Eye of the Beholder. Chap 1

"I fucking hate waiting. I fucking hate people, and I fucking hate that this asshole has been ogling my ID for the last five minutes!"

Truth to Jade's words, a bouncer was intently inspecting her card, taking his sweet time. He claimed it was to make sure she really was over the legal drinking age, since the establishment served alcohol aside from being a karaoke place.

"After this I'm am so making an 'I hate blondes' video!" Jade thought cruelly.

Her anger was somewhat justified, since earlier that night, three blondes tried to get some beer with their clearly pathetic ID cards. Long story short, they are now facing some criminal charges as well as a night on the slammer and a serious grounding from their parents.

So because of the three stooges, the staff now had to be careful on who they let in.

"I'm almost certain my tits don't show in the photo," the dark haired girl sneered. "Just look at my age and let me through!"

To his credit, the bouncer didn't say a word; he just kept staring at the ID, he grunted in acknowledgement that he did heard her. He was only doing his job.

After all, getting scared shitless twice in one night wasn't about to do his credibility any wonders.

"She's probably all bark and no bite. Unlike the other chick that went by here."

He shudders at the mere reminder of the purple headed demon who threatened to play with his intestines if he didn't let her through. After mentally deciding not to antagonise a potential customer, the man got out of the way and let her in.

Jade rudely swipes her card from the bouncer. Once she was out of his sight, she smirked viciously.

She gotten away with it, she was in. Now she just needed to get rid of some stress; music can only do so much after all.

Even thought she was technically an adult, legally she was not allowed to drink.

"Screw it, what's life without taking any risks?"

As she kept walking, Jade's first thought was on how packed this place really was; which, in retrospect, it wasn't that much of a surprise. It was a Friday night after all, and people just wanted to relax after such a long week.

She sighs in contempt. In her case, the Goth was here to try and drink her anger away.

"Stupid Vega," Jade hissed mentally. "She just doesn't get it"

The Goth planned to stay in the karaoke bar until she cooled down or her girlfriend calls and apologises to her.

Whichever happenes first.

Right now, she was bitterly glad that the she could enter the godforsaken place and hopefully the bartender would let her drink without a care. After all, just because she fooled the bouncer, it didn't mean squat if the one handing in the drinks saw through her lie and denied her of the drink.

After inspecting any possible resting places for her ass, Jade finally noticed a vacant stool on the bar.

"An invitation if I ever saw one."

So without a second thought, she sat down before any poor smuck took her seat.

People were dancing, talking among themselves, drinking, you name it. Others who by all accounts, simply wanted isolation were just sitting by him or herself. One of those people was a young woman by the name of Gaz Membrane.

The bar was filled with stale cigarette smoke and the smell of cheap beer. Music was playing loudly, or more accurately, some no talent losers screaming at the top of their lungs, Gaz sneered in contempt and took another chug of her drink. Normally, she would have left the place since it was filled with people she considered scum. She looks at a clock in the wall and sees that it was already 11: 30.

"It's not that late yet; I have no wish to sleep." Gaz thought to herself. "Zim can go nuts all night for all I care."

The scary human had plenty of elbow room, as always, no one was sitting at her side. Of course, Gaz didn't care because she was used to being alone, but that was about to change.

The bartender came over to her and gave her a drink. She looked up at the man quizzically.

"That young fellow over there is buying you this," he stated, as he pointed at the man who was looking at Gaz like a piece of meat, lifting his drink in recognition.

Gaz in turn flipped him the bird.

"Return it, I don't fucking want it," she ordered evenly. "Rule number one, never take drinks from strangers at a bar."

The balding bartender nods "Smart move on your part, girl."

"I came here to get rid of some rage," Gaz said calmly. "Not to socialise. Go away. If I want another drink then you can talk to me, understood?"

"Crystal clear."

"Good."

Without another word, the bartender walked away.

After that, the guy who attempted to pay for her drink walked up to her, sitting on the seat next to her. "What's your name, sweetheart?".

"Fuck off, loser." Gaz's tone was as dark and menacing. "Unless you want your head to be up your ass."

"Ohhh, you're a feisty one aren't you?"

Just as he said this, Gaz grabbed him by the collar of his coat and told him murderously, "Ok, buster: one, I already have a boyfriend; and two, I can get your ass arrested right now because I'm the daughter of Professor Membrane. And unless you want to spend the night in jail for harassment, you WILL leave me alone. Got it?"

Well that was good enough of a reason. "In that case,bye," the man responded fearfully, running and screaming like a dog with it's tail between it's legs.

"Whiner."

Gaz never liked to use her father's fame to get what she wanted; preferring to do things on her own terms, but when losers tried to get to her with cheesy pick-up lines, then she warned them with words, not fists.

Since a father's love for his daughter can immediately scare off potential creeps, and considering that the Professor was a very influential individual, getting on his bad side was like committing social suicide.

