(Shane's POV)
After school, I had swim practices but Noah obviously couldn't join me anymore because of the injury. It was dull, to say the least but I had to continue nevertheless since it was the only sport considered in my final grade.
I walked down the east corridor, heading towards the pool premises but before that I had to take a leak. As I pushed the bathroom door and walked in, I noticed a familiar figure bending down, facing the sink with his hands on the either sides of it.
He was crying and it didn't take me another blink to realize who it was.
"Ace?"
His hair was disheveled and he turned to me with reddened eyes and proceeded to wipe his tears away.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing...", he replied in a weak voice as he stormed away from me, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to face me.
"Shane, for fuck's sake leave me alone..."
"Not until you tell me what's going on."
"Why does it even matter to you?"
"Is it about?", his eyes widened and I noticed his addams apple bobbing.
"No! Shane...Leave me alone", without a struggle he unclasped his arm from my grip and left the bathroom.
While I was washing my hands minutes later I heard the door swinging open. When I turned my gaze to the sound, it was Ace. He stood there looking distraught and the very next moment he scurried over to me and took me into a tight embrace.
What?
I didn't try to push him away, because I knew how relieving a hug can be. I held the embrace until he wanted to pull off and he did after a few seconds.
"So...wanna talk about it?"
He nodded and I raised an eyebrow signalling him to continue.
"Okay, not here it smells like shit...literally", he replied while drying the remaining tears under his eyebags with his fingertips and letting out a slight chuckle.
"Fair enough...I do have swim practices right now, so how about after? Are you staying in school or?"
"Yeah don't worry...I've got basketball too"
I tapped him on the shoulder and left the toilet. I felt empathetic because he looked anguished than ever so I had to get to the core of this.
Leaving the pool with pruney fingers, I felt a piercing chill engulfing my body. It was winter after all. I dried myself and left the changing room while rubbing my palms against one another.
I saw Ace scrolling through his phone, leaning against the entrance wall. He noticed me as I walked towards him and he lifted his eyes to me with a slight content smile.
"I don't even know why I'm doing this..." he said.
"Oh please cut the tough guy crap. It always feels good to vent out...So what's this about?"
"Come on", he said as he led me towards the football grounds.
He sat down on the wide stair space in between the bleachers and I sat beside him, although we couldn't see the stairs since they were covered by a rather thick layer of snow. The snowing was moderate today and I felt my nostrils gradually drying up when my lips turned crusty as usual. He didn't seem that affected by the cold as he stared at the ground parallel to us.
"So?", with that he turned to me.
"You ready?"
I nodded.
YOU ARE READING
Troubled Waters (b×b)
Teen Fiction'He had a firm grip on my waist as he started leaving his territories on my neck. I kissed the tip of his nose as he started to run his fingers around my hips' 17 year old Shane was expecting a typical senior year as any teenager would want. But whe...
