Male Order Bride
CHAPTER 14
"Visitors"
On Monday morning Gohan sat in his usual seat next to Erasa. He exchanged a warm look with Videl, which didn't go unnoticed by the guy sitting beside her—Sharpener.
Sharpener crossed his arms. "Alright. What the hell happened on Saturday night?"
Erasa, Videl, and Gohan responded all at the same time, with sly smiles on their faces.
" Nothing, silly."
"What do you mean?"
"I had a lot of homework."
Sharpener's left eyebrow twitched. He studied their faces as they stared straight ahead at the dry erase board. They were hiding something. That much was obvious.
"Don't lie! I know something happened on Saturday! Did you go out with that nerd, Videl? I'll break his nose if you did!"
"It's none of your business who I go out with," Videl growled." But if you must know, I didn't go out with him. I went shopping with Erasa on Saturday."
"It's true. We even got mani-pedis." Erasa winked.
"Videl hates shopping!"
"I like it sometimes," Videl muttered.
Sharpener turned his attention to Gohan. "Hey, Nerd, what did you do on Saturday?"
"My name is Gohan. I didn't do anything fun on Saturday. I had a lot of homework to finish."
Sharpener tapped his pencil thoughtfully.
Erasa stuck to him like glue after leaving Gohan's work on Saturday, most likely trying to keep him away from Gohan. He was finally able to ditch his cousin after sneaking out the men's restroom window at the mall she dragged him to. He guessed it was possible she had called Videl to keep her company after that.
Sharpener had no explanation for what happened next. He hid behind a tree across the street, watching Gohan secure the lock on his bicycle. The nerd had changed into a blue suit. Strangely, Gohan left his bicycle behind and took off on foot down the sidewalk. Sharpener chased after him, temporarily losing sight of him because of one street lamp with a broken light bulb.
Sharpener couldn't find Gohan after that. It was like he had disappeared into thin air.
"Whatever," Sharpener sighed, dropping the subject for now.
. + . + . + . + .
"Bye, Mom!" Goten shouted, racing out of the house with his best friend, Trunks, at his side.
Chichi leaned against the door frame, drying a dish with the front of her apron. "Don't wander too far," she softly called after the boys." Lunch will be ready at noon, and stay away from Mr. Patterson's cows!"
Goten had flown home with one of Mr. Patterson's cows last week. He wanted to make his mother happy. If they had a cow they wouldn't need to take so many trips into town to buy milk. Chichi had to explain that was stealing, and together they returned the cow and apologized. Mr. Patterson hurled every insult he could think of at them, promising to get the authorities involved if Goten so much as stepped one foot on his property again.
"We'll stay away from his cows," Goten replied.
"We promise!" Trunks added.
Something in Trunks' voice made Chichi frown. They were up to something again. Trunks was good at finding trouble. If Chichi didn't know that Trunks would grow up to become a mature, polite adult someday…she would've banned Trunks from playing with her sweet Goten a long time ago.
"What are those boys up to now?" sighed Chichi." Oh, well. I'm sure they'll tell me all about it at lunch. Something tells me I will need to apologize to the neighbors again. I better take a bath and change my clothes."
Once they had run far enough, Trunks glanced over his shoulder.
"Is she gone?" Goten asked.
"Yeah, she went back inside."
The two boys squatted over a wrinkled envelope Goten had kept concealed inside his shirt. It was the letter Gohan had written to him. He pushed it closer to Trunks.
"Can you find out where Gohan is?" At only five years old, Goten didn't know how to read or write yet, something Trunks was always calling him stupid over.
Trunks licked his lips and nodded." Yeah. His address is on the envelope, see? I can find him, no problem." Trunks glanced back at the house." Are you sure you want to go through with this? Your mom might not let me come over again until you're, like, forty."
Goten nodded. He was determined to see his big brother again, even if it meant being grounded and angering his mom.
.+.+.+.+.+.
Sweat dripped from Gohan's forehead and down his neck. Sweat had gathered in his palms, too, making the baseball bat difficult to hold. Enduring the blazing heat at baseball practice was only half the challenge, the other half was concealing his super strength.
The pitcher threw the ball. Even Gohan had to admit the speed was impressive, an ordinary person would've missed the ball, but…
"Crap!" Gohan swore as he swung the bat and hit the ball. The ball disappeared into the air. Everyone stared up at the blue sky with their mouths hanging open. A few seconds later, the ball appeared again, shining bright like a shooting star, hitting the grass far out into the field.
"Sorry!" Gohan apologized, adjusting his baseball cap to hide more of his face. No one moved to go after the ball. What would be the point? The ball hit the ground so hard they'd need to use a shovel just to recover it.
Before Gohan could apologize again, his entire team cheered. They, along with the coach, swarmed around him, praising him and exclaiming," That was amazing! We're going to win every game for sure with you on our team!" In the middle of their excitement, Gohan noticed Erasa sitting alone on the wooden bleachers, watching him with a smile.
Gohan smiled back and waved.
"That's enough practice for today boys," The coach declared." I need to buy some more baseballs to practice with anyway. See you all tomorrow."
Gohan said goodbye to his teammates and jogged across the field over to the bleachers. He sat down next to her." Videl isn't with you?" He sounded disappointed.
Erasa handed Gohan a cold sports drink." She got a call an hour ago. Chief of police needed her help. Something about a guy threatening to jump off the ledge of his apartment building if he didn't get Videl's autograph, or something."
