Seven Minutes From Heaven [bxb]

Chapter 4 - Liam POV: Little Antichrists

To say I never noticed Jude Caster before today would be a big fat lie when I noticed him in every class we shared, in every home group, and at every lunch game. Just because we'd never spoken, didn't mean his entire presence didn't make itself known at just about every turn. He was so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and yet no matter where I turned, he seemed to surround me. And I didn't mind one bit.

His brother had always overshadowed me in terms of competition and popularity, so to know his little brother had eyes for me, always rooting for me, gave me an insatiable sense of satisfaction. Josh Caster was a total prick, but I bet he didn't know his precious little brother was rooting for me in every game all along.

Charlie came and smacked me on my back.

"Howdy," he said, slumping his bag down beside the game machine.

"Howdy Doody," I answered as I climbed on top of an indoor electronic motorcycle. We were almost packed between bodies who stood in front of different game machines, either playing or crowding around to cheer the players on. Charlie and I managed to snag a motorcycle racing game and jumped on before anybody else got dibs and began choosing our racing settings.

"Righto, Liam," Charlie said, filtering through our options. "Easy, medium, or kill-ourselves-hard?"

"The last one," I answered, revving the handle.

Charlie gave me a side glance and a smirk as we bumped fists in camaraderie. The timer went off. Three... two... one... Away we went, zooming across an icy motocross track. Though I wasn't a novice at any of these games, Charlie was a formidable opponent. We cut sharp corners, soared over below glaciers and tag-teamed overpassing one another along the route. We were already on our fourth lap and the first one to reach the last flag would be deemed the winner.

With just seven seconds ago, I was barely a breadth from the finish line before a familiar mop of brown hair emerged from the crowd in my peripheral. My eyes barely flickered away from the screen, yet that split second was all it took for Charlie to gain the upper hand and pass me to the finish line.

"Wahoo!" Charlie yelled, throwing his fists in the air.

"Argh!" I threw my hands up in defeat before giving Charlie another fist bump to signify the end of a good match.

"There's no way you weren't about to win that, my dude," Charlie said, observant as ever. "Even by a hairbreadth. What happened?"

"Thought I saw someone," I said, glancing around at the crowds of kids and teens in the arcade, but I didn't see that familiar mop of brown hair again. Instead, some beefy, far less interesting bloke with similar hair momentarily drew my attention towards him. Who was I kidding? There's no way someone like Jude Caster would come to spaces like these.

But a different familiar figure emerged from the crowd, blue eyes and thick furrowed brows peering directly at me. Josh Caster made his way through with a few of his friends trailing close behind. Charlie's hand reached my shoulder and gave me a firm squeeze for reassurance, having known my relationship with Josh for a while now. A relationship that was not so great.

"You're done?" Josh asked, feigning a polite smile. "Great, we want a turn. Get off."

"Damn, that's crazy," Charlie answered, grinning over my shoulder. "We were just gonna rematch before handing it over to those kids waiting nicely behind us."

Josh looked at them at the same time I did. Their faces seemed to pale at the sight of a bulky tough kid with cropped blonde hair. His entire appearance screamed bully let alone his behaviour in general, and they stepped back in apparent submission, ready to give him the first turn.