A/N: Obligatory drunken party chapter for your reading pleasure. Turned out much longer than I thought but that's okay! Thank you for the amazing feedback, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

DEEP - SIX

8 - How To Party

Andy let me out around five and I thanked him profusely for being so patient with me throughout the day. He just smiled, telling me it was no problem and that I was a fast learner. I gathered my things from the back room and left into the fading afternoon. It was dusky out already and the kids who had been squealing and running around the sidewalks were now lounging about playing with chalk. I smiled at their brevity before proceeding down the road towards West University.

"Hey, Ellie! Wait up!"

I turned to see Owen hurrying from the side of the building toward me, waving his arm frantically like I wouldn't notice him. He looked sweaty again and his eyes were sallow as if he hadn't slept in days. I stood calmly while he caught his breath, balancing his palms on his knees and inhaling raggedly. I'd never known him to be so unfit. He was always the one playing sports and running around, not me.

I shouldered my tote bag and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you? Need a Gatorade or something from the store? I have some money left over from my summer job."

"No, I'm alright." Owen stood up straight and closed his eyes, still breathing shallowly. "I wanted to talk to you about yesterday. I was really out of line yelling like that, but Bulma is just so damn pushy sometimes that I need to put her in her place. Ever since she started shacking up with Vegeta it's gotten worse, and now she's almost unbearable."

"It's okay," I said quietly. I shuffled and looked down at my feet. "I wish you would tell me what was wrong, though. You know I won't tell mom and dad."

The crows called to one another overhead and flew off in a crowd across the parking lot, blotting out the sun in shimmering dapples of light. My brother stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock but didn't address my concerns. He started walking, forcing me to follow or be left behind.

We stepped onto our floor and turned down the wing, still not really talking to one another, when I heard Owen hiss angrily. I glanced up to see Goku leaning against the wall outside my room, chatting with a girl from my chemistry class. He nodded to her and laughed but lost interest when he noticed my brother and I approaching. The girl dejectedly left us behind, peering over her shoulder a few times.

Goku smiled down at me, utterly ignoring Owen. I grumbled threats and turned to unlock my door while my brother hovered behind with a truly frightening expression on his face. I'd never seen him around Goku before but it looked like they weren't very good friends. That was a little surprising—I found them to be kind of similar in a nauseating Oedipus complex way.

"I'll see you later, Owen," I said dismissively.

My brother touched my arm. "Are you sure? I'll hang around for a while if you want."

If he wouldn't tell me a damn thing, I had no interest in seeing him. I shook his hand away and entered my dorm, gesturing for Goku to follow for the single intent of agitating Owen. It did the trick: he stalked off with a stormy glare when Goku stepped inside my room with his hands in his pockets. I slammed the door shut and pushed the lock aggressively before stomping past Goku to throw my things on the bed.

He laughed, leaning against the door. "Y'know, you should work on your angry exits. The door didn't even shut that loud. I would've broken it off the hinges to really add to the effect."

"You're only in here for revenge," I said, "so try not to say anything dumb."

"Why not? You're awfully little and I have a lot of training in different fighting styles."

"I'm scrappy."

"Not scrappy enough to get away from me."

I paused in putting away some of my clothes that had been lying around to stand up straight and level my eyes with Goku's. The weird look was there again—what the hell was he trying to hide from me? Was he a serial killer or something? No, he had the brawn but definitely lacked the brains. I set my hands on my hips and squinted at his dark eyes, groping for any clue. What did Goku have to hide?

And Bulma… Bulma was almost as bad now. I'd been a bit worried about her but her actions in the library had been downright scary. They all had something going on with Owen but none of them were going to give it up. Then again… alcohol had a tendency to loosen tongues.

Goku blinked innocently. "Sorry, was that too far? I was only teasing you."

I waved my hand impassively and returned to organizing. "No, it's alright, I was just thinking about what you asked me earlier." Stay cool, Ellie, stay cool. "You're having a party at your apartment, right?"

"Are you volunteering to go? Gee, I thought I'd have to drag you there."

My spine prickled. It sounded like a joke, but he was always saying things like that. There was aggression layered in his words and downplayed with a friendly smile. Did other girls notice it? Maybe I was just looking too deeply into what he said. It was a bad habit from my science-oriented brain.

"Uh, yeah," I said, awkwardly trying to regain my confidence. "Are you guys going to be… you know… drinking and stuff like that?"

"Well everyone else probably will be, but I'm not a really heavy drinker. I'll make sure you're okay." He grinned at me boyishly. "Are you a heavy drinker, Ellie? You definitely look like the type."

"See, when I told you to not say anything dumb, that's the kind of shit I was referring to."

It was a little disappointing but also a huge relief. I'd learned what too much alcohol could do to people after watching Owen struggle with it during his teenage years. He'd been kind of adrift during high school, trying to find his niche, but I had always known mine. Mom and dad made sure of that.

