Under my Skin c.4

He left his car and walked to the door, pressing the doorbell, and waiting, smiling ear-to-ear.

Gretchen opened the door, wearing a dark grey blouse and a black skirt and a perfect smile.
"Hey there!" She said excitedly. "Don't you look nice?"

"Thanks!" Dib blushed a little, scratching behind his head. "You… you look really nice too." He smiled, bending over and giving her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Shall we?" He stuck an arm out for her to hold.

Gretchen took the offered arm and smiled up at Dib sweetly, asking, "How did you sleep last night?”

Dib smiled at her and tried to recall last night. Oh right; the bloody mess. "Hard." He answered her truthfully, leading her to the car and letting her in the passenger side. "What about yours?" He asked, getting in his side as well and driving off.

"I slept really well." Gretchen said happily. "I had a wonderful dream."

"Yeah? What was it about?" Dib smiled joyously at the road.

"Well, before I went to sleep one of your interviews was playing on TV, so when I went to sleep I dreamt about ghosts and stuff. And you were there, only you were dressed like a pirate!" Gretchen said happily, her smile growing impossibly large.

Dib let out a small laugh and a blush caressed his face once more. "A pirate? What was I doing?" He grinned with glee.

"You were chasing the ghosts." Gretchen said with a giggle.

"As a pirate," Dib laughed. "Okay." He sighed. Today was going to be great. "Where would you like to eat after this?"

"Well," Gretchen looked up and put a finger to her chin in thought before asking, "I'm kind of in the mood for Italian, would that be ok?"

"I love Italian!" Dib grinned. "So.. You said last time you write books now...?" Dib glanced over at the girl before back at the road. "What's your latest about?"

"Well so far I've only written children's books." Gretchen said before adding, "But I'm working on a book for young adults now. It's about a vampire and his pet rabbit."

Dib recalled Zim talking about vampires earlier- that he had a dream of Zim being a vampire himself, and that he actually bit his neck because he wanted to. He couldn’t help but pale in his seat a bit. "Well… what’s the plot like..? What.. err.. importance does the rabbit have?"

"You know how a lot of people think the rabbit symbolizes fertility? Well it doesn't." Gretchen explained. "It actually symbolizes doom and destruction, so the vampire's coven rejects him for keeping the rabbit and he plots revenge against them." Gretchen ended the sentence with a low, soft voice, trying to sound spooky.

Dib continued driving, thinking a little. "So? How does it turn out?" He asked, interested in this book.

"The vampire realizes that the rabbit is actually evil and has to destroy his best friend!" Gretchen said excitedly.

"Wait-what?" Dib asked, trying to keep his attention on the road. "What happens?!"

"You'll just have to read it and find out won't you?" Gretchen asked, giving Dib a conspiratorial look despite his eyes being on the road.

Dib pouted. "But I want to know... How am I going to sleep at night now with that plot in my head with no ending? You'll hurry writing it, right?" He flashed her a smile.

"Weeeeell." Gretchen said, pretending to think. "I guess since you asked so nicely," She leaned over and placed a kiss on Dib's cheek, smiling back.

Dib smiled, forgetting about the book some as he drove the car into the museum's parking lot. He got out of the car and went to Gretchen's side, opening the door for her and giving her his elbow.

Gretchen smiled and took Dib’s arm again, keeping close to Dib as they entered the museum.

Dib smiled at her as they passed through the guards who didn’t seem to care about the harmless looking couple.

'Now, Gretchen is a REAL girlfriend,' Dib noted as they walked through the main hall. 'Not at all like Zim who only PRETENDS to like me. She actually clings to me.'

"What should we see first!?" Gretchen asked excitedly, looking around at the many cheap gifts they sold in the lobby.

"Let's go see the zombie stuff first!" Dib offered, pointing a finger up to a banner over the opening of a hall while smiling down at the beautiful purple haired woman.

"Ok!" Gretchen said, smiling back at Dib. This was going to be a great date, she just knew it!

Dib began leading her to the zombie section with a great big smile on his face when he froze. They had an aliens section. "A-actually.. Do you want to see the aliens stuff, first?"

"SURE!" Gretchen said even more excitedly. She had known forever that Dib liked aliens and decided to do some research on them. The whole idea turned out to be incredibly fascinating to her.

"Great..!" Dib grinned, now walking her to the aliens section.

The room was dark and lit with a black light. Dib walked over to the glass wall, finding 'evidence' of a UFO. It looked like a scrap piece of metal from a car.

"Wow, look at that." Gretchen said, pointing to the piece of metal.
Dib blinked at her. The scrap metal was just a piece of crap, and obviously fake. "Y-yeah? What about it?" He asked her, studying her face hard.

"Evidence of a UFO Dib!" Gretchen said, trying to keep her voice down but failing.

Dib twitched in his face, looking at her worriedly. She's just following an act... that or.. she believes everything she sees and reads. Dib sighed, taking Gretchen by the hand and leading her away to view samples of skin cells, reportedly from an alien. "That's real cool, Gretch, but how about this?"

