Saturday afternoon couldn't come fast enough. Bubbles was really excited to be spending some time with Boomer. She realized that he was probably just asking her to be friendly, but still, a part of her was hoping that he might actually like her.
She glanced at herself now, in her bedroom mirror. She had already gotten dressed, choosing a pair of plain black leggings and a blue ruffled crop top. Her makeup was done, now all that was left was her hair. She decided to wear it down today, she straightened it and slipped in a blue headband. She put on some shiny pink lip gloss and texted Boomer:
On my way!
As soon as he saw her message appear on his screen, his eyes lit up. He couldn't believe she actually agreed to meet him on the weekend. Just the two of them. He walked into his bathroom, brushed his teeth, put on deodorant and spray and messed with his hair. He threw on a gray zip up over his long sleeved shirt and black pants, and headed for the door.
"I'm out. Be back when I'm back." He called over his shoulder, to his brothers.
When Bubbles got to the park he was already there, waiting on a bench.
"Hey!" She said, landing near where he was sitting.
He stood up to greet her. "Hi, Bubbles. You look beautiful today." He smiled warmly at her.
She blushed and tried to turn her face away but he noticed. "Thank you Boomer."
Today he wasn't taking any chances. He wanted her to know that he liked her more than a friend.
They began walking around the park, on the path. "So how has your weekend been so far?" She asked.
"I didn't do much last night, hung out at the house with my brothers." He replied. "How about you?"
"Well, I had Cheerleading practice after school, that lasted until pretty late. We had breakfast for dinner too! And here I am today, with you." She laughed.
"Breakfast for dinner, huh?" He smiled. "That's really cute." He added, looking her in the eye.
She started twirling a lock of her hair, "It's cute to eat breakfast for dinner?"
"No." He said, "It's cute that you're excited about it."
"That sounded kind of…" she trailed off, regretting starting the sentence.
Boomer waited for her to finish and when she didn't, he stopped walking. "Kind of what?" He asked, curiously.
She bit her lip, nervously. She didn't want to say it, but he was looking at her expectantly. "Like you were flirting with me." She finally said, she started walking again, leaving him where he stood.
He watched her walk ahead, obviously a little embarrassed. "I am flirting with you." He shouted after her.
Bubbles whipped her head back and stared at him, with wide eyes, he was smiling.
He closed the distance between them, placing his hand on the small of her back and guiding her along the path, again. She didn't say anything for a while but broke her silence when she saw a family of Geese.
"Ooh! Geese!" She squealed. "Look there's a baby!" She knelt down to get a better look at them. She stuck her hand out and they waddled over to her, like they were drawn to her. She looked up at Boomer, while petting one of them.
Boomer put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small bag of bird seed. He held it out to her. Glad he had thought of it.
"Boomer. Were you carrying this… in your pocket?" She looked confused.
He nodded his head. "I thought we might need it."
"That's… maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen." She started cracking up now. She opened the seed and dumped some in his hand, and they both sprinkled seed all throughout the grass. Then they started to walk again.
"Animals really seem to like you." He said.
She scrunched her nose a bit, "It's because of my power." She explained. "When I was little I could only communicate with squirrels, now I can communicate with all animals to an extent. They just sort of like me."
"I can see why." He beamed at her.
They had been at the park for a few hours now, currently sitting on a bench talking.
"Bubbles." He said, "Can you show me what you're working on in cheer?" He watched her eyes light up a little.
She didn't say anything, she just stood up and walked into the grass. His eyes were on her and there were other random people walking around the park too. She started with a handstand, walking a few steps then rolled into a back walkover. Then she did a back handspring, a couple one handed cartwheels and ended with an attempted backflip, but she ended up falling."Still working on that last one." She said, laughing from the ground. She slipped her headband back on, that had fallen off while she was flipping.
She wasn't embarrassed at all, that she didn't nail the backflip. Most girls would have been too embarrassed to fall, probably wouldn't have even tried it, but she was different. "You're really incredible." He looked at her seriously, but was smiling with his eyes. He leaned down to help her up but instead she pulled him down. They lay in the grass together, laughing.
"You wanna get some ice cream?" Boomer nodded in the direction of a little ice cream place about a block away.
"I'd love to!" She smiled, happily. Letting him help her up now. They spent a few minutes walking over there, she got a strawberry cone and he got a bowl of chocolate. Then they walked back to the park bench to eat. He had to look away from her while she licked her cone. Those big blue eyes looking up at him, while happily licking the quickly melting ice cream… It was too much.
After they finished their ice cream, he noticed that her arms and the little bit of her exposed stomach were covered in tiny goosebumps. She was cold but was trying her best to smile through it. She closed her hands together and put them between her thighs.
"Hey." He said, taking off his jacket, "You look like you're freezing." He draped it over her shoulders.
"Won't you be cold?" She asked, concerned.
"I'm okay. Besides, it looks much better on you." He winked.
She slipped her arms through the sleeves and zipped it up a little ways. "You're really sweet." She said, looking at him. "I didn't know that about you before."
"I don't know if it was true before. I mean, I don't know how true It is even now." He said, staring at the ground.
Bubbles scooted a little closer to him on the bench, wanting to be near him. When he noticed, his heart started racing. She leaned over him and kissed his cheek. He was unable to contain the huge, dumb smile that spread over his face.
"I had a really wonderful time with you, Boomer." She said, standing up. She started to unzip his jacket but he stopped her, placing his own hand on the zipper and pulling it higher up then it even was before.
"Guess it's mine til Monday then." She smiled.
The room was still dark, all the curtains having been pulled closed. Buttercup was lying in bed. She rolled over, hugging her pillow. Suddenly she wished it was Butch. She smiled to herself in the darkness of her bedroom. She heard her phone vibrate on her nightstand and reached for it automatically. Speak of the devil, she thought:
What are we doing today?
She got out of bed and walked into the bathroom, not wanting to reply quite yet. She took a shower, letting the scalding hot water rush over her face. When she got out she sat on her bed in her towel and texted back:
Didn't know we had plans.
