Love?
Hello everyone! This is my first short story which was inspired by some peers and a writer. Hope you guys enjoy...
Wolves are great soccer players, but Jake was an exception. Though his family came from a line of great soccer players, Jake was a basketball player. He'd been one of the top Basketball players during his freshman year at Bailey High. He never had any troubles or regrets except for the tiredness that swept over him. The hot July soon sun beat down on Jake's head as the young wolf huffed and panted, making his way swiftly around the schools track. His shirt was extremely hot, wet, and sticky. It only added discomfort of the heat and pain that swept through him every time his legs took a step.
The soccer team was out on the field doing some drills that day. Since the field was right next to the track, he could see what they were doing. Jake had heard from the coaches that the artificial turf made it easier to practice running on hot days like this. "So much for an artificial turf" he thought to him self. Washed in his own thoughts, he paid little attention to the soccer players. Only moments later regretting his decision.
"Heads up!" The young wolf stopped but was immediately blurred by a streak of white and black flying right toward him. The soccer ball hit Jake straight on his forehead and threw him immediately off balance.
Jake was too stunned to brace himself and hit the ground with full force. Only moments later to feel agonizing pain surge through his entire body. He lay there with only one eye open to figure out what exactly happened.
"Woah man! You alright?"
Jake turned and opened his eyes fully very slowly. Through the blur of pain, he looked up and recognized Danny, a fellow wolf from the soccer team, standing over him. Jake tried to answer but his thoughts were still scattered for any more words. He just did a simple nod and Danny smiled with a simple relief.
Back to full conscious, Jake attempted to stand up, but was stopped by Danny.
"You took quite a hit there, my friend." Danny said slapping his own forehead. "You should just lie there a bit, things should start to focus more."
Jake nodded, and lay there. When he felt a bit better, he judged it safe and got up. "I'm alright, thanks for the help." He sat up and looked into the eyes of Danny.
"I'm glad to hear that!" Danny said in an adorable canid grin.
"Wait, did I just think of his grin adorable?" Jake tried shaking his head a few times. "My minds probably still scattered after that blow."
"I'm Daniel by the way, but most people call me 'Danny'. He held out his paw.
"Oh, erm... I-I'm Jake." Jake held out his paw and shook it. He already knew the wolfs name, but was never properly greeted.
"Why did I stutter in front of Danny?" Jake thought lost in his own thoughts.
"Hey, are you sure your ok Jake?" Danny said. "That was quite a hit you took, and I feel bad for doing that" He said avoiding eye contact.
"Oh please, don't worry about it. I've tooken worse blows. This is nothing, honestly, don't get so worked up."
They stood there for a few moments in silence until Danny decided to speak again. "Hey Jake! Erm... So listen..." He said, but yet still avoiding eye contact. "Practice is over and you look quite dizzy, and the hot sun will only make it worse. I was thinking do you wanna go for a smoothie? My treat." His green jade eyes met Jake's ocean blue eyes for a fleeting moment but looked away again. "Well... that's unless you have other things to do. I was just heading down there my self and I'd thought maybe you want to tag along." He said with his eyes looking down and his tail down. "It looks like he'd be disappointed if I don't go." Jake said to him self judging from the other wolfs body movement. Danny then looked up at him and said, "Oh... Guess your not-"
"I'd be glad to come." Jake said in a smile. Jake felt a weird sensation inside him, and his body declined him from running away from the new feeling.
"Awesome!" Danny's muzzle broke into a smile. "I know this place not far from here that has great smoothies."
They started walking towards the exit when an unpleasant voice called from behind. "Hey Danny! Me and the boys we're thinking of going down for pizza. You in?" It was Kane, an unpleasant looking fox.
Jake sighed to him self. "There goes my time with Danny." He thought.
To his surprise, Danny kindly declined the invitation. "No thanks, I'm just gonna show my friend here a great place to get smoothies."
"Friend?" Jake thought to him self. He knows he's seen Danny before on the bus and in his classes, but they never really talked to each other. An overwhelming sensation came over him.
"Oh well, suit your self man." He ran back to the field to join the rest of his friends.
"I never really liked pizza that much. I am an athlete so I have to keep junk food to a minimum." Danny said walking with Jake. "Besides, it's way too hot for pizza."
Jake nodded in agreement, wiping away sweat from his forehead. "What is it, like 100?"
"Something like that, but it's way too hot eitherway." Danny said.
"Anyways," Danny spoke, "What brings you out here running on a hot July day? I'm sure you would be spending time on family vacation or playing video games. Well, something like that."
"Well," Jake started speaking. "Coach wants us to start running more. He thinks the team is getting out of shape with our running skills. We have great ball and shooting skills, but need a little more running. He isn't going to show mercy when we get back to practice so I might as well be prepared."
"Ooh, I see." Danny said. "Well lucky for us, we run all the time. So our running skills are fine. Though... I could use some help on my arms. I could shoot some hoops to get my arms exercised and much more balanced.
"You can come over any time. I can help you with some shooting, since I do have a court in my back yard." He said a grin.
"That would be nice! But anyways, you looked great out there running. Probably better than most of the team!" Danny said smiling.
"Thanks!" Jake said. He then folded his ears, embarrassed at the compliment. He looked away from allowing Danny to see him blush. His inner conscious then starting talking again. 'Why are you so embarrassed? He was just complimenting you. And why are you still staring at his adorable smile?' No, not adorable.. Just a smile,' he said to him self.
