𝑭𝑰𝑮𝑼𝑹𝑬 𝑩𝑶𝒀 , 𝒌. 𝒘𝒖 [1]

8 || The Chaotic Duo

"What goes well with electricity?"

"Fire Jeff that's what. If these two skated together they'd be the most chaotic duo out there"

"Rue brought the electricity-"

"And Ken brought the fire"

That's all they heard the intercoms say in the arena. They tied. Again. But this time, they were now surnamed "The Chaotic Duo". People kept saying that if they skated together, it'd be the most amazing thing in youth figure skating. That they were amazing. Ken was looking at the screen where their scores were plastered. The scores were identical.

"See? I told you you were awesome" a voice said behind him. He turned around to meet eyes with Rue, who was surprisingly happy about all of this.

"Well I'm not that awesome '' he started while pointing at the scoreboard, "I tied".

"Yeah no joke Sherlock you tied with me" she responded with a little chuckle at the end.

"And you're happy about that because...?" he asked her. He didn't mean to sound as rude or unhappy or as snobby as he did. He wasn't as competitive as his mom but he still had it in his blood. He didn't hate losing but he wasn't a big fan of tying either.

"And you sound pissed about that because...?" she asked him matching his tone of voice. He sighed

"Well I don't know Rue, I mean you might be happy about it but our mom's don't seem too keen" he said that while pointing to both of their moms arguing with the judges.
"And besides," he continued "if I won today, I could've gone to the Olympics and I guess I just really wanted that... I don't know" he sighed before passing a hand in his hair "I'm sorry, this is stupid".

She plastered a fake smile on her face before finally responding "You don't have to apologize Ken, besides 'ask and you will receive' right?"

"What?"

She pointed to the screen, which showed the score change, pointed to his mom that had a satisfied grin on her face, and then pointed to the scout heading their way.

"Congrats on the win Kenny" she told him before walking off. He couldn't understand it. Any of it. He couldn't understand how Rue wasn't affected by the loss or how she just didn't care. He couldn't understand how he got the extra point. He couldn't understand how he won. But most importantly he couldn't understand how, even after she lost, and he'd acted completely shallow, Rue's congratulation still sounded genuine and honest.

After talking to the scout, his mom went to go sign some papers while he was already heading outside. On the bench outside was Rue, who was just patiently sitting there. He was contemplating stopping to talk to her or just walking away. She stopped him before he could decide.

"So when will I ever see you again?"

He let out a confused sound.

"Well you obviously took the opportunity to go right? 'Cause if you didn't we're going back inside right now and—"

"No no I did I just— are you not mad?"

"Well yeah but if I overreacted every time I was mad at my friends I wouldn't have any," she responded innocently. Saying that phrase automatically reminded her of her parents, who were the sole reason for what she had said.

Apologizing for their wrong doings was seldom, so their daughter was always obliged to forgive them and eventually forget about it, no matter how bad she thought the situation was.

For her,  if she was able to do that for the people that knew exactly what to say to hurt her, it was a piece of cake doing it for her friends.

"Still, sorry for being a jerk"

She shrugged "you live you learn" she quoted. Ken looked at her, wondering how she could be so dismissive, but before he could even ask anything about it, Rue spoke first.

"So when will I ever see you again?" she asked him.

He had a pensive look on face before responding.

"The next competition's in Minnesota right?"

"Yeah?"

"Then you'll just have to look in the stands" he said that while winking at her and walked away as he saw his mom heading towards the car. Rue couldn't help but hear her heart skip a beat. She felt a smile creeping up on her face. He really thinks he did something doesn't he...