Why Does it Have to be Like This?

 

Songs mentioned in this chapter – “Rapture” by Iio, and “Without Me” by Eminem. Obviously, I don’t own either of them.

 

Part 5
 

I decided to go shopping with Juu-kun. I figured that it was the lesser of the two evils. I mean, I knew that I had to spend some time with him, and Bra logic stated that if we were somewhere public, and not dark, he was less likely to make some pass at me. 

 

Hey, I never said that Bra logic had to make any sense. I guess I was just being paranoid.

 

“How ‘bout this shirt?” Juunana held up an absolutely vile olive coloured T-shirt.

 

I screwed up my nose. I had never been known to be subtle. “I…uh…don’t think it’s really your colour, Juu-kun.”

 

Though it may sound surprising, I wasn’t really in a shopping mood. Besides, girl shopping is best done with another girl, so I wasn’t trying anything on.

 

After about three hours I was bored shitless. Fortunately, Juu-kun had run out of suggestions by that stage, and decided he should start heading home.

 

“If I don’t see you again before you go, bye,” he said, hugging me.

 

“I’ll be back again in a little while anyways. And I’ll get more time off!” I laughed. “Okay then, Juu-kun, talk to you later.” 

 

 

*   *   *   *   *   *

 

 

The measly two weeks that college allowed us to have seemed over just like that. I took comfort in knowing that the winter break – which was six weeks after we went back – was at least a little longer.

 

We had another dinner outing on our last night at home – which happened to coincide with Kale and Marron’s birthdays (they were 2 days apart). Goten warned me in advance that Paresu would probably be on the rampage, because he had spoken to her.

 

“I told her to get over it, and stop being such a bitch,” he sighed. “Let’s just hope it works.”

 

And sure enough, she gave us the cold shoulder the entire night. Not that I’m really complaining. I actually had a quite pleasant night. Until it was time to say goodbye, that is.

 

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then I can assure you that absence, followed by an intense, but short, time together is infinitely worse. I was falling for Goten…big time. I was also starting to understand at least some of Paresu’s bitchiness. If Goten was my ex, I certainly wouldn’t want to share him. 

 

Goten took me home, and we said goodbye on the doorstep.

 

“Cheer up, B-chan,” he said, with my chin in his hand. “You’ll be back in no time at all. What is it – six weeks? And some of that is exams.”

 

“I guess,” I sighed, on the verge of tears. “But I’m still gonna miss you heaps.”

 

“I’ll miss you too, babe. Bye.” We kissed for a good couple of minutes, before he had to leave. I watched his departing form and wiped my eyes.

 

 

*   *   *   *   *   *

 

 

“So, how was everyone’s break?” Arkya asked, stretching out next to me on my bed. Uub, Liberty and Daruke were sitting on the floor in my dorm.

 

“My older brother took me water-skiing,” said Daruke. “That was so great!”

 

“I did nothing – just enjoyed my time off,” Uub replied, with a relaxed sigh.

 

“I tried to start on my assignments. Didn’t work though,” laughed Liberty. “I ended up teaching my little sister to play squash.”

 

“What about you Bra?” Arkya turned to me.

 

“Oh, you know. The usual. Catching up, lots of parties and stuff.” I waved a hand to dismiss the subject.

 

“Did you root Pan’s uncle again?” Uub snicked.

 

“Hey, Uub. Get fucked.”

 

“Is that an offer?” I threw a pillow at his broadly grinning face.

 

“I think that we can take that as a yes,” Arkya giggled. “By the way, when do we get to meet this Goten?”

 

I shrugged. “I dunno. I guess he might come and visit. That, or you guys could visit us during the break. Which reminds me – Uub, how come you didn’t come to any of the get togethers we had? You don’t live too far from Satan City.”

 

“Well, I wasn’t actually invited – and before you tell me it was open invite, I didn’t really want to go anyway. I doubt anyone would remember me, and I’d feel like a bit of a sore thumb.”

 

“Lame excuse!” I got what I deserved – Uub threw the pillow back at me.

 

“So, are we going to the bar this week?” Daruke inquired.

 

“For sure!” Uub answered. “What’s the theme?”

 

“Don’t think there is one. It’s just more of a ‘Welcome back to Hell’ sort of night, I think.”

 

Daruke was right. There wasn’t a theme, but that didn’t mean that Arkya and I took less time to get ready. In fact, we took even longer, because we had a harder time deciding what to wear.

 

In typical male form, the guys were waiting by my door, tapping their feet and looking impatient. We were minus one Kale that night, since he had an exam the next morning and didn’t think it would be a good idea to be hung over.

