...Surprise? Again? Heh.
Yeah so...I'm not dead. And I'm back. With a completed story. Woohoo!
Before you guys yell at me(which would be entirely deserved), let me say this: I've now finished the entire first draft of this story, so no more excuses. No more ghosting on you guys. And definitely no more putting this story on hiatus for other stories, this one is priority number one now. Since all I have to do before publishing here are revisions, updates will be tons quicker now.
How does regular chapter updates for this story about every 3 weeks (or so) sound? Sound good? Sounds good to me!
Let's get right to it then! After a tremendous wait(which I'm very sorry for, and will not happen again, I promise!), here we are, FINALLY: chapter two!
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or settings from The Powerpuff Girls, Craig McCracken owns them. Also, I don't own Audi, the movie Grease, John Travolta, or Mary Poppins.
Sorry for grammatical mistakes/errors!
Chapter Two
-Bubbles' POV-
"Bubbles, your boyfriend is so hot."
"Seriously. Like, smoking. Congratulations."
"When is he coming to pick you up? He'll be here soon, right?"
"He's so good looking. He looks like a supermodel, or something. Does he model, Bubbles?"
"Didn't he used to be a super villain? I think I heard that on the news once."
"Who cares if he was? He's effing gorgeous."
I listened to three of my housemates talk over one another to me as I struggled to pick out a pair of earrings to go with my long sleeved top. Looking at myself in my vanity mirror, I held up one silver hoop earring to one earlobe and I held up a long earring with peacock feathers dangling off of it to the other earlobe. "He should be here in five minutes or so," I belatedly answered half-distractedly to whoever had asked that question. I couldn't be bothered to know who it was right now, this required intense focus.
"You're so lucky. I wish I had a boyfriend."
"Didn't you just break up with your boyfriend two weeks ago?"
"Well, yeah. But I want another one."
One of my housemates, Kasey, who had light brown curly hair that went all the way down to her hips and green eyes, came over to me and leaned so she could see her reflection next to mine in the mirror. "Bubbles, does Boomer have any brothers?" She paused. "Definitely go with the peacock ones. It brings out the turquoise of your shirt more."
Relieved to finally get some help, I sighed with a grin. "Thanks," I said, setting down the hoop earring and picking up the other peacock earring. Then I answered, "Yeah, Brick and Butch, but my sisters are already dating them. Sorry." They all groaned in disappointment and I bit back a laugh.
It was Sunday afternoon, and I was getting ready for Boomer to pick me up for a coffee date. Seeing him was always the highlight of my week, although college as a whole wasn't too bad. Since I had gone easy on the course load—unlike my sister Blossom had, who started off with taking as many difficult classes as she could, although she'd always done that—the work didn't feel any different from High School.
And living in a sorority dorm had really made things fun so far, it was like living at home with my sisters, only we lived in an on-campus mansion and I had 10 times as many sisters to live with me. Living with this many girls had its' share of drama, though—there were fights over blow dryers and boys and clothes at least once every few days—but for the most part it was awesome. I was just glad about how different it was from high school.
"Hey Bubbles," one of my other housemates, Alexis, said, interrupting their current conversation. "How did you and your sisters start dating the Rowdyruff boys, anyway?"
I turned around, looked at her, and smiled, starting the long and complicated story the way I always did.
Whenever my sisters and I told the story, we were always candid about it. Our high school years were…interesting, to say the least. For the first two years, things were pretty normal, until towards the end of my sophomore year. The night after my sisters and I turned 16 years old, we went to our first teen club. And that's when everything changed.
Our archenemies, the Rowdyruff Boys, had showed up to the same club, and since they hadn't been up to any trouble there and were acting like normal teenagers, we had decided on avoiding them. Well, that plan had failed pretty quickly, and they ended up getting us alone. Logically, they should have tried to separate us from each other to do something sinister and villain-like, but that's not what happened. In fact, what happened was the complete opposite of evil. That night, we all realized that we were head over heels for each other.
"To this day, I'm still not completely sure how it happened," I admitted to them. It was the last thing I'd ever expected. Never in a million years did I imagine that I would be where I am now, in a long-term relationship with my once-evil counterpart. "Some say that the line between love and hate is thin. I guess maybe at some point, it had been crossed, and it had only taken that night to realize it—to see Boomer as the person he truly was, not the villain I'd been trained to hate."