She got dressed, making sure to put on a cute black lace bra and underwear. And checked Butch's reply:
Come over. I need you.
She threw her phone down on the bed, smiling way too hard. She turned on some music and walked over to the vanity, to put on some eye makeup. Then she went back for her phone, typing:
I'll come over to hang, but that's it. No funny business.
She slipped her phone into her pocket and walked downstairs to get food.
"Good morning Professor!" She smiled.
The Professor glanced at his watch, "Good afternoon Buttercup. It's nearly 3:00pm." He laughed, pulling her into a hug. "You want me to make you something?"
"No thank you. I'm just gonna grab a muffin." She walked over to a giant bowl on the dining room table. "I'm going to meet up with Butch." She added.
"Okay." He smiled, "You became friends pretty quickly. I'm glad to hear that they seem to have changed for the better." He grabbed his coffee mug and headed down to his lab. "Home before curfew!"
Buttercup ate a blueberry muffin and then ran back upstairs to brush her teeth. Then she checked her phone one last time before heading out:
Fine. I won't touch you or even look at you. Just want you to be in the same room as me.
She thought her heart might explode. Why was he having this effect on her? It was Butch fucking Jojo for god sake.
"I'm leaving for a minute." Brick peeked into Butch's room.
"Okay." Butch said, smiling a little too wide. He started picking some things up around the house.
"Umm what the fuck is going on, where's the real Butch?" Brick asked, perplexed.
Butch rolled his eyes. "Weren't you just going?"
Brick slid on his black pleather jacket and readjusted his hat, before walking out the door.
He had a paper to work on for lit, and thought it would be a good day to head to the library. He flew over Townsville, wondering how the fuck he went from doing 'jobs' for HIM to spending his Saturday doing school work, so quickly? It was fucking weird. What was even weirder though, is how much he didn't hate it.
He touched down in the parking lot and walked inside. He registered for a library card and began exploring. He grabbed a few books that he thought he could use and went to find an empty seat in the lounge area. He was surprised when he found Blossom sitting on the floor, in the corner, surrounded by stacks of books. He watched her sipping on a coffee, pencil tucked into her ear.
Why did it seem like she was always around? Whatever. He took his books over to a brown leather chair and sat them on the table in front. He pulled out his laptop and started typing his essay. Stopping every few minutes to check something out in one of his books.
Pretty soon he had his paper finished. English came easy to him, which is why he'd been placed in an advanced class right away. He was also really fast at typing, though he still preferred to write things out the old fashion way. Most teachers these days required papers to be typed. He checked his watch, he had only been there for an hour and a half. He started collecting his things to go when he ran straight into Blossom.
"Brick?" She asked, reaching down to grab the disposable coffee cup she'd been holding. "Good thing my coffee was already empty."
He looked at her and then looked back to where she'd been sitting on the floor. Everything had been cleaned up, no evidence that she was ever there. He looked back at her. She looked like she was waiting for something, had she said something else that he'd missed?
Blossom glanced at the floor and then back to Brick, forcing a half smile before turning and walking away. What had he missed? He slung his book bag over his shoulder and returned the books he'd borrowed to their proper shelves. He walked down the wooden staircase, back to the bottom floor. Blossom was standing there, talking to a tall guy in a letterman jacket. He reached out and moved a piece of her loose hair behind her ear. She was smiling.
Brick walked down the rest of the stairs and walked right past her, she didn't even notice him now.
"You want to grab a coffee with me?" Brick heard the guy ask Blossom. She agreed, way too eagerly. Brick was annoyed now. He didn't know why. He just wanted to leave the library.
She'd never been to his house before. Not since it was converted anyway. She knocked on the door and was abruptly yanked inside. As soon as Butch closed the door behind her, he pushed her back up against it and kissed her deeply. When he pulled away she laughed.
"What happened to not touching or looking at me?" She questioned, crossing her arms.
He smirked, and ran his fingers through her short, dark, hair. "I could resist."
"Good cause I didn't mean what I said, anyway." She replied.
Buttercup peeked around Butch, into the living room. "Where are your brothers?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Should be back soon." He shrugged.
She invited herself in, to check out their new house. "This place is dope!"
Butch walked up behind her, pressing himself into her backside while hugging her tightly. He kissed the side of her head. Her heart skipped a beat.
"So… where's your room?" She finally asked, a little smile playing on her lips.
"Buttercup." He scoffed jokingly, "I'm not that kind of guy."
She walked to the door closest to her, it was also the only of the three doors that were open. "Is it this one?" She asked, peeking inside.
He was already behind her, pushing her inside and clicking the door shut.
"Wow!" Buttercup said walking into the bathroom, "Fancy digs." She walked over to the shower, tracing her fingers along the glass.
"Imagine the things we could do in this shower." He smiled a devious smile at her.
She walked away from the shower, and headed back to his room, softly dragging her fingers along his stomach as she walked past him.
He followed her back to his room, where she looked around for a minute before sitting on the edge of his bed.
"I am a very lucky guy to have such a beautiful girl in my room, on my bed."
Buttercup took off her hoodie and threw it on the ground. She was now wearing only a tank top. He swallowed, and walked over to her. He used his knee to spread her legs, standing in between them, he leaned into her. He kissed her neck, once, twice, three times. She purred in his ear. He was sucking now, she let out a gasp, threatening to become a moan. She stopped him before he could leave a mark.
"Not there..." She said in a quiet voice, almost a whisper. He raised his eyebrow. She pulled up the bottom of her shirt, revealing some of her bare stomach. He slid down, hovering over her toned body. He licked her and then started suckling on her lower stomach. He left a hickey and then another. He tugged slightly at the waist of her pants, and then left a third one on her hip.
He travelled up now, leaving gentle kisses along her stomach. He bit into the hem of her shirt, which was resting a few inches above her belly button and pulled it up a little higher, with his teeth. Her stomach was doing summersaults. She ran her fingers through his hair. He moved his lips back up to meet hers, kissing her tenderly. Letting his hand inch up her shirt, he let it rest a bit lower than her breast. He rolled onto the bed next to her and moved his hand up to the back of her neck, pulling her closer.
