Trunks began to speak again, this time in a husky voice. "Pan-chan...that night...I was thinking." He grabbed her hand. Pan's eyes widened and she gasped. 'What in the...'

"I was thinking that...well..." His eyes looked sincere and Pan could feel herself trembling.

"I-I was thinking...That I wouldn't mind doing that again sometime..."

~~

She blinked slowly as she trembled, trying to understand what he had said, as though he had perhaps said it in a different language, or through a very old and dusty telephone line. She couldn't quite string together his words and syllables, because she really had expected him to say something totally different. The tone he had used was so strange; so alien to her. The fine pale skin of her brow line crinkled in confusion as she continued to think. "I-I was thinking...That I wouldn't mind doing that again sometime..." Doing what again? We kissed... Kissing me? That's what he had meant! The realization hit her like a ton of bricks and the hairs of the back of her neck prickled. Pan suddenly found herself very vulnerable, and panic started to course through her veins in sickeningly hot waves.

Trunks was just standing there, expectantly, looking rather pale and nervous. He had turned to face her and his face just a few inches away from hers. His frosty blue eyes were looking into hers, penetrating, and for once shining with the life she hadn't seen for such a long time. But there was something different there, now. Not anything that hadn't been there before, but something that she had perhaps overlooked before. Whatever it was, it was practically bleeding through his stare, and it made her feel weak. Oh, so weak.

What had only been a few seconds of quiet seemed like an hour, and after the silence just turned uncomfortable, Pan opened her mouth to speak. But what to say? What she to make of all of this? What had she been expecting? This wasn't what she wanted.Or was it? Why was he looking at her like that? What was she going to say?

".W-What?"

The words had only just squeaked past by and they sounded so dumb to her ears, which had by now turned from pale pink to red. The vulnerability she was feeling now was almost unbearable, and her knees felt suddenly like they would give way, though she knew that they would not. Trunks only half- smiled nervously and grabbed her shoulders with his warm hands, pulling her an inch closer. His subtle scent filled her senses as he spoke.

"I. I knew you wouldn't expect it, but. Oh, Pan.I've missed you so much..." She could feel his hands shaking on her shoulders, which, in turn, were trembling. His face looked so sincere in that moment, burning red as he spoke.

"A-and I know, I should have called you the day after, but.I just couldn't. It felt so different. The days went by and all I could tell myself was that I wanted my friend back, and I know that if it had been like one of our old fights or something, we'd eventually break down and call each other and everything would be okay again, but this was.uhhm. Weirder." His brow furrowed difficultly. As quickly as wildfire, Pan found her voice again and her nose slightly crinkled.

"I'll say it was weirder." She said, matter-of-factly, a little more softly than she would have normally spoken. She took a shaky breath and her trembling ceased, leaving only strong discomfort. She looked to the ground for a split second, then back up into his eyes. There, for the first time in so long, she saw her best friend again, looking down at her, shooting a small smile. His bottom lip trembled before he spoke. "I'm sorry, Pan-Chan. I'm sorry I didn't call. I'm sorry for leaving you like I did." He looked to the ground after saying this, his cheeks still burned redder than the morning sun. Pan shuddered and let out a small groan from the back of her throat. It burned her to see him so upset. Was it not her fault also? Her eyes felt as though they would well up with tears, but she blinked them away. "Trunks." She stepped forward quickly and wrapped her small arms around his broad warm middle, then buried her face into his warm chest, breathing sharply. All of the pain, the discomfort, the memory of what was going on; it all melted away as she sank into the embrace of his strong arms. Pan could feel him trying to keep control over his breathing for a moment, but he soon gave up and sighed heavily, holder her more tightly, as thought he would never let go again. Her soft breath on his bare collarbone made little goose bumps sprout up all over his softly tanned skin. Everything in the still of that moment made her feel comforted, from the heat of his arms, to his breath making her hair sway back and forth, to the soft scent of his cologne. She opened her eyes for a brief moment, then closed them again tightly in disbelief. Oh, how she had missed him.

"Trunks. It's not your fault. I should have called you or. Or something. But it really did feel strange. I've missed you so much.Nothing's the same without you. It felt like I would never be able to look you in the eyes again. And I was so afraid that you. That.you. I don't know." She said all of this very quickly into his chest, and she wasn't sure that he would be able to hear her so muffled, but his grip on her tightened, giving her the impression that he understood. He's back, she thought. Trunk is back and I'm never going to lose him again. Things will be back to the way they were. A tear of happiness escaped her thick black lashes before she could stop it, and it moistened the top of his collar.

They drew away from each other after a few more moments, and Trunks smiled down at her again with relief, bringing up his thumb to wipe away the remnants of her tears. Pan grinned and swatted away his hand, then dabbed them away on the end of her sleeve as she had always done. "I'm really glad we got that out of our systems." She said as last, with another timid grin. "Now everything can finally go back to normal." Trunks' relieved smile faded slightly, but Pan didn't notice and she continued to speak. "Gosh, do you have any idea how much we've missed out on? We missed the world Lacrosse cup! Ireland won. That does mean you have to pay up." She winked and laughed softly, happy to be able to speak with him on the same terms she had before this whole ordeal. But stopped abruptly when she saw the look on his face. "What is it, Trunks?"

Trunks looked thoroughly confused, and he was not smiling as she had expected him to be. That serious something she had seen sparkling in his eyes earlier was there again, stronger than ever as he gazed down at her. She froze in wonder as he stared, and Trunks opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped, like he was giving it more thought, or maybe considering not saying it. "Trunks." Pan began, grabbing his hand and making to start walking. "What's the matter? It's getting kind of late. We should go. Hey, how about we go see a movie? We haven't done that in ages."

