Chapter 12

Thursday came and went, going right into Friday. Blossom found herself partially looking forward to this day, which was weird. Why was she still even thinking about doing this. She was currently in her room brushing her hair when there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Blossom asked.

"It's me, Blossom," Bubbles said from behind the door.

"Come in Bubbles," Blossom said with a sigh. Just like last time, there was no way she could say no to Bubbles.

Bubbles walked in with a worried look on her face, "Um, how are you feeling about tonight?" she asked.

"I don't really know," Blossom lied, not wanting to admit to her sister that she partially was excited.

"I think he's being serious," Bubbles said, "About turning over a new leaf."

"You think so?" Blossom asked still brushing her hair.

"I looked up the correctional facility Brick went into, and sure enough they actually had a record of him being there. Apparently he took Antidote X in front of the people who work there and everything," Blossom was silently thinking to herself, "Maybe you should give him a chance."

"I am, Bubbles. That's what this entire night is about," Blossom stated.

"I mean really give him a chance. Not just tonight."

Blossom turned to her sister, "What are you-"

"I don't think you hate him as much as you claim to. Hatred is an ugly emotion anyway. I think you should let go of it, before something really bad happens."

Blossom sighed and looked down, "Based off of what happens tonight, I'll decide how to feel."

Bubbles nodded and then turned to leave, but stopped, "Hey Blossom?"

"Yes Bubbles?" Blossom asked going back to brushing her hair.

"Are you..." Bubbles started, but then stopped, making Blossom slowly stop and look at her through the mirror, "Never mind Blossom. Just try to have a good time."

Bubbles left Blossom after saying that. Blossom put the brush down and thought about what Bubbles might have been asking. As she thought about it, she had to ask herself, why did she agree to this? Why was she still having questionable dreams about him? Why did her chest feel hot whenever she thought about him? Was she actually starting to... Did she still...

He was pacing in front of the door for at least ten minutes. He just couldn't ring the doorbell. It was the easiest thing in the world and he couldn't do it. He had done it so many times in the last three weeks, but back then it was to give Blossom her homework. Now it was a totally different story. He was still casually dressed, as it wasn't meant to be too fancy (and he didn't own any suits) He looked at his watch and saw it was almost seven o'clock, and he still hadn't worked up the courage to ring the doorbell.

He pushed all fear aside, closed his eyes and rang the doorbell. At first he didn't hear anything, and he wondered if maybe they left so they would miss him. A few seconds later though the door opened and once again Professor Utonium answered the door.

"Good evening, Professor Utonium," Brick said softly. The Professor had told him one day to stop calling him sir, and relax a bit, so Brick decided to start calling him Professor Utonium, since that was what everyone else called him.

"Hello Brick. You're here for Blossom, right?" the Professor asked, Brick only able to nod, "She's still getting ready but you can come in if you want."

"Um, I don't want to impose, Professor," Brick said suddenly, but Professor Utonium shook his head.

"Nonsense, come in." Brick hesitated, but slowly walked in. It had been ages since he had walked into the Utonium household. There was so much white. If Blossom's signature was pink, Bubbles' was light blue, and Buttercup's was neon green (now that she was older) the Professor's was obviously white.

Brick turned to the left and saw Buttercup sitting on the couch looking at him with crossed arms. He nodded and waved to her, but Buttercup scowled and turned away.

"Blossom," Prof. Utonium called, "He's here."

A second later Blossom walked downstairs. She actually was stunning in her own right. Her dress wasn't really fancy, just a simple pink knee length dress that was one piece and really accentuated her figure tastefully. She was also wearing a red jacket and matching red shoes with a one inch heel. She was also wearing a little bit of make up, which he was surprised by. Finally she had a red hand bag obviously filled with girl stuff (and the Antidote X probably).

"Hey Blossom, you look nice," Brick said with a smile.

"Um, thanks..." Blossom said looking away.

It was silent for a little while, but the Professor spoke up, "Well, I hope you two have a nice time."

"Don't worry Professor, I'll bring her home in one piece," Brick said with a smile. He looked at Blossom, who looked down with a strange expression.

