Someone to Hold
Chapter 2
"So you won't mind?" Sky asked, leaning forward a little. Bridge was trying to fight back the tears he didn't even understand.
"Yeah, of course." He answered, voice cracking. He cleared his throat and took a gulp of his water. Is this why he's being so nice to me? Is this why he invited me to dinner? Just because he wanted to know if it was okay to ask Syd out on a date? Bridge couldn't help wondering. Sky took another swig of his beer and smiled.
"Great. Oh, look, here's our food!" Sky was obviously ready to eat. But for some reason, Bridge just didn't have much of an appetite anymore.
"G'night, Bridge." Sky climbed under the sheet of his bed, and turned off the lamp on his nightstand. Bridge was already in his bright green pajama's, stuffed Dinosaur tucked under his arm. He muttered a similar sentiment and turned off his light, as well. But he couldn't sleep. And this time, it was his own emotions, not those from somewhere else. He felt used and betrayed, that Sky would be nice to him just get something. But there was an underlying emotion, as well. Several, in fact. But he just couldn't place what they were.
What is this that I'm feeling? The question raced through Bridge's mind, and to his dismay, it was one he couldn't answer. He lay awake, staring up at the ceiling, clutching his stuffed dinosaur tight. He could hear Sky breathing... and it was keeping him awake.
"So. What'd you guys find out yesterday? I didn't get a chance to ask you." Syd said, looking at Bridge over the table. He was unusually groggy this morning; breakfast was usually his favorite part of the day. But he'd had trouble sleeping the night before.
"The Krybots picked up an Alluvian Crystal that I think was planted there for them. By itself, it's just a pretty rock, but it's a key component in a very potent, very lethal nerve gas." He answered, and then took a bite of his bran muffin. Syd whistled low, her eyes opening wide with shock. She looked up as Jack and Z came into the cafeteria.
"Hey guys. What's up?" Jack asked as he took a seat next to Bridge. Z sat beside Syd. Bridge was busy eating his muffin, so Syd filled them in.
"Gruumm is planning on making a powerful nerve gas. I can't imagine what he'll do with it." She said in a hushed voice, her eyes widening again, a look of concern crossing her face. Jack rolled his eyes and leaned forward.
"I imagine he'll use it on the people of NewTech City." He whispered, winking at her. It took Syd a moment, but it dawned on her, and she gasped slightly. Bridge tried to focus on the conversation, but he couldn't. He found that his thoughts kept going back to Sky... to the night before, at dinner. I want to believe there was more to that dinner invitation than just assessing whether or not I was dating Syd... he thought to himself, but he didn't really believe it. With a heavy sigh and darkening of the spirit, he took another bite of his muffin, biting back the tears that stung his eyes. He didn't even really know why he wanted to cry.
Syd, Jack, and Z were now all staring intently at Bridge. He didn't notice. Until Syd put a hand on his upper arm, that is. He looked at her, then at the others. He realized they were staring at him. He set the muffin down slowly and forced a smile.
"Sorry. Didn't sleep well last night. Still tryin' to figure out how to make an omelette in my DVD player." With that, he stood, and looked to Syd.
"I'm off to do a little training. I'll meet you here for lunch, okay?" He tried to sound chipper, but as his best friend, Syd knew something was wrong. She could see the darkening in his eyes, the way his smile wasn't really a smile, and the way he slumped his shoulders ever so slightly. But she nodded all the same, forcing a smile of her own.
"Sure. See ya here." She said pleasantly, brushing her hair behind her shoulder.
With a wave to the others, Bridge turned and left the cafeteria.
Bridge almost effortlessly brought his body up and over in mid-air, dodging the metallic sphere that shot through the air like a bullet. There were three of them, all simultaneously trying to strike Bridge. Truth be told, he took a few blows, but for the most part, he was doing a pretty good job dodging them. As he righted himself, he fell forward into a handstand, and then spread his legs to either side, doing the splits in mid-air. In doing so, he simultaneously dodge two spheres, though one passed by his groin a little too close for comfort. In the same movement, he fell forward again, tucking his legs up against his chest and unfolding into a front flip not three seconds later. As he stood, he took a sphere to the side and stumbled. He saw one coming right for his face, and bent over backwards, then righted himself and spun, in just enough time to be hit dead-center in the chest.
"Training exercise over. Score: ninety-two out of one hundred in Hyper mode." The computer's feminine voice announced. Sweating, Bridge stood upright, cracked his neck, and placed a hand on his side, where he'd took a particularly nasty hit early on. Breathing hard, he sat on a nearby bench, and leaned forward, arms resting on his knees. The other trainees and cadets who'd gathered to watch him train were mumbling amongst themselves. Bridge was not only the quickest, most flexible, and most bendable of the B-Squad... he was the quickest, most flexible, and most bendable of the entire academy. Nobody else could score so high on that particular training exercise in Hyper mode. Whereas most cadets focused more on building up muscle strength for harder kicks and punches, Bridge thought it better to teach his body to stretch and bend, thus making him harder to hit in battle. While he had to sacrifice strength, he was nearly double in speed from most other cadets.
What most people didn't know was that Bridge had another advantage; while he couldn't see the future, of course, Bridge's psychic abilities allowed him to sense the spheres, even when coming in from behind. In battle, this was especially useful, as he knew when to dodge attacks from behind, from the sides, etc.
