Bus-trayal and Bad Jokes

Tired got into her car and slammed her door. She was feeling so many emotions at once; anger, regret, embarrassment, disappointment- it all brewed inside of her as she pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts and tapped on Bus's name, who was saved in her contacts as "Bus-tard". In a fit of emotions, she typed out a single message:

"Where are you right now?"

It didn't take long for him to respond. A few minutes later, he texted:

"I'm at Dick's Sporting Goods. I'm shopping for my teammates. Why?"

The information on where he was at was too vague, so she texted back:

"Text me which one you're at, and I'll meet you outside. We need to talk."

After that, she set her phone to the side and started driving.

Bus searched through the aisles upon aisles of sporting goods. Christmas was right around the corner, and being the man that the is, he decided to do all of his shopping last minute. It didn't matter much, though. Unless they knew that their children liked sports so much, parents were probably either ordering online or shopping at Walmart, leaving the supply at Dick's full and demand low.

(A note from the author: Don't you DARE take that out of context!!)

He was only there for a few minutes when he got the text from Tired. He had no idea why she wanted to see him, but despite that, his heart sank in his chest. He felt like he was driving, and there was a police car behind him without his lights on, or his parents called his named to talk to him about his report card. Still, a part of him was very excited to see Tired again. He genuinely enjoyed spending time with her, and any unprecedented moment he got to run into her was a real treat in his eyes. This mixture of excitement and nervousness churned in his stomach into a swarm of butterflies. He was debating on his mind whether he should hug her when she arrives or if he should crawl into a hole and hide. Nonetheless, he responded, giving her the address to where he's at and waiting for her next to the window door leading outside.

Whatever it was Tired wanted, he was steadily preparing himself.

Tired pulled up at the sent address and parked her car. She saw Bus at the window and trudged over there, her arms crossed. She did not look happy in the slightest, but due to the usual RBF that Bus was used to seeing her with, he didn't notice her frustration at first. He saw her, and his eyes lit up. He started walking outside, only for his pace to get slower and his smile to drop as he realized that her face looked angrier than usual.

He was right to be nervous.

Tired came up to him and pulled on the collar of his shirt, forcing him to her height. Venom was laced in her voice.

"Alright, Bus. Explain yourself!"

Bus- surprised by this- was also bewildered by what she meant. He somehow had been able to avoid the camera crew stalking him, so he hadn't heard any of the rumors yet.

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me! You've had to have heard the rumors by now! In fact, I bet you were the first to know about them! Why didn't you tell me!?"

"W-What? Rumors? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Tired wasn't sure if she should believe him at this point. Clearly, he's had a history of honesty, but she still didn't know him that well. He could be pretending to not know about the rumor. Heck, he could be the one who started it in the first place! She wasn't sure if she should trust him…

Or if she should let him go.

A man was walking by when the situation happened. He recognized both Bus and Tired from the rumors and took his eyes off his phone. Turning over to the scene, he floated his thumb over the camera button.

"Ay! Why don't you two get another room?"

Bus heard the man and gently undid Tired's fingers from his collar, turning over to him.

"What do you mean 'another room'? Care to explain?"

"Don't act like you don't know what's goin' on, big guy! What a fitting place to be at with a fitting pair."

He pointed to the sporting goods sign. After Tired's anger and the man's sly, perverted comments, he started to figure out what was going on. He could feel a bit of heat rush to his head as his emotions of confusion and shock turned into embarrassment and anger. His face twisted into a disgusted scowl. The man continued.

"You might wanna avoid all of your angry fans right now, since all of them know you've fu-"

Bus stood up and walked over to him. As soon as he did that, the man clamped his mouth shut like a steel trap. Bus bent to the man's size and spoke in a low yet firm voice.

"Let me tell you something; I may be at the whim of the media, but don't think you can drag my friend over here into whatever fictional story you assume happened. That's the key word here; assume. You don't know anything about me or about her. All we've had are a few interactions, and she took care of me when I was ill. The least you can do is treat her with respect and leave her to her privacy. Now…"

He looked down at the man's hand.

"Put the phone away."

It took the man a few seconds of stunned silence before he pocketed his phone and backed away. Bus rose up and nodded.

"Good. Now, leave me and my friend alone."

The man glared at the both of them before storming off with red in his cheeks. Tired was too stunned to speak. Not only was this the first time she saw him angry, but it was also the first time he ever stood up for her in such a way. She was just as frozen as the man was. She tugged at Bus's shirt, more gently this time. As Bus looked down, she uttered a quiet and quick "thank you" before heading back to her car. Bus's face dropped as she called out her name, trying to get her to come back.

Tired walked into her car and sank to the back of her seat. She needed to refresh her mind and process what just happened. She wanted to be angry at someone, anyone…but she couldn't bring herself to be angry at Bus, and that frustrated her more than anything. I mean, the man literally defended her at the cost of his own reputation! He clearly wasn't lying when he said he didn't hear the rumors.

It was hard to blame anyone on the internet when you can't pinpoint who started it in the first place, but she had no one else to blame…except for herself. She shouldn't have associated with Bus. She shouldn't have taken him in. She shouldn't have even looked at him when he helped her up.

She didn't want anything to do with Bus ever again.

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(Sorry for the sad ending to this chapter. The next one will be better, I promise!)