Chapter 4
Brought to you Gue22
...
"This is for the best Videl. The sooner you meet him, the sooner you can figure out if he's like all the rest." Erasa reasoned.
"But I don't want to meet him! It's too soon!" Videl yelled, snatching her phone back from her traitorous friend's clutches. "I usually wait weeks before I agree to meet someone I-"
"And that has worked out for you in the past has it?" Erasa asked rhetorically. "No. It hasn't."
Videl opened her mouth to retort, but released several bouts of air instead. Turning around she folded her arms and looked away.
Erasa sighed, "Look Videl, you never talk to me about these online weirdo's nearly as much as you've talked about this cloud guy - and you just met him! I think it's best to figure him out before you fall even harder."
"Fall?" Videl quirked her brow. "Let's not get melodramatic now." She dismissed the implication.
"Pshh, you obviously like him; you spent the majority of the night checking your phone for notifications for crying out loud! Don't think I didn't notice."
"I enjoy talking to him, there's nothing wrong with that."
"My point exactly, if he turns out to be another one that can't handle your fame, the sooner you know the better right? No point in wasting several weeks on a guy who's just gonna be another let down."
Videl gritted her teeth - Erasa was so infuriating with her wretched insightfulness. "Humph!" She turned from her again, and moved to the edge of the lounge.
She placed her forehead against the cool wall of glass and peered down at the dance floor below. The crowd was happily drinking, some chatting, but most of them dancing. Some people were in groups of friends, but there were a lot of couples too. They all looked so carefree, some holding hands, some with their arms around each other, some giggling, others blushing...she sighed.
That's all she wanted really – a normal relationship with a normal guy. Full stop.
Instead, she'd had such a terrible history with men in the past that she'd felt forced to strip her name, put on an anonymous cap and meet people on the internet. A year into it and she'd still not met someone willing to like her for her.
She'd had five failed dates so far, the last one only a week ago! Things had been great with Sky24, for six weeks they'd been able to hold some semblance of a relationship until...they'd met in person.
She sighed, as her eyes continued to move around the scenery below. Away from the dance floor, just a short distance from the bar, she spied a jubilant group of girls talking and laughing animatedly. One of the girls – dark hair, blue eyes; clad in a tasteful blue dress, blushed when a guy from another group approached her, placing an exact replica of her now empty cocktail next to her. Videl eyed the dark-haired girl curiously, wondering what she'd do. She found herself smiling along with the guy when the girl accepted the drink, offering a smile and the seat next to her.
It was all so simple, so...natural. She was sure the girl had her own concerns about the guy: What's his angle? Is he really interested in getting to know me...or...is he just trying to get me drunk? Is he trying to impress his friends? Is he hoping to take me home for a one-night stand? She was sure the girl had some of those concerns, and probably so many others – that was also natural.
Somehow though, she doubted that her doubts included: Is he trying to get me to invite him home so he can fall at my father's feet and worship him? Or...is he trying to get me naked in a place with a hidden camera so he can post it on a website and boast about it to the world? Is he hoping to squeeze some money out of me? Is he hoping to use my name to get a job?
Videl gritted her teeth - these were the bad experiences of the past that had brought her down this on-line path to begin with. And now this path had led her here - pressed to meet yet another stranger from the internet, but this time, without being fully prepared for it – damn Erasa, rushing her like this!
But...as much as she hated to admit it - this was her own fault, all of it. First she'd ordered champagne to celebrate Erasa's news, and unused to having more than just a glass or two of any type of alcohol, the two bottles they'd polished had gone straight to her head.
Then, she'd been powerless and stupid enough to blabber on and on about this new internet guy that was keeping her up all night – consequently incriminating herself about her real reasons for practically sleeping her days away this past week.
What-more, after all that blabbing, she'd been foolish enough to leave her purse with her phone behind while she went to the bathroom.
Urgh! Erasa was such a meddlesome nuisance when she wanted to be but...in this situation...she was also right. In just one week, she found herself looking forward to interacting with Nimbz more than she'd ever done with any of the other others – even the ones she'd met in person.
