Chapter 111: Surface Pressure

Ever since Brendan and his family had received the cheque from Niall that had changed their lives, they’d naturally become big fans of the man and had been closely following his career.

Granted, they generally didn’t engage with online discourses because they weren’t social media addicts, they were at least aware and well-informed of all the news surrounding him.

Like millions of individuals around the world, they had also loved [Aperture], and they’d thoroughly enjoyed his Coachella performance, as well as the interview session he’d had with Starlight Magazine.

Added to all that, they also showed their love and support by buying his books. Now they, much like others, were stuck waiting patiently for the last book in the trilogy to be released.

However, when yet another opportunity came for them to show their love and support again, they didn’t hesitate.

[Rink], was that opportunity.

Considering Murray had a habit of ensuring that Blu-ray discs were available on day one, Brendan had branched at the DVD store to pick up a copy of it on his parents’ behalf.

Then he picked up another for himself.

Staring at the physical pieces of media in his hands, he couldn’t help but let out a contented sigh as he carefully placed them into his bag.

It was one thing to have told Niall he would show his support whenever the figure-skating movie came out, knowing fully well the best he could’ve managed back then was a rental.

It was another to actually realize and fulfil that promise by actually owning a copy of his own.

With a blissful smile, Brendan then proceeded to head on over to the nearest local theatre where a screening of the movie was set to happen.

With a genuine air of anticipation, Brendan was looking forward to experiencing the magic of cinema once again.

The only thing he’d believed would’ve made this perfect, was if he could’ve gone with his parents, both of whom happened to have very late working schedules this week.

Though they’d managed to secure better jobs, they still had to work their asses off to ensure their son’s figure-skating dreams came to fruition, and the youth was well-aware of this.

Besides, considering they’d stashed half of the money Niall had given him in a secure account in his name, they had imposed it upon themselves to work hard to return the other half.

One they had borrowed to improve their family’s general lifestyle by moving to a better neighborhood and an equally better apartment among other things.

In any case, Brendan now had two extra tickets with him, both of which he wasn’t sure what to do with as he’d bought them nonetheless in hopes that his parents might miraculously be chanced to get off work earlier than they’d intended.

’Previous me would’ve caned myself for wasting my funds like this despite knowing fully well it wasn’t a certainty,’ Brendan inwardly remarked, a wry smile on his lips.

Still, his mood remained peppy as he arrived at his destination a couple minutes later.

In fact, it was the first time in a fair while since the year began that he was in genuinely high spirits.

Though things had been good ever since Niall’s philanthropy towards him, there was a new problem Brendan had found himself dealing with frequently.

Pressure.

Pressure to live up to not just his parents, but also Niall’s expectations.

After all, for as lovely as a gesture giving out a cheque of $500,000 was, it didn’t detract from the fact that it was given based on the belief that he would make something worthwhile out of it.

Because of this, Brendan had begun pushing himself harder and harder towards mastery and perfection of the craft.

At the same time, he’d begun berating himself whenever he messed up a routine or didn’t quite manage to perfect a move he knew he easily could’ve nailed.

All of this led to a situation where he constantly found himself getting tense whenever he glided onto the ice these past couple months.

Serving to add to that layer of stress for him was the regional open championship set to happen in a few months’ time... one his parents were genuinely so excited for.

After all, it would be their first time seeing their son in a legitimate figure-skating competition, one that might as well kick his career off if he gave a great performance.

In any case, Brendan didn’t want to think about failing them right now.

Just as he was walking up to the ticket counter to have his ticket verified, he caught a lady from the corner of his eye who was muttering something in annoyance to herself whilst rapidly typing on her phone;

"Stupid jerk. Standing me up after promising we’d see the movie together."

At the same time, her eyes caught his, a glint of familiarity phasing across her features as she remarked;

"Brendan, right?"

"We sit next to each other in Economics?" Cameron gestured with a little point using her phone.

"Yeah." Brendan simply replied, gave her a curt nod, then moved up to the counter whose handler had already flipped over the placard to the words; Sold out!

’Thank heavens I bought it the moment they were out for sale.’ Brendan inwardly remarked.

That aside, he really didn’t want to get involved with one of the most popular girls in their school if he could help it.

However, as he had one of his tickets scanned a few seconds later, he couldn’t help but glance over to her as she continued texting with a mildly pissed expression.

Presumably to whomever it was that stood her up.

And though Brendan was just speculating, it seemed her date was supposed to have bought the tickets and meet up with her here but hadn’t even managed to do that either.

As a result, she was stuck with no other choice but to head back home as the tickets were sold out.

Feeling one of the two unused tickets in his pocket, Brendan contemplated whether to give her one.

Being the introvert that he was, the last thing he wanted was a peppy blonde bouncing around him upon resumption and drawing unnecessary attention to his quiet, peaceful high school life.

Besides, he already had enough of a hassle to deal with, with several of his peers teasing him for pursuing figure-skating... something they just happened to blindly assume was a female-centric sport.

As for Cameron, she seemed to have hit her limit as she let out a deep breath, pocketed her phone and proceeded to head out.

Considering she could just stream the movie on one of many streaming platforms, she figured it wasn’t worth the hassle of crashing out over a stupid boy who had nothing but his looks going for him.

Besides, the only reason she’d even opted to come to the theatre anyway was because the café she’d been working at over the summer break was close-by, and the screening time for the movie happened to coincide with the time she got off her shift.

That said,

"Maya’s gonna fume when she hears about this..." she chuckled to herself as she began walking away... only for her steps to come to a halt a few seconds later.

"Here," Brendan handed over a ticket, then proceeded to explain himself lest things got awkward really fast;

"I happened to get two more for my parents but they won’t be able to make it, so..." he trailed off with a shrug that seemed to imply;

Might as well give it to someone else who can actually use it.

Genuinely surprised by the gesture, especially since he’d more or less sidelined her a couple minutes ago without so much as a double take, Cameron still found herself touched by the gesture.

"Thank you, Brendan. That’s... that’s very sweet of you." she smiled warmly, her expression genuine.

Once again, the youth offered her a single bob of acknowledgement and proceeded to head in.

Tapping the ticket on her palm a couple times as she watched his back vanish through the doors, a light smile on her lips, she then proceeded to verify her ticket by the counter.

Cameron wasn’t really a movie buff like Maya was.

She honestly just tended to watch whatever pleased her.

However, in the case of Niall Parker, who’d released a string of bangers after bangers... it honestly didn’t take long before she became just as much of a fan of his as her closest friend, Maya, was.

It was also why she didn’t think twice before deciding to watch [Rink], even going as far as setting up a date with a guy she’d been talking with for a while, just to share her enthusiasm for the movie with him.

In any case, she soon had her ticket scanned, purchased a small bowl of popcorn and a soda, and then shuffled over into the cinema much like everyone else.

Unsurprisingly, she found herself sitting just a seat away from Brendan, who’d leaned back into his chair, a hand propping his chin and an unmistakable glint of excitement in his eyes.

’Cute...’ she inwardly remarked, and then turned her focus to the screen as the lights in the theatre dimmed, the low hum of conversations quieted and the movie began.

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/Caer07