That wasn't all, though. After that came the hardest part.
Their creator and ex-super villain Mojo Jojo, who had told them to go find us that night to kill us, after finding out that his plan had failed, tried to start a new plan—an incredibly convoluted plan to take over the world, as per usual. He dragged the Rowdyruff brothers to Citiesville, and after months of staying there and doing absolutely nothing, the boys decided they'd had enough of Mojo altogether. They kicked him to the curb. After months of thinking and careful consideration, and all of them realizing that living that way wasn't fulfilling to them anymore, quit their lives as super villains.
Meanwhile, though, me and my sisters had been going through absolute hell.
Considering they had just left without a single word to us, we'd all assumed we'd been dumped in the worst way possible. Not only did we have to deal with depression after being 'dumped' that way, but then when they returned, it actually got worse. The boys had decided, unanimously, to do us a favor by staying out of our lives for good—including trying to force us to hate them.
Looking back, this was probably the most painful time of mine and my sisters' lives. They had tried everything they possibly could to drive us away, especially Brick, who had really crossed the line a few times, and Buttercup and I haven't ever quite forgiven him for that. But in the end, we all just couldn't stay away from each other.
Thus began about three years of ups and downs since then.
Finishing up the story, I concluded, "It's certainly been interesting being with a Rowdyruff Boy. We've had our issues, but he's also the best thing that's ever happened to me. I wouldn't trade him for the entire world." My housemates, who had all sat down on my bed to listen to the story, chorused in 'aww's and squeals, and I blushed hard, laughing.
Startling me out of my embarrassed laughter, my cell phone buzzed with a text message notification. I checked the message and then immediately jumped up from the vanity. "Crap, he's here!" I looked down at my bare feet. I'd been so busy reminiscing that I hadn't picked out my shoes yet.
"Here, wear my flats!" Kasey said, tossing me her dark blue flats. "They'll look cute."
I smiled at her gratefully. She was always so nice and helpful, she reminded me of Crystal in that way, whom I hadn't talked to in almost two months. I missed her. "Thanks Kasey," I said, quickly slipping her shoes on my feet, which thankfully fit, then threw on my light jean jacket. After checking my lip gloss in the mirror and snatching up my purse from my bed, I said a fast goodbye to my housemates and dashed out.
As I exited the house, I immediately spotted Boomer's blue Audi—which he'd stolen when he was fourteen, something that I had admittedly never gotten adequately upset over—parked out in front. Even after having the car for so many years, it still looked almost brand new and well taken care of, which I had to admit was pretty impressive.
I opened the car door, and as I sat down in the passenger seat and closed the door I was immediately ambushed with two big hands engulfing my face and a sweet, minty kiss.
Making a noise of surprise, then giggling, I kissed back and then pulled away. "Well, hello to you too."
Boomer winked, leaning back and grinning his wide grin that made me melt. "How's my princess doing on this fine Sunday?" He ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair. In light jeans and a snug, long-sleeved pull over navy sweater that hugged his muscles in all the right places, he looked like something straight out of my daydreams.
"Good. Better now." I leaned over the armrest between us, kissing him on the cheek. He smelled so good. "How's my prince?"
"Right now? Fantastic," he said, shifting the car out of park and into drive. He drove us away from the sorority house and away from Greek road, and when he turned onto the main road, he reached for my hand to lace his fingers through mine, the way he always did when he was driving. "So, I was thinking we could go to another café downtown instead of our usual place between our campuses. Is that okay?"
I perked up at this, nodding. "That sounds nice, actually. What's it called?"
"It's called Moriah's Café. They just opened last month. Their coffee is supposed to be great, and they also have gourmet cupcakes, which I thought you would really like." He glanced over at me quickly, smiling shyly. "Does that sound good?"
I almost swooned. He was the most adorable boy in the entire world. "That sounds perfect! I can't wait." I bit my lip and squeezed his hand in mine. "You know me so well."
Proud of himself, he grinned. "I know." He nodded at my phone, which was in my other hand. "You can look at their website for all of their cupcake flavors. They make them by the order, so they're always fresh and warm."
I unlocked my phone screen. "Good idea," I said. Searching for their official website, then pulling it up, I perused their variety of cupcakes. They had so many, at least 40. All of them were unique too, ranging from almond lemon, cappuccino, earl grey, to pumpkin spice and about million more. As I was eyeing the apple pie flavor, the car came to an abrupt stop.
