Chapter 29: Break

Chapter 29: Break

The bad news was Audra and I weren't allowed anywhere near the Eye in the Sky again. Seriously. The good news? The crew who had finally managed to strap us onto a safety gear and take us down was not furious at all. Thus, we weren't given much sanctions, except for staying away from the ride.

Another good news? Hmm. . .

I tried not to move as Audra wrapped her arms around me that morning. We slept on the same bed again. In fact, she put her head on my chest, and was more than happy to snuggle with me. What a good night.

But now, this morning, I was little bit too warm. It was not like this before we slept.

I could probably blame it on the thick comforter, but really. . . It was just my Audra being too sexy for her own good. My imagination was going too wild.

"Good morning," Audra whispered, after about ten minutes of me struggling under the covers. She had her wake-up face, grey eyes blinking at me, hair falling over her forehead. But her hands. . . Her hands traveled down my spine, which made me shiver.

She chuckled. "I like that," she murmured.

"Me too."

Her fingers traveled downward, southward, going onto the band of my sweatpants, then playing on the outside. "What else do you like?" she asked.

I swallowed. Audra's face was playful now— naughty, even. She smirked at my reaction though, her eyes leaving sleepiness.

"Audra. . ."

"Yeah?"

Her hand lowered even more, teasing, playing, before she snapped the waistband of my sweatpants and chuckled at me. "Just kidding," she said. "We have things to do, Pax."

I grabbed her onto me before she could stand though, pinning her into my arms. "Not yet," I murmured.

She paused. Closed her eyes. And in that short amount of seconds, I could feel a combination of gratefulness and want, traveling under my navel.

The gratefulness won, especially when she settled back onto me and kissed my forehead. "Alright," she whispered. "Not yet."

We stayed like that for a few minutes. Just silently breathing in each other's presence. Just knowing that one would be there when the other needs it. I would be proud to call her mine.

Except. . . We hadn't talk about the formalities of our relationship yet. We said we loved each other, yes. But there was one more thing to do before we could drink in this happiness without feeling guilty.

As such, Audra glanced at me, a knowing look on her face. "We should tell him," she whispered.

I nodded.

By him, we meant Hanz. Our protector. Our classmate. And dare I say, best friend. He had pulled us through sticky situations one too many times. But we had yet to tell him that his mom's were gone. Things had happened too fast.

Audra went into the shower first, while I told her I'd be spending time on the balcony gathering my thoughts. For I was thinking; how could you tell someone his mothers were dead? It would be painful beyond expectations for him. I didn't even know how to break it.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Audra was back when I looked over my shoulder. My hands still positioned on the balcony rail.

And I was glad they were, because her just wearing a towel to cover herself, her hair still dripping, her feet without shoes, I was thinking of pretty indecent thoughts.

Maybe I could have grabbed her too.

Thoughts that she might have figured out, because she went to me, gave me a small smile. "You should have come with me," she murmured.

"Audra. . ."

Hesitation crossed her face.

We still haven't talked about it; the subject of her molestation. As much as I wanted to, I didn't know how to bring it up. Do I ask her? Do I even mention her uncle? All I knew was that I wanted to console her. Even if it meant I would stay a virgin forever. I would not touch her like that if she wasn't a hundred percent sure.

And I didn't think she was.

Audra giving a heavy sigh, walked closer to me before I knew it. "This is new to me," she said. "Sharing this with people."

I turned around, touched her face. "We don't have to take it fast," I assured. "We can just stay like this. I'm not in a hurry."

"Thank you," she murmured, and I knew she meant it too.

After bathing myself and choosing matching outfits with Audra; jeans and a blue t-shirt that were just in the closet as if by magic, both of us proceeded out of the room, prepared to go down the boy's cabin.

It didn't take long before Audra was knocking on their door. "Male?" she called.

"Coming, female!" was Neil's muffled voice from inside. The moment he opened the door, though, his eyes automatically went to me first, before he frowned. "What's Leighton doing here? It's too early for Halloween."

"Her name is Pax. And where's Hanz?" Audra asked.

Neil eyes flickered to her. "Already, huh?" he said with obvious distaste. "Did you do it?"

Audra was palming Neil's face so bad after a second, I snickered under my breath.

Meanwhile, Neil protested loud and clear for me to hear, while Audra herself stepped into their room, head turning now and then to look for our target.

"He left," Neil said, seeing what Audra was doing. "Hanz. . . And Leighton, here, must had been boring last night, if you're already looking for a man."