Plus, Gaz actually liked this place and if her father ever learned of this "secret hideout," she would be in a heap of trouble.

Some things weren't meant to be in her dad's attention.

As soon as the jerk left, another person sat down next to her. This time it was a woman. Gaz paid her no mind, as long as she stayed out of the way there would be no problems.

Jade on her part ignored her drinking neighbor. "Just where the hell is the bartender?"

As if her question had magically been answered, the man behind the counter came by standing in front of her. He had a look in his old hard eyes that said he wouldn't be taking any shit from anyone; impotent and intimidating.

He stared at Jade a second longer. "Card?"

"If I'm here, then I gotta be over twenty one right?" The pale woman said smoothly.

Gaz who had been listening rolled her eyes "amateur."

"That doesn't mean anything to me," the bartender shot back. "Now I won't ask you again, gimme your card or I'll kick you out"

Jade glared at the man. The only reason as to why she didn't give him a hard time was because she wanted the thrill of doing something illegal, so she handed him her fake I.D.

After what happened with the blonds earlier tonight, the staff really went all out on security.

The man stared at the I.D, then at the girl sitting in front of him.

"You're twenty one then?"

"Yes."

"First time here?"

"I'm gonna my to have my first drink actually." Jade admitted reluctantly "At least that part wasn't a total lie."

The bartender was still suspicious, "Fine... What will you have?"

"A beer, whichever one you have." Jade said at once. "I don't care for the quality"

"Ok then, I'll be back," he said, giving her back the I.D.

As Jade puts back her card on her pocket, Gaz spoke.

"He doesn't believe you, you know?"

The Goth turned to face the woman next to her. "And you know this how?"

"I been coming to this place longer than you obviously," Gaz said smugly. "Dan, that's the bartender's name by the way, is very good at reading facial expressions. While you were giving him a blank face, he noticed your hands; which, by the way, were doing an awful lot of twitching. You should have kept them under the counter, that way it would have blocked his vision, which would have been more convincing.""I was not twitching!"

"Maybe not consciously," Gaz said, taking a sip from her own drink antagonistically. "But he saw it and so did I."

"So, what he's going to do then?"

"Don't worry he's not going to call the cops or anything," Gaz sneered. "He's not that type of guy, he's only going to serve you something without alcohol and tell you that it is alcohol, you never tasted ir right? So how would you know? That way he keeps you happy and charges you whatever the hell he wants."

"Why that little..."

"Hey, just because he's not going to kick you out, doesn't mean he's 100% noble. The guy needs to eat too; think of it, it's the perfect plan, you can't say anything about it unless you want to get in some serious problems."

"So, I take it that you're under the legal age too?"

"Yup, but unlike you, I made an excellent job at lying to get an actual beer." Gaz stared, tauntingly shaking her glass.

"What if I just grab yours, then?" Jade asked, irritated.

"Try it and you lose a hand."

"Whatever," Jade hissed. "I'm not getting kicked out of this place. Now shut up, I didn't come here talk to little pests"

"Pests? Really?" Gaz asked unimpressed. "That's the best you got?"

The pale woman gritted her teeth. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Unfortunately, no." The purple headed woman reluctantly admitted, "In my haste, I forgot my Game Slave II. My idiotic boyfriend just doesn't exactly understands the concept of personal days."

"Ah, problems in paradise," Jade said. "Gotcha, I'm in a similar situation myself"

"Your boyfriend is a narcissistic jerk?"

"My girlfriend doesn't get my desire of being buried alive."

Gaz raised an eyebrow "Well that's a surprise."

"That I'm a lesbian?"

"No, that you want to buried alive," Gaz clarified. "That's something most people don't want to do."

"I'm not most people," Jade snapped. "Quite frankly, in my book, people suck so I don't care about their opinions."

"But I'm guessing your girl is a different story then?"

"Yup, she's scared for my safety."

"You seen capable of taking care of yourself"

"I can" Jade said firmly "But try telling Vega that."
 
"Vega?" Gaz inquired "That's your girlfriend's name?"

"Last name" Jade corrected "See, she's afraid that the air might run out or that I'll get crush under the sand or a million other things could go wrong, she worries too much... In retrospect us seeing how many magicians have died while attempting to do this trick was what planted that fear in her pretty head.... But frankly it's one of the things I want to do in my bucket list."

"Interesting."

"So, you aren't freaked out about meeting a lesbian?"

"As long as you don't make a pass at me we're fine."

"Don't worry, I only have eyes for one dorky girl," Jade grunted, taking a sip from her drink. "Even if right now I wish I could strangle her."

"Same thing with my boyfriend," Gaz huffed. "Nothing but a moron to kill a potentially good afternoon."

"What's your story?"

"Me? Oh simply put I wanted to break a world record in video games, but he doesn't see the benefit of it. Only thinks of it as a waste of time, instead of achieving something else entirely."

"Let me guess, you didn't take it well?"