Boomer groaned. "No," he lamented.
I looked up from my phone, startled and about to ask what was wrong, but as soon as I looked up, I had my answer. A traffic jam. An amazingly huge one. I rolled down my window, leaning my head out of it to see how far up it went. It was endless, winding all the way past the bridge and into downtown. I sat back into my seat. "Yikes," I said.
"It goes on forever," Boomer complained, having just looked out his window too.
"No kidding." I sighed. "Maybe this is a sign we should take up flying everywhere again. Cars are so inconvenient."
"Damn it." Boomer slammed a hand against the driving wheel and then looked at me guiltily. "Sorry, baby. I had no idea traffic would be so bad today. It might take us forever to get there."
I smiled at him sympathetically. "It's ok, babe. Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I'm spending time with you." I reached for his hand again, lacing our fingers together. I looked out through the windshield again, frowning slightly. "I wonder what could have caused such a bad traffic jam like this."
He sighed this time, rolling his eyes. "Probably just some tiny traffic accident. They're probably stopping to look at it, you know how people can be."
I nodded, my lips pressed together, and then my phone bleeped and I looked down at it. There was a push notification. Opening it, my heart skipping a beat, I realized which app it was for. It was from the customized Hotline app that Mayor and Ms. Bellum had made me and my sisters download onto our phones.
They considered it a modern update of our old hotline they used to alert us of crimes when he were kids—the red and white telephone with a face, which was kept in all of the places we were the most. The app always notified the person closest to the crime by using the current location of our phones, which was pretty cool. Ms. Bellum's tech team was currently working on a separate version for the boy's phones, so that our boyfriends wouldn't have to rely on us telling them about crime alerts. It was more convenient than our original hotline, I'd give them that. But getting notifications while I was, say, texting someone, or talking on the phone, or already busy doing something, was kind of annoying.
I read the alert on the app's screen, paused, then read it again thoroughly, making sure I saw it right. "Oh, crap."
Boomer glanced over at me. "What?"
I opened my mouth to reply, but before I had the chance to, the answer came: a deafening BOOM.
A single, mighty boom to the ground far away, cars far away jumping up into the air and then landing on their tires again, the same happening to the cars directly in front of us, and then ours, bouncing off the road and then landing, and then the cars behind us, and then the cars behind them, all in perfect succession. And then immediate chaos. Noise swirled around us as people began to panic.
Tensed up and senses sharpened, breathing hard, I turned to Boomer, who had shifted into high alert mode, too. "I just got an alert on my Hotline app. 'Emergency alert: Large monster causing chaos downtown'." I showed him the alert on my phone's screen. "That noise was so loud, though. It must be huge. What do you think it is?" I knew he could hear me just fine, but I still felt like I had to shout to be heard. People around us had begun shouting out their windows, jumping out of their cars, leaving them behind and running in every direction.
"I don't know," Boomer said, reaching to undo his seatbelt and then quickly undoing mine for me. "Let's go find out."
He opened the driver's door, leaving the car, and before I opened the passengers' door and followed suit, I reached for my earrings, quickly taking them off, knowing it would be a mistake to try and fight with them in my ears. I left them in his car's cup holders, then shoved my phone into my jean pocket as I left the car.
As I shut the door, Boomer was already standing by the car, staring up toward downtown as frightened citizens fled around him. I quickly came to stand beside him, my senses on high alert as I inspected the skyline of downtown with him.
"I don't see anything. Do you?" I asked him under my breath. He shook his head.
For about a minute, besides the people around us, there was mostly silence. Then, out of nowhere, the most blood curdling sound I had heard in a long time—it was like a mix of a wasp's buzzing, human whispers, and radio interference. Then, BOOM. Another ear-splitting slam on the ground, and the cars jumping off the road again in a ripple effect. The ground shook under our feet, and I grabbed Boomer's shoulder for balance. The cars around us lifted up and then slammed back down again—I watched the car next to me come down, and as it slammed on its' tires, the windows developed fissures in the glass. A little girl watched me from the other side of the backseat window with wide eyes, hugging her stuffed bunny against her. I tried to manage a reassuring smile at her.
