Chapter 9:

The sound of Bo's voice made Lauren's heart skip several beats in succession. There was something so warm and comforting about it, but also so mysterious and alluring. Just hearing Bo's voice made the pain in Lauren's chest dissipate ; and it only took two words. After that was mostly Lauren repeating her apology in various iterations, and restrained pleas for Bo to just "say something, anything."

Although the conversation didn't go as planned and ended with Bo hanging up the phone, hearing Bo's voice was more than enough to remind Lauren was she was jeopardizing by letting Bo get away. And even though it was clear that a simple apology would not fix the damage that had been done, it had been a good starting point. Unfortunately, the actual start of Lauren's pursuit of Bo would have to wait. You had to get to the Dal to meet Kenzi and hopefully figure out this whole mess of misinformation.

"You are probably all wondering why I called you here," Kenzi said as she stood in front of Lauren, Trick and a third party that Lauren had never met.

Lauren assumed that he was one of Kenzi's friends, if not her boyfriend given his appearance. He looked like a thin rail dressed in black leather pants that squeaked every time he moved. And if his pants weren't squeaking then he was nervously rubbing his black steel toed combat boots against the wooden floor of Trick's personal office. Even sitting next to him, Lauren could feel his body tense and on edge. She couldn't tell if that is how he normally acted, or if today he was especially uncomfortable.

Lauren laughed to herself as she glanced his direction and saw a number of spikes sticking through his ears, septum and lips. If those weren't enough to make him uncomfortable, she figured despite his very short cropped 'do, the length of hair that covered one of his eyes and looked like lopsided bangs was more than enough to keep him on edge.

"Don't worry, kids. I am not going to hold you in suspense for too long. We are just waiting on.." Kenzi turned to the door as it slowly opened and in walked Bo. "Perfect timing, She-Ra."

The sight of Bo made Lauren's spine immediately straighten as her breath caught. It had been a long time since she had seen Bo and couldn't help but stare. While she was still painfully beautiful, it was clear that Kenzi was right; Bo had been having a rough few weeks. She had lost a small amount of weight, which made Lauren unconsciously pull her cardigan tighter around her body to try and hide the fact that she was considerably thinner, too. But more than her weight, Bo just looked different. She had dark bags under her eyes and her body had lost the abundant confidence that Lauren had immediately noticed upon first meeting Bo. The only way that Lauren could think to describe Bo was that she looked broken.

After Bo and Lauren held each other's gaze for a few seconds, Bo looked away and walked to her seat next to Trick. Kenzi began from the beginning. "Now that everyone is here, you probably wondered why I called you here."

"Not even a little bit, Love," chimed in the unknown character sitting next to Lauren.

Hmm, he's British, too, Lauren thought to herself.

"Zip it," Kenzi said as she shot him a harsh glare.

"It has occurred to me that we have become a quaint little dysfunctional family," Kenzi said as her voice softened and she looked at the rest of the group. "And just like every dysfunctional family, we have some serious issues. The first thing on the table to figure out this shiznit between Trick and Bo."

"What are you talking about?" Trick asked, confused by her accusation.

"Seriously, Trick? You don't think we have some stuff to figure out?" Bo asked sarcastically as she relaxed in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.

"Absolutely not," Trick replied with reticence.

"Dude, you have to be kidding me. Even I see it," the British interloper offered up.

Trying to referee the impending discussion, Kenzi put both hands up and tried to rein everyone in. "Hold on. Not all at once." After a slight pause she continued, "Bo Diddly, you start."

"Trick, can you just stay out of my personal life?" Bo shouted in frustration.

"What do you mean?" Trick asked in shock. "Clearly I am staying out of your personal life or else you wouldn't be running amuck like your mother used to do."

"You think I run amuck," Bo shot back incredulously. "So what exactly do I do that is so unruly?"

Trick brought his right hand to his forehead and rubbed his browbone. "Don't think I don't know about the list of bodies that you have left in your wake. I can't count the number of waitresses that start their shifts and end up quitting in a week in tears because you haven't returned their calls."

"Is that what this is about?" Bo's voice was quieter but still cross. "You think I am this wild child because I flirt with your waitresses and don't call them back?" Bo paused as she felt her anger boiling at Trick's accusation. "Do you have any idea what my life looks like on a daily basis?"

