Piccolo grabbed my arm and peeled me off of his body. He marched toward the front door, but Jay-chan caught a hold of his cape before he could escape.
"What just happened?" Her eyes were still stuck wide open.
"I'm staying," Piccolo growled, apparently annoyed with Jay-chan for having stopped him.
"Well no kidding, but why? What changed your mind? Why were you trying to get Tiffy to hate you? Do you really care about her or something? You must care about her otherwise you wouldn't have tried to leave in such an altruistic manner... You wanted her to hate you, so she could get over you faster once you left... But... since she couldn't hate you... something changed..."
The whites of Piccolo's fangs were showing and a loud rumble resounded in the depths of his throat. "Whatever, gaki!" He whipped his cape out of Jay-chan's knuckle-white fingers and opened the door. The demon stopped suddenly. "I'm gunna get some air. I'll be back when I feel like it." The door slammed shut.
Jay-chan looked at me with that same deer-caught-in-headlights expression she'd had for the past five minutes. "Wow, I totally didn't expect that."
I nodded slowly, still equally shocked.
The longhaired woman shook her head suddenly and raced over to me, tugging on my arm. "What the heck am I saying?! I should be hounding you for your booty session with Piccolo last night!"
"Wha?!" I choked as Jay-chan yanked me over and onto the couch. "B-Booty session? With Piccolo?!"
The brunette winked, "Yeah, how was it?"
"Jay-chan! We never had sex! Holy crap, how fast do you think I move with guys?!"
Jay-chan pouted, "You really are stupid. What if Piccolo hadn't stayed, huh? You never would have been able to lay him EVER!"
I shook my head, "Dude, it's not like that. Stop reading all those trashy, poorly written InuYasha X Kagome fanfics. The timing was barely right for kissing him."
My best friend squealed, "So you kissed him?!"
"Yeah..." I could feel the blush on my cheeks burning as I recalled the events of last night in my head.
"So how was it?"
My eyes shot open, "Can we say one-track mind, Jay?!"
"You didn't answer my question," she grinned.
"It... was cool... He's not bad considering I was his first kiss."
"That is so CUTE!" she squealed.
"Well, yeah, it didn't last very long... but, he let me sleep on him!" I smiled.
"So I saw! Wow, this just might work!"
My smile dropped, "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing," Jay-chan lied through her teeth. "Hm... Why don't you go get us some In-N-Out?"
"ME? Why do I have to do it? I don't have a car and it's hella far to bike---"
"Just get out of here, Tiffy! Go see a movie or something!" Jay-chan proceeded to push me out the door and lock me out of my own apartment.
Okay... Now what? Hm... In-N-Out it is, I guess.
I hopped on my bike and began pedaling down 3rd street. I can't even believe Piccolo decided to stay... What do you make of that? Does he like me or did I just make him feel really bad about leaving? We STILL haven't talked about last night... I wonder if he enjoyed it. I mean, I've never heard anyone react to my touch the way he did. It makes me wonder what other things I could do to him to get a similar reaction...
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
A black Firebird swerved to the side as I came back to reality. That's when I saw the cobalt Excursion. Coming right at me. I screamed, but my ears were deaf to the sound, as a more intense sensation assaulted my senses. My bike collapsed beneath me and I could feel the flesh of my arm tearing from the bone. It felt like fire engulfing my limb. I looked above me, the Excursion approaching in slow motion, the driver's face reflecting my fear and horror.
So... This is how it ends...
There was a flash of white and the pain consumed my entire body. Blackness took over.
When I awoke, I could barely make out the structures above me. Looks like white squares... with holes in them... Where the hell am I? Am I dead?
"TA?" a masculine voice called from somewhere to my left.
A memory popped into my head. A tall, green man throwing himself against a cobalt car. A big car.
I turned my head until the source of the voice was in my right visual field. That's when I noticed that some odd gauzy substance was covering my left eye.
"I'm blind!" I tried to scream, but my throat was parched and my exclamation came out as a raspy shriek.
The green man who had thrown himself into the car approached me and waved a hand in front of my face. Ow... Don't do that, dammit...
Another memory appeared suddenly. The green man threw the car off course and stopped the next approaching car with his foot.
"TA, do you know where you are?" The green man was wearing a hoodie that appeared much too small for his large frame.
"I dunno..." I sighed.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked as he leaned closer to me.
I suddenly recalled a rather heated scene in which this green man and I were sharing a passionate kiss.
"Piccolo!" I shouted as best I could.
The demon's head dropped and he sighed loudly, "Thank Kami-sama..."
"What happened to me? What's going on?" I tried to move around but Piccolo held me down.
"You shouldn't move around too much. You're in the hospital. You were in an accident, kid."
"Accident? With the Excursion?"
Piccolo gave me a weird look, "Yeah... I guess that's what it was. I would call it a car."
I giggled, "An Excursion is a type of car, Piccolo. You're a guy, you should be into cars; you know, the sexiest car is a Corvette, especially the '67 Sting Ray---"
The Namek placed a hand over my mouth, "Hey, the doctor said to take it easy, okay?"
"Right," I responded as if the doctor had told me this directly. "So I was in an accident? Did I get run over?!"