Looking away, and beholding all the cars, some of them damaged, a tremor ran through me, both fear and anticipation. I looked at Boomer just as he looked at me. At the same time I lifted into the air, he squatted back slightly for some momentum, and with two burning streaks of blue at our heels, we were off.
Not having flown so fast for a while, it took me a few seconds to get used to the sensation; it felt like the air was grabbing at me, pulling through me, trying to hold me back. My eyes watered, and my stomach felt like it had dropped into my knees, but after the first few seconds of disorientation, I found my pace and focused.
Side-by-side, we flew past the bridge and into downtown, and as we arrived, Boomer and I saw what we were looking for at the same exact time. We stopped in our tracks, levitating high in the sky as we stared down in shock. I gagged in disgust.
The creature—whatever this thing was— was completely white in color, and at least 20 feet across. It looked like a mutant insect of some kind. Its' actual body made up the smallest part of it, only five feet across maybe, but that wasn't the biggest area of concern. That wasn't the repulsive part. The grossest part were its' legs. Giant, spindly, furry, bending at the knee, making their collective height at least 15 feet high. And there were so many of them—I squinted, counting. One, two, three…twelve. Twelve legs.
Just as I thought I couldn't be more disgusted by it, it launched into action—literally launched. It jumped into the air with all twelve legs. Boomer and I rose up higher, moving out of the way as it sailed past us into the air and seemingly disappeared high above the clouds. Then with a giant sudden slam, it landed again, 3 blocks away, demolishing the entire side of a low-sitting parking garage. I jumped, grabbing Boomer's arm.
I swallowed back some nausea. Great. Not only was it a giant mutant arachnid of some sort, it was a jumping one. Awesome. Just what I needed today. "I'm gonna be sick," I muttered.
"How the hell do we fight this thing?" Boomer exclaimed, staring at it with stupefaction. "At this rate it's going to jump all over town and crush half the city."
I was still latching onto his arm. "I hate spiders," I whined in repugnance. Almost on cue, it launched up into the sky again, and I closed my eyes, waiting for its' noisy impact on the ground again. Sure enough, it smashed down again, and I opened my eyes quick enough to see it landing on a bunch of parked cars two blocks away. All of their alarms began going off, wailing all across the neighborhood. Trying to forget my squeamishness for a second, I turned to Boomer. "We have to get this thing away from here."
Boomer gestured at it, looking over at it in aversion. "And how do you suggest we do that?"
I shrugged, grimacing and watching it shoot some black-colored web onto the building it was next to. "I don't suppose you have some giant flies to spare? Maybe a cricket we can lure it with?"
He pretended to search his pockets. "Fresh out of those, sorry."
I frowned hard, not wanting to say this but knowing we didn't have any choice. "I know what we have to do," I said with some hesitation.
He looked at me. "What?"
"We have to make it mad. Really mad." I stared up at him grimly. "Enough that it'll chase us until we can lure it somewhere that we can crush it before it crushes anything else, or anyone." I took a deep breath, reaching for his hand. "You up for it?"
He squeezed my hand, kissing it encouragingly. "I'm right with you."
Looking into each other's eyes as I mouthed the countdown silently—"three, two, one,"—we let go of each other, hurtling toward it. Feeling the heat building in the back of my head and then the backs of my eyes, I released it, shooting searing laser beams directly at the beast as we came upon it. It let out another one of its ungodly noises again—buzzing and static and whispers all at the same time. It stomped down only one of its' legs, and the ground shook.
I sped toward it, soaring closer and closer until I was directly under it and I found what I was looking for. Eight eyes. Only they weren't black, insect-like eyes, they were blue—terrifyingly similar to human eyes, and instead of staring unseeingly, they stared down directly at me, glaring at me as I flew underneath it. Which was exactly what I wanted. I waved at it mockingly, and then I unleashed my lasers again, getting it directly in the eyes.
I sped away as it let out its' noise again, this one sounding the most like a scream than the other ones, and it faltered, all twelve legs stumbling around.
Boomer had flown around to its other side, aiming his lasers at the bottom of its' legs. One of the legs lashed out towards him, trying to swipe him out of the air, but he nimbly avoided getting it by it as he aimed a swift kick to the limb.
The creature screamed again. It was working. I kicked another one of its' legs, and it swung at me with another one. The giant thing was quick enough to smash into my side, and I went flying down towards the ground. Landing on a car, the metal groaning and bending and caving in to fit my form, I grit my teeth and shouted at the hard impact, my eyes shutting.
