Love Condemned: Beginnings by Stephanie Brown Read Free Book Online

to see if he could find where Miranda had moved to. Without success, Adrian let out a long sigh and took his seat. The girl next to him crossed her legs and made sure that she had his attention.
    “My name is Sophie.” She reached out her hand to make sure she had contact wi th Adrian. Something told him that she had done this before and very well.  He did not want to be rude though and reached out to take her hand and shook it gently.
    “My name is Adrian, pleased to meet you.”
    To Adrian, she was a very attractive girl. It would not be the worst thing in the world to have to sit next to her. But inside he felt a knot in his stomach, like Miranda decided he was not worth talking to any longer. Maybe it was his nightmare that scared her off.
    “Well, I have to confess something to you.” Sophie turned to face Adrian , smiled at him and pushed her long blonde hair back away from her face. She really was good looking, but it was not the same beauty that he saw in Miranda. Miranda had the feeling of her personality and natural calmness that was attractive to him. Sophie continued, “I saw you in line at the bathroom and I had to say hello.” She looked down a little and tried to pretend to be shy, “I think you are cute and I wanted to talk to you more.”
    She was good, but not that good. Adrian could see the act for what it was, just an act. He would not be surprised if she used that line on many other men and had been successful. If he had sa t next to her on the bus first, it might have worked on him also. But now things were different. That thought kind of scared him because it suggested that he liked Miranda more than he was willing to admit.
    Before Adrian could reply, Miranda had walked up, "That's my seat." Startled, Adrian almost jumped out of his seat to apologize. Instead, Sophie replied first. “It is not your seat anymore. Move along little girl and leave us grown-ups to talk.” Adrian knew this was about to get ugly and he was literally caught in the middle.

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    “It is not your seat anymore. Move along little girl and leave us grown-ups to talk.”  
    Miranda stared at the girl for a moment. She was not one to be in a fight, but this crossed even her lines. She grinded her teeth and prepared for a counter attack. She was certainly not going to get away with this. She thought she'd scare Miranda away with her words? Never. She had merely created a very fanatic opponent now.  
    Miranda planted her hands on her hips. "Well, in that case   you  can certainly zip it and move along, because your manners are as far away from 'grown-up' as they can ever be. There's no place for your huge ass and ego here, you'd need at least five seats for that. And since there's only one here, you can squeeze in with your friend's attitude and stop suffocating more people than necessary with your bimbo ways." Without wasting any more time, Miranda stepped over Adrian's legs and planted her feet firmly on the ground, directly in front of the blonde. "Out!" she said forcefully, her eyes spitting fire.
    Adrian did not know how to react to the events that unfolded before him. The fire in Miranda’s actions surprised him as she put the blonde in her place and told her to get out of her seat. Adrian stood up quickly to give the girl an exit. Sophie sat for a minute staring back at Miranda and did not say a word. When she finally realized that Miranda meant business, Sophie quickly left the seat and made her way back to join her friend.
    The whole thing was surreal to Adrian. He did not know that Miranda had this fire in her. He was impressed, even if a little scared. Miranda took her seat without speaking. She picked up her blanket and pig from the floor and brushed them off. Adrian took his seat next to her as the doors to the bus closed. Alice started to make another announcement, but Adrian did not listen. He sat there and waited for Miranda to say something to him, but only silence came forth.
    He