The Game

Hilde looks dreamily in the distance as she watches Felix Schrock dribble on the court. Her long brown hair flows freely behind her as she sits against the rail. She's holding a clipbook and paperwork, among other things, as she watches the country's next star athlete practice for the next season. The sun sets as the ball bounces towards her, and she stands up from her seat to catch it as it passes under the hoop. She smiles at the man who scored and goes back inside to grab a coffee from the vending machine. As she waits in line, she catches a glimpse of her good friend Annie approaching her from behind. Hilde turns around when she hears the familiar clicking of heels against linoleum and waves hello.

"Hi, Hilde! What are you doing here so late?" Annie asks as they embrace. They have grown closer and consider each other their best friends.

"Nothing in particular. Just enjoying the view." she points at her buddy Felix running around the court.

"Ha! Enjoying your job as an assistant too much?" Annie laughs. Hilde knows what Annie means by that. Although she works part-time, her primary responsibility lies in managing Felix. Not only does she care about his safety, but she also makes sure the team plays well, and they're all eating right.

"I wish it was all that simple." Hilde sighs, grabbing her coffee from the vending machine.

As she walks back outside, she glances up at the sky and thinks back to her first year as Felix's assistant. At first, it was exciting, but after being here for almost three years now, there are times when she misses her old life. She misses hanging out at the beach, shopping for clothes, or eating dinner with her friends and parents.

Hilde and Annie sit down on the bleachers to wait for Felix to finish up when she sees a notification on her phone. It's from Magtan, one of the guys in their friend group.

"Hey, guys! I want to invite you to a race club I opened!" the message read. Hilde looks up from her screen to see Annie looking at her curiously.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" she asks, concern evident in her voice.

"No, nothing like that..." Hilde replies, still not looking away from her phone. "It's just that... I know we haven't talked lately. Maybe this invitation from Magtan is a good way to have a proper conversation with him." she blushes.

"Aww, you still have that stupid crush on Felix?" Annie nudges her shoulder,

laughing at the idea. Hilde frowns and looks up to glare at Annie.

"It's more than that!" she argues. "It's my fault for not spending enough time with him, and I think he needs me more than ever now."

Annie gives her a sympathetic look before reaching into her bag to grab her phone. She replies to the text message with Hilde's eyes glued to the screen. She then shows her the message.

"I replied that we're going." Annie smiles.

"Did you invite Felix too?" Hilde asks, excitement written across her face.

"Yes," says Annie smugly. "He'll be joining us at the race track tonight. He said it would be fun to spend some quality time with his two favorite girlfriends." she winks, causing Hilde to blush even harder.

Before Annie can say anything else, Felix returns. The pair quickly stand up and greet him.

While walking back over to where Annie parked her car, Felix talks about his recent training session with the coach and how much better he feels.

"So, if you're feeling better, do you want to go to the race club tonight?" Hilde interrupts him mid-sentence. She immediately regrets asking him when she sees his expression drop slightly.

"I'll come," he says, simply.

"I see." she breathes a sigh of relief.

"That's great news. We'll meet there soon, ok?" she gives him a soft smile, hoping that he won't change his mind.

Felix nods. "Yeah, sure." He tries to smile at her, but she knows better. He's acting differently.

"Great!" she beams.

******

She drops her bags on the coffee table and slouches on the couch. "Annie, what's the Netflix password?"

Annie is in the kitchen washing dishes. She turns around to give Hilde a puzzled look before turning back to the sink. "Why?"

"We're having an episode of the Friends marathon!" she exclaims, waving her phone in the air triumphantly.

"Ok, sure," Annie replies distractedly. She continues washing dishes, though Hilde isn't paying attention. Instead, she scrolls through the internet. She has already seen quite a lot of fanfiction and pictures of Felix.

Her phone pings twice in succession, and she takes it out of her pocket to check what's new.

She reads the message, and it seems that her boss decided to include a bonus page this time. She's intrigued. With renewed enthusiasm, she clicks on it.

There's a picture of Felix playing basketball in a fancy gym. His shirt is off, and his muscles are glistening with sweat. She giggles, remembering how excited she was when she saw him play a while ago.

"Ew, you still look at those kinds of stuff?" Annie leers at the phone. Hilde glares at her, but Annie pretends not to notice.

"You should be reading them instead of watching them anyway," Hilde says self-righteously.

She's got a point. It's not like the internet is filled with anything interesting. Even the sex blogs aren't as good as they used to be. Nowadays, porn stars post pictures of their bodies whenever they feel like it. They don't have to do anything else; they click some buttons and extract money from the poor simps.

The content has lost any appeal that it had at least ten years ago, and most of them are boring as hell. Still, she's curious why Hilde is getting such pleasure from seeing a man sweaty and shirtless.

"Perhaps she just really likes men?" Annie slumps down on the couch next to Hilde.

She grabs the remote control for the television and presses another button.

A second later, a video starts to play. It's a commercial for some body wash. She pauses and puts the remote down as Hilde stares intently at the screen.

"You know," Annie muses, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You're a good... friend to me."

She leans close and kisses Hilde gently on the cheek. "And I really miss your hugs. I hope we'll get to have a good time tonight..." she adds before letting go of Hilde and heading upstairs.

Once Annie leaves, Hilde pulls her knees into her chest and wraps her arms around them as she stares blankly ahead.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'm going to tell him." she grins. "He'll finally understand how important he is to me."

*****

Later that evening

When Hilde arrives at the race track, Magtan is already waiting for her. He looks like he has barely slept. When he notices her approach, he flashes her a dazzling smile and greets her warmly.

"Thanks for coming," he says as he shakes her hand. He gestures her towards a bench near the track to watch. She agrees, sitting down with her legs crossed under her. A couple of minutes later, Annie appears next to her. She looks stunning in her vintage red mini-dress. Her long, straight hair is tucked beneath a matching beanie hat.

"That's a weird combination." Hilde raises her eyebrows.

"What are you talking about? I always dress this cool." she rolls her eyes, flashing Hilde a cheeky grin.

They both laugh as the announcer announces the starting gun. A few seconds pass before a loud, piercing sound is heard.

The supercars on the racing track start zooming around until only a blur can be made from their outlines.

After a couple of laps, one of the cars gets closer to its destination, and it's apparent who will win. As the two drivers stop to take a breath, Hilde looks around for Felix but doesn't find him anywhere near the crowd.

"Do you remember that time I asked him if he wanted to join our party?" Annie asks, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I remember." Hilde nods.

"Well, he didn't show up today either." Annie shrugs.

"Maybe he's busy," Hilde suggests.

"Or maybe he's avoiding us," Annie adds.

"Don't worry, Annie. I'm sure he'll show up this time!" Hilde says.

*******

Twenty minutes later, the racers are finishing the races. Felix isn't here yet, but she continues to expect him.

While waiting for him, Hilde thinks about the first time she met Felix. At first, she didn't really believe his story. How could the boy who has lived in a village all his life suddenly connect to a place like this?

But the more she watched him play basketball or skateboard with the other guys during their breaks between matches, the more convinced she became.

Even before meeting him, he seemed different, not like how people usually described him. He wasn't shy or quiet. No, he wasn't a person you would look at in the street, wondering if someone had been mean to them. He was strong, confident, and funny, as well.

As she's lost in her daydream, she's brought back to reality by ringing her phone. She checks the caller ID and sees that it's Felix calling her. She smiles as she answers the call.

"Hey, where are you right now?" Hilde asks.

She hears panting on the other side of the call.

"I'm sorry, I'm not coming today." He says almost in a whisper.