Chapter Sixteen: Party, Party! First Part.
The whole way towards Capsule Corporation, Bulma pounded her small harmless fists against her boyfriend's back who seemed by far not fazed the least by her resistance. He had been kindly 'instructed' to take her there. He hadn't been told to persuade her or coax her into it; no one said she had to come willingly.
"Stop being such a bastard, you brain-dead fool! Let go of me! Damn you! Stop embarrassing me!" She screeched madly like a banshee on the loose. Her companion chuckled but did nothing to acknowledge her request.
"You're doing that well enough by yourself, I don't need to interject at all." He remarked. She rolled her eyes in boiling annoyance, making a swift move as to send a kick in his face, yet her try ended up by her hanging loosely in the air like an overgrown bag of potatoes, held just by her bent knees.
She shrieked in terror again. He was flipping her around as if she was some feather or a rag doll with which he could do whatever he wanted to. Such a helpless situation, and on her very birthday nonetheless, annoyed the daylights out of her and just got her even more worked up. Not that she minded being in his arms. She just thought that the phrase should be understood a little bit more literally for she already knew she despised hanging over his shoulder like some worthless object.
"You damn bastard! Next time we get in bed, I'll make sure to bite. And, mind you, I can bite really hard!" She took a swing towards his groin in her upside-down position, but Vegeta was too fast for her and had already switched her position in his embrace. She let herself relax just a little bit before she pinched his chest with a ferocity to be envied for. He didn't even flinch. All he did was chuckle at her futile attempts to escape his clutch.
"I can't already wait." He said at a close proximity to her and she blinked in his face her confusion, inspecting his every facial feature. His face was so clear, unlike most teenagers, but not unalike herself. His skin was so smooth to the touch, slightly tanner than most others'. His eye brows were perfectly shaped and for the umpteenth time since they have gotten together she wondered whether he plucked them. His expression, firm and stern, yet to her anything but intimidating. He radiated a security that made her feel safe whenever in his range. His smirk, such a fascinating feature of his – it absolutely enhanced his dark appearance with a very powerful sense of dangerous and intriguing sex appeal. She smiled mentally. And he was all hers to begin with…
She fought the urge to lean in and dissipate the last of the distance between them. She had to remind herself that she had been angry with him. Yes, yes, anger… She noted that his grip on her had loosened a bit, leaving place for her to get off of him and onto two solid feet. The lavender haired heiress dusted her clothes off haughtily.
"Why'd you stop?" She questioned a little bit snappily as if the previous exchange had never been, making the fading smirk return on his gracious features.
"You can't recognize your own house? Why, woman, I thought you had enough capacity in that head of yours to do at least that." He answered smugly. She shook with rage. Hormones were already too much for her, and the excitement surging through her did little to help her with dealing things.
"Stop insulting on my birthday, you damn barbarian! Didn't anyone ever teach you how to treat a lady!" She cried aloud as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and tried to shake him. He didn't budge. Sometimes his being so many times stronger was rea-a-a-ally agitating. She growled her disapproval.
"What you do even now only serves to prove the point that you are a lady only by title." She rolled her eyes at his words and considered whether to kick him in the nuts now or fulfill her threat later. Before she could do anything of the sort, she noticed the heavy silver necklace that she had given him striking out of his shirt. It had obviously been put before the shirt. Or not even taken off in the first place. She fingered the dragon figurine with an expressionless face. He looked down to see what she was doing.
"You…" She began, but her voice was very faint and distant; obviously she was deep in thought. She cleared her throat and attempted again, this time she sounded more confident. "You're carrying it."
"That's not a question."
She looked up at him. He had the same emotionless expression she did. Her eyes roved his features again, leaving the pair in silence as the girl appeared to be thinking deeply.
"They'll skin us if we don't enter soon." He stated, not really sounding convincing or convinced himself. His girlfriend shrugged but turned around to face the front door nonetheless. She reached out for the door handle but before she entered, her hand lingered above it.
"Vegeta?" Her voice was raked with uncertainty.
"Hmmm?"
"It sounds extremely selfish, yet…" She turned her head around to look at him. "Please try to forget whatever's troubling you… Just this day, just this once… Not just for me, but for yourself too…" She turned back around. "I wish… My birthday wish… I don't need to blow off the candles to try and have my wish fulfilled. The only one that can give me the Vegeta, the undistracted Vegeta, the boyfriend I saw the first day I met, is Vegeta himself… That's the only thing I can wish this day…"
And with that, she left a blown off Vegeta to stare after her upon her entrance in Capsule Corporation, the joyful screams of "Happy Birthday, Bulma!" all over the place, yet to the dark haired teenager distant and muffled sounds, much resembling hallucinations and illusions as he joined the small crowd of close friends inside, still deep in thought.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
He stepped over the doorframe reluctantly, not even hearing what the others were saying to him. He was still discussing with himself his woman's words.
