Page 6 of Electric Touch

“Fuck that. You know how long I’ve waited for this?”

“For me and Riley to break up?”

He cringes. “No. But… Yeah.”

“Real succinct. Asshole.”

“I mean for you to wake up and realise you’re better than her. She fucked you over. If she wasn’t in the band, I’d give her hell for what she did to you.”

He sounds so angry I widen my eyes.

“Dude, I know you still have feelings for her. Your thought processes are impaired. This is the first step. You’re finally waking up.”

“Fuck off.” I punch him in the arm, bristling, because he is right. And that makes me the biggest fucking idiot on the planet.

“Look, you’re not the guy to run around with women. For the first time since you were a kid, you have the chance to experience someone different. Take it. Riley isn’t thinking about you right now… Well,” he grins mischievously. “She is after seeing the news this morning.”

I don’t want to read any texts from her being pissed about the news breaking.

“Did you know Dec was gonna do it?” Dylan asks, shovelling cereal into his mouth.

“I told him I wasn’t keeping my single status secret anymore. So if they don’t want a scandal, he had to do something.”

“About time.”

“You’ve made that clear.”

He pats my shoulder. We’ve always been close, Dylan is my best friend. The fact we work and live together is testament to that. I’d be lost without my brother and although we rarely say it aloud, he feels the same.

“So, even though we’re like famous and shit now, and this news will put an even bigger spotlight on us. Do you wanna go out tonight? There is this band I’ve wanted to check out for a while. We’ll keep it on the down low.”

I laugh. “Shit man, can you believe you’re even saying stuff like that?”

He grins back. “Took us long enough.”

I finish my coffee. “Sure, let’s do it.”

“Now we’re talking.” He takes our dishes to the sink. My brother is a neat freak and can’t bear the thought of an unwashed dish. “And if there are some hot chicks around…”

“Yeah, yeah,” I smirk.

For the first time in a long time, I am looking forward to something.

Chapter Three

“Ha, I beat you!”

I grin at the pig-tailed girl sitting across from me. We are at one of the pre-painted chess board tables in Central Park, surrounded by other people playing. I brought the pieces from my chess set. It is difficult to get one of these stone tables. We got here early enough to snag one before it got too busy. It is almost midday now and a Grandmaster Chess player is due to be around in the afternoon.

I can’t stay to watch as I am meeting Apollo for our standing monthly appointment. I can set Violeta up with a few friends, they’ll stay with her so she can try her hand at playing the Grandmaster. It is fun to see. The Grandmasters take on a few players at a time, proving why they’re so named.

I’ve been teaching her to play chess for a month. Usually at her mom’s apartment, which is two doors down from mine. During the hot summer weekends, we come to the park. Her mom and younger brother play in the grass while we play chess. Teaching her is a dream, even at eleven years old, I can tell Violeta is going to go far. If she has the right opportunities and support. Chess is a fun game, it aids with problem-solving skills. I’ve seen a lot of my students who play chess find it much easier to study. I want to give Violeta those tools to take forward in life.

Plus, it’s on the list. Teach someone to play chess. For Violeta to be confident enough to try against a Central Park Grandmaster means a lot. I wish I could stick around to watch her take him on.

“Finish off properly,” I tell her.

“Oh yeah, sorry. Check mate!”

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