He Does Care

December definitely made its presence known with its low temperatures and whistling breezes. Snow was expected to fall any day now, inviting the towns shoppers to sales on snow apparel throughout the city. Bra Briefs was usually one of the first people to purchase the newest trends, but this time she was not in the mood. Her mind was on other things, and at this moment she really wanted a thicker blanket to cover up with. Her body shivered in the room, causing her to slowly awaken. Her eyes immediately searched for a blanket, which was just at her waist. She pulled it up and basked in its warmth.

Where the hell am I?

She recognized the dark bedroom furniture and the natural strawberry scent the room seemed to emit. She was in Pan's room. That definitely wasn't the problem. The problem was that she didn't remember getting here or anything the previous night for that matter. She lazily sat herself up and rubbed her eyes as she heard muffled voices and laughter coming from a distant room. No doubt it was Pan and her family. Her best friend must've sensed her waking presence. A small knock came from the outside and she let herself in.

"How're you feeling?" She clicked the door shut behind her and strolled to the foot of the bed.

How am I feeling? "Um... Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She found herself to be confused by her friend's concern.

"Considering you came to my house late last night reeking of... (pot)," she mouthed the word as if somebody was listening. "Then ate up almost all of my food," She pointed to the empty cookie and chip bags scattered throughout the room. "I was just thinking that you might be feeling a little down."

Bra smiled at her friend's sarcastic tone but then felt completely pathetic. "Pan, I am so sorry! I'll buy you more food, I promise!"

"I'm holding you to that. I called your mom and told her that you were spending the night. I also washed and folded your clothes." She gestured towards her dresser where they were neatly folded on top of her shoes and her cell phone sitting on top.

Bra looked down, not noticing she was wearing a pair of Pan's pajamas. "Oh. Was that necessary?"

"Bra, you smelled like a marijuana field gone ablaze. Last thing I need is my parents thinking I'm a pot head."

Another stab to the chest. "Sorry..."

"Get yourself fixed up and come to the kitchen. My mom made breakfast."

Before she had time to answer, Pan was out the door. She was pretty hungry. A good breakfast may be just the thing to wake her up. The pj pants and t-shirt was suitable enough for breakfast, so she slipped on a pair of Pan's slippers and headed out the door, not even bothering with her tousled blue hair. Coming down the stairs and into the kitchen, she spotted Pan pouring herself a plate full of pancakes, eggs, and hash browns.

"I didn't want you to eat alone so I waited for you to wake up."

"Aw Pan..." Bra pouted her lip expressing her gratitude.

"Hurry up and get a plate." She laughed in response.

As they sat at the kitchen table, she continued to hear a muffled conversation from the living room that seemed to be approaching more and more. "Who's here-"

"- and I told him to just go for it and of course he still failed." Gohan and his brother entered the kitchen in the midst of what seemed to be a humorous conversation.

Bra immediately lurched her eyes onto her plate and took slow bites to make it seem as if she were too occupied to care.

"Hey Goten," Bra flinched at the name called by Pan. "When are you bringing my thumb drive back? Bra and I have a biology project due and all of our crap is on it."

Goten mentally slapped himself. "Damn I forgot it again. It got mixed up in Trunks' stuff so I have to go dig for it. Call him up, see if he can bring it over. He's going to visit his parents tonight."

"No thanks." She muttered. "Besides, you borrowed it, you get it back." She said with an elementary taunt.

"Fine..." He was still curious as to why the two weren't talking, but knowing their past he knew they would make up in no time. Of course, he did not know that they were ever involved romantically, but growing up they always got into feuds and made up.

Once the two brothers left, Pan returned to eating and focused her attention on her friend. "That's weird..."

"What is?" Bra was able to pull herself back together once he left.

"Usually Goten has a snooty remark to make to you or vice-versa."

Bra shrugged and shoved her mouth full of hash browns. "Yeah, weird."

"He did take a quick glance at you, yet he didn't say anything..." She put her finger to her chin and looked to the ceiling as if in deep thought.

Bra began to grow nervous with her friend's sudden interest in their relationship. "Maybe for once he couldn't think of anything clever enough to say." Or he's furious at me for calling his girlfriend a skank in the middle of a restaurant.

