Greetings everyone! Another chapter—sorry it's been so long, or maybe it just seems long. No matter! The chapter's here! A note, however. I have nothing against homosexuals. In fact, I have several homosexual friends, and so there is no meant stabbing at being gay or lesbian in the appropriate scenes in this chapter. Just wanted to state that. Anywayz! Sorry this chapter's a little on the shorter side. I'll be honest in saying I tried to lengthen it and that was unsuccessful. This chapter wanted to stay as is, that's for sure! Hello to everyone, thank you to all my reviewers who are so faithful, and a quick shout to all my fans who IM or email—thank you so much!
Pan hadn't slept that whole night it seemed. Or, she would have sworn to that had she not had those dreams. So realistically they portrayed her life that was to come…or, they portrayed different scenario's that could occur. She hated those dreams, but even more, she hated the prospects they showed.
At eleven o'clock in the morning Pan's cell phone rang. She always set it on her night table with the charger plugged in and leaving a wire trail to the outlet, and the tune of fur elise seemed to blare in her ears.
Having still not recovered from her lack of sleep the night prior, she admitted to using a few choice words while she struggled to get out of her warm cocoon of blankets. She picked it up and glanced at the blue screen before taking it to her ear.
"What?" She sounded like the crypt keeper, she had to admit, and she cleared her throat.
"Still asleep?" Jace's voice on the other line sounded both surprised and apologetic, and she assured him it was all right.
"What did you want?" He hesitated. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant it like, well, what do you want? I meant to say what I said but I didn't mean it like that." After that sentence he still hesitated. "Oh, just spit it." She blurted, annoyed with herself.
"Well, I just wanted to call and tell you some good news. You'll never believe it, but I got invited to the convention!" He was so excited, like a kid just finding out Disneyworld was on for the family vacation.
"That's awesome!" Jace had been dying to get into this convention for months, she knew. It was a technology-based convention highlighting physics as its main specialty, and as a nuclear physics major, Jace was as good as there if he could get in.
"OK, but here's the big news," He began. "They gave me two tickets and, well, I was hoping you'd like to come with me…?"
~*
Hadn't she remembered how much she hated flying? The cramped quarters, the swaying, bumping plane, the way it was always too warm—stifling, really—the teeny-tiny plastic cups of soda and the micro-mino bags of over-salted peanuts?
Ugh, she just wanted out! This instant! Wouldn't someone save her!?
"I need to go to the bathroom—" She stood up abruptly and tripped over Jace before he could respond. She threw herself into the cramped bathroom and shut the door behind her.
She didn't have to use the bathroom, she just needed to do something before she self-combusted.
It was only a matter of time, however, before she realized she was even more confined than before, and busted out of the bathroom, panting.
She really looked a wreck when she sat—more to the truth, plopped and fizzed—down and buzzed for a flight attendant.
"How much longer to New York?" She whined in a groan to Jace. "I need out, I think I'm going to puke—when are we going to get there?"
"We've only been on the plane for an hour!" Pan groaned loud enough for him to look embarrassed and wish he hadn't chose to fly to London for the weekend so they could fly to New York together.
The nice flight attendant approached with a cheery smile. She had bobbed blonde hair, a smart blue suit on, and a british accent.
"Could I have some more soda—er, beverage please?" The woman nodded. "Actually, I'll take three or four—sprite." She turned to Jace after she left. "How much longer?"
~*
"What!?" The entire building most likely heard him. Still he looked at the paper, his eyes wide, his face disbelieving…
"Sorry, my friend." His eyes didn't flicker to the speaker. Didn't flicker to Donny. "If I knew this would have happened—"
"Where did it come from?" He asked, still in disbelief.
"I have no idea, but all the papers had it…funny, too, perfect timing with my, er, confession." Donny chuckled, but Trunks didn't find it amusing in the least.
Finally Claire came in—hadn't Trunks buzzed her hours ago?—and he shoved the paper in her face.
