Chapter 2

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After finding Angelica and Johanna, the four girls went into the parking lot, and got into Leah's new car that she had gotten for her birthday. "So Nicole, what happened with you at Record Town?" Angelica asked as Leah stopped at a red light.

"Nothing much… why?" Nicole replied.

"Well, you haven't stopped smiling since!" Leah said.

"Oh… well I just got a good deal on my CD, that's all!" Nicole lied.

"Yeah right! What really happened? No one gets that happy, just 'cause they got a good deal on a CD!" Johanna persisted.

"I think Nicole met a guy…" Angelica said grinning.

"Well, then it must have been some guy, 'cause you never get that excited about anyone!" Leah said, looking directly at Nicole.

"Oh c'mon! If I had met anyone, I would have told you right away! Said Nicole, still smiling. There was a few seconds of silence, until Johanna blurted out, "So what's his name?!?!"

"I didn't meet anyone!" Nicole said again.

"C'mon Nicole, you're blushing!" laughed Leah. Nicole turned her head to hide her face from everyone.

"Nothing happened." Nicole said finally, looking up.

"Ok, fine. If you don't want to tell us…" Angelica giggled. Everyone laughed.

After being dropped off at her house by Leah, Nicole quickly ate dinner and began to get ready for her date with Trunks.

Once she had changed her clothes and done her hair, Nicole walked to the Lunar Café, since it was a short way from her house. Once she got there, she noticed Trunks standing near the doorway. She took a deep breath, and walked over to him. "Hi!" She said cheerfully.

"Hey!" He smiled back at her. They both walked in. After sitting down, and ordering cappuccinos, Nicole tried to spark a good conversation by saying, "So when's your sister's birthday?"

"Oh, it's the twenty-eighth… she's turning ten." replied Trunks.

"Cool… I have a little brother… he'll be turning twelve in October." Nicole said.

After a while, the two had finished their drinks, Trunks suggested that they go see a movie, since he had been meaning to see the newest release 'Deep'. He had also learned that Nicole loved mystery, sci-fi movies, and that she had wanted to go too.

When the two reached the movie theatre, which was about four blocks away, they bought their tickets, and walked into the theatre that was showing 'Deep'.

The movie was about a scientist, who studied underwater artifacts. She found a mysterious cave in the ocean one day, on the job. Curious, she went inside and found ancient ruins that she believed were from aliens, that had visited more than one million years ago. Summer, the scientist, took some things from inside the cave and into a laboratory to be studied. That was when all the weird things began occurring. Bizarre happenings took place, until eventually the alien-like-creatures that had visited long ago appeared in dreams to Summer, telling her to put the artifacts back.

Just as she was about to go into the lab, to get the artifacts to return to the cave near the end of the movie, the screen went blank. "What the heck…?" Nicole whispered.

"Oh my God…" Trunks said, worriedly.

"What if there's a fire or something?!" Nicole panicked.

"I dunno… let's get out of here…" Trunks said, standing up to join the herd of people already pushing there way out one of the doors.

"Wait! Trunks! Your jacket!" Nicole reminded. Trunks had let her wear it because she was cold, but she had dropped it in all the commotion. She bent down, and frantically began searching for it. Hearing the announcement again, Trunks quickly said, "Nicole! It doesn't matter! C'mon!"

"No! I'm not gonna have you loose your jacket!" Nicole stubbornly disagreed, as she kept searching with her hands. A few moments later, just as the announcement went off for the third time, smoke began to fill the room. "Nicole, I'm serious! We've gotta leave now! Look! There's smoke everywhere!" Trunks persisted.

"I found it!" Nicole exclaimed, as she jumped up.

"Good, now let's get outta here." Trunks said. For a split second, Nicole thought Trunks was mad at her. But looking at his eyes, she knew he wasn't. They were soft, kind and loving, just as they were when they had first met. As soon as the two reached the bottom of the theatre, (they had sat in the very top row) they could barely see where they were going. The smoke had become much too thick, and it was getting hard to breathe. "Do you see any of the exit signs?" Nicole asked tensely.

"No… the smoke is too dense…" Trunks nervously replied. Nicole tried to make her way to the other side of the theatre to try to find an exit, but she stumbled over a row of seats, and fell. Quickly getting back up, she raced to the end of the row. She turned around, and saw that Trunks was right behind her. "I can't see any exits here either…" Trunks said alarmed.

