SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

Alice frowned. Bryony seemed so distraught, the poor thing. Her little sister picking on her like that just...it was so nasty! She was already insecure, she didn't need to deal with people putting her down.

"That's awful. And completely false. I care about you, after all. You're my friend." Alice smiled. "And I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you find the right guy."

Alice paused. "Or girl, whichever." Alice reached out to gently pat Bryony's hands comfortingly. "You don't have to be scared."

Bryony really, really didn't want to start crying right now. She didn't want to cry in front of her friend, and she didn't want to start bawling in public either. She knew that people around her would judge her for being 'weak' or 'stupid', and whilst she doubted Alice would say anything bad about it or call her out, it was still embarrassing to just break down so utterly like that.

Honestly, it was Alice's kindness that was bringing her to the verge of tears. She was just sitting here, on the verge of falling apart, opening up about something that she still wasn't sure was even a problem, and yet Alice was able to stand her, able to talk with her and try to convince her that she was worth something. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve such a good friend.

Fuck.

Fuck, this was exactly what Alice was trying to prevent her from thinking. That she did deserve this. That she deserved to be treated better than how Bethany was treating her.

Okay, deep breaths. 1. 2. 3. Release. Better.

Bryony tried to smile at Alice through watery eyes.

Then Alice said it, and the smile instantly turned into a look of confused terror. Did she know? She had to know. She had to, it couldn't just be coincidence, could it? But how could she know? Bryony hadn't told anyone, not a single person; not her parents, not her closest friends, hell, some days she tried to convince herself that she was straight in order to better fit in. Had she really been that obvious? Was there just something about the way she acted that tipped people off? Bryony had no idea and that terrified her.

It was only now that she realised Alice's hands were on top of her own, and she jolted, wanting to withdraw them and hide away forever. Thankfully, some semblance of common sense stopped her. It was an innocuous action. Reacting in such a drastic way would just look weird, and would probably confirm any suspicions Alice had. Bryony's eyes were fixed on her hands, unable to look at her friend again.

"Guy... it's a guy..." Bryony mumbled. It took her another second before she could bring herself to look up.

"The, um, the right guy. You know, um, in case... in case you were wondering. Or something..."

Bryony tried to smile at Alice. A casual smile. A smile to let her know that she was feeling better, that she wasn't taking these comments too seriously. That kind of lie.

"Um... thanks, Alice. Thank you so much for, uh... for being here."

Bryony still seemed really upset, even though Alice thought she was doing a pretty good job. Maybe there was some underlying problem that she hadn't recognized? Bryony had reacted pretty visibly when she said that thing about girls, though she quickly noted that she preferred guys. Bree was hardly the type to judge, so...

She had her suspicions, but, Alice didn't mention anything about it. If Bryony was, you know, into girls, Alice was okay with that. She tried to be pretty comfortable with that kind of thing, after all, ever since that thing with Enzo. And besides, pressuring someone into coming out of the closet would definitely not help when they were already so emotionally compromised. And of course, Alice could very well be wrong, so bringing it up would just make it worse.

So instead, Alice returned Bryony's smile. "Got it." She said. "And don't worry, I'll be there whenever you need me. That's what friends are for, right?" She chuckled quietly, then stood up and ran her hands through her bangs. Geez, it was getting late; it was almost dinnertime, and Alice was loathe to be late to get home without prior warning. But if Bryony still needed her...

"I gotta get going soon, I think." She said, looking conflicted. Then an idea struck her, and she smiled. "Hey, maybe you can come by my place? My parents think you're great, and Molly's out tonight. We can practice drawing those things you got, or something."

((Isaac Brea Continued From Ice Cream Truck Beat))

He was going to die. He was certain of it at this point. He was absolutely going to die before he remembered why he even came to this boring ass museum, let alone finished whatever assignment brought him here. Probably art. Or, uh, history? English maybe? He couldn't remember. He probably had at some point but he'd been here like an hour already and it was torture. By now he was just wandering around aimlessly hoping to either trigger something or run into someone on the same assignment that he could milk for information.

