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Bridge Over Crystal Waters
Moon Kitty 2005
January 24, 2006
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Fifteen-year-old Emily Watson sighed into the depths of the dark room, slipping her glasses back on once more. It suddenly became clear to her that with all the thoughts rolling through her head that she wasn't going to get much sleep. She sat up, pushing the sleeping bag off her legs. Thanks to the upcoming tournament, the All Starz, Bladebreakers, and White Tigers were situated in a ritzy hotel in Izu, just minutes away from a beautiful river and glorious open-air baths.
Emily walked to the joint bathroom and locked both doors before shrugging out of her pajamas and donning a skirt and long-sleeved shirt. Glancing in the mirror at her matted hair, she fluffed it and ran her fingers through it a couple of times before she was satisfied. Making sure none of her teammates were awake, she slid open the shoji before slipping on her tennis shoes and leaving the hotel, nodding politely to the alert clerk at the desk.
Whenever she had a great deal of problems gathering in her mind, she liked to go somewhere tranquil to meditate and try to sort everything out a little.
Her problems had all started a few weeks ago when Judy, her team's captain, had invited her to dinner. She had made no special attempt to look good, but as a boy around her age opened the door, she almost wished she had.
She had immediately recognized him. It had been Max, but a very different version of him. His blonde hair had tamed and his cerulean eyes stood out against his lightly-tanned face. She remembered stammering and blushing profusely as his mom stood, smirking knowingly.
A grim smile and a faint blush marred her otherwise peaceful face as she recalled that rather humiliating memory.
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"Welcome! E-Emily?" Max asked, a truly bewildered expression on his face as they stared at each other.
"Hi, Max," she replied to his question with a false confidence as she felt her cheeks grow red. "Your mom invited me to dinner."
Was she just imagining things, or was that a blush she had seen just now? He spun around quickly, scratching the back of his head, the complete picture of embarrassment. "Hold on. I'll go get her."
When he came back a few minutes later to invite her inside, she could've sworn his hair looked different, and he grinned in childish pleasure as he plopped down beside her on the couch, chattering about how long it had been since they had last seen each other.
"We have to get together sometime and have a match!" he said excitedly, at which Emily had laughed.
Same old Max, she thought.
But his next comment had thrown her for quite a loop, she had to admit.
"You... you look really nice," he complimented in a shy tone of voice, looking down at his fingers.
Emily simply stared at him a few moments before a furious red coated her cheeks. "Th-thank you."
A few moments of embarrassed silence passed before Judy walked up behind them, clearing her throat, a knowing twinkle in her blue eyes.
The rest of the dinner had gone off without a hitch, besides the fact that whenever Max's and Emily's fingers would brush when passing dishes they would blush and look towards their laps shyly, and Max's mom would hold in a barely-contained giggle.
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Emily sighed once again and frowned slightly, finding herself at the bridge that connected the hotel to the rest of Izu. Walking out to the center of the bridge, she pushed her glasses up her nose, glancing down at the river fifty feet below her. Shivering slightly, she pulled her hands inside her sleeves, leaning against the railing. She raised her green eyes to the moon and retreated even further into her mind.
One of the things most prominent on her mind were the newfound feelings that begun to well up for her captain's son. She could hardly believe it. One summer they had been all trash talk and attitude, and the next, blushing idiots.
And she could have been mistaken, but Judy seemed to know about it to some extent.
A few days ago, they had gone through the preliminaries, and when Emily had won the final match for her team, she had been pleasantly surprised when Max had swept her up into a congratulatory hug.
That was when she had become fully aware of her feelings. When he had wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face into her neck, she had felt something traitorous kick her heart and cause a tingling throughout her body.
Sure that her feelings would get in the way when herself and Max battled, she found out she was angry of these new emotions coursing through her. But after a few more hugs and lopsided smiled, when she found herself blushing and that cursed tingling feeling in her stomach, she found out that perhaps she had been a little quick to judge. Her competitiveness wouldn't fade no matter what.
Jolted from her thoughts by the sound to her right, she spun around to face the subject of her thoughts.
"Hey, Emily. Whatcha doin'?"
Surprisingly, her expression didn't change as she smiled slightly and turned back to the moon. "Just thinking."
"About?" he inquired curiously, leaning against the bridge next to her.
"Stuff," she replied secretively, shifting her gaze to wink at him.
A few moments on comfortable silence passed between them, the breeze ruffling their hair. On an ordinary night, each other's company would be embarrassing, but Emily supposed it was just the beautiful nature of Izu and the slightly warm breeze that kept them so quiet and relaxed.
Emily turned her head to look at him. "Felt an urge to take a walk?"
He shook his head. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to stand by my window for some fresh air. Imagine my surprise when I see you walking out in the middle of the night. I just decided to follow you. Sorry if I'm bothering you."
Emily blushed, waving her hands in the air, the calm atmosphere broken. "No! No problem. You have just as much right to walk as I do." Pausing for a moment cutely, she cocked her head to the side cutely. "But why did you follow me?"
Now it was his turn to blush as he scratched the back of his head. "I just got the weird urge to talk to you."
"Oh."
Once again falling silent, they bother regarded each other before laughing quietly.
"So why aren't we talking?"
Max smiled. "Not really anything to talk about. I don't know. Pick a topic."
She could already feel a blush steal across her cheeks as she thought of a suitable topic. "I'm kind of tired of talking about Beyblade. How about we talk about more... p-personal matters?"
"Oh, yeah? Like what?" he asked, looking up, seemingly interested.
"L-like... love interests? Do you have a girlfriend o-or a crush?" Emily surprised even herself as she let loose that statement. She was sure her cheeks were on fire.
"O-oh..." he stammered for a moment, his cheeks growing red as well. "I-I don't have a girlfriend, but I do have a crush."
"R-really? Can I ask who?"
He chuckled. "You can ask, but the question won't necessarily be answered."
Her eyebrows knotted in confusion. "Why?"
"You ask too many questions," he stated, and the comment seemed to make her self-conscious as he heard her mutter, "I'm sorry..." "It's all right. But I suppose it would be all right to answer your question, if not a little embarrassing." Here he blushed, placing his head in his hands.
Her eyebrow raised slightly as she contemplated this. "Why?"
His next comment was another unexpected one and one that sent her heart to her throat and a deep red color rise to her cheeks.
His voice was slightly muffled by the material of his sleeves, but it's meaning could not have been more clear. "Because it's you."
Her eyes widened and she seemed to stumble over her words. "W-what? What are you talking about?"
His head rose from the railing and his face was still red, but he spoke in a firm tone. "I like you, Emily."
It took a moment, but his words sunk in and her hands balled into fists at her sides, her shoes suddenly becoming interesting. "I like you, too, Max," she near-whispered, suddenly feeling as if a two-ton weight had lifted off her shoulders.
If it was possible for him to be any redder, he did it. "But I thought you liked Micheal!"
"And I thought you liked Miriam!"
The tense atmosphere broken, they smiled at each other, light blushes still present on their cheeks. Max suddenly stepped forward, enfolding her hand within his.
"What are you d-doing?" she asked, following half-heartedly as he dragged her back in the direction of the hotel.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I can't let my girlfriend stay out here any longer or she'll catch a cold."
"G-GIRLFRIEND?"
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A few hundred feet away, Tyson snuggled deeper into his pillow and murmured, "Yes, Hilary, girlfriend..."
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Authoress Notes
Okay, well... this was written a while ago, and I seriously hope it wasn't as bad as I think it is. I had to make up a last name for Emily because I didn't know it. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review!