Nobody answered that statement.  I felt dumb for saying it, however true it may or may not have been.

Alec added to his earlier comment, “I don’t ever pay attention to that team drama shit, and I picked up on the fact that she liked you.  It was so obvious it was irritating.”

Hah, nice.

And hell, even Rachel knew about it. Practically suggested Taylor should go up to Brian and say “hey wanna fuck?” too.

It was strange, Alec was standing up for me.  He was insulting me while he did it, but he was still backing me up.

“That could have been an act,” Brian stressed.  “And even if it wasn’t, it doesn’t mean anything in the end.”

Brian is being stubbornly skeptic, and while he has the right to be, it’s getting thin. It’s down to Taylor being either genuine or an utterly amazing actor. Either you should consider whether you’ll let her back on the team, or you should point her towards Hollywood or Broadway.

“You don’t really believe that,” Lisa replied, “You’re pissed at us.  I don’t blame you.  I’d be pissed at us, too.  But you’re only calling her a liar because it’s a hell of a lot easier to be angry at her if you think the person you befriended was a fake.”

I like that Lisa’s including herself here. She’s very much aware that Brian has beef with her too, even if he doesn’t know that, and she’s also implicitly allying herself with Taylor.

And yeah, this sounds about right. That’s what I meant by “stubbornly skeptic” – Lisa’s (Wildbow’s) just better at actually explaining things than like that than I am. What I meant was essentially that he’s being reluctant to believe her because he doesn’t want to believe her.

“Bullshit,” Alec retorted.

“What?” Brian turned toward Alec.

“I said bullshit,” Alec repeated himself.  “Taylor said it herself, she sucks ass when it comes to lying and being smooth.”

And yeah, if she was as fantastic an actor as Brian would have it, and was lying now, she would’ve had a better lie earlier, or she would be pretending to be a bad liar by telling a lie that did a worse job at convincing them than what she could really come up with… which sounds quite convoluted.

“She lied well enough when she was keeping her undercover act a secret.”

“I didn’t lie, exactly,” I said, quiet, “I just didn’t tell you.”

Yeah, surprisingly enough there were pretty few situations that caused her to have to actually lie.

The Undersiders kinda dropped the ball on trusting her that much in the first place, although it’s unclear how much Lisa manipulated the others into doing so. It’s worth noting that it was Brian’s idea to show up in civilian clothing on the rooftop in 2.6, as a “token show of trust”.

“Yeah!” Aisha added.  Brian gave her an annoyed look.

Oh cod, and her too. Forgot about that detail. I doubt Brian’s gonna like having to let his sister know about that awkward situation.

I looked at him, then looked down at the ground, feeling heat spread across my face.  The flush in my cheeks made the side of my face throb.  I hated feeling humiliated, felt way too many ugly emotions rising in a long-conditioned response, a spark of anger at the forefront of them.

Uh-oh.

Somehow I think Taylor would agree with those of my friends who despise cringe humor.

Stiffly, I replied, “I… let Brian know I was interested in him.  Romantically.  It was the truth.”

“Ahhhh,” Alec responded.

How long do you reckon it’ll take before Alec lets either of them live that down?

Though he does seem to be taking it a bit more maturely than I was expecting for now.

…how about Aisha?

“I knew it!  Totally knew it from the second I saw you at his apartment!”  Aisha cackled.

Pfffahahaha

I stole a glance at Brian and saw his expression hadn’t changed in the least.  When he spoke, he did it with a small shake of his head, “You could have been doing that to get me to let my guard down.”

I mean… just look at how red Taylor is right now. She’s either telling the truth or a fantastic actor.

“I can vouch-” Lisa started to speak.

“Taylor can answer for herself,” Brian cut her off.

Well, there went that way out.

I floundered for an answer.  I got the distinct impression that they wouldn’t be satisfied if I couldn’t provide one.  A knot of ugly emotions gathered in my stomach, building as I felt the condemnation of these people I’d been so close to, not so long ago.

Yeeah, fighting with former friends is not exactly a nice feeling.

Realizing that much gave me an idea.  It wasn’t much, though.

I turned to Brian, “You remember when we were on the way to your apartment, what happened?”

“Which?  That thing with the bully, or-”

After that… Hm. I suppose that could be a pretty good thing to prove the genuineness of her change of heart, as long as it doesn’t get Brian thinking that Taylor was trying to abuse his trust even more.

Bit of a double-edged sword, I suppose.

“After that.  The, um, awkward conversation.”

“Hey, dork,” Alec cut in, “He’s not the only one you have to convince.  You can’t omit details and leave us in the dark here.”