"Considering I kicked him in his unlucky charms before leaving? Nope."

"Out of curiosity, what did he want to do?"

"World domination," Gaz sneered. "Now that's a waste of time. He thinks the Earth would be better off with humanity gone"

"The guy sounds like a piece of work."

"You have no idea."

Then suddenly the pale goth lifted her hand, "I'm Jade."

"Gaz." The girl introduced herself as she shook the other woman's hands.

"So, how many times the jerk has driven you here?"

"Zim has a knack for annoying me till I want to beat him to death with his own PAK," Gaz said. "So, let's say plenty and leave it at that."

"I can top that," Jade countered. "Tori could be the poster girl for vanilla. Her idea of a wild night out is eating yogurt on the street and not picking up her trash."

Gaz snorted. "That's lame. Here's one: Zim always writes in capital letters."

"Why?"

"Because he's annoying."

"Ok.. Let's see, oh I know... Tori has tried to get her license three times and does worse every time."

"Zim is terrified of water. He's afraid he'll melt like the wicked witch from the West."

"That's stupid."

"Very." The purple headed girl agreed. "I tried to convince him that's impossible, but you know how guys can be. Idiots"

"I'm surrounded by idiots, so I get what you're saying," Jade comments with a roll of her eyes. "Here's one, Tori still sleeps with her favourite childhood doll and refuses to throw it away because she claims it's the only thing she can cuddle with when I'm not around. For Pete's sake, I give her sex. What does that thing have that I don't!"

"Moving on," Gaz interrupted her quickly, not wanting to hear of the sex life of the girl she just met. "Zim once tried to get rid of his classmates using a moose."

"A moose?"

"Yes, a moose."

"Did he get hit in the head or something?"

"Either that or he lost his sanity long ago," Gaz snickered. "Ok, your turn."

"Um. Let's see, something juicy, something juicy," Jade muttered, moving her index finger on her chin. "Ah, here's one, Tori once agreed to be made into a hamburger. She still claims her stomach smells like mayonnaise no matter how many times she showers"

"Zim made a toilet in his kitchen."

"Tori once got me in the slammer."

"He's afraid of chihuahuas."

"She can't cook to save her life and once almost ended up burning my hands, it hurt!" Jade growled. "And not in a good way."

After several hours, the two girls continued to point out their other half's flaws until they could no more.

Now they were silent.

"Why are we even dating someone who drive us over the edge?" Jade asked.

"Beats the hell outta me," Gaz answered. "But you know something?"

"What?"

"I think I miss the raving lunatic," she admitted. "He's an idiot, no doubt, but he's my idiot, you know what I mean?"

"As a matter of fact I do," Jade replied and then sighs. "Vega may be a goody two shoes, but she's mine."

Gaz got up from her seat.

"Where are you going?"

"To see my dumbass boyfriend," Gaz replied. "After talking shit about him, I feel I cooled down enough to at least hear him rant without wanting to rip his vocal cords from his neck and strangle him with them."

"Nice image."

Before Gaz could say anything else, two very familiar voices yelled out.

"JADE!"

"GAZ-BEAST!"

"Huh?" The two new friends asked as they turned around and saw their respective lovers on the other half on the room.

"Zim?"

"Vega?"

The disguised Irken Invader and the Half-Latina made their way towards their respective girlfriends.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you Jade?! HUH?"

"How is it that every time I change the password you manage to steal my Voot cruiser?"

Jade and Gaz eyed each other. "Guess they missed us as much as we missed them."

"Vega, I'm fine," Jade said. "But how did you find me?"

The purple headed woman eyes the alien suspicionsly. "That's something I would like to know too."

"Erm... I followed you," Tori admitted sheepishly.

Zim on his part smugly said "My ship-I mean car has a tracking device!"

"My, my Vega, I'm shocked," Jade teased. "Frankly, in order for you to have gotten inside, you must have lied about your age."

The Half-Latina lowered her head. "I um... Have a fake ID."

"What? Mind repeating that?" Jade asked mockingly as she puts her fingers behind her ear "I couldn't quite hear that"

"You heard what I said," Tori spoke quickly. "I'm not about to shout it out for you!"

The pale woman snickers happily, "Fine, fine."

Gaz on her part slaps her forehead in annoyance. "I knew I forgot something!"

Zim then lifted his human girlfriend. "Come, my love-pig, we have much to discuss, important plans for human extermination"

The girl didn't resist, after all she admitted to herself not long ago that she missed the green goof.

As for Jade and Tori, they stayed behind.

Both young women were in need of some making up time.

As the night moved forward for the two couples, Jade and Gaz couldn't help but think.

"Tori isn't perfect, she's a goody two shoes dork, but it's because of that, that she never gave up on me... She loves me... flaws and all."

"Zim is far from perfect... He's so bad at invading... A total idiot... But if there is one good thing I can say about him is that he accepts me for me."

Beauty indeed was in the eye of the beholder.