I Guess You Could Call Him A Spokes-Man

[Laurels]

Brigid began to chuckle. She was actually winning. The race was really going in her favor. Neither boy had managed to pass her yet, although she could tell Chris was close behind her. She was curious as to where Carlyle was, but figured he couldn't be that far behind.

She could focus on that later. She was approaching the bend. Brigid knew that the turn was the best chance for Chris or Carlyle to pass her, so she tried to make sure she could make the turn, then sprint to the end of their route.

Here we go!

Brigid made the turn, then put all her energy into the next leg of the race. She was bolting down the path. All she could hear were her footsteps on the pavement. She wasn't even sure if Chris or Carlyle were close behind her or not.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Brigid continued to move down the road. That's when she realized it. She had won. She crossed their imaginary finish line, ahead of both Chris and Carlyle. She threw her arms up in the air and began to cheer. She began to slow down and soon came to a stop, taking the chance to breath and rest.

Brigid wiped the sweat from her forehead before turning back. She wanted to know how close the other two were.

[Deamon]

There was no sign of Carlyle and beating a bike in a race would have been some consolation for Chris but he didn't realise because he was too focused on catching Brigid. He knew he could do it, since he'd done it before, but they were almost at the turn and her lead was increasing. Chris knew the only thing he'd be able to do was sprint all out for the final straight, it was just a case of whether it would actually be enough or if he had left it too late to make his move. Of course if Brigid also decided to sprint as they came out of the corner than Chris's chances were going to go down the drain.

He pushed hard as they went around the turn Brigid was leaving it as he got halfway around so Chris decided to start his sprint early, tactically it wasn't the best decision he could have made but he didn't care. He was in a situation where he had no other choice. At first it seemed to work, he gained good ground on Brigid but then she did exactly what he didn't want. She started to sprint to seal her victory. Chris matched her well to begin with but he couldn't gain ground. As he sped up more so did Brigid and she crossed the line just before him.

He heard Brigid cheer as she crossed the line, she had won. He crossed the line and slowed down to a stop. His breathing was heavy and he was sweating a lot. Pulling off his t-shirt Chris used it to wipe his face and back, he didn't feel like putting it back on so he just threw it over his shoulder. Shaking his head to get some of the sweat out of his hair he gave Brigid a thumbs up before starting to stretch out. He was disappointed and annoyed that he had lost but it was balanced out by the fact Brigid had actually had fun and it felt good to actually see it on her face. Even still thoughts of what he should have done raced through Chris's head as he stretched. He kept his head down as he stretched out his legs, he didn't want the annoyance to show on his face since it was just meant to be fun. However Chris was competitive and that meant losing was frustrating to him, no matter how much fun he was meant to be having.

"At least I beat a bike." He said to Brigid.

[Pippi]

Carlyle was quickly picking up speed, but it was way, way too late for any miraculous comebacks to happen. Even as he put on one last, frantic burst of speed, he could see that both Chris and Brigid had crossed the invisible finishing line. He didn’t know who won; he hadn’t been watching them intently, having been focused on trying to get back into the race. All he knew was that they were both finished and he hadn’t won.

As Carlyle rounded the corner, he slowed down to a pace just faster than walking speed. He slowly shook his head, but a grin was slowly growing on his face. He couldn’t even claim technical difficulties for his loss. He’d been distracted and that had lost him the race. Good old human error, that was all. He’d been beaten fair and square. The only thing to find out now, was by whom? He’d thought he’d heard a cheer, but the wind rushing past him had made it slightly hard to hear who it had been, if anyone.

Carlyle slowly rolled to a stop in front of Chris and Brigid. Chris had taken his shirt off, and currently had it slung over his shoulder. Carlyle guessed the guy’d used it to mop up his sweat and all that. Carlyle never did anything like that, even if he did get as sweaty as Chris evidently was. He could always wait until he got back home, after all. Plus, it just seemed kinda weird to Carlyle to just take your top off in public. To each their own, though, after all.

“Well, that could have gone a little better.” Carlyle remarked, after dismounting from his bike and kicking the stand down. “Nice racing, though, both of you! I didn’t see who won though. I was too far behind.” Carlyle grinned rather sheepishly at this.

[Laurels]

Brigid watched as Chris crossed the finish line. She was still panting and wiping some sweat off her brow as he came to a stop. She watched as he took his shirt off and began to wipe the sweat off his body. Brigid got silent.