"The undistracted Vegeta" she had said… "The boyfriend she saw the first day she met"… She didn't even know what she was seeing back then, but she wanted him back now? She made no sense and she didn't even know it… Had she sensed his diversion lately? Had she sensed the troubles he was going through, coping with his life? What had given him away? Was it the way he was looking at her? The way he touched her? The way he moved against her in the intimate time they spent together?
He shook his head. Whatever it was, she knew. And she was probably suffering his distrust of her. But he didn't want to bear his soul to another ever again. He had been bitten, and hard, the last time he had done it, and now he was still paying the consequences of trusting another. No… This was something he had to do himself… If he could not even manage that, he was useless… Useless to the world, to her, and mostly to himself. The pain was a part of him… It would forever be that way… Bitterness had been met on daily basis during all those nineteen years of his life… One would think he would've gotten used to it by now.
Well, there's your proof that you just can't get used to some things…
Yet, even though she had no idea what she was blathering about, he knew perfectly well whom she wanted… And he had no idea whether he could be that person again.
His willpower was decreasing rapidly nowadays even though to the rest of the clique that did not spent additional time with him and could care less what happened in that screwed up head of his he probably seemed just like he always did. Even so… He wanted to have her in his arms once without having any back thoughts… He wanted to make love to her once without hearing the annoying voices in his head. It was all part of his psyche, so he should be the only one able to chase them away too. She had been right. The only one that could fulfill her wish was him.
He smirked reluctantly, a poor attempt to form a smile. And he planned on making her birthday a memorable day for them both.
With just a slight sense of resistance, he neared the group of giddy teenagers conversing over one another not really seeming to be listening to each other and closed the door behind himself. Today was going to be a long day…
So the best thing he could do was get ready for the long ride.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
"What took you so friggin long to get here? We were starting to get worried some car walked over you or something!" ChiChi scorned as Bulma's eyes wandered curiously about the place and the changes they have done to it.
There was a huge arc in a rainbow form with "Happy Birthday, B-chan" scribbled in Goku's 'incompetent' hand-writing, as Vegeta liked to put it. It surprised her, even though she did not mind the least her friend's idiocy and childish naivety, that he had not misspelled anything even though the sentence in itself was quite an easy one that you thought no one could get wrong. But, then again, Goku was certainly not just anybody… She sweatdropped.
Her eyes shifted over to all of the balloons tied loosely on armchairs, couches and tables all around the spacious premise. The cobalt orbs then took in the lovely colours that the house had attained upon their intrusion and the nice snacks all around. She smiled to herself and wondered how hard it must've been to do all of these things and managing to keep it secret from her. She couldn't help but wonder how they've done it even though she had the results presented before her quite clearly.
"So?" ChiChi nearly shrieked. Bulma's eyes frisked between the gleeful faces of all her friends together all silently expecting her to say what she thought, the unreadable expression of her handsome boyfriend and the pissed face of ChiChi. With one swift movement, the lavender haired heiress kissed her friend's cheek and hugged her, taking her out of her little tantrum rage.
"Everything is so wonderful, you guys! I love it already! I'm so sorry I have been so sore with you lately… It's just that I felt a bit left out, that's all… No wonder I did, actually." They all chuckled (you can definitely guess with the exception of whom). "And, seriously, I'm happy I was left out. I would never want a surprise of this kind ruined!" She began jumping around with excitement, finally releasing some of the stress of the previous week.
"Oh, joy… Here we go again with the mushiness…" Vegeta muttered, earning a slap over the shoulder, at which he grinned down at his beautiful girlfriend. All he could think was how fiery and sexy she got when she was angered. Her aggravated expression set a fire burning in the pit of his stomach; and excitement of a kind that he could get addicted to… "You're very violent today, woman."
"And you are very annoying today, man." She huffed haughtily and turned her attention away from him. "So, where are my presents? I want to see my presents! And dare say you bought me nothing! You shall suffer the wrath of the Earth Queen, mwahahaha!"
"B, please refrain from laughing like that… It's…" Krillin began uncertainly.
"Scary?" Bulma interjected with a hint of bouncing glee in her tone.
