Blossom figured she was sitting in that corner for 10 minutes already, gripping a full bottle of beer, not daring to taste it.

Putting a beer in her hand was the first thing that Bubbles had done tonight before going off with her friends. She somehow found herself separated from Layla as well, Taylor and co invited her on a house tour, leaving Blossom to sit on a pretty uncomfortable chair, next to a dying cactus, with an opened beer in her hand. She sighed, checking her watch.

'Only 9:30. How fast is it acceptable to leave?'

She looked around the bustling room, a lot of people from school were here, and many she didn't recognize. The atmosphere was nice enough, she had to give Taylor that. The music was booming and everyone seemed to have a good time.

'Except me, of course. But hey, at least The Rowdyruffs aren't here yet.'

She'd been scouting for their arrival, Layla's promise still rung in her head.

'Is she doing this to spite me? Because he's my counterpart? But why would she? You're overthinking this, Blossom. I've been the only one competing with her ever since she came her, she's just being herself.'

Blossom was so focused on her thoughts she didn't notice the cute blonde guy coming towards her from across the room. When he stopped next to her he awkwardly extended his hand, talking loudly over the music.

'Hey, I'm Jude. I saw you sitting here here by yourself here and thought you might need some company. What's your name?'

Blossom snapped out of her reverie and quickly studied the boy: tall, cute, relaxed demeanor and an endearing crooked smile that put her at ease.

'Hi, I'm Blossom.' she replied, taking his had and holding his gaze.

'Oh, shit.' he gasped. ' You're Blossom Utonium, I couldn't tell from across the room.'

Blossom chuckled darkly. She was used to this kind of reaction, she decided to be bold for once.

'Would you knowing that I'm a powerpuff have made you more or less likely to come talk to me?'

Jude narrowed his eyes at her.

'More, obviously. I'm a huge fan. I like a girl who can beat me up with a flick of her finger.'

'Not scared in the slightest?' Blossom decided to play along with his flirting.

'I know you're after bad guys. I'm just ...maybe a little bit bad, so I should be in the clear.' he looked around, then continued

' Do you maybe wanna come by the pool? I can barely hear anything here.'

'Yeah, sure. Why not?' Blossom agreed, letting him lead the way.

He grabbed her by the hand, guiding her through the crowd until they got to the terrace.

Jude quickly took off his shoes and dipped his toes in the pool water, then, deciding it's warm enough, then stood by the edge of the pool, letting his feet dangle in.

'I wasn't lying when I said I wanna hang out by the pool, c'mon in, the water is nice!'

'Um, the dress I'm wearing isn't mine, I don't want to ruin it.

Hearing this, Jude laid down his hoodie for her to sit on next to him. She reluctantly agreed.

'So, what brings you here to this party, Blossom? You seemed a bit out of your element there.' Jude asked, lazily moving his toes in the water.

'Taylor invited me...and I'm here with a friend and my sister. How about you?'

'Taylor's my cousin. I always come to her parties, but never seen you around.'

'I'm not really a party person.'

'Too bad, we would have met earlier if you were.' he flashed her a toothy grin.

Blossom could see with the corner of her eye two figures approaching them from above the pool. She turned to face them the looming figures, Brick and Boomer hovering above them.

Brick seemed a bit more formally dressed than when they'd last met, now he wore a slightly unbuttoned white shirt that hang loosely on his body. His brother Boomer wore a silly grey bunny onesie, Blossom wondered if he'd lost a bet or just wore it as a joke. Both options seemed plausible.

Brick stopped before Jude and her and slowly looked her up and down:

'What are you doing here?' the surprise was evident in his voice.

'I was invited.' Blossom proudly met his eyes.

'I thought you didn't do parties.' he continued, holding her gaze.

'Nothing wrong in trying out something new.'

The tension was palpable, a few moments of silence passed before Brick sighed and replied:

'Listen, we're just here to have fun, so please don't give me any of your prissy shit.'

Blossom scoffed:

'I know how Rowdyruff fun usually goes.'

Brick darkly smiled: 'I'd get your point if Butch were here. But it's just us two.'

'Where IS Butch, exactly?' Blossom inquired.

'Fucked off with his friends on a trip, from what I could gather. Don't worry, I'll take care of it if anything goes wrong.'

'Fine.' Blossom barked back. 'Because I wouldn't want your brother to ruin my fun tonight.'

'I thought going after my brother is your fun. Do you even know how to unwind?' he smirked.

Blossom was fuming. Before she could come up with a well-thought out retort Jude cleared out his throat.

'Ahem, so Brick...Hi! As much as I enjoy this riveting conversation, I was in the middle of a really interesting story before you guys came here.'

Brick reluctantly tore his eyes off Blossom and nodded at Jude.

'I didn't mean to interrupt, I just had to set some ground rules with your date here.' Brick calmly said while passing them by.

'Jude, man, always great seeing you!' Boomer added, following his brother.

Blossom's eyes followed them as they disappeared into the crowd inside.

'The NERVE!!! 'Ground rules'? Who the hell does he think he is???'

'Hey, are you ok?' Blossom felt Jude's hand on her shoulder. 'You look pretty...bothered.'

'Well, he always manages to ruin my mood, so there's that.' Blossom replied, flicking her finger in the water, causing small ripples to appear across the poop's surface.

