Chapter 33:

Mall Machinations: Lucas

Insurmountable Odds


As Monday rolled around, I attended the Muay Thai class the same as always. As usual, Cole didn’t show up.

My mind continued to wander with fears and anxieties about why he didn’t attend Muay Thai despite nothing being unusual. Finally, I pushed my worries to the side; I knew I couldn’t dwell on something out of my control. I trusted Cole as much as he trusted me.

After class, while I was alone getting a drink, Quinn and Madison pulled me aside secretively.

“Hey, guess what?” Quinn began enthusiastically.

“What?” I responded hesitantly.

“You know Rebecca? She has a crush on Cole!” Quinn continued energetically, “We all talked a lot during our party, and it turned out he was why she ended up joining! Isn’t that so cute?”

“So why are you telling me this?” I asked nervously, “Isn’t this an invasion of privacy?”

“Little miss troublemaker over here came up with a plan to hook them up together, with your help.” Madison interjected, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

I sighed at the situation.

“Hey, come on, usually you’d be all over this idea!” Quinn complained while jabbing me and Madison, “It’s a win-win if they both end up happy, right?”

Happy, huh.

Quinn was right. Normally I would be just as excited as she was over the news and begin scheming with her. I slapped myself in the face, receiving a worried look from Madison in the process.

“Alright, what’s the plan?” I smiled deviously, my cheeks still tingling from my palms.

I couldn’t let this situation get me down. I need to be there for Cole.

After agreeing to scheme more over WhatsUp, we went our separate ways, giving me more time alone.

My mind kept wandering back to my conversations from over the weekend. As our matchmaking scheme continued to unfold, I kept wondering if this was what Cole would want; if this would help Cole live.

Eventually I broke down and sent him a vague message as I was getting ready to sleep.

“What does it mean to live?”

As someone who lived their entire life in a box of familial responsibilities, a question of that magnitude was completely overwhelming.

As I drifted to sleep, my last memory of the day was a single message from Cole.

“I don’t know.”

After more MMA practice sessions as I tried my best to act the same as before with Cole, the weekend finally came, and with it, our machinations were set in motion.

After messaging Cole to meet me at the central plaza of the nearby mall, with Quinn messaging Rebecca the same thing, we both hid nearby with popcorn in hand.

Cole was the first to arrive, despite how fancily he was dressed, with Rebecca arriving shortly thereafter. Once we saw them interact, Quinn and I sent out the first round of messages.

“Sorry, something came up, enjoy the mall in my place!” I showed Quinn what I sent Cole, causing her to show what she had sent Rebecca.

“Good luck on your date ;)”

While stifling laughs, we proceeded to watch Cole and Rebecca stand around and talk for an awkwardly long amount of time before heading off together.

Phase one was complete.

As we continued to sneakily follow after them, occasionally messaging Rebecca from Quinn’s phone, we began a conversation of our own.

“So did she tell you why she liked Cole?” I asked after a while, curious as to the origins of our entire mission.

“Oh yeah! Funny story actually.” Quinn began emphatically, “Get this. Apparently, she fell for him because of how weak he looked!”

“Wait, what?” Cole seemed like he’d be a good partner but ‘looking weak’ was definitely not one of his better qualities.

“Exactly! At first, I thought it was weird taste in men, but it turned out there was more to it.” Quinn continued after laughing at my reaction. “When she spectated our demonstration matches during the first week of school, she fell for Cole after seeing him beat the captain.”

That makes much more sense.

“The fact that, despite looking physically frail, Cole was able to completely dominate the match, really spoke to her.” Quinn began mimicking the act of swooning as she finished. “The idea that he was so capable must have made her fall in love at first sight.”

“I get that but why his whole looking weak thing? Was that only because it was surprising to see how strong he was.” I questioned again, wanting to know more about my friend’s current date mate.

“She wouldn’t go into much more detail but that’s why she’s doing MMA now.” Quinn returned to being more serious while speaking. “The fact that he could do it showed her that maybe she could be strong, too. Almost like a role model.”

Before I could form a reply, I noticed that something was terribly wrong. We were too distracted by our conversation and completely lost Cole and Rebecca.

Immediately, we picked up our pace in order to chase after where they had just been, desperate to continue monitoring their date from afar as best friends do.

As we rounded the first corner, I bumped into something face first.

“Told you so.” I heard a voice interrupt my ensuing apology.

“I mean, I figured they were doing something, but this is just sad.” Another voice responded, causing my face to turn red.

Shit.

“Hey Cole, hey Rebecca, what a surprise!” I quickly began backpedaling to redeem any trace of dignity.”

“Shouldn’t be that surprising since this is where you asked us to meet up.” Cole responded condescendingly, not allowing me to escape.

After being mocked relentlessly, the four of us stopped in the food court to talk altogether.

“So… how was your date?” Quinn asked sheepishly, lacking any tact.

“After we talked for a little while and shared a few secrets, we decided to stay friends.” Rebeccas replied, staring daggers into Quinn for understandable reasons.

No matter how hard we pushed for details, Rebecca and Cole wouldn’t budge.

At least he seemed to have fun in the process, especially when making fun of Quinn and I getting caught so easily.

Despite everything, it only took a few moments to get everyone enjoying our time at the mall together, as if nothing had happened.

As we happily continued on our outing, one thought lingered in the back of my mind.

Is this what Cole meant by living?