The two friends continued walking in silence. Moments later, Danny broke up the silence.
"Here we are!" He said. 'Fiona's smoothies shop,' Jake read.
"Awesome," Jake said. Danny then opened the door and allowed Jake to go first.
"Go ahead, fine sir." Danny said in a joking grin.
"Thanks." Jake said whilst blushing. He headed inside and followed the wolf. He was then greeted by a cool blast of air from the A/C. Jake stood there for a few minutes trying to keep him self cooled down after that long walk in the hot, dampy sun. He then opened his eyes and looked around. The shop was pretty small, but very well organized. The beautiful colors of green, blue, and white swept the shop. It looked beautiful. He saw a large green menu over the counter, with a stiched white sign that said 'Fiona's Smoothie Shop'.
"Hey Fiona!" Danny waved while he walked over to the counter. "This is my friend, Jake. Jake is pretty new to this shop, so could you make his smooth extra special, okay?"
Fiona smiled. "Sure, will do!" Jake was still looking around the menu until Fiona spoke up. "Hey Jake! What would you like?"
Jake, who was still unsure about what to get, replied moments later. "I have no idea... I'll just have what ever Danny's having."
"Alright," Danny said. "Two Tropical blasts, then." Danny slipped Fiona a twenty. "My treat," Danny said to Jake.
Before Jake could even protest, he looked into Danny's adorable smile and beautiful eyes... He knew he couldn't protest, so he just simply replied, "O-okay."
"Good," Danny winked, putting his wallet away. "I'm glad you didn't put up a fight. I'm extremely stubborn, so it would not have worked. Here, let's sit down." He motioned to a nearby table. "Usually, I like to sit outside, but not today."
"Definitely not today." Jake took a seat in a soft patio chair.
Mark said right beside him. "So besides run..." Danny said, "What else do you do?"
"I'm a basketball player." Jake said.
"Oh yeah, that's right! You were one of the top freshman in the basketball team. You were in the papers!" Danny exclaimed.
The embarrassment quickly faded, and Jake smiled. It was nice to have someone who understood and commiserated with him. "Yeah. Everyone else on the team just sorta took the whole thing in stride. I mean, I understand why, of course. Arguing with Coach about letting us slide is a losing battle. The last person who tried it got booted from the team." Still, he hated talking about himself and quickly changed the subject. "So, how about you, Danny. What do you do?"
"I play soccer! Well, it was obvious. I was the one who gave you that blow in the head..." Danny said looking down with his tail on his lap.
"Oh look, the smoothies are here!" Jake said to break the awkward silence.
Jake took a sip of his smoothie. "Wow.. This tastes amazing!"
"Told you," Danny said, slowly drinking his share of the smoothie. "Don't drink too fast, though. On a day like this, you're virtually guaranteed a brainfreeze."
He spoke too late. A numbing cold spread up through Jake's skull, followed by a pounding pain. It combined with the bruise and made the wolf cry out. "Oww!" He held his head in both paws and shut his eyes.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Danny stood up and took him by the paw. "Come on, let's get outside. The heat'll help."
They walked outside into the sweltering sunlight.
To Jake's surprise, the headache receded as quickly as it had come. He sighed with relief. "Oh, that feels much better, thank you."
"Oh, don't thank me." Danny looked completely downcast again. "I just keep hurting you."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Arden threw his arm around him. "Honestly, I'm fine." Jake smiled hoping to get the other wolfs hopes back up.
Danny's eyes stayed sad, but he smiled wanly. "I guess. I still feel bad. So anyway, it's getting pretty late, we should probably start heading home."
Danny spoke again after a few heartbeats of silence passed between them. "So, um... when do you plan to go running again?"
"Tomorrow, I guess." He didn't plan to run tomorrow, but something about the wolf made Jake want to see him again as soon as possible. "I have to get into as good a running shape as I can."
"Great!" Danny's tail seemed to acquire a life of its own. It wagged back and forth excitedly, doing nothing to hide the wolf's happy reaction at Jake's reply. "Maybe we can get smoothies again tomorrow.... if you'd like.." Danny said unpleasantly.
Arden spoke before Mark had time to feel uncomfortable again. "Sounds wonderful! My treat this time, though."
Mark shrugged. "Fair enough."
They shook paws and parted.
It didn't take long for him to back to his house, and when he did, he immediately grabbed an ice pack and went straight to his room.
Jake lay in bed that night with his arms folded behind his head, thinking. He certainly had a lot to think about. He was never as oversexed as some of his friends, but he'd always considered himself to be straight. Although, thinking more about it, he realized that his only 'girlfriends' happened in elementary school because his parents thought it was adorable and in middle school because it was expected of him. He never seemed to be as entranced with them as most of his friends were. Could it be because he liked boys all along? And then there was the matter of Danny. Jake imagined the wolf - his gray fur mingling beautifully with the white fur on his underbelly and throat. He thought of the wolf's strong legs formed from all those years of playing soccer...
"If only I was on the soccer team..." Jake thought to him self. But he knew he was different from the others... Very different..
As Jake lay there, he started thinking about his future.
Should he even bother saying anything to Danny? If he decided to tell his parents, would he find himself homeless and hated?
These questions and many others spun around in his mind as he slowly went to sleep.