Runaway Marriage || ONC 2024 ||

5. Cheerleader

The next two days, they spent their time driving, eating, sleeping and finishing the books they bought not long ago. For Ethan, it was surprisingly relaxing and he never felt travel fatigue even for a second. He and Ash would switch places with the driving though he noticed she preferred to drive a lot. She would speed up whenever they entered roads with less traffic keeping the limit. He also noticed that Ash was a mild clean freak.

"You are a clean freak, aren't you." She stated as she watched him clean the dashboard. Ethan was at a loss for words, who was the clean freak here? Besides, what he was doing was basic etiquette.

"You have a problem with that?" He asked a little annoyed. "No." She looked away.

"I want to go to a bookstore." She said and he immediately replied, "No."

"You liked it too. Don't you want to know what happens next? I'm most excited about what happens to Kio." Her wide-open eyes looked like they held the night sky in them. It was true he enjoyed the books immensely but they were hardly a priority when they should be saving the money. But instead of saying that, he replied subconsciously, "I thought you would be excited about the main romance. At least I am. And I'm also excited to see if my guess about the villain is right." He said.

"The main couple is going to end up together anyway. While I enjoy their chemistry, I want to see Kio find his happy ending. I hope he will get a ship and a motley crew for himself. Hopefully a book of his own." She said a little dreamily.

"You are thinking far too ahead." He put a stop to her daydream. The current series hasn't been completely out yet and she was already asking for a spin-off. He shook his head.

"No harm in it. Besides, I too have my theories about the villain and plot. So let's go buy the next three books."

"No." Ethan replied without another thought and she clicked her tongue sitting back. He shook his head at her again and looked at their next destination. It was a private sports ground owned by the Royal Academy.

"Why are we going there?" He asked.

"I have a game to win, Let's go." She replied and he looked at her blinking. A minute later her words finally sunk in and made sense to him. A game? today? in the Royal Academy? With whom? and Why? So many questions filled his head. All her plans until now were out of his expectations. A few minutes later he sighed and thought that Ash lived an interesting and exciting life.

"Also, I'm going against your alma mater. But since you are spending my money and driving my car, You will cheer for me and my team. You better hope that I don't hear you uttering a single cheer for your dearest team." Her voice was gentle but her words were threatening and her humourless smile made him gulp nervously.

A few hours later, he was at the familiar baseball bleachers holding the Private Academy banner. There were a lot of familiar faces around and they were looking at him like they were looking at a traitor. He can't say that he was threatened to do this and his livelihood depended on this. These fools would never understand.

"Is this your idea of honeymoon?" Asked a familiar voice. Ethan turned to look at Neal and the others, the real traitors.

"Did you finally grow a spine?" Ethan asked in return.

"I'm a balloon man. You are asking too much of me now." Neal said taking a seat beside him. Others sat around as they curiously double-checked the banner Ethan was holding.

"Are you seriously on honeymoon?" One of the guys asked and a nerve ticked on Ethan's head. "I could make it so you could never have a honeymoon." He said between his teeth grinding. The guy who asked immediately gave up with his hands in the air.

"Oy!" A voice called. Ethan looked down to the ground to see Ashleigh standing in a full baseball uniform with her hair braided and pinned behind her head.

"What are you doing? Put your heart into it. Hold it a little higher. If we lose, I'm blaming you." She said and Ethan sighed holding the banner a little higher. She laughed and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Sister-in-law!" Neal shouted waving at her enthusiastically.

"Are you mental? I'm not married and I know no brother of yours." She snapped and Ethan burst out laughing at Neal's speechless expression. His stomach felt a little better at that sight.

"Then who is he?" Neal pointed to Ethan.

"My cheerleader." Came the reply and Ethan's face blanked out.

"Can I cheer for you as well?" Neal asked.

"If you are so enthusiastic about working for free, go ahead and make yourself useful." She said and turned to leave for the ground as the game was about to start.

"We like her." Neal picked up a Private Academy banner and the other guys followed him agreeing.

"By the way, You are getting paid?" One of the guys asked and Ethan rubbed his aching temples. A moment later he sighed and turned to watch the game. This was supposed to be a silly bet between a group of graduates from both academies. But no matter how you see it, it wasn't just that anymore. There were more people here than he expected and they were all familiar faces too.

Normally the games were supposed to be either all men or all women. When he heard about the game, he thought it was the latter since Ashleigh said she was playing but it wasn't. Though the players were mostly men, Ashleigh's team had two women including her and on the Royal Academy side, there was one Lady on first base. Ethan knew her, She was a tennis prodigy. Given both teams are make-shift, she would be a great addition.

He then turned to look at Ashleigh, she was stretching and he noticed she had a good build. Her body was tall and flexible.

"Your wife-" Ethan cut him off immediately. "She is not my wife."

"Yes. Your bride is the catcher!" One of his friends said. Ethan too was surprised. He had known her for only a few days but even he could tell she would be good at it only if she had enough power to make some good throws. Her silhouette looked like she does sports often and her bearing was athletic. She put her helmet on and took her place as the game began. He didn't see her warming up so he didn't know what kind of play she was capable of. His heart sped up as he watched in anticipation.