'Why do you let him? I mean, you're at a party, with a nice, VERY handsome guy by your side. 'he gave her an amused sideways glance. 'Wearing a killer dress, having rom-com meet-cute by the pool. What more do you want from life?'

Blossom chuckled, feeling the tension leaving her.

'Does this pick-up routine work on every girl, or...?'

'No, no...only on the redheaded superpowered ones.' Jude teased, then turned around to check who tapped him on the shoulder.

It was his cousin, Taylor, who seemed to be in a foul mood, but as gorgeous as ever.

'Jude, saw Brick talking to you just now. Did he mention me?'

'Yeah, he said he's dying to make you Mrs Brick Jojo. Or something along those lines.'

'Ugh!!' Taylor rolled her eyes at him. 'I knew you were useless.' She turned towards the powerpuff: 'Hey, Blossom, hope you're having fun.' she said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

'Thanks for the invite, Taylor. I am.'

Blossom suddenly remembered Layla and her Brick challenge for tonight. She felt an inexplicable urge to go inside and observe the interaction, if such interaction were to happen.

'It's none of my business, why do I wanna go so badly?'

Taylor left in her search for Brick, leaving the two alone again at the edge of the pool. Blossom absentmindedly started paddling away with her feet in the water.

'Ok, so he might take advantage of her, he might hurt her. Maybe she'll have a bit too much to drink and...'

Her paddling quickened, making bigger ripples in the water.

'Afterwards it's gonna be my fault because I didn't forbid her from going after him. She's going to regret this so much...'

'Whoa, are you alright, you're going so fast you nearly splashed us both! ' Jude grabbed her hand.

Blossom snapped out of her thoughts and mumbled some excuses to the boy:

'Yeah, sorry, I've got...something I need to take care of inside.'

'Oh, we're going back inside? Alright!' Jude prepared to get out of the pool.

'No, no..I need to take care of this by myself. I'll find you later, ok?'

She swiftly got out of the pool and went into the crowd inside, slightly hovering above her heads so she could search for Layla or Brick.

She first saw a clearly uninterested Brick cornered by Taylor. She grabbed a juice from a nearby table, withdrew into a corner and started studying them intently.

Brick's annoyance was nearly palpable, he kept looking around trying to find a reason to escape Taylor's advances, she had already snaked a hand around his arm and clung to him. He had a beer in his right hand and occasionally took a swig out of it.

Eventually, his eyes met Blossom's in his search around the room. Initially, his brows raised in surprise, then his look became one of half amusement, half irritation.

Blossom held his gaze, she realized she should have avoided getting spotted by him, but something made her hold her ground.

This went on for nearly a minute, Taylor noticed his attention being grabbed by something else and tugged at his arm. Seeing this, Brick promptly shook her off and started hovering towards his counterpart at the other end of the room.

'Shit,shit, he's coming here. What if he causes a scene? '

Blossom took a deep breath as she prepared herself for the confrontation. He got closer and closer, but, instead of facing her, he stood next to her and whispered in her ear:

'Why are you looking at me like that?'

This question caught her unprepared, especially when he whispered it in her ear like that.

'...What do you mean?' she stumbled on her words.

' Didn't you have a date tonight? That kind of intense look should be reserved for him, don't you think?'

Blossom felt her face get warmed up with embarrassment and anger.

'Don't flatter yourself. I'm just checking up on you to make sure you don't do anything stupid.'

'Ah, yes, of course you are.' his laugh coming out in a low rumble. 'What, are you going to jail me for drinking a beer? I wouldn't put it past you, heard you did dumb shit like that before.'

'We both know what you're capable of.'

'Have I done anything suspicious to warrant the surveillance? I was right when I said you couldn't unwind: always the workaholic.'

Blossom bit her tongue: Brick was right, he hadn't given her any palpable reason for the surveillance.

'Why don't you try to relax for once?' he continued whispering, his hot breath sending shivers down her back.

'Jude's a nice enough guy, and I bet he appreciates this dress.' he said, his gaze lingering on her cleavage.

Blossom blushed and took a step away from Brick. She felt exposed, naked, she definitely wasn't used to this kind of lustful look, especially from him.

'Not all of us fuck everything that moves as a relaxation technique.' Blossom snapped at him.

'That's awfully judgemental of you, Blossom. What's wrong with fucking everything that moves? Didn't know you're a republican.' he teased her.

Blossom felt cornered, definitely not prepared for this conversation with her counterpart. She gathered her thoughts to form a coherent reply:

'Of course there's nothing wrong as long as both partners consent.' she stopped, looking around at a group of drunken girls loudly laughing near them. 'However, consent is always dubios at these parties.'

'Ah..I see what you mean. Everyone's shit faced in the end.'

Blossom nodded in agreement. Brick took another sip before adding.

'So... let me read between the lines there: You're watching me so I don't take advantage of someone at this party.'

Blossom's mouth was agape, surprised by his stroke of insight.

'Don't worry, I don't get drunk enough to forget what I'm doing. I have Butch as a cautionary tale. And...' he closed the space between them again ' Girls don't need to be drunk to be all over me.'

This caused Blossom to burst into laughter, making Brick frown in turn.

'Your arrogance knows no bounds.'

'Arrogance? No, just telling you the truth. You'll see if you keep watching me.

He swapped his beer with her juice and turned his back at her, making his way through the crowd.