Why Does it Have to Be Like This? Part 4 “Hi, Bra. TRUNKS! Long time no see!” Marron greeted. “Is Mr. President finally allowed to have a night off? It’s about time! Especially seeing as Capsule Corp. only runs during the day.” I smirked. Trunks frowned, but smiled a little at the same time. “Thank you, Marron, for that wonderful deduction. I can have as much time off as I want, but I choose to work.” “Okay, then. But tonight, you are going to choose to have fun!” Marron always throws great parties. When she was still living at home, we always had one when her parents and Kame-sennin were out. But since she moved out, we don’t need to wait for that to happen any more. And her new place is just as good for parties. She lives in a fairly large townhouse, with a relatively large backyard. The townhouse has three bedrooms, which seemed to come in quite handy, if you know what I mean. The complex it was in also has a pool and spa, but the parties are usually confined just to Marron’s place. She sometimes worries that someone will drown, or worse…throw up in the pool. I was actually slightly worried when I arrived. It would be the first time I’d seen Juu-kun since I’d come home, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. I half expected him to have some ditz on his arm in an attempt to make me jealous. He didn’t. And fortunately, he didn’t look all depressed like he had the last time I had seen him. He was – amazingly – sitting in a group with some of Marron’s friends, chatting and drinking with them. He saw me, and immediately came over. He hugged me. “Welcome back. How’ve you been?” A great wave of relief washed over me. This was how I wanted it to be between us. Just friends. “It’s great! I’m having so much fun at college. Sure I miss everyone here, but I still love it there.” “That’s good to hear. Have you been up to much since you got home?” I honestly can’t believe my stupidity sometimes. I think the friendliness had lured me into a false sense of security. “Not too much. I went over to Goten’s a couple of days ago…” Though it was extremely subtle, I saw the frown on his face the minute I mentioned the “G-word”. And even if I hadn’t noticed it, the way he immediately changed the subject was certainly not subtle. “Made any new friends at college?” I took the hint, and made a mental note to not mention Goten in front of Juunanagou again if I could help it. “Yeah. Actually, a guy I know of from here – Uub, Goku was training him a while back – he’s doing my course.” “Wow. Small world, huh?” I was glad when one of Juunana’s “new friends” called him back over for some reason. But Dende was against me again that night. “Bra. How nice to see you!” said Paresu. Her false smile was frightening. “It just hasn’t been the same here without you.” “Thanks, Paresu!” I replied. I somehow resisted the urge to ignore her civility and bitch-slap her. “I’ve really missed the parties with you guys. Sure college is fun, but it’s just not the same.” A big blonde guy came up beside her. I probably could have fit my entire wardrobe in the space between his ears. And the term “a condom full of walnuts” seemed quite apt at the time. “Oh, Bra, let me introduce my new boyfriend, Galactin,” said Paresu. “Gal, meet Bra. She’s…are you still with Goten?” “Uh, yeah. Sort of,” I mumbled. I wanted to leave the conversation. I’d prefer bitchy Paresu to fake friendly Paresu any day. “Well, yeah. Remember my e…uh…friend Goten? This is his girlfriend. She’s been at college for the last couple of months.” “Nice to meet you,” Galactin grunted, looking me up-and-down, much to Paresu’s disapproval. “Same. Sorry to be rude, but I have to see Marron about something. I’ll see you around.” I quickly ran in search of Marron. But before I found her, I heard cheers from several of the guests. “G-man! Now the party can really start!” Goten had arrived. I quickly forgot who I had been looking for previously. Goten was weaving his way through his friends with a clear direction set. He waved to me, and motioned that he would be over in a minute. He kept his promise, and returned looking relieved. “Sorry, babe,” he apologised, with a kiss. “Bathroom break. Kale arrived earlier than I expected, so I couldn’t go before I left.” “No problem,” I replied. “So, Kale and Pan are here too?” “Yeah. How long have you been here?” “Long enough to have already spoken to both Paresu and Juu-kun.” “Oooh, nasty. Did you meet Galactin, or whatever his name is?” “Yeah – the big stupid blonde?” “That’s the one. Paresu must have a thing for idiots.” I pouted. “You’re not an idiot, Goten. Please don’t call yourself one.” He smiled at me. “Sorry, babe. I won’t