Love and Fight

She's all that

Jade and I spent a good amount of time sitting at Icy Summer just talking, laughing, and getting to know each other better. She tells me about how her mother was caring and her father is clumsy, and I tell her about how my mother was patient and my brother and I were messy.

It's easy to talk to her, and I can sense the affection she has for her parents just by the way she talks about them. It's impossible not to find it beautiful.

Without realizing it, time flies by, but this isn't where I want to end my date with Jade. Before dusk, she needs to see the city park!

"As much as the conversation is great, we still have another place to go. And I promised that you would be home before dusk."

"First, you don't have to take that so seriously." She laughs before continuing. "Secondly, I think you mentioned something about a park, right?"

"Hey, it's not just a park! It's THE park!"

"And what's so special about it?" She continues smiling the whole time.

"You'll have to see for yourself. Let's go." I gesture with my head, and we both get up from our chairs.

Back at my motorcycle, she puts her hands on my shoulders, and I can't resist the urge to tease her.

"You know, it'll be safer if you hug me around the waist."

I look back out of the corner of my eye, and I can almost see her blushing under the helmet.

"Are you sure?" She says very shyly.

As a response, I just nod slightly and wait for her to slowly wrap her arms around me. I feel triumphant and gently rev the motorcycle.

We arrive at the huge city park in just a few minutes, and I can tell that just its size has already impressed Jade.

We get off the motorcycle and enter through the main gate, and I can't take my eyes off the expressions of enchantment appearing on her face.

I show Jade the trail through the trees, the playground with various toys for children, the sports courts, and the clearing with ample space for visitors to have a picnic. For a moment, I regret not thinking of bringing a basket with snacks to sit here, but I think it might be a good excuse to ask her out again.

We walk slowly to the end of the park where the skateboarding tracks are. Several ramps and countless obstacles for skaters, rollerbladers, and bikers to have hours of fun. I didn't expect Jade to be overly impressed, but I wanted to show her the park in its entirety. However, of all the places I introduced her to today, this was by far the one that elicited the biggest shocked expression from her.

"Just look at the size of these tracks!" Jade is literally vibrating with excitement, and it catches me completely off guard, leaving me shocked by her reaction. "There are so many obstacles, and ramps, and rails, and it's immense compared to what we had in my town!"

"So, you skate then?"

"On rollers!" She looks at me with an incredible sparkle in her eyes, taking my breath away for a second. "Well, I used to a few years ago. I always loved it, but I started running out of time with studies and having to take care of the house and my dad, but... It's not something you easily forget. Damn, what I wouldn't give to have my old rollers with me right now..." Her mind seems to wander to a very distant place when I grab her attention.

"Well, there's a shed right over there with equipment that people leave for anyone to use. Want to try your luck and see if we can find a pair in your size?"

Jade vibrates once again and follows me almost skipping to the small shed filled with skateboards, bikes, rollers, and safety equipment.

After searching for a while, we find rollerblades that fit her perfectly, and her face lights up completely. We also find a helmet and knee pads that don't match at all, but she seems to care very little about it, which leaves me even more amazed.

"Don't you want to join me with a skate?" She asks, pointing to the area with various models of them.

"Well, the thing is, I don't skate, Jade. It seems I'm not balanced enough to stand on one." I smile a bit shyly, remembering what my friends would describe as the hilarious episode when I tried to skate.

She thinks for a moment before raising an eyebrow at me.

"I thought fighters had great balance." She says almost challenging.

"Yeah, I thought that too when I tried."

She laughs.

"I'd pay to see the incredible Jay Holt falling off a skateboard." she looks at me challengingly once again, and I love it.

I watch her struggle to balance on the rollerblades and decide to tease her as well.

"I won't pay anything, and I think I'm about to witness the incredible Jade Mayle crashing on rollers."

"But I'm not an incredible person." She laughs.

"Neither am I."

"Everyone thinks you are."

"And what do you think?"

My question catches her completely off guard, and her cheeks blush quickly. Jade still smiles as she looks away from me.

"Maybe a little..."

With my thumb, I gently hold her chin and make her look into my eyes again, surprising her once more.