Goku's penetrating eyes drifted down my clothes. "No, you're too tiny to drink a lot. You'd probably puke it all up on me. Eugh, that reminds of when I used to go out with Chi-Chi to these kinds of things. She can throw a hell of a punch but she can't hold any booze in her stomach."

"Thanks, I love hearing about your ex-girlfriend." I flopped down on my bed with my arms outstretched and stared up at the ceiling, frowning. "Who says I'll be with you the whole night? Maybe I'll meet a nice guy and go hang out with him instead."

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

"Rude. Get out so I can get ready."

We reconvened in the hallway a few minutes later when I was in a much more appropriate leggings and sweater ensemble that didn't make me look 40. Goku was dressed casually as well so I assumed it was a good outfit to wear around a bunch of drunk young people. He waited patiently for me to lock my door and we left the dorm together, attracting the attention of a few students along the way.

Bulma picked us up outside in a red convertible that looked incredibly expensive. Vegeta was sitting beside her in the front seat, glaring frigidly at all the people walking by, but he turned to nod his head to Goku. I settled beside my escort and smoothed my hair down, bracing it for the windy drive ahead.

When Bulma parked outside of a clean, well-kept white house, I thought we were stopping off to pick someone else up. But Goku took off his seatbelt and looked at me expectantly when I didn't do the same with mine. I quickly freed myself from the restraint and hopped out of the car with the others, folding my arms over my chest to brace against the cold wind. It wasn't what I had expected of Goku—not that I thought he lived in a trash heap or anything.

Night had scarcely begun to fall but the music was already booming from within. Vegeta and Bulma walked in together, the latter cheering all the way, and Goku came up to stand beside me while I admired the house. It had yellow shutters like some kind of place from the fifties. It wasn't opulent. It felt pleasant and normal, like I was actually walking into a home instead of a frat party.

"Surprised?" Goku asked.

I shrugged. "Kind of. Do you guys live on the top or bottom floor?"

"Raditz lives on the bottom and I'm up top. Trust me, one floor is not enough room for the two of us." He scratched the back of his head, pouting a bit. "But I bet everyone's already made their way up to my half of the house. Hopefully they stayed out of my bedroom."

The wind ruffled my hair and I shivered. It was gonna be a miserably cold winter.

"Where do you guys get the money for this?" I queried. "Do you work somewhere around West City? Or do you log up on Mt. Paozu? What does your brother do?"

"Odd jobs," Goku said after a long silence. "C'mon, let's go. I'm freezing!"

The inside of the house wasn't densely crowded with people yet, but the music was still too loud to even hear my own thoughts. I looked around curiously at the décor of Raditz's floor and wasn't shocked to find it rather tacky: he had a thing for dead animals and tribal artifacts. Goku led me across the cool hardwood floor through a thick throng of people in the living room to the kitchen, which was fairly large. There were pots and pans stuffed haphazardly into cabinets. What a slob.

The island in the middle had an array of different alcohol and fizzy drinks to mix with said alcohol. Three coolers were situated on the linoleum floor in various spots and I watched two girls helping themselves to beer. Goku encountered another guy and started chatting avidly with him while getting himself a drink, leaving me to scan the kitchen further. It seemed pretty new. Maybe Raditz was in construction or something else that paid fairly well.

Goku handed me a red cup when I had just gotten to examining the wear and tear on the kitchen cabinets. He smirked at me when I awkwardly took it and peered over the edge into the swirling red mixture with restrained interest. Oh well, a few drinks wouldn't hurt. Nothing would happen as long as I stuck by Goku and kept an eye on whatever I was imbibing.

"What if I wanted beer instead of hard liquor?" I asked loudly, trying to be difficult.

He rolled his eyes and took off his hoodie, gesturing for me to do the same. Then he gathered them both on his arm and picked up his own red cup to escort me back through the living room and into the front room, where their apartments were separated by two doors. We entered the other door to see people on the stairway. Most of them slapped hands with Goku and the girls giggled when he walked by, but they all seemed shocked by my presence. I scurried after him.

This apartment opened up to a small foyer with the bathroom immediately to the right and the entrance to the kitchen on the left. Goku opened a small closet and hung our hoodies inside before turning back to smile at me, oblivious to the groups of people wandering around his apartment.

I chewed on the edge of my cup. "So, what's next on the agenda?"

"Nothin'. You hungry?"

We walked into his kitchen, which was much neater than his brother's but a bit smaller. There was a spread of alcohol on his countertop but thankfully there was also a variety of bread and cheese out. I ate enough to curb my appetite, worried about puking it all up if I drank too much. Goku had a bit to eat as well and we walked through the kitchen to his living room.