Fuuuuuuuuck why were museums even a thing? Some of the craftsmanship was nice, he wouldn't argue with that, but there wasn't anything interesting about just wandering around a big-ass building reading all day to look at random shit. They had the internet for that. Come to think of this, this had to be one of those things that only still existed because people weren't smart enough for the internet. That was the only answer.

The glaze in his eyes slipped off when he noticed a familiar and not unwelcome sight. Alice and Bryony from school were hanging out, holding hands and stuff. Girl things, probably. Bryony looked like she'd been crying. Y'know, maybe this was what he needed to set his head straight. Swoop in, play the big, strong, understanding guy, maybe pull out of his dry spell and get his head out of these weird places. Worst case scenario maybe they had a clue about why he was here, since actually remembering was pretty much out of the question at this point.

Isaac put on his best manly swagger and wandered over to the ladies, his face just wracked with what he was sure was convincing concern and comfort. With this kind of lead up, he had this thing on lock. Who said he couldn't be empathetic when he needed to?

"Hey. What's up with the water works?"

Smooth as fuck.

Bryony gave a small, almost imperceptible nod at Alice's words. It was all she could currently muster, because she was feeling incredibly, conflicted right now. On the one hand, Bryony had absolutely no idea how much Alice knew, or even suspected, about her sexuality, and she was now... kind of terrified that if she spent more time around her friend, that more hints would leak out, or that piercing questions would be asked.

On the other hand, if Alice was leaving, then all that was left for Bryony was to either stew in her own thoughts and self-doubting at the museum, or to go back home to face Bethany, and in her current mental state, neither was an attractive option. Plus, Alice was right. They were friends. Alice had helped her out more than she probably knew today, just by being there. This new wave of worrying was born from something Bryony didn't even know was true or not.

The problem was, of course, the fact that the indecision existed full stop.

Bryony didn't know what to say, or if she should say anything at all, so, thankfully, Alice provided the answer. Bryony perked up the instant she realised what Alice was offering, looking at her friend with wide, hopeful eyes. She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of the idea, but it seemed so obvious now that it had actually been mentioned. She could stay round at Alice, distract herself from drawing, and, hopefully, end up feeling a lot better, staying out of Bethany's hair for a day.

"Really? That'd... that'd be alright with you and your folks?" Bryony asked. "Well, sure, I'd love to come round! I'd, um, have to check with my parents first, but I'm sure they'd be okay with it!"

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and just as soon as Bryony had managed to pick herself up from the depths of misery, she was brought crashing back to earth. As she was digging around in her bag for her phone, she heard a most unwelcome voice from close by. Fearing the worst, she sharply looked up, staring directly at Isaac Brea. Isaac was... not someone Bryony enjoyed the company of. A lot of what he said could be incredibly caustic and unpleasant, and he had really gotten to her once or twice.

Of course, he always passed it off as a 'joke' or a 'prank', and didn't that sound familiar?

Bryony attempted to shrink into her seat and become as small as possible, which was impressive considering her already small stature. Isaac obviously thought he was being 'kind' and 'courteous' with his question, but Bryony was absolutely not prepared to answer it at this point in time.

"It's... it's fine, um, don't worry about it. Just got... something in my eye..."

Oh, great, just as things were looking good to get Bryony feeling better, Isaac showed up. He was just...ugh, he was so ill-mannered! Alice was loathe to give people grief, but he'd clearly never learned that behavior. She could probably go on an on about her feelings on him, but what would be the point? Better to focus on the issue at hand, which was keeping him from upsetting Bryony.

Unfortunately, there were a few challenges with that. For one, they were in public, and just walking off would make her look like the bad guy in this situation. For another, as much as she hated to admit it, trying to tell off Isaac made her nervous. It might cause a scene, it might upset Bryony further...there were plenty of reasons for Alice to not just tell him to go away. So it was best to just give him what he wanted until he got bored. He probably wouldn't be interested in their issues, right?

"Uh, hi, Isaac. We were uh, probably going to leave soon. Bryony's had a rough day. Did you need something?"