"Oh."
Erasa must've heard the disappointment in his voice because she opened the cooler she brought with her and said." Videl really wanted to watch your baseball practice today, really. I brought sandwiches and some dessert. Hope you don't mind eating with me. I don't know about you but I'm starving!"
In response, Gohan's stomach growled." Thanks for the food, and thanks for coming. I'll treat you to something to eat next time."
"It's a date," Erasa winked.
Gohan's face turned red, and he stared out at the baseball field as he ate his turkey sandwich. Was his wife's best friend flirting? With him?! Erasa had no idea they were married, but she knew his feelings about Videl better than he knew himself.
"Erasa flirts with everyone. Just laugh it off. She's not being serious," He told himself.
"So," Erasa began, scooting closer to Gohan so their thighs and shoulders were touching." Are you going to tell me how your movie date with Videl went, or do I have to shake the details out of Videl first?"
. + . + . + . + .
Trunks and Goten wandered the streets of Satan City, guided by a wrinkled envelope Trunks held out in front of him like a map. The only problem was that Trunks didn't know how to read a map, or that he even needed one. For hours they had walked, reading every street sign at every intersection, finding none that contained Gohan's new address.
"I'm tired, Trunks." Goten whimpered, falling further behind his friend.
"I'm tired too. Just keep walking. We're almost there."
"It's hot, Trunks." Goten whimpered some more, stopping to wipe his forehead.
"I'm hot too, but—"
"We're never going to find Gohan, are we? Maybe we should go back."
Trunks stopped walking and turned to look at his best friend. He remembered how upset and depressed Goten had been after his brother got married. He thought Goten would never smile and have fun again, until Gohan finally wrote that letter to him. Which Goten had kept hidden from his mother, knowing that she'd never read it to him or let him visit Gohan. It was Trunks who Goten had turned to for help.
"Sorry, we don't have time to check every street sign before your mom has my dad find us." Trunks gave the envelope back to his friend, enjoying the boy's despair for a second before adding." Which is why we should go to Gohan's school instead. Schools are huge and easy to find if we fly high enough."
Goten's eyes lit up with excitement." You're so smart, Trunks!"
"Heh, I know," Trunks laughed. The two of them flew high into the hot sky, spotting Orange Star High School right away.
. + . + . + . + .
Gohan didn't have much to say about his movie date with Videl. The romance film he picked out was putting them to sleep, so Videl suggested they sneak into a different movie. They sneaked into a lot of movies until they found an interesting scifi movie, where everyone is secretly lizard people. It didn't set the mood for romance between them, but it did give them a lot to laugh about over burgers and milkshakes afterwards.
"Did you kiss her?" Erasa asked, showing zero interest over Gohan's review of the lizard people movie.
"No, I didn't," Gohan blurted." Why? Was I supposed to? Did Videl say something?"
Erasa took a small bite out of her sandwich and shrugged." She hasn't told me anything yet, that's why I'm asking you. Most guys try to make a move, at least that's how it goes when I'm on a date with a guy."
"You mean…sex?"
Erasa looked amused." It would take a lot of guts to try to have sex with Videl. I mean, you do know who her dad is right? Forget about Sharpener, her dad would break every bone in your body! Sure, lots of guys try to have sex with me, but Videl is different. If you didn't try to kiss her, then what did you do? What move did you make? I want details!" Erasa was pretty much shaking him by the shirt at this point.
It was then that Gohan realized he didn't make a single move on their date.
" I didn't make a single move on Videl, honest!"
"You're lying!"
"No, I'm not." Gohan pried Erasa's hands off his shirt and held them. He looked directly into her blue eyes, which were lighter compared to Videl's." I didn't try to kiss her, or even hold her hand. I didn't even ask her on a second date! What am I supposed to do now!"
Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. Erasa was at a loss for words as she stared into Gohan's cute, pleading face. She finally knew why Videl didn't tell her about their date, there really was nothing to tell.
"Listen, Gohan, I…" Two boys suddenly landed in the middle of the baseball field. Erasa couldn't believe what she'd just seen. She merely gaped at them as the boys ran across the field. They were running directly for them!
"Are you okay?" Gohan asked. He was so focused on Erasa that he hadn't seen the two boys land. Erasa pointed a shaky finger at the spot just over Gohan's shoulder. He started to look back…
"GOHAN!" The boy with the wild dark hair screamed, pouncing into Gohan hard enough to knock him off his seat.
Erasa jumped to her feet, unsure of what to do. She instinctively pulled out her cell phone, ready to call for help if Gohan screamed. It wasn't everyday she saw kids flying and landing like birds. Were they even normal boys?
The boy in a green T-shirt and blue shorts, with lavender hair, casually walked up to her. He smiled and held out his hand.
"You must be Gohan's wife. My mom says you're the second richest family after us. My name is Trunks Briefs, it's nice to meet you." Trunks turned and whistled."Yo, Goten! Aren't you going to say hi to your new sister?"
"You're Videl?" Goten did a graceful back flip off his brother, landing lightly next to Trunks. He grinned widely at Erasa and extended his hand." Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Goten."
Gohan groaned as he stood up. Videl was going to be so mad at him for revealing their secret, but he couldn't think of a good enough lie to tell Erasa. The boys had said too much.
"Erasa, I can explain…"
. + . + . + . + .
My Big Announcement:
Well, I've kept this story going long enough. I've decided to finally finish this story!
My goal is to finish this story by August 31st!