Opening my eyes again, and seeing the car's owner's standing on the sidewalk right next to the car and looking at me in alarm, I regarded them apologetically. "Sorry about that," I said, then looked back up at the monster. Boomer was flying around in circles to distract it, but it kept swinging at him, trying to take him down, too. I had to get back there. I looked at the bewildered middle aged couple again. "It's too dangerous here. Go someplace safe! Hurry!" They took off running, and picking myself up from the heap of metal that used to be their car, I took off into the air again.
I was back at Boomer's side in no time, and he looked at me with wide-blue-eyed concern. "Baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Fine," I told him curtly, pausing to shoot heat vision at the monster again. It shrieked a whisper-y, static-y shriek. "Just a little mad." Rearing back with my right fist, I aimed a punch at the leg nearest me.
In retaliation, it swung another leg at me, the limb barreling at me like a giant white tree trunk. I grabbed it from the air with both hands, brought my knee upward swiftly, and with a sickening crack, the furry leg snapped into two pieces. I flew back abruptly as disgusting black blood flooded out of it and onto the ground. Thankfully, none of it had gotten onto my clothes.
"Aw, dude, gross," Boomer said, staring at the black stuff and looking a bit unsettled.
This time, the creature roared a static-sounding roar, all of its knees buckling as it nearly dropped onto the ground. I flew underneath it again to make sure it saw which direction I was going, and it scowled at me with all eight of its' eyes and made a static-y hissing sound.
"Come on!" I yelled back at Boomer, and as he came to fly next to me, the creature started its' clumsy chase after us, each remaining limb coming down against the ground with a slam, the one broken leg dragging uselessly behind it.
As we soared away from it and it pursued us, making the ground rumble and shake, it knocked down some street lights and flattened some cars below, leaving a mighty mess in its' wake. It kept shooting black web in our direction, and we ducked out of the way. It landed on buildings and streetlights and dangled off of signs and stoplights, making the surrounding area look like a Halloween store exploded everywhere. Looking down, I saw frightened people running in frenzied circles and dashing out of the way to avoid being crushed.
I was shaking my head, looking at Boomer in panic. He had an unsure look on his face, too.
"This was a terrible idea," I said to him. "We need to do something else. Plan B, follow my lead!" My boyfriend nodded, and I moved out of the monster's line of view. I flew high above the top of it, shouting down to Boomer, "Sweetie, cover your ears!"
Not quite catching my meaning at first, it clicked and then he immediately nodded in understanding. Ducking out of the monster's line of view, too, he came to levitate behind me, gave me a thumb's up and crashed his hands down over his ears quickly.
Not having done this in a while, I followed through the steps. I breathed in deeply, holding in all the air that I could and prepared my throat for the strain. Pausing for a split second, with all of my might, I let out a massive, eardrum-shattering, super-sonic scream. I could feel the molecules in the air in front of me vibrating faster than usual, and the ground shook once more—only this time, it was because of me. Buildings rumbled, streetlamps shook, and windows shattered. As usual, when I did this, my ears kind of protected themselves from the noise—there was a clogged pressure inside of them. The creature wasn't so lucky.
All of its' legs collapsed at once, the sonic force of my scream too much for it to handle, and it twitched violently, jerking unnaturally as if it were dizzy.
I stopped screaming and spun around to look at Boomer, who was cringing as he dropped his hands from his ears. We nodded at each other at the same time, then swooped down in the air toward the monster. I grabbed one giant leg with each arm as Boomer managed to grab three, and we took off into the air, carrying it away before it could snap out of its' daze.
Within moments, no longer disoriented by my scream, the giant thing began to struggle as we flew with it, trying to throw us off of its' legs. I gritted my teeth through the strain of trying to fly straight. "Where should we land? We have to find some place that's open and clear of any people. Oh my God, I can't believe I'm touching this thing." I shouted to Boomer, groaning. "Gonna need a thousand showers after this."
"There!" Boomer called to me suddenly, and I looked at him. He nodded toward the patch of yellow and orange some blocks away that was Townsville Park.
"Yes," I said, forcing my muscles to push through the air faster. "Perfect!" Sweat began to form on my forehead, and I just knew it was messing up my makeup.
