Sorry for the long wait, I just got back from vacation, lol I forgot to bring my laptop with me. Anyway, thank you to the following reviewers: Moonlightdeer, 99luftballonsx.o.x, DarkshadowsXsunny-sides, HeartsGuardianSol, XVentressX, Jimmy 144, Bee4ever, megagenie, Coolgal02, Guest, shaddowdarkcloud, and AshleyOfChaos (lol, love the username!) As usual, thanks for being my awesome reviewers! And now to the story...
Chapter Twelve: Risking It
"What about this one?" Jenna asked, mindlessly shoving a top into my hands.
I stared down at the cerulean blue top, with straps and a low swoop in the back. Frowning, I shook my head and put it back on the rack while squeezing past the many, many racks of clothing at the mall. Yes, a shopping mall. A place I loathed more than anything else, and somehow Jenna had managed to convince Lennox that it was a good idea, chattering on about how I needed more clothing to 'spice up' my closet...or, whatever. Although I really hated the activity that Jenna begged we do today, I couldn't help but be grateful.
In the few weeks that I've been here, Jenna has been glued to my side, and we chatted, ate in the food hall, and hung out a lot, and I've learned a few interesting things about her. Like the fact that Jenna's passion for building and fixing automobiles was almost as strong as mines, and along with the fact that she's been in a military family practically all her life, thus, it was only logical that Jenna would work here, even if she didn't know why at the time. Well, until I told her. Her reaction was the complete opposite of what I was expecting, you know; shocked, scared, worried, and very anxious. Instead, Jenna seemed to get even more excited about working here, and she literally squealed when I mention they turned into cars for their disguise. But at the same time, I really should've been expecting it. Jenna liked to be very optimistic, daring, and quirky. So when she was the only one actually excited to meet the Autobots when the time came, she got more than just a few odd looks her way...and it wasn't only from the humans.
But Jenna was a great companion never the less, and a really great friend as well. If it weren't for her 'interesting' personality, and charm keeping me occupied, I would've been bored out of my mind. I mean, there's always those delightful visits to the Med Bay with Ratchet yelling and cursing and throwing wrenches, but I typically try to avoid the Autobots these days. Even though my life has drastically change over this month, I feel like I should probably try and hold on to any normality I may have left, even if such a thing existed.
So that's another reason why I agreed to going with Jenna to the mall; a sense of normalcy seemed to enter me as soon as I stepped inside the crowded building. Forgetting about things like psychopathic Decepticons, or vexatious Autobots. Really, this should be good for me.
"Charlie!" Jenna said impatiently, snapping her fingers in front of my face, and I blinked. "I asked you which top looks better, green or blue?" Jenna held up to identical looking tops with different colors. Identical with different colors... Suddenly, my mind drifted back to the twins, and I had to shake the thought away quickly. No robots. No Aliens. No top-secret military crap. Just Charlie and Jenna.
I raised an eyebrow, my lips formed into a teasing smile, "Didn't you beg Lennox to let us go shopping to get me clothes, Jenna?"
Jenna rolled her eyes, "Well, you aren't really helping by complaining every time we go into a store."
I crossed my arms, "Can't we just go to a store I like?"
"What's not to like?" Jenna asked, motioning with her hands all around the store, the bags hanging off the joint of her arms swinging around.
"A lot." I muttered under my breath.
"Well, at least try this on before we leave," Jenna turned around, shuffling through the wrack before turning around and handing me a plain, black dress. I didn't move to reach it, instead settling for glaring daggers at it instead. Jenna sighed impatiently, "C'mon Charlie, it's just one dress, it won't kill you to try it on."
"It just might."
Jenna switched to a different tactic, her brown eyes wide and her bottom lip jutted out, and I raised an eyebrow. "Please, Charlie?" She pleaded, her hands clasped together like she was praying.
I glared at her, "Don't use that trick on me."
"Oh, please, for little ol' me?"
"Are you serious right now?" I groaned, noticing the people glancing on our direction, probably thinking Jenna was crazy. Well, she kind of is.
I sighed in defeat, "Fine." I snatched the dress out of her hand and stomped all the way to the dressing room, grumpily stripping down and pulling on the dress. Once I was done fiddling with the zipper, and adjusting the dress to my liking, I couldn't help but smile in the mirror. In no way did I have an hour glass figure, but I was surprised the dress fit as well as it did. I stepped out of the dressing room, not surprised to see Jenna already standing there.
"Well...?" I asked, motioning down to my dress.
One moment, Jenna's silent. The next, she's squealing as she dropped her shopping bags to the floor and ran up to me, "You look amazing!"
"It's not really that-"
"Wow! The dress fits you so nicely!" Jenna exclaimed, once again, drawing the attention of people nearby.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment and I nervously rubbed my arm, "I don't know...I think it's a little too-"
"Girly?" Jenna finished bluntly, an annoyed expression on her face, "Charlie hun, face it; you're a girl. There's nothing you can do about it, except wear this dress and look absolutely stunning doing it!"
