MANY PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT ballet was easy. Stella made it her goal in life to yell at any one who thought that.
She wasn't going to the gym at five in the morning with her F1 driver friend for no fucking reason. Strength training was important for ballerinas, holding a pose for minutes on end, with no movement, was not an easy thing.
Typically, Stella went to the gym every other day with her ballet friends. They would chat about drama as they cycled, and spot each other on the weight machines. But all of Stella's friends from ballet were busy. Fakes. And Addie wouldn't be caught in the gym, even if it would save her life. Logan was off in Florida visiting his family, so that left Stella with Oscar. Not that she was complaining, she was never mad to hang out with Oscar.
The only problem was that Oscar went to the gym obscenely early. But Stella refused to go to the gym alone (it was painfully awkward) so she got herself out of bed.
Stella let out a yawn as she jogged up to Oscar's car, which was parked outside her apartment building. She was wearing a workout set, a pale pink sports bra and matching leggings, her hair pulled pack into a long pony tail. She held a water bottle in one hand (once again, pale pink), and a bag in the other, holding a change of clothes and a towel.
"Thanks for picking me up, Osc." Stella said as she slid into the passenger side of Oscar's car, letting out another yawn. She was almost never up this early, but it was sort of nice. The whole world was quiet, not even the birds were out yet. Stella suspected that was why Oscar liked it.
"It's no problem," Oscar shrugged, handing Stella the cable to connect her phone to the car's speakers. She always chose the music. "you're on the way."
Stella raised an eyebrow. Oscar's gym was on the opposite side of town. "No I'm not."
Oscar let out a laugh, turning to reverse out of his parking spot. "No you're not."
Oscar placed his hand on the back of Stella's headrest, using it to turn himself around, looking at the road he was backing out onto. Stella's heart jumped to her throat, Oscar's forearm was just barely grazing her cheek. She grabbed her water bottle, taking a long gulp, forcing down the strange feeling rising from her chest.
Stella had never realized how big Oscar's arms are. It was obvious that they would be, he was a professional athlete, but she had never really thought of it that way before. But his arms were strong, even when they were relaxed, turning the steering wheel as smoothly as ever, she could see the veins in his hands and biceps.
Stella blinked hard, forcing her attention back onto her phone, hitting shuffle on a random playlist. She didn't like the way she had just been staring at Oscar's arms. That was the type of thing she did to the cute boys at her studio, or even the hot men she saw walking the streets of London. That was not the type of thing she did to Oscar, one of her best friends.
What was getting into Stella's head? Addie would probably suggest that she was ovulating or something. Stella chose to believe that was the case, even though she was quite literally on her period.
"So," Stella adjusted herself in her seat, turning down the sounds of One Direction that were playing in the background. "are you meeting your trainer there?"
"Nah, he's feeling a bit sick." Oscar sent Stella a lopsided smile. "It's just us."
He was not feeling sick. Oscar had told his trainer that he was feeling sick and would be skipping training for the day. So he and Stella could have the gym to themselves.
"Oh." Stella rolled her shoulders back. She was feeling jittery, restless, and she couldn't quite place her finger on why. "Tell him I hope he feels better soon."
"Will do." Oscar said, spinning the steering wheel, his hand gliding across it, using only his palm.
Stella's heart constricted at the motion. She forced herself to sit up straighter, rubbing her eyes hard. Being up so early was messing with her head.
"I love this song." Stella mumbled, tugging on her own ponytail. Girl Almighty had begun playing softly over the speakers.
"It's One Direction, yeah?" Oscar asked, reaching out to turn up the song right when Stella did, their fingers brushing. Stella snapped her hand away, her eyes widening slightly. She needed a shower or something, her tired body seemed to think that Oscar was a guy she had a crush on, not her friend Oscar.
"Yep." Stella answered, rubbing her hand. "I love them."
"I know you do." Oscar ran a hand through his hair. "Remember when you used to have a cardboard cutout of Niall Horan?"
Oscar left out the fact that, when they had been 13, Logan had had to talk him down from bleaching his hair like Niall, just to make Stella like him more.
"Of course I remember! I had to get rid of it cause Odie somehow managed to rip the legs off."
"He just wanted a piece of Niall." Oscar joked. "Just like you did, I'm sure. And still do."
"Shut up." Stella reached out, hitting the boy's arm lightly. "He's brunette now, so you know that just makes me want him even more.
