Seth stood outside in the hot summer air, gi open and belt in his left hand, both hands on his head as he looked upwards. The rapidly darkening sky was about to give way to roiling storm. He felt the pent up emotions of an entire year leave his body in slow, shaky breaths. Seth didn't give a damn about the gold medal that awaited him at the end of the day, and it didn’t even matter to him that his parents had missed another tournament.
He'd done it. He had done it. He had done it.
"FUCK YES," Seth shouted, pumping a fist in the air. "Holy shit." He sank down into a squat, staring at the black belt in his hands. Plain black cloth, durable, representative of years of blood, sweat, and tears. He pressed it to his forehead and closed his eyes, elated.
A whole year he'd trained for this. Every day, even Sundays. He couldn't believe he'd finally done it. He could literally feel weight leaving his shoulders, his muscles relaxing in a way they had never relaxed before, the tightness between his shoulder blades finally vanishing. He stood back up and turned around.
Ms. Tull and Coach John stood there, both smiling.
"Good job, Seth," she said. Coach John slapped him on the shoulder. The impact shook Seth's body.
"So." Said Ms. Tull. She crossed her arms and grinned. "About that red tab?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"We don't think you should be wearing it anymore."
"Wait, what?" Seth blinked, genuinely confused to the moment.
"You're testing for your black tab this year, Seth. And your second degree." She pointed at his black belt. "You're ready."
"Holy-" Seth caught himself. "Thank you, ma'am."
"Go back in there and cheer the colored belts on. Half of them were watching you and it would mean a lot to them."
"Yes, ma'am." Seth started to head back in, re-tying his belt around his waist and closing his gi.
"And Seth."
He paused and turned back to face her.
"Don't think I expect you to stop training as hard now that you beat Jayson. Now I know what you're capable of."
Seth really couldn't stop smiling. "Yes, ma'am," he forced out before heading back inside. He walked over to his ring, where two kids he didn't know were stepping up to the line for the opening fight of intermediate sixteen to eighteen. He sat down next to his duffel and watched them start their fight.
The bag buzzed at him. Seth eyed it suspiciously. He did not want to be brought down from this high.
But, with reluctance, he retrieved his phone.
The first was a Snapchat message. He opened it. It was from one of the kids at CFA. It was a video of the final seconds of his and Jayson's fight and the caption simply said '#CFA'. Seth had to admit it felt good to watch after years of Jayson's torment. Maybe he could have won the fight by points, but damn, Jayson refusing to tap and then doing to him exactly what Jayson had told him he would do to him just an hour ago...
Seth moved on to the next notification, a snap from his friend Jess. She looked bored as usual, glasses sliding down her nose and hair somehow messy and styled all at the same time, her ubiquitous silver two-barred cross hanging from her neck. The caption said: 'Oh good, some drama to get me out of studying for the ACT. Check your messages you ding-dong'.
Seth opened them to see a long series of texts from Jessica.
A mystery, so exciting.
Well, not in my contacts. Then again, I don't associate myself with cowards.
It's our area code maybe we can look it up.
WELL SHIT.
It's one of those apps that gives you a fake number. Sorry dude.
Seth sighed and unblocked the number, then called it. It rang for a long time, then gave a pre-recorded voicemail. Seth ended the call and stared at his phone. It vibrated with a text from Madeline.
I got the part! How was your fight, penguin?!
Seth paused for a long moment. No, unless he had proof, this was just someone messing with him. He wouldn’t take that out on Madeline. That's awesome! I won!
Good job!
Seth stared at his phone for another minute. Do you want to go out tonight? I'll get back to the city around nine and we can catch a late movie.
There was no response for a while. Seth was vaguely aware of a winner being called in the ring.
His phone buzzed.
Sorry, I can't. I have plans.
Oh. Okay. Going out with your girlfriends?
Yeah.
Seth stared at the one-word response and scratched his head as two new competitors entered the ring. He swallowed.
