things."
"and how do you know she's right about all this?" he asked before walking out of the fitting room
"She told me Dib would ask me out, she was right" Gretchen said grabbing the clothes from him "So I don't doubt, my dad's picking up the Tab by the way" she said flashing a visa card as they walked offl Keef was still a bit confused, Tak was confused too...what could that mean? "oh don't think your done just yet, we're getting you a haircut" she interrupted his thoughts "or at the least a trim" and before he knew it he was being dragged off again, now even more confused then he'd started.
"A date?"
"Yes" Zita Said to Tak with a grin as they made their way through the designer womens store.
"And for what reason are you doing this again?" Tak asked the smell of corduroy and cheep perfume assaulting her sense of smell.
"For romance!" She said excitedly turning around dramatically pointing a finger into the sky, her free hand clutching a skirt,
"And what makes you think Me and Keef aren't Romantic already?" she asked crossing her arms lowering her eyebrows.
"oh I'm not saying your not, I'm just saying that there's room for improvement" Zita said clarifying her reason seeing as she'd never once seen her and Keef kiss in a way that didn't result in Keef's eye bugging out and having to gasp for air afterwords.
"And your reasons for randomly assembling a date for me and my boyfriend are..."
"Secret!" Zita said holding up a plaid purple skirt infront of the bottom half of her face, giggling at how rediculous she probably looked before holding the skirt away from her face, "oh, you are diffinetly a purple" she said with satisfied. She handed the skirt over to Tak "now let's get a top for that."
"What exactly is gonna be at this date?"
"Oh, it'll be at a Gazebo at the city park" Zita said flipping through shirts "Fish dinner with music, and then maybe some dancing"
"And how did you manage to assemble all this?"
"Three week's combined pay checks from Hot Topic and Build-a-Bear Workshop" Zita turned around holding at least five tops smiling widely still "Now try these on" she said tossing several tops at Tak
A few moments later Tak had been Yanked and pushed into the back of the store and into a fitting room trying on every possible combination of clothes Zita thought would look good. "Stupid..leggings!" she grunted pulling up the black silk stocking. To be absolutely honest she wasn't quite used to trying actually physical clothes, her disguise usually just created the appropriate clothes for the day. Tak Didn't exactly like the idea of her friends assembling this date thing. She was partly unsure of where things stood with her and Keef, the original concept that their relationship was just to satisfy the masses was slowly distorting, she'd been feeling...emotions, like a human. Being banished, part of her openly excepted that she'd eventually go native at some point, but her baser instincts, her irken instincts; the drive to be superior, and to be on a higher level than those around her strived to keep dominance. And of course she'd never accounted on gaining friends so fast, and the constant companionship of Keef. Especially Keef. Everyday she'd spend with him she felt a little different, whether they just held hands or made out infront of others she felt that the act was slowly becoming...less of an act. It was easy to talk with him, easy to just watch him, that what she did most just watch him as he'd akwardly attempt things around the house, she half dreaded the next thought, she was starting to, dare she say it... Like him. 'LIKE' such a foreign word, never in the days that she'd spent in the academy learning everything she'd need to know was the word "Like" ever brought up. Yes lesson's to fight off the going native instinct were taught. but the fact that she was no longer allied to her own kind made those lesson's irrelevant. She closed her eyes thinking, being human was more difficult than anticipated.
There was a lot of noise being made in the base, most of it originating from the kitchen. Gir had been running all over doing some odd task, and Mimi who was never one to investigate peculiar things was now curious as to what exactly was going on. She peered over the corner, looking into the kitchen she saw tons of stuff mountains of dishes and ingredients and cake boxes, sitting on top of the kitchen table was a smaller table that appeared just about the right size for her.
"Hi Mimi!" Gir greeted loudly from behind her
"...Hi" Mimi spoke for the first time in a long while, her eyes raised in question "what are you doing?"
"It's a secret" Gir said with a grin tossing a blanket over her before suddenly having her placed in the living room "come again later" he waved to her as he ran back to the kitchen the racket of noise picking up speed once again.