"Buttercup." He whispered into her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.
When he didn't say anything else she pulled back and looked at him, smiling. "Butch," She said.
He kissed her forehead. She gazed at him for a moment, really taking him in and then she laid her head down on his chest, while he played with her hair. They were like that for a while, lying in silence, until they both drifted off.
Buttercup and Butch were both jolted awake when there was a knock on the bedroom door.
Butch made his way to the door, cracking it just enough to reveal himself. "Yeah?"
Brick and Boomer were both home now. Boomer was at the door and Brick was sprawled out on the couch, flipping through the channels.
"We're about to order food. What do you want?" Butch peeked over at Buttercup, who was now sitting on the end of his bed. "Umm-" he started.
"Dude, is someone in there with you?" Boomer accused, pushing the door open before Butch realized what was happening.
Brick stood up, a huge grin on his face. He went quickly to the door too. Boomer just stared, mouth slightly agape.
Buttercup got off the bed now and walked towards them. "So what're we eating?" She asked, stepping past them into the living room.
Butch crossed his arms and leaned into he door frame, watching her, with a way too happy look on his face.
"Buttercup." Brick said finally, "Didn't know you were here." He looked at her and then to Butch.
Boomer nudged Butch wirh his elbow, "In the bedroom, with the door shut, nobody home..."
Butch's hand went automatically to his head, running his fingers through his hair.
Buttercup made herself comfortable on the couch, continuing where Brick left off, browsing the channels. Boomer and Brick stared at her, unsure of what to say. So they said nothing and grabbed a seat instead. Boomer sat on the other end of the couch with Buttercup and Butch took a seat on the other couch with Brick. She turned on a movie and they ordered Chinese.
By the time food arrived, none of them had uttered a word. It didn't feel awkward though, kind of peaceful.
"This lo mein is really good!" Boomer said, slurping down the noodles.
"Not as good as this sweet and sour chicken." Butch declared, throwing a piece to him, he caught it in his mouth.
Buttercup high fived Boomer, "Nice."
"What about me? I threw it." Butch pouted.
Brick rolled his eyes and retreated to his bedroom. He had enough social interaction for the day and wanted to be alone. He picked a book from his shelf and sat on his bed to read.
"So what'd you do today?" Butch asked Boomer.
Boomer couldn't help but smile as he thought of the few hours that he'd spent with Bubbles. "Same thing as you."
Buttercup and Butch shot each other looks.
"Well maybe not the exact same thing." He added, leaving it at that.
Buttercup was just about to take another bite, when her hotline went off and startled everyone. "Fuck." She said, setting down her takeout container. She looked at Butch for a second and then zipped out the door.
"That would get annoying so fast." Boomer decided, watching Buttercup's green streak fade.
Blossom had already had two cups of decaffeinated coffee while sitting across from Luke. She had been having a nice time catching up with him, she'd met him a few years back at a volunteer program. They quickly hit it off, but since he went to a different school, they hadn't really stayed in touch. He had definitely gotten taller, she noticed.
"So, Blossom," Luke said, "I'm really glad that I ran into you today." He smiled, stirring his coffee.
"I am too-" she was interrupted by her hotline. "Shoot!" She stood up and gestured to her watch, "There's a situation. So, I'm really sorry." Then she was gone.
Blossom met up with the other two puffs at the far end of Townsville. It was just a little orange monster, well little in comparison to most that they fought. It was still about 20 feet high, but it hadn't even left the water yet, slowly creeping its way out.
"This should be an easy one." Blossom said. The three of them flew towards it, sending out laser beams and other attacks and it was defeated in under five minutes. The girls landed for a second and said a quick goodbye. By the time Blossom flew back to the coffee shop, Luke was already gone. Which she was actually happy about, since she'd been about to head home anyway. She walked over to the table and saw that on a napkin, he'd written his phone number. She grabbed it and slipped it into her pocket, smiling.
She walked in the front door and made her way to her bedroom right away. Bubbles threw herself onto her bed and smiled into her pillow. The jacket that Boomer had lent her was still lying on the end of her bed. She pulled it up to her face, taking in a breath of his scent, before slipping it back on. She'd already texted Kim and Clara and told them about it, trying not to show too much excitement since it wasn't technically a date or anything.
It had only been a few hours already since She saw him, but she hasn't stopped thinking about him. There was something about him that she really liked, and it wasn't just his extremely good looks.
Bubbles got out of bed and was looking at herself in the mirror when Blossom walked in.
"Oh hey Bubs, I didn't know you were home." Blossom smiled.
Bubbles turned around to face her, "I've been here for a while, but I'm meeting up with the squad in a bit."
Blossom sat her bag down next to the door and noticed her sister's outfit, "Whose jacket is that?" She asked curiously.
Bubbles blushed, and shoved her hands in the pockets. "Umm, it's actually… Boomer's." She said, cracking a smile.
Blossom's eyes went wide. "You're wearing his jacket? Why?" She crossed her arms, then she remembered that a few days ago she had worn one of Brick's shirts. Which she still needed to return. "Nevermind, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation."
"There is." Bubbles put her hands behind her back now. "I like him."
Buttercup was back at Butch's place ten minutes after she left. She knocked and Boomer let her back in.
"Back so soon?" Butch glanced up as she entered his line of sight.
She sat on the couch next to Butch this time, "I had to come back." She gave him a flirtatious look, "My food is here." She leaned over and grabbed her Chinese from the table and continued eating.
Butch's mouth fell open slightly, "You are such a tease." He whispered.
Boomer came into the room now, "So, that was pretty fast."
"Yep, the fucker didn't even make it onto land." She smirked.
"My hero." Butch sang, smiling at her. She rolled her eyes.
