It's No Fun on the Sidelines

“Do it again,” Todd said to Katie as she attempted her new trick, a 360, for about the hundredth time.

Travis had some Redbull stuff to do before X. That left Todd and I in charge… and Bilko, but he hasn’t emerged from the house yet. Aussie hangover. He’s so getting it when he comes out here. But with all these attempts, you could tell she was getting tired. 360’s aren’t the easiest tricks to pull. It takes so much out of you. Pulling a two hundred fifty pound dirt bike around in a circle is not easy. Bilko and Todd were blessed with the natural ability to do them. Katie and I on the other hand, had to work a little harder.

“I don’t want to do it again,” she said softly from the foam pit.

Apparently, Todd doesn’t have the best hearing. He didn’t hear one syllable of that.

“Come on, Katie. You got it. You just need the spin to be a little faster,” I tried to encourage her, something that Todd wasn’t doing.

She huffed and puffed her way back up the hill. If Todd kept poking at her, this wasn’t going to go well. Something’s up with him today. He just woke up in a bad mood. I have no idea why either.

As she approached the jump, Bilko could be seen coming out of the house. He stopped to watch Katie’s trick. I lost track of him after she landed. Something went wrong and she pushed the bike away. As she came down, I couldn’t catch my breath. She almost missed the foam pit entirely.

“Do it again,” Todd said callously as he crossed his arms.

“Fucking Potter,” she mumbled as a couple cubes went everywhere.

“Whew. What happened there, Sheila?” Bilko asked as he came up with Todd and I and helped Katie out of the foam pit.

“Nothing, Bilko,” she replied, stretching Bilko’s name out.

Uh oh. Looks like we have a frustrated Sheila. Obviously, they haven’t chatted about the events of last night. Add that to Todd over here being a hardass. That just isn’t a good combo.

“Katie, maybe you and I should go take a break,” I suggested before she started up the hill again.

I could feel Todd glaring at me, but I didn’t care. If she’s this frustrated while she’s riding, she could really hurt herself.

“Ok,” she said as she dismounted her bike.

“Five minutes,” Todd yelled as we started for a quiet place.

“I’m going to take as long as I damn well please,” I said back to him.

He looked at me with the most shocked look I’ve ever seen him give me. I thought it was funny. I’ve never said anything to him like that. It took everything I had not to laugh as he faded from my sight.

“What’s wrong, Kates?” I asked as we planted ourselves on the ground on the other side of Travis’s garage, away from the boys’ range of hearing.

“Nothing,” she said as she pulled her knees to her chest.

“Really?” I asked with a knowing grin.

“Yep,” she simply said.

“It’s Bilko isn’t it?”

“Molly, don’t make me lie to you,” she said as she rubbed her hands over her face.

“You and Bilko remind me a lot of Todd and I,” I smiled at the thought.

“Sure it does. You guys have this perfect relationship. I don’t see how it could possibly have started like this,” she said, letting her full frustration show.

“We were friends for so long. I hated it. We would ride together daily. We went out with each other, but never thought to go talk to anyone else. We even went on dinner dates, but Todd didn’t want something serious. He just liked seeing me. It was frustrating,” I admitted, noticing that I had her full-undivided attention.

“So how’d it blossom into what it is now?”

“I just flat out told him I wanted him to be my boyfriend,” I giggled out myself. It caused Katie to laugh too. “Bilko’s Bilko. He’s so friendly that I don’t think he even realizes he’s flirting with someone. But I think he knows he’s flirting with you. Something's there,” I went on as a smile remained on her face.

“I better get back before your man comes looking for us,” she said as we stood up.

“You just got to know how to handle him. He thinks he’s big and bad. He’s just a big old teddy bear,” I replied as we started back towards the foam pit.

“Sure he is.”

“Just don’t kill him. I need him for babies in the next couple years,” I teased.

“How about I just salvage that area?” she teased with me.

“Works for me,” I smiled as the boys came into view.

An idea struck me as I saw Bilko staring at Katie. She went for her bike and I made a bee line straight towards him. He watched me as I stopped beside him.

“What are you doing tonight, Blakey?” I asked as my arm went around his torso

“Why?” he asked quickly.

“Well, it’s Katie’s birthday and…” I started to explain.

I had the perfect idea. Katie is going to love me. This is definitely going to be her best birthday present she’s ever gotten. So my idea was to have Bilko take Katie out for a nice little dinner. Knowing that she’s not much of the party girl, I figured she would be ok with this… and plus it’s Bilko. But I explained everything him. He was going to get all fancied up and leave like a half hour before Katie would be ready. To make sure Katie got ready on time, I was going to talk her into going to dinner with me and only me. Yes, I’m lying to her, but it’s for a good cause. Who’s brilliant? Molly’s brilliant!