"Unnatural and totally not suiting you." Juuhachi clarified. Bulma shot her a dirty glare. How dare she burst her bubble so brutally! The nerve of that woman. "Here's mine." She said as she tossed the girl a package, wrapped klutzily. Well, at least she knew how to bribe her friend into forgetting her 'sins'.
"Oh, goody!" Bulma squealed much like a two-year-old as she threw herself on a sofa and began unwrapping the paper. When she didn't manage, she decided to just rip it off, as the action provided even a bit more drama to it all. Or at least in her point of view, it did. She had no idea what her friends thought of the moment. But then again, what did she care? She got presents!
When she was done turning the poor wrapping paper to shreds, what came out hidden within it was a semi-large figurine of a white cat that was scratching itself behind one huge cute ear with its snowy white paw, its eyes closed, sightless to the world around it. Bulma grinned. She remembered seeing it in Juuhachi's apartment a year and a half ago and could also recall her excitement and powerful wish to have the figure, but her blonde friend had rejected her coldly, saying that it was something precious to her that she could not give away. Back then, the two hadn't really been close and … well, things have changed drastically since then.
Her cerulean eyes lifted to meet Juu's gaze who grinned back.
"Don't you dare say you don't want it anymore because I'm going to thrash it upon your head if you do so." The lighter haired girl said threateningly, but it didn't really come as intimidating as it sounded in her head. Bulma grinned even wider.
"It'll be on my top shelf!"
Vegeta rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's childish innocence and naivety, as well as the objects that brought her joy… But then again, she could get anything she wanted… What should matter more to her would most definitely be something that bared symbolism rather than materialism. He smiled at her foolishness… She was really so pure…
"My turn!" Krillin cried and stepped up, with a huge present in hands.
"Whoa, let's hope it's nothing dangerous!" Bulma exclaimed, erupting a bit of light-hearted laughter from the others. Krillin was quite famous for his own ditziness as well…
"Nope, nope; nothing dangerous!"
She had an easier time opening this one and when she did, she gasped her surprise. Her eyes met with Krillin's, shimmering with joy and unspoken words of adoration that she just couldn't find the voice to say on that precise moment.
"My grandfather had been more than thankful to share his life's works and accomplishments with the most promising of the Briefs family members yet. He says the newspapers are finally saying something true when they claim you to be the most potential filled youth out there right now! He really admires you and your father's work, you know…" The small bald boy explained, making Bulma hug him and place a little fleeting butterfly kiss on the top of his head.
"Thank you so much, Krillin! You have no idea how helpful your granddad's knowledge of thermonuclear synthesis and nuclear activity will be to Capsule Corporation. Just wait until my dad hears about the projects I'll make, oh!" She jumped up and down and around on her place. Vegeta shook his head slowly, feeling how he couldn't just get the smirk wiped from his face. The ease with which those difficult terms rolled off her tongue as if they were everyday speech always baffled him. If he had never known her family name, he would've never guessed how smart she could actually be if she only talked about regular girl topics.
"Here's my present for you, Bulma! Happy birthday!" Goku hugged her tightly in a bear hug. She squealed in excitement as he set her back down for he had got her in the air as she was quite shorter than him and was already at the task of exploring yet another present.
She looked strangely at it. It looked like one of those Christmas colourful lamps. An overgrown Christmas lamp. She wondered how she could use it. True, Christmas was nearing, but even so…? She took the huge ball in her hands and began flipping it around, trying to figure what it could do. Goku laughed and took it from her hands and when he did so, it was the first time she noticed that it actually had a long plug behind it. When he plugged it in, it began flashing with bright colours. It had a core, of more intense and dark colours – blue, dark green. It looked like an atom or something like it…
"Touch its surface." Goku all but ordered. She looked distrustfully at her life-long friend.
"How do I know it's not a trick?"
"Try and see for yourself." Point taken, Bulma noted and reached out uncertainly for it.
When her finger made impact with it, it looked as if the core set a small thunder of electricity to her finger. Everyone around (with the exception of the same person, again) gawked and let out gasps of fascination. Goku grinned his widest toothy grin yet at the lavender haired birthday girl.
"Like it?" He asked as Bulma dragged her finger down the surface, staring slightly wider eyed at the object as the little wave of electricity followed her finger's movement, not detaching itself from her finger tip for the smallest second, looking even more like an atom than before to the female.
"Like it? I think I love something as simple as this! Just look at it!" In a fit of mad joy, all ten fingers of hers touched the sphere and ten lines of the strange thunder-like waves stuck from beneath them. "Look at me! I'm psychic!"
