He seemed to be deep in thought, and there was good cause for that, so I didn’t bother him as we walked to the bus stop.
“Am I being paranoid?” he asked me, as we arrived.
“I’m not the person to ask. As far as I’m concerned, when you’re talking about capes, you can’t take too many precautions. Especially with a group as influential as Empire Eighty Eight.”
“I’ll rephrase the question then. Do you think the others will think I’m being paranoid?”
“Honestly? Probably.”
“Damn it.”
Our conversation stalled when more people joined us at the bus stop.
“I just realized,” Brian spoke, “I never asked if you even wanted to stay over.”
I looked up at him. I wasn’t sure how to answer without conveying my full feelings on the subject. Keep it simple. “I do. It’s totally fine.”
“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.”
“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?”
“Definitely. Hell, I’d have you decorate my apartment when I got a place of my own.”
He chuckled, “I’ll do that for you if you make me that outfit we talked about before.”
The costume. I’d almost forgotten.
“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.” Obviously, I couldn’t and wouldn’t mention the fact that my decision to ally myself with the Undersiders for real was a factor.
“Yeah? I’d owe you.”
“Gives us something to talk about while I’m staying over, too.”
“I don’t think we’ll lack for conversation topics,” he smiled at me. That boyish smile that I’d noticed on day one. 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. Brian was the opposite, and it was his voice and his smile that really nailed the effect.
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. 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.
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.
I wasn’t the sort of girl Brian would be attracted to. I knew that. 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.
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.
The bus had stopped to pick up passengers, and Sophia Hess was among them. 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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
My leg bounced restlessly. Without thinking about it, I’d readied myself to leap out of my seat, to defend myself, get out of the way, or respond to whatever happened. My thoughts looped through possible things she might do, things I might say or do in response.
Sophia put the phone away, and gazed out the window for a moment. When she’d seen everything there was to see of transition point between the Docks and Downtown, she glanced over the bus’ interior. Her eyes paused on advertisements running along the top of the bus, then settled on Brian.
The appraising look she gave him was unmistakeable. It lingered long enough that it probably would have been uncomfortable for him, if he’d been aware of it.
Or maybe not. Maybe he would’ve liked the attention from a girl that looked like her.
Bleh.
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.
I startled when something moved to my left. It was just the person sitting next to me standing to get off at the next stop, but it made me aware of just how tense I was. I reached up and touched Brian’s elbow. When he glanced down, I moved over into the empty seat and pointed to the vacated spot.
He smiled and sat down beside me.
My pulse was pounding in my throat, and I couldn’t tell him why, not here. I waited and tried to organize my thoughts, as people from the front of the bus moved toward the back. It took some doing, but I avoided looking at Sophia.
I reached up and put a hand on his shoulder, used it to rise high enough to murmur in his ear, “Do me a megahuge favor? I’ll explain after.”
“Of course,” his voice was barely audible over the noise of the bus. He turned his head just enough to look me in the eye, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Just play along.” I put two fingers on the side of his chin, turning his head, and rose out of my seat just enough to touch my lips to his.
I expected electricity, fireworks, all that stuff you hear about. I thought my heartbeat might race, or that my thoughts might dissolve into that chaotic mess that I’d experienced a few times in the recent pass.
What I didn’t expect was the calm. The tension melted out of me, and all the worries, anxieties and conflicting thoughts faded into the background. It was like the sense of peace I got from waking up at the loft, times ten. All I thought about was the contact, how nice it was, the feeling of his lips on mine.
I broke the kiss and looked him in the eyes as I settled back in my seat. Even before he opened his mouth to say something, I was giving him the smallest shake of my head. He closed his mouth.
When I looked away, I felt his arm settle around my shoulders.
I looked and didn’t see Sophia at the front of the bus. When I checked over my shoulder, I found her near the back. She was staring at me.
I imagined it wasn’t so different from that primal sense of satisfaction Bitch had felt when she’d set the dogs on me. Except where Bitch had lorded it over me with a smug smile, I didn’t change my expression from the light smile that was already on my face. I gave Sophia a moment’s eye contact and nothing more, before turning to face the front of the bus once more. She wasn’t worth it, wasn’t worth spoili
ng this.