Gretchen studied the skin samples for a moment before looking up at Dib and asking, "Whatever happened to Zim?"

Instantly, Dib went pale again. 'Zim and I continued to fight until I went off to college and he went depressed- and now I'm married to him and he quit the forces of evil to stay with me.'

"...Who?" Dib asked, smiling at her, now trying to play dumb.

“Oh you know." Gretchen said, giving Dib a playful shove. "That green kid who you were obsessed with since the fifth grade."

"Obsessed?" Dib looked at her in confusion. "I wasn’t obsessed about him!"

"Dib," Gretchen sighed, flicking Dib on the nose. "You hired people to come into our classroom and put on a play about why everyone should believe Zim was an alien. Don't you think that's just a LITTLE obsessed?"

Dib pouted, softly rubbing his noise. "But he IS--" He had told Zim that if he went along with this marriage thing, he wouldn’t expose him as an alien- and Zim has been so good lately- what with betraying his kind and all. "--n't an alien." Dib sighed, looking down shamefully. "He isn't an alien.."

Gretchen looked surprised for a moment, asking, "Really? But what about all of that evidence you kept saying you had?"

"You mean you believed me?!" Dib looked up at her in shock, taking hold of both of her hands now in his.

"I've always believed you, Dib." Gretchen said, nodding. Or, she had believed IN him. Same thing right?

"You did?!" He let out a small laugh from relief. "Here I thought nobody did! ...Not that it matters now, he's.. so.. obviously HUMAN and everything..." He looked down, blushing a little, one of his hands finding the back of his head once more.

"Do you still keep in contact with him though?" Gretchen asked, curious as to how Dib figured out Zim was human short of a dissection.

Dib watched his foot fidget on the ground. "Y-yeah… but... hey!" He looked up at Gretchen again. "Do you want something at the gift shop?"

"You're dodging me Dib." Gretchen pointed out. "Now come on, what's Zim up to?"

"I… don’t really want to talk about him, Gretchen." Dib told her. "Instead… let's talk about you! What are YOU up to?"

"Why not?" Gretchen asked, Dib's avoidance only increasing her curiosity.

Dib searched her eyes for a quick answer until he finally found one. "He's-- … he's gay… and... ever since I found out, things have just been weird between us." Well, that was partially true at least.

"Oh, I can see why," Gretchen said in suddenly less excited way.

Dib sighed, relieved that the girl bought it, but a little peeved at her reaction. "What?"

"I wouldn't want to hang around anyone I found out was gay either. That's just be way too creepy, you know?" Gretchen said, grimacing at the thought of one of her girlfriends telling her they were gay.

Dib flinched. "Not really... Well, I mean… yeah, it's weird being around Zim, but it's always weird being around Zim. Zim is weird but… what's wrong with being gay?" Dib sighed, realizing he was contradicting his earlier statement about Zim. "It's not THAT bad..."

"Well, I know that." Gretchen said. "But still, I mean, don't you ever just... you know, worry that he'd try and make a move on you. I mean, come on, you're a REALLY good looking guy, Dib. Who wouldn't. If I were you I'd keep kinda clear of Zim, just to be safe."

"That's really nice of you, Gretchen," in a sense, "but I don’t have to worry about that. We've never liked each other- and on top of that, who's it going to hurt if he hits on me? It'll just go awkward..." Dib explained. "Not like being flirted with is painful..."

"If you say so," Gretchen said, clearly unconvinced.

Dib sighed and looked around. "Let's get out of the alien section then... Any area you want to go?" Dib asked Gretchen, already leading her out.

"Ghost section?" Gretchen suggested, smiling once more.

"Okay," Dib smiled back, taking her over to the Ghost hall.

There they stayed and talked until they moved onto the next section, and the next section, until it was six and they were bursting out laughing at one another's jokes.

Dib was leading her out the double doors. "Okay-okay-okay! So here's one! Alright? So then I was talking to the doctor and.. he said.. he said.. 'What we have here is the abominable snowman!'" Dib laughed. "And it took him THAT LONG to realize it!"

Gretchen laughing harder as she clung to Dib's arm for support. "How do you put up with that!? I mean, yeah, you laugh at it now but it must be frustrating when it's actually happening."

He took her to the car, laughing, and opened the door for her, later going to his own side. "Oh, it's HORRIBLE. It's so.. so INFURIATING when you know the truth but nobody believes you!"

Gretchen got in and nodded understandingly, saying, "Like in skool. No one listened to you. Well, except for me. And it kind of hurt me when they wouldn't believe you."

Dib's laughing slowed down now as he drove off. "Yeah. It's alright, though. I'll show them all one day that there really are aliens..."

"And I'm hoping to be right there to see the looks on their faces." Gretchen said, smiling warmly at Dib.

Dib looked from the road to Gretchen, to the road again and to Gretchen, flashing a great smile back at her. "Thanks, Gretch... With that.. I look all the more forward to it..."