If she kept their online interactions alive for a few more weeks, only to meet him down the line and get disappointed yet again...meh...it just wasn't worth it.
"You win Erasa, I'll go. I'll meet him." she said dispassionately. "I guess I just wanted to enjoy the ride a little longer before the crash, you know?" She looked sad when she turned her eyes back in her friend's direction.
"Hey now, come on, don't be like that." Erasa draped her arm over her shoulder and walked her back to sit on the couch.
"Urgh! You know I'm right Erasa. Just look at my track record with guys. Crash and burn, that's how it goes."
Erasa gave her a stern glare. "I'll have none of that pessimism, thank you very much! This one might be a keeper, you have to be positive if you hope to pop your cherry one day Ms V for Virgin."
"Erasa!"
Erasa laughed at the comically horrified expression on her friends' face. For such a tough tomboy Videl was awfully easy to rattle.
"Hmph! He's gonna take one look at my face, one look at my name...and then...it's game over."
"Shut up and stop being so negative!" Erasa gave her a light smack on the head before she jumped to her feet to lock the lounge doors.
"Ow!" complained Videl.
"That didn't even hurt," Erasa stuck out her tongue. "Right, I've locked the door so we won't be interrupted. Let's swap our outfits real quick," she said in haste, already slipping out of her little dress.
"Huh?" Videl stared, confused.
"Come hurry Videl," urged Erasa. "I'll wear your dress, and you wear mine. I'll lower my head and toss my drape over my head, then have one of the bouncers walk me out of the club in your clothes. You know some paparazzi have probably gathered out there by now. As soon as they swarm me with their cameras, you can slip out unnoticed, take a cab down the street, then head to Orange Square before they notice that I'm not really you okay?"
"Gee, you think of everything don't you?" said Videl rather dryly. "One would think you'd been planning this for months. But if you think I'm going to wear that slutty dress...Ow!" she yelped.
"It's not slutty, it's sexy you frigid old prune, now strip! This is the only way we can get you out of here without being followed. In case you've forgotten, your cloud weirdo said he'd be at the rendezvous point in half an hour, and that was ten minutes ago! So...move!"
"Fine, fine," Videl relented as she eyed Erasa's inappropriate dress wearily, "but if he mistakes me for a call-girl I'll...Ow!"
...
He checked his watch, urgh! He was ten minutes early, but this was definitely the place – Orange Square. Kata had said to meet in-front of the larger than life Orange Statue at the base of the stairs. He turned around to stare at the sculptured, oversized sphere – no doubt, this was the correct location. But...it wasn't good to be early, now he had all this time to worry himself to death.
What if she didn't come? What if she did come? What if she didn't like him? Was he even dressed appropriately? He checked himself over – his black work shoes, his black work pants and white shirt – all crisp and clean from the hotel's laundry service. Nervously he scrutinized the other patrons passing by in the main square – most guys were in jeans, but some of the women looked really dressed up. And he...he looked like he was just coming from work.
Great, I'm overdressed.
He slipped his hands into his pockets and paced the short length of the bottom stair. After a minute, he checked his watch again.
Man, this was unnerving. He tried not to let his imagination get carried away but...he couldn't help but wonder what she looked like, funny who he'd never even thought about those kind of details before. She said she was a fighter so she was probably built like one.
An image of a tall bulky woman, the exact replica of Nappa with red spiky hair tossing a Ki blast suddenly came to mind. Aw come on, just because she's a fighter doesn't mean she's built like an oversized Saiyan.
He tried to imagine what a typical female fighter would look like but, grr...he didn't really know any female fighters. The only image that came to mind was off a dark haired woman with bangs dressed in a purple traditional Gi with lines forming on her brow and - Gah! That was his mother! Okay, now that would just be weird.
He shook the image off as he continued to pace.
What if she's scary?
