Cole didn't remember a thing from the party when he woke up the next morning. His head hurt, and he felt sick. Definitely hungover. The team's group text chain was blowing up. Greg and the alternate captains needed as many of them as possible to get over and help them clean up after the party. Cole didn't want to go, but he eventually dragged himself out of bed and went to do his part. He met up with Sam there and relayed this weird dream to him- that Alex had kissed him.

"Did you hit your head?" Sam asked, genuinely concerned "That happened man."
"Stop messing with me and shut up Sam"
"No Cole, seriously. You two were going at it hard, y'all were dancing, getting close, then the next thing I know you were sucking face. I left for a bit, came back, got another drink and you were still there, it had to be at least two songs later."
"Fuck off" he said again, not totally serious, but sounding a little annoyed as he rubbed his temples, trying to get the headache to subside.
"No, really look" he pulled up his phone and played back a Snapchat story. It was a wide, panning view of the party last night, the clearly drunk videographer was cheering and whooping in the background at the Arkells song. Sam pointed his finger at the screen
"See, look"

Plain as day, you could see them, lips locked and holding each other. Sam closed the video as Cole sat there, stunned in disbelief. He pulled up another video, a different song was playing, but there they were, much more energetic than in the first video. Another video was basically dedicated to them, again a different song, and again, their hands were all over each other as the view slowly zoomed in on them with the horrifying, albeit hilarious, caption of Goddd get a room already!

"Holy shit" Cole finally said "but..... she's into girls"
"I dunno what to tell you buddy" Sam said noncommitally "clearly she was into guys last night."

He spent most of the next couple days in a haze. He was vaguely remembering the kiss, but it still felt dreamlike, almost like it was just something he had dreamed or imagined. He went to class and practice, then finally arrived at a meeting point for a study session with Alex. She was explaing some stuff, but he couldn't focus at all. His eyes kept being drawn to her. Her body, her eyes, her lips. They had kissed... and from the sound of things, she had initiated it. What did it mean? What could it mean?

He snapped back to attention as she suddenly blared out "What?!"

"Huh, what? What's up?"

Alex let out a frustrated sigh and threw her pen down onto the textbook. "I can see you, you know?" she said, frustrated, "I'm sitting here trying to help you and you're just distracted." She rubbed the sides of her temples, and explained, "You keep looking at my lips? Is there something on them? Are they chapped or something? What is it?"

As soon as she popped off on him she felt awful. But then again he was frustrating. He seemed to have avoided her slightly since the party. Did he dislike the kiss? She couldn't remember every detail of that night, but she remembered three key things: She initiated the kiss, they became quite handsy, and the kiss lasted quite a while. Other than that she didn't remember too much.

Alex sighed and shook her head, picking her pen back up and twirling it in her fingers.

"No, I uh, just....." he sighed and changed tact. She was clearly frustrated at something. Cole sympathized with her and tried to relay that the best way he could.

"Look, it, uh, it's been a weird couple days. I understand that, I'm right there with you, it's been a while since I had some luck with the girls too. It was nice, it was fun, but I just need to ask you... Are we good?"

Alex's jaw dropped completely. Was he serious? "You think I'm frustrated because I haven't been out with girls recently?" Alex asked, shocked. She tapped the pen on the textbook. So he didn't think she was frustrated about the kiss? "Look, I can have a girl any time I want, my pool isn't dry like yours."

The venom in her mouth was strong, but how could he be so oblivious? He ignored their kiss and assumed she wasn't able to pick up chicks? Did he have no idea that she was waiting for him? That she wanted him? Alex simply shook her head and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Yeah, no worries, everything is good with us. Ready to talk more about ATP and cell respiration?"

The words stung, not gonna lie, but Cole just wanted peace between them, so he agreed, and settled in to do some studying.

Coach ordered a light practice on Thursday. They had another game that Friday, and he wanted them fresh for it. During practice, Cole noticed that a gaggle of pretty cute girls had found their way into the stands, and they were staring intently at them all as they chatted amongst themselves. He felt like one of them was watching him in particular.....

The Raiders won the game by a score of 3-1. Cole didn't score any of them, but he had assisted on one with a nice cross-zone pass on the power-play. In the locker room afterwards his phone buzzed with a text from Alex, asking him if they could talk and that she was waiting outside for him. He quickly replied back 'sure' and hurried to get cleaned up.