"No, you're psychotic." Vegeta remarked, making her reach out to hit him, but this time he was faster and dodged her easily, shaking his index finger at her. "Ah, ah, ah, ah! No violence, woman, or I shall not give you what I've taken…" At his words, the girl's anxiety piqued. She had no idea how her boyfriend's mind worked, and especially not for presents, since she had never seen him give any to anyone, yet the knowledge of his having one for her made her even more restless.
"You'll have to wait in the line, as it is my turn now!" ChiChi said haughtily and placed a neatly packaged bag in Bulma's lap. The other girl stared at it, musing what it could be for a brief moment before deciding to see for herself instead of having mere suspicions.
It proved to be something that she would certainly find very valuable later. There was a picture album with photos of all the clique members (close ones, meaning, everyone but Yamcha and Marron) together, some of the couples, various groups, as well as many good shots of Bulma herself, smiling brightly at the camera, and to the two hardheaded teens' surprise, quite a few shots of them making out, which was not in public. Bulma's eyes whipped in direction of ChiChi and her mouth had hung open.
"Chi!" She said through laughter. She had never thought her dear friend such a voyeur.
"Now, don't look at me like that. They're some pretty nice pictures. Very well done too, I must say." She looked at her finely filed nails snobbishly. She soon dropped the act as she ushered her friend to look further down.
Doing so, Bulma found a beautiful small white dress that could fit only a child that had entered a child Miss and Mister contest, but the little thing brought so many memories back… Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she recalled all the wonderful times she and ChiChi had spent playing brides with ChiChi's favorite pairs of dresses back then. Those times were the ones when Bulma did not have a whole fortune standing in front of her, just waiting for her to mature to take over it and when ChiChi had actually been the one with the huge walk-in wardrobes and huge premises to live in. What beautiful times it had been…
"Well, you cannot quite fit into that," the raven haired girl said slowly. "But maybe one day your baby girl would like to have it." Her eyes rolled reluctantly on the dark spiky-haired teen by her side as she said so.
"Stop giving me such looks, damn you all! What's that supposed to mean, harpy?" He tried to defend his straining composure, but got himself waved off by the girl in question.
"When you become a little bit more civilized I might decide to answer your questions, savage." Bulma sniggered at that.
"You're supposed to be on my side, you know." Vegeta told her, rolling his eyes at the lavender haired girl.
"Can't. She's right there, you know…" She explained, making him growl his disapproval. It only made her laugh some more. What a wonderful day… So many wonderful memories… Her head snapped in his direction and she looked expectantly at his face. When he didn't move and neither did she, he spoke harshly,
"What?"
"Your turn!"
"I'll give you mine later."
"You haven't bought it yet, have you? You forgot! I knew it!" She exclaimed and pointed a rigid finger at him. She was about to get involved in a long rant and useless tirade when she saw him grab onto something in his inner pocket, flip it between his fingers and striking it right in front of her eyes, much too close and fast for her to focus before he flipped it in his large palm again, concealing it from her prying gaze and swiftly returning it to its previous place.
"When I say later, I mean later."
With that said and done, the fair boys and girls understood that it was something that the enigmatic teenager wanted to share only with his girlfriend. And, strangely, without annoying Marron there, no one seemed to have a problem with it either.
"What do we do now?" Krillin asked, looking around helplessly for someone to answer him.
"Let's play kabobs!" Bulma exclaimed, a rigid finger in the air by her face.
"Play what?" Juuhachi lifted a fine eye brow as did ChiChi. They were quite sure their friend had completely cracked by the strain of the adrenaline today.
"Kabobs!" Bulma repeated excitedly, jumping up from the couch in front of which she had lovingly and carefully placed all her new possessions. "It's a game I learned from a trip to Bulgaria with my father when I was at the age of ten. It was a very fascinating thing at the time, mind you. Those people really have some imagination!" When they continued looking ludicrously at her as if she had just sported a horn on her head, she decided to explain them the rules of that game.
"Okay, so…" She began, pulling on Vegeta's hand, bringing him closer as a featuring party in the explanation. "The one that will have to hit the other has their hands below and the one that will have to dodge has their hands over, like this." She stuck her fingers completely near each over and straightened her palm, as if providing invisible "frying pans" for Vegeta's "kabobs", or at least what his hands (that mimicked the position Bulma's did as instructed) should've been representing. "You extend your arms a bit, so when you take a swing at your opponent you don't get stopped by your own inflexibility by the fact your body's too close." She did as she explained, both parties at near-arms length. "You can move your hands slightly forward and backward to fool the other whether you're going to strike or not." She demonstrated. "And the one who has their hands below has the task of hitting the other's hands, as for their opponent, in my case Vegeta, he has to dodge. Like this." She smacked his hands with hers in a swift movement, that looked quite trained. The boy blinked his confusion, before his eye brows narrowed over his eyes. From what he had managed to collect of the game, he had just lost the first assault with 1 to 0 for the woman. "Easy, eh?"
