The Mark

Just friends

“Now you’ll do jab, cross, hook” shouted a middle aged man. “Do that and when I say sprawl, then sprawl.”

He was bald and had two big wrinkles on his forehead, but overall didn’t look old.

Bunch of guys and two girls nodded and got in pairs, Miles with his friend, Jasper. Everyone was completely wet. Sweat drops run down Miles’ topless body, red hair sticking to his forehead.

“Sprawl!”

He automatically went down to the mat, and got up quickly. It was good training. Exhausting, but good.

His coach shouted commands a few times more and then they finished.

At least during training he was able to clear his head from this weird situation from yesterday, and forget how upset Kiara was. But now the session was over and he had to face it again. He decided not to shower at the gym, he’s going to get sweaty again riding a bike back home. He will take a shower in his own bathroom.

“Okay everyone, thanks for today and see you tomorrow on Saturday at my party!” said Miles to everyone while leaving.

“Woohoo, Milie is almost an adult now.” shouted one of the boys, with long blonde hair in a bun.

“20 years old, how do you feel about it oldie?” asked jokingly Jasper.

“I could be a grandpa and still take you both down easily.” replied Miles.

“Wait, you’re not coming tomorrow?” asked Laura, one of the young women. She looked disappointed.

“No, I have to do some stuff.”

“Then maybe… umm…” she stuttered. “Do you wanna do something later today?” finally she said that. She had a massive crush on Miles. No one would blame her, he was absolutely handsome. His red hair is curly, kind of messy, but that suited him. His eyes were like chocolate. A lot of girls thought that he looks like freaking Adonis with his strong jaw and long sharp nose. It was actually a little crooked because of a couple previous fractures. He was a good fighter and had impressive defensive skills but it didn’t mean he’s never been punched. But it didn’t take away his charm in any way. He was tall and muscular. Laura wanted to ask him out for a long time now. Of course at the beginning she wanted him to ask her out, but he didn’t seem too interested.

“Um… yeah, sure” he said hesitantly. “I’ve got your number, so I’ll text you. Is that okay?”

“No problem” said Laura, almost blacking out.

Miles walked out of the gym thinking if he did the right thing. He didn’t want to embarrass her gym friend in front of everyone by saying no. But on the other hand it’s nothing bad and people get rejected all the time. It’s completely normal unless someone is rude. And he turned 20 in two days, which meant that he could find his mate now. Was it a good idea to date someone right before that? What’s the point? He got on a bike and drove away. It was sunny and hot outside, but it was nice to feel the chilly wind on his face and shoulders as he cycled. He arrived home, left his bike in the garden and took out all the equipment he had in his bag, then he proceeded to the kitchen through the back door.

“Hi mom” he saw his mother looking at something in the cupboard. He assumed she wanted a drink.

“Hi Miles, how was training?” she said with a weak voice.

“It was hard. So good.” he replied and went upstairs. He didn’t like seeing their mother like that. She had an alcohol problem, but she was in denial and didn’t want to talk to anybody about that. If only dad were alive. Maybe that would change something. He assumed that the death of their dad and her husband and mate traumatised her as she’d never talk about him. After a while they stopped asking, now they didn’t know much about their dad. Just that his name was Robert, was working for Alpha, had brown eyes and “nice, warm smile”. It wasn’t much, but something, and Miles liked that last piece of information because that was something that other people would say about him too. He was now in the bathroom, looking in the mirror. He smiled to himself. “Indeed nice and warm” thought to himself. He took off all wet clothes and took a quick shower. After picking an outfit for his not date- date, he turned on his PC to do some of the programming. It was summer, but he was a little behind with some stuff and he cared about his education, so that was his resolution to do at least one hour of programming work every day during summer. He prepared himself cold water with a lemon and started working.

Miles was focused on the code right in front of him when he heard knocking. He jumped on the chair.

“Yes, come in” he was sure it was his mom. And it was, but not alone. “Laura? What are you doing here? What time is it?” he looked at the lower right corner of the desktop and noticed that he was consumed by his work for 3 hours now. He was supposed to text her, and didn’t. “Well played day two” he thought.

“Hi Miles, I’m sorry” she was distressed. “It’s already 4 o clock and, well, you know.”

“Yeah, no. No worries.” he looked meaningly at his mom.

“Oh right, I’ll leave you two. It was nice to meet you Laura." Fortunately for Miles she understood his look.

“Nice to meet you too!”

Sofia left them, Laura still standing in the doorway, Miles standing next to the PC. Very awkward.

“Sorry Laura, didn’t mean to ghost you or anything.” started explaining himself “I’ll just save that down and we can go.”