A flush crept up on his cheeks as an image of a glowering Kirsty popped into his mind. The young engineer fell into a flawless stance; wearing a black, skin-tight catsuit (which just so happened to be a replica of the one he'd seen Phoenix's nemesis wearing). In her hands she held a long shimmering Katana with such finesse that it made him gulp. Her hair was pulled up so tight, the skin on her forehead was practically transparent, showing off the veins underneath. And those eyes...with those long sweeping lashes, they held a certain predatory glint that he'd never seen before. 'Didn't you know Son? Kata is short for Katana!' she yelled as she charged him. And even though he felt afraid for his balls after her threat the other day, he had to admit that he'd never seen anything more beautiful, more exciting.
Luckily for Gohan, a loud motorbike went zooming past in a racket, forcing him to snap out of his fantasy. "Heh heh heh," he shook his head as he laughed at his own foolishness. Okay, so definitely less Phoenix comics from now on.
He continued to pace back and forth though, powerless to stop himself from conjuring up all kinds of other scenarios – all of them involving his crush – Kirsty; in all shades of personas and martial arts outfits.
...
Videl slipped the cab driver a 20 and waved off the change. As he took off, she stood alongside the street across from Orange Square and immediately spotted a tall dark haired guy pacing back and forth at the base of the stairs – it had to be him.
He was the only one there. Plus - he kept glancing at his watch as if he was waiting for something.
So tall, was the first thing she thought, ever thankful that she was wearing heels to give her a slight advantage in the height department. Nice broad shoulders, definitely the build of a fighter from what I can see – was the second thing she thought.
Though the street lights were on, it was difficult to see his face – just his side profile. Man, this meeting was even more unnerving than usual, probably because she really, really wanted this to work out. Her stomach felt hot, repelling all that champagne and her hands clammy. Right, this is it Videl, let's get this crash over and done with.
Nervously, she smoothed her hands down Erasa's dress, her fingers and palms gliding down the cool texture of its hundreds of gold glittering sequins. She'd had to take off her bra and stuff it in her purse to wear this dress. The little number was completely bare backed, revealing too much for her comfort and not to mention too damn short. It also hung in an embarrassingly low cowl-neck that dipped into a very low V between her breasts. So low in fact, the tip of the V almost reached all the way down to her navel.
The dress was just too revealing, too flashy and most definitely too racy. It was definitely not something Videl Satan would have hanging in her closet.
Clutching her purse firmly under her arm, Videl crossed the street, her heels clanking as loud as the heavy pounding of heart
...
Gohan had picked up several clanking heels in the ten minutes that he'd been waiting, but none of them had been clanking towards his direction – these ones were.
He stopped pacing and turned his head towards the direction of the sound...and just like that, he forgot how to breathe.
Stunned, he found himself momentarily blinded by the shimmer of golden sparks as they danced off her dress like a thousand fireflies as the light reflecting sequins glittered under the fall of the street-lights.
The sound of her footsteps was momentarily shut out by the loud thumping of his heart. His mouth dried up as he willed himself to shift the focus of his eyes from following the dip in the exposed flesh between her breasts to look instead at her face – not that it helped calm him down – it was a beautiful face.
It can't be her, he concluded, probably just someone passing by.
"Nimbus...Rider?" came the slightly hesitant question as she came to a stop right before him.
With huge disbelieving eyes Gohan forced himself to speak. "Kata?" His voice was raspy even to his own ears
"Um...yeah, nice to meet you," she said, but her face said otherwise. Gohan noticed with dismay that she had dread in her eyes, like some inevitable moment of doom was approaching.
"I uh...yeah...ahem." he cleared his throat, his voice unrecognizably raspy. "It's nice to meet you too." His face burned as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
He was struggling to keep his eyes on her face, they kept dipping to the exposed flesh between her chest, slanting to her curves or taking in the creamy skin of her thighs, and no matter what he did, he just couldn't stop his nose from tingling.
What kind of a dress was this supposed to be? He was never one to look at a woman inappropriately – okay, so maybe once or twice he might have let his eyes linger on Kirsty's bust or long legs, but that was different. Right now, he felt incredibly disadvantaged. It was as if the little glittery dress was challenging him to stare at all the right...erm...exposed parts. He was in big trouble and he knew it.
