Chapter XVII: Thigh pincher
I opened my eyes and was met with the warm morning sun through the windows of the car. And with Theo's big grin when he passed me a cup of coffee.
"Calculated just perfectly," he chuckles.
"Calculated what?"
"When you'd wake up. I stopped in a gas station like six minutes ago to get coffee because I thought I'll fall asleep and decided to get you one too," Theo's face breaks out into a smile as he gets into his side of the car.
"Thanks," I smile as he passes me little cute donuts.
I quickly got comfortably situated and then he pulled back onto the highway. He had been driving in silence without the radio for the past hour just because I was sleeping and he was worried I'd wake up.
The morning had started out pretty good. Of course, I never like getting up at 8 am on a weekend but knowing what the day holds I was more than excited.
I had packed my bags because he said we were staying overnight. I had no problem with that since this Saturday and Sunday were my off days before I started heavily training for my performance.
The figure skating's national committee had decided that this year's annual championship could be a little different. Usually, it was held for a week and then you received a schedule on which days you perform.
This year it was split into a multiple-month-long competition. Figure skaters needed to perform at the Hockey Championship games. Before, between, and after. You collect points from each performance and then at the end of the Hockey championship a figure skating final is held between the skaters with the highest points.
At first, Carl and Catherine were furious. But after a lot of phone calls, it finally clicked why they were doing this. It was the 50th anniversary of the Hockey Championships so it made sense to want to switch things up. But last year one of the Hockey committee members had a big scandal so they were probably assuming the worst in fan attendance.
Having my first performance so close was fucking with my calm aura. It was genuinely terrifying but I hoped everything would go smoothly.
"I can smell your brain overheating from here. What are you thinking about, pretty girl?" Theo flitted his eyes to me before fixating them on the road again.
"The competition. What if you guys need help again and I can't go on the ice because Carl and Catherine are watching me like hawks?" I fidget with my sweater.
"Skates, we'll be just fine. You're our coach, you should have more trust in our abilities," He puts a hand on my thigh and I sigh.
"Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry," I shake my head and get all of those thoughts out of my head.
"Are you excited for today?" He still hasn't moved his hand. If it weren't for my jeans my skin would probably be tingling.
"Yeah," I look at his hand.
He has a pretty hand. It has a small butterfly tattoo on it and rings decorate his fingers. Would be great if they could tangle in my curls. Stop.
"Am I distracting you, Skates?" Theo chuckles and I smack his hand off which makes him break out into a fit of laughter.
"Stop that," I pinch him.
"Ouch, do you want me to crash?" He rubs his thigh where I pinched him and now it's my turn to laugh.
"Yeah sure, Jesus take the wheel," I chuckle.
"Pass me a donut, miss thigh pincher," I lean over and shove a mini donut in his mouth.
Apparently, I had slept for forty minutes so we had about an hour and a half to go judging on traffic. Our school was located in Boston so his family lived relatively close to the college. Whereas I lived only fifteen hours away.
But I didn't like visiting my family in Kentucky. Not since Spencer passed, at least. They always bring it up so I've kindly decided to not go there.
This brings me back to the present problem of the guys not knowing my brother is dead. I think if I said his name they would immediately know who he is. But I have to figure out a smarter way of telling them. One that doesn't result in them hating me for making them think he's still alive.
It's not like it's their business to know but we did agree to tell each other the truth so I need to figure out my own shit. I want to be honest with them, I just need to figure out how to drop the bomb that's called crazy life.
I look over at Theo who's nodding his head along to a song and my lips quirk up in a smile. He doesn't even hide the fact that he knows every single word to "Into you" by Ariana Grande. Seeing a jacked hockey player sing along to Ari isn't a sight I thought I'd see any time soon.
He notices me staring but he doesn't stop. Instead, he turns the radio louder and sings along much clearer now. I laugh at him when he starts to tap the steering wheel.
Over the past two days, I've realized he is trying to change and my heart warms at the fact that he's doing it just for me. I've never had anyone care for me this much and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
I look at the cocky hockey player in front of me who isn't as bad as I thought. The beautiful guy who said he wished for me on his birthday. The guy who didn't even hesitate to take pictures of me holding teddy bears and the guy who drops everything to check on me.
His phone lights up with a message and I flit my eyes to the screen noticing that I'm on the wallpaper. The same picture he took of me last night is on his lock screen. My cheeks heat up and I act as if I didn't notice it but a small smile plays on my lips.
Theo picks up the phone and looks at who the message is from. He places it in my hand and my eyebrows furrow at the action.
"It's my sister, can you tell her we'll be there at like 11 am? My passcode is 1517" he mutters.
The fact that he didn't even hesitate to tell me his passcode makes another smile etch its way on my face. I unlock it and text his sister back. Theo tells me how his passcode is like that because his sisters are 15 and 17. The littlest one is only 4.
I can't wait to meet his sisters and family to get all of the dirty details about what Theo did as a teenager. It will be so funny.
