How Unexpected | Brance | The Black Phone

Chapter 1

Bruce

I never really liked riding the bus. I ride the bus with the group of kids that are just so loud you can't help but hope their tongues get chopped off so you never have to hear their voices again, y'know? But that also seems very rude so I shake my head and tell myself not to have those thoughts.

'Just keep ur headphones on and dont look up, Bruce. Just dont. Look. Up. They won't bother u if u keep. ur. head. down. It's just that simple.'

But ofc, things never go the way I want them to. I get hit in the back of my head with a paper ball. U can't just ignore a paper ball, that's rude. So, I take my headphones off my head and look towards the back of the bus.

"Bruce! Hey, sorry man, but I need u to tell fucking dipshit, Micheal, here that just cuz a girl looks at u in the halls ONE TIME, doesn't mean she's trying to get in ur pants, right?" Moose. Big bully. Big racist. But he doesn't bother me for being Asian bc I'm on the baseball team and that gives me some social status.

"What r u talking about, dude? Y would I know anything about girls and their hundreds of different ways of flirting?" I reply with a small smile, slightly shaking my head.

"Yea, what does Yamada know?" Michael challenges.

"R u stupid, Mike? It's Bruce! Every girl and their dogs wanna date him!" Weird way of proving the point that girls like me but whatever.

Micheal looked over at me. I smiled at him. With teeth. I knew it made my eyes slightly disappear and made my dimples more noticeable. I knew my smile was one of my best features.

"Eh, ig I can see it or whatever. That doesn't mean he knows shit about girls tho. I mean, come on Moose, when have u ever seen Yamada with his arm around a girls' shoulders?" I decide that I've had enough of this conversation and sit back down and put my headphones back on. No reason to explain y I've not had a girlfriend before.

As I stare out the window, I realize we're turning into a neighborhood that isn't on our usual route. With my interest piqued, I sit up more and look at the bus doors. Waiting for the, supposedly, new kid to get on. Seems like I wasn't the only one who was interested. Everyone was looking up. The bus driver opened the doors and started talking to the new kid before they were able to get on. I figured it was a guy from the deep and raspy voice.

Honestly, the best way to describe how I felt first seeing him would have to be......mesmerized. I mean, I've never been the most sure(?) of my sexuality. One thing I was sure of in the moment I saw him tho, was the fact my breathe caught in my throat. He was absolutely stunning, right off the bat.

He had long, ash-blonde hair tied up in a messy bun. It looked neat and feminine, it was the only feminine thing about him, actually.

His clothes had a tough and rough feel to them. He wore a white tank top tucked into his bell bottom jeans, I believe they're called. He had a denim vest on over that tank top, it looked like he cut the sleeves himself. I thought that little detail was cool. It seemed to have patches all over it. He had a belt on with a noticeable crest right in the middle.

Overall, he looked pretty cool. Beautiful even.

Weird. I'd never even thought a girl looked beautiful, just pretty.

He seemed to be looking around for an empty seat, but it's late November rn so everyone already had their chosen seats. And those of us who got an entire seat to ourselves didn't really wanna give that up.

Except me, I didn't mind. So, I did the only reasonable thing to do. I smiled at him and waved my hand. It grabbed his attention and his eyes snapped toward me. I motioned for him to sit with me. He gave a small nod of his head and started walking toward my seat. Our seat now.