"I uh...I...just can't believe it's you." he added quickly, worried about getting scolded for was on the verge of frantic, his heart thumping furiously from nerves. But look at that dress! It's impossible not to stare!
The girl frowned as she regarded him; a million thoughts seemed to be racing through her head. But what could she be thinking? Maybe she just didn't like the look of him; she didn't seem pleased at all.
"So you recognise me then?" she said, a hint of bitter disappointment in her voice.
"Recognise you? What do you mean?" Gohan forced himself to look only at her eyes. "Have we met before?" His face tilted to the side as he stared in confusion.
Her eyes did a double take. "So you don't recognise me?"
Oh boy, he knew that look – she was getting angry! But...but...why? We couldn't have met somewhere before, could we?
He took in her pear shaped face, her robust cheekbones and those eyes - as blue as the wild nigellas adorning his backyard in the spring. He took in the falling curtain of dark tresses framing her face and...nothing. Not one spec of recognition. He could swear right now on his brother's life that they'd never met before.
But...why would she ask such a question if they hadn't?
Like a guilty man trying to think up a good lie – his tongue twisted in a knot as he felt uncertain of what to say. Was he in danger of repeating his father's mistake of the 23rd Martial Arts tournament? The mistake of not recognising his mother when they'd met again for the first time as adults after seven years?
He didn't think so, he was pretty sure they'd never met.
He tried to think of all the girls he'd ever met while younger, the orphans, the villagers from Frypan, kids from Chikze Village, random encounters in the city but...zero, zip, blank. He was at a loss.
"Um...I...don't recognize you, not really. I'm sorry." he admitted, as he nervously watched her face. Was he gonna get it now?
She stared, as if surprised by his answer, but not entirely in a bad way. Her eyes roamed over his face, taking in his nervous disposition and apologetic demeanor. Why did he have this sinking feeling that things were going downhill?
But then, just like that, her entire demeanour changed.
"Oh, well, that's okay. For a second there it looked like you thought you recognized me or something," she smiled. "So...here we are then: NimbusRider and Katagirl in the flesh."
"Yeah, here we are." Gohan exhaled, it was such a relief to feel the tension around her dissipate. He'd been really worried for a minute there.
Now he was just plagued by nerves, it was one thing on the internet, it was easy to be himself without a care in the word, but faced with such a beautiful girl, he felt ill equipped to deal with the situation.
"Does it feel weird for you? Meeting a strange girl from the internet for the first time?" she said, as if reading his thoughts.
"I don't know," said Gohan, he was awestruck by her warm smile. Her whole face just seemed to soften somehow. "It does feel weird, but in a nice sort of way." He smiled.
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
"What's weird is that I have this intense urge to be typing right now." He chuckled softly, slipping his hands in his pockets to contain them. He was feeling rather fidgety.
The girl laughed, shaking her head, dark strands of hair crashing softly against her face like a lace curtain. "Tell you what, we could always do our normal thing you know – write?" A twinkle danced in her eyes. "Since we don't have our computers we could always pull out our phones and type to each other instead of talking, how's that?" she teased.
Gohan smiled – one hand finding its way out of his pocket and into his scalp. "It would certainly feel more normal, definitely more familiar." He couldn't help but grin at the image - the two of them sitting down next to each other, chatting via the keystrokes of their phones, instead of their vocals. "But...I think we should ditch the norm and be adventurous tonight. What do you think?"
He could have soared right then, when a wide smile spread itself across her face.
"Fine, you've convinced me. No electronic devices, no chat screens. Adventure it is!" she laughed, more so when his face broke into an even bigger smile. "So...where shall we take this adventure then? Where shall we go? What should we do?"
"I don't know," shrugged Gohan. "I thought we were going to celebrate with your friend? Where is she?"
She flushed, though he couldn't be sure why, but a finger crept up her neck where she started scratching lightly."Um...yeah," she began, almost uncertainly. "See...my friend and I, we were having drinks at Reserves."
"Reserves?"
"Yeah it's this big club down on Hercule Ave. Everyone's always lining up to get in, but...you're not from around here so I guess you don't really know about it." Her hand waved off the idea.
