Pausing to wipe the beads of sweat that gathered on my forehead, I grinned wildly at the three haggard teenagers in front of her. Tommy looked like he'd just had his back door smashed in by a freight train and Astrid and Jamie looked little better.
We'd been training for a little over a year and the three of them had already improved so much. They could hold their own against me, something that most master swordsmen couldn't boast. Hell, it might've taken all three of them to do it, but they were progressing. The teacher in me was beaming; I felt like they'd just won a marathon backwards.
I could already feel the laughter begin to bubble up inside of my stomach and already knew there was no helping to try and stop it.
"What the hell's so funny, Shy?" Tommy had his infamous agitated frown plastered to his face as he motioned his blade in a hostile manner before continuing, " What the fuck could be so damn funny right now!"
I laughed again.
"The three of you. You are all trying so hard.. you've come a long way and I just wanted to say thanks for being such fantastic students." I could feel the corners of my mouth turn upwards ever so slightly when Astrid and Tommy let out an audible sigh of relief. Astrid put the hilt of her lithe blade in her mouth as she retied her hair. Exhaling loudly Tommy tossed his sword to the ground before collapsing onto the ground. Facing the youngest of the three, I was taken aback. He still stood prepped for me to lunge or something.
" So.. You're not going to beat us into oblivion again I take it?" Jamie looked at me hesitantly, he was ever the cautious one. He tightened his grip on his blade instinctively. Like a good swordsman always should when around another. I couldn't help but smile and shake my head slowly.
" No, Jamie. We're done for today. You're all free for the week to recuperate and get better at avoiding left handed strikes." Instinctively flashing the blade in my left hand, it was better to use your weaker arm every once and a while.
" Fuck left handed swordsmen Shyloh. It's cheating!" Astrid whined as she rubbed her bum and left thigh, places I had hit especially forceful during practice. Smart off to me and I hit cho' ass like tap water. Grumbling again, "Bum taps should be considered cheating too mate. They feel like Satan decided to bite me in the ass." She hadn't ever sparred with someone who was ambidextrous before. I couldn't help but smile smugly to myself. Astrid was definitely going home with more bruises today than usual. Glancing over at the boys, I wasn't surprised at what I saw. Tommy was definitely checking out Astrid rubbing her bum. Obvious, bastard.
" You know A- if you kept your ass more guarded you wouldn't have to worried about unwanted attention" I shot Tommy a knowing glance before bending down to gently place my blade back in it's case. Tommy's face lit up and I already could tell what he was going to do. Mentally face palming myself at his stupidity, Jamie and I watched helplessly as the dolt casually walked behind Astrid, hand outstretched to do the deed that we both knew was going to end up causing a mini-apocalypse.
"And another thing- WHAT THE HELL TOMMO!" Astrid screeched mid-sentence and smacked Tommy straight in the face, a red and very angry looking handprint on his cheek seemed to pulse with a life of its own. He stood absolutely still, just grinning like the cheeky bastard he was. Astrid threw up her hands before storming out of the training room and into the parking lot. Yeah, she definitely wasn't coming back today. Jamie and I stood with our mouths open at the scene that just played in front of us. We both knew Tommy liked Astrid, but was he really stupid enough to go for a bum grab right after a moment like that? Apparently, yes.
Jamie broke the silence first,his voice heavy with disbelief , " I know you think she's fit and all.. but don'cha think you could have timed that a little better?" Tommy shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and slumped to the ground to put on his shoes. He always practiced barefoot. Says that he heard from a guy who heard from a guy that it was supposed to make you better. I call bs.
" Probably. Still got to feel her bum though." Tommy sat grinning like he'd just had "desert" with all of the Kardashian sisters, stolen a Mercedes with Simon Pegg and Will Ferrell and touched the Queen's boobs all in a single day.
"How was it?"
"A bit like a peach. Firm but satisfying." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the cheeky bastard as he high-fived Jamie. Oh hell. Were they really having this conversation? The two of them were just so full of class, comparing a woman's ass to food. Check one for boyfriend material, sarcasm.
"Wanna talk about female's asses when I'm not around yeah?" I interrupted irritatedly, rolling my eyes for the max sass effect. Throwing his hands up in mock defeat, Tommy smugly said, " We would be talking about your ass too if you couldn't kick ours." Bastards. Standing up and grabbing their things the pair headed toward the parking lot before waving casually. "See ya, Shy" they said in unison.
Calling after the pair with a pseudo sweet singsongy tone, " Next week boys! Be prepared." A smile snuck it's way on to my lips; next week they were going to be destroyed.