do it again…I promise.” “Thank you.” Goten looked around in a very sneaky way, like he was planning something. Obviously he had seen – or not seen – what he had been looking for, because he grinned at me, then kissed me fully on the lips. “Goten?” I murmured. “Have you been drinking already?” “Well, I’m making out with you in a room where Paresu and Juunana could easily see us, so yes.” He smiled almost sheepishly. “I got bored while I was waiting for Kale.” “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” I scolded. “I’m sowwy B-chan.” “What for? You’re much less shy when you’ve been drinking. Guess I’d better start soon – I don’t want you to be too far ahead of me.” One of Marron’s friends was an expert drink mixer. He was making everything, from Tequila Sunrises, to Cock sucking Cowboys, to simple Bourbon and Coke. And to top that all off, a group had started a round of Goon of Fortune outside. (A/N: For those of you who don’t know – which is probably everyone – Goon of Fortune is a cool game that my friends often play at our parties. You need a rotating clothesline, or swivel chair if you’re inside, and a cask of cheap wine – that’s the goon. For the clothesline, you need to take out the bladder that’s inside the cask – the goon bag – and peg it to the clothesline. Then everyone chants, ”Goon of Fortune”, and someone spins the line. Whoever the goon bag lands on has to have wine from the bag poured down their throat for three seconds. The chair works in a similar way, except you just rest the cask – box, whatever – on the chair, and the person it lands on has to lay on the floor. Strange as it may sound, it’s actually a lot of fun, especially if you’re already drunk and can’t taste how bad the wine is. End A/N) Goon of Fortune probably wasn’t the best of ideas, since it meant that we were missing drinks. I find that if I stick to just spirits, I’m usually fine in the morning, but the minute I add wine into the equation, I end up with a hangover. But, at the time, I wasn’t really thinking about the next morning, so Goten and I joined in the game. Kale was standing nearby, shaking his head at us. From the can of Coke in his hand, I guessed that he was designated driver again. Goten and I dropped out of Goon of Fortune before the second round started. “B-chan tells me you got wasted on your last college night,” Goten teased Kale. Kale shrugged. “I didn’t have to drive that night.” Pan wandered over, with a can of Coke in her hand. Goten pointed at it. “What’s that? I hope it’s spiked. I mean, you’ve got Kale here being Mister Sober, and you can’t drive anyway.” “Don’t feel like drinking, Uncle Goten,” she replied. “You’re soft!” “For Bra’s sake, I hope you’re not.” “Pan! Yuck!” I cried. “This is your uncle you’re talking about.” “She’s got a point, babe,” said Kale, with a laugh. From the corner of my eye, I saw a figure advancing towards us. I forced a smile as Juu-kun joined our merry little group. Fortunately, he wasn’t going to stay too long. “Hey, Bra. I have to go. Thought I’d better come and say goodbye to you.” “Awww, alright then. I’ll see you around?” I replied. “I guess. Maybe we could go out sometime. See a movie or go shopping.” “For sure. Just give me a call or something.” I gave him the most uncomfortable hug I had ever experienced. “See ya later, Juu-kun.” “Bye. Uh, bye Pan, Kale. See you ‘round Goten.” Juu-kun offered his hand to Goten to shake. “Sure, dude,” Goten replied, shaking Juunana’s hand. With that, Juunanagou left, probably in search of his niece. “Everyone want to take a breath now?” Pan joked. “Talk about uncomfortable!” “You didn’t see me talking to Paresu earlier,” I remarked. And speak of the devil – Ms. Bitchy herself was on her way over. “Gal and I have to go now,” she stated the minute she was in hearing distance. “Nice seeing you all.” “Where’s Gal?” Goten asked. “He isn’t gonna say goodbye?” Paresu glared at Goten. “He says you death-stared him when you arrived, so he didn’t really want to talk to you.” Goten rolled his eyes. “Alright, yeah. Whatever he reckons. See ya later.” Pareus stormed off. I often wonder if it’s possible for her to leave a conversation in any other way. I just shook my head. As I did, I saw Juu-kun, saying goodbye to Marron. Trunks had obviously been with her. The strange thing was, the conversation that was going on between Trunks and Juu-kun seemed more strained than the meeting between Goten and Juu-kun had. Sure, I knew Juunana wasn’t particularly fond of my brother, but I had never thought to ask why. And I had certainly never seen them so uncomfortable around each other. I just sighed, and decided I really didn’t care.