Pushed by a Breeze

“Ugh, this is disgusting,” groaned Clay Odellum as he reached his hands in the slimy river water again in search of different water plants. Their class had taken a biology field trip to the river to study fish and plants.

“Yeah. Kara must hate this,” Clay’s partner Alec Buchanan remarked, referring to his best friend and Clay’s girlfriend Kara Parcy.

Clay and Alec had been paired up by their teacher to work together, and the situation was awkward at best. These guys really had nothing in common except Kara, and an air of competitiveness and jealousy hung between them at all times.

“You know who would really hate this? Belinda Belize. I was hanging at her place Saturday and-”

“Wait,” Alec interrupted. “This Saturday? When you told Kara you were going to your grandparents?”

“Oh, yeah,” Clay scoffed. “That girl is one of the easiest to trick like that. She’ll believe anything.”

Alec felt like he had been run over by a bulldozer. “Are you saying that you’ve been lying to Kara to go hang out with other girls?”

“Yeah, man,” he said before noticing the shocked, pale expression on Alec’s face. “Dude, what’s with the look? You know what it’s like! Guys like us can’t be satisfied by just one chick! Hey, we’ll keep this between us? Nothing to Kara about it. You’re a bro, right?”

“No bro of yours,” Alec said through gritted teeth before winding back and cracking Clay straight in the jaw. Clay flew off his feet and smacked flat on his back into the water of the river.

The shock of what he had just done was pumping through Alec’s body and froze him solid for a moment- just long enough to Clay to crawl back up and pounce on him.

The two kicked and punched and tussled as the water splashed up all around them. A crowd began to form, some immature guys rooting on the fight, some girls whispering excitedly about this fresh piece of gossip. Finally, one frightened voice broke through the rest and hit Alec’s heart harder then any punch Clay threw his way.

“Clay! Alec!” Kara shrieked, pushing her way through the crowd and standing terrified and helpless beside them. “Stop it! Please! You’re going to hurt each other!”

The sound of desperation in Kara’s voice was enough to force Alec to tear himself away from Clay- shoving him away and taking a few steps back. He was breathing heavy, with a bleeding fat lip and an aching on his side.

“What happened? I hear there’s a fight going on and I find out it’s my best friend and my boyfriend!”

“Yeah, well, forget it,” Clay hissed, flinching away from Kara’s gaze. “I’m not your boyfriend anymore.” And with that, he stormed through the shallow water after the dissipating crowd. Alec caught sight of Belinda Belize chasing after him.

“But- but-” Kara sputtered to his retreating back, tears welling in her eyes. She and Alec were alone now. “Alec, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Kara, I am so sorry.” He put his palm into air towards her, inwardly hoping that she’d take it in hers. She didn’t.

“What happened? Clay...”

“Clay is a jerk.” Alec answered taking a sloppy wet step in Kara’s direction. “I would never have wished for you to find out this way, but he was cheating on you.”

Kara’s green eyes instantly fell to the water. “How do you know?”

“He told my himself...” Alec winced saying it.

“But did you have to fight him?” Kara stamped her foot in the water, splashing it up so it smattered her acid washed skinny jeans. “Do you have any idea how embarrassed I feel? You could have just told me! I don’t understand... it’s always been like this between the two of you... like it was building to explode.”

“Why do you think, Kara?” Alec whispered. “I was jealous.”

“Of me? For having somebody? For not spending as much time with you?”

“Of him. For having you to love him.”

Kara looked at him skeptically. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I was always waiting for the moment to tell you... And now is as good as any. I want to be with you, Kara. The thought of you being with a jerk like Clay raged in my mind all the time.”

Alec’s heart thudded back and forth between his lungs, in total shock that he finally said the words out loud- “I have feelings for you. Don’t you feel it too?”

Kara couldn’t lie to him, Alec meant far too much to her to pretend that she had never felt that energy between them too. With a tight throat, she nodded and whispered “of course, Alec. Always have.”

“So now what? Do we try this? For real?”

Kara smiled a beautiful smile, “I think so. I mean, judging by my last boyfriend, you don’t have much to live up to.” Alec exhaled with relief and smiled too.

With a very exciting, new feeling shared between them, Alec and Kara came together and embraced- as if pushed by a breeze.