"No matter how many times I look out across the waves, it doesn't help. I still miss you, Seth."

A shin covered in leather connected with Seth's face and knocked him to the ropes.

"Focus, Blackwell! Head in the ring!"

Seth made eye contact with Coach John, nodded, then turned and placed his hands back up to cover his chin. There would be a bruise later, even though he’d rolled with it. He stalked in, greeted by a stiff jab from his opponent. Seth slipped to the outside and ripped a low hook into the other fighter’s body, followed by an opposite-leg roundhouse into the meaty portion of his thigh. A second hook coming in hot over the top finished the combo and sent the other boy reeling.

Seth squared up, his rhythm coming back to him.

Parry, slip, roll. Jab, jab. Push-kick.
Seth followed through with a lightning-fast roundhouse from the right that slipped just under his opponent's guard and folded him like a lawn chair. Seth took the opportunity to seize his opponent by the neck in a clinch and start throwing knees. Both of them breathed heavily through their mouthpieces as they struggled for dominance in the tie-up.

BEEPBEEPBEEP!

The timer sounded and the two separated, smacking gloves as they walked apart. Seth crossed his hands and held them over his head, his breathing laborious, sweat running off of his face and chest, the familiar tightness returning between his shoulder blades. He followed his opponent out of the ring. Coach John caught him by the elbow with a grip of iron. "Seth, what's going on? Are you worried about fighting Jayson?" John was built like a brick house, his decades of training in the martial arts complemented by decades of straining under a heavy barbell. His green eyes pierced through Seth.

Seth looked away and spat his mouthguard into the palm of his glove. "It's nothing, Coach. Just daydreaming when I shouldn't be."

"That's not like you. Grand Island is coming up in a week and a half. Your focus is always on point. Again, what's going on?"

Seth shook his head. "It's no big deal."

"Seth." John crossed his forearms. "You've been training under Ms. Tull and I you since you were ten. You can tell me."

Seth looked around the gym. It was noon, which meant everyone was starting to wrap up their drills and clean up after Saturday's last class. He sighed and started to undo his gloves. "It's Madeline."

"Did you two break up?"

"No-" Seth hesitated. "I don't think- I don't know." He pulled his other glove off his hand, then sat down on the steps from the ring and started to undo his shin guards.

"Explain." The massive martial artist sat down on the step beside Seth.

"It's just been a weird summer is all. We're on break, but not really. She's off in Maine doing her family's... sailing thing, no phones and all, and I'm stuck here. It's just weird. She gets back this weekend and our first time seeing each other all summer is gonna be on her birthday. I just want her to come to Grand Island. No one made it out last year, and now that I have a girlfriend, I'd like her to see me do my thing. I dunno."

John placed a hand on Seth's shoulder. Seth was strong, but the massive hand engulfed his upper back. "You two are going to be fine. It's high school. You shouldn't worry so much about it."

"Yeah, but I love her. Like I really do. We'll have been dating for almost a year when she gets back."

John stood up. "If you love each other, then there's nothing to worry about."

Seth looked up at his coach. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

"Everything is going to be okay, Seth." John looked around the gym. "Now help scrub the mats. I know at least half the sweat out there belongs to you."

Seth chuckled as John turned and walked away, then hung his head and ran his hands through his sweaty, dirt-blond hair. His thoughts went back to the one bit of contact he'd had with Madeline since early June when her family left for Maine: a three-page, handwritten letter that smelt of her perfume. Just that smell was enough to launch him back to that summer night they had first crossed paths, to remind him of the scent of the bonfire and the breeze of the warm summer night moving among the pine trees.

She was the hippie chick, her hair a new color or highlight every week, a new eccentric style every month. That night she'd been a redhead tinged with violet streaks. She'd worn feathers braided into her hair. He was 'the kid who fights', not quite one of the jocks—no, the fact that he did theater firmly kept him from being pulled into that circle—but not really any other category either. He had his own image he'd been given, and the hippie chick didn't really fit alongside that. Nevertheless, they'd first locked eyes from across those flames, and Seth knew from that moment on exactly what he wanted. She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and he wanted to find out if that beauty went deeper than her skin.

They were the last two awake that night. When everyone else crashed around the lake-house, they stayed up talking about the journeys they'd had through life so far. It was young, innocent. The night ended with a kiss and her falling asleep on his chest.

"Think fast, Seth."

Andrew flung a wet towel through the air. Seth barely caught it before it hit his face. His best friend's gray sweatpants and tee shirt from their high school’s wrestling team were so soaked they almost looked black. Just as much sweat dripped from his bushy brown hair as did Seth's.

"Quit daydreaming. Let's wash these mats and go get some food."

"Yeah," said Seth. He kicked off his last shin guard. "Let's do that."