Welp, looks like this is about to get a little awkward… they didn’t tell Alec and Rachel (or Lisa, maybe, but I assume she knows anyway) about what happened at the mall, huh? Which means they’re gonna have to do that now of all times.

He folded his arms, “Is that all you came to say?”

I drew in a deep breath, then sighed, “And I’d like to be back on the team if you’ll have me.  Please.”

I think he might want an apology, Taylor.

I wouldn’t fault him for that.

His eyebrows rose, “I seem to recall you leaving in a huff after our last conversation with Coil.  What’s changed?”

“You have to understand, I was angry at myself as much… more than I was angry at you guys.  For letting that thing with the little girl happen, for not connecting the dots.  But I’ve thought about it, talked to Lisa, and I’m open to talking about it if you’re willing.”

Sometimes we make rash decisions while angry, even if that anger isn’t directed at those it’s taken out on.

“And why should we believe you, in all this?” he challenged me.

Aaand there’s the hard part.

Lisa, you got anything? A voucher for the change of heart?

Barring Lisa and Aisha, every set of eyes on me was glaring.  I climbed to my feet, flinched a little as Bitch shifted position, fearing another attack.  My cheek was radiating pain, like someone was driving a nail into it.  My shoulder didn’t hurt half as much, but it wasn’t exactly fun, either.

“I-I changed my mind after we raided the fundraiser and talked to Coil.  I went home, and when I started thinking about sending that email to the Protectorate, I realized I couldn’t.  It would have meant explaining things to my dad and leaving you guys.  I couldn’t do either.”

Good. Put every card on the table. Face up.

No more secrets.

“That wasn’t all that long ago, and it sounds pretty thin to me.”

I raised my arms, in a bit of a helpless gesture, then let them flop back to my sides.  “It’s the truth.  I’m not good at this, at talking to people or convincing them.  All I can do is tell you how things were from my perspective and hope you’ll see I’m sincere.”

Yeah, I mean, it happening recently is kind of just… a coincidence.

He leveled a serious look at me, “Lisa said you were, and when it comes down to the two of you, I’m going to choose her.  What Armsmaster said made too much sense, and a few of the little things about you suddenly made a lot of sense.”

Ah, yeah, I suppose the reveal would (re)contextualize a lot for you.

“No, I- I mean, I was going to betray you-”

Pfft, Taylor! You really need to collect your thoughts before you get ripped to pieces by the dogs.

“I’m going to fucking kick her teeth in!” Bitch shouted.

“Past tense!” I raised my voice, “I changed my mind!”

I think that was technically the future-in-the-past tense with imperfective aspect. (Apparently, in spite of having “pluperfect” for past-in-the-past, English doesn’t have a better word for future-in-the-past. Seriously, “future-in-the-past” is the term I got off Wikipedia.)

Now let’s see how the Undersiders take this.

Bitch made a deeper noise, low in her throat.  Aisha and Alec approached, which contributed to the loose half-circle of people and animals  around Lisa and me.  Tension hung heavy in the air.

I wonder how in-the-loop Aisha actually is on this whole situation.

“You changed your mind,” Brian didn’t sound as though he believed me.

I guess he doesn’t really have reason to.

“Dealing with Armsmaster?  Realizing what an asshole he was?  It was kind of a wake up call.  I’d already begun to think of you guys as my friends.  And what we were doing, it wasn’t so bad.  Most of our fights were against Lung’s gang…”

I guess that makes 3.4 one of the major starting points for the process leading up to the Decision. Though I suppose she might be talking about 6.6, which is far closer to when it was finalized, she had already started swaying before that.

“She was going to fuck us over!” Bitch shouted.

She absolutely was, yes.

I wonder, has Lisa told them anything about her own awareness of it from the start? Probably not. So what did she tell Brian when he inevitably asked why she didn’t Know and/or tell them about it earlier?

I shook my head, but Bitch and Lisa’s movements left me unsure if Brian had seen.  I called out, “No!  I wasn’t!”

Well, fair enough, not after a certain point.

Brian stepped forward and put a hand on Bitch’s arm.  She scowled but lowered her improvised weapon.

Brian’s got every right to be upset, but I think most of all he just wants to know the truth, and he hasn’t heard Taylor’s perspective on this before, only Armsmaster’s and – to whatever extent – Lisa’s.

He can be harsh, but he’s also fair enough to give the accused an opportunity to make her case.

Besides, she’s being defended by the main “witness” despite that witness saying she was guilty, so there’s gotta be something more to it, right?