She took long strokes, one foot after the other, her face focused on some point in the rink. After she gained momentum, she lifted her right leg for a second using it right after to turn, as she took off with her other foot, jumping and spinning three times in the air, landing on just one foot, her other leg extended forward as she glided backwards.

My jaw was on the floor.

Cara's coach clapped. She had been trying it since I arrived and she had finally done it. I'd seen her fall so many times now that it had started to hurt me. "Cara's back!" The man cheered. "She has risen from the ashes!"

Cara laughed as she skated towards him, covering her mouth with both of her gloved hands. "Don't be silly, I was always here."

"Well, keep doing what you're doing and you'll be killing it at nationals. Ten minutes break, I need to make a call." Cara nodded and went to grab her water bottle.

The figure skater hadn't seen me yet. I had been here since 9 am. That was as early as she could get from me. I couldn't make myself get up from bed before 8. It was already 10.30 am and she hadn't stopped skating. She'd probably train for another hour as she said yesterday. My decision not to tell her I was gonna come was made earlier that night. It was worth it. Seeing her in her habitat, so concentrated but her movements looking so effortless at the same time.

People had started leaving around 10. Some of them even earlier, since there were super humans out there who managed to synchronize this sport with school.

Cara sat down outside the rink in a bench for a moment. I took that as my time to say hello. Walking down the stairs slowly, I sat down beside her. I didn't wanna scare her this time.

"Bonjour, bébé."

She turned her head around and almost spit all the water in her mouth. "Hi!" She exclaimed more surprised than I expected. "What are you doing here?"

"You said that I could see you skate." I smirked.

"Yeah." She gave me a confused smile. "I didn't know it would be this soon."

"I've been here for about an hour and a half." I announced proudly.

Resting a hand on her chest, she pursed her lips and blinked. "I'm touched."

I laughed. "You're good." I nodded towards the rink.

"You know anything about figure skating?"

"No. But what you do is really cool." I smiled boyishly.

She chuckled and shook her head, adjusting her left skate. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm one of the best, actually. Let's hope the judges next month say the same-"

"Hello, Tinker Bell." A masculine voice came from the hallway that lead to the changing rooms. A tall, black haired guy appeared behind the bleachers. He was wearing a tight long sleeve shirt that made his shoulders and back look broader that they probably were. He had nice legs, too. Just like Cara and everyone else in this arena. They weren't sticks like mine. They were strong and defined.

"Hi, Mushu." Cara rolled her eyes at the guy, what only made his smile wider. I thought that was slightly offensive, but hey, he had smiled.

"Did you do it?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck off, you didn't." He scoffed.

"I did!" She retorted like a little kid, kicking her skate hard against the floor. "Nico, you saw it. Tell him I did the triple axel!"

I frowned confused and nodded quickly. She did. Whatever that was, she did it.

The guy narrowed his eyes at her as if he didn't believe it but then landed them on me. He put one of his best professional smiles on, and brought his hand forward. "Oh, hi. Didn't see you there. I'm Jeong-wu. You can call me J."

"Wow, he might really like you." Cara mumbled under her breath giving me a sideways look.

"Nico." I said trying to stifle a laugh.

"Have lunch with me later?" Jeong-wu asked Cara with a cock of his head and puppy eyes.

"I'd rather eat my own eyes." She smiled tightly at him.

The guy laughed and stepped into the rink, gliding backwards as he shrugged. "I had to try!"

We both watched how his mood changed completely and a determined look appeared on his face. He started skating and I started to get turned on.

This thing of being attracted to both men and women sometimes felt like a curse.

"He likes you."

"What?" Cara frowned. "No, he doesn't. He likes Kennedy, actually." She nodded towards a girl who was putting on her skates. "They're always flirting."

"What are you talking about?" I stared as he did some trick and threw Cara a quick look. Maybe he thought it was imperceptible, but for me, it wasn't. "He's showing off in front of you. If you blow him a kiss, he falls." I added pensively as I watched him.

Cara's reaction caught me off guard when she threw her head back and laughed. I had never seen her laugh like that before. It was cute. She scrunched up her nose a little, her green irises disappearing completely. I gazed at her with a little smile of my own. I liked to have been able to rouse that response from her.

"I'd love to see that." She muttered sobering up. "I gotta keep training." She announced after a moment.

"I should go, I need to do some things."

Getting up, she smiled at me. "Thanks for coming."

I got up too and got surprised at how tall she looked with those skates, her face almost at the same height as mine.

"I like to see you laugh." I stated all of a sudden. She cocked her head and stared at me straight in the eyes, something she used to avoid most of the time. Our eyes stayed locked into one another's for a while. We were close, but I wanted us to be closer.

Cara escaped from the state she was in, and looked away for a second. "Don't forget we made a deal."

I nodded once, hands in my pockets as I watched her pretty little ass step into the rink. Jeong-wu passed by her and flicked her nose. The attraction I had felt for him before disappeared in a blink. She stuck her tongue out but I didn't miss the smile she was so hard trying to fight.