Buttercup finished eating and cleaned up the boys' empty containers along with hers. "This place is really cool." She said leaning over the back of the couch. "But I gotta ask. What the hell is up with that?" She pointed to a piece of paper, duck taped to the wall.
Butch started laughing.
"This fucking idiot.." Boomer began, "Decided to punch a hole in the wall as soon as we stepped into the place."
Buttercup walked over to the paper, there was a smiley face drawn in the middle. She looked down at her hand, still able to see the rapidly fading smiley face that Butch had drawn on her. She smiled at the memory, and touched the middle of the paper, feeling the hole on the other side.
"It adds a nice touch to the place." She said finally, laughing. She walked back to the couch, where she'd been leaning. Boomer disappeared into his room, and they heard his bathroom door click.
As soon as they were alone Buttercup put her arms around Butch, standing behind him, at the back of the couch. She leaned into him, pushing her chest into his back and lowered her face to his neck. She pressed her lips into him, kissing his warm skin a few times before gently sucking on his neck. She did it light enough so that it wouldn't leave a mark behind. She let her right hand slide under the collar of his shirt and down his sculpted stomach. Still facing forward, he reached over the couch and wrapped his arm around her neck. When they heard Boomer's door open, she returned to the couch and they resumed watching tv.
Brick stayed in his room for the majority of the night, only coming out to get a drink every now and again. He tried reading but didn't have much success. Blossom kept crossing his mind. The look that she gave him before she walked away. And then her, smiling happily with that douche, getting coffee with him. He didn't care. He just wanted to read. But he'd barely been able to make it anywhere in his book, what he did read he couldn't remember. He threw the book onto his side table and let out a loud huff. Fuck Blossom.
He got out of bed and stretched. He found his backpack on the floor, pulled out the manila envelope and looked at the pictures of them. His thoughts took him back to last weekend, back to Princess's party. Remembering the see through dress hugging Blossom's curves, her long bare legs and her chest heaving just inches from his face. She wasn't unattractive, he thought. Maybe she was even kind of… hot. He stuffed the photos into the front cover of the book he'd been reading and placed it back on his nightstand. Maybe a shower would help him relax.
He tossed his clothes in the laundry basket and looked at himself in the mirror. He tied his hair up, not wanting to get it wet. When he stepped into the water he expected her to fade away, but she didn't. He remembered her beautiful pink eyes lingering on his body when she saw him in a towel, the deep blush that spread across her innocent face. He glanced around the bathroom, she had been in here with him a few days ago. He pushed the parts that he didn't want to remember out of his mind and reshaped it into a daydream. Blossom standing in his bathroom, pulling her shirt off. His hands at her waist, unzipping her jeans. Touching her, while she blushed… He finished. His shower. He felt much more relaxed now.
"Hi Boomer." Bubbles walked up to him at his locker.
He turned to her, immediately noticing that she was wearing his jacket, and looked her up and down with the biggest smile on his face. "H- hey Bubbles."
"I just came to return your zip up." She said, smiling back at him. "But I…" she started, "Kind of don't want to..." She looked at the ground, blushing.
Boomer leaned against his locker, "Oh?" He asked, a grin still plastered to his face, "And why not?"
"Idunno, I like it." She looked up now, "It's comfortable."
"Is it?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
She shifted nervously, "And… It smells like you."
His heart was beating fast now and he hoped she couldn't hear it. "That sounded kind of…" he began, remembering a part of their conversation from Saturday.
Bubbles caught on, looking up at him with gleaming eyes, "I am flirting with you." She turned on her heel and walked away, taking the jacket with her.
Blossom looked down at her Chemistry test, feeling disappointed. 96% She wasn't stupid, she knew it wasn't a bad grade. Still, she couldn't help feeling a little bad about it. It was an A. But there was no plus. She let out a sigh.
She pulled a stack of pink sticky notes out of her bag and wrote a note:
NEXT TIME, DO BETTER. GET THE (:
She stuck it to the front of her test, and flipped it over.
Brick had his test open to the second page. "What'd you get?" He gestured to her test.
She scoffed. "None of your business."
"I'll show you mine, If you show me yours." He raised an eyebrow.
She was really curious… She glanced down at the back page of her booklet. "Fine." She said, before turning it over and removing her note. She handed it to him upside down. And he slid his across the table to her.
She flipped the page to the front and rolled her eyes. A 100% She looked over at Brick, he had turned to the second page to see what she got wrong. He smirked and scooted it back to her.
"You're so annoying." She said, sticking her note back to the page and flipping it over.
He folded his arms, "I'm annoying because I got 100%?"
"No. You're annoying because you always have that smug look on your face." She explained.
He looked down at her test again, and snatched it off the table before she could stop him.
"Brick!" She leaned over him trying to grab it but he moved it further out of reach. "Ugh, fine. I don't care." She sat back down and crossed her arms.
When he was sure she'd given up, he read the note. "A bit negative, don't you think?"
"How is it negative?" She asked, confused. "I told myself what to fix, and there's a smiley face at the end."
He set her test back down and looked at her, perplexed. "For being so smart, you're kind of stupid."
Her mouth fell open. "Excuse me?"
"You didn't tell yourself what to work on. You wrote yourself a mean note and slapped something happy at the end to pretend it was positive." He took her sticky note off, crumbled it up, and grabbed a clean one from her pad, making sure to write small:
Read/write equations often. Do practice problems. Difficulty with a specific formula? Write it on a sticky note and stick it to your planner (:
He stuck it to her test. She picked it up and read what he wrote immediately, assuming that he wrote a smart ass comment. But when she read it, she smiled and bit her lip. It was surprisingly helpful. "I like the smiley face." She said, slipping her things into her bag.
Tiptoeing as quietly as she could, Bubbles tried to sneak a peek at Brick's drawing.
"You should know that that's not going to work." Brick said, closing his sketch pad, not even looking at her.
"Please?" She asked, in her cutest voice. "I promise I'll never bother you again!"
He rolled his eyes. "Aww Bubbles. Don't you know it's a sin to lie?
