A cappella

Chapter 18: Fight!!!

The cafe was located in a dark alley of Bayonne. Max walked with great nervous steps, expecting at all moments to see his friend, shadow on shadow, emerge from the shade, and in fact he was suddenly before him, taller and stronger than he recalled.

"What's your problem? Are you jealous?" Max attacked, without preamble.

Without replying, Babakar grabbed Max by the collar and pressed him against a wall. Max felt his adrenaline rise, the desire to fight, and send the other person, whoever it was, to the carpet. 

Babakar's strong hand crushed him against the wall, and he could see the enormous, accusing eyes of his friend.

"Let me go! Leave me alone!" Max blew out a knee shot that bent babakar in two. Max took advantage of it to jump on his back and they both rolled on the wet pavement. A few blows, a few muffled curses and Max found himself immobilized, Babakar sitting on his legs, now holding Max's twisted arm in the back

"Alright, alright! You win!... I surrender."

"Are you mad??! What's the matter with the both of you?!" Danielle came running, her heels slamming on the bright paving stones, her blond hair sparkling in the moonlight.

The breeze was heard in the darkness of the two boys, but neither of them answered.

Babakar finally got up, pretended to dust his jeans soiled with mud, and wiped his swollen face with the back of his hand, while Max got up with a supple leap. He was obviously not exhausted, but his hands were trembling for wanting to fight, and for restraining himself.

"What's going on?! What's happening?!! Are you fighting now? I thought you were friends!" Danielle was flushed with emotion, her eyes worried. She picked up Max's cap, which had rolled in the dead leaves.

"It's nothing, Danielle, a misunderstanding," said Max, touching his bleeding lip. "Boys have to fight before becoming true friends"...

All three of them walked side by side, Babakar to the right, the tallest, the toughest, then Danielle, straight as a queen, and finally Max, quick and nervous, his long hair hidden beneath his black cap. For a while, they walked without saying a word, in the moisture of the sea air, and their footsteps were strangely in sync on the wet pavement, the slow pace of Babakar, Danielle's feminine heels, and the pace sometimes decided, sometimes hesitant of Max.

In truthfulness, he hesitated to speak, his mind shaken by a thousand different emotions; He would have liked to say how much he really had respect for his two friends, for Danielle, generous and strong, who wanted to pass on to him everything she knew and she did that so well, and Babakar, who was so himself, able to assume serenely his origins and his religion.

He said nothing, however, and this silence between them actually said so much; it was equivalent to a long speech.

At the end of the street, a street lamp illuminated their group, and put an end to this strange walk.

"Okay. I'll let you go on by yourselves," said Max, breaking the silence. "Friends?" He asked, turning to Babakar.

He brushed his finger against Max's bruised lip, then his own bloody forehead.

"Blood brothers," he replied with a victorious smile.

He watched them fade away in the night.

She left by greeting him quickly with a small smile, as if she had perfectly understood what had not been said, Max's rather cruel play, Babakar's jealousy, and the regrets they shared for letting themselves fight over her.

She once told him that she would say yes to the first who would want to engage with her, to marry, provided of course that he was intelligent and honest, which Babakar was certainly.

As Max had felt, she was afraid of passing relationships, and she would say yes to the one who would choose to spend his life with her, to build a family with her, she who had been abandoned.

And Babakar, unlike the elusive Max, had the advantage of having no doubt about what he should do with his life. He would be a doctor, he would marry Danielle, and he would do anything to make her always want to stay with him.

Max sighed, and resumed his march in the opposite direction, along the alleys of Paulmy. A fine drizzle wet all around slowly but surely, and it would not be long before he would be soaked.

On the bus that took him back to his grandparents, he took out his phone, hesitated to click on this or that name on the list of his contacts ... Marion ... Stéphane ... His mother...

Finally, he put the earphones in his ears, and rattling in his seat, followed the Eagles to the other end of the world.

On a dark desert highway

Cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas

Rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distances

I saw a shimmering light...

.....
So damn hurtful when one fights with a friend! Instant regret u feel! This song is one of my all time favs❤❤ share the love and dont forget to comment and vote :)