~*~

4 WEEKS AFTER FUNERAL

~*~

"Hey Lela, Vegeta," I said cheerily as I entered the small apartment I had gotten. It really was nice, right next to the beach we had arrived on, and it had a whole wall that was made of windows to look over the ocean, something that Vegeta wanted. I didn't blame him, the ocean was beautiful. They didn't have oceans on Vegetasei. Lela found it strange that we took so much interest in such a common thing on Earth. Well, we were adjusting.

My previous experiences with the death of my Mother were almost bearable now, having had time to recover from my depressions. I only made it with the support of Lela, and, sometimes, when no one was looking, Vegeta. His snide comments and insults were strangely comforting for me. Lela was her usual cheery self, I was basically recovered, but Vegeta...well, he was strangely quiet and withdrawn. It might have been the new surroundings, but I had the feeling it was something else. And the longer we stayed, the worse it got. He was absolutely unbearable sometimes, with his acid tounge and temper, and mine almost to match. Lela was undoubtedly the peacemaker.

"Hey Bulma! So, how did work go?" Lela asked, folding her hands on the small dinner table.

I worked at a small beachside resturant as a waitress, getting a pretty decent amount of money, for what we needed anyway. A bonus was that it was within walking distance, almost right below the fourth-floor room.

"Fine. I got my paycheck," I answered, and set it on the kitchen counter as I went to search the refridgerator. It was nearly empty, no doubt due to Vegeta's large eating habits. He usually emptied it and went out to wherever he went during the day.

"Well, my boss was absolutely horrible today! She said that I needed to 'tune in to reality'! Can you believe that?! I was writing a piece on dreams, and it was nearly perfect, and she just blew me off!" Lela complained, pounding her fist on the table.

She worked as an editor and storywriter for a quite popular magazine here in Miami. She was, apparently, quite a writer. Her paychecks were considerably larger than mine, mostly keeping us afloat. After all, *I* was barely old enough to get a job, being fifteen and all.

The front hall door slammed, and cursing was heard. Vegeta. Whatever he had been doing today, it was frustrating. I winced at a particularily bad curse, and Lela shook her head of wild red curls.

'Watch yourself,' She mouthed, and winked at me playfully. I smiled and nodded, and Vegeta stomped in.

"Kuso, woman! If you worked enough, you could at least afford some *good* food!" He yelled when he saw my paycheck laying on the counter. He picked it up and sneered at it in distaste. "Worthless piece of crap Earth currency..." He growled.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him. He did this almost every day, and both me *and* Lela were sick of it. If *he* just got a job...then again, with *his* temper, that wouldn't be a smart idea.

"Well, Your Highness, if *you* contributed or at least went on a *diet*, we could *afford* lots of 'good food'. This is what they have on Earth, so get used to it unless you plan on going back to Vegetasei, as a failure," I said good-naturedly. I enjoyed teasing him, and our constant fights were amusing to Lela, if not ourselves.

Lela got up quickly, as if a new idea had struck her. "Hey! I know what we could do to cheer ourselves up!" She exclaimed, and a familiar mischevious look came into her eyes.

I shook my head. "No way! I have too much sleep to catch up on to go get totally wasted!" I protested.

Vegeta looked at us, confused. He mostly wasn't around to know what we were talking about. He waited to see what Lela's 'crazy' idea was, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter.

"Aw, come on, Bulma! You are too pretty not to go out and do some serious clubbing! Besides, going in alone doesn't look good!" Lela said, grabbing my arm. "Besides, I bought you a new dress for the occasion."

I shook my head. "Lela, you are way too nice to me! I am *not* going to go out tonight!" I exclaimed, and pulled my arm from her grasp.

"Pleaaaaaaase......." Lela gave me puppy eyes and got down at her knees and begged.

I laughed and smirked, quite Vegeta-like, a new habit, he was contagious. "Fine, fine. On *one* condition..." I said, an evil grin spreading across my face.

Lela was livid.

"That Vegeta comes with us."

~*~

I chuckled as me and Lela applied our makeup. It had been a long, hard fight, but, after threatening to take away all the food and just eat out, Vegeta angrily agreed, but not after he cussed us both out and blew a tiny hole through the wall. Oh well, we were used to it, and in my eyes, he didn't pose a threat.

"I cannot *believe* that you convinced him to come!" Lela said, laughing. "What made you want to include him in our plans?"

