Take My Breath | Catnipz

ten

THE AUDIENCE took a stand and roared as Mara Jace Kim had scored the winning goal of the match. The forward held her arms above her head in tight fists as she ran across the field in high spirits. The team gathered around Mara and lifted her up above their shoulders.

"Mara! Mara! Mara!" The team chanted proudly in unison as they circled along the field that was so naturally their centre stage. "We love you MJ!" A boy cheered. "No one does it like you!"

Mara waved towards the crowd and smiled. It looked bright and beautiful, even from up here. Mason pushed through the masses of people and trudged through the tightness of squished bodies against each other. "Coming through!"

Mason took a deep sigh of relief as she released herself from the heat of the crowd. "God I hate that." She takes a moment to dust off her shirt before making her way down the last few steps.

"Oi! Give me my jacket will you?"

Mason lifts her head and finds MJ in the middle of the field. "What?" Mason could hardly hear. The crowd was still standing behind her, cheering endlessly as the team continued to celebrate.

She could hardly hear her own thoughts. Mason was convinced that her heart beat had been bass boosted. She could hear it pound against her chest as if it were a set of drums. It was almost deafening. The crowd had become inaudible and everything around her had become a giant blur.

Her surroundings had soon turned to blobs of colour. All she could see was the tall young woman that was hurriedly making her way over.

"Mason!"

There she was. Mara Jace in all her glory. In her oversized red soccer jersey with Mason's favourite number and her hair dancing in the wind...

She could hardly remember her own name or who she was. She could feel her brain numb. Mason could feel her world come to a sudden halt. It was as if the crowd had disappeared and it was just them—in their own little world.

It felt like seconds, minutes and hours had passed until Mara had finally reached her. But it all came down to this very moment. The first time that Mason had ever felt Mara's own lips against her own. Her whole world had been shaken up. Everything she has ever known had come crashing down into red hot burning flames.

And so she leans in, ever so carefully. Breathing and not breathing and her heart racing like it were on a pedestal. Her body had froze like she were a lake on a winter's night. She could not move or think or do. All she could feel was her.

She was as sweet as molasses, and this kiss felt like she had taken a deep dive into a pool of golden honey. Mason had been swept up by the sweet smelling notes of MJ's perfume mixed with her shampoo and the taste of her lips. She couldn't not care for anything else.

All she could care for was the current she had found herself drowning in; one that she had been so desperately avoiding. But it was no use now. Mason was sinking into much deeper waters. This is the only thing that matters. This moment. This kiss. It did not matter if she had drowned.

She could feel Mara's warmth once again. She could feel her best friend's toned body against her own, her hands pressed against either side of Mason's slim waist. She wanted this kiss to last forever, but that would be wishful thinking, an unreachable reality that she could only dream of.

Her hands are tangled in Mara's long black hair. She reels her in closer and she feels Mara sigh deeply into their kiss. Mason had eaten the overwhelming desire to scream and run off into the distance. She had ceased what seemed like the one and only time that she could find herself kissing her like they were more than just friends.

And when the time had come, they pressed their foreheads together. "Whoa." The air was filled with their heavy breathing, chests rising and falling as they looked into each other's eyes.

"You won." Mason breathed.

Mara moves her hands away from Mason's waist and uses them to cup her face instead. "I did." She answered. "I won because I had you here."

Mason could hardly envision her train of thought. A succession of all her thoughts and feelings had driven away with no point of return. It was her warmth, her touch and her kiss. It was all her. "What does it have to do with me?" She asked.

"Because you're you. And you're here," Mara answered. "That was enough for me. And I won."

Mason bit her lower lip. "I don't understand..."

Her best friend leaned close and gave her a soft peck on the lips. "Don't worry about it too much. But I won. And it's all thanks to you, baby."

She felt her head turn fuzzy. Mason could see Mavis on the other end of the field with her friends—the other girls on the team. The last fifteen hours had felt so surreal to Mason that she had somehow forgotten that Mavis was a real person—a living and breathing person.

She couldn't quite understand her best friend anymore. What MJ had done made no sense to Mason. It was all a blur. A hazy fog. An endless static. She had never felt so utterly lost and clueless in her entire life. Never in her wildest dreams would she think that the root cause of all this would be her own best friend.

Never in this lifetime.

But here she stood. Proved wrong.

"I really don't get you, MJ." Mason uttered.

Mara looked at her softly with her brown eyes. "Hm? What do you mean?" She wondered.

How could you be this clueless, MJ?

Her body still felt like it were on fire. She had so many questions she didn't have the answers for. If this were to become regular thing, but only ever, would she ever be able to make it through alive?