sorry for the delay, I just got back home! Hope you all enjoy the chapter.
After the sweetest victory, the cheer team had retreated to take celebratory naps. We were drained from the practices, set ups, and cheering. I wanted nothing more than to shower and sleep. But surprisingly after my too long shower, I wasn't sleepy.
"Graham, you finished yet? I too, would like to shower." MJ sarcastically remarked as I emerged from the steam filled room. Daisy was lounging on my bed, freshly showered and reading some magazine.
As I went towards my bed, I looked at the cover. "Hey, that's me." I casually remarked, hopping onto the fluffy white duvet. MJ yawned loudly, and slammed the door to the bathroom.
"Don't mind her, after games she gets too cranky and sleepy."
"Oh after hanging out with her after practices and study sessions, I know." I went next to Daisy to see the magazine she was reading. "What's the article about?"
"You and Clark." Daisy flipped the magazine to show me the article, a large grainy picture of me and Clark in Zurich acting as the main focus point.
"The media still is unsure of your relationship." Daisy summarized the gist of the article "The whole school isn't, but outside of our little bubble you two are still a rumor."
I scanned through the words catching up on what Daisy had said. "Eh, it's not too important for the world to know. It's better to keep everything on the down low anyways. I'd rather not have this relationship broadcasted constantly."
"Oh yeah, of course! That's completely reasonable!"
The bathroom door swung open, revealing MJ. What had it been, like five minutes?
I narrowed my eyes at the girl who had her red hair wrapped in a towel. "Did you even shower?"
"Of course I did!" MJ waved me off, coming to join us. "But unlike you dearest Blakely, I don't spend four hours in the shower."
"Psh, not four hours. Maybe one..."
"Anyways, what are we talking about?" MJ sat on my bed, crossing her legs to leave space for us.
"Clark and Blake's relationship." Daisy answered.
I hugged my knees to my chest, and nodded at MJ. "That's about right, we have a magazine feature it seems."
"Ooh, fun. But I don't care about magazines, I wanna hear the details from you."
Details? I hardly think that our relationship was that interesting, not only for MJ and Daisy but also for the world. I mean Clark and I were what I would think to be as normal, we did somewhat normal things like watch movies, play cards, and get coffee.
"Okay, what do you wanna know?" I relented, pursing my lips slightly.
"Well... what's he like. I mean is he any different with the guys than with you?" Daisy tilted her head, a curious look on her face.
"Yeah, he is. Not too different, but he's sweeter. Softer, and he says mushier things. It's really really cute. He also does the cutest of things when it's just us two, like the other day he got me a bunch flowers and candies and we marathoned The Office for the whole night. He likes to pay attention to the little things."
"Awww!" Daisy grinned at me, "That's so cute! I'm so happy for you!"
With a large smile, I thanked Daisy. MJ was also cooing about how adorable we were, but she had her own questions.
"Have you two done anything yet?"
"What do you mean anything?"
"Sex, duh. First base? Second base? Third base? Home run?" MJ waggled her eyebrows at me, while I choked on my spit.
"MJ!" Daisy gasped loudly, "You don't ask people that!"
"But she's our friend!" MJ defended herself, before turning back to me. "So spill. What have you done?"
My cheeks immediately heated up, due to the idea of talking about the two of us. Not that we had done anything, but it was just weird to be talking about my relationship with someone.
"Well..." I trailed off, thinking. "I mean we haven't done... it. Y'know. It's only been a little time, I don't think we're really waiting. Because both of us aren't even virgins it's just a matter of when. I guess?"
"Then what have you done?" MJ pressed, a shit eating grin on her face.
"It's been pretty PG-13 so far, I guess."
"Oooh thirteen? How exciting! Does phone sex count as thirteen?"
Once again, I sputtered loudly. "Phone sex? Where the hell did you get that idea from?"
"Oh, because he's calling you right now." MJ shrugged, handing me my ringing phone.
With a playful roll of my eyes I accepted the call. "Hello?"
"Hey, love." The annoyingly perfect voice of none other than Clark Ellington greeted me.
Biting back a smile I rolled my eyes, "You? Again? What's it been... ten minutes?" I trailed off jokingly.
"More like one hour and twelve minutes and thirty seven seconds."
My eyebrows shot up, "Wait, have you been actually counting?"
I could hear the warm chuckle that escaped from his line. "Nah, I just made it up. It's been a quite peaceful hour though, might need more of these in the future."
"Hmm, good idea. Alright, let me just find a new boy toy. Hey do you know if Carson Buchanan is still single?"
I could also hear the loud groan that emitted from him, "Don't you dare, that's way too mean. Going from me to Carson Buchanan."
I switched the phone to speaker, "Let's see, depends on how nice you are."
"You know, would a not-nice guy call you instead of text?"
"For phone sex, yes." I quipped, turning to look at MJ who shot me a happy thumbs up. "By the way, why did you call me?"
"Is there always a reason?"
"Yup, now get on with it."
"Okay, okay. So Luca's parents own the hotel, right?"
"Yeah, duh."
"Okay so basically you know how both coaches took away the amenities cards?"
"Yeah, those fucking assholes. My back is so sore, and I could really use a massage or something." I grumbled to myself mostly. "What about it?"
"So Luca has access to any room in the hotel. Any. So whenever we stay in a Kingsley hotel, us three use the pool. And now that you're here, and we're dating, the invitation has been extended to you."
"Is this even allowed?"
"Not sure, probably not. But what'll they do, punish us? Come on. It's Luca's hotel. So you in?"
"Not even asking if I brought a swimsuit or anything?"
"Nah, that's not important."
"Okay, let me see. Is there a hot tub?"
"Yup."
"Fuck yeah." I grinned.
"Meet us in the lobby right after sunset."
