Once again I bring you yet another chapter of A Gal's Life! This is the first cliffie chapter, gasp! EveryNever laughs evilly.

Lastly, I want to thank the people who took the time to review this story. You guys rock!

Disclaimer: My near empty wallet couldn't buy the rights to a single hair on Ran's head.

And now, here's Chapter 3!


Chapter 3: When Dates Go Horribly Wrong…

"Are you sure it's okay to leave him like that?" Aya looked back through the wall of pedestrians, trying to catch a glimpse of Second Place.

"Oh, I'm sure. It's best to steer clear of the idiot when he's at the height of his idiocy." Rei gripped Aya's hand slightly tighter to be sure they wouldn't be separated as he maneuvered through the crowds. "Hopefully by the time I get back to him, he'll have gotten rid of all that excess insanity or else I'll have to leave him stranded in Shibuya tonight."

"I don't know, maybe he had a point there. I mean Hoshino and the Models sounds pretty cute." Aya giggled.

"Don't make me ditch you too Miss Hoshino. Then I wouldn't have anyone to take out to dinner."

Aya couldn't help but ask herself, 'Is he taking me on a date?' but immediately shook the thoughts from her head. 'What am I thinking? I should feel grateful just to be having some food with Rei. Don't push your luck girl.' With that thought in mind she decided to continue their light banter, "Well if I was too much for you, you could always go and ask out Second Place." Aya giggled once again at the thought.

"You must think I'm suicidal." Rei gave her an eyebrow raise before looking once again through the sea of people. "Contrary to your belief I actually don't have a death wish at the moment and it seems we're nearly at our stop. It looks like I'm stuck with you whether I like it or not now Hoshino."

This wasn't like her at all. She couldn't help herself, she just had to say it. "Too bad, I think you and Second Place would have made a cute couple."

"Spare me." Rei shivered as he had a horrifying image of Yuuya in a pink dress and a frilly apron, running toward him with a ladle, calling out to him in a sweeter-than-syrup high-pitched voice. 'Rei sweets, your dinner is ready, let me hand feed it to you!' The dream Yuuya ended his appearance with a girlish giggle.

Nearly throwing up his breakfast, lunch and whatever else he had eaten in the past week, Rei used all his strength to push the way past disturbing thoughts he was being tortured by as far back into the recesses of his brain as possible. He gave one last involuntary shudder as he watched a now red faced Aya put a hand to her mouth in a pathetic attempt to stop the onslaught of laughter he knew would inevitably plague her.


"Not bad Monkey Boy. You made it here right on time." Ran grinned at a hyper Tatsukichi that had just sprinted up to her moments before.

"Anything for you my Ran!" he held out as arms as wide as they would reach. "How about a hug of victory for your persevering boyfriend!"

"Not a chance." Ran walked right by his open arms and headed deeper into the depths of the shopper's paradise. "Come on Tatsukitchi! My stomach just hates to wait."

"Right behind you Ran." True to his word, he popped up inches away from her right shoulder and, with his own bouncy walk, fell in step with her earnest strides.

"Hmm." Ran glanced around, critically eyeing every restaurant in sight. It was one of the bigger indoor malls in Shibuya so there were a lot of places to choose from. This two-story mall was one of the most popular places to go to this summer because it had an air conditioning that worked better than perfectly. Despite the crowds, this place was always the perfect temperature and was full of cool refreshments like icy sodas and freezing ice cream. This mall went in one huge circle with one long walkway and shops on either side and above (or below if you were on the second floor) you. Near the entrance, there was one seemingly endless food court full of every type of restaurant you could imagine. Ran and Tatsuki were currently smack dab in the middle of this utopia of food.

"I think I'm in the mood for Mexican today." Ran nodded to herself, and with a determined glint in her eyes she headed straight for 'Vive Largo', all but dragging Tatsuki along with her.

"Cha, cha, cha!" Tatsuki shook his pretend maracas as he followed Ran into the world of Mexican dining.

"A table for two?" A very Hispanic looking waiter asked them in with a very heavy Spanish accent.