Her hands moved slightly beneath his again. The touch was too much for his concentration. Or more like for his straining mind that was doing a very good job at bottling up everything. The fact she was touching him and he couldn't already wait for them to be alone again was too much and he just missed the moment when her hands managed to slip from beneath his for a graceful slap again. He frowned deeper, seeming even more concentrated.
His hands were so close to her that he could just lift them a little bit up and forward and rake her body ruthlessly. All he could think about in a moment's length was the way she always screamed his name right before she would relax in his arms after a fiery night together. Smack. He was brought out of the daydream at once. He growled under his breath. Three to zero for the woman.
He had to win against her now. He had far better reflexes, exceeded by far her fastest movement and sported better concentration than hers at most times. Her glittering blue eyes that shone with joy and victory distracted him, yet again… Before he knew it, she had slapped his hands again. His growl was a little more audible now.
"You're losing your training, Vege-kun." Bulma chuckled as he was setting his hands angrily back upon hers to be surprised at having another slap served on the back of each hand before he had barely reached onto her. His growl was very loud now. He muttered something about idiotic women and stupid diversions, as well as a few choice curse words of "damn concentration". Just when she was about to score another victory he dodged her and laughed evilly.
"Ha-ha! Take that damage, bitch!" Bulma had a very hard time controlling herself and her overwhelming laughter as her boyfriend savored the taste of his victory over the five ones. And to think that she thought herself acting childish.
"So?" She looked expectantly at the others, who shared worried looks between one another.
"Er… I think it's a bit too much of a violent game… Particularly when guys have to slap girls." Goku clarified.
"Let's do something else." ChiChi said, sitting on a settee.
"Dig in!" Vegeta and Goku both exclaimed, running in for the sandwiches.
It was a rather large clash of two males for food and the rest four of the gang tumbling behind them, collecting everything edible that they missed on their way through the pile of delicious dishes that ChiChi had made specially for the occasion.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
The candles had been blown a good half an hour ago and Vegeta was the only one who knew what Bulma had wished, and even though the two large teenagers' assault on the food, everyone had managed to get a decent portion of everything, managed to fill their stomachs and even had a piece of the cake. All of them voiced their thanks to ChiChi, and Bulma remarked for the umpteenth time that the girl would make a really nice cook.
They were stuck yet again with the very same question that had haunted them before they sat at the table – what to do now. Plays like hide and seek were out of the question as too childish (not that they minded them; all of them were actually subtly up for it, yet no one brought it up as they did not think it proper for an eighteenth birthday party). What was left was,
"Truth or dare!" Krillin exclaimed excitedly.
"Chrome dome finally showed his true colours. Go call an ambulance." Juu nudged ChiChi sarcastically.
"No, no! No need. Let's play truth or dare!" He explained himself. Bulma's eyes lit up at the mention of the game. She had always loved playing it with her friends. They have come to know so many things about each other that they have not expected that way.
"Let's!"
"What?" Goku had just returned from the kitchen with a fresh pair of sandwiches, one of which was stolen right underneath his nose as Vegeta had just begun getting hungry too.
"We're playing truth or dare!" Bulma explained.
"I hate truth or dare." ChiChi hissed. "Last time I said truth you went on picking on me for weeks!"
"That's the risk of the game and what makes it more interesting." Juu said smugly, looking at her filed nails much like ChiChi did an hour or so before.
"You keep your mouth shut, miss I-Reanimated-My-Childhood-Teddy-Bear." The raven haired girl said. Despite herself Juuhachi blushed when noticing the amused expression Vegeta made at the knowledge.
"I can't believe you remember such useless stuff but just can't seem to remember your mechanics!"
"Not all of us are natural prodigies, you know." ChiChi argued back.
"Okay, enough is enough!" Bulma exclaimed, holding up a hand to separate the two antagonists. "Let's get back to the task at hand! I'll be the one asking the questions first. As a birthday girl it is my rightful… err… right…" She trailed off at the nicely formed sentence she had there.
"Get on with it!" Goku said as he sat on the floor looking at her. They all got comfortable on the furniture around, forming a tight circle. Bulma cleared her throat and turned to ChiChi, who was the first person on her left.
"Okay, Chi: truth or dare?"
