All Aboard

Part Seventeen

Mikaela

It was weird on the bus without Dan.

Mikaela kept looking at the bus door, hoping for it to fold open and for Dan to come bounding on. She knew he hadn't completely forgiven her for what she'd done to Kimberly and was hoping him getting off the bus might have got it out of his system, and they'd be cool again.

'If you're feeling lonely you can always sit with me,' said Barney.

Mikaela glared at him. 'What?'

'You keep looking at the door. If you're missing your new fuck buddy you can sit next to me. Or better still...' Barney let the sentence stew in the air as he rubbed his lap.

Mikaela shook her head, then went back to staring at the door.

'Sorry. I keep forgetting you're into pussy now.' Barney leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and shook his head as he looked Mikaela up and down. 'What a waste. Only people who don't have tits at their disposal should get to touch tits. Especially those ones. Although, now we're talking about it-'

'We're not talking about it, Barney,' she snapped.

'Well, it's in my head now. You and another bird, touching each other.'

'You utter cliché of a scumbag male.' Mikaela shook her head, rage bubbling inside of her. 'I am not here for your arousal, Barney, none of us are.'

'But you were there for my arousal the other night.'

'Oh change the fucking record! Why are you so obsessed with a drunken fumble that was the biggest mistake of my life? Is that why you shared those pictures? Do you have some kind of psychotic infatuation with me?'

Barney rolled his eyes. 'You need to change your record. I keep telling you; it wasn't me.'

'Of course it-' started Mikaela.

The bus doors clunked open and Mikaela watched Dan bounce up the stairs, followed by Kimberly.

'Did you miss us?' Dan asked as he stopped at the front of the bus and Kimberly slipped into her seat.

Mikaela glared at Barney who sat back in his seat, clasping his hands behind his head. Recognition registered on Dan's face as he dropped himself onto the seat next to Mikaela. He gave her a wink and nudged her with his elbow.

She was so glad he was back.

Barney

Sponges. Tyres. Toast. Barney could feel the blood rushing to his penis. The last thing he needed was to get a hard on in front of these losers. Carpet. Mikaela laying down on the carpet. Mikaela laying down on the carpet, naked. Mikaela laying down on the carpet naked, with her naked girlfriend.

I wish this bus had a private section, he thought.

Chloe

It felt really weird whenever someone got off the bus. Everyone else just sat and waited for them to come back, not really speaking to each other like they were in a dentist's waiting room. Unfortunately, Barney seemed to take on an even more unpleasant persona when there was less of them. She hoped that when it was Nav's stop he would go by himself, and Mikaela or Dan wouldn't offer to go with him. Maybe she should offer to go with him, then she wouldn't be left quite so vulnerable with Barney.

The way he was getting at Mikaela was bordering on harassment, and Chloe felt terrible for thinking it but a part of her was relieved that Barney was giving his full attention to Mikaela, and hadn't deemed Chloe important enough in his little Neanderthal universe to start hounding her as well. Chloe had been in the same form as Barney, and he'd had to sit next to the form tutor's desk because he couldn't get through a single registration without some vile comment or another.