I put down the blush I had been applieing and smiled. "He needs it, this apartment is so full of tension, we need to loosen it up, and what better than a night of dancing and drinking to do it??" I asked, and Lela cracked up.

"I'm sure the fact that he is brutallly hot had *nothing* to do with it, huh girl?" She asked, a sly grin on her features.

I looked her in the eyes in the mirror. "What are you up to?" I asked, giving her a suspicious look.

Lela smiled and giggled. "Nothing, I just want to see what happens," She said, and pulled me up. "Time to see your fabulous dress!"

~*~

"Oh, *Kami*, Lela, it is fantasic!" I breathed as I examined myself in the spectacular mini-dress in the mirror. Where had she *gotten* this?!

It was dark red, my favorite color, and it didn't even go *close* to my knees, it was so short. It had two slits, each on one side of the waist, showing off bare skin. The neckline was low, and it had spaghetti straps that held tight onto my shoulders. It had fringe on the bottom of the skirt, and they were darker than the dress. The matching shoes were high-heeled and strappy. My necklace that I had ever since before I had been taken to Vegetasei matched it, thanks to Lela's expert planning. I smiled and gave Lela a hug.

"Lela, you shouldn't have!" I said, and she smiled.

"I saw that dress, and I *knew* that you had to have it!" She said, and smoothed her own white dress, a strapless mini down.

I had done my hair up, in a messy bun on top of my head, letting little ringlets fall down. We had rarely gone out since we had gotten here, but when we did, I made sure I looked good. Looking good made me feel more comfortable around strangers.

We walked out of Lela's bathroom and into the front hall. Vegeta wasn't there, so Lela put her hands on her hips and growled.

"If he doesn't get his pansy ass in here in *one second*, we aren't going to be the only ones with sore feet!" She said, making sure that he could hear it all over the house, though he probably could anyway, due to his super hearing. I just hoped he hadn't heard our little convo over makeup!

I smiled and decided to join in on the fun. "And besides *that*, we will just have to have all the drinks to ourselves!" I called. Vegeta had developed an uncanny liking to achohol, no surprise here. He was just lucky that he couldn't get drunk.

Lela smiled, too, and called another one. "Don't worry, Bulma! He just won't have the pleasure of seeing how great you look, thanks to my expert help!" She called. Vegeta was always teasing her for her obsession with making me keep up with fashion trends. He liked to laugh at the ridiculous crap Lela made me wear such as a leopard skin cowboy hat that she had bought for me, but had *mysteriously* appeared in *her* closet, thanks to the fashion fairy, a.k.a. Bulma.

I had been waiting *enough*! Vegeta was coming if I had to *drag* him to the club! I stalked down the hall and banged on his door.

"Come out right now before I seriously go through with my food threat!" I screamed, banging on it harder.

Someone laughed softly from behind me and I spun around, knowing full well that Vegeta would be smirking behind me, glad to have annoyed me.

I was right, but I didn't say anything, I was too busy checking him out. Lela had obviously shopped for *him*, too, or else he had gone seriously berserk! He was wearing black, of course, but what *other* color looked so yummy on him? He had on black pants, a tank, and a zip down light jacket over it. Miami got kinda cool at night. Yummmm....

I just stared at him until he growled lowly, glaring at me. "Are we going or are you just gonna stare all night? If you are, let me pull up a chair," He said, burning me again.

I woke up and crossed my arms. "I was just thinking about how different you look in 'baka Earth clothes'," I jided, and walked down the hall, blushing slightly. I *definitly* didn't want him knowing that he made me practically drool!

We arrived in the front hall, and I could see that Lela had *definitly* bought the clothes. She was beaming, and clapped her hands in pleasure.

"I knew it! Damn, Vegeta, you look good in black," She said, and winked at me, making me flush.

He smirked his cocky little smirk and narrowed his eyes at me. "No one had to tell me that, I could practically hear the woman thinking it," He said, and brushed past me as he walked out past Lela.

I stood there, my cheeks no doubt fire-engine red now, and Lela stood there also, her jaw open. She shook her head and followed Vegeta. I weakly did so, trying to regain myself.

~*~

Oh, dear! Poor Bulma, crash and BURN, babay! Well, I bet you are all seriously mad at me, you want to hear about 'their little night out', no doubt!! Muwhahahahaahah well wait for 36, LOL, here is a hint: it is called 'Heat', ahahahahha ja ne, and I KNOW you all hate me!

b e a u t i f u l : : i r o n y

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Chapter 36