"No," Piccolo said, "I stopped the car just in time. What the hell were you doing biking through on-coming traffic anyway?" His brows were drawn low. Uh oh... I'm in trouble...
"I was thinking."
"You need to think in a safer area..." Piccolo shook his head. "You must have been thinking of something really intense to have been that distracted... Was it something I said to you?"
I suddenly recalled the last bits of fantasy I'd been having right before my accident. My cheeks burned. "No! It wasn't you at all! You're right! I shouldn't think and bike! Most definitely not!"
The demon gave me an odd look, "Ooookay..."
I looked at Piccolo again, taking in his short hoodie, crotch-hugging high waters, and moccasined feet. Wow, is he still wearing his gi under all of that? "You sure I wasn't the only one involved in the accident, Piccolo? You look like hell."
The demon looked down at himself. "I couldn't raise a scene here in the hospital... I got enough crap from the people on the road... so I stole the Excursion guy's clothes."
There was a light tap at the door and Piccolo and I both looked toward the doorway. A young man in a white lab coat approached us. "Miss. Angel?"
Miss. what now? I gave Piccolo a weird look. "Yeah, that's me."
"You're free to leave. I've checked on your stats and you seem to be just fine. Just keep some ice on your face and arm if you feel any discomfort; IbuProfen is great for reducing swelling. Keep an eye on those stitches and come back to see us in about 10-12 days; we'll see how well you're healing up and consider removal of the stitches at a later date."
So... much... information... My head...
"Sounds good, buddy," I gave him a lopsided grin and a thumbs up.
The doctor looked to Piccolo, who had his back to the man. "Mr. Swayze, you're free to take Miss. Angel home now."
"Sure," Piccolo snorted.
The doctor left and I started giggling.
"What's so funny?" Piccolo growled.
"Mr. Swayze?! Oh come on!"
The demon's nose crinkled up, "I think a fake name was the last thing on my mind when I arrived here, kid."
"Oh yeah," I blushed sheepishly, "Sorry..."
Piccolo reached down and scooped me into his arms. Then I felt a draft...
"HOLY SHIT!" I screamed.
The Namek almost dropped me. "What the fuck's wrong?!"
"My freakin' butt is hanging out, that's what's wrong!"
Piccolo regained his composure. "Calm down. I have your clothes tucked into my gi belt. You can get dressed at home. Right now, we have to get out of here before more people notice me."
"But I'm, like, half NAKED! You saw me naked, didn't you?!" I pointed an accusing finger.
The demon sighed aloud.
"Oh you did!" I wailed. "You saw me naked! Oh God!" I want to cry...
"Look, I didn't see much, okay? I didn't know I was supposed to leave the room when the nurse came in to put you in that paper gown thing..."
"Well, there's no way in hell I'm going to fly with you like this... I don't need the whole rest of the world seeing my naked ass..."
Piccolo dropped me on the bed before he began struggling with his poorly assembled outfit. A white piece of cloth came free and grew in size as he continued to tug at it. It was his cape! Once the fabric was free, he threw it at me. "Put that on."
I wrapped myself as best I could with my uninjured arm and allowed Piccolo to carry me out of the hospital.
I can't believe he saw me naked... I think I would have rather let that Excursion hit me had I known THIS would have happened...
When Piccolo and I got home, Jay-chan shrieked at the sight of my injuries.
"I said get In-N-Out, not get hospitalized! Oh my God, Tiffy!"
I grinned and gave her a thumbs up, "It's okay. Piccolo saved me."
"Yeah, no kidding! Oh my God!"
I looked over at the Namek, who was sniffing around my living room. "Um... Piccolo?"
"I smell something burning..."
Jay-chan shrieked and dashed into my bedroom. Shortly after she disappeared, the fire alarm started screaming. Piccolo collapsed to the floor, his hands over his ears as he tried to block out the high-pitched wailing. I ran into my room and saw several candles lit, one of which had turned into a huge inferno.
"What the hell, Jay?!"
Jay-chan grabbed up the cup of extra water I kept for Silent Bob, my goldfish, and doused the flames. I ran over to the fire alarm and waved the smoke away from it until it stopped beeping. My best friend dashed frantically around the apartment, opening windows and doors.
Piccolo moaned from his place on the floor and I walked over to him, rubbing his temples with my good hand. He batted me away the minute Jay-chan returned from the kitchen.
"What the fuck, Jay-chan?!" he growled.
"Um... I kinda... sorta... set up a little something in Tiffy's room, but it got out of hand..."
I gave Jay-chan a meaningful look, one she blatantly ignored, and Piccolo cursed her under his breath.
"Just what were you doing in there anyway?" he demanded.
"Um... Although I feel really bad about what just happened, I can't tell you... so I'm gunna go home!" Jay-chan raced to my front door. "Sorry about the accident and the fire, Tiffy! Bye!"
I shook my head and Piccolo and I headed over to my room. There were candles everywhere, flickering softly. The curtains were drawn shut so my room shone a bright gold. The bed sheets were turned down, making the bed look extremely inviting, and the room smelled of my Halo scent from Victoria's Secret. Listening carefully I could hear Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" playing from my Itunes... Oh... holy... crap... I would have taken the Excursion any day... not this... Definitely not this.