"Of course I do," Trick retorted.

"Then tell me," Bo challenged.

"I don't need to prove that I know your schedule by heart. You have class and fencing," Trick answereds trying to feign offense when in reality he didn't know Bo's schedule at all.

"Bo, maybe you should dial it down a little bit," Kenzi said as she took a step toward Bo and tried to touch Bo's shoulder.

Bo ignored Kenzi and got to her feet. "5am. I wake up for training," Bo was irate and rattled off her daily schedule by the hour. But when she got to 2pm, her voice caught and she glanced at Lauren before continuing to show Trick where all the problems were. "7pm I eat dinner and from there I have the rest of the night to get work done before bed. And those are on days I am not traveling. So, you tell me when I have time to be this loose cannon that you seem to think I am because the way I see it, I only have time to be your meal ticket." Bo slumped back down in her seat and held her head in her hands.

Lauren just sat with her hands in her lap.

"You're overacting," Trick said in a hushed tone. "Alright, fine. So you don't have time to date them, can you at least find some other distractions that don't work for me and ultimately endanger your livelihood?"

"What is with that word?" Kenzi interrupted. "You sound like Anya. It's like the only three syllable word that chick knows."

"Well, now that you mention it, Anya is one that comes to mind," Trick said looking at Kenzi before looking back at Bo. "I nearly lost my only manager and you almost lost your scholarship because you get so caught up in these girls."

"What are you talking about?" Bo said flatly looking at Trick. "I almost never lost anything."

"Really, what about when you were prepping for junior nationals. You started out with your worst ranking in years. And by the end of everything I had Anya in my office threating to quit because of you," Trick barked at Bo.

"In case you forgot, I ended that tournament seeded number one and finally single," Bo said angrily as she stared into space.

"Hey Trick Daddy, I don't means no disrespect, but Anya is the mayor of batshit Crazyville," Kenzi joked. "She's wanted to be on Bo's stick since before junior nationals; and she's the one who ran all kinds of interference with Bo's practice schedule, which is why her seed bottomed out. After we cut that bitch loose, we were ballin'!"

"That makes no sense. Anya said that she tried to help you and you just used and discarded her," Trick said trying to make sense of this all.

"Perhaps that's where you went wrong, ya tosser," the British man said to himself as he folded his arms across his chest. "Never listen to that nutter, she's right bloody obsessive."

"Uh, thanks Vex," Kenzi said.

"I can't believe you still believe her over me," Bo said meeting Trick's eyes and redirecting attention back to their argument. "I am not mom. You think I'm going to leave a bunch of messes for you to clean up, and so you can't actually see that I handle them myself."

"That's fair, Bo," Trick said with a long sigh. "I made so many mistakes with her and I don't want you to ruin your chances like I let her ruin hers."

"And you think believing Anya is going to save anyone's future. Shoo, you must be sneaking drinks at the bar," Kenzi said to Trick with both hands on her hips.

"And for the record, you aren't my meal ticket," Trick added with a smile to Bo. "I push you because your potential is limitless. You think I told you about Orion every night for fun?" Trick extended a hand and placed it on Bo's knee.

"Alright, now that you two are not completely insane and all is well in this seedy little world of freaks, I must be on my way," Vex said as he got up and sauntered toward the door.

"No so fast, pretty boy," Kenzi said as she moved to stand in his way. "We still have some business to take care of."

"What, me and you?" Vex looked confused.

"I knew something was up with you at the last few matches," Kenzi said accusingly as she stepped toward Vex. "I was wondering why you were so happy after the first few tournaments and offered to treat me to sushi." As Kenzi took another step forward, Vex inched backwards with a slightly scared look on your face.

"Well, I was feeling generous," Vex stammered out.

"Or, you were betting against my girl," Kenzi was pointing a finger into Vex's chest. "And the pay out is higher for an upset, isn't it."

"I don't actually recall," Vex quipped back.

"And then after I had a little sit down with Lo-Lo, I figured you were at it again," Kenzi continued.

"I'm sorry, but where do I come in?" Lauren asked thoroughly confused.

