Team Dynamics (Part Five)

Once we made it back to school in one piece, I couldn't just keep things to myself. I was bursting at the seams to tell someone, but out of the small number of people whose opinions I actually cared for, there was only one that I trusted to really keep me in check if I was wrong.

...She wasn't really excited to have this job, but then again, it had never been her choice.

Hisako just sat and stared at me like I was insane after hearing me out. I had recanted the events of the day at Eagle Plaza in no small detail during a study session in the library. She was still basically holding my hand through the higher math courses. Well, that night, I was holding her hand for a quick trip through my psyche and thought processes.

"Bel…" She eventually said.

I nodded in understanding, fully aware of where this was going, "I know."

Hisako shook her head to try and start over again, "Bellamy, this is such a bad idea," She said, hand up to her temple. I was already giving her a headache, "This-. This is an amazingly bad idea."

"I know. I know it's a bad idea," I admitted before leaning forward, almost begging to be vindicated, "But I want to. I really want to."

Hisako gave a quick, meaningful glance to the instruments in her hands - a mechanical pencil and a graphing calculator. She seemed to be contemplating the likelihood of smacking some sense into me with a TI-84, "You were the one who said you won't date anyone on your team, no matter how hot you think they are. You said it's stupid, and I agreed with you."

She sounded so disappointed. For once, Hisako and I had been on the same page when it came to some kind of personal philosophy, a very rare occurrence, and then I went and threw it right out the window the moment my scary-hot teammate decided she wanted me.

I was a little too defensive for my own good, "You weren't there!" Also, Hisako wasn't into women (as far as I knew), so even if she had been there, she wouldn't have gotten the same thing out of it I did, "It's so hard to keep my hands off… and now that she knows she can, she's gonna go harder. I didn't even think Laura knew how to be sexy until it was right there in my face."

Hisako had no sympathy for me. Perhaps she would have had she not been privy to my solution to fight fire with fire, "So, your solution is to build up tensions like the Cold War until one of you hits the button and blows everything up?"

I perked up, allowing her words to sink in and marinate, "…That was an astute way of putting it. I appreciate that metaphor," I told her.

"Ugh!" Hisako smashed her head down on her arms and the library table to let some of her frustrations out. She slowly peered up at me, eyes narrowed spitefully, "Why are you telling me this? Go talk to Eddie about your creepy libido."

Wingman admittedly had been my first choice, but he was off the table for multiple reasons, "If I talk to Eddie, he'll talk to Cessily. If he talks to Cessily, she'll start helping Laura, which will make my plan harder," My selfish, ego-driven plans, "…Also, Cess will probably gloat about it," Which my sizeable ego would not stand for, if I could help it, "I'm telling you because you're supposed to be my conscience."

Unimpressed, Hisako sat back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest, "And as your conscience, I'm telling you 'no'."

Indeed, she was. The problem was, I didn't want to hear 'no' right then. I had pretty much come to her for permission; for someone whose judgment I trusted to tell me that it was okay to be the level of asshole I wanted to be, "…I need to find a second, bad influence conscience," I decided out loud, "Then I can have you two battle each other like Dr. Dre and Eminem to make my life decisions for me."

This was the limit of her patience with my b.s., "Okay! Okay! Okay!" She repeated, more for herself than for me, "If you must put yourself in a position to do this profane, ill-advised thing with Laura… can you at least take her out on a proper date?"

She asked me that question as though my normal courting process was to point at my junk and thrust it in someone's general direction. What kind of animal did she take me for? "…Despite the fact that every proper date I've ever had since coming to this school has ended in me almost dying? Yes. Yes, I can."

Hisako smirked at me, sensing my irritation and finding it within herself to pounce upon it, "Are you sure? Because the way you were talking, it sounded like if you could convince her to go with you to the nearest broom closet, you'd have done it," She clicked her tongue pitifully, "Three weeks without getting laid is really doing a number on you."

My eyes went wide at the offhanded remark, "How do you know the last time I-?"

Hisako took far too much joy in throwing me off of my game, "-Megan never had any problems sharing it with the world when she let you hit it."