Alice looked up at him, her expression neutral. She had to admit, she had spun that pretty well. As soon as Isaac left, the two could hurry out, and then they could actually have some private time. Alice was itching to get back to her latest fanfiction.

Ugh, what a pain in the ass. Why was it whenever he wanted people to open up and jazz, they started being polite and reasonable and bottling all their shit up like a normal person? It was so frustrating. How could they be this dumb? Obviously he was here to help, and they weren't handling this well enough by themselves, otherwise Bryony wouldn't be crying. Duh. Then again, if they were good at handling their emotions like he was now(and fuck anybody who said otherwise, no clue what they were talking about), they wouldn't be having this mess in a public place, now would they? Women, y'know, what're you gonna do? It was a good thing he happened to be here for...whatever he was doing.

He cracked a sympathetic smile. "Well, I kinda got lost here trying to do some assignment, details kinda get by me? And I saw you two and thought 'Hey, they do this whole school thing, maybe they'll know.' But then I saw Bryony all upset and, y'know, thought maybe I should lend a hand or a shoulder or whatever?" Yeah. He was killing this. Alice was being kind of an ice queen, did he mess with her recently? Man, he couldn't remember. It could just be her deal. He could power through it, though. "I mean, you see somebody crying in public in front of God and everybody and you've gotta do something, right?"

What a pro. Who said he couldn't sweet talk? Even Alice had to warm up to that. It was hard to give a shit, but there had to be some kind of payoff.

Isaac was loud.

Isaac was really, really loud. It was grating even at the best of times, when Bryony was just trying to read or focus on work and his 'whispering' would echo across the classroom, and this wasn't even close to being the best of times. Maybe he was just one of those people who didn't have a volume dial, and for Bryony to dislike him just for that would be incredibly petty.

But that wasn't just it. He also seemed to have absolutely no spatial awareness. This wasn't a secluded area out of the way of the general populous where no-one would be able to hear what was being talked about. Nor was it a hustling, bustling lunch room, where no-one who wasn't sitting next to you would be able to eavesdrop on your conversation without trying. It was an unhappy medium of the two, a small semi-filled café that, right now, was just a little too quiet.

Bryony felt sure several pairs of eyes were looking straight at her table right now. They were piercing right through her, wondering exactly what the fuss was, and tuning in to try and hear every single word that she and the people around her was saying. She was sure of it. She wanted to escape, to run away, but to where? Home wasn't an escape. Not now, anyway. Bryony willed herself to shrink even smaller, to disappear in her seat, for Isaac to just leave her alone.

Maybe the problem was that he had too much spatial awareness. That he knew people would be watching him, the kind and courteous gentleman, helping out people in need.

"Please... please, just... leave me alone..."

Alice wanted to go off.

Isaac was being the classic pseudo-gentleman, but neither she nor Bryony wanted anything to do with it. She wanted to tell him as much. She wanted to tell him off, tell him to go screw himself, whatever it took to get him away from her friend who desperately needed to be left alone. People in the café were staring, and even Alice was getting uncomfortable. Bryony seemed petrified. She couldn't let this stand. She had to get Isaac away.

But she couldn't.

She wasn't able to. She just didn't have it in her to confront the guy, even with her friend here in need. She was too weak.

Alice felt her face flush hot with embarrassment and a creeping sense of failure as she spoke. "Uh, thanks for worrying. We're okay though. Like I said, she' just had a rough day."

Internally, Alice didn't want to, but at the same time, she felt like she had to offer Isaac something. Please him, and he might leave them alone. "If you've got a project, maybe I can help out after I get Bryony a ride?" Mom would be fine picking up the two, she figured. If it meant keeping Bryony calm, she'd risk spending more time with this guy.

She was Bree's friend. That's what friends were for.

Y'know, if Isaac didn't know any better, he'd say he wasn't wanted around here.

This was exactly why he didn't get involved. People didn't know what the hell they wanted. You just want to be left alone? They're chatting you up over mindless bullshit for no reason. They're crying in the middle of the museum and you try to help? They clam up and get all frosty and bitchy and passive aggressive. What a racket.