Next Saturday though. We can drive up to the lake house. Ok?
Seth felt the tension and doubt leave his body.
Ok. We'll make more plans tomorrow. I love you.
I love you too, penguin.
Seth clenched his teeth and tried to force it all out of his mind. Just someone messing with him.
***
Seth lay back lazily in the Olson's hammock behind the lake house. He could hear the waves gently lap against the shore about twenty feet away, and the wind was just strong enough to nudge the hammock now and again. The warm August sun heated his bare torso and urged him to sleep.
The book he'd intended to read lay on the ground beside him. He'd only made it a few pages in before the sleepiness of the afternoon seized him. But now he had one eye open. He'd heard something, it sounded like it came from the woods just south of the house that wrapped all the way around the lake and continued into the wilderness beyond. He studied the foliage. It had sounded like a twig snapping, but it was so faint he wasn't sure. He opened both eyes and squinted.
Not a thing looked out of place. Seth shrugged and leaned back, but now that he was alert, he struggled to find that perfect position again. Annoyed, he looked up at the house. Madeline was taking forever to change into her swimsuit.
Seth swung his feet over the side of the hammock and stood up, snatching his book off the ground. No harm in checking on her. He hadn't been in the house yet anyway and he wanted a drink. Training for the tournament might be over, but he had a long few months ahead of him if he wanted his black tab in the spring.
Seth opened the door to the basement and stepped into the cool air of the house. Mansion, honestly. The entire property had to cost somewhere in the million-dollar range. Seth vaguely wished he was that rich. Seth closed the double glass doors behind him and moved across the high-pile carpet toward the stairs. He paused. There was an open Bluray case next to the PS4 and curved-screen TV. He scratched his head. No one had been up to the lake house since the party. Madeline's parents worked weekends.
Seth picked up the case. '50 First Dates'. Madeline's favorite rom-com. The PS4 was still on, but the TV was off. Seth set the case down and picked up the remote from the couch. He pressed 'on'.
The TV came to life. The PS4 home screen appeared. Seth looked up at the username in the corner.
Guest.
Madeline was Platinum in Overwatch. She had a Playstation account. Seth suddenly felt very uncomfortable and he quickly turned off the PS4 and television. He glanced at the double glass doors. He should just wait for her. Seth looked at the stairs for half a second before bolting up them. He moved quickly to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Leftover pizza. They'd thrown out all the leftovers after the party.
Seth found himself thinking about that phone call.
No. Maybe her plans were to hang out with Sarah, they'd watched a movie or something. She'd never elaborated what her plans were.
No, she had. She'd said she and Sarah were going to Village Pointe to shop for clothes for the first day of school.
Maybe they came back here afterwards.
"Yeah," muttered Seth. "Drove two hours- no, almost three from Village Pointe." He looked around the empty kitchen for something, anything that would indicate she and Sarah were here last Saturday.
Facebook would say. Sarah always checked in her location on Facebook when there was potential for a cute guy to 'bump into her' on accident. He pulled up his phone and scrolled through Sarah's page. Saturday.
There was a picture of her and a guy Seth thought he'd seen around school eating ice cream. The hashtags were endless. The location was in the downtown, a thirty minute drive from Village Point if you didn't take the expressway. Seth swallowed and pocketed his phone, his eyes roving toward the staircase. He moved towards it, ascending slowly on his way to Madeline's room. The door was cracked and he could hear her moving inside.
"I can hear you, come in."
Seth pushed open the door and smiled a little. Madeline was naked. Apparently, she had been waiting for him. Her mischievous expression changed to worry at the look on his face. "Seth, what's wrong? You okay?"
"Uhm, yeah. Uh." Seth ran a hand through his hair and looked Madeline up and down. Everything in him said to leave it. But he just could not shake the feeling in his stomach.
Madeline stepped closer. "Is there something I can do to help with it?" She raised an eyebrow and tugged on the waistband of his shorts.