"Err.Pan." said Trunks gently as he looked at the ground again, then back up at her. Pan raised an eyebrow and questioned him. "Yes?" Something was astray.

Trunks fidgeted as he gazed at her, his face still burning. "A-About what I said.First." He began nervously. "I. Meant it." Pan merely cocked her head to the side, completely oblivious to what he was referring to. After all, she was Goku's granddaughter. "What do you mean, 'What you said first'?" She had forgotten in the excitement of getting back onto good terms with him how he had gotten the conversation started; what words he had chosen.

And then she remembered

".OH!"

She blurted out, her face flushing once again. Panic once again ebbed and she felt it. Vulnerable. Nervous. Anticipation?... NO.What was going on?

***"I-I was thinking...That I wouldn't mind doing that again sometime..."***

"T-trunks. I.I."

Trunks must have seen something doubtful in her surprised expression, because he quickly withdrew and blushed even more furiously. "I-it's okay." He said quickly. "I understand what you're probably feeling." Something like sadness glazed over his features, but Pan could tell that he was trying to hide it. He tried to smile reassuringly, but it seemed a little off.

"And it's okay. I just wanted you to know.Because it's just been. well. You know.Uhm. I was just thinking, and well. W-we don't have to talk about.B- because you probably don't.And it's getting kind of late, and I told mom I'd be back soon to help her with some GR updates. Dad keeps breaking it and everything." He trailed off nervously, obviously unsatisfied with his poor job of smoothing over the conversation. Pan, frozen in her spot, blinked a few times trying to figure everything out. Why had he stopped so abruptly? She shook herself inwardly. Isn't that good thing? Now you don't have to talk about it! This gives you time to think of something good to say, Pan! Speaking of saying things, say something before he freaks out!

"It's all good!" Pan shouted, a little overenthusiastically. She gave herself a mental kick in the ass. "We can, err, talk later!." You sound really smart, Pan. Why don't you start drooling now to top things off? Trunks bit his lip, still trying to look cool. "O-okay. That's good."

Trunks walked Pan over to her car. They spoke to each other along the way of things that weren't really on their minds, just to fill in the uncomfortable silence, but both appreciated the efforts for conversation. Dark placid clouds had accumulated across the horizon and moved over them while they walked, and the humid air hung with the smell of hot rain, making Pan's hair frizz slightly. The air had been invaded with a warm sleepy darkness that engulfed Satan City like an invisible blanket. Trunks stepped forward and opened Pan's driver's seat door for her and she stood next to it, pulling the keys absentmindedly out of her pocket.

"Thanks for Lunch." She said with a small smile. "It's.Good to have you back, Trunks."

Trunks tried not to beam as he looked to the ground. "It's great to have you back too, Pan."

"Well, let's get together again soon. Mom and Dad haven't seen you in ages." She jingled her keys in her hands idly and grinned up at him. "Maybe we could organize a spar or something."

Trunks nodded and ruffled her hair playfully. "I don't think you could handle a spar with me anymore." She giggled and stood on her tip toes in challenge. "We'll see, boxer-boy." The hugged each other quickly, and she made to sit down in her car, but stopped when trunks spoke again.

"Well, do you want to come over tomorrow for a while? Mom and Dad are going on a business trip tonight, and I'm on vacation anyway. And I don't have anything to do, so if you could come over tomorrow.Or anytime this week.That would be great." The sparkle of his eyes had returned again, and Pan couldn't help but notice the small trace of nervousness in his words.

"Well. There was supposed to be a bonus celebratory for work tomorrow." She began, she saw Trunks' happy expression subside and she went in a different direction with her words. "But they won't miss me. Sure I'll come. What time?"

The dotted white lines flashed like a ribbon of white light from in front of her to under her car as pan drove along the highway back to her house, thinking as she went. My, what an odd afternoon it had been. Pan resolved to herself that excitement like she had experienced that day should definitely be spaced over long periods of time for fear of giving her a heart attack if taken all at once. Thankfully, she had at last gotten Trunks back to being her friend and things were back on track to them being able to speak to each other normally. It all seemed so perfect. But why was there a feeling of something incomplete?

"I-I was thinking...That I wouldn't mind doing that again sometime..."

Pan tightened the grip on her steering wheel as she remembered. Nope, that really hadn't been what she was expecting. What did it mean, then? Did he love her now? She shuddered. Love was too strong of a word. Did he like her now? Maybe he had been referring to the concert. Hah. That was wishful thinking. Maybe he did like her, but that didn't matter because she didn't like him. She shuddered again. Or did she? Oh no! No no no no no no. That's absurd. That kiss was spur of the moment and it didn't mean anything. Then why did you do it, Pan? Why did you do it if you didn't like him? Would you just go and kiss Oolong spur of the moment? She wretched as she tried to force that bad mental image out of her mind. Okay, so maybe she liked him. Maybe? YES! Okay. That wasn't so hard. And he liked her back? Maybe. Pan furrowed her delicate brow as she pulled into her driveway. Trunks had been her best friend from as far back as she could remember. It the kiss hadn't meant anything to her, then why did she stay away from him for so long? Why had she refused to call and why had she sat in her room fretting? What had that look in his eyes been that hadn't been there before?

She got out of the car and walked through the unlocked front door of her home, then heard her mother call her name from the kitchen and welcome her home. She smiled and started to walk towards the voice of her mother, but stopped seeing the ticket stub on carpet near the door. She picked it up and examined it closely. It sat there innocently in her palm, a small memento of a night that had changed her life. After a moment of reflection, she smiled subtly and closed her slender fingers around it.