Increasing both our speeds, we quickly arrived there. Finding the most abandoned area of the park, we flung the thing to the ground covered in dying grass and orange and brown leaves, and it landed with its' legs splayed. It scrambled, trying to get up.
I shouted to Boomer as I turned away, "Let's finish this. Hold it, make sure it stays down. Don't let it start to jump again. Give me thirty seconds!" He nodded, and I sped away through the air, my eyes scanning the area quickly, looking for something I could use. Then by the park's lake, I found one—a huge boulder.
Landing, picking the very large rock up between my hands, lifting it with a grunt and heaving it up high over my head, I sped back to where Boomer was holding the monster's body into the dead leaves as its legs spasmed and flew about, trying to knock him off. "Bubbles," Boomer shouted in warning, "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"
I flew up directly above them and yelled, "Move!" Boomer looked up, seeing me holding the boulder above my head, and took off out of the way.
With a loud shout, I flung the boulder down at the creature, and just as it began to get up on its legs again, the rock came down onto its' tiny body, crushing it under its' mighty weight with a nauseating crunch as it released one last whisper-static-buzz. Black, acidic goo exploded out from underneath the rock. The thing's legs came up, stiffened, then in one final movement, curled inward toward its' body in the wrong direction.
Grossed out, I stared at it and floated down to the ground just as Boomer did. Noticing something on one of its' legs, I looked closer. There was some sort of symbol branded into it, three circles overlapping each other like—oh, what was it called? Something we'd learned about in school a long time ago…a Venn diagram. Yeah, that's what it looked like. I thought about it for a moment, trying to remember if I'd ever seen that symbol on a monster before. Not recalling ever seeing it before, I brushed it off.
I tore my gaze away from it and looked down at myself. Despite my efforts to stay clean, some black blood from the monster had splattered onto my clothes. I looked down at it in repulsion, whining, "Dammit. I love this jacket." Sighing, I continued, "Well. At least that's done with. Haven't seen a pest like that around here in a while." I wiped the sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand and grimaced at it. "And I don't think I would care to again anytime soon."
"I don't think I'd care to, either." Boomer laughed a hearty laugh, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me against his side. His hair was sticking up in random places, and there was some smudges of black on his face. "Some Sunday date, huh?"
Relaxing, I laughed with him then, starting to lean away. "Don't, I'm all dirty."
"Oh, come on. Like I care," he said with another laugh, and then he wrapped his other arm around me too, hugging me to his body and attacking me with kisses all over my hair and face.
"Okay, okay!" Giggling even harder, I finally shoved him off. "You're dirty, too. You probably have spider germs all over you." I looked at his navy sweater, and it, too, was splattered with black. Such a nice sweater. Such a shame.
"Probably." Snorting, he said, "But, hey. I think we have more than earned some coffee and cupcakes today," he paused, offering me his arm. "Shall we, my love?"
I grinned, linking my arm with his. "We shall," I said.
We flew back to where his Audi was still parked far away amidst the multiple other abandoned cars, and it had thankfully—miraculously—survived with no damage at all. We hopped into it, drove and swerved past downed streetlamps, damaged cars and numerous police cars and firetrucks, eventually arriving at Moriah's Café at least an hour later.
Ignoring bewildered stares in our direction at our disheveled and dirty appearances, sitting in that little café together, drinking fancy coffee and eating pretty cupcakes, we finally enjoyed our no-longer-laid back Sunday afternoon date.
-Buttercup's POV-
"So, this is what you do all day? Fix up cars in this garage like you're John Travolta in Grease?" I said to my boyfriend, who currently was looking under the hood of a vintage mustang.
Even for being in a car garage, he looked super good. The sleeves on his dark green, plaid shirt were pushed up to his elbows, and he was wearing the black jeans that I liked on him. Butch leaned away from the car's engine, looking down at me sitting on a pile of tires. "First off, I didn't know you liked musicals. And second, no, this is just one of my elective classes."
I'd come over to the University of Townsville campus on a whim, mostly because it had been almost a whole week since Butch and I had last seen each other. I hated to admit it, and of course I didn't admit it to him, but I'd been going stir crazy. I'd missed Butch Jojo and his dark green eyes and his eyebrow ring and his stubbly face and dumb deep voice. I'd also missed his arms around me.