"Blossom, have a good time," Prof. Utonium said, almost as if pleading her. Blossom looked up and nodded.

"Right," she said softly. They then slowly walked to the door, Blossom going first, Brick following.

When they got outside, Blossom took a deep breath, "So, where are we going?" she asked.

"I have a couple of things planned actually. But first," he said slowly taking her hand, "Follow me."

Blossom looked a little scared, but she slowly nodded. They then both flew actually, only Brick knowing where they were going.

Professor Utonium and Bubbles were watching them in the window. When they flew off, they walked away from the window, "Think she's going to be okay?" Bubbles asked.

"She's tough, and she has the Antidote X with her just in case he does try anything," Professor Utonium explained.

"Yeah, your right," at that moment the doorbell rang again, "Did they forget anything?"

"I don't think that's them," the Professor said walking over to the door, getting a pleasant surprise by who was outside, "Sara? This is a surprise."

Bubbles looked and smiled seeing Miss Bellum walk in.

"Hi Antonio, sorry if this is a bad time," Miss Bellum said.

"Not at all, you just missed Blossom actually," Prof. Utonium said.

"I saw her flying off when I drove up. Hi Bubbles," she called out when she saw Bubbles standing by the window. Bubbles waved smiling. At that moment Buttercup got up and began walking to the door, "Hello Buttercup, how are you?"

"Fine," Buttercup said curtly, only stopping for a second and then continuing to the door.

"Where are you going?" Prof. Utonium asked.

"This place is getting claustrophobic, and I'm not used to being home on a Friday night," Buttercup said seriously, "I ain't gonna spy on em, don't worry." With that Buttercup walked right outside and flew off. The Professor shook his head and sighed.

"I'm sorry about Buttercup," he said to Miss Bellum, "She and Blossom had another fight a few days ago and I think she's still sour from that."

"It's fine. I've known these girls for about twelve years now, and that's too long to get offended with Buttercup's attitude. But I did want to talk to you about that. Could we talk privately in the kitchen?"

"Sure," Prof. Utonium looked at Bubbles, "Could you give us some time?"

Bubbles nodded and went to her room. There she was able to think to herself. Blossom going on this date with Brick, Buttercup off to who knows where, and now Miss Bellum here with the Professor? This day was getting too complicated for her. She figured that Miss Bellum would probably stay and keep Prof. Utonium company, so Bubbles felt like trying to have a good Friday herself. She went over to her phone and called one person who always made her days better.

"Hey Jane, busy?" she waited for Jane's response, "Blossom is on her date, Buttercup is still being weird, and Miss Bellum just stole the Professor. Basically, I'm lonely." Apparently Jane laughed on the other end and asked Bubbles something, "I don't know, will there be chocolate?" Jane's answer was instant, as was Bubbles' "I'll be right over." Bubbles hung up her cell phone and ran out her room to see her best friend.

First there was a movie, which Blossom was shocked to see that not only had Brick already bought the tickets, but he chose a movie she actually wanted to see. He was also being a real gentleman, not making any advances or making her feel uncomfortable. The only reason she was uncomfortable was because of that weird feeling in her chest. She didn't want to fall for him, not again, but he was being really sweet, and based off of how she was feeling she still had a lot of emotions about him.

After the movie Brick took Blossom to a nearby pizza parlor. It was actually really nice, and almost looked like a gourmet restaurant. Blossom was thinking about what she wanted to order, but before she could order, Brick spoke up.

"Could I... order for the both of us?" he asked, catching Blossom off guard.

"Uh... sure..." she said slowly, looking down suddenly. The waiter came up to them a second later.

"Can I take your order?" he asked.

"Yes, uh," Brick started, "two pepperoni and mushroom pizzas please," when he said that Blossom looked up at him in shock. He remembered her favorite...

After a few minutes their pizza came. At first there was silence, but once again Brick spoke up.

"What's the real reason your staying away from school?" Brick asked.

"I was suspended, remember," Blossom said softly, yet still sort of seriously.

"Bloss, it's been three going on four weeks. I know you weren't suspended for this long. You're avoiding something. What is it?"