Alex watched the game, sporting her trusty ULA hockey sweater she now absolutely adored. For the most part, Alex made it to every home game and most of the away games that were within a reasonable distance. Despite their bit of a fight earlier in the week and the awkwardness from the way they pretended the kiss didn't exist, Alex was still going to support Cole. They were best friends, after all.

After the game, Alex made her way to her usual spot outside of the locker rooms as she waited for Cole. She sent him a quick text even though it wasn't necessary. He knew she would be there.

Alex fidgeted uncomfortably where she stood. She needed to apologize for snapping at Cole. Even though he was completely oblivious, he didn't mean to insult her. Maybe he just wasn't so into her. They were drunk after all. Alex continued to fidget on the wall as she waited.

Cole walked out from the locker room, showered and dressed in a Raiders tracksuit, complete with hat, his hands were in his pocket as he spotted Alex and headed over.

"Hey" he said, a little apprehensively "What's up, you wanted to talk about something?"

"Yeah, hey" she replied "I just wanted to clear the air, and say I'm sor-"

"Thereeeeeeeee you areeeeeee" a shrill voice rang out. It belonged to a blonde girl, slightly taller than Alex, who bounded down the hallway and clamped her arms around Cole in a tight bear hug.
"Great game! Especially your hole in one, you really whacked that ball into the basket, and you looked so fuckin' cute in your uniform!"

"Aww thanks" Cole said, cringing a little at how much she got wrong in so few words "I didn't score though, that was Adam"
"Oh" she said "But it looked like your number?"
"I'm 50, he's 55, easy mistake to make though. Oh by the way" he turned back to Alex "Al, this is Chelsea. Chelsea, Alex, she's my best friend around here. So, Alex, you wanted to talk about something?"

Alex nearly got a headache at Chelsea's misunderstanding of hockey. Alex was still learning about the sport but she was never that bad. Cole using the words "best friend" made Alex feel a bit more secure. He must not have been terribly mad at her for before.

Looking at Chelsea hugging and holding onto Cole, Alex's anger rose. She took a deep breath in and out before speaking. "Well, I'm sorr-"

"Oh," Chelsea said, cutting Alex off again, "So then she isn't your girlfriend?"

"Oh no," Cole quickly cleared up, holding his hands up defensively, "She's just a really good friend, it's not like that."

Alex's heart broke at these words. So Cole really wasn't into her. Much to her own surprise she wanted to cry. Her eyes even became glassy. The kiss meant nothing then.

"Oh good, then you're all free for me," Chelsea said fiercely, flipping her hair and giggling, "I mean, after that whole makeout session you guys had the other night I thought you two were together. I guess you really are a lesbian to give up on such a great piece of man." Chelsea even went so far as to kiss Cole on the cheek and grab his hand.

At this, Alex turned around, absolutely furious. Before she could walk away, Chelsea made sure to add, with a sickly sweet poison in her voice, "Oh, and one more thing! Brit says hi, she's doing very well."

Alex didn't bother turning back around. She felt tears fall from her eyes. "Don't forget the tournament tomorrow!" Alex called to Cole, never turning back. She didn't want him to see her cry, and she really didn't want Chelsea to see.

Cole's mind was boggled as the scene played out in front of him. Chelsea and her group of friends had been hanging around their practices all week, a few of them were dating guys on the team, so it was understandable. They caught him completely off-guard yesterday when Tyler and John had held him back after practice and introduced him to Chelsea. They talked for a minute, she had gave him her number and asked to hang out. He just kind of went along with it since his brain was otherwise occupied worrying about Alex. She texted him all night, even after he was supposed to be sleeping. She was hot sure, and the attention was nice, but he didn't really feel anything for her. No chemistry. No attraction. Nothing.

She told him that she'd be finding him after the game, and clearly from her recounting of events, she'd barely watched any of it. All of these thinly-veiled comments towards Alex and the aggressive nature she had taken towards him, as if they had agreed to date when no such conversation had occurred. It all happened so fast and Alex stormed off so quickly that he didn't even have time to interject or question anything. What was going on?

"Forget her" Chelsea said "C'mon, I'll buy you lunch."