So I called him, demanding to know where he was, and his directions lead me to this garage where his car mechanic class was taking place. There was less than 10 people in the class, and his teacher and classmates didn't seem to mind that I was there. Everyone was absorbed in their own work. It was such a laid back class compared to some of my classes. It made me wonder if I had chosen the wrong school.
"You know I don't like musicals." I replied. "I like thriller, action, and slasher movies." I rolled my eyes. "The only reason I've even seen Grease is because Bubbles and Blossom went through this stage in middle school where they watched Grease every Saturday for like a year. I know every song by heart and it's completely not my fault."
After a while, though, I'd started to think that the Greasers were kinda hot with their leather jackets and tight pants and rockabilly hair and whatnot. But no one would ever know that.
Butch was laughing. "Yeah, that sounds like your sisters." I began to take a swig out of my water bottle as he continued, "That's better than Boomer's Mary Poppins phase as a kid, at least. Watched it twice a day." I spit my water everywhere. Butch laughed even louder.
"Oh my God," I sputtered between choked laughs. That had been the kind of dirt I'd wished I had on Boomer back when I hated him.
Butch's professor shot us a dirty look for the first time the entire class. "Hey, keep it down, there. Focus on your work."
"Sorry," Butch and I said at the same time.
His professor took a double take at me, squinting, and then he said, "Do you go here?"
I straightened up as Butch froze, and I responded casually, "Oh, yeah. I just decided to drop by to see my boyfriend before my…" I paused momentarily, thinking, and then finishing, "before my philosophy class." There. That was convincing, right? I looked like someone that would take philosophy, right? Maybe?
He nodded slowly, like he didn't believe me, but then he turned back to the engine he was working on. I silently breathed a sigh of relief, and looked over at Butch with wide eyes. He gave me a sly grin, a look that said 'you'd better not get me in trouble' and then started work under the car's hood again.
I stood up from the pile of tires and went to stand next to him so that I could talk quietly. "So, did you hear about that monster that Bubbles and Boomer fought yesterday?"
Butch began to tighten something with his wrench. He grunted, saying, "Yeah, I heard. Heard it was pretty nasty."
"Bubbles said the thing was disgusting. They showed it all over the news, too. And it trended online. It looked like a giant mutant spider." My face scrunched in disappointment. "I wish I was there to see it. I haven't seen any real action in forever."
He wiped his hands on a nearby rag, covering it in black grease. "Last time I checked, you were getting plenty of action from me."
I smacked him hard on the back, and he cackled. "What are you, fourteen? You know what I meant." I bit back a laugh. I would not laugh at his stupid pervy joke.
"I know, I know." He pointed at the toolbox by my feet. "Hand me that 7/16, would you?"
Locating the size wrench he'd requested, I picked it out of the box and handed it to him. "But really, though. I miss fighting. You know, we should go find out where that thing came from. Make sure there's no more to take care of," I brought my hands together, cracking my knuckles in anticipation.
Butch stopped working for a second, giving me a side eye with a smirk. "Someone has some pent up frustration," he said. "Did you really miss me that much?"
I folded my arms, rolling my eyes, refusing to answer that embarrassing question. "I just haven't fought in forever. I mean like, real fighting. Where I don't have to hold back, like in Wing Chun club. It's no fun sparring with humans all the time." I unfolded my arms and nudged him. "Spar with me."
"No way in hell," said Butch, turning back his attention to whatever he was fastening. "Not while you're in one of these moods. I've made that mistake before. Go for a fly, or something. That should take the edge off."
I sighed. "You're right, that might help." I checked the lock screen of my phone for the time. "I should go anyway. It's getting late, and I told Blossom I would meet her for lunch."
Butch faced me and stood up straight then, his full height towering over mine. He set aside his wrench. "Kiss before you leave," he said.
I leaned around the car hood, looking at his classmates, who were still diligently working on their individual projects. I turned back to him and groaned quietly. "Here?"
"They're not looking, they don't even care. Come here." He smirked openly, pointing to his own lips. "Right here. I know you want to. Almost a whole week without these lips? Come on. You're dying to kiss me."
I rolled my eyes again, stepping closer. "Get over yourself. You're not that great at kissing." Total lie.
Amusement flashed in his eyes. "Oh, really?" Very slowly, Butch reached down, putting two fingers through two of my belt loops. Tugging on them, he pulled me to him, and met my lips with his. Slow, short, but burning and filled with all the indication that he'd missed me just as much as I had missed him. After a few moments, he broke the kiss, and gazed down at me, smug and really hot. "How was that?"