“No problem.” she replied quietly. What the hell was she thinking? Coming to his house, asking his mom about him. She was telling herself off in her head.

Miles looked at her and invited her to come inside instead of standing there alone. She looked really nice, that’s for sure. Her long black hair, usually seen by him in two braids or in high bun, now lay flat on her back. White shirt with no bra underneath looked good on her. She had muscular arms, but overall she was quite chubby. Her cheeks were all red now.

She adjusted her shorts and sat on his bed.

“What do you have there?” she asked more confidently.

“Just some programming stuff for university. I need to work on this.” he didn’t want to go into details.

“But it’s summer.” she was surprised.

“I know, but that’s something that I need to get better at. So what do you want to do?” he changed the subject.

“It’s nice outside, maybe we could just go for a walk?” she thought that’s the safest proposition.

“Sure.”

Miles saved his files and they both went down the stairs.

“I’m going out mom.” shouted Miles. “Sorry” added after seeing mother on the phone. He noticed she’s in distress, but she probably won’t talk to him right now, and Laura was here.

They walked out and proceeded towards a nearby park. No one was saying anything, it was awkward.

“You did good on the training today” said Miles, not able to stand this weird silence.

“Yeah?” her eyes lightened. “I’m really trying, you know. I had this injury and I couldn’t heal properly, so I had to take quite a long break from training. But I’m back now and getting better.”

To be honest, he didn’t pay attention to her performance, but must admit that it was a relief to finally talk comfortably. So he almost didn’t feel guilty about this little lie. They took a turn to the left and he sniffed something. There was a big, black pickup coming and a familiar smell with it. Of course it was Kie, but why did someone drive her back? Did something happen? When the truck was next to them, he noticed the driver. It was Tim, their friend from school, he was 2 years older than Miles, but they were pretty close when they trained together. He was worried now, usually Kiara just cycled. Suddenly he realised that Laura was waiting for a response. s**t. She asked something, and he was so deep in his own thoughts, he didn’t even listen.

“Sorry, I dreamt for a second. I’m not my best self today.” apologised.

“It’s fine.” she said. “Look, I get it. That must’ve been weird for you, this whole ask you out thing, but you could’ve just said no.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I really am.” kept apologising. “You’re a nice person and I don’t want to make you feel bad. But I must admit that the timing is strange. You know my 20th birthday is on Saturday, right?”

“Well, yes, but what does that change?” she blushed. She knew it’s weird time to ask him out, but if not now then when? When he’s already found his mate?

“We could have an amazing time today, repeat that tomorrow, and then in two days I can find someone I’ll spend the rest of my life with.” he said now a little irritated. He knew that he’s been acting strange towards her, but did she even think about it?

“Maybe I’ll be your mate.” said Laura out of nowhere.

“Maybe. But I don’t know that now, and I don’t want to give you any hope.” said Miles.

“Let me decide about that.” said Laura and got closer to him. She stood on her toes to reach Miles’ lips and kissed him. That was out of nowhere too.

He let her kiss him for maybe three seconds, and then pushed her subtly.

“Woah, hey!” he was surprised. “What was that?”

“Do you find me attractive?” asked Laura. Where did all this confidence come from?

“Of course I do, but I’ve just told you…” he tried to repeat, but was silenced by her kiss again. He let it go this time. She’s an adult after all, and it’s not like he’s in pain now.

“Then let’s go to my place.” Laura took his hand and didn’t wait for him to answer. He let her lead him. It wasn't a long walk, she lived in a flat 5 minutes from the South part of the park. Her parents weren’t home, she started undressing herself right after closing the front door. She kissed Miles and started taking off his shirt. He sat on the couch and took her on his lap. She took off her shirt and now topless pressed her lips against his. Suddenly the only thing that Miles could think of was the image of Lisa and his sister. Is the universe punishing him for something or what? He pushed Laura away, a little too hard.

“I’m sorry.” apologised for being insensitive. “For the push and for this whole situation. I can’t.”

“What the hell?” she took the shirt from the floor and covered herself. Now she was pissed. “What exactly you can’t? You said you’re attracted to me.”

“Well, I said that you’re attractive.” added fuel to the fire. “Not that I’m attracted to you.”

“Are you gay?” she asked like it was impossible for a guy not to want s*x all the time.

“No I’m not. But I’m not in the mood and there’s no chemistry between us.” he didn’t want to lie.

“Wow, that was harsh.” she said.

He shrugged.

“I’m just being honest.” he was tired and just wanted to go home. “Look, you’re nice and cute. We don’t know each other too well but I’m sure that you deserve no less than a guy who’s crazy about you.”