Later that night, once he had finally gotten Chelsea to let him go back to his room and sleep (though not before inviting herself to Alex's tournament tomorrow) he finally texted her.

Hey, sorry about today. I don't know what happened back there, but I could tell something was bugging you. And we didn't get a chance to talk either. You're probably asleep right now, but I'll see you at the tournament tomorrow, for sure..... Chelsea might be there, but I keep telling her not to come, I'm sorry if that's a problem for you, talk later.

Alex tossed and turned in her bed, nervous for the next day. It was her tournament. Not only was she participating in the actual fighting, but also in the demonstration competition. The anxiety for the next day ate at her, but so did everything that happened between her and Chelsea. How could someone be so rude? So mean?

As Alex thought, she got a text. She opened it up and read Cole's text. "Oh my Goooood," she groaned, incredibly irritated.

"What's up?" her sleepy roommate, Grace, asked.

"It's all Cole. Remember what I said earlier? About Chelsea and my ex?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he said 'I could tell something was bugging you' as if he didn't hear everything she said! He was right there! And now she's coming to my competition tomorrow! Uuuugh!" Alex slammed back down into her bed and threw a pillow over her face.

"What a bitch," Grace spat, "And he's just an idiot. Do your best tomorrow, everything will work out!"

~~~~~

Alex prepared her white uniform, making sure it looked perfect. She was representing her dojang and wanted to be the best here. It was a team competition. As long as she won her fight, her dojang would get a point. The dojang with the most points by the end would win. Usually competitions and tournaments didn't go like this, but this one did. Alex didn't question it.

She knew she had about half an hour before her fight. She put on her body armor, shin guard, arm guards, and helmet, ensuring they all fit properly before going out there.

Alex looked at the crowd. This was an adult tournament, so there weren't any little kids running around unless they were here to support their elders. Alex spotted Cole and smiled. That was until she also saw Chelsea.

"Alex Hawke" was called over the microphone and Alex moved over to the mat she was to fight at. She did her best to push out any of the distractions in her mind- mainly Cole and Chelsea. Alex stepped onto the mat, ready to fight.

As hard as Cole tried the next morning to get Chelsea to stay home, she was waiting outside the arena with a coffee for them both. Immediately she started complaining about the early hour and how lame everything was, as she not-so-subtly dropped hints that she'd rather be curled up in bed.

"... and it's like, why are you even friends with her? From what I hear, she did my.. friend, Britney really dirty" At some point, she had started ragging on Alex really hard, and Cole was getting up to his last nerve. He'd been keeping his cool for a while now, trying to keep the status quo. He knew he was more or less expected to date Chelsea because all of her friends were involved with the team, but she was quickly crossing lines that he couldn't abide, if she didn't stop soon, he was going to rock the boat.

"Can you stop, please? I'm here to support Alex, and whatever stories you have about her can wait. Lay off her a bit please? We're friends, and nothing is going to change that."
"But Coley listennn"
"No, I'm trying to watch my best friend, ok? Please stop"
Chelsea pouted "I'm sowwyyyy, I'll be good" she kissed him on the cheek and laid her head on his shoulder, rubbing his bicep with one hand as she wrapped the other arm around him in a one-armed hug.

Alex was taking some hits, but she wasn't out yet.

"Come on Al" he cheered under his breath "You got this"

Alex stepped up and bowed to her competitor, muttering "Thank you" in Korean, a tradition shared by many Taekwondo artists. They were both second degree black belts, so they would have the same arsenal of kicks. The referee whistled the match in and Alex began to bounce on the balls of her feet.

She stepped in, testing the waters. Her opponent was first to strike with a 45-degree side kick. Alex stepped back out, easily dodging it. She stepped in again this time with a snapping kick. Her opponent stepped out.

The match went like this for the first minute, each woman stepping in and kicking, testing the other and their ranges. Finally, the round really began.

Her opponent stepped in, snapping out two front kicks to the solar plexus. Alex stepped out for the first one but the other was right on target. The kick was so powerful that Alex could feel the power through her armor. Her opponent went for a follow-up roundhouse, but Alex circled out and the kick missed. Alex throw her own 45-degree kick, slamming it into her opponent's side.

The first round finished as quickly as it had started. Alex went to her corner and relaxed. Master Howard began to coach her on her technique. "You're doing great. Keep circling and you'll be able to get more kicks in."