***

Seth's knuckles were white around his steering wheel despite the fact that clenching his arms aggravated his tired and sore shoulders. The tightness between his shoulder blades was present as always. He’d parked at the start of 61st Avenue, right at its intersection with Birmingham. The houses of the neighborhood were steeped in well-carried age, and it had the colossal oaks and pines to show for it. Seth let out a slow breath and looked at himself in the mirror. The bruise on his cheek wasn't nearly as bad as he'd thought it would be, but his worried blue eyes stared back at him, the color of a troubled ocean.

"Come on," he said through clenched teeth. "Everything is going to be fine."

He looked at his leather-strapped watch. Ten fifty-six. He rubbed his face, pulled the keys out of the ignition, and stepped out of the car, the dusty scent of a road under the summer sun filling his nostrils. Seth grabbed his duffel out of the back, lighter than his usual load of sparring equipment and workout clothes, locked the doors on his crappy Toyota Tacoma, and set off down 61st. His thoughts raced as he struggled to control the speed of his footfalls. His and Madeline's short correspondence via text last night hadn't helped.

Eleven good tomorrow?

Yes. See you then.

She came from a family of hippies, and their rule—suggestion—of no phones during summer vacation had not helped Seth's state of mind. All he could think about was that he was about to be dumped and that he'd been a fool for waiting on her if that was the case. Seth came to a halt and turned to his right.

Her house had two gargoyle statues at the end of the driveway her parents always called ugly but never got around to removing. Seth liked the way they looked. A large oak tree dominated their front yard, its branches providing shade to the three-story brick home, and interlocking over the house with the branches of the massive trees behind their home.

The front door slammed open and Seth almost jumped. Madeline stood in the doorway, hair bobbed and now brunette, clothed in a psychedelically colored sari and a blouse of more muted color. She put her hands over her mouth for a moment, then moved them away to reveal a massive smile. Seth's heart swelled in his chest and he dumped his duffel off his shoulder and sprinted up the driveway to meet her as she raced down the steps.

Seth caught her by the waist and hoisted her up. She squealed, looping her arms around his neck. He set her down and pulled her hips into his, meeting her with a kiss that contained all the pent up emotion of an entire summer. Her arms squeezed around his neck as she returned the kiss. They pulled apart and Seth looked into her eyes. "God, I've missed you."

"I missed you, too, penguin."

Because penguins mate for life, silly.

Seth beamed.

"You guys are gross.”

He looked up to see Madeline's best friend Sarah leaning in the doorway, arms folded under her chest. "I don't have a guy right now, so you guys aren't allowed to rub it in."

Seth held Madeline close with a hand on the side of her hips as she leaned against his chest. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Sarah,” he said.

“We can do whatever we want. You haven't had to wait an entire summer. You could have a guy at any time."

Sarah huffed. "Yeah, yeah. One of you is sitting up front on the drive though, I'm not letting you two make out the whole way to the lake-house. Especially not since we're eating before the drive."

Seth let go of Madeline and crossed his arms, grinning. "I don't think you're in a position to make those kind of demands."

"Fine, then," snipped Sarah. "I guess I'll just eat all the pizza that was supposed to be yours."

Madeline hugged Seth around the waist. "Let's not torture her too much. She'll find a guy at the party and we can sneak off." She looked up at him with those deep emerald eyes of hers and Seth melted a little inside.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Oh. My. God." Sarah gave Madeline a look and shook her head. "So gross." She turned and walked inside, leaving the door open behind her.
Madeline leaned up and kissed Seth. "Come on, penguin. Let's go eat." She took him by the hand and led him up the steps to her house.

Seth was immediately greeted by her mother, who was clearly the one Madeline got her appearance from. "Seth! It's been so long! It's good to see you again."

Seth smiled. "It's good to see you, too, Mrs. Olson. I'm just glad you guys didn't have any kind of freak boating accident and Madeline came back safe."

"Oh, Chris knows his boats. We were the furthest thing from danger," she said. "You know next year, you really should come with us."
Madeline interjected. "Seth will be going to college, though. I don't think he'll be able to."

Seth looked over at her. "No, I mean, not during the summer. I'd love to come."

"Okay." There was a moment of awkward silence.

Mrs. Olson laughed. "There's pizza in the kitchen, I baked it myself. You guys eat up, it's a long drive out to the lake-house."

"Thank you," said Seth. He followed Madeline into the kitchen where Sarah already chewed her way through a massive slice of pizza. Seth looked at the pie sitting on a cooking stone on the kitchen island. It smelled delicious but he could not for the life of him identify exactly what kind of meat was on it. He narrowed his eyes and looked over at Madeline. "This isn't tofu or something weird like that, is it?"

She laughed and covered her mouth with her hand. "No, it's not. I told my mom no vegetarian stuff today."

Seth took a slice and bit into it. Chicken, he thought. He still wasn't certain. But as he watched Madeline smile and interact with Sarah and her mom, something still felt off. He didn’t feel secure with her back.

***