"I'm glad," Gretchen said, leaning back in her seat and smiling happily at nothing in particular.

Dib drove up to the Italian restraint and took Gretchen, by arm again, inside where they were seated in a nice little candle lit corner. Dib stared absentmindedly into the flame. This kind of reminded him of his and Zim's practice date. He looked through his menu as Gretchen looked through hers.

'I wonder how he'd doing, anyway...' Dib questioned as his eyes skimmed the food.

Gretchen crossed her legs and skimmed through the menu, her eyes cutting to Dib's face every once and a while.

"What are you thinking about?" Gretchen asked after deciding what she wanted and put the menu down.

Dib startled, nearly dropping his menu. He opened it back up and skimmed it real quick. "I was wondering if... if..." He looked up slowly at the girl. "If you'd like to stay at my place for the night?"

"And what would we be doing at your place?" Gretchen asked, giving Dib a teasing smile.

Dib blushed, his mind quickly fumbling through itself for an answer. "Um.. Um, we'd.. We'd hang out.. And..."

Gretchen giggled and, saving Dib any further awkwardness, said, "I'd love to go to your place tonight."

Dib blushed further, smiling a little at Gretchen. "R-really?"

"Are you ready to order?" A waitress came back, smiling brightly at the two.

Dib fumbled again, setting his menu down. "I-I think so. Are you ready, Gretch?" He asked the girl, feeling really awkward now.

"I'll have the minestrone soup and a Caesar salad." Gretchen said, handing her menu away.

"I think I'll have the chicken parmigiana." Dib answered, handing over his menu as well.

"And drinks?" The waitress asked, taking the menus.

Dib smiled. "I'll have a--" No.. He didn’t want anything with alcohol in it. "Can I please have some water?"

"Water? Okay." She marked down, looking up at Gretchen now.

"The same," Gretchen said, flashing Dib another wide smile.

Dib returned it warmly as the woman left. "Hey, Gretch? I'm going to use the restroom real quick."

When she smiled at him with a nod and an 'okay', Dib left the table for the restroom. Once there, he pulled out the phone and dialed his house.

Zim, at that moment, was curled up on the couch in some pajamas he'd had Dib buy for him a few months ago should he be gone and someone came knocking at night, watching a horror movie. He picked up the phone just as a woman screamed and cackled at her pain as he put the pizza down before saying, "Hey Dib, what's up?"

"Hey uh.. Zim?" Dib cleared his voice, a little relieved to hear Zim's tired voice right after the scream, surprisingly. "You know how I told you I'd call if I am to take Gretchen home with me?"

"Should I clean up the living room for company then make myself scarce?" Zim asked, knowing beforehand he was probably going to have to.

"Yeeeah.. Please... We won’t be over there right away though.. I'm just giving you a heads up, thanks." Dib smiled on the other side of the phone, a little relieved that Zim would do this for him until he reminded himself the alien needed to, to be freed.

"Not a problem." Zim said, already starting to clean up. "How gone will you need me?"

Dib groaned. "Way out of hearing range and unseen by women named Gretchen."

"Oh I see." Zim said smoothly. "The 'here's twenty bucks, now go see a movie,' kind of gone. Just without the twenty dollars and the movie."

Dib scowled over the phone. "YES. Geez, Zim. Do you want to be freed or not?!" He was beginning to question it himself, though he did take this humorously, it was kind of embarrassing.

"Fine, fine, I'm gone, I swear." Zim said before chuckling and adding before quickly hanging up, "Just don't let her take the collar off."

Dib hissed, completely forgetting about the collar. He hung up and put the phone back into his pocket, and retreated back to Gretchen. Their drinks had already been set on the table.

Dib sat across from Gretchen, smiling at her.

Gretchen smiled back and leaned forward with her elbows on the table staring in Dib’s eyes. She always liked staring at them in skool and now she was uninhibited by those round glasses he always wore.

Dib pulled back. "Do I have something on my face?"

Gretchen only shook her head and kept staring.

They received their food and ate. Dib found that everything about Gretchen was perfect! Or.. at least... just about perfect. She was nice, friendly, and she smiled what must have been twenty-four seven excluding the gay talk earlier. It was time to take the girl home.

Dib drove back, and they talked, and giggled and talked some more. Dib let her out at his house, kissing her on her lips passionately before entering his home. He looked around carefully, making sure Zim really wasn’t there, and really wasn’t planning a trap on the two. He brought her in further. "S-So.. Would you like anything to drink?" He asked her nervously.

"No, I'm good." Gretchen said, keeping close to Dib the entire time, smiling a different sort of smile. A smile that promised more.

"Would.... you like to see my room..?" Dib asked, his face turning a deep shade of red as he pointed lightly upstairs with on finger and grabbed Gretchen's hand with less occupied fingers.

"You know what, I think I would." Gretchen said with a nod, smiling in a way that said from the beginning she had every intention of seeing Dib's room.

Dib followed the confidant Gretchen up into his room, closing the door and leaving themselves locked away from the outside world.