"I..." before she could finish, someone else walked into the pizza parlor. She looked and immediately looked away. It was Princess and her boyfriend Chad. He, like Brick, wasn't dressed too fancy, but Princess was wearing an extravagant purple dress, fancy golden jacket, and white high heeled boots. Of course she was beautiful, which made Blossom feel really small.

"Bloss, are you okay?" Brick asked. Before she could answer though, Princess and Chad walked over to them.

"Hey Brick," Chad said, shaking his hand. Blossom was a little surprised to see that they were friends.

"Yo Chad, what are you doing here?" Brick asked.

"Well, we were on our way when Princess felt a need to-"

"Blossom! Hey Blossom!" Princess said interrupting Chad, who rolled his eyes. He knew what was going on, and Brick was catching on as well, "Oh my God, Blossom, are you on a date with Brick?" Princess asked, now Blossom was shaking, "I don't know what's more shocking, the fact that your dating him after your little melt down, or the fact that he even noticed you long enough to think about dating you."

Blossom heard something break, and when she looked she saw Brick had broken a glass he was squeezing it so hard. He then got up and glared at Princess. He didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes apparently had Princess terrified. Blossom too a little. For a second, he looked like the old Brick again.

Princess immediately ran out of the pizza parlor. Chad gave Brick an apologetic look and ran after her. Brick then sat back down. It was too much for Blossom, and it suddenly became impossible to hold her tears in.

"Bloss, what's wrong?" Brick asked. At that moment Blossom got up and ran out of the pizza parlor. She thought she heard Brick call out to her, but she didn't care. She had to get away.

Blossom was in the sky over Townsville. Here she could cry as loud and as hard as she wanted to, and no one would say anything. She didn't even know what was wrong anymore. All she knew was that the tears wouldn't stop.

All of a sudden, someone flew up to Blossom and took her hand. She looked and saw Brick standing in front of her, and he looked worried.

"Come on, I want to show you something," he said softly. For some reason Blossom found herself just wanting to be anywhere but here, so she nodded and let Brick guide her to someplace, once again, a destination only he knew.

Buttercup had been flying through Townsville all this time, actually beating up criminals. It was so bad that the criminals were starting to simply run away. Some of the citizens of Townsville were getting worried too. One fight after another, that's all she did. She was tired, her vision was getting blurry, but she couldn't stop. This was the only way she knew to handle her problems, by punching someone, anyone.

She stopped and fell to her knees in exhaustion. As tired as she was, she still felt the pain from earlier. She called her emotionless. Buttercup was a lot of things, but she was not emotionless. She might have been the most emotional one out of the three of them. It hurt more than a thousand punches to the stomach, hearing that, and from her sister of all people.

"Emotionless! I'm emotionless!" Buttercup shouted. She knew she was building up a crowd, but she didn't care. She needed to vent all of this anger, and she didn't know how else to do it. She found herself yelling at the sky, something she hadn't done since she was a child and was angry. Truth was Buttercup was very emotional, but she held her emotions in for long periods of time and only let out her emotions in large bursts, making her seem bad tempered.

Someone was walking up to her. Through the tears in her eyes she couldn't see who they were, but they were clearly walking up to her. On instinct she tried to punch this person, but they moved out of the way. She didn't know why she was punching anymore, or why she was trying to fight this person. Whoever they were didn't deserve a beating, but they kept walking up to her, and in her eyes, that was as bad as challenging her. This person knew her punches very well because she kept throwing them, but he kept dodging. Eventually exhaustion claimed her, and she couldn't move anymore.

The person walked up to her, picked her up, and actually held her for a while. Buttercup cried in their arms for a little while, until darkness claimed her.

Brick lead Blossom to a beautiful pond. It seemed to glow in the moonlight, and there were fireflies flying over the water. Blossom almost forgot how upset she was looking at the water.

"I didn't know this place existed," Blossom said whistfully.

"This is my favorite place in Townsville, I come here every time I'm upset," Brick said softly. He then sat down on the grass and looked at the water. Blossom on instinct found herself sitting down next to him.

"I think I get it," Brick said after a while, catching Blossom's attention, "It's Princess, right? You're avoiding her?"

