Chapter 34 Eng
ENG
It was day two of having the shrew as our team trainer, so that meant it was day two of the sort of physical activity only our soldiers were expected to do.
My legs ached. My shoulders ached. Actually my entire body ached.
But I got out of bed two hours before I was supposed to be at the arena and warmed up so I could be ready for whatever she asked us to do.
The sight of her coming into the gym took the breath from my lungs. I’d always found her beautiful, so I struggled to hold back and pretend she was nothing to me aside from a respected team trainer when I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her.
I didn’t kiss her. And aside from a polite greeting, I said nothing else to her all morning.
It was agony. The only thing that made it bearable was when I caught her watching me with longing.
She quickly looked away, but it thrilled me to know that the reckless kiss yesterday hadn’t destroyed the fragments of what we still had between us.
I had hope. But I knew that I’d need to take things slow, to court her. We’d began our relationship backwards with intimacy first. I didn’t regret that, but it was time to show her I loved more of her than her body.
Instead of staying behind, I went to the locker room with the others, and when I was freshly showered and dressed I texted her.
Eng: That was a difficult workout today. The mouse-chase exercise is terrible. Please do not ever ask us to do that again.
I followed up with a few of the emojis that Bwat had taught me to use. One of a winky-face to indicate I had said the last two sentences in jest, then a hockey stick and a mouse. Then a burger and fries, because I was hungry.
Walking back to my hovel, I bought tacos from a street vendor and completely devoured them before I reached my front door. My phone chimed as I put my key in the lock.
Willa: You realize you’ve just guaranteed that mouse chase will be on the schedule at least twice a week. And what do the food emojis mean? Should I have you all chase burgers across the ice instead of a mouse? Is the burger supposed to represent a hockey puck? And what’s with the fries?
I chuckled, throwing my keys in the basket by the door and sitting on my sofa before replying.
Eng: They looked tasty. A Hot Pocket for dinner and a cannoli for breakfast wasn’t enough to get me through that workout.
Willa: Ah, so you’re blaming lack of food for your terrible performance on the ice?
She’d replied. She’d finally replied to my texts with more than just an acknowledgement. This was a conversation, even though it was over a phone, and I didn’t want to screw it up.
Eng: No, I’m blaming my lack of skating ability for my terrible performance on the ice. I’m blaming lack of food for the empty hole in my stomach.
I followed this one up with several other food emojis.
She replied with a “U” and the drawing of a peach and a hot pepper.
I frowned. Spicy peaches sounded tasty.
Eng: Is that good?
Willa: Oh, it’s very good.
Eng: Send me the recipe.
She replied with the image of a man and the one of a hockey stick. I absolutely did not understand, so I sent her a series of question marks.
Willa: The peach is slang for butt. The pepper means hot. I just told you that you have a nice ass.
I caught my breath, unable to believe that she was flirting with me. I’d thought I’d lost her forever, and while I still realized the battle had not been won, at least she was flirting with me.
Eng: You also have a spicy peach
I teased.
The next text was the emoji of an eggplant.
Willa: This one is slang for hand-axe.
Eng: That hand-axe has some serious problems. Why is it shaped like that? I think that orc should immediately see a healer.
In reply I received a series of laughing-face emojis.
Eng: I am not joking. If my hand-axe looked like that, you would drive me straight to the hospital.
Willa: The purple color is concerning, and the girth would not induce me to drop my pants. Maybe if it was one of those small eggplants, but not the ones I’ve seen coming out of my grandmother’s garden. Those things are too huge to fit into bodily cavities.
I’d never seen an eggplant that I could recall, so I was going to have to take her word for it on the actual size of the vegetable. The mention of her grandmother gave me the perfect segue, though.
Eng: How are your family? Are the grandparents on your mother’s side off on another cruise adventure?
My text was met with long seconds where I could only see dots, then nothing, then more dots, then nothing. Finally her reply came.
Willa: Nana and Pops are on a short cruise along the Eastern seaboard to leaf-peep. That’s where you look at all the colorful autumn leaves on the trees, and indulge in hot apple cider spiked with rum. They’ll be back this week and not leaving again until after Christmas.
I didn’t know that word, but assumed it was an important human holiday.
Eng: We have harvest festivals back home with contests and performances. We all wear wreaths of colorful leaves and grain stalks on our heads.
Another laughing emoji
Willa: Even the males?
Eng: Even the males. Your Nana and Pops should consider traveling to our kingdom sometime. I would be happy to suggest the best activities, times, and places for their visit.
There was another thirty seconds of dots appearing and vanishing before she replied.
Willa: Nana had some great ideas for where I should go on my Spain trip. Oh, and the leg of lamb that I assume you left for me was a big hit at Sunday dinner. Grandma checked and reassured us that it hadn’t been poisoned.
Eng: Your grandmother is wise to take such precautions. Orc enemies frequently leave poisoned meat at our doors.
Willa: Seriously?
Eng: No, I am joking. Providing meat, pastries, or other delicacies is common when an orc male is wooing a female.
This time there was only silence. As the seconds ticked by, I realized that I may have moved too fast by suggesting that my gift was a sign of my intentions. She might not be ready for that, and I had foolishly broken the fragile bond our light conversation had begun to forge.
I quickly replied, so she didn’t have to.
Eng: I need to go get some food and take a nap. I enjoyed this conversation, and hope to hear from you again soon.
Then I stuffed my phone in between my sofa cushions and left it there, not wanting to be tempted to text her again until tonight.
I did get more food, but instead of a nap I walked to the park to play a few quick games of checkers with my elderly friends and to let them know that I may not be by as often in the future as my mornings would be consumed by work.
Work. It felt strange to think of the workouts and practice and hockey in general as work, but that’s how I needed to start viewing the sport.
Back at my hovel I looked up as much information as I could about hockey on my phone.
I read articles, I watched videos where human commentators broke down each move and strategy of a game.
I went to the YouTube videos of the human hockey teams to get an idea of what this Abby person may expect us to do.
For dinner I microwaved another variety of Hot Pocket, and watched old hockey games on my phone.
Then I fell into bed, knowing that I wanted to be up and to the arena as early as possible the next morning.