-
The next hour and a half passed pretty quickly. Both of us conversed throughout the ride about our studies. Boring, I know. But when we pulled up to a cute house I stared in awe. His house was very homey from the outside.
When he opened the car door for me anxiety finally took over the reins. I was a little terrified to meet his family but he reassured me whilst placing his lower hand on my back which made me relax a little bit.
The door opened before Theo could even knock and two girls flew into his arms. From the color of their hair and eyes, I immediately recognized them as his sisters. Their resemblance was scary, they looked exactly like him.
They pulled back and both of their eyes turned to me noticeably widening.
"This is Blair," Theo introduced me.
"The Blair?" the youngest one grins. And I furrow my eyebrows.
"Iz, shove it," Theo glares at her. And the girls break out into laughter.
"He can't stop talking about you-" the oldest one gets cut off by Theo placing his hand over her mouth.
"I'm sorry, Gemma here doesn't know when to shut up," Theo gives me a tight-lipped smile and I try not to laugh. The sisters introduce themselves while we walk into the house.
"I'm Isabella but friends call me Izzy," she introduces herself while sliding strands of her hair behind her ears.
"And I'm Gemma, some people call me Gem, so you can choose whichever you like best," she embraces me in a hug.
We walk deeper into the house and I pay attention to the rooms we pass through. The living room feels warm with all of the colors. There are family pictures above the fireplace as well as a shelf full of books. Clearly, this family loves to read.
The dining room has a long table in the middle of it and it's partly set with utensils. I assume that his mom is just starting to make the food since it's early but the house smells wonderful already.
We walk into the kitchen and a smiling woman with the same shade of black hair comes into view. When her gaze connects with her son, her eyes immediately light up and she walks up to him pulling Theo into a tight hug.
I smiled at the scene of the family before me. They seemed so sweet and fond of each other. As well as, looked like they were different forms of each other but the same person at the same time.
She pulled back and looked toward me. Her smile never falling. She pulled me into a hug and I wrapped my hands around her too.
"You must be Blair, so great to finally meet you. I've heard a lot," she pulls back and tilts her head at her son.
"Mom," Theo sighs rubbing his face.
"You too, Mrs. Grayson," I smile back at her.
"Oh, stop it. I'm allowed to tell your girlfriend that, I'm Natalia by the way so no need for the Mrs nonsense," she pats my shoulders and walks back to the stove, "Feel at home, dear. And you'll be sleeping in Theo's room, I hope that's not a problem."
"Not at all," I shake my head. Theo walks up to me and snatches two cookies from the plate placed on the counter. He shoves one into my hand.
"Girlfriend?" I whisper.
"Do you want to be?" He leans down to my ear to place a kiss on it. I nod and a shiver runs up my spine when he brushes my hair out of my face.
He gives me a tour of his house. The second-floor hallway wall is all covered in frames of their family. His whole family seems extremely lovely. And my heart flutters a little bit.
I never had the lovey-dovey family life everyone dreamed of. I had a life where I was made to think that being a parent is an obligation pushed onto someone when they have unprotected sex.
I wasn't a planned child. They only wanted one and Spencer was already a star child. So when the news of me being in my mother's womb was found out my parents strongly contemplated if having me was the right decision.
Clearly, they had me since I'm here and breathing. But I was often reminded that they sometimes wished I wasn't. Tip for the future, don't have children if you're not going to love them.
Theo intertwining our fingers snapped me out of my thoughts. He took my hand and pulled me toward the end of the hallway.
I chuckle when he opens the door to his room. He has Star Wars posters all across his walls and the bookshelf is overstacked to the brim. His duvet is pitch black as expected and his dresser is overstacked with Marvel figurines.
"You are such a nerd, Gray," I walk over and run my fingers over his book spines. I notice that the Chronicles of Narnia are here too. His favorite books.
He doesn't say anything and I turn around to see what's got him so deep in thought. He's leaning against the doorframe with a dimpled smile on his face.
"What?" I ask him as he looks at me.
"Just having you in my room makes me happy, you look so fucking beautiful in my room," He looks at me like he never has before. He steps into the room and comes up to me.
"It's fast and unexpected, and maybe I should wait because this is our first unofficial date but I don't give a shit. I know that I want you to be my girlfriend, not now but in a while when both of us are ready. I just wanted you to know that," Theo cups my jaw.
"I also want you to be my boyfriend in a while," I look at his cute dimples.
His lips connect with mine. He tastes like honey and jelly donuts. And most of all he tastes like Theo. Like the lips I want to have on mine all the time, every second of the day.
My Theo.
A/N: Went MIA once again, but I'm okay.
I was in quarantine last week which made me have so many missed assignments. And this week I'm sick so double homicide, I guess.
I hope you liked today's chapter, cute Blair and Theo moments are my favorite thing and we should come up with a ship name together.
Otherwise, how is everyone doing?
Kisses, hugs, and mini jelly donuts, Helena <3