Maybe if I was one of those girls that can sit and gossip for hours on end while painting my nails and sipping iced lattes in between the constant movement of my pastel-pink painted lips I could recount ever single little bit of my conversation with Egbert the next few days. But, alas, I prefer plain coffee and my lipstick tube just ran out. So, I can't offer much in the way of details.
All I remember was it was the first time since Terezi that I'd had a completely irrational crush on someone. I mean, seriously. Even if the kid had really blue eyes, and a stupid smile and helped me pick up my books when I dropped them (if Bro found out I'd tripped over my own shoelaces he would probably tie me by my ankles to the ceiling until all the uncool had left me through my nostrils.) And, yes, by the end of the week, I was fully ready to try some of the Strider charm on John.
The Strider charm did not work on John. It was like he wore a charm-proof vest of idiocy. Possibly heterosexuality. Whichever. Later, however I found out it was neither of those things. It was a certain blind bitch-with-benefits of mine.
"Yo, Egbert," I called. I certainly had not jogged to catch up with him. Oh no. Nope. Didn't happen.
"Hey Dave! What's up?" I pushed my glasses up on my nose. Certainly not a nervous tick. Just a display of my suave Strider coolness.
"Going to class." Was he blind? Or just dying to make conversation? I knew the answer to that one.
"Oh, you're going this way too? Cool."
"Yep," I drawled. "Hey, John. You up for grabbing some lunch tomorrow?"
John smiled. "Oh, you're not busy with Tavros?" I froze. I certainly did not tell John about Tavros. And I doubted Tavros did. There were, like, three people on Earth my paraplegic boyfriend even talked to. And John was not one of them.
"Me and Tavros," I tested with a deadpan.
"Oh," John said quickly. "Sorry if that's prying. Just... Terezi told me you two were together. I figured you'd rather, you know, hang out with him than feel bad for this dork anymore!" He laughed a bit. I shrugged. Even if smiling was a thing I did, I would not have been able to do it then.
Terezi.
That little...
I knew she didn't like me going and collecting love interests. But sabotaging my chances with John? That was not cool. At that point in time I was still as shallow a bastard as ever. I didn't even consider why maybe it wasn't ridiculously bitchy of Terezi to tell John about my thing with Tavros.
Now, like I've mentioned, I do not do good at not getting what I wanted. And I wanted to score some points with John. So I said the first thing that came to mind. And maybe I shouldn't have. All I know is it's too late now and the words had gone and forced their way out of my mouth, just like all the hundred and hundreds of others lies that had come before it. It had learned from it's ancestors and it came out seamlessly, nothing to indicate that it was a complete lie.
"Oh, we broke up a while ago," I said.
Wait, shit, what? I had a few options at this point. I could run for my life, which was seeming like the best thing to do. But I refused to run because I had my pride and my idea that I would never back down. I'll tell you, if I was ever in the army I'd be dead in three minutes because I wouldn't be able to swallow my pride enough to dodge a bullet. I could, also, admit that that wasn't true. I can't remember a time where I had ever come clean on a lie unless I was forced (which only ever happened with one of Bro's swords to my neck.) I could leave it at that and wait for shit to go down all by itself with an angry John and a hysterical, questioning Tavros. I could probably lie my way out of that one, too but I'd be out a certain buck-toothed doofus.
And the last option. I'm sure you can figure out what it was. And I took it. I set up my meeting with John and I walked off. I went through the rest of the day without much thought. It's almost startling to thing how little this whole thing bothered me. I was so convinced I had everything under control. If I was a soldier at this point, I guess this would have been the equivalent of wrenching the gun out of my enemy's hand, throwing it at my ally, and then wandering off.
At home my computer was already telling me that I had bunches of messages from Jade and Karkat. I clicked them closed, deciding to turn to them later. A message popped up from Tavros as if the heavens were flipping me off.
AT: hEY dAVE,
AT: aRE STILL COMING OVER TOMORROW?
AT: yOU WERE SUPPOSED TO, UH, TELL ME AT MY LOCKER,
AT: ,,, dID YOU,,, FORGET ABOUT MEETING ME?
I rested my head on the tips of my fingers and let out a drawn out sigh, then pushed my glasses up on my nose (you know, to prepare to be a proper Strider.)
TG: hey tav
TG: look
AT: wHAT?
TG: well ill just be blunt here
TG: im breaking up with you
I'd never done this in my life. Me and Terezi's break up was, like, two-hundred percent mutual. I was totally in on it, totally agreed with her that, yeah, we should break up. But, you know, she'd been the one to bring it up. Not that I wasn't in total agreement with her. So, I didn't have much experience with this whole breaking up thing. And yet, I still was extremely apathetic. Then, I believed it was just because I knew how to handle my crap. Now, I'm starting to become increasingly convinced that it's actually due to the fact that I'm (and this may be shocking to you) a total douche. There was a long pause before Tavros responded.
AT: ,,,,,,,, oH,
AT: uHH,
AT: WHY?
I'd probaly hit the millionth as far as lies with this next one.
TG: its got nothing to do with you
TG: im just not doing so hot in my classes
TG: and bro says i cant date for a while
AT: oH,
AT: aLRIGHT,
AT: iM GLAD I DIDNT UPSET YOU,
Any normal human being would have felt remorse. I did, but it was tiny. Bite-sized. Like I should have had a whol chicken of remorse but all I had was a fucking nugget.
And, the first thing on my mind was relief that I had just saved my chances with John.
A/N: TAT THAT WAS REALLY FRIKKIN MEAN DAVE. hugs Tavros
