The eyes, Chico, they never lie.

CHAPTER 34: Winners

Please read the author's note at the end of the chapter. There's an important announcement made.

Ash's POV:

"Guys can we wrap it up now? I'm tired," Ava whined, kicking the sand.

I turned away from Maria and faced her. "We're down to the last point, we're tied." Yuri faced the us. "Why don't we end it after this last point? Whoever scores first, they're the winners. I'm kind of tired too," She sighed, tucking the flyaway hairs behind her ears.

"All right. That sounds fair," Maria nodded while Yuri shrugged.

She wasn't looking at me since I asked her to wear my shirt around her torso.

I has... I want to say I've never acted like that with her, but that would be a lie. I had and there was a time when I would act like this at any and every given moment. It started off when we became best friends and i would just use it as a way to tease her because I knew it always flustered her.

But i would intentionally flirt with her just to get a rise out of her and see her face turning crimson. And then one time it ended up saving her from rejection when she asked a boy out in sophomore year and i had magically already heard from his friends, that she was going to be rejected.

So I swooped in, flirted with her in front of the guy, pulled her aside, and told her what would have happened if I didn't intervene. As our bond got stronger, my flirting got more and more daring, but we always knew where to draw the line. At the end of the day, we were just best friends who would sometimes flirt with each other for our own entertainment.
I never wanted to have feelings for her and I don't know when it grew inside my heart and since then, my feelings for her are still growing.

And then one day, I almost ruined everything. I mean everything. I made the worst decision of my life. Honestly, if I were at her place, the fallout I did, I might not have fought so hard to save our friendship back then.

I looked over to the other side of the night, finally looking at Yuri. She was sweating now and a little out of breath while she tightened her ponytail, pushing the damp strands away from her forehead, tucking them again behind her ears.

"Can we take like two minute break?" Ava asked. "I'm taking a break," she said, not waiting for anyone's reply and heading to the seats, lying back with a dramatic sigh.

After she caught her breath, she then went and sat down as well, I walked towards her way and sat down on the seat beside hers, lying down and catching my breath.

"Yuri." We both looked up at aunt Christy who was holding out two sandwiches in clear wrap. "I went and bought some for everybody while you all played. Here. One for you, one for Ash."

She caught it as she tossed it to her gently. "Thank you," she grinned, reaching into her bag and taking out some sanitizer before she unwrapped the sandwiches and held one out for me, still trying not to look at me.

"My hands are dirty," I mumbled.

"Then take the sanitizer," she mumbled, clearing her throat.

I groaned softly, "Just feed it to me."
It was a tough job right now, but I said it.

She turned to look at me, stunned. "Are you serious?"

I nodded. "Come on, you used to do it all the time. Plus, aren't you tired of our forced hostility? Come on, Yuri. See, I don't even call you Pearlie anymore just because you told me not to."

I knew I was starting to feel like the old Ash again. And her expressions were saying that's not very good for her heart. But I can't let her go this time. No matter what happens I'll assure her with this.