I avoided looking back to see what she was doing or checking if she was still there. When Brian asked me if I minded stopping to go shopping before we went to his apartment, I nodded.
I had taken Lisa’s advice, trying to improvise, be more impulsive. I had also done as Bitch had suggested. I’d let Brian know I was interested, kind of. Not to the extent she’d suggested, but it was something. Definitely something.
Except I’d just forced matters with Brian, and now I not only had to explain, but I had to deal with a night of awkwardness in his company, on top of the threat of action from Empire Eighty Eight.
7.06
“So, about that ‘favor’ I just did you…” Brian began.
I glanced around at the other people who were departing the bus, still more were waiting at the stop. “Can we talk about it later? In private?”
He gave me a curious look, but he replied, “Of course.”
I knew I was making it worse by procrastinating, that I’d only get more awkward if I dwelled on it. Whether I admitted my feelings or told him about Sophia, both felt too personal to talk about with the crowd of strangers following us off the bus.
We’d gotten off the bus at a mall I’d never been to. It wasn’t one of the ones with any major chains or stores in it, but it wasn’t small enough to deserve the label of ‘strip mall’ either. There were more people milling around than I thought there might be, given that it was still mid afternoon; high school students and nine to five employees wouldn’t be out yet. I realized there were more than a few people in their late teens or early twenties with backpacks and bags. College students.
“Next bus going by my place should come in half an hour, but we can stay longer, if you want,” Brian told me.
“What did you want to get?” I asked him.
“Bus tickets and some stuff for breakfast. This is the closest spot to my apartment that has both.”
“Okay.”
“You need anything?”
“Toothbrush, toothpaste, and I was thinking about grabbing a book.”
“Don’t worry about the toothbrush or toothpaste, I have extra stuff set aside for Aisha when she comes, and replacing that before then is easy. Want to go to the bookstore, and I’ll meet you there when I’ve got what I need?”
“Sure.”
That might have been the point we went our separate ways, but the grocery store and bookstores were in the same direction. We walked together, in awkward silence, until we saw a crowd outside a store.
It was an electronics store, with computers and TVs in the window. The number of people had reached critical mass and was drawing more onlookers, to the point where it was hard to find an angle where we could see the screens. At least, where I could see the screens – Brian was tall enough to see over the average person.
The images displayed on the screen were the same as the ones I had seen in the email, earlier. Max Anders and Kaiser. Kayden Anders and Purity. The blondes as Fenja and Menja. The broadcast flickered through all of them: Hookwolf, Krieg, Night, Fog, Stormtiger, Othala, Cricket, Rune, Victor, Alabaster, the Crusader… the list went on. The screen shifted to two news broadcasters. In the top right corner of the screen, there was the usual story of the moment image, showing Max Anders sitting at a table at some event, with a swastika followed by a question mark hovering above him.
“Word’s out,” Brian spoke to me, quiet. “If they didn’t know about this already, they do now.”
I nodded without turning away from the screen. The broadcast changed to show Armsmaster and Miss Militia with a man in a suit and tie, addressing a crowd of reporters.
“We’re probably not going to see anything new here,” Brian whispered to me, “And we can’t hear anything through the window. We’ll text Lisa, let her know it’s on the news, and she can handle the information side of things.”
I nodded and joined Brian in walking away.
“It’s clever,” I murmured, glancing around to ensure nobody was in immediate earshot, “I don’t know if I agree with how the boss went about it, I think it sort of crosses a line, but I can see the reasoning. Controlled chaos, keeping everyone that matters busy and off-balance so he can advance his own agenda.”
“It does cross a line, yeah. We’ll have to see how that works out.”
I saw the bookstore to my left, “I guess this is where we part ways?”
“Sure. I’ll meet you in a couple of minutes.”
Being around Brian was tense, in a way. I found most social situations awkward, and the only way I could cope was by planning out what I’d say, considering and anticipating everything in advance. Around Brian, though, I got so flustered and distracted that I couldn’t do that. That led to me feeling like I sounded dumb, created awkward pauses. It only got worse as I became aware of any of it. That was where the kiss had been so nice, settling my thoughts and giving me a sense of tranquility for that all too brief moment.
Except things were worse now, and Brian and I had a discussion looming. Worse, I’d been so focused on not screwing up the dialogue now, in the present, that I hadn’t had time to think about what I’d say in the immediate future.