"She was great, actually." Audra turned to me, winking, while Neil could do nothing more than to roll his eyes. For once, with Audra's comment, he couldn't say anything.

"Should we search for him?" Audra asked me.

"O-okay."

But Neil grabbed my hand before I could leave, pulled me to his side, threatening. "I know what happened," he hissed. "Don't pretend you're special. She's still my best friend. And no amount of icky lesbian fingers will change that. Got it?"

"I-I know!"

He stepped out of the room, dressed only in his white t-shirt and boxers. I only noticed now.

It made Audra ask. "What are you doing, male?"

Neil smirked at her. "I'm coming with both of you," he said. "I don't want Leighton here to take advantage."

After what happened on our journey, and what had occured just yesterday, I didn't know exactly how to feel having Neil with us so soon. Especially considering that I wasn't really sure if he approved of my unnamed relationship with Audra.

One too many times, he tried to stand between me and his best friend, saying excuses like, "Leighton would get you impregnated if I didn't." And, "I'm only watching out for you, female. You don't want a baby mommy."

Okay, he was being sarcastic. But all in all, I could say that for once it was a positive experience. Especially when Audra pushed Neil to the side and took my own hand, gave me a small smile, whispered, "Don't mind him, Pax. For all I cared, it's just us."

So I wasn't bothered anymore. I just enjoyed Audra's company. The three of us going on our way, while Neil tried to pester us. Until we happened upon Hanz who was just exiting a hallway. We'd been looking for him for a while.

"There you are!" Neil said, as if he was the mastermind of it all. The prime mover if this massive search.

Audra and I glanced at each other briefly. Me, squeezing her hand. Her, squeezing right back.

Hanz bounced to us with a smile, was jabbering away before any of us could talk, though. "Oh my God! You, girls!" His gaze went to our hands. "Are you and her?"

I immediately dropped Audra's for fear that Hanz would think we weren't devastated about his situation when we tell him. We were.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Hanz, we need to talk."

"Of course," he said, but not before pulling me to him. The smile on his face becoming wider. "Of course, we need to talk, Pax. How did this happen?"

"I didn't—"

"Let's go."

He more or less lifted me off my feet, because how else would I have managed to move on the hallway without walking? Except maybe for the fact that he was half-dragging me, half-lifting me.

Glancing helplessly behind me, Audra came to the rescue. "Hanz, wait," she said.

"What?"

"We have something to tell you. Let's go back to the room."

"I know. I know." Hanz was still half-carrying me, though, making my feet float from the ground. "You finally got together." He paused. Turned to Audra. Then carried me— slash— dragged me again. "I'd seen it coming since the school. You were always smitten with her, Audra. And I almost told Pax about it, one too many times."

My eyebrows cocked at her, and she turned away long enough to say. "Yes, I was. But the four of us need to talk, seriously."

"Yes," Hanz said, not listening at all.

"Hanz. . ."

"Yup."

He, and I meant we, entered a room right after he said that.

Behind us, even Audra and Neil stopped.

Everything in the room we came in smelled of sweat, determination, and challenge. The floor, I was surprised to find, was made of concrete and mats. The latter dominating the space.

On the sides were rows upon rows of punching bags and all kinds of equipment's. But my eyes were drawn upon the middle, where a huge ring for boxing just sat there waiting for us.

Hanz, with a wistful sigh, finally let go of me. "Ta-da!" he said. "What do you think?"

Audra, eyes squinting, glanced at me before turning to him. "What's this?" she asked.

"I believe it's a boxing gym, female."

Audra ignored Neil and stared at Hanz again. Which the guy, skipping to a punching bag, told us with glee. "They're giving us half a day to use these. On my insistence, of course. That's why I brought you here. Isn't it cool?"

Yeah, cool. And Audra might have thought the same. But now wasn't the time. We needed to tell him about his mom's.

But just when I was opening my mouth, Hanz skipped back to us. "Please, please, please!" he begged. "Just give me a day."

"What?"

He ruffled my hair before gesturing to the gym. "I know that whatever you're going to say, it's not going to be good. But for once, can we just be normal teenagers again? Because I'm about to lose my mind. I would."

Audra and looked at each other for what could had been the millionth time. This was wrong. All wrong. We had to tell him now.

But then Hanz covered his ears, not willing to listen. In the end, even Neil was going to his side. "No offense," Neil said, putting his arm on Hanz's shoulder. "But for once I agree with the Hetero. We should be normal, just us. Even for a day. Or I would lose my mind too."