She crossed her arms, pouting. "I just wanna see how you got into this class!"
"No." He said flatly.
"Come on! I'll owe you one." She begged.
"What kind of favor would I ever need from you?" He asked in a snarky tone.
She scoffed. "Okay, rude!" She started walking back to her seat.
"Fine." He said, holding out his sketch pad. "Maybe a Powerpuff owing me a favor could come in handy."
Her eyes lit up as she flipped through his drawings. There were dozens of pages filled with studies of hands, eyes, and lips. Sketches of his brothers, nature, and inanimate objects from around the room. There were even a couple full portraits that had much more detail. Everything was done in either charcoal or graphite. They were really beautiful. When she flipped the page again her heart skipped a beat. There was a gorgeous portrait of Boomer, smiling back at her. She stared at it for a long time, beaming, before Brick finally got annoyed and took it back. Realizing what page she'd been eyeing so intently, he raised an eyebrow, curiously.
"Brick, these are really incredible." She said sincerely, "I didn't know you could draw like that."
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he didn't know how to respond to compliments because he wasn't used to getting them.
"That one of Boomer is my favorite." She said heading back to her table.
"How long have you been playing?" Butch asked, Buttercup, referring to the guitar she was holding.
She strummed at the strings a few times. "I think it's been like two years." She replied.
"Yeah, weren't we at Harry's 14th birthday party when you first played?"Mitch tried to remember.
Buttercup sat the guitar down and took a swig from her soda. "Yep. His grandpa taught me my first guitar chords." She smiled. "I miss that old fucker."
"Hey, speaking of Birthdays." Mitch said, "What are we doing for yours this year?" He raised an eyebrow at Buttercup.
She rolled her eyes. "No. I hate birthdays."
This caught Butch's attention, he smiled at Buttercup. "Party."
"What about a party?" Harry walked back into the garage, from the bathroom.
"No." She stated flatly. "Not happening."
Butch gave her his best pouty face. "Pleeeeaase?" He begged, "It'll be fun!"
"Ugh. Idunno." She punched Butch in the shoulder. "There's no way the Professor would ever let me throw a party. A real party, I mean."
"What do you normally do?" Butch asked, watching Mitch roll a blunt.
She repositioned herself on the couch, "Dinner with the Professor. Cake and presents and shit."
"But this is your 17th! It's gotta be big." Harry declared.
Butch leaned forward in his seat, a devious smile forming on his face. "What if we throw it at my place?"
"Brick would never go for that. And you know it." She scoffed.
Mitch lit the blunt and took a long hit. "I mean, I know I don't know your brother or anything, but he definitely doesn't seem like he'd be down for that."
"He could use a party more than any of us." Butch replied. "I think I can convince him. What if we do a combined party for all of our birthdays? You and your sister and me and my brothers." Butch took the blunt form Mitch.
Buttercup glanced at Butch, "Call it a get together. Tell him it'll be like 15 people tops. Nothing crazy."
"Okay. When?" Butch asked.
Buttercup took a couple puffs and had a coughing fit before she could answer. They all started cracking up.
"Can't be this Weekend, or the Professor might get suspicious. She thought for a second, "How about next Saturday?"
Butch was getting excited now, "That'll give me time to work on Brick. That fucker can be a real wet blanket sometimes."
"Did you just say 'wet blanket?' Buttercup laughed. "You're like an old man." She was losing it now, almost in tears.
The rest of the guys watched her, amusedly, as she took another hit.
She passed it back to Harry and then grabbed her guitar, she flopped over the back of the couch so she was upside down. Her hair was dangling close to the ground. She started playing a cover of a Pink Floyd song, then she started to sing.
Butch looked at her in amazement, also glancing at Harry and Mitch to gauge their reactions, they were both smiling, but didn't seem as shocked as him.
She only made it about half way through the song, "I'm fucking starving!" She practically yelled.
Everyone started laughing. "Butch." She said, smiling at him upside down, "Feed me."
God he wanted to kiss her. She was too fucking cute. They hadn't talked about them being together, at all. If they even were together. He really didn't know what was happening with her so for now he had to assume they were a secret. Fuck Mitch and Harry for being in the garage, he thought. Assholes. He swallowed. "We could-"
"What's up guys?"
Everyone whipped their heads around to see Mike standing there, hands in his pockets.
Butch and Buttercup didn't say anything.
"Sup man." Mitch stood up, to give him a bro hug.
Harry nodded in his direction, "You just missed the weed, dude."
"Eh, I already smoked anyway." He said, pulling out another fold out chair from the side of the garage.
There was a long awkward silence. Buttercup sat upright on the couch again. Butch tensed up his jaw, averting his gaze from the side of the garage that Mike was on.
"So, this isn't awkward or anything." Mitch finally broke the silence.
Mike shifted in his seat, uncomfortably. "Wouldn't be so weird if HE wasn't here." He nodded in Butch's direction.
"Dude-" Harry started.
At the same time Buttercup scoffed and Butch started laughing.
"Something funny?" Mike asked, looking Butch in the eye now.
Buttercup shot a look at Mike. "Dude, I really wouldn't."
"Oh. Fuck off Buttercup." He spat.
Butch was still laughing and started shaking his head back and forth in disbelief. "You don't wanna get on my bad side." He said, his mouth was smiling but his eyes were so clouded over, they were almost black. "You're walking a really thin line."
Mitch and Harry were on the edge of their seats, not knowing if something was about to go down or not.
"Whatever. I didn't come here to fight." Mike said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I came to hangout with my friends."
Buttercup took a drink from her soda, "If you don't wanna fight then don't come in immediately talking shit." She said flatly.
"You're such a bitch!" Mike snapped.
Before Mike even realized what was happening Butch had already shot across the room and snatched him up by his shirt. Mike swallowed hard. The guys gasped. Buttercup took another drink from her can.
