“No,” Brian said, raising his voice.

“Yes,” I told her, giving Brian a pointed look.  “If I mention the meeting before you do, or if I piss you off.”

I love how Brian is just like some… chibi character in the background going “this is a bad ideeeaaa”.

She looked me over, “Whatever.  If you’re that eager to get hit, it’s your funeral.”  She took off the backpack and threw it at me.  I caught it with both arms.  Heavier than it looked.

As I hurried her way to get my running shoes on, Alec hissed at me, “You’re crazy.”

Ahahaha

Maybe.  Probably.  But I couldn’t think of a better way to reach out to Bitch.

I hoped this wasn’t something I was going to regret.

It might hurt for a few days, but you’ll be fine… hopefully. Your relationship with Rachel might be another story, though.

“A free shot.”

“One punch, however you want it, wherever you want to stick it.  I know Brian said something about there being no repeats of the day we met, no fighting inside the group or whatever, but this would be a freebie.  Totally allowed.”  I glanced at Brian, who only gave me a concerned look and a small, tight shake of the head.

Hehehe.

“nooo taylor shut up she punches hard”

“Nah,” Bitch answered, “You’ll just piss me off some other way.”

Impulsively, I told her, “Then how about this?  If we finish, we get back here, and it turns out I’ve ruined your day, you get that free shot.”

Even better. Now the terms of the breach are practically decided by Rachel – Taylor just gave Rachel a free pass to punch her if she pissed her off in any way.

She stared at me for a moment.  “So I just got to put up with you for a few hours, and then I get to knock your teeth out?”

Great deal! Am I right, Rachel?

“You’re going to take care of the rescued dogs, right?  That’s what you do when you go out?  Your ‘work’?”

“None of your business.”

“Coil said you’re overloaded.  I’m offering an extra set of hands, so you can give the dogs more of the attention they need.”

Hey, that’s not a bad approach.

And I’m all for the idea of maybe getting to see Rachel and Taylor taking care of dogs together!

“Bullshit.”

“Enough,” Brian started to rise, “You need to calm down-”

I put my hand on his shoulder and pushed him down.  “I’m fine.  Rachel, I’m going to make you a deal.”

A deal?

Her eyes narrowed.

“I thought my last deal was pretty fair, so hear me out?”

“Fine.”

“Let me come along.  I’ll help out where I can, we’ll maybe talk, but we won’t talk about Coil, unless you bring it up.  In exchange, if I do bring it up, or if I try to manipulate you one way or the other, you get a free shot at me.”

Yeah, this sounds good. It also makes it so that Taylor has a clear, self-imposed incentive to not try to manipulate Rachel, which should soothe the latter a bit. Hopefully.

Bitch, though, was less than impressed.  The look she gave me could have sent a small animal fleeing for its life.

Yeeah, this isn’t really the best time. I think she’s in the mood to withdraw from social contact right now.

“Fuck you,” she spat the words.

“Hey.  What?” I was stunned.

Did she think Taylor was mocking her?

“You want to come and bug me to change my mind.  Well fuck you.  You’re not coming into my space, getting in my business, to make me do or say anything I don’t want to do.”

Ah, yeah, that’s a fair assumption, given the timing. She’s wrong, but a predictable, understandable kind of wrong.

I started to raise my hands, in a placating gesture, but I stopped myself.  Bitch had a different standard for handling social situations.  She didn’t understand stuff like tone, stress, sarcasm, and precedent had led her to assume sarcasm and aggression from any statement.

See? This is exactly the kind of behavior Brian was talking about earlier. Not Rachel’s behavior – Taylor’s.

She’s learning very quickly. Lisa told her how Rachel’s mind works once, and Taylor is already taking it all to heart and adjusting her approach based on that new knowledge.

And it wasn’t just statements, I had a suspicion that the gesture of raising my hands could be seen as aggressive, or something like an animal trying to make itself look bigger, intimidating.

Yeah, seems likely.

I had to communicate with her in a way that left the least room for misinterpretation.

Good luck, but you might not need it.