Did she really expect me to buy it? The last time I remembered wearing a dress was to my aunt's wedding, and even then it took a lot of coaxing, arguments, and bribing from my mom to get me to wear it at least until the wedding was over. I couldn't even imagine how Jenna could coax me into wearing it, even if she did bought it.
"So, what do ya say?" She asked hopefully.
Then again, the dress wasn't that bad...
I sighed, "Alright, I'll get it."
Jenna looked like a little kid being rewarded with candy and ice-cream, her face beaming with joy as she squealed before taking my wrist and dragging me all the way to the check out, before letting go. "Trust me, you're not gonna regret getting it!"
"I already am." I muttered.
After the exhausting shopping trip, and we were done re-organizing my closet, Jenna left for her shift and I was stuck laying in the bed staring up at the ceiling. I thought about Sideswipe again, and I wondered about what he would be doing right now...patrol? A mission? Sparring? I tried to clear my mind again, but the image of Sideswipe just kept reforming and reforming in my head again, no matter how hard I tried to block him out. It was becoming completely unbearable, and I was extremely thankful when there was a knock at the door. I sprung out of the bed, hurrying over to answer the door. Once the door swung open, I stepped back to see Will, casually smiling warmly at me.
"Hey Charlie."
"Hi Will." I greeted.
"Ratchet wants me to take you down to the Med Bay again."
I groaned, "For what this time? I'm not sick anymore, so-"
"Human checkups." Will interrupted.
"Pardon?"
"Ratchet's the paranoid, control-freak type. So he's constantly doing check ups on all the humans...and you're up next, so he asked me to come get you."
"Oh," I mumbled, "Well, okay then."
We walked all the way down to the Med Bay, and when I arrived, I had to duck to nearly miss a wrench to the head. My eyes widened as I stared in the direction of where it came from, where Ratchet was currently telling Robert Epps off, and it took me all of the power of human will to not let out a single chuckle. Robert looked completely agitated as he ducked another wrench, courtesy of Ratchet himself, before ducking out of the Med Bay. Leaving me not able to breathe from holding in the laughter, and Will bewildered. Maybe now wasn't the best time to-
"Charlie," Ratchet demanded, "Come, come, get on the berth!"
Quickly and quietly, I followed and pulled myself up on to the berth. Ratchet began various scans, murmuring to himself as he went along, finally before he picked up a data pad on the counter, "Alright, you're good. You are dismissed."
I nodded, grateful for the dismissal as I hopped off the berth, and open the door, running head-first into a strong, tall body. Automatically, I flew backwards, expecting to have a new painful bruise on my butt, when the last moment, arms snake around my back and pulled me back on my feet. At all happened so fast that before I could even blink I was back on my feet. For a whole second, my body seemed frozen; paralyzed, and when the situation of running into someone finally sunk in, I immediately began to stutter out apologies.
"O-oh, I'm so sorry, I..." My words trailed off when I looked up to see shining, pale blue optics staring back down at me, and my whole body flushed with instant heat.
Sideswipe. Great.
"Still falling for me, schlemiel?" Sideswipe gave his signature smirk. It seemed to only occur to me just then that I was still in his arms, and I ducked out of his soft grip, scratching the back of my head awkwardly.
An odd silence passed between us, and it felt unnerving and uncomfortable. Even though I tried to restrict myself with robots, Sideswipe kept popping up in my mind. It was annoying and confusing. But now that he was here, there's really no use trying to avoid him.
"So, how are things?" I asked, my voice surprisingly unsteady.
He raised an eyebrow, "'How are things?' Really?"
I shrugged, "I don't know what else to say...I mean, we don't really talk as much. I figured you'd rather be with your twin and all, so I just left you alone..." I trailed off again.
"Yeah," Sideswipe said averting his eyes, "Things with Sunny are great, well, as great as it can get with him. I mean, we don't have to just stop hanging out 'cuz we arrived here. We can still have fun."
"Fun?" I raised my eyebrows in a challenging way, some of the awkwardness slipping away, "Enlighten me, how can someone have fun on a federal top-secret military base?"
Sideswipe's smirk turned devious, and all the awkwardness seemed gone as he leaned in closer, "Racing."
"Car racing?" I asked.
His devilish grin was all I needed to confirm it, and i shook my head, chuckling slightly, "And how do you suppose we do car racing here without Ratchet welding wrenches at us? Huh?"
Sideswipe just shrugged, "It's worth the risk."
"You're crazy."
"Sometimes you got to risk it to take the biscuit, schlemiel."
"The-what?"
He only responded, by flashing another devious grin and grabbing my wrist, leading me through the hallway, and out into the Autobot hangar.
And we'll leave it there! Once again, terribly sorry for being late! Just got back from vacation last night so...yeah, I was pretty tired. Oh, and don't forget to leave a review ;)
