The Silver Fighter | ✓

Take That, Asshat!

And so, for the next week, the guys and I trained at The Underground during the afternoon after their sports practices. Luckily for the boys, Grayson didn't try to push more of my buttons. If he had...let's just say they would've had one less placemat to set on the dinner table.

On the Sunday of that week, I had a race which I of course won.

Don't worry, I'll explain soon. For now, what you need to know is that as of right then, I felt good. I had a family, which is something I've missed having. But the secrets I kept from them forced me to still keep my distance.

That is, until one fateful Saturday (nearly one week after the race and technically two weeks since we started training), I ignored my brain and basically my common sense, and went to eat ice cream with John.

You see, he and I were both at the library; I was doing research for a project and he was looking at the archives. Why? He wouldn't explain, but I didn't push. And as a consequence of him and I being in the same place, we ran into each other.

Literally.

He smacked right fucking into me when I was looking at the nuclear physics books.

"Ow." I groaned as my head smacked into something else very hard. I clutched my now sore forehead and looked at what I had hit. My eyes widened at the familiar brunette boy in front of me. "John?" I asked as he held his forehead.

"Ugh." He groaned. 

'I'll take that as a yes.'

"What are you doing here?" I questioned confusedly and he rolled his eyes, rubbing his head still.

"So no, 'Hello, John. How are you? Are you okay?'?" He questioned snarkily. "I'm fine, thanks for asking." He continued sarcastically and I rolled my eyes.

"You're fine, you twat." I shrugged it off and readjusted my books in my arms. "What are you doing here? Looking up symptoms of needing glasses?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

He glared at me, but I saw the amusement in his gaze. "No, actually. I was looking up how to help your friend stop being a jackass." He replied, his glare softening. I raised both of my eyebrows.

"Is Jared back at it again?" I asked with a small smirk which widened as John shook his head.

"Surprisingly, no. He's been fine." He then smirked and I looked at him wearily. He never smirks. "But his little crush on you is now becoming an obsession." He remarked. I laughed and shook my head.

"That guy is going to end up alone with five cats." I murmured and walked to the front desk. John laughed behind me and followed.

After checking out our stuff, John asked if I wanted to get ice cream with him. Like any ice cream addict, I begrudgingly said yes despite the pit in my stomach.

'I have a bad feeling about this.'

As we crossed the street and neared the Sweets and Things bakery, John spoke up.

"So how's your family doing?" He asked. I shrugged nonchalantly and took a deep inhale of sweet chocolate. The heavenly scent came from the bakery which we sadly then passed by.

"They're on a business trip in Vancouver. They won't be back till next week." I said as I walked past the Book Nook bookstore on my left. I smiled at the sweet little garden which was in front of it. There were a few small clusters of gardenias, my mom's favorite flower.

I smiled softly and shoved my hands in my pockets. Then I shook my head as I kept walking forward toward the ice cream shop down the street that was only a few stores down from where John and I were.