Keef was sitting in the bathroom. He needed some air real quick washing his hands and taking a deep breath, he looked at himself in the mirror, Gretchen hade taken him to a salon to have his hair cut, his hair was a tad bit short..it looked less like a tuft now and layed flat on his head, he looked like some sort of magazine ad model for a hair care product. "You done yet? we need to get you some new shoes!" Gretchen spoke through the bathroom door.
He looked down at his faded grey converse "what's wrong with the ones I have?"
"They don't match your suit" she replied
ugh...he looked at the clock on his cell phone, 5:45...the next hour and fifteen minutes was gonna drag on forever.
"Ow!" Tak yelled for the third time " This is starting to hurt!" she yelled at the tatooed man who'd been trying violently to get the silver piercing into her ear above the purple one's her disguise already had.
"Not until I get these to stop falling out" The man said clicking the piercing gun against her ear for a fourth time
"OW!" Tak's yelling could be heard out in the lobby by Zita reading some sort of magazine in the lobby area of the mall tatoo shop.
The fifth time Tak made her disguise shift so that it reflected the double peircing that the man intended, she still yelped, but it got that damned tatoo artist off her back and out of her personal space.
Finally! Keef and Tak mentally rejoiced as Gretchen and Zita respectivly led them out to...opposite sides of the Mall?
"You can't see eachother until you get to the Gazebo." Gretchen and Zita said to both of them
"You have got to be joking" Tak Stated with her eyes set down in slight irritation
The other side of the mall. "Really? Keef asked a bit of exasperation in his voice
Zita "Nope"
" 'Fraid so" Gretchen.
"Gaah" Both teens sighed.
Over at Keefs side of the mall a large, pale blue hatchback van drove up to the entrance "U.S Air Torque at your service" The school swim star leaned out the window to greet Gretchen and Keef.
"Your joking?" Keef looked at Gretchen skeptically
"He's a softy for romance" Gretchen said adjusting the collor of her shirt " he just about jumped at this, plus he also owe's Zita a favor."
Keef started walking to the other side of the van, of course he only got about half way before being grabbed and shoved into the back of the hatchback "Ack!"
"Change into your clothes on the way there" Gretchen said throwing the bag of clothes in with him before slamming the door, giving a thumbs up signal to Torque in the rearview mirror resulting in his immediate departure.
The exact same time on the other side of the Mall.
"Holy crap." Tak said slightly shocked as a slightly dinged up 1968 black camaro pulled up to the entrance
"And Tak's date will be brought to you by the letter M" Zita said in a cheesy anouncer voice as the afformentioned boy popped his head out of the window
"I was told you needed a ride" The letter M said smiling charmingly.
Tak was not pleased. "I'm still not sure about all this"
"Too late." Zita said grabbing her and stuffing her into the back seat of the camaro with her bag full of clothes. "Keep your eyes on the road M" Zita said as she smacked the roof of the car as it drove away. She watched it until it turned out of the parking lot before turning and running off to met Gretchen at her Car. There was still work to be done!
7:30. Keef stood out in his suit, waiting at the spot near the gazebo, adjusting his black blazer over the blue button up shirt and dark blue tie, the blue converse he was wearing were still stiff, he'd have to worry about wearing them in later. He breathed in deeply waiting for Tak to appear, and then he saw her. walking up to him in black legging, a dark purple skirt, matching denim jacket over a grey dress shirt with a black tie. Keef's eye near popped out, he almost couldn't keep his jaw up...Tak, was beautiful.
"Hey" he said akwardly
"Hello" Tak greeted back
"You...look nice" he said rubbing the back of his head akwardly as his face slowly turned red across his cheeks.
"You do too" Tak smiled "I almost didn't wear this"
"Oh" he trailed off some "...well I'm glad you picked that color...purple looks very nice on you"
"As does blue for you" Tak said..."that sounded, akward didn't it?"
"A little but it-"
"Dinner's ready" a voice interrupted from off at the gazebo, both teens turned to see Gretchen and Zita dressed in matching dress shirts and red vests
Gretchen jumped down from off the gazebo stairs and walked up to them both acquiring a fancy french accent "Today, ve will be having ze fried catfish, served with a glass of orange soda" she turned and guided them both. Keef and Tak followed her, both of them giggling as they approached the table in the gazebo "Here we are" she said dropping the accent. "Please take your seats and dinner we'll be her shortly."