What could I say at that? What could Audra?

And with Hanz acting this way and practically begging us to do this, what could we do but to honor him?

Just this once.

Hanz was already going to us, ruffling our hairs. "Thanks!" he said. "I knew you'd understand."

"So what are we going to do here?" Neil asked, going back to the topic.

Hanz clapped his hands, then pointed to another door. "The gloves, helmets, and basically the locker rooms are there," he explained. "I'd planned to have a practice. Just a small sparring session to teach Pax how to defend herself. And to fight."

Neil touched his chin, gave us a little smirk. "Interesting," he said.

After a few minutes, and all of us wearing helmets and gloves, even Hanz himself— we exited the locker room, proceeded towards the boxing ring.

I didn't get in though, just stayed on the side, awkwardly. "Come on, Leighton." Neil was already parting the ropes. Was jumping through there. Was beckoning me with his red-gloved hands. Was smirking it me, and I knew what he was thinking.

"Absolutely not," I refused.

"It's alright," Hanz assured, going to the ring himself. Compared to us, his gloves were color blue. And thank God he didn't remove his shirt, like all the guys in our school did when they wanted to play. But he did beckon to me too. "Climb in," he said. "You need this, Pax. Don't you agree, Audra?"

The girl beside me stared me up and down, not saying a thing, though giving a shrug. Betrayal.

I scowled. This was not the plan at all. I didn't want this to happen.

And what was up with Neil jumping up and down? Was he really happy to punch me?

"See?" Hanz said. "Even Audra agrees with me."

Outnumbered, I decided to climb the ring as well.

Neil pumped his fist. "Yass!" he said. "This will be so good! Let me go first."

Hanz, shaking his head, pushed Neil to the side. "Uh-uh, not you, buddy. Pax and I will do this. While all of you must stand and watch. Afterwards, maybe we can have a sparring session. A friendly sparring session," he added, seeing Neil's reaction.

I glanced helplessly at Audra again, but the girl was just looking.

Furthermore, Hanz came up to me, looking more business than pleasure this time. Gulp.

"Okay, Pax. Swing at me," he said.

"W-what?"

"I mean punch me. Right here. Just on the face."

I cringed. This was so not expected. I wasn't the super sporty type at all.

And with Audra and Neil looking right now, I might as well die.

Hanz encouraged me again by mock-punching his cheek. "Target this," he said. "Let's see what you got."

I frowned. Okay? And punched. And yeah, it was so awful that Neil laughed. Even Audra gave a small smile. I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

"Punch harder," Hanz urged.

I punched harder.

But to Hanz, I could have been a mosquito landing on his face. After a while, he removed his gloves.

"Okay, you suck at that," he admitted. "How about wrestling, then? I'm a school champion, so I can totally teach you some tricks. Right?"

He didn't wait for me to answer, and suddenly brought me down the mat.

I gasped.

I was so stunned that in a second I was looking at the ceiling. I mean, how did he manage to do that without hurting me at all?

"See?" Hanz said, obviously psyched. "There are techniques to this. Now I'll climb over you, and you try to get out of my grip. Ready, Pax?"

"I-I guess so."

But even before Hanz had settled on top of me, someone was throwing him away. I could hear him yelling. "Crap!"

"Let me take over from here." Soon, Audra's face was hovering on top of me, and then she was straddling my waist. There was sweat on her face, dripping down to her shirt. The want I felt this morning resurfaced, especially when she leaned towards me.

"Great!" Neil said above the rush on my ears. "Now I have to watch my best friend get it on with this girl."

Hanz, recovering, went to us. "You didn't have to throw me," he said to Audra. "But yeah, we can settle for this. Pax, if you can please roll on your back."

"My God, I'm trying not to snicker here, Peterson."

All of us ignored Neil's statement, and I rolled around like a worm.

"Great," Hanz said, encouragingly. "Now, Audra hug her. And I mean, really, really hug her. Like you mean it."

Audra's arms wrapped around my back. And I couldn't help but to look at Neil's reaction from the side. The guy was just guffawing and clutching his stomach. I wanted to knock his face.

Beside us, Hanz started to pull out something camera from his pocket. It was small. A camera, maybe? Where the hell did he get that? "Just hold that position," he instructed. "And I'll send this picture to al those homophobes. No, no, no, Audra! I'm just kidding!"

Audra had already jumped to her feet, was running after him. And I couldn't help but smile despite it all.

Audra was mine. Neil was beginning to warm up. And yes things were complicated, but this, right here, was us.