"I'm not gonna kick your ass, because I would obliterate you, and Buttercup can obviously handle herself. But stop fucking provoking me." Butch set him gently on the ground. Then with a flick to his chest Mike hit his chair and it scooted a few feet across the ground, with him in it. "Oh and try to be a bit more respectful at someone else's house next time." He smiled.
Buttercup stood up and walked to the garage door, she nodded for Butch to follow. "We're gonna head out." She laughed.
"See you guys." Butch said, following Buttercup out.
As soon as they were far enough away from Mitch's, Buttercup pushed Butch's back against a tree and jumped on him. "You're so fucking sexy when you're mad." She kissed him intensely. He wrapped one arm around her waist and the other was quickly entangled in her hair.
"You think I'm sexy?" He asked, grinning.
She kissed him again. "I find it veeery sexy-" she kissed his neck. "That you could have.. fucking destroyed him-" she kissed his neck a little higher now. "But you didn't." She whispered in his ear, before hopping down.
They took a few steps down the street, smiling stupidly. "Hey, I thought you said I was only a four." Butch joked.
"I was lying." She smiled.
Blossom leaned over the counter, skimming through a recipe book. It was her night to make dinner and she wanted to try something different.
"Find anything good?" Bubbles asked, pouring a glass of apple juice.
She walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a few pans, placing them on the stove. *I want pasta!" Her eyes lit up, "I was thinking about making this vegan bolognese."
"Ohh!" Bubbles cheered, "With garlic bread?" She asked hopefully.
Blossom smiled at her blonde sister and rolled her eyes playfully, "Yes Bubbles. With garlic bread."
"Want any help?" Bubbles offered.
Blossom hit shuffle on one of the many playlists on her phone, "I'd love some." She smiled.
An upbeat pop song filled the air. Blossom began cutting some onion, while Bubbles rummaged through the cabinets for seasonings. "Hey Bubbles?" She asked, in a quiet voice.
"Yeah?" Bubbles asked, head still in the cupboard.
"When you said you… liked Boomer.. Do you mean you actually like him?
Bubbles turned to her but Blossom averted her gaze, not wanting to look her sister in the eye.
"I mean." She couldn't help the smile that spread over her face. "I think I'm really starting to." She bounced over to Blossom now. "Why do you ask?"
Blossom glanced at her sister, she looked happy and she didn't want to ruin her good mood but she needed to get this off her chest. "It's just… Kind of weird isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is. I mean, we have been enemies for a long time." She said, her smile faltering slightly. "But Boomer isn't like that anymore, he's really sweet actually."
There was a lengthy pause, the music still playing a happy tune in the background, while they worked on dinner.
"Are you mad?" Bubbles Voice was just above a whisper as she broke the silence.
"No." Blossom said, looking at Bubbles. She thought for a moment about how to word her sentence. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. You're very… trusting.
Bubbles looked at her feet, "It's probably just a crush anyway, I'm sure it won't even lead to anything."
"It's only been a couple weeks and we've already grown a lot… closer." Blossom started, "Not that long ago we were furious that they were back in town, and now… Buttercup hangs out with Butch all the time and you have a crush on Boomer?"
Bubbles looked a little hurt. "I don't think Boomer is a bad person, Blossom…"
"I didn't mean that the way it sounded Bubs." She explained, "You always see the best in people, and maybe he has changed. And I can't say that I've made that much progress with Brick. But, I definitely don't hate him… sometimes I even think he's.. okay." She gave a smile and started boiling a pot of water.
Bubbles leaned on the counter, eyeing her sister. "Blossom?" She smiled, "Don't you think that Brick is kind of..." She trailed off, glancing down, swirling her finger on the counter top, "Hot?" She finally asked. She watched Blossom's face go bright red.
Blossom shot her a look, "Bubbles!"
"Well can you really deny it?" She laughed.
Blossom just shook her head a little in disbelief and smiled.
Both the girls looked to the door as Buttercup walked in. "Mmm smells good!" She said, floating over to them like a cartoon character.
Blossom and Bubbles both avoided eye contact with her, but then Bubbles started laughing. Blossom gave her a look, warning her not to say anything.
"Hey Buttercup." Bubbles said, still staring at Blossom with a huge smile on her face.
Buttercup exchanged glances with her sisters, confused.
"Don't you think that Blossom and Brick would make a cute couple?" Bubbles dodged out of the way just as Blossom threw a wooden spoon at her.
"What?" Buttercup was lost.
Blossom laughed, "Just because you like Boomer, doesn't mean-"
"Whoa." Buttercup's mouth fell slightly open. "You like Boomer?!"
Bubbles shrugged, still smiling.
Brick and Boomer sat sprawled out on either sofa in front of the tv. Butch was at the door paying for Pizza.
"One of you two need to learn how to fucking cook. All this junk is getting out of hand." Brick gestured to the pizza.
Butch pushed his leg out of the way and plopped down next to him, grappling a slice. "Tastes good though." He said, biting in. "Fuck, that's hot!"
"Why does it have to be one of us? Don't see you in there playing chef." Boomer kicked his feet onto the coffee table.
"I do the cleaning around here." Brick retorted.
Butch and Boomer both scoffed, not having a comeback, since he was right. Boomer scarfed down a few slices and then put in 'Zombie Death' and grabbed the controller.
"Hey man, I was watching that!" Butch complained, throwing his hands up.
"And now you're not." Boomer grinned, hitting start.
They watched him play for like 20 minutes before Boomer tossed the controller to Butch and left the room, answering his phone.
Butch took over the best he could, having no premise of what the game even was. While he was shooting zombies, "So our birthday is coming up." He mentioned, out of nowhere.
"Uh. Okay? What are you, suddenly sentimental?"
Brick curled his lip at his brother.
Butch rolled his eyes. "I was just thinking it'd be fun to have some people over, or whatever."
Brick didn't even give him a chance, "No. I don't want people in our house."
"Come on, it'll be fun. Just our friends and the girls." Butch raised an eyebrow at the last part.
"The girls?" He asked, "This whole thing with them has gotten kinda weird."