Come the second round Alex followed Master Howard's advice. Rather than stepping out, she increased her circling, causing her opponent to miss many kicks, but also leaving less time to counter. Eventually, Alex's opponent got lucky. She swung a hard roundhouse kick for Alex's head. Alex happened to circle right into it.

The top of her opponent's foot made perfect contact with Alex's head, stunning her. Alex tried to regain her bearings, but it was clear that she was dazed. Her footwork was off and her reactions were much slower. Her opponent took advantage of this throwing kick after kick and landing many points. Alex found a way to get in a point here and there, but there was no way she could win.

The round ended. Alex went back to Master Howard shaking off the bit of confusion that remained.

"Alex, you are going to lose if you don't put pressure. Look for any slip up and take your shot. If you don't you will lose."

Alex returned to the center of the mat and the final round started. She began to bounce on the balls of her feet once more, seemingly much better. Really she just wanted this fight to be over. Her head was in so much pain. She wished she could pop a couple pain pills and go to sleep. But then she remembered who was in the crowds watching her. Cole was there. She couldn't look bad in front of him. And Chelsea. Alex refused to look bad in front of her.

Her opponent began to shoot out kicks at an alarming rate. They were quick and powerful, yet not well-targeted. Alex allowed her opponent to throw kicks without retaliating. After the first minute of the final round, her opponent had slowed considerably having gassed herself out. Now Alex was searching for it. The one slip up.

Her opponent moved forward and went to chamber her leg for another front kick.

There! Alex screamed in her own mind. She crossed her left foot behind her right and slid across the mat, shooting out her right foot at an alarming rate. The heel of her right foot made direct contact with her opponent's nose. Her opponent gasped and fell to the mat with a loud thump!

Alex retracted her leg and stayed in her fighting stance, almost unaware that she knocked her opponent out. Those watching the fight erupted in cheers. Alex didn't even realize they were for her until the ref signaled her to take place in the center of the mat.

She jogged to it, her hand was raised, and the crowd clapped more. This was the first- and possibly only- knockout of the day. Alex made her way to the other Taekwondo masters and bowed. She ran over to her opponent who was recovering and bowed. Alex returned to Master Howard who was delighted.

"Nice job! You really used your head there!" They high-fived and Alex looked over to the crowd. She saw Cole there with Chelsea. Alex took her helmet off and lifted her chin with a smug smirk on her face as if to say, "Try me, jerk."

She returned to the lockers to shower and prepare for the demonstrations which would be in an hour.

Cole jumped up and cheered when Alex landed the KO strike, Chelsea was knocked off him by the sudden movement and she got up to halfheartedly cheer herself. Cole mouthed "Great job!" at her and gave a thumbs up before she headed off to get cleaned up for part 2.

"Ok, that was fun, can we go now?" Chelsea said, clearly growing impatient.

"No" Cole said "she'll be out again shortly, I'm not leaving until this is over. I told you, we coulda just met up later."

"But I wanted to spend allllll day with you Coley Bear" Chelsea said "And this is so boringgg. We could be at the mall picking out cute outfits for each other, or back in my room relaxing you know? If we're going to date, we need to do more things that both of us are interested in, right? Not wasting a Saturday sitting in a smelly gym watching this lame stuff, while that nasty little whore Alex is-"

"Stop right now. Don't you dare say another word about her."

"Coley, don't get mad, I'm just telling it like it is"

"No, you have to stop. If you don't like this, or my friendship with Alex, then you can leave" he finally said, quietly so as to not make a scene while a match was on "She was one of the first people I met when I moved here, and she's been nothing but kind and understanding. She cares about me, and I care about her, it's not a sexual thing, clearly. We just hang out and have fun, I enjoy being around her, and I know she's a genuinely good person. So stop spreading lies about her, because she's not capable of whatever bullshit you're sprouting. And if you can't understand that, then maybe we shouldn't be dating."

"Ok, fine, I'm sorry, I'll try to be more supportive" she said as she cuddled into him again.

"No, Chelsea, get off me" he said, shaking her loose "Please, just go. I'm not comfortable with you being here right now. We'll talk later."

"Cole, please"
"No, Chelsea please. You've been all over me for days now, I just need some space right now... I'll text you, alright?"