 

At the beginning of the night, the bar had free cocktail for the first 50 people to arrive, so we always tried to get in early. Sure, the cocktails were piss-weak – it took at least 10 to get a normal person tipsy – but they tasted nice…as long as you could ignore the brain freeze headache they gave you.

 

We ended up being the 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st people inside, which meant free cocktails. It also meant that we were inside before the DJ started, so we headed straight for the pool tables, laden with mildly alcoholic Slushies. I sat out for the game – I’m not particularly good at pool. Uub and Daruke whipped Liberty and Arkya. The convinced me to play the next game – on Uub’s team. Liberty sat out, and Daruke went with Arkya. I sunk the 8-ball when we only had one more ball to sink.

 

Fortunately, the DJ had started, so we could move on to something that I had more talent in – dancing. It was an amusing scene. Uub and Daruke had gotten sick of the extremely sugary cocktails, and had started on the “hard liquor” – meaning they had both downed several Bourbon and Cokes. Uub can hold his alcohol a lot better than Daruke, so Daruke’s dancing attempts were a source of great amusement. Unfortunately, it also meant that he had become rather sleazy, and seemed to have some difficultly finding my face. He kept talking to my chest.

 

Halfway through “Rapture”, Liberty motioned for me to come closer to him. He yelled in my ear, “Why is that guy dancing behind you?”

 

I hadn’t even noticed that while I had been dancing, I’d had a captive audience. And one of the guys had been game enough to move a little closer. I just winked at Liberty, and moved back, right in front of my new admirer. 

 

The next song started, and I decided to be a bit more of a tease. It was Eminem’s “Without Me”, which I find to be a pretty good dirty dancing song. The guy was so close now that I could feel the heat radiating off him. Arkya rolled her eyes at me, as I started sexy-Bra-dancing (as I call it).

 

A guy a few metres away gave a thumbs-up in my general direction. I assume he was a friend of my admirer’s, congratulating him on his “score”. Pfft. They both looked like they were losers from the town near our college. Town people often came to the bar nights, in an attempt to pick up. My admirer obviously thought he’d found himself some ditzy slut. 

 

“Hey there,” he called to me. I still hadn’t turned around, and I had no intention of doing so. “What’s your name?”

 

How is that? I didn’t even get a pick-up line! “Bra.”

 

“Bra? Cool, I’m…” The rest of what he said was drowned out by the music. Not that I was worried. I couldn’t care less what his name was.

 

Arkya and Uub were motioning to me that they wanted to get drinks. I was bored with my admirer, so I decided to join them. I waved goodbye to him, and sauntered off.

 

The others had found a table in a quieter part of the bar, where we could actually hear each other. I bought a Vodka and Raspberry, and joined them.

 

“Nice pick-up there, Bra,” Arkya teased.

 

“Yeah, that guy was a rat!” said Daruke.

 

“A rat?” I queried, unsure what he meant.

 

“Y’know, shaved head, pointy nose.”

 

“Buck teeth, long tail,” Uub added, always the smart-arse. “Lives in sewers, likes cheese.” I had to laugh at that one.

 

“I didn’t think he was that bad,” I admitted. “But I guess I didn’t really see his face, considering he was behind me and all.”

 

“What’s his name?” Arkya asked.

 

“Fucked if I know. And like it matters.” I scowled at the boys. “And, by the way, why didn’t you guys rescue me? That is what we bring you along for: to rescue us from sleazy gross guys.”

 

“You didn’t look like you were minding it too much.” Uub grinned mischievously at me from over his glass. I, very maturely, stuck my tongue out at him.

 

I managed to go the rest of the night without seeing “Ratman”, as we had dubbed him. I assumed he’d given up. Unfortunately, my so-called “friends” had not given up on teasing me about it (in fact, they still haven’t given up!).

 

We got bored with dancing, so played a couple of more games of pool. All of us – except Arkya – were pretty trashed by that stage, so it was an amusing game. A couple of guys challenged us to a match, which Uub and Daruke agreed to. 

 

Uub was having difficulty standing, much less play pool, so while he didn’t have to shoot, he sat down. That meant we were short on chairs. A problem easily fixed.

 

“Uub, I wanna sit down. I’m sitting on your lap,” I informed him.

 

“What? Oh, ok, sure.” He made himself a little more comfortable, then let me sit down.

 

Funnily enough, Arkya was using Liberty as a leaning post. She looked really tired, and he was standing next to her. Made me feel sorry for Daruke. He looked a little left out, but it’s not our fault there’s only two girls. Besides, not being used as furniture made it much easier for him to play pool.

 

The challengers beat Uub and Daruke (which was hardy surprising, though they did do quite well for guys having trouble standing). We decided that we should end the night and head home.

 

I couldn’t help but feel that Uub was looking at me in a slightly different way after that night.