Butch was casually staring at the boy that was sitting off to the left of him. He executes another look over as if to decide whether or not this Prince character was capable of killing Buttercup and her sister.
When that thought passes through his head, an image of what Buttercup transformed to at Bell's pool party cast that worried thought aside. A nod of disapproval settles within him.
'I'm sure that this dude would've already seen the signs that he's not wanted here by Buttercup or me.' He thinks.
Butch observes Buttercup position her chin against the palm of her right hand. Her arm was propped against the surface of the table and her face publicized her evident irritation.
"Your job made you a snake in the grass and a damn good one." Buttercup admits to the teenage boy, who sits off to her right but next to Butch.
"That's the reason why I declined that invitation from you and gained the role that you tried so hard to not let me achieve." She counters as her irritation reaches to a boiling point.
'So he didn't want Buttercup to become the head of the school, what for? Was it his mission that called for him to eliminate the head of Pokey Oaks?' Those were some of the questions that race through Butch's mind.
He then racks his knuckles when he feels them become stiff.
"If I would've chosen to follow my mission with no strings attached, I guarantee you that you wouldn't be here eating your pizza with your so called boyfriend." Prince asserted.
He had grown tired of Buttercup's charade of naïvety because she was well aware of his mission.
That was when it hit Butch, which prompts him to interject with, "So you decided to abandon your mission because you wanted to protect Buttercup. You had feelings for her? Am I right?"
Prince rotates his head in Butch's direction when he listens to the question. He had completely forgotten that he was even there at the table with him and Buttercup.
"Whatever friendship we had before, you burned that bridge a long time ago." She interrupts him and inquires, "So once again, why are you here, Prince?"
He returns his focus back on the raven hair girl after he overhears her question but once again he was cut off by her. "So since I don't want to hear any more of your bull right now, I would highly advise you to leave me alone."
'I agree this little interruption brought a throbbing pain in my head...but also a little more information about Buttercup and her past.' Butch agrees since he could not help but feel a strange vibe about Prince.
"Butch you look bored, do you want to leave? Personally, I'm irritated by our guest sudden arrival." Buttercup asks Butch while she stands to her feet.
She views him close the lid of the pizza box back and secures it with his hand.
"Before we go Butter, just one more question for our guest…" Butch pops the question after he downs the last bit of his soda. "What were you and Buttercup in the past?"
Buttercup glares at Prince to see if he would lie or slip up just so she could have a reason to punch him square in the face. She knew that he received the message loud and clear even though he faced Butch.
"I tried to pursue something with Buttercup but I guess I went about it the wrong way. I guess I landed myself in her hate pool." Prince remarks, which causes her fist to unclenched and in a true Buttercup manner, huffs and stalks away from the table.
"Fair warning...try something like this again and our fists are going to be doing the talking. I'm sure you feel the same way about me." Butch warns Prince once Buttercup was well out of range.
His answer comes in the form a nod, "As I thought," he jaws before he stalks away from the table. He heads over to check up on Buttercup, who still wears a peeve expression on her face.
"I never thought you would let someone rain on your parade, Butter." He comments.
Nevertheless, Butch was very bothered that this Prince character ruined what fun they had in place beforehand.
4444
"Ah look at the little monkeys, aren't they so adorable!" Bubbles shrieks right before they were about to pass by the exhibition of monkey.
She dashes to the cage with their information on it.
Boomer watches the monkeys clean each other. The question that Bubbles asked him before they enter the zoo had him on his ends, 'It's something about her that makes me want to tell her but would she look at me differently?'
"I see you like monkeys, huh?" He probes about her interests in monkeys.
She glows when one of the monkeys catches her sights, ceases what they were doing and roams over to the front of the cage.
"More like...they like me." Bubbles conveyed.
She erupted in giggles as the monkeys were focused in on her. The blonde girl continued to laugh before they decided to move on to the next exhibit.
"Bye monkeys," Bubbles waves a goodbye to the monkeys, who withdraws themselves from the bars of the cage and resumes what they were doing beforehand.
"It seems as if the girls have grown up…I can't wait to come face to face with them again. Their faces will be priceless." A pair of eyes claim from the shadows after he observes Bubbles enthusiasm about the monkeys.
"What's next on our list?" She questions before she allows Boomer to catch back up with her quicken pace.
They continue to stroll through the primate exhibition and briefly halts at the cages that contain the chimpanzees, gorillas, apes and orangutans.
"Hold on, let me see..." He replies.
They located one of the zoo's maps that had little brochures that listed: show locations, times and what was going to be showed.
He slides it open and scans the contents of the brochure with the list of times on the side of the show.
"They have one with the Orcas' and the Dolphins in thirty minutes. Another one with a lion tamer forty minutes from now and a mini-safari ride that's not too far from us that starts in fifteen minutes."
"Let's do all of them in that order." She suggested until the sound of a train's high pitched whistle caught their ears.
They figured it was a warning that it was almost time for the train to depart from the station.
"Trust me, we won't miss it." He joked with her.
Boomer deemed that that was the perfect time to grab her hand. He guides the blonde girl to their next location.
An unknown thought pass through her head from Boomer's action as a small smile appears on her face. She simply decides to just enjoy the moment with him.
