Brief and Crewsocks: Ghost Hunters

Chapter 7

Panty was waiting in the sisters' topless pink SUV See-Through when Stocking returned and hopped over the door to get into the passenger seat while holding a large tub of popcorn and a giant fountain drink, the two food items combined being nearly as large as her entire torso.

Panty looked at her sister as she settled in, seemingly a little annoyed to see so much junk food. "Did you get the bug planted?" she asked.

Stocking tilted her head back and gave a short "humph!" before stating confidently, "Of course I did! It couldn't have been easier."

Panty's eyes lit up with a greedy glimmer as she rubbed her hands together and leaned forward to turn on a radio she had placed upon the dashboard of their car. "Well then, let's find out what those boys are up to..."

Stocking began digging into her giant bucket of popcorn hungrily.

Almost as soon as she flipped the knob, Brief's voice could be heard through the machine.

"See, the thing about Panty is... She's the most beautiful and sexiest girl in the world!"

A large smug smile appeared on Panty's face as she looked towards her sister tauntingly.

"It's not just that..." Brief's voice continued, "She's strong and stubborn. And she's fearless—she's not worried about what other people think, she always does whatever she wants—she's completely free. I admire her, and I wish I could be more like her."

Panty's gaze went from Stocking and back to the radio, the smug smile slowly fading as she began feeling a little self-conscious about these compliments. A blush began to appear across her face. It was rare for her to hear anyone say anything positive about her that didn't begin and end with her appearance.

"I know she doesn't always act like it, but I know that deep down she really cares. But—she always seems to think that she needs to pretend like she doesn't. And it can be hard to endure that at times—when she feels she needs to push away the people she cares about to look cool."

Panty reached for the switch of the radio, a drop of sweat rolling down the side of her head as she spoke timidly, "Well, uh—they aren't talking about their plans right now, so—maybe we don't need to listen to this." While normally she enjoyed being praised, she mostly only enjoyed being praised for very shallow traits. She very much suspected where this was heading and didn't want to hear the next part.

Stocking reached out and grabbed ahold of Panty's hand, retorting with amusement. "Hey—you had me plant the bug; I want to hear this." Now it was her chance to smugly grin at the way her sister was twisting.

"But ultimately, she excites me like no other ever could. She is the girl I want to marry."

Panty had heard Brief declare this once before. At the party where his father was going to have him engaged to marry her demon rival Scanty. But at that time she had no idea it was her 'Geek Boy' who was saying it. She'd spent that whole night trying unsuccessfully to hook up with anyone else at that party that she'd lost track of him and when he made the declaration, he had cleaned up so well that she couldn't recognize him. At the time it was just confusing for this handsome total stranger to say such a thing about her.

But now hearing it in front of the person whose judgment she most feared, when he didn't even know she was listening and so had no reason to lie—she felt so exposed. It was like having all the walls she built up around her heart being recklessly bulldozed through. She felt like she'd been stripped of all of her defense, and she didn't like what she saw inside of herself when that was done. Her head was lowered, her face bright red and she was uncharacteristically silent.

At least if he were in front of her at hand, she could say something, do something to change the direction of this conversation to be less uncomfortable. Probably something cruel, rude, or gross—anything that would break this tension. Being forced to just sit here and listen to it helplessly was torture.