{"id":10816,"date":"2014-05-02T07:28:45","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T07:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/2014\/05\/02\/skinnydefenselessheroism-iamthefirechild-44\/"},"modified":"2014-05-02T07:28:45","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T07:28:45","slug":"skinnydefenselessheroism-iamthefirechild-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/2014\/05\/02\/skinnydefenselessheroism-iamthefirechild-44\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

skinnydefenselessheroism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

iamthefirechild<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Summer pinches her lips together before she speaks, looking at him in a way that\u2019s much more direct than any other time. \u201cYou can\u2019t crash a party I invited you to. That\u2019s not how it works. You might be new, but you aren\u2019t unwelcome, and you don\u2019t make me uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is a blatant lie, but also absolute truth: he doesn\u2019t make her uncomfortable the way he means it \u2014 bringing his friends wouldn\u2019t have made her uncomfortable, or any of them; he makes her uncomfortable by existing, with his unconscious defense of her problematic social virtue and general geekiness and long-limbed attractiveness. She hates that she can\u2019t \/not\/ see that, now.<\/p>\n

She looks back at the keypad, and says, very quietly, \u201cDid you \/want\/ this to be a date? With someone you\u2019d only just met?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“Maybe\u00a0I<\/em> can\u2019t, but Scott or\u00a0Lydia<\/em> probably could. Especially Lydia, she\u2019s basically a savant at bowling. And\u2026everything else. To be fair. What I meant was I didn\u2019t want to force a stranger on you that you hadn\u2019t met at your own party, even\u00a0if<\/em> at least one of them is the easiest person in the world to like. Though, you know\u2026\u201d Stiles shrugs, a little, the gesture as sharp as ever. \u201cI make\u00a0everyone\u00a0<\/em>uncomfortable, it\u2019s completely okay to admit it. I\u2019m used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question causes him to still a little, and Stiles tips his head downwards, attention seemingly focused on the bowling board instead of Summer\u2019s face, or even whose turn it is. He blinks rapidly, eyes shifting to the sides a few times like he\u2019s calculating something unseen, and then he admits, equally quietly, \u201cI don\u2019t\u2026know. I don\u2019t get dates. People aren\u2019t interested, really, and certainly not\u2026college chicks, I just\u2026I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not very good at it. But I\u2019d like to at least get to know you, okay?\u201d There Stiles looks up, considering her face thoughtfully. \u201cI don\u2019t want to like\u2026set up false expectations, because that\u2019d be pretty shitty and I picked up in like five seconds that you\u2019ve already had your fill of dudes being shitty to you. I think maybe\u2026we make sure we don\u2019t hate each other first. And see where it goes?\u201d<\/p>\n

The wince that plays over poor Stiles\u2019 face indicates he\u00a0probably<\/em> expects to be\u00a0slapped<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Summer just nods, acknowledging everything he’s just said. “Yeah. Okay. Just — one thing, okay? You don’t get to decide if you make me uncomfortable. You’re a — you’re a \/kindred spirit\/. I’m — I can tell things like that; you know, sometimes you meet someone and you just \/know\/. Sometimes you don’t even have to meet them in person. All my real friends are like that.”<\/p>\n

She glances at him from under the arc of red hair shaped from the way her braid hangs over one shoulder, almost to the floor. “I understand about … people not being interested. Jesse is — was the only boyfriend I’ve ever had. Nobody else ever … I’m not … ” She shrugs, somehow embodying embarrassment and acknowledgement and frustation in one motion. “I’m \/me\/. And he’s right, anyway, nobody is ever going to want me. I’m used to it.”<\/p>\n

They’ve both used those words now, and she wonders how close his ‘used to it’ is to her own, that long knowledge of being different. His difference probably isn’t anything like hers, though. In a way she hopes it really isn’t; she honestly wouldn’t wish her ability on anyone. So to deflect the topic a little, she smiles, something bright and inviting, and says, “If you want to get to know me, you can ask me anything, I don’t mind.” She leaves him there to ponder that while she takes her turn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

skinnydefenselessheroism: iamthefirechild: Summer pinches her lips together before she speaks, looking at him in a way that\u2019s much more direct than any other time. \u201cYou can\u2019t crash a party I invited you to. That\u2019s not how it works. You might be new, but you aren\u2019t unwelcome, and you don\u2019t make me uncomfortable.\u201d Which is a … Continue reading <\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,867,21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10816"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}