Butch threw the controller down and stood up to gesturing around the house, to give a better picture. "Just imagine, all of us over here surrounding the tv, sipping drinks and passing blunts." Brick didn't look amused. "You and Blossom over there by the pool table… alone. You 'teaching' her how to play." He added.
Brick cracked a tiny smile, at his brother's ridiculous idea. Butch noticed, so he continued. "One thing will lead to another… you'll take her back to your room."
"That might be the most unrealistic idea you've ever had." He said, crossing his arms. "And I'm not interested in Blossom. She's a boring, goody two shoes. She doesn't even know how to have fun."
Butch slipped back onto the sofa, "Looks can be deceiving, dude." A devious smile formed on his face, "That's too bad though, I already mentioned this get together to her and the girls and she seemed very interested." He lied.
"That doesn't sound like the Blossom I know." Brick sounded unsure.
"You've only known her for a few weeks… if it's only people she knows here, she'll loosen up. Guaranteed." Butch said, convincing even himself.
Boomer opened his door and came strolling back into the living room, with a huge smile on his face. "Dude what the hell, you killed me!" He said, diving for the controller.
"Fine." Brick said flatly, "So when's the party?"
Boomer whipped his head around, "Party?"
"We're having a small get together, one week from today." Butch announced, happily.
Buttercup had fallen asleep with her phone in her hand the night before, watching funny videos before bed. She woke up to the familiar vibrate of a text coming through. 12:30pm who was messaging her this early? She brought her screen to life, it was Butch:
Party Is On! (;Make sure your sisters come.
Okay, she hadn't wanted a birthday party but this kind of party would definitely be fun. Another text came through:
It was a photo. Oh god. What was she about to open… It was picture of Butch's abs. She laughed out loud. "Idiot." She scoffed, and then saved it.
Buttercup rolled out of bed, excited to tell her sisters. She went downstairs, Blossom, Bubbles and the Professor were in the living room.
"Good morning." She said, stepping into the kitchen and grabbing the orange juice jug.
"Good afternoon!" They all sang back.
She took a drink of her juice and put away the rest of the container. She glanced back into the living room, none of them were paying attention to her. Perfect. She floated half way up the staircase and whispered, "Blossom, Bubs, meet me upstairs. Need to talk."
Only those with super hearing would have been able to hear her message. She went into their room and waited, a few seconds later she heard Blossom say, "Hey Bubbles, can you help me with my hair?" Three, two.
The two girls entered their bedroom and closed the door behind them.
"What's going on?" Blossom asked, curiously.
Bubbles ran over and bounced on the bed next to her, "Ooh, I just love secret messages!"
"So. We're having a small get together, friends only, this Saturday. At the boy's place." Buttercup told them, smiling satisfied.
Bubbles eyes lit up, with excitement. "Oh my gosh! Are you serious?" She squealed.
"And Bloss, before you say no-"
"Actually I think it'll be fun." Blossom smiled.
Mr. Edwards walked around the room with a cup of popsicle sticks, each one with the name of a student written on it. "Okay, I wanted to switch things up a bit. You're all going to be drawing a partner. Half of you are written on sticks and the other half will draw." He explained. "You and your partner will be given a novel to read and analyze together. You'll have to do it on your own time. Due in one week." There were moans and groans all around the class.
"Great." Brick said, leaning back in his seat.
Blossom sighed and looked around the room, wondering who her partner would possibly be. The two boys that had made comments to her, after 'the list' came out, both turned around to stare at her. She turned away, looking down at her agenda. On the front cover, there was a sticky note with a chem equation written on it. She ran her hand along it and smiled, then she re-read it a few times in her head.
Blossom hadn't been paying attention to people drawing their partners. She just knew that her own name hadn't been called yet.
Mr. Edwards stepped over to their table now. "Brick, you draw."
Brick stuck his hand in the cup and pulled out a popsicle stick, as soon as he had one the teacher walked to another table.
"Okay, everyone sit with your partners." He said, returning to his desk.
Brick didn't move, and Blossom never heard her name get called. So she waited, glancing around the room. The whole class moved around into different seats, including Boomer who has been paired with Robin.
Finally Blossom turned to Brick and looked at him expectantly, "Umm-" was all she got out.
He sat the stick in the middle of the table and they both started laughing.
"Blossom." He read.
She picked up the stick with her name on it. "Could be worse."
He looked at her a bit perplexed now, and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah." She said, "Half of the people in here wouldn't take the assignment seriously, and I'd end up doing it myself." She shifted in her seat, "Or worse, I could've got stuck with one of them." She pointed at the two jerks. "At least I know you get good grades… plus I've already been to your house. So it won't be awkward when I come over after school today." She gave a big, smug smile.
He swallowed. And crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back a bit in his chair. "Who said you could come over?"
Butch leaned over and grabbed Buttercup's hand, bringing it to his lips, kissing her. "I didn't know you could sing like that." He said.
She laughed, "That was days ago."
He laid his head on her stomach, while she played with his hair. "There's a lot of things I don't know about you."
"We haven't known each other that long, you dork." She laughed.
He pushed her shirt up and nuzzled his face into her bare stomach now, "I wanna know you."
She swallowed. She didn't know how things had gotten this deep with Butch, so quickly. "Are you sure about that?" She asked.
"In case you haven't noticed, Buttercup. I'm kind of obsessed with you." He leaned forward and kissed her lips now.
Her heart was racing, her heart was always racing when she was with him. "Butch?"
"Yeah?" He asked laying back down on her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
She wanted to ask him what they were. She never felt more at peace with anyone before. Nobody understood her the way he did and she felt like she really understood him too. But she couldn't. "Never mind." She said, not wanting to ruin their time together.
"You can't do that." He pouted, sticking his lip out.
She bent down and bit his lip, smiling. "I can do whatever I want." She winked.
"Yes. You. Can."
"I brought your shirt back." Blossom said, standing in Brick's kitchen.
He rolled his eyes. "Didn't I tell you I was gonna toss it anyway?"
