A TALE OF TWO LOVERS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

He placed a hand under my left knee, pulling so that I had to jump on him. I held on tight on his waist as my hands went up to his shoulder. His muddy gloved hands were on my face as he tilted his head, pulling me in to his neck. He pulled the tight material that covered my neck down.

“Max" I whispered as he stamped a kiss on my exposed neck.

“Its not a game, don’t worry" he reassured.

“I meant the pinch. That was the game, you dummy" I said and he laughed.

“I know. I won’t cross the line until I see a green signal" he said, before untangling my legs from his waist.

He set me down but I held on to his shoulder, realising that my knees had turned to mush.

“Well played" I complimented.

“ Learnt from the best" he said, slowly setting me down.

I watched as he passed the finish line, wondering how he knew that my neck was my soft spot. I didn’t even know that. The buzzer went off, announcing the end of the race and I waited for the strength to come back to my knees when Max sat down in front of me. With all his fingers straight, his hand making a sword, he started lightly hitting my thigh.

“My birthday hasn’t been this much fun for a long time” he said, intently focusing on the task.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly, his eyes narrowing as if dreading the next question. It wasn’t a topic he wanted to talk about.

“Great. I thought I couldn’t live up the awesome birthdays you must have had" I said and he looked up.

“Huh??” he asked.

“We mud slide most during celebrations. This was a double celebration” I explained and his eyes softened.

I stopped his hand movement and stood up along with him.

“Fiona, cake" I said, looking to our left.

Fiona and Blake went to the back and came out after a while with the cake I had ordered five hours before. Everyone had gathered for the surprise as we had agreed on meeting right after it was over. We glided out of the rink and after removing the shoes, walked towards the group that stood in the corner. The birthday song was sung and the three layered blueberry cake was cut in to small pieces. When everyone had a plate of cake, gifts were exchanged. Everyone had a gift prepared since Blake had informed us of Max’s birthday.

“Thank you so much. This is honestly the best day I’ve had in a long time" Max said before joining the boys who were conversing on the other side of the room.

“So, how is your neck?” Fiona asked, taking a bite of the cake.

“Kissed” I replied before we burst in to laughter.

“What? What has he done to you?” Fiona asked, unbelieving of my answer.

“He turned my knees to mush with one kiss" I answered before taking a bite of the cake.

“As you said, a seasoned player" she replied and I hummed, smiling in to the cake.

“Great choice on the cake" she praised.

“It was his. Blueberry ice cream" I said.

“Sharing favourites, I see” she said.

“I want to give this a try so bad. I want...” I started.

“Then go for it. There is something about you two and I dont want that to pass you by" Fiona said and I agreed.

There was something, a spark and the feeling that I wanted more from whatever it was we had was overwhelming. Five times. We had only met five times and we were already tangoing in mud.

“Imagine if you two were on the same team. You would have lost in the first ten minutes" she said, a chuckle following the statement and I gave her a pointed glare.

“You sure about that?” a deep voice asked.

Max stood to Fiona’s right as he looked at her with an eyebrow raise. He handed me the vanilla milkshake he was holding.

“Very sure. You’d be too distracted to notice that the competition is over” Fiona said.

“Distracted? Yes. We would be focused enough to win though" I said and Fiona tilted her head as a smirk graced Max's lips.

“What? Not how it works" she said with a slow head shake.

“Why don’t we test it out?” Max suggested.

“How about next Friday? For Amanda’s birthday" Fiona said and Max gave her a nod.

“Perfect birthday gift with a side of loss" Fiona continued, giving me a wink.

I sipped the milkshake as Max passed a strawberry one to Fiona.

“Let’s place a bet on it" Max suggested.

“Interesting. Anything I own that you want?” Fiona asked.

“I’ll get back to you on that. What about you?” Max asked and my eyes slightly narrowed.

What did he want?

Fiona sipped the strawberry milkshake, her eyes narrowing in thought and the intercom sounded, announcing the next race.

“We will have group 2 and 3 on the rink in room 4. The final will start in 30 minutes"

“A box of tools. Assorted. From farmer to mechanic, plumber...” she said.

“You have tools though," I said.

“They are old. I need new ones" she explained.

“Alright. I’ll tell you what I want later. Amanda you want anything?” Max asked.

“No. You can ask for what you want" I assured.

“Thanks. See you at the rink" he said, walking away.

“Giving up thy wish for thy love?” Fiona mocked and I placed the plate of cake down to smack her.

“A box of tools?” I asked and she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me? I just arranged your first date" she said, and I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, and you didn’t spare any expenses either," I scolded.

“Very ungrateful” she said.“You guys should get a part-time job together to pay for my box of tools” she suggested.

“I don’t have time for that” I answered and she scoffed.

“It would make for a great bonding time, not that you need it anymore” she added and I smiled as we walked to the next room.

“You are right. The competition is more than enough bonding time” I said, making her smile.