Oh. Um. Wow. I'm not doing that.

He gave Brigid a thumbs up before stretching. Brigid laughed and thanked him for the gesture.

At least I beat a bike.

"Yeah, that's good," she responded.

Carlyle then rode up and got off his bike. He looked sort of disappointed, but then again, this race was just for fun, so there's no real harm in coming in last. Carlyle didn't know who won the race. Brigid raised her hand.

"I did. I won."

Brigid ran her hands through through her hair.

"So now what?"

[Deamon]

Brigid's reply was short but it reinforced what Chris had said, beating a bike in a race was always a good thing. No matter who else was involved. The fact that they'd both managed to beat Carlyle was impressive in itself. Chris didn't actually know what had happened to Carlyle because he should have been just behind them even if he had lost. Instead he was much further behind than Chris had expected. The chain on his bike must have come off again, since Chris couldn't think of any other reason for him to be so far behind. It made the fact they had beaten a bike less impressive but Chris didn't dwell on it; a bike was still a bike.

Carlyle rolled up next to them and Chris noticed that he was grinning. It was good that the three of them had had fun at least. It made up for the fact Chris had lost at the very least, since he'd enjoyed running the race. Carlyle hadn't seen who had won so Chris pointed at Brigid as she told him.

"Brigid pulled away from me at the corner, I couldn't catch up after that." He ran a hand over his forehead to get rid of some droplets of sweat that had started to form. It didn't really matter that he'd lost. It wasn't like anyone had seen and plus it was only for fun. The fact he was so competitive wasn't exactly helpful. It was fine though, if losing to Brigid mattered to him that much than he would always be able to have another race with her at a practice.

Chris wondered what Daniels reaction was going to be if he told him about the race. It would involve laughing and mocking that was for sure. It was probably a better idea to tell Beth about it if he was going to tell anyone. She had always been the more helpful of his siblings. Daniel was a typical big brother except they had an added layer of competitiveness since they both participated in the same sport at school. It made almost everything into a competition.

"I dunno, we could go and chill out by the river. I don't really mind. It's not like I had anything else to do. I only came out for a run and I've definitely ran." He said in response to Brigid's question.

[Pippi]

Carlyle nodded in an almost sagely manner, as Brigid casually mentioned that she’d come in first. Carlyle had no idea whether Brigid was simply a faster runner, or whether she and Chris were around about equal in strength, and Brigid had just wanted to win more. Carlyle would have been happy if any of the three had won, but he felt glad for Brigid; the girl just looked darn happy at her victory.

Chris then expanded on Brigid’s statement, saying that she’d pulled away from him at the corner. It seemed to Carlyle that the corner would have been where the race was won or lost, whoever was in first. He would have had to slow down, lest he have lost control and forced to a stop. Carlyle didn’t know too much about professional running, but he knew that getting a certain distance from a corner would give you the edge. Or something. He hadn’t really been paying too much attention to whatever it was he’d heard that on.

“Well, least you stayed in the race throughout.” Carlyle said to Chris, still grinning. “I maaay just have got distracted, ‘n kinda, y’know… almost crashed. I’m my own worst enemy, sometimes.” Carlyle chuckled softly, then looked over towards the river. Just chilling down by there sounded cool right now. It seemed that fate just didn’t want him to have a proper bike ride today, after all.

“Yeah, bro, I’m down for that.” Carlyle said. “It doesn’t look like Lady Luck’s really shinin’ down on me today, and I don’t have anything particularly urgent to do today, anyway.” The latter remark was a complete lie; Carlyle had a rather long essay he hadn’t even started yet. But given the choice between work and friends, Carlyle would choose the latter each and every time.

[Laurels]

Brigid listened as Carlyle explained that he crashed his bike during the race. She couldn't believe Carlyle actually crashed his bike. That's probably why she and Chris never saw him in the race. She figured it meant that she might not be faster than a bike.

Eh. I still beat Chris. That's pretty cool.

Brigid listened as Chris suggested the three of them hang out by the river and chill. Brigid smiled. They still wanted to hang out with her after all of that. This was pretty cool.

"Yeah, sounds nice," she said.

She stretched her arms in the air and made her way down to the river. She certainly didn't expect her jog to turn out like this, but it was a nice surprise. Carlyle and Chris were pretty cool guys, and she was happy to spend her day with them.

((Brigid Paxton continued elsewhere))