I gulped involuntarily. "Damn you," I said under my breath.
He smiled a teasing smile and then leaned down again, pulling on my bottom lip gently with his teeth before letting go of me. "Don't be a stranger, shorty. Video chat tonight?"
I pulled away, winking at him as I turned to leave.
-Blossom's POV-
I was typing away on my laptop when Buttercup finally entered our favorite diner near campus. "You know, Red, you're not actually required to do homework during lunch." She plopped down into the booth I had picked, directly across from me.
Saving my latest addition to the essay I was writing, I snorted. "I know that. But I want this essay to be perfect."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Miss Perfect wants her schoolwork to be perfect, too. What a surprise." Buttercup took off her reflective sunglasses and shimmied her black leather coat off her shoulders. "But can you chill out for now? I came here to hang out with you, not talk to the back of your laptop."
"Alright, fine." Saving my document one more time, I closed my computer, giving her a sarcastic smile. "Happy?"
My sister gave me a wider sarcastic smile in return. "Yes." She took her dark green scarf off last, which she'd gotten as a gift from her boyfriend a year ago. "I went to see Butch just now."
Turning slightly to gesture to the waitress that we were ready to order, I turned back to Buttercup, looking at her in alarm. "At the UofT campus? Wasn't he in class?"
"Yeah, it was cool though. His professor let me stay there, let us talk and everything," she said vaguely. I had a feeling she was leaving out part of the story, but I let it pass as she continued. "I didn't stay too long, anyway. Just wanted to see him. A week felt like forever."
I gave her a look of understanding. "I know the feeling," I said.
The waitress came by to take our orders. I ordered the ultimate breakfast platter with strawberry pancakes, because one of the reasons I loved this diner so much was their all-day breakfast menu, which I always ordered from. I could never resist breakfast. As usual, Buttercup got the steak lunch with extra steak fries.
"So, how'd your date with Brickie-dearest go the other night?" Buttercup asked as we sat waiting for our food. "Did he forget his wallet? Get spinach stuck in his teeth? Something else equally disastrous as showing up an hour and a half late?"
I sighed heavily. "Buttercup, can you not? He felt really bad about that. The rest of the night went great. And I'd rather not sit here and listen to you rag on my boyfriend." Who I really, really missed already, I added mentally. I'd already been in a somewhat bad mood all day because of that, and she wasn't helping.
She held up her hands defensively. "Okay, sheesh. Sorry." She squinted at me. "Have you eaten at all today? Is that why you're so crabby?"
Well, okay, that too. My stomach let out a long growl before I answered, "I woke up late this morning, so I had to skip breakfast. I'm starving," I admitted.
She looked at me softer, then. "Sorry," she said. If there was one thing Buttercup could sympathize with, it was being really hungry.
I went on, "Plus, I couldn't stop thinking about that creature Bubbles and Boomer fought yesterday. I should have been there." I pulled out my phone from my pocket, double checking that it was on vibrate instead of silent. No new notifications.
"I feel guilty, too. Plus, I hate that I missed out on all the fun," she admitted. She gave me a look. "As if you would have ditched homework for a fight, though."
I looked at her indignantly. "I would have if I'd known the city were in danger. Don't be ridiculous."
She laughed to herself, amused. "I know, Pinky. I was just messing with you." Her leer fading, her face turned pensive. "I wonder where it came from, though. It couldn't have just come out of nowhere."
I thought of that for a moment, and then I shrugged. Though it had been a long time since there had been a monster attack on the city, it could have come from anywhere. But there was no use wondering about it now, anyway. It was gone now. "Who knows," I said. "Bubbles and Boomer took care of it, though. Don't worry about it too much. It's over now."
Soon, our food arrived at our table, and the conversation was immediately forgotten. We both dug in, continuing to talk and eat and relax a little bit before we both had to leave and attend all of our afternoon classes for the day.
After our talk, the creature issue didn't come up in my mind again.
Not until the next day's events.
Whew! I'm hoping that this chapter at least partly makes up for my long absence. For those of you still around, thanks for reading, as always! I appreciate it more than you know.
Get ready, guys. This is only the beginning.
-MsButterFingers