Okay, now he was Mushu for me too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

October brought cold and wind with it. I was glad, to be honest. I preferred cold and rainy weather over the summer heat.

"Mec, you're gonna make me arrive late."

"Since when do you care?" Asked Luca as he brushed his teeth, toothpaste sliding down his chin.

I smacked him upside the head and laughed when he gagged after the tooth brush touched the end of his throat.

"Dude!"

"You wouldn't last a second sucking dick." I laughed harder.

Luca made a disgusted face as he spit. "I knew that already! Didn't need the demonstration!"

He wanted to bring Riley some donuts and a coffee. He said he used to do it when she worked at a clothing store and he wanted to surprise her. He said he'll come with me and wait for me so we could have lunch the three of us later. We still had to go to the coffee shop and it was already 10.45.

At this pace, I would arrive late. Luca was right, though. I didn't care.

No, not at all.

My phone buzzed once again in my phone, but I ignored it. Linda wanted to meet tonight but I had other plans. I feel like I was getting too attached. Caden and I texted a lot, and yeah, I didn't regret it, I had fun. But he wasn't my boyfriend. I didn't want him to get the wrong impression. Linda was trying to fuck again, and to be honest, she wasn't my type at all. Sex could be amazing with her but I wouldn't do that regularly.

Besides, they both were in a relationship for fuck's sake. Leave this guy alone.

On the other hand, I was really investing in Cara's and I's "friendship". I called it friendship since I didn't know where this was going. I really liked her, I thought she was probably the hottest girl I had ever met.

Who am I kidding, she was.

But she was also the most difficult one. And I was getting more and more intrigued by her, I not only wanted to sleep with her, I also wanted to know her. It happened to me sometimes, yeah. Not gonna lie. But I wasn't thinking about them all the time. I didn't worry about them. I didn't want to be part of their lives. I didn't want them to be thinking about me.

I was getting frustrated. "Luca, I'm fucking leaving, you coming or not?"

"Jesus, relax." Luca frowned at me. "I had never seen you like this. You okay?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry." But I didn't add anything else.

We arrived late, of course. Somehow, Luca managed to interrupt Riley's session with Cara and handed her the box of donuts quickly. Her face lit up instantly. My therapist was in a worst mood than usual, and I could tell that because my body was under his hands most of the time and I'm pretty sure the pressure he put on, wasn't strictly for medical reasons.

When I got out, feeling exhausted, the last thing I wanted was to go get food with the lovebirds. I decided to leave them alone. Luca was sitting in the waiting room as Riley grabbed her things.

"I just saw your drawing passing by." Luca announced.

"What?"

"The girl you drew. The one that looked like a nymph." He smirked as he got up, standing up beside me.

"Oh."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow, looking at me amused.

"We talk."

"You talk." He kept on that amused expression that he knew all too well it was annoying me. Before I could say anything else, he gasped as if he just realized something. "You slept with her?" He asked resting a hand on my shoulder.

"Mais non." I frowned. "She's not like that."

"Like what?" Luca cocked his head.

"Like me."

Luca sighed and gave me a sympathetic smile. "Good luck, buddy."

"Are you guys ready?" Riley asked as she stepped outside the room.

"Oh, I'm not going."

"Why?" They said both sadly at the same time. Sometimes I felt as if they were my parents and I was the child who was too embarrassed to spend time with them. I wasn't, it's just that sometimes, call me crazy but, sometimes, I didn't want to be around people who are madly in love with one another.

"I'm really tired, my body is killing me today."

"Oh." Riley pursed her lips.

"I'm sorry, dude. Maybe you just need to rest. Come on, I'll drive you home." Yeah, maybe just bringing his car wasn't a good idea.

Before getting out of the car, Riley glanced back at me. "Call if you need anything, okay? Do you have painkillers?"

"I don't-" I cleared my throat. "I don't take pills."

Riley stared at me confused and Luca put a hand in her thigh. "He knows what to do, babe. Don't worry."

I didn't know why I thought Riley would've known by now. But I guess Luca kept secrets better than I thought. It's not like it was a secret, I just didn't like going around telling everyone. Yeah, I went to rehab. I'm a addict. I don't take any kind of pills nor alcohol. Sometimes when I'm in pain what I do is smoke weed. That was what Luca was referring to.

Giving him a thankful smile, I opened my door. "Bye guys, have fun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After having slept for almost four hours, I woke up feeling a lot better. I even made something to eat, which I never do. While I was playing guitar and composing a song I had stuck in my mind for a while, I received a text. I thought it could be Linda again, but I told her I was gonna stay home since I wasn't feeling okay. Then another face crossed my mind. I felt a tug in my heart at the thought that she could've texted me.

No, she didn't like to text.

Yeah, but what if it was her? What if she had thought about me this morning? We hadn't seen each other at the clinic.

While those and a million other thoughts flew around in my mind, I picked up my phone from the floor -don't know why it was there in the first place- and read the text.