It was also a vast improvement from the one downstairs. There was a big couch in the center of the room where a few people were sitting and a flat screen TV playing a football game. We sat down amongst the group and Goku introduced me to each of them: five guys and three girls, none of whom looked pissed off or jealous like the ones on the stairs. They were too busy watching the game to care.

They chatted for a while and I began to tentatively sip my drink, wincing at the bite of the alcohol. It wasn't heavy but I would've preferred a more diluted beverage. I drank and smiled and nodded when the guys or girls addressed me with polite questions, and almost an hour passed before the party really became rowdy.

Soon the people we were sitting with became completely wasted and more people were coming into the living room to join the noise. I kept nursing my drink and didn't even realize I was going beyond a buzz to genuinely feeling drunk, heralded by pleasant warmth and tingling in my head. Goku was laughing with the others and I noticed his face was flushed red from whatever he was drinking. He suddenly put an arm around me to pull me closer as the crowd thickened.

"Ah, damn," he muttered, shaking the cup between his fingers, "I'm all out. Wanna get more?"

We pushed our way through the crowd to the now disorganized bottles of liquor and Goku poured me another mixed drink without much effort. But I watched in awe as he simply poured straight vodka into his cup and drank it without even flinching, immediately refilling. I quickly, and jerkily, put my hand on his to stop him. He was going to get alcohol poisoning at that rate.

"That's a lot," I said stupidly in response to his inquiring expression.

He stared at me through hooded eyes and drank the third drink like it was nothing. "C'mon, I think I'm drunk enough to dance now."

"Dance?! I don't wanna—"

Apparently, I didn't have a choice in the matter. Goku grabbed my hand and led me out of his apartment down the stairs and into Raditz's, where the burgeoning group of people was unbelievable. I clutched my drink in terror as he pulled me into the writhing crowd and we somehow began to dance. Soon I was done with my red cup and had thrown it to the floor, having reached the same level of inebriation as Goku that made dancing seem ludicrously easy.

Despite that, he wasn't very grabby. I was coherent enough to recognize whether or not he was going too far but he was more interested in actually dancing with me and laughing when I nearly tripped over my own feet. The throng of people was thick and the air was heavy with the reek of alcohol but I'd never had as much fun as I did in that short span of time. Sweat started beading on my skin by the time I was finally ejected from the crowd, tipsy and in search of more alcohol.

My ears were ringing. It was really loud. I pressed my cheek against the wall to feel the soothing coolness and felt two arms wrap around me from behind to gently steer me to the door.

We emerged into the less claustrophobic foyer and I caught my breath while Goku caught his—he was covered in sweat, too. He ran a hand through his hair and smirked down at me, eyes even more vacant than they had been upstairs. I wanted to drink but I really wanted to go to bed.

Then he groaned. "I hope Bulma 'n Vegeta aren't in my room. C'mon, let's check."

"You're gonna make me barf," I whined as he led me back into his apartment.

I'd made it halfway up the stairs with Goku, giggling and tripping over myself, when we heard the door to Raditz's apartment slam open.

"WHERE IS HE?!" shrieked the dreaded voice. "WHERE IS GOKU?!"

Goku moved as fast as a drunk man could and scooped me up off the stairs to pull me into the foyer. He looked around wildly for an escape before throwing open the closet door and pushing me inside. I stumbled over the various jackets and the door shut with the ominous twist of a lock. There wasn't exactly a lot of room and I wound up face-first against the back of the closet with him standing behind me, both of his hands bracing him beside my head.

The door handle jiggled and I squealed when Goku pressed himself against me, prompting him to cover my mouth with his hand. He panted into my neck, trembling violently as Chi-Chi began pounding on the door. Hell, I was pretty scared of her myself, but Goku was a big guy. What did she do to him?

"Is he in here?!" she demanded of various people.

His breath was hot and smelled like vodka. I was getting warm all over again. I swallowed and focused intently on the wall before me. Relax, Ellie.

"Who was he with?!"

Goku leaned closer, as if his fear was starting to peak. His lips brushed my jaw.

"I have every damn right to know! He was supposed to take me out tonight, not get drunk with some harlot! Who the hell was she?!"

He wrapped his arms around my stomach and hugged me tightly, burying his face in my neck. I shivered when I felt him kiss my skin so gently that I wasn't sure if it was my imagination.

"I'll break this door down!"

Then his lips were moving across my flesh in a wet, chaotic pattern, no doubt tasting the salty tinge of sweat from our dancing. My knuckles whitened on the wall.

The door began to rattle again but Goku was otherwise engaged with kissing my neck. He pulled my hair out of the way and shoved me into the wall so my palms and cheek were completely flat, and there was nothing to do but struggle to think through my thick haze of drunkenness. Something hard pressed insistently against my tailbone and I blushed, shifting uncomfortably.

"You really shouldn't move," he said in a husky whisper, nipping my ear.

Don't move…

…don't move…

…don't…

…fall asleep…