"You've a gotee eet." Tatsuki gave his attempt at a Spanish accent, failing miserably, and instead sounding surprising similar to a drunk Italian.

After giving the Monkey Boy a strange look, the waiter beckoned for the couple to follow. "Right this way please." He led them right through the middle of the restaurant, passing under the fluorescent lights that bathed the whole dining area in the colors of the Mexican flag. The carpet underneath matched the colors, with pictures of bulls and matadors running all across it. On the walls there were a couple of cheap looking pictures of burritos and Spanish houses that covered some of the chipping paint. Their waiter led them past all of the evening diners, barely any of them Mexican, to the very back of the restaurant. He sat them at a small dinky looking table with a picture of a very scantily dressed flamenco dancer, showing off much more than necessary. It was quite hard to find an authentic Spanish restaurant these days in Shibuya and it was easy to tell this wasn't one of them.

Not annoyed in the least with these little quirks, Ran flopped into her chair and immediately flipped open her menu to begin the lengthy decision making progress. Tatsuki followed suit after thanking the waiter, and now the two of them sat in one of those rare moments of silence they shared. Like glass at a drinking party or anything edible within a mile radius of Ran Kotobuki, this quiet time didn't last for long.

"Ah… this is going to be a great dinner." Ran gave a sigh of contentment as she flapped her menu down near the cracked edge of the table, her decision in mind.

"So I'm to be forgiven then, right, right, right?" Tatsuki looked at her over his menu in earnest.

"For what?"

'She's already forgotten.' he laughed to himself. 'Her short attention span was a good thing for me this time.' "Don't worry your pretty head over it, it was nothing important Ran baby."

"Whatever you say Monkey Boy." She replied absentmindedly while twirling her plastic fork between two fingers with finesse only a slacker could ever really hope to have. Suddenly in mid twirl, a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Slapping the fork onto the table with a bang she shot up waving her arms. "Hey José! Get over here dude, we're ready to order." She screamed across the restaurant to the poor waiter that had seated them only minutes before.

With a startled jump that had him closely resembling a flighty deer, the waiter (who we'll just call José now for Ran's sake) sped toward them as if all hell was at his heels. It was easy to tell José here had never really experienced the wrath of many customers like our Ran. Within seconds, she had him shaking in his little, semi-authentic Mexican boots and scribbling down her order as fast as his fingers would let him. After he had written down about three fourths of the available courses in this restaurant, she finally closed her menu and slid it towards a now very skittish José. He gave the two teens a nervous smile, before darting away to put in their order.

"Ah, what a futuristic society Shibuya is!" Tatsuki smiled happily at Ran.

"What's so futuristic about this dorky place?"

"It's not about the place Ran-pyon." Tatsukitchi gave his favorite Gal a wink, like he was going to share some great secret with her, before continuing. "It's about the people and how they do things girl! I mean come on! What lady would have ordered for a man at any restaurant twenty years ago? The women are taking over as the dominant species! Soon men will be completely useless. In twenty more years, you women will be making us men fan you with pigeon feathers for our entire lives!"

And then, there was quiet. For a few moments, Ran just stared silently at the Monkey Boy across from her before speaking. "First off, I'm not a lady, I'm a Gal, remember?" And finally, she broke out into a grin. "Secondly, I think you mean a peacock feather, not a pigeon feather. Those are a bit small to be any good for fanning. And lastly, anyone could have ordered for anyone in front of that José. If I had asked the dude, he would have licked the nail polish off my toes. Man, I would love to see that guy in a haunted house." Ran laughed as she imagined a horrified José running from a three year old kid with a cat mask on.

"Oh, so the waiter's name is José is it?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Dunno."

"But you called him…" Tatsuki trailed off, giving up. "Okay, I believe a change of subject is in order!"

"Be my guest." Ran's hand had found her fork again, so her focus was currently nowhere near the current topic.

"You remember when I was talking about the gifts para para and love had given me, right Ran sweets?" Tatsukichi asked with an unusually determined glint in his eyes.