We entered the room and the thick atmosphere stopped us near the door. Max and Felix were staring one another down while Blake held on to Max’s shoulder, trying to pull him back. Fiona and I looked at one another before looking back at the scene, which was quite confusing. Aaron stood to the side, near the middle of the two boys and his face screamed one thing, ‘this is a regular occurrence’ and I narrowed my eyes.

“There is nothing I can do about it. We can’t keep fighting whenever we meet”, Felix reasoned, and Max scoffed, looking at him as though he was a bug. It was a condescending look that needed no words, he was beyond disgusted with the creature in front of him.

“No one is fighting you. Your face just disgusts me that’s all. Play fair” Max said before turning his back to Felix.

Felix's jaw ticked as his hands balled into fists, the comment making a vein throb on his forehead.

"Play fair? I should be saying that to you, don't you think?"

"And screetch it to who?" Max asked, making my eyebrows go up.

Fiona gasped, her hand going up to cover her mouth as we looked at one another. After looking Felix up and down with a snarl, Max and Blake walked away. Aaron pulled Felix to the other side of the room as the groups got ready for the final round. As they respectively wore their shoes, Blake constantly tapped Max's shoulder while speaking to him softly in a bid to calm him down. The race began and it was chaotic from the very beginning. Aaron and Blake separated the two only to be squashed like bugs between the fuming guys. Felix glided on the mud, slanting the blades on his shoe, and the mud flew right on to Max's helmet.

“He threw the first punch. I guess he is still angry about what Max said to him" Fiona said, twirling a strand of hair on her finger.

I nodded at her statement as Felix smirked at the glare Max directed at him. Blake went full speed for the finish line, taking Felix's action as a sign and Aaron went after him, tripping him. Felix attempted an escape, gliding his way through the mud when Max placed a hand on the ground, swinging his left leg so that it made contact with Felix's shin.

“Ouch” I said as Felix hit the mud with a thud.

Max stood up, a hand behind his back as he regarded Felix with a stare before sliding away. Aaron and Blake had found a sport to engage in while the other two settled their argument for the day. They were pulling, pushing and throwing mud at one another but all of this, on one spot. They were nearer the finish line than the other two but didn’t move. It wasn’t their job anymore.

“Punching isn’t allowed, how are they going to finish this?” Fiona thought out loud.

“I would go all karate” I said.

“Good idea. How about rolling in the mud repeatedly until they get tired?” she suggested.

“I would get tired too" I said, as Felix caught up to Max.

Felix swiped a foot under Max, making him go down but Max was determined not to go down alone as he pulled Felix's collar and down they went. His reflexes were something else. He had excellent control of his body and I wondered what made it so easy for him to react so quickly as it didn’t look natural. It was a honed skill.

“Don’t you dare try that again” he warned and Felix chuckled.

“Or what?” Felix asked and the grin on their faces told a different story.

Were they friends?

Blake and Aaron were animatedly chatting on the side, not caring about the two and as they continuously fought on the rink, Felix repeating what Max told him not to and Max doing the same thing, it seemed like a reunion of sorts. They bicker and fought but there was longing in their eyes, one angry at the other. They bickered, but it wasn't the brutal type. Felix held Max in a chockhold, gliding backwards in an attempt to lay him down when Max pushed his right leg backwards, kicking Felix's shin and pulling him by the elbow that was on his neck. They were both stubborn in their movements, Felix still hlding on tight despite the motion threatening to throw him down. The mud splattered all over as they tumbled to the ground and for a while, they stopped. They stayed on the ground, calming their breaths and not even ten seconds later, they were at it again. Felix reached to grab Max's collar only for his hand to be slapped away. They stood up, going full speed towards the finish line and as Felix neared it, Max slid on the ground with his left leg, his right in the air to kick Felix out of the way and it looked like the end of the race only for Felix to turn around abruptly, holding Max's foot and going round and round. He was laughing at the top of his lungs as Max tried to find balance. Max kicked up his left leg, hitting Felix's hand and he let go. They both swirled in the mud, one in each direction and I facepalmed. Their antics were a bit much for mud sliding and since it was clear that they were not enemies, I relaxed.

"It has been thirty minutes. I'm disappointed" Aaron said, shaking his head slightly.

"Same here. It's our time now" Blake said as the two stopped spinning.

"Ten more minutes" Felix requested and Aaron declined his offer with a solemn headshake.

"Do this at your own time. We are hungry and we can't leave since we will be disqualified so move" he said pointing to himself and Blake who nodded in agreement.

They had fifteen minutes to go and as Blake and Aaron took over, Max and Felix were throwing daggeres at each other. They were glaring so hard but didn't move from their spots. Felix's brown eyes complimented his tan skin and with a straight nose and a small mouth, he was a very good looking guy. Blake and Aaron started their race in the middle of the rink and as sophisticated as they seemed, they were no better than the other two.