The Bet

Chapter Three: Jealous?

"Thank god!" Bulma exclaimed. For once in her life, Bulma was actually happy to see the saiyan prince walk through the door. Instead of all the other times when she would dread to hear him yell 'Woman, fix that damn gravity chamber!' or any other demands that he might have had. However, this time was different. His new friend—or whatever the hell she was—was getting on Bulma's last nerve. Not to mention the constant looks her boyfriend was giving to little miss perfect.

"Hey, Vegeta…"Elle said, greeting him with a kiss that shock both Yamcha and Bulma. Bulma's eyes were almost out of her sockets. 'Vegeta, has a girlfriend…?' Bulma thought. 'Vegeta, has a girlfriend.' she repeated to herself. 'How?' Vegeta was an anti-social, controlling, little troll that couldn't stand the sight of any display of affection, calling it to be 'weak', 'foolish', and 'unnecessary' acts. But here he was returning Elle's kiss right in front of Bulma's eyes. Bulma looked around the room to see if there were any cameras or something because this had to be a joke.

Vegeta looked over at Bulma and noticed her expression of total shock across her face and smirked to himself. 'Did she really think that I couldn't pull this off?' He thought. He couldn't understand the woman's doubtfulness in him. He knew he was extremely attractive, having the body that most men wanted and that most women dream of. He smart, even cunning, to say the least. There were so many things that made him a perfect catch, which couldn't be said about Bulma's 'weakling' boyfriend.

"Hey, what are you doing here….?" Vegeta said, still keeping his eyes on Bulma. Bulma could tell that he was loving every moment of this. If he had really thought that by getting a girl dumb enough to date him meant that he won the bet, he was seriously wrong. Bulma wasn't going to give up that easily. She wasn't going to pass a chance to see Vegeta in a maid's costume, serving orange juice.

"I thought I would surprise you and take you out to dinner...I know how you love to eat and you say how you can never get a good meal around… here. Umm, so I just thought I would treat you to dinner." Elle said, wrapping her arms around Vegeta's waist.

"That's sounds great." Vegeta said.

"Well, we better get going. Do you guys want to come with us?" Elle said looking in the direction of Yamcha and Bulma.

"Well, Yamcha and I have plans—."

"We've love to." Yamcha said, cutting Bulma off.

"What?" Bulma said puzzled. "Did I just miss something, here?"

"Ummm…I think it would be better if we went with Vegeta and his girlfriend. This way we can kill to birds with one stone, go out to eat and get to know Elle." Yamcha said, smiling.

Bulma shrugged "Whatever." Bulma knew that Yamcha had some alter motive to this. He just wanted to be with Elle or at least around her. He was a sucker for a pretty face. 'Hopeless,' Bulma thought. 'Just hopeless.'

O O O

Bulma had to admit the restaurant was nice that Elle had invited them to. It was place that Bulma wished Yamcha would take her to sometimes. Instead of the food chain restaurants that Yamcha would take her to where you could get whole meal less than five dollars. And on top of that he would say, 'You can get whatever you want, baby.'Whenever, she wanted to go to these kinds of places she would either have to take herself or pay for Yamcha.

"So…tell me how and when did you two meet?" Bulma said, taking a sip of her drink.

Elle faced turned bright red, "Well, we met about three weeks ago, today" Elle said, entangling her hand with Vegeta's. She smiled and looked into Vegeta's eyes. As Bulma observed she almost thought she saw a glimmer of light sparkle in his eyes that she had never seen, before. And for some unknown reason to Bulma, it pained her, giving her an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that moved to her heart.

"I was walking home from work one late night," Elle continued. "when two men jump me asking me to hand over my purse, which I gave them. But then they went after me." Elle paused. Bulma could see Elle's body tense up as she started to fidget with her napkin.

"I was so scared I didn't know what to do. There was no one around I thought so I expected the worst…but then?" Elle paused yet again this time to look up at Vegeta. She cracked a smile and Vegeta did the same, holding her hand tighter, which surprise Bulma. She couldn't remember a time Vegeta had ever smiled like that. It soften his features giving him a more friendlier look than his usually permanent-like scowl imprinted on his face.

"Then what?" Yamcha said, almost sitting on the edge of his seat.

"All of sudden, they stopped and fell to the ground. It was so weird. I couldn't understand what had happen when I saw this handsome man with flame-like hair that appeared out of nowhere. He looked over at me and then the men at my feet. He turned around and started to walk away. I yelled for him to wait but he left. I thought I would never see him again. Until that very next day, I spotted him hanging around the bar I worked at. I told him I had to repay him or at least buy him a drink. And the rest is history."