"Mm hm."

"Ran?"

"Mm hm."

"Yeah, I just realized that this restaurant won't be any good to us, because all of the food has suddenly vanished off the face of the Earth. No one will be able to eat a single morsel of anything ever again, right Ran?"

"Mm hm."

"You really aren't listening to a thing I have said, have you Ran pyon?"

"Mm hm."

By this time, Tatsuki knew she was long gone, somewhere galaxies away in 'Ran World'. It seemed like the 'real world' didn't want Ran to know his little secret. Well, it was actually a pretty big secret, and even he didn't exactly want to be the one to break the news. Then again, who else could? It wasn't that he wasn't excited about what was happening. On the contrary, he could barely contain his excitement. It had been what he had always wished for, one of his greatest dreams nearing reality. The only thing he wasn't sure of was the reaction he would get from the gal sitting across from him when he told her the news. He could usually tell how Ran would react in any situation, for they had been together for nearly an entire year. His life revolved around her ups and downs at the moment. Still, he had absolutely no idea whether she would greet this with one of her blindingly brilliant smiles, a charmingly supportive laugh, or, in the worst case scenario, a disappointed frown that would give way to a punch, kick, scream, or all three. He was hoping with every fiber of his being that her choice wouldn't be the later, yet he had absolutely no way to tell.

Instead of waiting until the anxiety ate him alive from the inside, Tatsuki cleared his throat to try once again to get the news through to his girlfriend. Before the first words were even past his lips, José decided to make his reappearance. With an entourage of five other Hispanic waiters, each carrying a tray pilled high with many pathetic attempts at renditions of Mexican cuisine, José surged forward with his composure once again intact. He and his followers surrounded the table and proceeded to bombard it with plates and bowls of all sizes and shapes. When the whole surface was completely filled, and the trays finally empty, José gave them a curt nod, before returning to the service of his much-preferred regulars.

"As the Spanish say, Bon Appetite!" Tatsuki gave another attempt at Spanish lingo as he prepared his silverware and napkin for battle, knowing very well conversation at this point was virtually impossible.

"Is that so." Her eyes gleaming, Ran licked her lips as the Cheshire cat grin once again made itself known upon her mouth.

The air suddenly grew very heavy, unusually stifling. Conversations at the table right next to the two famished teens slowly died down. The tables nearby picked up the mood and gave in to silence as well. Soon, the whole room was anxious, waiting. Most diners didn't even know what they were waiting for, but even a mentally impaired caterpillar could have guessed something big was about to happen very soon, something very big. The soft hum of the air conditioner and stifled breaths were the only instruments that serenaded this now freakish quiet. Only two beings in the restaurant weren't affected by this atmosphere. These two were the perpetrators of this circumstance and would be the only ones who could put an end to it.

And that they did. With a vengeance…

"Haiiii yah!" with a ferocious battle cry, Ran lunged for the pile of tacos with her fork and successfully stabbed half the stack, while gathering up the largest pile of rice and chicken she could with her spoon.

As the rest of the tables watched in complete awe at the kogal stuffing about five tacos filled to the brim with rice and chicken down her throat, Tatsuki busied himself with regaining his sense of calm, which he had work so hard to build during this dinner. "José must have stolen it." He muttered bitterly to himself. It was hard not to get frustrated and give up on telling her altogether, even though he knew that would be much worse in the long run for both of them. No matter how long it took, he knew he needed to let her know tonight. Gritting his teeth, he strengthened his resolve. He wouldn't let this get to him, for he was with his very own Ran pyon! Nothing could get him down for long if she was anywhere nearby, even if she was part of the problem. 'As my uncle's cousin used to say: Qué sera sera. Whatever will be, will be.' Tatsuki smiled at the memory of his uncle's cousin repeating that line over and over, his beer belly shaking with each syllable. That was the only thing Tatsuki could ever really remember him saying, strange as that was.