Oscar was suddenly very glad that he never bleached his hair. Thank god for Logan Sargeant and his (admittedly rare) words of wisdom.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Oscar's gym. Unsurprisingly, it was completely empty, except for the tired looking front desk worker, who was chugging a coffee. Oscar showed the man his gym card before heading off to the left, leading Stella through the place.
It was probably the nicest gym Stella had ever seen, with a full olympic sized swimming pool, state of the art equipment, and even a dance room, with a full wall of mirrors.
Stella unsurprisingly paused outside the dance room, peering inside. It was empty aside from a long barre stretching from one wall all the way to the other. Stella's own dance studio had at least 10 rooms that looked exactly like that one. The floors were a smooth hardwood, and Stella could see a pair of completely broken down pointe shoes sitting in the middle of the floor, forgotten by some dancer. She could see the silk platform of the shoe peeling off, and the ribbons were ripped in at least four places. Stella had had hundreds of pairs of pointe shoes turn out just like that.
"Those are some busted shoes." Oscar said, peering over Stella's shoulder and into the room. He placed a gentle hand on her back, using it to steer her away from the dance room and towards the gym room, just ahead.
Stella's already straight back straightened further, goosebumps rising all along her skin. Due to her wearing nothing but a sports bra and leggings, Oscar's hand was resting right on the exposed skin of her lower back. And he wasn't moving his hand.
It was so unlike Oscar it made Stella's heart rate double. Oscar almost never touched her, and when he did it was always fleeting. He would tuck her hair behind her ear, or place a hand on her shoulder, but the contact was always over before Stella could even realize it had begun. She wasn't used to the lingering touch Oscar was giving her now.
It was once again like her body didn't realize that it was Oscar behind her, not some guy she had a thing for. Because she didn't have a thing for Oscar. There was no way. But that didn't change the fact that her heart was pounding like she did.
Oscar's hand didn't leave Stella's back until they were in the gym, and consequently, Stella's heart continued pounding. Even when he dropped his touch, her heart kept stuttering, leaving her standing immobile in the middle of the room.
"You good, Stell?" Oscar asked. He was already standing under the pull-up bar, one hand holding it while the other pulled down his shirt, which had risen up just enough for Stella to catch a glimpse of the skin beneath it. She had never realized just how defined Oscar's muscles were. Of course they were, he was an F1 driver. She had just never really thought of it before.
Stella was hit with a sudden urge to walk over to Oscar and run her hands across his strong stomach. She pinched herself on the arm, telling herself to snap out of it.
Stella forced herself to nod, letting out a sound that was supposed to be a yeah, but ended up sounding more like a high pitched, strangled string of gibberish.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Stella forced herself to move to a machine, going as far as she possibly could from Oscar. She had her gym routine, given to her and all the other girls in her company by their instructors. Stella decided to ignore Oscar, focusing on her own thing, holding onto the arm of a treadmill to do her stretches.
It got harder to ignore Oscar when he took the machine directly next to her, laying down to do his bench presses. Stella was sitting at a leg press machine, straightening her legs as slowly and with as much weight as she could manage. She never skipped leg day.
Oscar fitted on his weight, going much heavier than Stella knew she would be able to ever lift. It was almost her weight.
"Do you need me to like... spot you?" Stella asked, peering at the boy as he laid down, wrapping his arm around the bars.
"Don't worry, this is pretty light." Oscar assured her, lifting the bar off of the supports, pulling it slowly down to just above his chest. "Just be ready to help if I drop it on my throat or something."
Stella nodded, not trusting her own voice to sound normal. She couldn't help but watch Oscar from the corner of her eye. The way he was just barely breaking a sweat, causing his strong arms to glisten under the dim lights. She could see the veins in his arms, and the way he wasn't even struggling to lift a bar probably as heavy as Stella herself.
Stella locked her machine two reps early, rubbing a hand against her collar bone and standing. She couldn't be around Oscar in this state. She couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with her. She walked over to the standing weights a few feet away, sliding light weights onto the bar. It was the weight her ballet instructor had always told her to use, just heavy enough to strengthen her muscles, but not heavy enough to really strain them. That was what rehearsal and training were for.
Without Stella even noticing, Oscar stood from his machine, walking around so he was standing behind her. This was his chance. Addie's words rang through his head, increase physical contact. He'd been doing it little by little all morning, purposely brushing Stella's face, reaching for the volume dial when she did, putting a hand against her back. But this was the real moment. He took a deep breath, stepping forward and placing his hands on the bar, right next to each of Stella's hands.
