With Him

Chapter 8: Yes

I woke up at 6 a.m. with Nils on the other side, our pinky fingers softly brushing against each other. 

Funny story, so he offered to leave me back to my dorms since it was late when we left. After I walked into the building, he had sneaked in and knocked on my door saying that it was a 2 hour ride from there to his apartment so he stayed the night. As sat on our bed talking, the kind of lethargy that washes over you when you have spent a lot of time in a pool hit us and somewhere we drifted off to sleep.

Today was the first day of uni, so I softly got out of bed and started getting ready. As I was putting on some lip balm at 7:00 he woke up. Giving me a kiss on my forehead he went to the bathroom to freshen up. All the while Maddy looking at me wide eyes and as he went in she whisper screamed, "Girlll you work fast!" I just laughed.

Together we went to the cafeteria to have some breakfast. After breakfast he left for his house and I went back to classes. At around 3 in the afternoon someone tagged me in a story. Oh no this did not give me a good feeling.

I opened the notification, one of the people that was at the party had shot a video of me and Nils in the pool. As soon as I finished seeing the video it showed *this story is no longer available* . It was supposed to go on their private story. I got out of class for washroom and I called Nils in the hallway. He didn't pick up. I went to the search bar and searched #Nils and found two interpretations of the video. I quickly reported them. Nils called me and picked up the phone to his sleepy voice. 

"Nils what would you do if our pool video got leaked?" I asked him clearly worried "What happened?" He asked snapping out of his sleep. It was too early on for us for this to happen, hell we haven't even defined what we were as of now. "One of the people who were there at the party yesterday, accidently made a post on their public story of us, they deleted it as soon as it went on but there are interpretations of the video on the internet. I reported them to be taken down but you know it won't stop like that." I explained, "Not this early on." He said groaning. "I know Nils, I know." I replied "There's a way." I said "Mhm go ahead." he replied "We say that it was just plain acting as we were told to do it cause one can clearly see it's us and we were tagged. It was simply a dare and that actually together and let people start shipping us as they will and when we are ready we tell them." I ranted "Sounds like the best option, at times I don't like the internet because of this. And well this is pretty well damage control to be honest, you seem pretty experienced." He remarked, "Maybe I am." I said smiling, "No lives for this but do you have some interview with anyone? Or would you like to arrange one? I think some will approach you after this." I asked. "I just got a request from an online magazine here in Germany for today. I'll do it." He answered. "Well that's great, after that's done let me know how'd it go okay?" I said relieved "Mhm, I will." I could feel him smiling a little on the other side.

Fast forward to a few weeks after the magazine was issued and all went according to plan.

"So Nils, that pool thingy was all fake?" Asked Trent, we glanced at each other and then I stole a glance at Chris who was one of the trusted few who knew the truth. "I know I am a great actor." I said straightening my invisible collar. "Woah.." Trent choked on his drink as everyone around the table chuckled. Nils' jaw clenched as a playful smile played on his face. "Since you both like to do such extreme dares and well I like to prove people wrong, Nils grab our dear friend onto your lap." Trent demanded. I kept the pillow on the couch and sat on Nils lap. God was I competitive. And as Nils' hand wrapped around waste, my breath god stuck in my throat. And I nervously squirmed, shifting and sitting straight back up. My breathing heavy. And as I straightened up again, I felt something harden. His hand around me gripped around me holding me in place. "That's not helping." He breathed down my neck. 

I got up, and Trent who was busy looking at a video playfully asked me, "Gave up already?" "No a girl needs to pee." I replied as I went upstairs into the guest bedroom. I sat there catching my breath. It was not a good idea to wear tights today. Nils followed a little while after. "If that was uncomfortable for you, I'm sorry." he said scratching the back of his head and looking down. "Uncomfortable? sorry? Nils, that made me so..." I replied, he looked up at me, who was all flushed. He came and sat down beside me on the bed. I went back on the bed and opened the laptop which I bought along with me and kept it up here for my work. I opened the laptop.

I smiled at the laptop screen as I lay on bed with soft blue lights on. "What are you smiling at? Asked Nils from the other side of the screen. I lowered the screen to look at him, a neutral expression on his face. "Oh nothing." I smiled and kept the laptop beside. "Nah, I wanna see." He said grabbing the laptop. "A fan edit of me, really?" He smiled up at me "Just seeing what your female fan following is upto these days." I said a little jealous-ly "Mmm jealous...should've thought about it before you dated me, now you are stuck." He said smiling wider. "Oh god just come here." He said nearing me and hugging me as I closed my eyes soaking in his warmth and touch. My home.

He suddenly broke away. "Wait did I just say before you dated me?" He asked with his brow furrowed. "Uh yes why?" I asked confused. "But we aren't dating." He said casually getting up with the laptop in his hand. "What?" I asked shocked. Getting up from the bed as well. He kept the laptop on a table and a song played. Je te laisserai des mots. The song that I played when I felt as ease and peace. 

He took my hand and and started dancing. I was confused but I let the dance flow. And as the music slowed and we danced out into the balcony. He turned me so that he was hugging me from the back our hands interlaced my head leaning back on his chest,his head on my head. Rocking side to side. 

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked as the soft cool night wind blew. Winter was near and I closed my eyes as I said "Yes."

{Preferred Background Music: Je te laisserai des mots by Patrick Watson}