He decided not to even dignify their nonsense with a response. He just shrugged and shook his head as he walked away, wandering back into the museum. As he walked away, he muttered maybe a little too loudly under his breath, "Jesus, no wonder nobody likes her..."

Meh. Not his problem anymore. Time to figure out whatever this project was about.

((Isaac Brea Continued In Roots of Jade))

Bryony tried to breathe a silent sigh of relief, but her lungs still felt like they were being trapped in an iron vice. Isaac was leaving, but she didn't think she'd be able to properly react until he had left the building and people stopped looking at them. Either that, or when she was at Alice's house, away from all these prying eyes, and in a place she knew she could be comfortable and safe.

Speaking of which, she still hadn't called her parents yet, had she? She should probably do that sooner rather than later. She fumbled with her phone with still shaking hands, trying to scroll down to her home phone number.

Then she, and surely half the rest of the café, heard Isaac's parting shot, and the phone slipped slowly from her grasp as she felt her heart stop dead.

Then it started again and she was all too aware of her surroundings and everything going on. The eyes staring at her and at Isaac's retreating figure, the muttered musings, people judging her, everything suddenly becoming all too loud and yet all too quiet...

No. No no no no, Isaac was just spouting bullshit to be spiteful, just to hurt her because he wasn't gonna get any self-gratification from all of this. It wasn't true. Alice had shown that this afternoon, hadn't she? It couldn't be true. It was everything she'd been working on to avoid these last few years, and it was everything she was scared of. It couldn't be true.

And yet now that the seed of doubt had been planted in Bryony's mind, it was impossible to get rid of it, because no matter how absurd it was, there was always the possibility that it was true. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, and before she could prevent them, they started falling, splattering against the table top. She wiped them away, but more just took their place.

Bryony scrambled for her phone, shoving it into her bag, then stood up hastily, her chair scraping loudly against the floor. More people were probably staring at her now, this loud, unpopular girl who just couldn't stop fucking crying, no matter how hard she tried.

"I-I'm sorry... Alice, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't... I can't..."

Before Alice could respond, Bryony turned and ran out of the café. She couldn't stay here. She couldn't stay with Alice, not in this state. She couldn't go home. She slammed open the door of the bathroom, locked herself in one of the cubicles, and sat with her legs tucked up into her atop the seat.

Face in her hands, Bryony only stopped crying when she heard the bathroom door swing open.

Bryony didn't know how long it took until she trudged out of the museum's entrance, and began the long walk back home. Her eyes were bright red, and there were still tears forming in the corner of them, that she had to constantly brush away. She didn't know how to explain this to her parents, and God forbid Bethany catch a glimpse of her.

Anywhere was better than back there, though.

((Bryony Adams continued in Poe's Poems Pwn Posers))

Alice tried to avoid being too judgmental of people. She figured if she didn't understand someone's circumstances, they probably had some psychological reason for their behavior, so why think badly of people when they were the person they were because of their environment?

Except Isaac Brea. He was an asshole, and anything nasty she could think to say about him wasn't enough.

Alice could only stare as Bryony raced out of the café in tears. She wanted so badly to go to her, to try to talk to her, get her to feel better. But she was emotionally drained, upset by Isaac coming up and ruining her efforts to make her friend happy again. She wasn't sure she was in the proper state to resolve her own emotions, let alone Bryony's. She just...didn't know what to say or do. She'd wait around a little while, see if Bryony returned. If not, then she'd have to go. She still needed to find a gift for her mom's birthday. That could wait, though.

Hopefully Bryony would be okay. Alice didn't know what to do anymore. She wondered if she would be a bad person for leaving Bryony by herself. Probably. She wasn't sure, but Alice knew one thing was sure. She knew for sure that something had to be done. She couldn't let that kind of person get away with their behavior, not after what she just saw.

She was going to fuck up Isaac Brea.

((Alice Baker continued in Not My Tempo))