Or maybe not.  Maybe he would’ve liked the attention from a girl that looked like her.

Bleh.

It’s getting to her.

She still hadn’t seen me.  I could see why – I was sitting, and she and Brian were standing, and there were others between us, obscuring her line of sight to me.

Ah, right, I forgot about that arrangement.

An arrangement that is perfect for Sophia to only see Taylor once she actually approaches Brian.

Heh, I can’t help but imagine Sophia coming over to hit on the hot guy she saw on the bus… and then she sees Taylor sitting next to him, doing a little wave with a smug expression to rival Lisa, and saying, “Oh hi, Sophia. How are you? This is Brian, he’s with me.”

It’s not at all likely to happen, especially given Taylor’s lack of confidence that Brian would pick her over Sophia, but it’s a fun mental image.

She was oblivious to the attention and to my existence, preoccupied with a conversation over the phone.  She looked annoyed, bored, and distracted, as the person on the other end did most of the talking.  Probably a parent.

Okay, good, this might give you some time to make yourself less recognizable at a glance.

The bus continued on its route, more people filed in, and the people near the front moved further back.  I stared at her, waiting for the moment she would see me and make eye contact.  I wasn’t sure what she’d do, or what I’d do, but that moment held every iota of my focus.

There’s also the chance that Sophia is only doing the horrible things due to peer pressure and just plain won’t care. That’d imply she’s decent at acting, I suppose.

She was Emma’s best friend.  The person who had shoved me into the locker, back on the day I’d gotten my powers.  On countless occasions, she had pushed and tripped me, often several times a day.

Yeah, no, I don’t think she’s acting.

She’d knocked me down the stairs, when I was near the bottom of the flight, even got others to do similar things.  Given that she’d been suspended after my last meeting with her, I somehow didn’t think she’d walk away without confrontation if she saw me.

Probably not.

The bus had stopped to pick up passengers, and Sophia Hess was among them.

Ohhh boy.

Welcome to Taylor’s civilian life, Brian. You are now about to become ammunition – there is no way Sophia won’t tell the rest of the trio if she spots Taylor with a boy. Exactly what the Harpies will do with that information if Taylor returns to school someday, I don’t know, but it can’t be good.

And that’s after whatever might happen right here on this bus.

Her sleeveless polo top was long, extending down to her waist, and clung tight to a slender body with curves and a chest I’d never have.  The tennis skirt she was wearing was only barely long enough to be decent.  More than one set of eyes turned her way as she boarded the bus, Brian’s among them.

It’s natural for people’s eyes to be drawn towards anyone boarding the bus simply because they’re moving and new to the scene, but this feels… stronger than that, if that makes sense. And Brian’s eyes specifically being among them is bad, not because he might be attracted to Sophia, but because it’ll be a hard blow to an already self-conscious Taylor if she thinks he might be.

Also, props to Wildbow for the reminder of Taylor’s self-image issues showing up right before this development. It makes for a pretty good transition.

Now where were we… Ah, right, I left us off on a cliffhanger as to what sight felt like a bucket of cold water for Taylor.

Let’s see what horrors await her, shall we?

On that artificial cliffhanger, I think I’m going to leave off this session for the night and go grab something to eat. We’ll find out what Taylor just saw next time.

Which will be… Wednesday, I guess. See you then!

(Chrono link for part 1 of chapter 7.5)

I wasn’t the sort of girl Brian would be attracted to.  I knew that.

I don’t think you know shit about that, Taylor. This just looks like your lack of self-confidence speaking, which has been known to repeatedly make you unfavorably compare yourself to every other girl and ignore the idea that maybe, just maybe, guys look for more than just appearance.

I could settle for just his presence and friendship.  I could enjoy it if there happened to be casual body contact between us, even if it was a bit pervy.

Heh.

Our brief conversation had let me relax and start to enjoy the possibility of an evening in Brian’s company, but what I saw next was a bucket of cold water in the face.

Hopefully not literally.

Actually, what am I saying. Whatever this is is probably worse than a literal bucket of cold water.

…hm. Besides options like Empire mooks causing havoc in the streets, there’s also the possibility that they just arrived outside the apartment and Aisha is there. That would be very fitting for the cold water analogy, what with the associations between cold water and something ruining the sexual mood.

Granted, Empire mooks causing havoc in the streets would probably do that too.

I felt my ears warming up in the telltale sign of an incoming blush and looked away, distracting myself with an exhaustive investigation of a brown paper bag by the side of the road.

Smooth.

If I kept on that particular line of thinking about Brian’s better qualities, I was guaranteed to wind up saying or doing something to embarrass myself.

I can’t say I’d object to that, as long as it didn’t have negative long-term consequences. Unlike some friends of mine, I’m not bothered by second-hand embarrassment and can find that kind of scene rather funny and adorable if it’s done right. 🙂

I’m a sucker for humorous trainwrecks.

The bus arrived and we climbed on.  I flashed my school ID, while Brian paid with tickets.  I found an empty seat, and Brian stood next to me, holding the pole.  He was close enough to me that his leg pressed against my arm.  Even though I could have moved my arm away, I left it where it was.

Taylor does seem to be getting more comfortable with the contact, even if it does get her more flustered – whenever she thinks about it too much – than it would before Tangle 6.2.

“Yeah?  I’d owe you.”

“Gives us something to talk about while I’m staying over, too.”

Good, something to fill the time with. 🙂

“I don’t think we’ll lack for conversation topics,” he smiled at me.  That boyish smile that I’d noticed on day one.

😀

I think we’ve fairly solidly determined that Taylor likes when the boys – especially Brian – smile at her like this, haven’t we?

If I was being honest, I would even say it was tied with his voice for the thing I liked most about him, aesthetically.  It was maybe unfair to think so, but I generally saw the vast majority of teenage boys as awkward people that combined the traits of a child and an adult in the most unfortunate ways possible.

That’s… a fair assessment, in a lot of cases.

Brian was the opposite, and it was his voice and his smile that really nailed the effect.

Ah, yes, I can see that being the case – he’s very mature both physically and mentally, but he’s still got that playful, boyish vibe.

“After I was first introduced to the others, I did that a lot.  The guys complained about it, and my sister’s mentioned it too.  I take charge, make calls.”

Hm. This ties in with the conversation about how Brian might be able to handle Rachel better, in that it provides a reason for him to not want to take an official leadership role. It seems he’s naturally inclined to take charge (which is why he’s the de facto leader), but is trying to respect the others’ opinions and keep that down. As such, he might not want to take on official leadership because he’s worried it’ll enable him to become an overly controlling ass.

“Really, it’s cool.  It makes sense, given…” I paused, keeping the civilians that were in earshot in mind.  “…the situation, and I like your apartment, so I don’t mind staying there.”

Yeah, Taylor’s on board with this. Not particularly surprising, really.

“Yeah?”

“Definitely.  Hell, I’d have you decorate my apartment when I got a place of my own.”

Hehe.

He chuckled, “I’ll do that for you if you make me that outfit we talked about before.”

The costume.  I’d almost forgotten.

Sounds like a fair trade to me!

“Thanks for reminding me about that.  It sort of slipped my mind.”

“Considering it?”

“Yeah.  Maybe.  It’s a big job, but I guess I have more free time now, and, uh, yeah.  That’s pretty much it.  I could maybe do it, sure.”  

It would be pretty cool to have the team entirely outfitted with Taylor’s handiwork. Or, uh, spideriwork.

Obviously, I couldn’t and wouldn’t mention the fact that my decision to ally myself with the Undersiders for real was a factor.

Oh yeah, that. It seems like she’s deciding to keep that under wraps, at least for now.