"Simple, Hotpants. Bo was all about your business until something happened that broke you both," Kenzi looked at Lauren but still had a finger in Vex's chest. "You said that Trick told you Bo was using you as a distraction and you two fell out. It was interesting that this happened right before a big tourney where a devastated Bo would have tanked and been wickedly upset."

"Well, that doesn't make sense because she killed it in competition," Vex said.

"True," Kenzi answered as she removed the index finger from Vex's chest and placed it on her lower lip, "which was a total surprise to everyone who knew about Bo's sad face. We figured she going to bomb out and I was happy that she didn't, but you seemed less excited as we watched her whoop ass."

"Well, I was surprised is all," Vex continued to stammer out. He eyes darted between Bo, Trick and Kenzi.

"Vex, no one is an idiot here. You bet against Bo that tourney, didn't you," Kenzi said matter of factly.

Realizing that he was caught, Vex threw his hands in the air. "Alright, so I bet against her. No big deal, that bit me in the ars anyway."

"Why did you bet against me this tourney?" Bo asked, not entirely surprised that Vex did it.

"I just felt like it," Vex snapped back.

"Don't con a con artist," Kenzi interrupted. "The only way for you to bet against Bo bear would be if you knew it was a sure thing. And the only time anything is sure is if you have insider information."

Kenzi paused and waited for her last sentence to sink in. Then she continued, "So the question is- how did Vex know that Bo would be heartbroken and in no position to compete?"

"Don't look at me, I can't stand the little imp," Trick replied as all eyes were on him.

As everyone's eyes slowly shifted to Lauren, she shook her head emphatically. "This is the first time I have even seen this person."

"Don't worry Hotpants, the real culprit is that sneaky betch , Anya," Kenzi said allaying Lauren's fears. "It makes perfect sense. She knew Bo and Lo were getting cozy, and probably lied to Trick about the match to get him to try and talk Lauren out of being in the business of Bo. Why else would everyone use the word distraction so often. And if I seriously hear 'distraction' one more time I'm gonna stick a stiletto through her eyeball."

"Alright, alright. Good job, Defective. So Anya and I pulled some strings and bet against Bo and were going to split the loot. What do you all care about it now," Vex said before making his way to the door.

"Not so fast, Vex," Trick said as he jumped up in hot pursuit.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Kenzi said trailing behind. "Make nice until I get back."

With that, Lauren and Bo were left alone in Trick's office. Neither woman wanted to break the silence in the room. Neither knew what to say or do to try and make things better, so they remained seated with eyes downcast.

After a few minutes, Lauren finally spoke, "I know it doesn't mean much, but you have to know how sorry I am. I wanted us to work so badly, but at the first sign of trouble I got scared and pushed you away. I should have trusted you."

"You should have," Bo interrupted. "Lo, I would never use you or hurt you and leave you."

"I'm sorry," Lauren said as tears started to stream down her face. "But you have to know how scary you are. How scary this is."

"What do you mean?" Bo asked moving one seat over so that she was sitting right beside Lauren.

"Have you seen yourself?" Lauren asked as she laughed through her tears. "You are beautiful and brilliant and thoughtful and intoxicating. Hell, you are an Olympian. I can't compete with that."

Bo reached up to move a wisp of hair from Lauren's face. "Unless you've been hiding a big metal stick in your lab coat, we aren't competing."

Lauren gave Bo a coy smile and wiped the tears from her face.

"Listen, I am so sorry I got caught up in all this gossip with Anya and so forth," Lauren offered. "If and when you forgive me, please know that."

Bo looked at Lauren before rolling her eyes and wrapping her arms around her thin frame. "You are getting off so easy. I can't stay mad at you knowing that Vex and Anya were behind it the whole time."

Maybe we start over again- with a clean slate?" Lauren asked looking up at Bo.

"No," Bo said. After seeing a forlorn look overcome Lauren's face, Bo smiled and continued. "There is no way I am taking BioChem again."

Lauren placed her head on Bo's shoulder and sighed deeply. Bo gently placed her hand on Lauren's chin and pulled her face up so that their lips met.

Lauren pulled away from their tender kiss and looked into Bo's eyes. "Hey," she said, "can I take you out sometime?"

"It's about time you asked me," Bo responded slyly and leaned in to meet Lauren's lips with her own.

Fin