Bridge was about to stand when he saw Sky. He stopped breathing momentarily, and swallowed hard. Sky was moving towards him, but not the same laid-back, cheery Sky from dinner the night before. No, this was the more common, tough-as-nails, no-nonsense Sky. He didn't look particularly pissy today, but he clearly wasn't too happy, either. He sat next to Bridge, resting his arms on his knees in the same manner. Bridge wasn't sure what to say, or if he should say anything at all.
"I caught the last minute or so of your training exercise. Great, as usual. But let me show you a short cut." Sky gave Bridge a wink. Bridge wasn't sure what Sky was talking about, but decided to hold his tongue.
Sky took his place within the wide circular area, and nodded to the attendant at the main station. She nodded back and set the training exercise to Hyper mode, and started it up. The metallic spheres rose from their place on the ground slowly, rotating gently. After a moment or two of warming up, they shot forward and split off to attack from all sides. Sky smirked. One came in from the left. His head snapped toward it, his eyes narrowing. A clear-blue circular barrier appeared in the air just in front of him; the sphere fell lifeless to the ground. Sky folded his arms over his chest and looked upward. Another barrier formed just as the sphere was about to slam full-force into his head. It, too, fell to the ground. Sky didn't even have to turn around. A look of concentration appeared on his face, and another barrier blocked another sphere. The training exercise was over.
"Training exercise over. Score: one hundred out of one hundred in Hyper mode. Congratulations, perfect score." The monotonous female voice droned. Bridge stood, the beginnings of a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Of course, that doesn't really count, since I technically cheated." Sky chuckled. He nodded to Bridge and turned to walk away. Bridge found that he couldn't help but think how amazing Sky was.
"Oh my God," Z gasped, her eyes widening with surprise. "you like Jack?" She finished in a whisper. From the tone of her voice, she found it quite unbelievable. Syd blushed a little, and nodded. She looked pleadingly into Z's eyes.
"Please don't tell him. Or anyone! You and Bridge are the only ones who know." She all but whined. Z was still in disbelief. She leaned back into the grey leather sofa.
"I didn't even know he was your type." She said to Syd, raising an eyebrow. Syd's blush turned a deeper scarlet.
"Who's Syd's type?" Sky asked, coming up behind the girl. Syd nearly jumped out of her seat. She breathed a sigh of relief, rolling her eyes.
"Sky! You scared me." She scolded, settling back in her seat. Sky shrugged and took a seat next to Z. Syd shot Z a frightened look, which was returned with one of comfort. Z wouldn't be telling anyone Syd's little secret, and even though Syd knew this to be true, she couldn't help but be a little worried.
"This... guy, who works at the mall." Z said, smiling. Sky nodded. He leaned forward and gave Z a rather odd look. She cocked her head to the side, and from the look she got, she realized what was going on.
"Ohh," she whispered, suppressing a smile. "I have to go, Syd. See ya later." She stood and walked out of the Rec Room. Syd just watched her go, a little surprised. She thought they'd agreed to spend the day together. Obviously not.
"So. Syd." Sky came to sit beside her.
"... So. Sky." She answered back, folding her hands in her lap. Sky smiled at her, and cleared his throat. Syd just waited patiently.
"Syd, d'you think you'd wanna... maybe... go out, some time?" He asked, trying to hide his nervousness. Syd didn't seem to hear him for a moment. Then her eyes widened.
"... Ohhhh." She looked away, her face contorting in awkwardness. She looked back with a pleasant smile on her face, and sat up a little straighter. Sky was looking more confident. Apparently, he thought she was going accept.
"Well, Sky... I... well, I just don't think so." She said as gently as she could. He looked instantly crestfallen. She started to panic, and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, Sky, look... I just think we're better off as friends. I mean, I wouldn't want to jeopardize our friendship in any way." She gave him a sympathetic smile, rubbing his upper arm. He smiled weakly back, though it was obvious that he was devastated. He stood, cleared his throat, and nodded curtly. Syd frowned. Sky turned and began to walk out of the room.
"Sky! Wait, please don't be up-" But before Syd could even finish her sentence, Sky was gone. She sighed heavily and sat back down. She just didn't know what to do...
Bridge was laying in his bed, reading a copy of Computer Tech Monthly. His laptop lay closed next to him, his stuffed dinosaur on top of it. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Sky since earlier at the training exercise. But he wasn't too worried. Time away from Sky meant time away from the odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. And yet, Bridge found that his thoughts always fluttered back to Sky, anyway. He couldn't even concentrate on the article he was reading; one he'd been looking forward to since last month. He sighed and tossed the magazine down to the floor, opting instead to just lay there, hands folded across his navel. He opened his mind a little, as he always did when he was alone. He had to keep a tight mental focus to stop himself from reading the feelings of others, and it was nice to relax his mind every once and awhile.
But almost as soon as he opened his mind, a wave of powerful emotion hit him like a purse full of bricks. He actually teared up right there, and let out a sob. He felt confusion, anger, embarrassment, desolation, and worry - all at once. He quickly closed his mind, and wondered where the devil those feelings had come from. He wiped his eyes and sat up, a little bewildered. He couldn't fathom who would be feeling like that.
And then, Sky walked into their bedroom. He looked well enough, if a little downcast. He nodded to Bridge, who nodded back slowly. Sky grabbed something off his night stand and gave Bridge another nod as he walked back out. Bridge just stared after him in wonder.