"Oh my God… I hope we don't have to start crawling on the ground to get out of here…" Nicole coughed, remembering how fire fighters used to come to her school when she was younger, and tell the classes how to handle a fire. Since smoke rises, you would need to crawl on the floor in order to breathe. Nicole turned around, and dashed to the other end of the theatre, and frantically started looking for the exit. She spun around, this way and that, looking for the red letters that spelled 'EXIT'. It was becoming darker and darker by the second. Then, just as Nicole was beginning to think she might die in this freak accident, she felt Trunks' lips touch hers. The two kissed. "In case we don't get out of this alive…" Trunks softly explained.

"I see the exit…" Nicole suddenly whispered. She pointed to the extremely dim crimson letters overhead. "Great." Trunks grinned. The both made their way to the door that was barely visible. Luckily, they had found a door that led straight outside. The duo quickly got outside, and inhaled breaths of clean, fresh air. Nicole noticed the crowd of people gathered outside, and the four fire engines. Then, a fire fighter made his way over to the two. "Did you two just get out?" he asked. Nicole and Trunks nodded. "You're lucky you made it out when you did. If you were in there any longer, the fire would had eaten its way through the wall and into the theatre you were in." he explained. Nicole breathed a sigh of relief.

A half-hour later, everything had calmed down, and everyone was told to leave the theatre since it was badly damaged. As the two walked away from the theatre, Nicole glanced at her watch. It was 10:55. She had to be home in five minutes, since her curfew was 11:00. However, she didn't want to go back home. Not just yet anyway. She wanted to stay with Trunks forever. She had only met him earlier that day, but she felt like she had known him forever. "So… now what?" Nicole asked.

"I dunno… do you wanna go home?" Trunks asked.

"No… let's go to the park." she suggested. "I mean, my curfew's 11:00 but it doesn't really matter because my parents aren't home anyway. They're at a banquet."

"Ok…" Trunks nodded.

So the couple went to the park, which was pretty close by. Nicole and Trunks walked around the perimeter of the park several times, talking and laughing about their family, friends, and just life in particular. "Let's sit down…" Nicole implied as they came across a small bench.

"Alright." Trunks said.

"Trunks… I had a really great time tonight… I loved it." Nicole suddenly said. She slowly leaned over and softly kissed him. She felt Trunks' tongue gently touch hers. "Yeah… I loved it too." He quietly said when they had parted. Nicole looked at her watch again. "I'd better go home…" she reluctantly said. It was 11:45.

"Alright… I'll walk you to your house, ok?" Trunks offered.

"Ok." Nicole nodded. They both stood up and walked the short distance to Nicole's house. After exchanging their phone numbers, and e-mail addresses, they said goodbye. As Nicole walked into her house, all she could think about was the wonderful time she had had. Sure, she did almost die in a fire, but she had had the time of her life. Trunks had even asked her to come to his family's barbecue on Saturday! He told her she could bring some of her friends, and she knew that that would be the perfect way to introduce Trunks to Leah, Angelica, and Johanna. When she reached her house, she happily changed her clothes, got in bed, and fell asleep… knowing she had a huge smile on her face.

The next morning, at Capsule Corp. Trunks told Bulma about his date with Nicole, and said that he had invited her and a few of her friends to their barbecue. He could tell that she was looking forward to meeting her.

Meanwhile, at Nicole's house, she called her friends and asked them if they could come to the barbecue. Everyone could, except Johanna. She had to go to her orthodontist to get her expander removed.

Nicole spent most of her day, talking to Trunks online. She was incredibly happy that their relationship had started off so smoothly, and she could tell it was going to be a good one.

The next day, Leah picked up Nicole and Angelica and headed for Capsule Corp. After driving for a while, the trio reached the pale yellow dome-shaped building. They got out of the car, and Nicole led them both into the back of the huge building. "Hey!" Trunks yelled, running over to the three.

"Hey!" Nicole said happily. He turned around and told everyone there to come and meet his new girlfriend. After Gohan, Goten, ChiChi, Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien, Krillin, Master Roshi, Chiaotzu, Oolong, Bulma, Bra and Vegeta had all gathered around them, Nicole introduced her two friends.

A few minutes later, Nicole noticed that while she had been talking with Trunks and his family, Angelica had been following Gohan around, and that Leah was flirting with Yamcha! "Oh no…" thought Nicole sarcastically, smiling to herself.