Keep your distance – by Shade-Duelist
disclaimer: - out there, in the Prologue. Go read, if you haven't already.
Chapter 10: Highway to Heaven
"Pan! Mirai? ...You mean...?! Ooooh!! You sneaky devils!" Bra's reaction was just as Pan had imagined it: when she and Mirai walked casually to the entrance of the shopping centre, Mirai's arm encircling her waist and her hand on his shoulder – it felt right to walk with him, showing him off as hers – her best friend squealed in joy. Her prediction had become reality, after all: Pan and Mirai were a couple. "I can't say I don't think you're both absolutely right in choosing each other. I mean, Pan – even I think Mirai is hot...", she said with a wink at her new brother, causing him to blush, before continuing: "And Mirai, Pan's just every man's dream – and probably that of a couple of women..." This time, it was Pan's turn to blush – in the past, when they were still together at school, a girl had tried to chat her up: the girl had turned out to be a lesbian later on, and Pan still got cold shivers whenever she thought back on it.
"Enough with the bad vibes, let's go shopping!", she quickly changed the subject before she would start to feel the temperature drop a degree or ten mentally.
"Are you sure you want me to accompany you?", Mirai asked as the three stood in front of the bridal shop. Bra had planned to take Pan shopping so they could fit the bridesmaid dresses; Mirai had promised to go and have a drink if they didn't want him there. But now, suddenly, Bra seemed to have changed her mind and wanted a man's opinion on the dresses. "I mean, I don't know anything about dresses."
"Oh, sure you do!", Bra said, her eyes twinkling. "Just say what you think and you'll do fine. Besides, you can be the first to see the bride, and Goten has been dying to know how I look in my wedding dress – you can fill him in on it." She then looked at her watch and tapped her foot, causing Pan to tilt her head.
"Um, why are we standing around then?", she asked tentatively, but her question was answered almost immediately as they heard high heels walk up to them in a rapid tempo.
"Bra, dear, sorry I'm a bit late – had to go looking for my own dress as well..." Pan turned around incredulously and came face to face with Marron, who smiled at her good-naturedly. "Hello, you're Pan, right?" She pushed back her grudge against the fair-haired woman and smiled back.
"Yes, that's me. I see you're Bra's other bridesmaid, then?" Mirai merely nodded at her, not taking his hand away from Pan's waist. Marron took no heed to it and nodded.
"I can guess why she hasn't told you – but then again, Trunks only told me about what he'd talked with you." She looked at Bra, her baby blue eyes round. "Pan and Trunks agreed to put the past where it belongs – in the past. It'll make things easier for everyone, he figured. Especially easier for Pan, of course..."
"Well, not much has changed anyway...", Pan mused as they walked into the bridal shop, Mirai in tow.
"So, Pan, tell me...", Marron asked as they changed from their clothes to the dresses they had been handed, "Are you and Mirai Trunks together now?"
"Um, yeah...", Pan said hesitantly. She was still a bit wary about Trunks' fiancée, especially considering she didn't really know anything good about her. Marron lightly giggled on the other side of the divide.
"See? I knew it! No man that puts his hand on a woman's waist is just a friend... I hope he makes you happy, and I hope he treats you better than my Trunks did." Upon hearing the latter, Pan nearly walked through the curtains to the other woman.
"You mean...", she started, trying to get a grip on her thoughts, but Marron was ahead of her.
"I know I must've seemed mean and cold-hearted to you back then, taking away your boyfriend in that brutal a way, but I honestly didn't know he was with you then! He always talked a bit derisively of you, but I thought you were more like a little sister to him. When you walked in on us then, Trunks confessed it all to me, and he paid for that – I can assure you. I stopped seeing him, even dated others. But I guess... I guess I just couldn't help but love him. You see, he'd been chasing me for weeks before that day. I was just a college freshman then, first year away from home... taking my bachelor in history there... and he was just that charming college junior that went to every party and that every girl was fawning over..." She sighed loudly, and Pan could just imagine the other woman's shoulders sagging. "I hope you can forgive me for not knowing better then...", she concluded.
"It's not your fault he wasn't faithful to me...", Pan said slowly, wrestling to get out of her jeans. "If it hadn't been you, it probably would've been some other girl. But if you loved him then and you love him now... Maybe that makes it better..." Somewhere deep inside of her, a burden had shifted. No longer was there the crushing residue of anger with the woman that had taken away her former boyfriend. "I'm glad you apologised, but there was nothing you did wrong – not then, and certainly not now." Pan nodded as she spoke it, settling the turmoil inside her once and for all.