"No. Never heard of it, sorry."
"It's not important. We were there, but it's kinda hard to talk with all that music and all those lights flashing everywhere, so I told her I'd come and meet you out here instead."
"Oh okay. I feel bad though, I hope I didn't intrude on your night."
"Hardly, she took this opportunity to call her boyfriend over so she could end her night with 'a happy ending'," she rolled her eyes, "so...it's just us."
Gohan's cheeks burned at the implication of 'happy ending'. He dipped his chin and lowered his eyes shyly, hoping to hide the blush he could feel forming on his cheeks. "Oh okay. I uh...do you wanna walk around a bit then, and just...you know...talk? I think there's a park near here somewhere. We could-"
"Err...you know, I would love to take a walk on any other night but-" she pointed at her feet. "It's kinda embarrassing to admit but I'm still new to this whole stiletto heels thing, and after walking just across the street, I already want to sit down somewhere and take them off."
Gohan smiled, taking in the pencil heels, to his untrained eye they looked at least six inches high. Actually they looked more like a dangerous stabbing weapon than shoes. Something the airlines should definitely ban. "Ah, I see. Okay then. Um...I don't really know this city at all so..."
"Well it's pretty late so most restaurants are closed now, but...let's see..." she tapped her chin. "There's a Trafalagian pub two blocks from here. It's not the best neighborhood in town and it's kind of run-down, but they have a quiet little garden at the back.
"Really?" Gohan's eyes immediately lit up. "Trafalagian from Trafalag Island? All the way out here?"
"Of course," she gave him a mischievous smile, and in the worst imitation of a tour-guide Gohan had ever heard – not that he'd been on many tours – he watched as she made a flowery hand gesture and proceeded to say: "Haven't you heard Sir? This is Satan City! Home to the one and only Mr. Satan! Therefore it has to be the finest city in the world! Whether it's first class culture, art, cars, fashion, women or cuisine, from any region or country you can think of – Satan City's got it!"
Gohan chuckled, at her impersonation. He may not have been sure of it before, but he was now - she was definitely tipsy; he could smell the subtle hint of alcohol coming from her, mixed up with all kinds of other delicious smells. And even though he'd never met her before, he had an inkling that she wasn't this cheerful all the time.
He counted himself lucky that things seemed to be going well for them. "That's good to know," he smiled. "I'm always game for first class cuisine, and I might just need to buy a car real soon, though I doubt it will be first class on an intern's salary," he chuckled.
"So," he braved two steps in her direction, "maybe the Satan City tour-lady will give me a free tour one day when..." he dipped his head to her feet. "she's not wearing such dangerous looking shoes."
He felt all kinds of warm when her face broke into a hearty smile. "It's a deal," she extended her hand out to him.
Gohan grabbed it, impressed by the firm shake.
"In the meantime," she said, their hands still linked post handshake. "Trafalagian drinks await. What do you say Nimbzy, shall we?"
Gohan chuckled at the name, it felt so weird hearing it voiced off-screen."It's Gohan."
"Huh?"
"My name, it's Gohan. I should have introduced myself properly – shame on me."
She laughed, "Well, are you going to ask for mine, or shame yourself even further?"
The grin on his face just spread itself further, but before he could ask, she tightened her grip on his hand once more.
"It's Videl by the way, and it's nice to finally put a face and a name to my favourite vampire."
Gohan grinned at the reference, as she shook his hand. It was a good firm shake.
"There, now you know my name. Don't you feel more like a gentleman now?" she teased.
"I do, I do. Thank you for rescuing my chivalry."
"You're welcome, I've been known to save the day on more than one occasion."
"I see, Ms V for all things Virtuous suddenly makes a lot more sense. It's a nice name - Videl."
For some reason she flushed at the reference, but before he could ask, she was already pulling him across the street.
Gohan complied, allowing himself to be led. He didn't say it out loud, but somehow he had the feeling that he'd already scored the best of the so called 'first class women of Satan City'.
Now all he had to do was man up and finally ask her.
...
That's the chapter guys; let us know how it goes.