They sat down at the table. Zita shortly there after showed up to give them their meal, "and here we are, dinner...is served" she said smiling before leaving, allowing them to begin eating.
The noise stopped. Curious...Mimi walked quietly to the doorway again...woah. Waffles, Taco's, Toquito's, Nacho's, biscuits, bananas, a pyramid of Poop Cola. Gir had been busy.
"Hi Mimi" Gir suprised her from behind causing her to jump around her hand turned into a large rocket launcher
"oh..." Mimi turned her hand back "hi..."
Gir didn't flinch, he appeared to be wearing some sort of bow tie that had been fashioned from a small magnet and some pipe cleaner "Guess what!" he said all happily similar to a kid who had a secret he was ready to share
Mimi eyes shifted to the look of slight confusion and curiosity "...what?"
Gir suddenly tossed a giant sun hat on her head "We're on a date" he said again his smile never getting smaller as he grabbed her and pulled her to the table on top of the bigger table. This certainly was...interestng.
It had been a great hour. The fish was delicious, they were served their favorite drinks, and a light music was playing in the background "This is actually going great" Tak said with a smile
"I know" Keef smiled very relaxed. he felt more relaxed right now then he had in years, he enjoyed everything, specifically Tak's company, she was absolutly radiant. her smile was beautiful.
There was a sudden rising in the volume of the music. The music was a light 1920's music; trumpets, violins, very light jazz. having finished his food Keef stood up, straightening out his shirt and jacket. "Would you like to dance?" he held his hand out with a smile.
"I'd love to" Tak said getting out of her chair, taking his hand she felt a buzz in her chest, a pleasant tingle travelled through her arm as they made their way toward the small courtyard area infront of the gazebo, placing her hands on Keef's shoulders they slowly began dancing with the music.
"I'm actually pretty glad Zita and Gretchen set this up" Keef said smiling pleasantly slowly keeping rythm with Tak
She smiled back "I agree, I had doubts but it was a fairly good date" and she meant that, "we should do this more often." everything was fine so far, Tak had been feeling doubtful about a lot of things...but now she was certain, she moved in closer closing her eyes smiling "I think we're doing pretty good...y'know?"
"That we keep a good image?" Keef said closer his arms around her waist a little more, he was a little suprise how comfortable he was with Tak this close to him.
"Yeah" she said "our image is good" her smile faltered for a moment "what if I wanted this to be..." she paused looking for the right word "more than just image?" she asked looking into his eyes
Keef looked back at her, he swore he could feel the power of her eyes boring into him, and unlike all the times before this he felt...happy..."more than image you ask?" he felt his lips betray him as the curled into a bigger smile.
"Y'know...less liason and more" she pauses once more" partnership...like being the image instead of playing the part" she leaned in a little more the space between them now fully closed off
"Are you saying what I think you're saying"
"That I want us to be actual boyfriend and girlfriend?" She said looking directly into his eye "yes" bits of blue blush inching across her cheeks
"well...I'm glad we're thinking the same. " Keef said a light blush slowly creeping over his face as well.
"Is that too say you've been thinking the same things I've been?"
"I don't know...have you been feeling emotionally confused?" Keef found his face slowly inching closer to Tak's
Tak's face also moved in "More than I've ever felt in ages" she leaned in pressing her lips against his, enjoying this moment.
Keef's entire body tingled as he pressed back into Tak's lips, never wanting the moment to end, he was thinking everything and nothing at the same time taking in the feel of Tak's lips enjoying how soft they were, this was nothing like the intense public make out session's done to impress the masses. No this was rea,l this had actual emotion to it. They slowly pulled apart Keef was breathing fast "that was...nice"
"it...was" Tak had felt the same things Keef felt racing thoughts, full body tingling. oh this was nothing any Irken had ever encountered "let's agree to keep doing that" she leaned in again to start another kiss enjoying every moment of it.
I really don't like much of this chapter but I got a massive case of writers block sometime during it, so I'm sorry if it doesn't feel to up to snuff