"You are incredible, Jade."

I felt like I should say that to her because it's truly what I think of her. Sure, we've only known each other for a short time, but I feel she's unique, with her own special charm that captivates me.

For a moment, we stand there just looking at each other without moving a muscle. Just as I think about leaning in to kiss her, she nervously smiles and breaks the tension of the moment.

"Well, let's see if I still have a knack for this."

She glides out of the shed with a bit of difficulty, and I smile at the scene.

As I follow her, I see Ron nearby with his own skateboard and helmet leaning against a railing. As soon as he notices me, he waves and comes towards us.

"Hey, man, didn't expect to see you here today. I came alone, didn't even call the gang." He comments, greeting me.

“Ah, no problem. I just came to introduce Jade to the park." I smile and nod towards Jade.

“Of course." Ron smirks at me and I simply ignore him.

“Jade, this is my best friend, Ron.”

“Hello, Ron." She waves shyly as he notices her rollerblades.

“Oh, so the lady knows how to skate?”

“Well, it's been a few years, but I think I can still manage." She says excitedly.

“At least someone here has enough balance on wheels." Ron looks at me provocatively while they both laugh.

“Yeah, I heard about the little disaster.”

They laugh together for a little while, and I stare at him angrily. He's my best friend, but he could disappear right now.

“Come on, Jay. Don't look at me like that, you know I'm just kidding." Ron eases the situation, and I roll my eyes at him.

“Well, I'm going to stretch a bit to avoid any issues." Jade smiles and walks away from us.

I watch her take off the rollerblades and start stretching when Ron snaps me out of the trance I was in:

“I've never seen you bring any girl to the city park." He looks at me with a crooked smile.

“I just thought she would enjoy the place.”

“Sure." He says ironically. “Just don't get too distracted, buddy.”

Ron has known me for at least 8 years. He used to come over to my house to play fight with my brother. He has seen me at my best and my worst, and he has also seen me develop feelings for a girl before, knowing that I become different, more absent-minded, even though it happened for the last time a few years ago. He knows that it's happening again.

I don't even know if I'm ready to like someone again. It's so easy to lose control of everything, to let my guard down and show the worst parts of myself, which usually scares and pushes people away.

I don't know if I'm capable of controlling that side of me in extreme situations, but I want to try for Jade.

“Hey, don't forget that today you're fighting against Mike's little buddy. Don't lose focus, Jay." Ron says, genuinely concerned about me. I turn to him with a smile as Jade puts her rollers back on.

“Come on, stop worrying so much, Ron. We both know I can easily handle that guy.”

We still exchange ironic smiles when a blur passes us at an incredible speed.

It's only when we look at the back of the blur that we realize it's none other than Jade, skating as if she's gliding on ice.

My jaw drops.

“Holy s**t!” Ron exclaims. “The girl is like a rollerblading hurricane!

Honestly, there's no better way to describe it.

Jade speeds up to the first ramp and smoothly descends it, then flies up the next one, stopping briefly at the top balancing on the tips of her rollerblades. She spins her body and goes back down the same ramp.

She glides from one obstacle to another with an agility I've never seen before. She jumps, spins, and even skates backward! All the while she's smiling and enjoying the moment as if she's doing one of the things she loves most in the world and giving her all for the simple pleasure she derives from it.

It's truly impressive what this girl can do on rollers, and I can't even blink as I watch her.

I think of the fragile and lost girl I saw on the night we met, and she simply doesn't seem like the same person I see gliding with such confidence on the skatepark. I can almost see an aura glowing around her.

I notice some skateboarders even making room for her as they are all amazed by Jade's skills, and the best part is seeing how much she enjoys rollerblading. She must have missed it a lot.

“I guess our great fighter just lost a match." Ron smiles as he squeezes my shoulder and shakes me, but even that is not enough to make me stop admiring her.

Jade accelerates towards another ramp when someone crashes into her with force, causing her to roll on the ground.

Without thinking, I run as fast as I can towards her.

As I approach I notice who the guy that hit her is, and damn, it had to be that son of a b***h Mike?