"Trunks Brief's and male model Donny Evan's—homosexuality leading the way at Capsule Corporations." She read aloud. "Where—"
"Did it come from?" Trunks finished for her. "We were just together, hanging out—he's my future brother-in-law for pete's sake!" If he had had anything unbreakable nearby he would have chucked it through the window. Heck, he would have thrown something breakable through the window had he not realized that:
The windows are very, very, very expensive. It takes forever to get them replaced, and he didn't want to wait for that. The draft wouldn't be pleasant while he waited for the repair.Thus, he opted not to do that.
Instead, he had Claire begin a massive press conference to counteract the situation.
~*
After checking into the hotel, Jace left his own room to watch some TV in Pan's along with her. They flipped channels aimlessly; mostly just talking about tomorrow's plans while something they weren't interested in in the least was flashing across the screen.
Finally Pan convinced him to call room service for some dinner, though there hadn't been much convincing to be honest.
She flipped on the news and snuggled into the overstuffed couch in the sitting room area of the suite, and snuggled with a pillow, watching the blonde reporter smile at her and carry on the headlines of the evening.
"He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to—"
"Pizza or chinese?" Jace called from the bedroom, to which she agreed to chinese without hesitation. The news continued on, and as usual, Pan was sucked in.
"In response to the headline that Trunks Brief's of Capsule Corporation fame was seeing male model Donny Evans—" Pan snorted in surprise and jumped to a sitting position. "he had a public press conference earlier this evening, with Mr. Evans present."
The shot changed to the press conference in question, and Pan couldn't even blink.
"I am here this evening to deny the false headlines present in many newspapers this morning. While I am good friends with Mr. Donny Evans, he is not in fact someone I am seeing in that nature. I would also like to mention that, if you recall several tabloids about him seeing my sister, Bura Brief's, seriously, those tabloids would be correct. Mr. Evans and my sister have been seeing each other now for about a year."
Always the best diplomat. Pan thought to herself. Always the best at these kinds of things.
"Mr. Evans, you are a male model. How do you think this will affect your image?" A reporter asked, a woman with a pink suit and dark skin. She saw Donny chuckle.
"Well, I wouldn't think it would affect it at all, as the rumors are not true. If you are asking in the thought of if people will further question my sexuality, then I shall state that there is no reason to question. As Mr. Brief's said, I am seeing his sister seriously."
Donny was pretty good as well, she had to admit.
"Mr. Brief's! How will these occurrences affect your technology convention starting tomorrow?" Another reporter, a woman about thirty with brown hair, asked, tape recorder in hand.
"I wouldn't think it would affect it at all. At least I hope not. If no one comes then I will admit to being disappointed." He joked, and the screen turned back to the main news reporter.
Pan turned her head to where Jace was getting a glass of water.
"Jace? Who is sponsoring tomorrow's convention?" She asked slowly.
"Capsule Corporations. Why?" Pan then chose not to think of anything but the chinese food that was on its way.
~*
The next day Pan awoke to a bright hotel room with fresh towels, the TV still on in the sitting room, and empty chinese take out boxes strewn everywhere.
Still, bright and cheery at eight-thirty she met up with Jace for breakfast and then hopped in a cab with him for convention center.
New York was lovely at present. The late April air was breathtaking, and she breathed in the scent of damp earth and fresh leaves. Jace didn't seem to be taking in much of the scenery or time of the year. He was cracking his knuckles at random, and his gaze darted here and there, and he would speak suddenly or ask the strangest questions at the strangest times.
Jace Winthrow was giving a presentation. That had been how he had gotten two tickets, and how he was being able to miss school for the occasion. He was also hoping to luck out with an internship offer, as it was his last semester.
They were dropped off at the front where they handed an attendant their ticket before heading inside, and the moment the door closed behind them, Pan knew Jace was home.