"Truth." ChiChi said without any doubt in her voice. She had bad experience with sharing the truth, but she had even worse with Bulma's tendency at dares.
"Wonderful." Bulma grinned and began considering something. "Okay, darling, here's my question for you. How often do you masturbate weekly?" She wore such a firm expression of innocent interest that least you've heard the words that escaped her mouth you would've never guessed what she had asked. ChiChi choked on her saliva.
"What the hell is that for a question?" She shrieked. Goku was the only one that did not seem to have an opinion on the topic. Bulma's interest shone brightly in her eyes like a bashful virgin devouring every information about the way children are conceived, while Vegeta's eyes sparkled with an evil glint. Krillin was trying to look somewhere else but her yet she knew he was eavesdropping to hear what she had to say on the topic. Juuhachi tried to look unaffected, but every time their eyes met the charcoal eyes of the other girl noticed the laughter in the azure orbs.
"Simple one for a simple answer, Chi. How often? Come on, we're all human!"
"I will share no such knowledge with the likes of you, Bulma Briefs!" The other girl crossed her hands over her chest and huffed, looking away, her face red to the tips of her ears. Bulma pouted.
"You're such a spoil sport, Chi!"
"We have to make a penalty for those who refuse to do as they're said to!" Juuhachi exclaimed. ChiChi's furious gaze landed on her.
"We will make no such thing!"
"Yes, we will!" Bulma explained, a brilliant idea already shining like a beacon in the dead of night in her mind. "If you refuse to do as you're being made by the person who's asking the questions, you'll have to run down the length of the street clad in only your underwear." She turned to her boyfriend. "I believe you will help me with enforcing the rule if need came?"
"Of course." The evil glint and laughter in his eyes made it clear to everyone anything was better than running half-naked down a street with a mad Vegeta on the loose after you.
"Okay, so… Goku. Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"Oh, goody!" Bulma exclaimed and looked around. She noticed the perfect prank to play on her good-natured friend. She went over and poured him a huge cup of orange juice. "Drink this." She ordered.
"Piece of cake!" Goku almost sighed in relief. He too knew the evil plots that formed beneath the wheels in Bulma's mastermind head. She held a hand out to stop him.
"I wasn't done yet." She said as she reached out for the salt, pouring most contents inside. "I watch too much that Fear Factor show. Now drink." She cackled evilly. Goku looked at the oddly palely orange liquid. He gulped loudly, but pictured himself jumping down the busy street clad only in his green elephants sitting on half-moons boxers and decided that this was quite the better decision.
"Tops up!" He exclaimed a little bit too enthusiastically and gulped down the contents of the glass with a slight difficulty. His face was fixed into an expression of disgust as he set the glass down, looking as thought he had just eaten a whole lemon. Bulma giggled.
"Glad you watered down some of that food, Goku-chan." She giggled infernally.
"Okay, my turn." Juuhachi said. She couldn't wait to see what the lavender haired vixen had in store for her.
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Hmmm… Who was you first boyfriend? Ever!"
Juu made a face of disgust. "Must I say that? It makes me feel dirty and tainted…"
"You can always show some of our school mates that still linger down the streets what her bra looks like." Vegeta commented, making her face pale at the mental thought. Good point, she noted mentally.
"Yamcha…" She muttered barely audible. Bulma gawked at her.
"You're serious!"
"Yeah… He was in the same middle school as I was. We were together in seventh grade… Don't look at me like that! I was young and stupid, and he was the coolest boy around!"
"I can't even begin to picture it…" Krillin muttered.
"Whoa, neither can I…" Bulma said.
"Back to the task, woman." Her boyfriend reminded her. With a quick 'oh, yes, yes; the task' she looked expectantly at Krillin.
"Dare."
The girl looked around, her eyes and mind already plotting and scheming. Her eyes lit up and she turned back to him, getting to her feet and collecting the kitten figurine Juu gave her.
"You have to get this…" She showed him the cat, "…from here…" she set it on the highest shelf a few feet above his arm's reach, "…without using any of the sitting furniture for help. If you break it, you know I'll skin you raw."
"Hey! That's not fair!" Krillin exclaimed.
"You know what you have to do."
"You're playing really low, B." ChiChi told her.
"I know."
"Nice style." Vegeta remarked. Bulma boasted with pride. You didn't get complimented every day by your sophisticated enigmatic boyfriend. It was an occasion not to be spoilt in any possible way.
The group watched with utter amusement how the little man climbed the shelves watching as not to break any of the fine glasses that were placed upon them. Even Juuhachi, who highly sympathized with her near-boyfriend, had to put a hand to her mouth to hide her grin as the boy made a complete idiot of himself. Cruelty was youths' power, definitely was.