She got up with a 'hrumph!' and stormed off, making some noise, but generally being civil. Finally he was able to loosen up his shoulders, sit forward a bit and intently watch the ongoing match in peace while he waited for Alex to come back out.

Alex wiped herself down with baby wipes, considering there weren't any showers available to them. She quickly changed from her white uniform into a uniform with a red top and black bottoms. This uniform was the one she practiced in. The Masters wore white pants, those working towards Mastery wore black pants. She tied her black belt around her waist which proudly displayed "Alex Hawke" in gold lettering and two golden stripes.

Alex met up with the others. They talked and stretched together, ensuring their performance would be stellar.

Their dojang was announced and they all stepped out together onto the mats. The lights were dimmed except for those above the performers. The stands quieted down as the music for their performance began. It sounded like the serene ambiance music one would expect from a martial arts movie. Alex stood towards the front of the group of twelve. All at once they moved together, their movements incredibly fluid. They all shouted together, threw their kicks together, and performed their blocks together. They were all moving as one unit.

Suddenly the students split into two groups and the music picked up. They began to play out a scene. Six-versus-six. Alex knew her part well. Her and her partner, a man named Johnny, performed first. They ran to the center of the split group. Johnny threw an amazing tornado kick. Alex allowed his foot to come within a few inches of her face and rolled backwards as if she were hit. At the proper angles it really did look like she was struck. She continued the roll all the way onto her feet. Now it was her turn to retaliate. She threw first a front kick to his stomach, he acted as though the air was knocked out of him, then a jumping double front kick to his face. He did a complete backflip and landed on his feet. Now it was back to him. He began with a knotted kick to her knee, then side. Alex reacted as though she were hit, clutching her ribs with a face of mock pain. He then performed a back side kick to her stomach, in which she buckled her knees, then he finished it with an axe kick, sending her flat onto her stomach. Now was the big finish of their fight scene.
Alex performed an incredibly explosive pushup, allowing her time to jump, tuck her knees to her chest and land in a fighting stance. She shouted her gym's, "Kyup!" and went for the finale. She performed a flying sidekick to his head, making him snap his neck back in a dramatic fashion. She then followed up in lightning fast succession a 45 degree roundhouse to the ribs leading into a spinning back side kick which finally ended up into a spectacular jump spinning back swing kick. Johnny jumped and spun his whole body into the air, spinning like a torpedo. He landed roughly on his back.

Alex ran over to Johnny, grabbed his hand, and lifted him up. He jumped into the air, using her momentum, and performed a front flip. The two returned to the center and shook hands. They then returned to their respective groups and the next pair went up.

Once the final pair was finished, all twelve reformed in their original rectangular formation. The music slowed as they performed more fluid, gentle moves.

The music ended right on time. All black belts performing bowed to the crowd as they cheered and clapped.

Alex looked out to the audience, unable to keep the big smile off her face. Much to her delight she saw Cole up cheering for her without Chelsea. The performers were dismissed.

Alex stepped off the mat, ensuring to bow to it, and made her way to Cole.

"Hey! How'd you like it?" she asked, smile as wide as ever. "Sorry if I'm kinda sweaty."

“Hey, I don’t mind at all!” He proved it by hugging her “I loved it, you did great!”

While he still had her in the embrace, he started.
“You probably noticed by now that she’s gone. We got into a fight, she left.... I don’t know what to do about all that, but I know right now that the only thing I wanna do is hang out, if that’s alright? Burgers on me?”

Alex returned his hug, swinging him side-to-side in joy. "Yeah, burgers sound great!" she replied, her cheek pressed into his chest. Somehow this felt so natural. She wished she could stay here longer, but she also needed to respect that he was with Chelsea no matter how much Alex didn't like the female. Being so comfortable here with him hurt her heart. She knew she didn't have a chance with him. He proved several times his lack of interest. Alex separated from him and said, "We can head out after they announce the winners. Another hour or so?"

So, the two sat in the stands. Alex didn't need to perform anymore so she was allowed to hang out in the stands. Only four other schools were left to perform after hers. Between performances, Alex looked to Cole and asked, "So what happened? Why did Chelsea leave?" Right now she was happiest that she had her best friend back.