Let bygones be bygones...
"Pan, Marron, hurry up and get out of there! I've waited for five minutes already!", Bra shouted from outside, startling the two. Giggling, they put on their dresses quickly and exited.
Mirai had been sitting in a corner of the shop, watching people passing by. Occasionally, couples would walk a bit slower to admire the dresses, sometimes with a happy smile, sometimes with a nudge to the boyfriend. He chuckled when he saw a mother pass by with her two children, who stared at the dresses in awe and obviously wondered why anyone would want to wear a dress like that.
When Bra emerged first from the dress-fitting area, he looked up in surprise – and then he smiled and walked over to his new sister. She looked beautiful in a dress of white silk, which had a round neckline and bare shoulders. It was nothing fancy – no pearls, no lace, no frills or anything – and it suited her perfectly. On her hands, she had two silk gloves that came to her elbows and she wore a small silver tiara without much other jewellery.
"Bra, I think you look perfect for your grand day!", he said complimenting as he walked around her to look from every side. "Beautiful, simple, elegant and just you."
"You flatterer!", Bra said as she blushed, but she smiled broadly. "D'you think Goten will like the dress?"
"He'll love it, it's divine. Plus, you're going to be wearing it.", he added with a sly grin.
"Okay!" Bra then looked around her. "Are they still changing into the dresses?!"
"Yeah, but they were talking a bit – about, you know, old times." He said it with an undertone, informing Bra that she was not to interrupt the conversation. Bra nodded as she walked closer and listened: after she was sure all had been said, she shouted to the two to hurry up, after which she gave Mirai the thumbs up.
Mirai kept his eyes peeled for the girls: first Marron came out, wearing a sea green dress that fit her form perfectly, though it was airy. It wasn't made out of silk like Bra's dress, but it was equally simple in cut and in style: just a dress made out of a slightly more expensive fabric. And then Pan came out, and Mirai was sure his heart tried to leap out of his chest. She looked absolutely gorgeous in the simple dress, her hair falling over her shoulders in a waterfall of black that shone against the fresh sea green. The colour complemented her marvellously, and the cut seemed to be thought out for her alone.
"Pan, you look so beautiful...", he said as he kissed her on the cheek, causing her to blush slightly. "I'm going to pale compared to you..."
"Oh, you flatterer...", Pan said, but her eyes sparkled with joy and she smiled broadly.
"Ahem, I take it you approve of my choice of dress for the bridesmaids?", Bra commented off-handedly. Mirai nodded.
"I think it suits both, uh – Marron, was it? – and Pan. Though Pan does look like a goddess in it – Marron looks nice enough, if the other Trunks were here he'd shower her in complements." He shrugged in conclusion. Marron looked at herself in the mirror.
"Wow, and to think I never saw this colour as suiting me! You've made me change my mind now, Bra!"
Fifty minutes later, they had exited again – both the wedding dress and the bridesmaids' dresses were now theirs and waiting to be picked up. Bra sighed as they emerged from all the fuss again.
"Glad that's over and I don't have to worry about it anymore..."
"Yeah, tell me about it.", Marron said before explaining to Pan and Mirai: "I've been to five shops already and fitted about twenty dresses before settling with the one I have now. Trunks sure can be demanding. Either the cleavage was too much or the dress was too plain. I'm telling you now, Pan, if your lover ever starts to think upscale, dump him or torture him into a plain-and-simple wedding." Suddenly, her cell phone rang. "Excuse me...", the blonde made out with a blush as she fished it out of her hand bag. "Hello? ...Oh, hello dear! Yes, I was just fitting my dress... No, no, everything's fine. Actually, it's a nice colour! I liked it... ...Yes, I'll be right there, hun. See you in twenty minutes. Love you, baby!"
"Trunks?", Pan asked with a raised eyebrow. Marron had gone from nice, intelligent girl to ditzy in milliseconds on the phone.
"Uh-huh... He's doesn't love me for my brains, so I play my role as dumb blonde for him. He's pleased, and I'm happy enough when I wake up next to him every morning. Well, I'll be off then. Bra, I'll see you next week. Oh!", she suddenly said as she started to walk off – turning around again, she walked over to Pan. "Bra and I are going to this gym every week on Wednesday, to keep up our shape and so. Maybe you should exercise with us! Here, it's the address of the gym. Just come on over next Wednesday, we're usually there between seven and nine. I'd like to get to know you, we could be friends..." And on that note, she left a dumbfounded Pan and a surprised Bra behind.
