Moment of Truth

Chapter 26: Practice

Like every competition, the men's single skaters have their own time to practice before the competition starts. I'm at the side of the rink with Coach Brian watching over Javier and Yuzuru. They'll occasionally come over and talk to Coach Brian or just mess around with me. But I'll tell them to get back to work. I need them to focus while they're here. This is a big competition for them and I wouldn't want them to not take it seriously, even I know Yuzuru very much does so.

The men's single skaters are told to take a 30 minute break as they need to repair the ice. I take a seat on one of the bleachers near by as Coach Brian talks to Javier and Yuzuru while they stand next to the entrance of the rink. Suddenly I feel someone sit next to me.

"Hey Marie," I look to my side to see Patrick sitting next to me.

"Hi Patrick," I greet him smiling. "How is practice going for you?"

"It's going fine. But I do feel a little tight in my jumps and it's sort of stressing me out."

"Oh, I have the solution for that!"

I dig around in my bag looking for something. Patrick looks as me in anticipation of what I'm going to show him. I manage to pull out a small ziplock bag filled with chocolate covered almonds.

"What's that?" Patrick asks curiously.

"It's dark chocolate covered almonds," I state opening up the bag. I then pull one out and offer it to Patrick. "Eating chocolate and almonds are good for stress. It's a two in one deal. Here, have one."

Patrick shrugs his shoulders and takes the chocolate covered almond from me. I keep the bag open as I pop a few in my mouth. Patrick grabs a couple more to put in his mouth. Then Patrick and I go to grab more at the same time and our hands touch in the bag. We realize what's going on and start laughing.

"Is it snack time over here or something?" a voice calls out to us. Patrick and I stop laughing. I look over to see Javier coming over with Yuzuru tailing behind him.

"Oh hey guys," I say to them as they come up to the bleachers standing in front of Patrick and I. "I'm just giving Patrick some chocolate covered almonds because he said he was feeling stressed. Did you know they are good for you when you're feeling stressed?"

"I did not know that. Can I have some?"

"Of course you can. Here."

I offer the bag to Javier and Yuzuru, but only Javier takes some. I push the bag towards Yuzuru, but he politely declines, still not looking me in the eyes. I knit my eyebrows in frustration before bringing the bag closer to me.

"How do you guys feel about practice?" I ask the two guys in front of me.

"I think everything is going smoothly," Javier replies. "But we'll have to see on the ice tomorrow."

"What about you, Yuzuru?"

"Ice is good. But tight on jumps," Yuzuru state curtly. Still not looking me in my eyes.

"Yuzuru, can I have a moment with you?"

I don't let Yuzuru answer as I come off the bleachers and drag Yuzuru off to a more secluded location. Once I figure we're alone, I stop and let go of Yuzuru's arm.

"Okay, what's up with you?" I question Yuzuru, putting my hands on my waist.

"Nothing," Yuzuru murmurs staring at the ground.

"Oh really? Because you still can't look me in the eyes. What did I do to make you like this? Do we have another problem? Cause if we do, you need to tell me so we can solve it, together."

"I'm jealous..."

"What are you jealous of? Have I done something to make you jealous? And don't say this has nothing to do with me, 'cause I know it does."

"I'm jealous of you... Talking to Patrick... I don't like that..."

"How could you be jealous of Patrick? We just met yesterday! Yuzuru, I don't know what's gotten into you, but this is just like when Ricky was in town. You couldn't look me in the eyes and you only talked when spoken to. Were you jealous of him too? These are just friends, Yuzuru. I don't understand why you are always jealous when I have guy friends. You're not like this with Javier and we talk all the time! It's not like we're dating?!"

Yuzuru looks lost as he doesn't want to say anything. It took seeing me talking and laughing with another guy for him to realize that he was experiencing jealousy. I stare him down to get him to talk. I'm not going to let this slide like I usually do. He needs to confess right now so we can solve this problem.

"I'm sorry," Yuzuru says looking me in the eyes.

"Okay, but that doesn't make this problem go away. This happened with Ricky and now it's happening again with Patrick. Yuzuru, I need you to talk to me. I don't want to give you ultimatums, but either you tell me what's going on or I'm quitting as your translator and you'll never see me after we get home to Toronto."

Yuzuru looks at me with that blank stare that I've seen time and time again. And I am sick of it. I stare him down, expecting him to say something before I storm out of here. I take one step back before Yuzuru takes one step towards me and grabs my shoulders. I look up at his face and he looks down at mine. Before I knew it, our lips collide together.