O O O

"He's paying her…" Bulma said, on there way back from restaurant. Elle and Vegeta had decided to stay downtown in the city. While Bulma opted not to go, she had thought she had enough bullshit for the night. "…or she fucking crazy."

"What makes you think that she was lying?" Yamcha said, as pulled up into Bulma's drive way.

"Everything! First of all, Vegeta doesn't save people. He hates people. And her whole story did not add up. You know as much as I know that Vegeta does not have a sympathetic bone in his body. So, for her to make the claim that Vegeta saved her life or whatever, brings reasonable doubt that they are not a true couple. That this is just an act. She is getting some form of payment for this, that's for sure."

"I think you've gone psycho. They seem legit. I think Vegeta may have found him a girlfriend that actually likes him and enjoys his company. Which seems to me is a good thing. And besides she does not seem like the type of woman to lie."

"'She doesn't seem like the type of girl to lie'" Bulma repeated. "You've known the woman all of three seconds and you can just make that assumption. Please, you see a cute blond and she can do or say no wrong." It was always the same with him. A cute face would never lie?

"No, it's not that. It's just there is something about her--I don't know--that makes her seem genuine, which is not so much that I can say for you, right now."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean? Are you truly asking this?" Yamcha said, raising his voice. "You are acting all jealous and snotty like."

"I'm acting jealous? I'm not jealous. Why should I be jealous?" Bulma said, defensively.

"It's freakin' obvious, Bulma. You don't like Vegeta and Elle, together."

"I shouldn't! I have a bet to win, remember or have you forgotten about that?"

Yamcha shook his head and gripped the steering wheel. 'There had been some many signs…' He thought to himself. "Bulma, you don't want Vegeta and Elle together not just because of the bet, but because you don't want them together. The whole time at restaurant whenever Elle touched Vegeta you had this physical reaction to it like it was hurting you or something. "

"No, I didn't" Bulma said.

"You didn't, did you?" Yamcha questioned her, knowing it was a lie. It was so evident that even Elle asked him if Bulma was okay, several time during dinner.

"So, what are you saying Yamcha? That I'm secretly in love with Vegeta or something?"

"You said it." Yamcha said.

"That's just fucking hilarious, Yamcha. And how did you come up with this one?"

"You volunteer to let Vegeta stay with you. You build him whatever equipment he needs to train with. Also, that time he stole the spacecraft before Frieza came here; you were worried about him and didn't even care about the extensive damage he caused. Instead, you tried to make his stay even more comfortable. It's apparent that you have some sort of deep hidden emotion for the short saiyan. For all I know, you and him have…" Yamcha trailed.

"That Vegeta and I have what?" Bulma asked, getting right in Yamcha's face.

"You know…" Yamcha said. Ever since Vegeta came here, Yamcha constantly thought Bulma had some kind of crush on Vegeta. Bulma always had something for the bad boys. That's one of the reasons why she fell for him in the beginning.

Bulma started to laugh. "You think that I'm cheating on you with Vegeta. Humph! I guess that's tops all the bullshit I've heard tonight. Because if I'm not correct you are the one who is cheating on me, am I right? I mean all the times that your car broke down or other sudden mishaps that hindered you from keeping your promises to me. You never once were with anyone else, right? You were honest the whole time?"

"Do you think I would lie to you?" Yamcha said, looking into Bulma's eyes.

Bulma sighed, "I know you would."

Yamcha took a deep breath."I was…I was with someone else. I admit it." Bulma could feel the tears build up at her throat. She knew it was true. She knew it. But nothing could prepare her from hearing it from his own lips. "But I recognize now that you and me…this is as far as we go. We've been together for years off and on and it seems like we're stuck. However, when Vegeta came it was totally different. You looked at him the way you used to look at me."

"So, it's my fault that you cheated on me because of preconceive notions that you have made about me and Vegeta? If you want to point the finger at the one who ruined this relationship, then you should look in the mirror, Yamcha, because I have done everything to try to hold or salvage this relationship." Bulma said. The tears rolled down her face in streams.

Yamcha soften his voice. "Look, I'm not blaming you, but you need to see that you were having emotion affair with Vegeta way before I was having affair with another woman." Yamcha tried to take her hand, but Bulma snatch it from him. The distance between them feeling like miles now, not inches.

"It's typical…just typical." Bulma said, shaking her head. He was never going to change. All those promises he said he would keep, were wasted breathe. "You know what, Yamcha? Fuck you." Bulma opened her car door and ran out into the rain. Yamcha rested his head on the steering wheel. He had wished things had turned out different than they did.

Bulma fidgeted for her keys in her purse and opened the door then slammed it behind her. She slid her back, down the door and hugged her knees to her chest dropping her purse to her side.

"Vegeta..." Bulma whispered, as she felt the door's support slip away from her back.

"What?"

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