"Here's your cat, madam." Krillin mocked a police officer given the task of rescuing a cat from a tree. Bulma giggled.
"I wondered when will you figure you can climb them… Didn't you wonder where the two glasses from the first dozen had gone? Try to guess who had broken them." She snickered. Finally, she turned to Vegeta, who was the closest person to her right. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth." He answered sternly.
"Hmmm…" She gave herself some time to think of a question. A gossipy one. "When was the first time you had sexual intercourse?" The question had haunted her ever since the two had laid together on that grass after their orgasms had come and gone. She had wondered to herself how was it possible that he had become so skillful at it when people who spent years after high school somehow managed to do even less.
"Thirteen and a half."
"With whom?"
"You have the right of one question only, woman." He grinned.
"You know it's an interesting topic; the next time you say 'truth' you're going to be asked that."
"Time shall show better." He grinned evilly. She huffed and turned away. So he didn't want to tell her even that, eh? She'd see about this one…
"My turn to ask the questions!" Juu exclaimed.
"And just why does it have to be you?" Vegeta asked her not really interested in the answer.
"Because I say so." He rolled his eyes, with a mutter that strangely resembled 'whatever'.
"Bulma: Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Right… So… Hmm… What should I ask you… Hmm, hmm, hmm… With how many boys have you slept?"
"Oh…" Bulma said slowly. "Err… It's, err, quite a number for my two-boyfriends-in-my-whole-life existence…"
"Answer the damn question." Vegeta's curiosity had piqued.
"Well, err… Seven…" Vegeta raised an eye brow. He seriously did not think she'd been with more than four guys, including himself and the worm in that number.
"Come on, share!" ChiChi exclaimed.
"Err, well, it's not something that I'm quite proud of…"
"Tell me." Vegeta insisted.
"You didn't want to say who your first was. Why should I do you the favor and give you the list of all my affairs? It doesn't really seem fair to me." The girl explained him.
"That's because it's different." The teen answered calmly, his eyes mindlessly wandering over to meet Goku's gaze for a brief second before he turned to her. "I'm going to tell you one day and you'll see. Come on now, tell me, or I'll—
"Okay, okay, just no threats!" Bulma yelled and shoved her hand underneath his nose. "Well… That's, Yamcha, Tien, who was my short-lived ninth grade affair, Keito, who was a one-night-stand after a dead-drunk party in second term of ninth grade, Taichi, the boy with whom I tried to forget about Yamcha during first term of tenth grade, Vash, a Russian whom I met on a trip to Russia for a two-month holiday with my parents, James, a guy who needed my help to get his girlfriend back as I needed Yamcha back by the time too, and you, my boyfriend. There. Satisfied? I'll rub it in that you've promised me!" She threatened.
"I had no idea you had been such a whore in disguise." He chuckled. Bulma's face flushed.
"You are definitely not the one to talk about sleeping with dozens of other people, Don Juan." She hissed defiantly at him. He nodded curtly, his face becoming smug all of a sudden at the remembrance of the 'good old days'.
"Point taken." He mumbled in content.
"Here's what I don't understand." She turned to all of her friends. "Why is it that when guys sleep with more and more girls they're considered men by their friends and when girls sleep with more than three guys in a period of an year even, they are labeled whores? What kind of discrimination is that?" She exclaimed.
"Don't worry, B. My number exceeds 10." Juu patted her friend on the shoulder.
"Have all of you begun your sex life in ninth grade at least?" ChiChi asked incredulously. She was surprised to see that even her boyfriend nodded. "You too! I thought you were a virgin the first time we were together."
"Well… I wasn't." He grinned sheepishly. She glared at him but otherwise said nothing to comment on the topic. They went back to the game. And Vegeta had chosen dare, much to Bulma and Juu's dislike. Both would've seriously liked to know who Vegeta's first had been and just why he was concealing it so feverishly.
"So, you think you're so smart and strong, huh?"
"Yup, that's what I think." Vegeta said rolling his eyes, feeling in the mood for a nice long smoke. He had not smoke in an eternity, or so it seemed to him.
"Why don't you go by that horizontal bar and give me one hundred pull-ups if you're so damn good at this?" He glance at the direction of where she was pointing and smirked at her. He did as said without saying word. He hopped up and got his hands comfortable.
"One-handed or two-handed? Second one is easier." Juu growled at his arrogance. He was still putting up the act. Even though he had some nicely shaped arms and legs and body as a whole, she didn't believe he could manage 100 pull-ups. It seemed far too far-fetched to her.