Fuck. Seth braced as hard as he possibly could against his teenage hormones.
"What did you and Sarah do Saturday?"
"I told you, silly." She slipped a hand inside his shorts. "We got our outfits for Monday."
"Uh-huh. Where'd you go shopping?"
Madeline unbuttoned and then unzipped his shorts. "Village Pointe." She gave his shorts a tug and they fell off his hips to the floor leaving him in just his boxers. "Why?"
Seth really, really wanted to just leave it. He wanted to do what boyfriends and girlfriends were supposed to do. He wanted to enjoy senior year. It was already starting off so well with the tournament and his getting selected for black tab.
He couldn't, though.
"Uhm, I just saw Sarah posted a selfie that night in downtown with some guy."
Seth saw the slightest hesitation as Madeline pulled his boxers away from his body. That was it. That was all he needed. "Oh, she went on a date while I was in auditions."
"The timestamp was nine o'clock."
Madeline pulled his boxers down and knelt on the floor in front of him. "She posted it later while we were shopping." She looked up at Seth.
"Did you guys come back here to watch a movie?"
There. In her eyes. He saw it. The faintest flicker of fear, of a kid caught copying test answers.
"Y- Yes."
"No." Seth grabbed his phone out of his shorts on the floor and pulled up the texts from the unknown number. "Who were you kissing at auditions."
"Fuck."
"Yeah." Seth pulled his shorts and boxers back up. "Who the fuck was it?"
Madeline stood up and turned away, pressing her hands to her forehead. "Fuckfuckfuck."
"I want a name, not the number of times he fucked you,” Seth said, barely more than a growl.
Madeline turned back around and what Seth saw made his blood run cold. Her face was completely calm, only the faintest trace of emotion on it, and that emotion was anger. Not fear. Not guilt. Anger. "We're going to get one thing straight here, Seth. You're fucking boring."
"What?" Seth nearly choked in surprise.
"All you do is train, train, train. You barely talk about anything else. You hardly care for anything else. Getting with you was a mistake, the problem for me was that I'm not going to go to homecoming alone."
"Wait, what?" Seth was too shocked to be angry.
"You heard me."
"Where did this all start? How long have you been cheating on me?"
She sighed and looked him dead in the eyes. "Since before summer."
The switch flipped inside Seth. "What the fuck?" He shouted. "With the same guy?"
"Mostly."
Seth pulled at his hair. "Why not break up with me then? Why not just dump me when you figured out that the exact same thing I remember you saying 'was so hot' was the thing that you couldn't stand?"
She shrugged. "Because it was too much work."
"Hold on. W-"
"All you do is train. Being your girlfriend isn't that hard. Like I said, you're boring."
"I can train less," said Seth. He felt like that kid, walking into CFA for the first time and being utterly destroyed in sparring by Jayson again and again and again. His shoulder blades began to tighten. He swallowed. "I love you, Madeline."
"I don't love you. I never loved you. I just said it because you did and honestly you're pretty fun to fuck. That's really all you have going for you, though."
Tears welled at the corners of Seth's eyes. He forced them away. "Fuck you."
She glanced at the bed. "I mean, I'm honestly okay with breakup sex. Like I said, you're fun. Just. Boring at all other times. I mean, come on. You come out to the lake house just to sleep in a hammock and read? Throw a party! Have you ever thrown a party, Seth or do you just get dragged to them?"
Seth shook his head. "Fuck you. Goodbye, Madeline." He started to turn but she snatched his wrist.
"Seriously, though. Breakup sex?" She licked her lips.
"No, Madeline. No."
She reached around and grabbed his dick through his shorts. "C'mon..."
Seth shoved her hand away and stepped out of her reach. "No." He looked her up and down one last time. "No, Madeline. We're done. No one is ever going to play me like you again. Not ever." Seth turned and walked out on what he had thought was one of the best years of his life.