"She didn't want to be here, kept askin' if we could head out..... and when I said I wanted to stay and support you, she starting saying bad things about you. Horrible lies and... just shit that I didn't want to hear. I told her to stop.... she wouldn't, so then I asked her to leave."

He took a breath and carried on.
"To tell you the truth, I'm not all that into her, I've just been going along with all of this because her friends are dating guys from the team. Yeah, I mean, she's hot, but she's mean, like I really don't like how she rags on you for being into girls, and on top of that, I'm not attracted to her at all... not in any way that matters at least."

"There is someone I'm interested in though" he continued, though he wasn't sure why. Part of him was willing himself to shut up but he carried on "I've been sitting on it a while, even though I'm really into her, because I have no chance, she's just not interested in me, in any way whatsoever.... so when I realized that I settled for Chelsea."

He laid his hand on hers, not holding it, just.. touching. In some way it was his subtle signal of what he was really saying. Then he yawned.

"Ooh, I'm a bit tired, I didn't sleep very well. Hell, I don't know why I'm saying any of this, you only asked me about Chelsea, but I kind of ramble and I tend to misunderstand stuff when I'm tired, kinda like.. when we met. I was still really jet-lagged that day, I must've asked you to repeat yourself, or rephrase a question at least a dozen times, you remember?"

Alex was pretty confused as Cole began to speak of a woman he had interests for but no chance with. They were best friends, why wouldn't he tell her about the mystery woman? Maybe she was back in Toronto?

He laid his hand on top of hers as gentle as could be. Alex's jaw hit the floor. The more he spoke the clearer everything became.

"Cole, do you think..? Oh my God. Cole, do you think I'm only into women?" This had to be it. He wasn't close enough to many women to feel how he described and he was pretty confused the day they met. That was the only time Alex mentioned her ex. Now that she thought of it, that was the only ex she ever mentioned. None of the guys she dated in the past were a conversation topic. Plus Cole assuming she was upset because she hadn't been with a woman in a while. Everything clicked. "Cole, am I the woman you think you don't have a chance with? I like men too! I kissed you! Remember?"

"You... what?" Cole's mouth was kinda hanging open as she laid it all on the line "You're not.... what? ..... And.... and I.. what?"

No way, there was no way this was happening. This had to be dream..... right? And she wasn't joking, even without the words being spoken, the look on her face was sincere. Slowly it all came together for him, and he shook his head a little as he came to the realization.

"But, we were drunk, and your ex... and the... Oh my god. I've been a huge idiot this whole time, haven't I? And the last couple weeks, all that weirdness between us... you were frustrated at me right? Alex do you want to -!"

She completely cut him off by kissing him, softly latching her lips on to his. It wasn't a drunken make-out, or something she rushed into to prove a point. It was passionate, it was real.

Cole felt an immense wave of relief fall over him as he leaned in to the kiss, he wrapped his arms around her in a tender embrace. He was overwhelmingly happy in that moment to finally realize that the girl he'd liked since the moment they met, this amazing, wonderful woman that he had up on a pedestal of being unattainable for reasons outside of his control, his best friend, Alex Hawke, felt the same way about him.

Alex pulled back from the kiss and pressed her forehead to Cole's. "Cole," she murmured, closing her eyes, "You are such an idiot but this was so worth the wait."

Alex let out a sigh, though rather being out of frustration or sadness, this was clearly out of contentment. She placed one hand on the back of Cole's neck, scratching it lightly. The other hand hooked around his upper arm as he maintained their embrace.

"I can't believe you," she chuckled softly, "Why wouldn't you just ask me if I was a lesbian? This is Los Angeles! Half of the women here are bi, or at least willing to try it."

Alex then felt like she was obligated to explain a bit further so she did. "Remember how I told you my ex had been cheating on me? Well, that all clicked for me the other day too. I had an idea of who it was, but never cared enough to dig into it. We were broken up so it didn't matter anymore, right? So when Chelsea told me that, I knew she was the one my ex cheated with. And that hurt. And when you two got together I felt like Chelsea had stolen one more person from me. And you just seemed so uninterested in me after the kiss and-" Alex cut herself off and shook her head.

"Sorry, I'm rambling again, aren't I?" she asked with a little, coy smile. He noticed from the first day they met the way she rambled when she was passionate about something and she displayed it well with every emotion she expressed.