"All aboard, the Safari Express! We will take you on the ride of a lifetime, so strap in and be amazed by the animals that live in the plains of Africa!" Their rail conductor eagerly recites.
They assumed that it was rehearsed plenty of times before he took his seat in the front of the train.
"He makes it sound so convincing!" Bubbles mutters to Boomer, who shakes his head in agreement. They listen to the whistle blows, feel a slight tug from the train and they were off.
"Boomer, tell me more about yourself. You seem interested in art when I first meet you." Bubbles poses while they glide through a patch of thick trees.
"You can say something like that, I mean I like to draw and paint whenever I'm bored." Boomer confirms as he scratches the back of his head with one of his hands when he answers her question.
"Do your brothers' know that you like to draw and paint?" She asks since she could hint a little embarrassment in his tone when he speaks to her.
"Yeah, they do but they don't mind it at all. Actually my sister, Serena, do you remember her?" He remarks before he waits for her to nod her head a yes, "She frames some of my sketches and paintings to hang them in her room."
"Now that you mention it, she does look like the type to go to art galleries. What made you start?" Bubbles curiously questions.
Boomer shrugs his shoulders and speaks, "I just remember when I was at one of my old schools in art class, we would be given a blank canvas and different kinds of paint. So one day, I just picked up a brush and started to paint."
"Do you remember what you first painted?" She innocently wonders since she was curious to see what it was that would strike his mind first.
Boomer really did not want to answer that question but decide that it would be best if she did not know, "It was the sun and the moon."
He observed her lips move to say something but luckily for him a much needed distraction arrive in the nick of time from the conductor, who drove the train through the trees that transform in to small grass.
"If you would look to your left you will see the King of the Jungle lazily lounging on the rocks underneath a small tree providing shade for the tired animal." The train conductor announces which causes all of the children, even Bubbles, to squeal with delight.
4444
"Blossom," Brick shouted Blossom's name from an adjacent aisle that contained mangas where Blossom had checked though while he searched through action figures.
"What do you want Brick?" She asks after she plucks a multicolored cover book, flips through the pages, and tucks it back on its respective shelf before she treads further down the aisle.
"Are you alright?" He poses once he appears at the end of her aisle. He had strolled down the section, joined her and explained, "Every since you ran in to Lucas and Argos you seem pretty upset."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Blossom lies.
She focuses in on the array of manga that lies in front of her sights, which earns a quirk of one of Brick's eyebrows.
"Why do you ask?" The young woman needled once she selected another book that was a couple of inches down from the previous book she had chosen.
"I asked because I didn't like the look on your face when you saw Lucas. It showed that deep down somewhere, he had hurt you and you've held on to that anger for a while now. Trust and believe me, I know a little bit about holding a grudge against someone." Brick relates to her with a grave expression on his face.
Blossom peers to her left and realizes that Brick was directly next to her after she reads the back of the book she carries within her grasp.
He senses that she was not going to respond to him when he asked her but he forced himself to be patient with her. 'Why am I so concerned about how she feels right now?'
"Why do you even care about me?" She snaps at him. He secretly swore that she had just read the thought that passed through his mind.
"Do you really want me to answer that question?" Brick counters after she stares at him.
She noted that his eyes were serious about what he asked her.
A deep breath emits from her mouth when she slams the book back on the shelf. The sound of a loud crack was heard, "Look, it's none of your business or concern about what I do and how I feel about certain people! Now if you don't mind, I don't want to talk about it anymore!"
"Fine! I won't bring up anything about your past then. I won't say anything else but when it is the right time when you better answer my question." Brick concedes while he tucks his arms across his chest.
'No more questions…I thought he would interrogate me like a police officer…or was it because I wanted to tell him about my feelings?' Blossom wonders to herself since she could never get a pinpot read on who Brick really is.
'He's like an unsolvable puzzle that's missing some pieces.' Her consciousness renders her judgment of him when she selects two books and eyeballs the prices of both items.
Blossom audits the amount of money she had left over from her project material and confirms that she had just enough to buy the books.
He observes her chose two books, spins away from Brick when the scent of strawberry shampoo smacks his nose and leaves him in his current position.
"Brick…come on! I don't want you to get lost in this mall?"
A smirk stretches across his face as he heads over to where Blossom waits in line.
One of the employees stops and issues them a compliment, "You two make such an adorable couple, are you dating?"
Brick and Blossom exchange looks at each other and wonder who was this woman that asked them a random question.
"No we aren't…" He supplies the answer to the question.
"Oh man, but I'll ring you up over here." The woman mentions as Blossom and Brick tail the woman.
They round an empty aisle, open the tile of the cash register and bring the register to life.
Blossom handed her the two books she picked up from the shelf. The total left her with more money than she estimated but the cashier did not say anything.
"Have a nice day you two." The women comments after she she hands the plastic bag fill with her books to Blossom.
"It was something about that lady that seems familiar to me." She utters to him, who also senses a similar vibe from that woman.
The woman only pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as a crooked grin surfaced on her face. She then reaches for a tube of red lipstick.
"Um…how much is this?" A customer asks her while they hold up an item for her to see.
"Oh its half off...so it would be $5.25 as the total." The woman answers the customer's question.
4444
Author's Note:
07.17.16 Major editing revision