"One-handed."
And he began. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… All in 10 or so seconds. And he continued, having Krillin and the girls' jaws drop as they watched him making pull-up after pull-up without breaking a sweat. 98, 99, 100. But he didn't stop there. He kept on and on… They couldn't stop gawking. Even though ChiChi felt aggravated by the fact he was showing off, she couldn't help herself staring. She had never witnessed someone doing something like that before.
235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240… He wasn't stopping! He did them so fast they couldn't find time to open their mouths to tell him it was enough already. 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300. With a swift movement, he let go of the bar and landed on his two solid feet, returning to his place on the sofa.
"You were going to hate me if I continued until I could go no more…" He smirked conceitedly.
Even though all of them (except Goku, who was smiling broadly at his friend) looked thunderstruck and in complete awe, Bulma was the one who felt the most excitement surging through her. 300 pull-ups and his breathing was as normal as could be! She couldn't believe she had such an extraordinary creature as her boyfriend.
"Can you do something like that?" ChiChi turned to Goku. He held his hands up in defense by the intimidating way she had turned to him.
"I prefer push ups… But I can do as many of them as Vegeta can make in pull-ups."
"Ha! You wish, you worm." The other teen exclaimed haughtily.
"Wanna bet?" Goku challenged.
"Whatever. Kakarott, let's go buy some beer. I cannot believe you have forgotten to buy some alcohol. The woman is coming of age, not becoming younger." He said as he got up and collected his board from the mansion next to the Capsule Corporation compound, both him and Goku flying down the street with a rapid speed.
"Let's go get the dishes in the sink meanwhile." ChiChi said to Bulma, and as she waited to get behind the heiress' back, she winked at Juuhachi and Krillin who nodded and retreated towards the bathroom.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Two misty figures zoomed with a marvelous speed around late shoppers in the non-stop super market. Women fixed their blouses after the violent wind had passed by them, ruffling their clothing.
Those two hurricanes were nothing else but our two trouble-makers, Goku and Vegeta. They were in search of a very special shop. An all-beer stall where they often went after practice with the whole group of hormone-driven skaters worn down by the hard work out.
"Yeeeehaaa!" The two screamed and whistled loudly as they went down a ramp for baby carts and shopping carts. They stopped abruptly in front of the stall they had been looking for. A bored looking young woman cast them a side-glance before sighing and putting on a cap.
"How may I help you?"
"Two stacks of beer, please." Goku said.
"That's going to cost you quite some—
"Money isn't a problem." Vegeta had taken out a very fat handful of bills. The girl's eyes budged out by the sight. "Just give us the best you got."
Nodding reluctantly, the girl did as told.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
After Goku and Vegeta had returned with the two stacks of beer, everyone had given in to conversations amongst themselves and pleasant teasing. It had all been very fun, especially since most of them had already had a few cans of beer. Sleep was over-powering most of them. Bulma could barely stand on her feet anymore.
Just as she was about to go to the kitchen, she felt a whole bucket of water thrown her way. And her feeling proved quite correct. She turned around, her clothes hanging on her body and her hair damp, making her look much like a drowned rat.
"What in Heaven's name was that supposed to be?" She shrieked madly.
"That's for health!" Krillin explained.
"No; a glass of water is for health. Not a whole fucking bucket!"
"I suggest you go attend yourself." ChiChi said with a yawn as she leant in on Goku's chest. Bulma felt her own tiredness welcoming her again. She nodded and went for her chambers. Once she was up the stairs, she remembered and called back to her friends,
"Choose a room to stay for the night. I'll wake you all some time before school starts tomorrow and so we'll all be able to be ready." They nodded. She did too and disappeared behind her closed door.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Fifteen minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom, completely dry and without any mascara. She noticed that her bed was currently occupied and that its inhabitant was not nearly as tired as she felt.
"Took you long enough." He said unconvincingly.
"Well, I feel like my body weights a ton and every single movement causes me great effort, so you should be proud of me instead of pissing and moaning about me being slow. I'm doing my very best here, mister."
"You didn't forget I still haven't given you your present, did you?"
All of a sudden she felt a surge of life run through her and all trace of sleep evaporated in the thick air of the wintry night.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
A/N: Read my bio. Or, like it says, you're not allowed to blame. I actually made myself sit for a good 6 or so hours and make this chapter for you... even though it may be a bit sucky... it's the best I can do right now. Next one will be even better. It will give you a little glimpse at Vegeta as the 'undistracted' self Bulma is refering to. So, yeah. Please review... It's crucial right now... Please?