She slipped her flats off and left them near the door. "Yeah. But I thought you might want to reconsider. Since it's a perfectly fine shirt." She pushed it into his chest.
He tossed it onto the kitchen island and walked to the living room. She followed. Boomer was sitting on the floor, way too close to the tv, playing his game. "That might be distracting." Brick said, referring to the loud volume.
"Hey Blossom." Boomer said over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Hi." She said back.
"Maybe we should've done this at your house." He suggested, glancing around the room.
Blossom thought about the Professor threatening him with antidote x, or Bubbles saying something embarrassing.. "I don't think you would've liked that very much." She assured him.
Blossom took a peek at his closed bedroom door, he followed her gaze. "Your room then?"
He was a little taken aback that she would suggest it. "My room?"
"Well, It'll be kind of hard to read out here." She replied. "Unless you wanna go to the library or we could.. Try another day?"
"No. Might as well get it out of the way." He opened his door and let her in first, clicking it shut behind him.
She went straight to his desk, sitting in the wooden chair. She grabbed her copy of the book and a notepad and pen from her bag, and set them on the desk.
Brick glanced around his room, making sure nothing embarrassing was out on display. He didn't find anything, so he picked up his backpack and took a seat on the edge of his bed.
They had been assigned, 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley.
"It's kind of ironic that we ended up with this book." She said, eyeing him on his bed.
"He probably gave us this one on purpose." He scoffed.
Blossom smiled, he was probably right. "I haven't read it in a while, but I'm glad we got this one." She lifted her legs into the chair, so she was sitting cross legged and facing Brick.
"I'm just thankful we didn't get stuck with 'Romeo and Juliet' his eyes widened in horror.
She stared at him, jaw slightly agape.
"Come on, don't tell me you actually like that crap." He scoffed.
She put her hand up to her forehead, stressed. "Crap? It's a classic." She protested. Based on the look he was giving her she knew they were headed for a lengthy debate. "Fine." She said, "You're entitled to your own opinion." Even when it's wrong, she added in her head. "We have to focus on Frankenstein anyway."
He scrunched his nose, Blossom. Backing down from a debate? Well, it was to do school work, he thought.
He walked over to his bookshelf and pulled out his own copy of Frankenstein, returning to his spot on the bed. "Since we've both already read it, this should be pretty easy."
She turned her notebook to the first blank page and wrote for each major character:
Character:
Setting:
Tone:
Imagery:
Blossom liked to keep things very organized. She had her notebook in her lap while she flipped through the pages, finding particular sections.
Brick sat on the bed, pretending to skim through his book. Instead, he was watching her, writing intently. Every now and then she would bring the end of her pen to her teeth, biting down slightly, while trying to think of something. Had she ever done that in class? He hadn't noticed it before. It was kind of a cute quirk. He smirked.
"Brick?" She asked, letting her feet down to the floor again.
He snapped out of his daze. "What?" He didn't mean for it to sound as harsh as it did, but she didn't seem to notice.
She left her place at the desk and sat next to him on the bed now. She was really close, so close that he could smell the shampoo in her hair. She handed him the notebook that she'd been writing in. "Anything you want to add?"
He didn't realize that it would be this hard to concentrate with her in his room. He quickly looked through her notes, not really paying attention. When he tried to hand her the notebook back, he accidentally knocked the pen out of her hand.
Blossom smiled and leaned down to pick up her pen, when she leaned forward her long orange hair fell over her shoulder and brushed against his leg. She grabbed her pen and sat back up, pushing the fallen hair behind her ear.
"Well?" She asked, expectantly.
"Looks good." He replied.
They were making a ton of progress on their essay. They discussed thoughts and took turns writing sections. Only a couple hours had passed, but it was looking like they'd have their paper at least written out that day.
Blossom sat the notebook down and stood up to stretch, her shirt creeping up her toned stomach. She was wearing a pair of black leggings. He had never seen her wear something like that before, it was more casual than anything she wore to school. When she turned around he had a clear view of her ass, covered only by a thin layer of cotton. He didn't realize that she had such a nice ass. He stood up, "I'm gonna-" he nodded towards the bathroom.
Brick shut the bathroom door and threw his hands to his temples, stressed. What the fuck is wrong with me? He thought. It's fucking Blossom. Lifelong enemy.
He let out a loud sigh and walked over to the sink, splashing some cold water in his face. He needed to get her out of his head and off his mind. All she had done was enter his room and he was losing his mind. She was just a distraction and he didn't need this.
He dried his face, staring into the mirror, angry with himself for liking her.
While he was in the other room, Blossom noticed a copy of 'The Great Gatsby' on his bedside table and picked it up, curious to see how far he'd made it. When she opened the front cover something fell out. She looked down, and staring back at her were the photos that Princess had left in her locker previously.
She bent down and scooped them up, confused. She flipped through them again, ending with the photo of her exposed bra.
Brick came out now, "What are-" he saw the photos in her hand, and located the book that they'd been hidden in, with his eyes. "Why are you going through my shit?!" He spat.
She jumped, not expecting him to suddenly yell, "I was just-"
"You were just snooping through my fucking things. He fumed. What, are you spying on me?" He tightened his fists into balls.
"Calm down." She said in a soothing voice. "I thought you got rid of these?" She asked, curiously.
He took a couple steps towards her, with a murderous look in his eye. She was frozen in place, she hadn't seen him like this in a long time. Not since he'd last tried to kill her. She swallowed.
"Brick." She could barely get it out, her voice was small.
Fire shot out of his eyes, Blossom let out a loud yelp as the flame burnt her finger tips, turning the photos to ash. He took another step towards her. She tried to back up, but the back of her legs hit his bed and buckled.
"This was a mistake." He yanked her arm towards his desk. "Leave!"
"Sorry." She whispered, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. She quickly left his room. Boomer and Butch were at the other side of the door, confused. She didn't make eye contact with them. She picked up her shoes and flew out.
Brick slammed his door.
End Ch. 3 (: