Hilary shut the bathroom door behind her. At last, a decent bath! Gramps (and by default, Tyson) considered the bath almost a sacred thing, and it had taken her a long time to cajole Tyson into letting her use it. She filled the bath, then stripped and got in, sighing in contentment as the warm water reached her neck.
Baths were the best place to think, and wow, did she need to have a think!
She had evaluated her mental state in about two seconds flat; confused. She liked Max, and she liked Tyson as well. Oh joy; note the sarcasm. Wasn't life great? And she had thought it was complicated enough back when she had first joined up with the Bladebreakers and had got a crush on both Kai and Tyson.
Both crushes had faded quickly, leaving her with the comfortable feeling of equality that was part of the reason that she enjoyed hanging around with the five boys that had become her best friends. Kai especially never featured in her thoughts nowadays, not in that way, anyway. Just as well, she couldn't cope with liking three out of five boys…
Groaning in despair, she shifted positions, sending deliciously warm water sloshing around her. This didn't even make any sense. Everyone and anyone she knew admitted freely that although Max and Tyson were attractive in their own way, the real heart-throbs of the team were Kai and Ray. And yet, she felt nothing for either of them, and something for both of the younger bladers. Logic dictated that her fifteen-nearly-sixteen year-old hormones would go for the hottest boys around, didn't it? Why couldn't everything just make sense again? Sighing, she closed her eyes, determined to enjoy this rare bath if it was the last thing she felt like doing!
Suddenly, the door swung open. Hilary's outraged scream resounded in harmony with a shocked yelp, and the door slammed shut.
"What on earth?" she demanded shrilly, scooping bubbles over herself protectively.
"Sorry, Hil, I am so sorry, I wasn't paying attention!" Max babbled, panicked, from the other side of the door. Hilary relaxed. Slightly.
"It's okay, Max, just don't do it again, okay?"
"Okay," came the subdued reply. "I really am sorry, though. I never meant to - it was an accident-"
"Max, zip it!"
"Yes, Hilary…" He sounds unhappy, Hilary realised guiltily.
"Are you okay?" she called.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"Oh, you just sounded a bit down, that's all!" Hilary said airily. Her eyes narrowed calculatingly. Max, what are you hiding from me? she questioned silently. She sat up and yanked out the plug. Scrambling out and nearly slipping on the damp floor, she began to dry herself. "Are you sure you're all right?" she asked, having not heard him move away.
"I'm okay…" The soft reply sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her, and Hilary felt a strange, half warm, half angry feeling make a tight ball at the back of her throat. Dressing as quickly as she could, she opened the door and peered out. Max was standing a few metres away, his sparkling blue eyes gloomy.
"Max?" she asked cautiously. The blond jumped violently and forced a grin.
"Hey, Hil," he replied cheerfully enough. "Don't worry about me, okay? I'm sure you've got better things to waste your time on than that." Bitterness crept into his tone as steadily as pink was creeping over his freckled cheeks. Hilary felt heat spreading over her own cheeks almost in response, and it took all the will she had to avert her gaze from Max's captivating eyes.
"Well, remember, if you ever need to talk, I'm always here." she offered, mentally berating herself for the clichéd sentence.
"Yeah, thanks." His tone stayed unhappy.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Max shrugged. "Come on, Max, you can tell me, can't you?"
Max looked up at Hilary, saw the pleading, anxious look in her beautiful mahogany eyes and his mind started racing for a reason to be upset that she would find plausible. He thought of one quite easily, it had been plaguing him for a while, as a matter of fact.
"I just think that people don't take me and Draciel seriously!"
"Like how?" Hilary demanded sceptically. Max grinned despite his sadness at the sudden, argumentative light that had appeared in her eyes.
"Well, I'm the only one without a flashy attack." he muttered, feeling heat spread to the very roots of his hair. "I mean, Ray and Kai can produce the world's coolest lightshow, Tyson can make himself fly, and all I can do is shove a wall of water at my opponents!" He cringed inwardly as Hilary starting giggling. There goes yet another example of my incredible ability to impress anyone. I can make them laugh, yep, but impress them? Leave them thinking: ooh, that Max Tate is well cool! Nope not me, wrong number, please try again.
"Why don't you ask Kenny to lend you a hand?" Max blinked himself back to reality and responded with that peak of conversational intellect used in debates all over country:
"Huh? What d'you say?" Hilary laughed and tossed her head, sending her damp hair swinging everywhere.
"Well, Maxie, you've got water and gravity, yeah? They could be really impressive! Just use your head! I'm sure you and Kenny could come up with loads of cool ideas!" She grinned at him confidently. Feeling only slightly better, he smiled back. Suddenly, Hilary moved forwards and hugged him tightly. "You can do it, Max!" she whispered into his ear. "Cheer up!" She let go and moved away, looking almost as surprised as Max, but not at all unhappy with the turn of events. A true grin spread across Max's face.
"Will do, Hil!" he exclaimed, laughing at the unintentional rhyme. Bubbling over with exuberance all of a sudden, he hurried off to find Kenny.
Humming a little dazedly to herself, Hilary wandered off as well, her internal love-compass beginning to ease in one direction.
Maybe this won't be so bad… she thought hopefully to herself.
Short, yes, very. There'll be another short chappie like this where she...encounters...Tyson, and then I'll hopefully got the plot moving again. Please, please review!