"Yeah maybe. Thanks for saving my ass yesterday."

"I saved you?..." Bra had to think hard on this one.

"You know, with the whole photo thing..." Pan was surprised she didn't remember.

"It's coming back to me... Well whatever it was, you're welcome."

Pan was in disbelief. "Bra, what did you do last night that you can't remember anything?" The concern was apparent in her tone.

Bra avoided her stare in shame. "I was just... upset Pan. It won't happen again."

"What happened that made you do... (drugs) to get over it?"

Bra shifted in discomfort and took her last bite. "I... I made-"

"Hey, um, Bra," the girls whirled to the entrance of the kitchen where Goten stood, adding even more tension to the atmosphere. "Your mom called. She said she's been calling your phone but it's shut off. She wants you to call her back."

Bra avoided his eyes and simply nodded in response. Pan offered to clean up their plates and left her to head back to her bedroom to call her mom. Hearing him speak to her made her feel relieved that he wasn't very upset with her, but it also made her angrier by the second that his skanky girlfriend was still the winner in all of this. Goten didn't care about her, he just wanted Roy to stay out of her life so that he didn't get back with Valese. If Roy were dating Bra, he and Valese would eventually meet up again and rekindle their relationship, or so Bra was thinking. He doesn't care about me.

She clutched her phone from Pan's dresser and slunk herself onto the bed. After booting on, the screen displayed '21 Missed Calls' . She shook her head in humor. "Wow mom, did you need to get a hold of me that bad?" Scrolling through the missed calls menu, she saw the most recent four were from her mother. But the rest were from...

1 Text Message

Recieved Saturday 2:24 AM

Bra please don't do anything stupid.

Don't be like valese.

You deserve so much better.

Message from: Goten

No Goten. You deserve better. She sunk her head into her hands. She felt like the biggest idiot on Earth. He does care.

XxXxXxX

Later that day, Bulma invited Bra, Pan, and Marron to join her on a shopping spree in search for their Christmas ball gowns. The ball was merely two weeks away and the newest dresses had just hit the market in the upscale shopping district of Tokyo. The three girls followed closely behind as the exhilarated woman led them through the crowds.

"You girls are going to love this place! Ah! There it is." They crossed the street to a large corner store covered in glass windows, displaying mannequins clothed in the most beautiful dresses one could ever view.

After what seemed like hours of trying on different dresses, the four women were pleased with their findings. As was the tradition, they were not allowed to show each other what they purchased until the night of the ball.

"I bet Pan got a green dress." Bra teased.

Pan slightly smiled, then hung her head down to stare at her hands clutching the bag. "I like green. Someone once told me it brings out my eyes." Pan felt slightly uncomfortable when she felt Marron's eyes on her. Marron was there when that person complemented her about three years ago. Pan and Marron were shopping for dresses to a formal dance, and as usual Pan didn't like anything. Marron insisted that she buy a blue halter top gown but Pan refused.

"What're you guys doing here?" The girls turned to see Trunks along with some of his guy friends.

"Marron's trying to make me buy this ugly blue dress for the dance." Pan crossed her arms in frustration.

Trunks looked at the dress and then to Pan. "How about this one?" He walked over to another rack and brought back a forest green gown with black beaded straps. "I think green's a good color on you. It brings out your dark eyes."

Pan looked away from his intense gaze into her eyes and took the dress from him. "It'll have to do. Let's go Marron."

--

"You wear a green dress to every formal event. Don't you think it's time to change things up?"

Pan shrugged. "I find it troublesome to change things up. Why not keep it the same? That way I'm not worrying about whether it fits me or not."

"That seems to be your motto these days."

"What's that supposed to mean..." Bra didn't respond.

"Did everyone get what they needed?" Bulma asked as she strapped herself into the car. After receiving a positive answer, they began their leave from Tokyo. "Oh, Pan before I forget, Trunks wanted me to give this to you."

Pan caught the item she threw back and opened her palm. It was her thumb drive that Goten had borrowed.

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A/N: I tried to keep the 'he does care' theme throughout the chapter in Pan's and Bra's situation. The whole Trunks returning the thumb drive event was supposed to reflect that theme but I don't think it was strong enough. Oh well.