With that, he shook off his journey down memory lane and focused back in on the present. Fork in hand, he reached for the closest morsel to his plate. He found none. Every one of the eleven platters presently on the table were spotless, without even a single hint that there had been food there seconds before. His gaze traveled further down the now empty table to linger on his current companion. Ran was lounging back in her chair with a stomach now quite resembling that of his uncle's cousin.

Patting the inflated area, Ran sighed a sigh of utter content. "Now that is what you call a great un-Mexican Mexican meal!"

"I'm glad you liked it my Ran, but couldn't you have just left a single bite for your one and only monkey boy? Do I have to do my sad dance to make you feel at all guilty?" He grinned, teasing.

"The food was just too good to pass up Tatsukichi. What's done is done, no use whining over it." She laughed as her unbeatable stomach shrunk back to its normal size. "All we have to wait for is the check that slow-mo José still hasn't given us yet! I wouldn't be surprised if the dude was a snail in disguise."

"Maybe it's a good thing that we have to wait for a little while." Tatsuki's tone had gone from light fun to dead serious in milliseconds.

"Give me one good reason why sitting in these chairs with nothing to stare at but a picture of a slutty looking dancer chick is such a wonderful idea and I'll kiss you on the lips right here and now."

That one knocked the breath right out of him. Tatsuki knew she said that because she believed there was no way he would find a good enough excuse to make her go through with it. Even so, the thought of the two of them kissing coming from her lips was almost enough to completely throw his brain off track. Almost enough. He had something much more important to do right now than to indulge his mind with 'Ran Fantasies'.

He shakily cleared his throat once, then dived in. "We need to talk."

"That doesn't sound good." He had her full attention now. "What's up Monkey Boy?"

"I'm going to bring up the gifts of para para and love for the last time tonight, okay Ran sweets?"

"Oh yeah, where I was the gift of love or something like that and the gift of para para was….. you never got to that did you?" Ran had caught his serous tone and was looking rather unusually serious herself now.

"That's what I'm going to tell you." Tatsuki had grabbed the table and was now squeezing the thing half to death. "Well, this is a bit of a long story, better make yourself comfortable Ran pyon." She didn't move an inch. "A couple months ago, I heard a rumor about a certain contest happening around here. It had to do with dance, so of course I went to check it out. They called it the "Let's Dance Sweepstakes". All you had to do was send in a video of yourself doing your coolest moves to the address they gave and see if you were picked. If they choose you, you get to miss school to compete in some sort of amazing dance competition. I don't know much of the details about it yet. All I know is that I sent in a video of the best para para ever para paraed on the face of this Earth, performed by me of course, and they chose me Ran! I'm going to be a famous para para dance master!" He couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.

Ran sat stunned, but for only a few moments before a great smile broke across her face. "That is uber amazing Monkey Boy! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"There's still more." He grew solemn again.

"What can be greater than that?"

"Well, this news isn't exactly my favorite part of my little story here, my Ran." Tatsuki sighed. "In order to be in this competition I have to miss school and travel to where the competition is being held."

"Miss school? What's not awesome about that? Where do you get to vacation to Monkey Boy?"

"Ran."

"What Tatsukichi? Stop holding out on me like this, you know I hate suspense!"

He knew he needed to say it, he had to. "In a week I'll be going to New York in America. I'll have to stay there as long as I keep winning in the contest. It could be for a few weeks, or it could be for a few years."

While he told her what he had been dreading to say all evening, all Tatsuki could do was stare at the empty plates on the table. He couldn't bring himself to look up into that more beautiful than beautiful face Ran has and see which of the three expressions it would be carrying. Moments turned into seconds, which soon turned into minutes. When she didn't say a word, he knew he had to look up. When he finally did, he saw nothing near anything he had expected and had tried to prepare himself for. Tatsuki had absolutely no idea whether this face looking back at him was better for him than he had even dared hope or worse than he ever could have dreamed.


And here it ends! I'll try and update in a few weeks. In Chapter 4 we'll find out how Ran deals with Monkey Boy and his surprise, and how Aya and Rei deal with ravenous deal hunters!