Heyyy petit nicolas!!
I'm staying at Riley's tonight
I'll come back tomorrow morning to grab some things
Remember we have a birthday party to attend!

So fucking pathetic. That I was. I was starting to get mad at myself and I didn't even know why.

Let's see the positive side here, Nico. The apartment was all alone tonight. Maybe I could still bring my normal self back and have some fun.

I put on some music, got into the shower and shaved. I dressed up a bit and put on some cologne. Before I got out of the house, I stopped in my tracks. I almost forgot something.

I went back to my room, opened my bedside table drawer and grabbed some condoms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The club was a lot smaller than Karma. It was called Porto Bello and I wasn't quite sure if I liked it yet. It was darker, and it had a twenties vibe to it. People stared at me as I stepped inside. I sometimes had that effect, I was tall and attractive, but these looks had some other kind of reason behind them.

After a few non alcoholic drinks in the bar, I noticed some guy was looking at me. He was with his friends, who were drooling over a group of girls that were dancing. It was very subtle, but I could notice his quick glances. He was not much taller than me, but he was more muscular. I never went for guys bigger than me in that department, but he had a boyish face that made him look really cute.

Gulping down my third drink in just one go -it was just tonic-, I waited for him to look at me again. Not long after, he did. His eyes were an intense deep blue that could be perceived from afar. I nodded behind my back as I stared at him. If he was smart enough, he'd know I was pointing to the washrooms. The guy gazed at my back and before he could look back at me, I had already disappeared.

I walked past the crowd that was dancing, trying not to be the target of elbows and feet. I made it to the washroom and went to use one of the urinals. I was starting to feel a little dizzy due to the lights. I heard someone get inside behind me, and my body stiffened unconsciously. A guy positioned himself on my left and pulled down his zipper. I smirked. I knew it was him. I turned my head around a little and confirmed my suspicious. There he was. The blue eyed guy who wouldn't stop looking at me. Right now he had another thing in mind.

"Like what you see?" I asked.

He glanced up at me with his mouth agape as if he was caught red handed. He kind of was, he was staring at my dick.

He nodded slowly. "It's really big."

"You can touch it." I offered as I played with myself a little. I was already hard. The guy looked around and extended his hand, gripping my erection hard. He stroked it for a little bit, finally looking down at it and licking his lips nervously.

"Can we go outside?" He whispered letting go of my cock. I nodded, pulling up my pants. "I'll go first, you wait here."

He turned around and walked outside. I was having the impression that this guy was closeted and there was something about a curious straight guy that didn't sit well for me. I decided to ignore my intuition for once and went outside. He was nowhere to be seen by the entrance, so I walked around the corner into a dark alley. It seemed like the kind of place you would hook up with someone. I went deep into it, walking slowly as I looked around, searching for the blue eyed guy. What I didn't know was, that I wasn't getting deeper into my trap.

"Putain." I muttered when I realized.

"Is this the guy?" I turned around just to see a group of muscular guys coming my way.

"Yeah, he's the one who grabbed my dick."

I tried really hard not to roll my eyes. Really, dude? You were drooling over mine.

I took a deep breath and stepped forward, trying to pass them by.

One of them pushed me. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Listen, I don't want any trouble."

"Oh my god! We have a baguette here!" The guy mocked me and all of them laughed. I looked around. There were like seven guys that looked to have come out straight of one of those movies with fraternities and stuff.

"Makes sense he liked your baguette, too." Added with one of them loudly. I didn't find that joke funny at all, but they all laughed hard. I tried to step forward again, but they pushed me once more time, this time against a wall. I hit my head hard against it, getting a little dizzy.

The guy that did it, smelled like alcohol and smoke. He wasn't taller than me but he was definitely bulkier. He pressed his forearm hard against my chest. "You're not going anywhere, you faggot. Do you like sucking dick, huh?"

I had too many of these experiences to know that the best you could do was stay silent. They wanted you to fight back so it was better not to give them that satisfaction. I looked back at the principal street, hoping somebody would notice me. Although the majority of people, walked faster when they saw a fight. I know I would.

"Oh look, he's shy now." Another one said. "He asked you a question, you fag!"

The guy who was retaining me, pressed me harder against the wall. "Don't worry. I'm feeling kind of benevolent tonight." He looked at me straight in the eyes. So much hatred and disgust in one look.

I pitied him, I really did.

"You have three seconds to run before we beat the shit out of you."

I breathed harder. I couldn't run. They'd catch me before I even took a step.

I couldn't run.

It was physically impossible.

"One."

I stayed in place and closed my eyes, waiting for the first punch to arrive.

"Run, you motherfucker!"

"Two."

"I can't believe he's fucking challenging us."

I wasn't. I couldn't run.

"Three."

I remember the pain in my jaw, I remember my head hitting the floor. I remember the kicks in my stomach, the taste of blood in my mouth. The dizziness, my phone cracking. Someone helping me. The cab, my bed.

Darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys! Here's another chapter. I probably won't be able to update again until next week, so enjoy!

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