Finally, the end of the day. I'd spent most of it either trying to stay awake in class, or avoiding the stares of both Chris and Dave- which was difficult. And also awkward, considering the fact that I sat in between them both during English.
I walked carefully outside; making sure that Chris wouldn't set his body guards on me or something, and made my way towards where Dave, Todd and Marty were all standing, waiting for me.
"Hey guys!" I said brightly, suddenly feeling the excitement of finally being able to go to the comic book store. Ever since my father had been killed I'd started getting an interest in them- they were a good way to help me to escape, and get my mind to quit its mindless babbling for a while.
"Someone's excited." Marty teased, grinning. I saw Dave shoot him a look, but I ignored it.
"Hell yes I am. I've been reading the same batman comic for three days. I need some new material." I said with a grin as we started to walk.
"So- who do you think would win in a fight- Deadshot or Hawkeye?" I thought carefully about Dave's question.
"Hmm…depends- are we talking hand to hand or long distance?"
"Hey, Taylor!" I jumped at the sound of my name, and saw Katie walking over, an overly bright smile on her face.
"Um…hi." I should get a freaking award for best greeting.
"Yeah…so, I was thinking- we got off to a bit of a bad start, huh?" Bad? After the episode in the canteen, at least three rumours had been spread about me, and I'd been cornered by Lily and Trina in the hallway so that they could taunt me about my sense of style.
Which I found kind of funny, since they were wearing Paul's Boutique hoodies and puff ball skirts, but there you go.
"That's one way of putting it…"I mumbled, shrugging slightly. I glanced to the side to see Dave looking freaked out and breathing a bit fast, and Todd and Marty looking both shocked and amused as they watched the exchange.
"Yeah, I heard what Lily and Trina did. I'm so sorry; they can be real bitches sometimes. So, you wanna come round to mine tomorrow? We can have a sleepover; get to know each other more!"
Think of a reason why not, Taylor. You can do it. Anything. Funeral, marriage, going to a family dinner…
"Uh…sure. Why not?" Did I just say that? Why? Why the HELL did I just say that?
"Awesome! We can meet up after school- we have last period together- and then walk back, kay?" I nodded numbly and she beamed, hugging me quickly before walking off.
I shuddered slightly.
"You okay? You almost look worse than Dave." I raised an eyebrow and turned to see Dave with a shocked expression on his face, eyes flicking between Katie's retreating form and me.
"Uh…Dave?"
"YES! I mean, uh, yeah. I'm…fine." I let out a laugh and shook my head.
"Still hung up on her, huh?" I was surprised at my ability to keep the slightly sad note out of my voice. Not that I should be sad…he could fancy who he liked. But still…
"I…don't know." He was staring at m pointedly, as if trying to figure out my feelings towards this. I shrugged and kept my face stoic.
"So, a sleepover, huh? Wanna have a naked pillow fight and record it for us?" I wacked Marty over the head for the remark, rolling my eyes at him and Todd, who started laughing too.
"Hell no. Oh god, what have I just agreed to? I feel like I've just sold my soul to the devil."
"Yeah, the pink devil. I'm sure you'll have so much fun braiding each other's hair and sharing stories about your first kiss." I snorted at Todd's words, shaking my head.
"What, do I look fucking five years old? Hell no. We'll be showing each other our underwear and describing our first fuck, not playing with Barbie dolls. You guys really haven't had much contact with girls, huh?" I asked with a grin.
My question was answered by the looks of complete shock frozen onto their faces.
"You…talk about that stuff…and do that?" Dave asked in awe, and I grinned.
"Oh yeah. All the time- I think I'll show her the awesome new corset and thong I got from Victoria's secret the other day." I added with a wink, trying not to laugh at the blush that spread across Dave's face- there was no harm in messing with him just a little. And the other two looked pretty red too.
"Uh…we're here." Marty gestured to the pretty cool looking comic book store in front of us. It had a café at the front, and a tonne of comic books and merchandise at the back.
"Awesome!" I barged straight in, heading to the back, where I started sorting through all of the batman comics, looking for any that I didn't have. Since it'd been a while since I'd last been to a comic book store, I had quite a bit of money left, raised from doing odd jobs and errands for Brian.
Time to go nuts.
"Hey…Taylor?" I looked up to see Dave there, smiling nervously. I smiled back encouragingly.
"Yeah?"
"Um…you're being stared at…by a lot of people." I slowly looked behind him to see about five boys, each wearing a different superhero t-shirts, with comic books clutched in their hands and wide eyes as they stared at me, muttering to each other excitedly.
"Jesus dude, you really don't get many girls here, huh?" He let out a laugh and shook his head.
"What gave it a way?"
"The fact that I'm being stared at like a goddess or something. Hey- do you know where they keep the Deadpool comics? I'm trying to complete the series." He grinned, and I noticed that he seemed a lot more confident and at ease than he'd been earlier- maybe it was because he was in familiar surroundings.
"Yeah, sure. I need to find one too." I grinned and followed him through the store.
DAVES POV
I led her through the store towards the Deadpool comics, feeling a lot more comfortable being in the place that I knew best. I was in my element here, and I felt more confident than I'd ever been in front of her.
It was so weird when Katie had come over earlier. I'd freaked out a little bit, though I blamed it on my asthma. At first, I was terrified of being so close to the two girls that I had major crushes on…but then I felt weird when I had absolutely no desire to even try to talk to Katie. Especially not with Taylor there.
Marty was really pissing me off at the moment too. Why was he talking and joking with her so much? What if she liked him better? Oh god, no. Just when I find a girl I really like, who doesn't try to get a restraining order on me or treat me like a nerdy leper, he decides to swoop in and talk to her. Fuck him.
But then again…he had told me that he'd said to her about me having a crush on her. I'd been angry at first, but then I felt like I was on top of the freaking world when she'd shown up and not shown any indication of being freaked or grossed out. That was a good thing, right?
"Dave? You've stopped walking. Have you zoned out or something?" I came back into focus to see Taylor looking amused and waving a hand in front of my face.
Shit, I just froze in the middle of the fucking store. What the hell was wrong with me?
"Uh yeah…I'm the zone." What. The. Hell.
To my surprise, she laughed.
"You're the zone, huh? Well, do you mind zoning me in the direction of the Deadpool comics?" I let out a small laugh and nodded, walking the few extra metres, and gesturing towards the shelf of Deadpool comics.
She beamed at me, and I felt a weird jerk in my stomach. Was I going to throw up? I better turn away, girls don't like that. And I say that from learning the hard way.
"You okay?" I looked back to see her paused over reaching for a comic, looking over at me curiously.
"Uh…yeah. I just felt a little sick." She nodded with a small smile.
"Oh, okay. You better not freaking throw up on me, then. Nothing you do could possibly salvage our relationship if you do." I grinned and started scanning the shelf.
Wait…relationship? What did that mean? Did it mean friends, more than friends, less than friends? Oh god, now I was feeling fucking sick again.
