Empathy for Comic Strip Characters, part 2

Well, apparently while I was out of town with limited internet opportunities, the "dessert" storyline wrapped up. Brad had decided to "upgrade" his looks with a goatee, and gamely headed over to Toni's place to have dessert with her and her niece.

I've got to give my buddy Brad a big fist-bump for not letting bratty little Shannon deter him from getting some face-time with Toni. Of course, the goatee backfired, kinda. Neither Toni nor Shannon liked it, and Shannon was very direct about it in a way that kids are. Just when it seems that Brad's gonna have to do some damage control for the goatee stunt, Toni offers to shave it for him right then and there.

Now, I can't speak for all guys, but there's almost nothing hotter than having the girl you love give you a shave. Particularly when she gets all touchy admiring the end result. Now, even with all this, I really didn't see Saturday's strip coming...

...but if I'm Brad, I want that kind of dessert pretty much all the time. Let the kid eat the sweets and go have a nice sugar coma in front of a Disney flick...I'll take making out with her hottie aunt any day. I liked that "ending" for a couple of reasons.

1. Brad's still kinda clueless and guarded. He's not taking anything for granted with Toni, and he's taking pretty much everything at face value, so he's surprised right up 'til the kiss.
2. Without managing to seem conceited, Toni knows that Brad would much rather kiss her than worry about food.
3. Toni seems just as into the idea as Brad does. Even though they had a kiss after ditching the firefighter's ball to go go-karting, this was an unambiguous signal of desire on her part.

Stroking the cheek post-shave was good, but it's still one of those things that could be taken as more-or-less platonic (Toni could just be a very tactile person, and would have reacted the same to anyone). But, a kiss, initiated by her, that's a milestone for my man Brad.

Don't screw it up, Brad.

I figure Evans will either re-introduce the Dirk character, turn Shannon into a source of stress for the couple, or let TJ mess with Brad's insecurities, and there will be some sort of blowup. But then, I thought sure he'd kill off Ben (Bernice's long-lost Army brother), and he didn't, so my track record on guessing isn't that great. That said, I know how things go for guys like Brad and me, so I can almost see it coming.

We're about overdue for another visit from Tiffany, so I figure she'll show up in the current adopt-a-highway thread.