“That was actually nice, but I’m still angry.” her voice softened. “Thanks for being honest, I guess.”

“I’m sorry again.” he put on his t-shirt and proceeded to the door.

“Um, Miles?” she called him. “Could you not mention that to guys from the gym?”

“I don’t kiss and tell.” replied Miles and left.

What a weird afternoon. He tried to link with Kiara to see if she’s okay. Tim wouldn’t drive her back without any reason so something must’ve happened. The problem was she blocked him. No wonder, after yesterday’s incident, it was so frustrating. While walking through the park, he saw a lot of couples. This and his weird date made him wonder if he’s actually going to find out who his mate is. It usually happens on 20th birthday. It had to do something with the legend about Jupiter and Saturn. They were lovers, but because it was forbidden for two men to be together, they were cursed and banished from the pack. They couldn’t stop moving, but couldn’t move together and as they were immortal, Jupiter and Saturn were doomed to eternity without each other’s love. So they came up with this idea to go by the exact same path all the time. Thanks to that they could meet every 20 years at least for a moment. Miles was sceptical about the connection between the legend and reality, but the fact was that it was almost time for him, no matter what power was behind it. Some of his friends found that weird, but he’s never been in a relationship, and definitely not because of a lack of candidates. A lot of girls had a crush on him, he even asked out a couple of them, but he’s never felt a deeper connection with any. Besides, it could only complicate things after 20th birthday. He just thought that it didn't make sense to date before that.

Miles was so deep into his own thoughts, he didn’t notice he’s almost home. He saw Kiara’s bike in the shed. It looked fine so it’s not likely that she had any accident on the way.

Sofia was napping on the couch when he came in. “Let’s leave it that way” he thought. He went upstairs, straight to Kiara’s room. After knocking three times, he just said that he’s coming in, not waiting for the response.

“Miles! What if I were naked? Oh, right…” she said with sarcasm.

“Oh, so can we joke about it already?” he laughed.

She was lying on the bed with a book on her left side. Miles closed the door behind him and sat next to her.

“Are you okay? I saw that Tim drove you back home. Did something happen?” asked concerned.

“No. I mean yes. I mean…” she was so tired, she couldn’t speak properly. “Nothing bad happened. Alpha gave me additional work to do and I wouldn’t be able to cycle with all the stuff.”

“What kind of work?” Miles was curious.

“Basically data entry.” said Kie. “He gave me paperwork and a laptop… s**t!”

“What?”

“I forgot about the laptop. It was a weird day. I need to collect it tomorrow then. I’m too exhausted to do it today.”

Miles laughed. It was unusual for Kiara to be so scatterbrained.

“You were blocking me whole day.” said with more serious tone older brother.

“Yeah, sorry. I was embarrassed about yesterday and had a lot of weird thoughts.” she replied truthfully. “And then mom was behaving shitty.”

“What did she do this time?”

“She got all angry and bitchy about the fact that Tim drove me back from Alpha’s house.”

“What? Why? She doesn’t like Tim or something?” that was strange.

“No, it was more about the Alpha than Tim himself. She told me I can’t go there anymore. “ she snorted.

“What the f**k? Why?” now he was angry. “I don’t understand this woman. What are you going to do?”

“She can say whatever she wants, I don’t care. It’s just…” she hesitated for a moment. “Mom is more and more annoying. She was never too affectionate but now she’s like this grumpy ball of stress and resentment.”

They looked at each other and laughed. She moved to the side of the bed to make a place for her brother. He laid down next to her.

“I wonder if that’s because she’s lost her mate.” he said quietly.

“Maybe. I know it is a terrible thing, but look at Dan. I’m sure he still misses his wife, but somehow he’s still joyful.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” he agreed. “It’s just… my 20th birthday is so close, and I have a lot of thoughts about it.”

“Are you scared?”

He was quiet for a second and then admitted:

”I am.”

That was the only thing he said and then it was just silence. She took his hand to comfort him. He relaxed.

“You smell nice.” he said suddenly.

“Well yeah, I showered.” she joked.

But it was something else. It was really nice smell, although he couldn’t actually describe it.

She sniffed him in revenge and stiffened:

“Well, well, well. Who is the lucky lady?” she teased him. She recognised a foreign smell on her brother.

He blushed.

“That was a disaster.” he started talking about the bizarre date. He promised Laura not to tell guys from the gym, so technically he didn’t do anything wrong.

“Oh s**t. I feel for her, but that’s actually ridiculous.” Kie was laughing. “So now, you’re just friends?”

“Just friends.”

They stayed in silence and after a while both fell asleep.