Blades

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Mark opens the Leavers' front door before I've even walked through the gate.

"Afternoon, Fred," he says, "Isn't it a wonderful day?" He stands in the doorway in his muddy football kit, golden hair comically spiked into a short tuft. The indestructible bliss on his face makes me laugh because I know why it's there.

"You won the match, then?" I ask as I squeeze past him and inside. Goldie is immediately lashing her tail against my legs with a clear message of my friend is here to see me!

"Indeed we did," Mark beams, closing the front door, "thrashed them out of existence. Though I still think we'd score even more if you joined the team." He winks at me and I decide to combat it with a withering stare.

"We've been through this before, Mark. It's called skating."

"Eh, I know, I know. Just such a shame to waste a master's coaching is all." He means himself when we were about seven; Mark is well-meaning but he doesn't lack ego. "Charlie!" He shouts, almost deafening me, "Your twin's here. Come and be sociable."

We hear a muffled, "I'll be one minute." Mark rolls his eyes.

"No manners that one. And after all the time you and I have been trying to train him for. Anyway, I need a shower. See ya, Fred." He bounds up the stairs as Charlie flops down them.

"What do you want to do?" He bats Goldie's nose away as she tries to tell him I've arrived, despite the fact he can clearly see me.

"I was thinking The Hollow?" I say. He nods - no time is wasted on formalities for us.

"Let's go."

The Hollow is a small dip surrounded by three trees in the park at the end of our road. It's hidden behind the bike hire and has been our own little haven since we discovered it aged ten. It's our quiet place, away from all the madness life brings. We walk there in the afternoon sun with Goldie at our heels and scramble into one of the trees as soon as arrive.

"So, how was training?" Charlie asks once he's settled comfortably against the trunk. I wrinkle my nose.

"Good, yeah. Until he had to leave early."

"What, Sandy boy?" I nod and he shrugs. "I know why that kind of thing annoys you, Freddie, but you're not the only thing in his life." I'd be offended to hear that from anyone else's lips but Charlie could say almost anything to me and I'd listen.

"I know, I know, it's just..."

"You want him to be perfect?" His mouth quirks. "Because he's your dream-come-true?" I chuck a twig at him.

"Shut up."

"You do realise that every time you say that I know I'm right." I shred a leaf to make myself look busy. Charlie takes a moment before he continues, more softly, "When are you going to admit how you feel about him?"

I shrug, "What good would admitting it do?"

"Potentially quite a lot."

"It really wouldn't," I say, starting on a new leaf since my previous one is in tatters. "Dating him is just about as forbidden as it's possible to be while I'm skating with him, and skating with him is more important to me than dating him."

"Who has a right to tell you it's forbidden?" He sounds frustrated.

"You don't understand, Charlie, Sherrie's my coach. If you have a good coach and you want to go places, you listen to them. She has every right to tell me it's forbidden. It's her job." From the way his silence feels I can tell that Charlie is pouting. "If I leave it long enough it'll disappear and this time next year we'll be laughing at the fact we ever had to talk about it. It's just a crush."

"Freddie, you haven't fancied someone in forever." That earns him a scowl. I don't have to fancy someone all the time to be a valid teenager, come on.

"Meaning what exactly?"

"That this one's real, and it's staying."

We stare each other out.

Then my phone buzzes against my hip.

"Let me guess, it's lover boy." I resist the urge to push him off the branch. Charlie can irritate the hell out of me sometimes but I wouldn't want to land him in A&E. I don't think, anyway.

I open the text (it is indeed from Sandy), heart doing an irritating skitter as I do.

"What does he say?"

I show Charlie the screen: 'There's a hockey tournament tomorrow right?'

"You see? Hardly a love letter, Charleston." I type back a reply:

'Yup. We can't use the ice after 11:30 :('

'Thought so...damned hockey skaters...' I chuckle at the age-old rivalry.

'Off-ice until 12:30?' I text back.

He takes longer to reply this time, although he's read it. I watch my phone impatiently, aware that Charlie is likewise watching me.

'Definitely. But since we can't use the rink after that I was wondering if I could ask a favour...'

'Sure.' Where is this going?

'Take me sight-seeing? ;))))'

My face must change because Charlie reaches across and takes the phone out of my hands to read it. He raises an eyebrow at me.

"Don't say it," I warn him, cheeks going red as I take back my phone. Charlie knows better than to try and suggest the word date at this point, but the eyebrow stays raised.

"I'm not saying anything."

My thumbs hover over the screen, unsure of what they're supposed to be doing. My mouth is suddenly dry.

"What do I say?"

"Erm, yes?" Charlie laughs, "Obviously."

Still I don't type.

Charlie prises the phone out of my motionless fingers and types a reply. He's trustworthy enough that I let him.

"What did you say?" I ask when he hands it back to me.

"I'd love to," he reassures me, "that's literally all I said." I fidget while I wait for the little tick to appear by the message. "Come on, Fred-Astaire, we better be going."

Charlie jumps down from the branch and Goldie dances around his feet. I stop looking at my phone long enough to follow him.

"Charlie," I say as I brush off my jeans, "why are you so sure that Sandy and I need to get together?"

"Because of the way you talk about him," he shrugs. His big green eyes meet mine and, for once, they don't look playful. "And I want you to be happy."

All I can do is nod my understanding. If there's one thing Charlie and I always want it's for the other to be happy.

Satisfied that I've grasped what he meant, Charlie starts off towards home, hair and dog even more golden in the evening light as he whistles 'Yellow Submarine'. My phone buzzes again.

'Perfect :) can't wait xx'

However hard you try, I think, you're only getting deeper.

With a sigh I slip my phone back into my jeans and jog to catch up with Charlie.