Electronics, gadgets, gizmos, whatever you wanted that had electricity or power running through it was there. Everything you could imagine computer-oriented was there. Everything was there.
And Jace was grinning so big she thought he might have smoked something before meeting up with her.
"OK, big boy," She began, turning to him with a happy grin. "Where you want to go first?" She thought he might pop.
~*
Pan was a technological type of person. She had grown up spending nearly half her time around Capsule Corporations in all its forms, from the skyscraper in the city to the Brief's home, and her dad was a computer and technological nut.
But she would also admit, in the same breath, that she was so tired of metal and wires and beeping robots at present she felt like—impossible!—boutique shopping maybe, or some other form of meaningless waste-of-time activity. (Although she had been finding shopping frivolously more and more fun as time passed)
So, when Jace—tragically—announced that it was time to start setting up for his presentation, she didn't hesitate for a second.
She waited patiently, clicking away on his spare laptop while he got everything set up. She sent dozens of little emails to everyone just saying hi, and felt the better for it. She was always neglectful about email, even though she would be thinking about them, and so she took advantage of the opportunity.
Jace gave his presentation quite brilliantly. Asking all the questions with perfect ease, being informative without rambling. She was proud of him, and after his grand finish she approached him.
"Hey, I'll wait outside, all right?" He nodded, his eyes somewhere else but listening faultlessly, and she dashed off so as not to be in the way of anyone who might want to meet him or speak with him.
She stood just to the side of the door, the laptop case grasped before her, looking like a schoolgirl in a black, pleated knee-length skirt and a button up white, short sleeved shirt, her hair parted to the side and pulled halfway back.
She saw many men and women pass her, exiting the room where Jace had given his presentation, all in business suits with palm pilots, laptops, and cell phones in hand, pockets, and clipped on in different places.
"He did well." The voice, so close and so familiar, made her jump. She turned to see Trunks standing next to her, an arm above his head, leaning against the wall. He had charcoal slacks on with a navy blue shirt and matching tie, the sleeves rolled up casually.
He looked perfect. Like an amazing, laid-back business man, but always the Trunks she remembered.
"Do you love him?"
Her mother's words rang in her ears and she tried her best to stifle the echo; he was speaking to her and she had to reply.
"Yes, he did. Did you enjoy it?" He had a palm pilot stuck to his belt, a cell phone clipped on the other side, a pen sticking out of his pocket.
"I did. Very much, in fact." She smiled neutrally, nodding. "Jace Winthrow." He repeated, the significance of his words bearing understanding. "He has a lot of doors open to him now, I believe. He has a lot of potential." She nodded again, her eyes downward.
"Well, Pan, I better be going." He gave her arm a quick squeeze. "I'll see ya' later!" And with that he was gone.
She saw his face, his expression, his form, everything. It repeated itself in her mind, a picture captured.
"Do you love him?" Her mother's words once again struck her hard, painfully, with a sickening jolt to her stomach. She watched his retreating back, saw him wave to people here and there, nod once or twice…still Trunks. He'll always be Trunks.
"Do you love him?"
Jace walked through the door. Everything stopped. The moment gone.
"You'll never guess what happened, Pan!" Another business man approached Jace, and he touched her arm, giving a silent signal to say, "just one moment".
Pan? Pan! Trunks had called her Pan. Just Pan. Not Panny. He'd never called her Pan—not, at least, in the same sort of situation. And that was something that smacked her hard. Harder than her mother's words. Harder than that moment when she saw him walk away…
"Sorry about that." She didn't answer, but he continued. "Anyway, guess what! You'll never believe this! I can't believe this! I mean, oh, Pan…" She smiled though she knew it looked forced.
"He offered me a job!"
"Who?" She questioned, still confused. There were tons of business men in that room. How did he expect her to know—
"Mr. Brief's! Trunks Brief's! He offered me a job! Not even an internship if I don't want—a job! Working for Capsule Corporations! Can you believe it?"
No, she couldn't.