In short, as much as I liked his company, liked him, I was glad for the break and the chance to calm down and get my thoughts sorted, so I could handle it when the conversation happened.
The used bookstore wasn’t organized in the slightest. There was a heavy musty smell, and the racks were organized haphazardly. There were fantasy books and science fiction both classified under ‘fantasy’, which irked me, and non fiction was one broad category that took up an entire wall. If there was a system to sort the books, I couldn’t see it, and many of the shelves had books on their sides, stacked atop one another, sometimes two or three layers deep. Some of the fuller shelves had books stacked on the ground in front of them, requiring careful steps to avoid knocking anything over or stepping on a stray book.
The sole occupant of the store was an elderly black man that sat behind the counter, leaning back in a chair with his hands folded on his stomach. The television played a little too loudly for the store’s old school atmosphere. Some courtroom show.
After checking out the selection of fantasy books in the middle of the store, I navigated my way to the back, keeping an eye on the signs identifying each section. The Romance section had way too many books in it. So did Mystery, as far as I was concerned. Both genres tended to be a little too repetitive and samey for my tastes.
As I disappeared behind a row of shelves, the man at the counter called out, gruff, “Don’t be shoplifting because you think I’m not paying attention!”
“Alright!” I called back, feeling silly as I said it. I wasn’t sure how else to respond.
I found the Instructional section and spotted the item I’d come into the store for in one of the stacks on a lower shelf. Dog Psychology: The Basis of Dog Training.
With minimal experience being around dogs, I needed more information, if I was going to continue relating with Bitch. I’d known I wanted a book on the topic of how dogs thought & related to others, and I was glad to have found it.
I tucked the book under one arm, then picked up another book on tailoring, as a possible reference for future costume design. Flipping through it, I wasn’t too impressed. I checked out another.
My thoughts froze as a hand touched my hair. I belatedly remembered Brian. I tried and failed to organize my thoughts. I’d forgotten to plan out what to say to him, and what would he be doing touching my hair?
I started to turn around, only for the hand to seize my ear and wrench it hard enough to make my legs buckle at the pain. I was shoved over and my body’s weight and momentum weren’t enough to pull my ear free from my attacker’s grip, with the skin joining my ear to my head paying the price. I felt like my skin was tearing, and I couldn’t even scream as my breath hitched in my throat.
I collapsed on top of a pile of books, and the white-hot pain surrounding my ear was so overwhelming I wa
sn’t entirely sure if my ear was still being held or not. A knee pressed against my side with enough force I had little doubt that most or all of my attacker’s body weight was on top of me. Long fingernails stabbed into my cheek, forcing the skin in between and against my teeth, as my assailant gripped the side of my jaw. It not only forced my mouth painfully open with the pressure of my cheek against my own teeth, but it pressed my face hard against the pile of books beneath me. My cry of protest was reduced to an incomprehensible, muffled noise, which became a primal groan as my ear was twisted again, the opposite direction as before.
“Something you should know about me,” Sophia’s voice was dulcet, “The reason I’m such a good runner? It’s not that I’m driven to win. It’s that I really, really hate losing.”
She wrenched my ear again, changing the direction again, and I cried out. If she went any further, I was positive the skin would tear and the ear would come off entirely. I struggled, but the books slid beneath my hands and knees, giving me minimal traction.
“And I hate losing the most when it’s to a depressing queef like you,” she rocked her right hand back and forth against my cheek, as if she wanted to drive her fingernails through the skin. Her thumbnail bit into the underside of my jaw.
I have bugs inside my jeans and backpack. I can end this.
With both hands, using her grip on my ear and jaw, she lifted my head up and plunged it down hard against the pile of books beneath me. It wasn’t the worst hit I’d ever taken, but it still left me reeling.
I couldn’t afford to take too many hits to my head. Though my concussion was more or less healed, I’d be susceptible to a relapse of symptoms and future concussions for a while yet. I just had to use my bugs to get her off me, buy myself time to get my knife and baton and…
…and then I’d be fucked. I’d do more damage to myself in the long run, outing myself as the girl with the bug powers. I’d never be able to go home to my dad.
Worm Page 66