"You're not holding your hands wide enough." Oscar said, alleviating some of the weight of the bar, allowing Stella to move her arms further apart. "You could hurt your arms this way."
Stella managed to get out a strangled okay. Oscar was right behind her, she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. His breath was warm, but Stella could feel goosebumps all down her body.
Oscar's hands grazed softly across the bottom part of Stella's arm, stopping at her elbows and guiding her arms backwards slightly. "Don't hold the bar against your neck either, it should be more on your shoulders."
A shiver ran through Stella's body, starting from where Oscar still had his hands on each of her elbows. She'd never really thought about it before, but his hands were surprisingly soft. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn't that.
Oscar was surprising her a lot today.
"Thanks." Stella managed to say, rolling her neck to dispel the goosebumps running up it. "Maybe I should invest in a personal trainer."
"Nah," Oscar's hands left Stella's elbows, falling to sit at her bare waist. He tapped her skin gently with his fingers before dropping all contact entirely. "not when you have me."
Stella didn't speak. She just nodded, clenching her fists around the cold bar resting on her shoulders (not her neck).
Oscar now stood in front of Stella, looking at her with a cheeky smile. His gaze landed on something on her cheek, an eyelash! It was perfect, he didn't even have to pretend to pick an eyelash off her cheek as Addie had suggested, he could actually do it.
"You've got an eyelash on your cheek." Oscar said, stepping closer to Stella, taking a purposely slow time pinching it off her cheek.
Maybe he was imagining it, but he could have sworn she blushed.
"Make a wish." Oscar balanced the lash on his pointer finger, holding it close to Stella's slightly parted pink lips. But her clear blue eyes weren't looking at his hand, they were focused directly on his face.
Oscar held her eye contact, keeping the half-smile on his lips. He didn't look away until she did, an undeniable pink hue covering her cheeks.
Maybe, just maybe, the plan was working. But Oscar wouldn't let himself get his hopes up, there was still a long way to go to make Stella Button fall in love with him.
Stella blew on Oscar's hand lightly, the lash flying off of his finger. She repeated the wish over and over in her mind. Oscar was standing right in front of her, so what else would she wish for? She wished that Oscar Piastri, possibly one of the best people she knew, would get everything he wanted and more.
"What'd you wish for?" Oscar asked, reaching out to smooth a stray strand of hair away from Stella's cheek.
Stella's heart raced. "Can't tell you, or else it won't come true.
Oscar shrugged, as if to say 'fair enough'. He gave Stella one last squeeze of the shoulder before walking off, heading for the treadmill. Stella shut her eyes tight, shaking her head. She asked herself the same question she had been asking herself all morning.
What the hell was wrong with her?
MESSAGES
[ STELLA + ADDIE ]
STELLA:
addie
please
help me
i think i'm going insane
ADDIE:
what's up?
STELLA:
it's oscar
since when is oscar hot
oh my god
i mean he's always been good looking
but i've never seen him like this
i don't know what's wrong with me
addie help me
what do i do
ADDIE:
woah slow down
what happened?
STELLA:
we went to the gym
and i swear addie
my brain isn't working
i'm short circuiting
since when are his arms so big?
ADDIE:
babe i'm sorry to tell you that i spend no time thinking about oscar's arms 😭😭😭😭
STELLA:
YEAH AND THAT USED TO BE ME TOO
UNTIL NOW FOR SOME REASON???
and he was correcting my form
he was like touching my arm
and my waist
addie i swear my heart stopped
what is WRONG with me?
it's OSCAR
my friend since i was SEVEN
OSCAR
ADDIE:
maybe ur ovulating?
STELLA:
i really fucking hope so
[ O.M.S.B.F.I.L.W.O.P.A.F.S.P ]
addie, logan, oscar
ADDIE:
oscar
i don't know what you did to stella
but keep up the good work
OSCAR:
is the plan working?
ADDIE:
better than i could have ever expected
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
THIS CHAP IS VERY VERY VERYYYYY NOT EDITED!
can you guys tell i never go to the gym? i'm a pilates and running girl through and through i hate the gym. the last time i went some random man kept following me around to every machine and i've never been since 😭
this is so funny to me, cause it's obvious stella has always liked oscar but she never had the chance to realize it because oscar was always so shy around her, like never keeping eye contact and never touching her. so oscar pretty much ruined his own chances by being shy lmao
that's all for now, don't forget to vote and comment!