"That's part of it..." Blossom said sadly, "How'd you guess?"

"You looked down when she came," Brick said, "Why let her get to you?"

"Maybe because she's right!" Blossom said getting really emotional, "She's everything I'm not! She's popular, she has friends, she has beauty-"

"Whoa, whoa," Brick said surprisingly calmly, "I'm gonna have to stop you there. She's not popular, she's rich. People look at a person who's rich and naturally they all want that person to even look at them. She doesn't have friends, she has groupies, as a result of the first thing, she's rich. Finally," he turned to Blossom, making her heart jump, "she's not beautiful, she's fake. Take away all the fancy clothes, all the make up, and all the cosmetic surgery, and she's average. You're right Bloss, she is everything you're not, because you're not a rich bimbo, your not evil and conniving, and you're not fake."

Blossom looked down away from his gaze, which at the moment along with his words were too much, "Well, I'm not popular, I still don't have any friends, and I'm not beautiful," she said sadly.

"Who wants to be popular? I know I don't," Brick said simply, "For the second thing, I'd rather have one true friend then a hundred fake friends, and your wrong about that last thing," Blossom looked up at him slowly, "You are beautiful. You don't wear anything fancy or have a bunch of make up, and yet you don't need to. You're perfect, just the way you are."

Brick slowly took off Blossom's glasses and their eyes met. After that something happened inside of Blossom. Everything she felt, all of her anger, all of her sadness, all of her hatred, none of it mattered anymore. She knew exactly what happened, and something inside of her began screaming.

No! What are you doing! This is Brick! This all happened before, and you know where it ended up! Don't do this again!

Normally she would have listened to that voice, but for some reason she just couldn't fight it anymore. What if this was a ruse? What if he hurt her again? What if he really was sorry, though? Her heart was racing, faster than it had ever been.

Maybe you should give him a chance.

Bubbles seemed to think he was being genuine, and Bubbles was a good judge of character.

If it's anything like what I had to go through, that person is probably just like you, but you just never noticed them.

Miss Bellum's words sank in as well, because when she thought about it, Brick might be similar to her. It wasn't a secret that he was the leader of the Rowdyruff Boys, and she was shocked enough when Chad spoke to him.

Next thing she knew she was getting closer to him, closer, closer, closer, until the moment she knew would come. Her lips and his touched, and surprisingly, she didn't feel horrible. In fact, she felt relieved. She then realized what it all meant. The dreams, the weird feelings, the reason she excepted this date in the first place, all of it came together in one conclusion.

Despite everything that happened seven years ago, she still loved Brick.

Buttercup woke up in a really nice bed. It was still dark outside, but she was in a really nice apartment. She got up and checked herself. Everything was there, and she didn't feel violated. But where was she?

"You gave me quite a scare," a voice said from a door. She turned and saw Ace standing in the door. He had on blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and was drying his hair. Had he just taken a shower.

"How did I end up here?" Buttercup asked, her head hurting.

"You were a nervous wreck, attacking crimnals for no reason, and then you started throwing punches at me."

She vaguely remembered someone going up to her. Was that Ace?

"Shit, I didn't even know..."

"Ah, it's cool. Gave me an excuse to carry you," Ace said with a toothy smile. Buttercup looked away, but had to smile herself.

"If I call the Professor and come up with an excuse, could I crash here? I don't feel like flying back home."

"Hey, you can crash here even if you don't call the old man. I ain't your guardian," Ace said with a smile, he then walked out of the room, "Bathroom is the first door to the right. Take a towel and wash cloth if you want to shower."

Buttercup pulled out her cell phone and called the Professor, "Hey Professor? I'm gonna stay at Mitch's tonight. That cool?" she listened to the Professor's response, "Thanks Professor. I'll be home tomorrow at noon. Night." After hanging up, she quickly texted Mitch askng him to cover her, and then she fell back on Ace's bed and fell asleep.

Jane and Bubbles were watching a movie at Jane's place. The credits rolled and both Jane and Bubbles smiled.

"That was great," Jane said.

"I love happy ending," Bubbles said happily.

No this is not the end. I have a lot more to do with these characters.