I laughed loudly, "Sunset? What is this, the revolution era?"
"Fine, seven. In an hour. See you."
"Yup. Later loser." I hung up the phone before he could response.
I met MJ's curious eyes. She slightly tilted her head before speaking. "You two are really weird. But it's cute."
Huh. I guess we were weird in a way. What used to be little kindergarteners who threw legos at each other, to third graders trying to trip the other, to preteens trying to create the nastier rumor, then it stopped. A few years later and the hate had still existed, but now a few months later, it was gone.
How it changed so fast, I don't know. What I do know is that life now feels a little lighter.
"The party has arrived," I announced as I made my way to the small group of three, an hour later.
I had snuck out of the room, once again asking MJ to cover for me. MJ happily shooed me out, claiming that she was going to put the 'Do not disturb' sign out and sleep. So now I was amongst the boys decked out in a pair of denim shorts and what I'm pretty sure is one of Clark's tee's.
"Glad you could join our lowly selves," Nico elbowed me softly, before moving past me. "Follow me children!"
Luca scowled slightly at Nico, "You don't even have the master key card- do you even know where you're going?"
As Clark made his way towards me, silently wrapping his arm around my shoulders, Nico responded. "I do know where I'm going!"
"Oh yeah?" Luca grabbed Nico by the shoulders, and spun him to face the hotel directory. "The pool is that way you genius."
"Oh shit. Whoops, my bad! Follow me!"
Luca shoved Nico to the side, passing him to lead us towards the pool.
Within minutes we had made it to the locked door where the indoor pool was apparently situated.
Luca pulled out a keycard, and scanned it against the lock. With a beep, the door had unlocked and we entered the dark room.
"Welcome to the Monarch's pool." Luca announced as soon as the lights switched on, revealing a large pool filled with crystalline water, a fountain on one end, and what looked like a hot tub on the other end.
"Luca, I love you." I said earnestly to the grinning boy, going over to hug him. "You are my savior, I owe you my life." I frantically claimed.
"Yeah that's a fair trade I guess." Luca shrugged, poking me on the side with his index finger.
"Let's get this party started!" Nico pulled his shirt off, revealing his bare chest and pink swim trunks.
I quickly pulled off the shorts I had been wearing, to reveal the bottom half of my dark blue swimsuit. I was trying to multipurpose, watching Clark and taking off my t-shirt.
I mean, I was allowed to ogle now that we were dating. But still, giving that little asshole the satisfaction wasn't an option.
Clark had pulled off his white tee, leaving him in his cerulean trunks. His lightly tanned skin was on display, where freckles were on his chest and a six pack was defining his abdomen.
After emitting a soft sigh, I turned around to avoid meeting Clark's gaze. I quickly pulled off my own tee, tossing it onto one of the lounge chairs.
I stretched my back, feeling the pull of my sore muscles. During the game we had done one too many backflips, causing my whole body to feel a dull ache.
As soon as I straightened up, I felt a presence coming towards me. Before I could even react, I was slammed straight into the pool while the idiotic boy yelled a happy "Canon ball!"
Nico had tackled me straight into the pool, leaving me submerged in the cool chlorinated pool with a nose full of water. I quickly resurfaced, to meet Clark's amused smile, Luca's muffled laughter, and Nico's shit eating grin.
"I swear to god Nicholas Caldwell I'm going to kill you!" I bellowed, swimming towards the now worried looking boy.
Nico began to paddle away from me, letting out small screeches of fear every time I managed to slight grasp onto his foot. Yet he was too strong, and managed to escape from the pool.
I quickly climbed up from the pool, getting ready to strangle the screaming brunette, when someone grabbed onto me by the waist.
"Woah woah, let's not kill Nico, yeah?" Clark tried to hold me back as I struggled against him.
"Clarkwell, you idiot let me at him!" I flailed my arms, trying to get to Nico.
"Come on Blake, don't strangle him. Please?"
"I will ditch you if you don't release me!"
Immediately I was released, and Nico who had currently stopped his running, began to run once again.
"Shit!" He gasped, seeing me come towards him. He quickly jumped into the pool, with me following suit.
Nico took his time resurfacing, probably assuming that I wasn't going to jump into the water. But I got that dick lord.
Grabbing onto his hair, I pulled him up. "Say mercy!"
Nico sputtered loudly at the realization that I had caught him. "Never!"
"Say it!"
"No!"
"Nicholas, I will drown you!"
"No you wo-"
Nico didn't get to finish his sentence due to me pushing his head underwater. But alas, I wasn't actually going to drown him. Not today. Just kidding.
"Blake!" Nico whined, "You made me get water up my nose!"
"Say mercy and you'll be freed!"
"Fine fine! Mercy! Now let me go!"
"Gladly." I released Nico, who splashed me with some water.
"After this traumatic experience, I would like some ice cream." Nico pouted. "Luca, where's the kitchens?"
Luca, who had been very amusedly watching us sighed. "Go out the hall, take two lefts and walk straight. Then at the fork it'll be on the right. Got it?"
"Left, left, fork, left, right then straight. Yup got it."
"How do you even get A's?" I looked at Nico dumbfounded.
"God Nico, your memory really is shite." Clark shook his head at Nico.
Luca groaned loudly. "How about this. Nico I will personally escort you to the kitchens because I don't trust you getting there and being with the kitchen staff. Blake and Clark, will you two behave?"
I gave Luca a look of faux offense, "We always behave! What are you even talking about?"
With a shake of his head and a laugh, Luca called Nico over.
I once again hopped out of the pool as soon as the two boys left, leaving Clark and I.
"Race you to the hot tub!" I pushed him back slightly, and began to speed walk, being weary of the large puddles.
"That's not fair!" Clark called from behind me, but in almost a millisecond he was in front of me.
"Hey! No running in the pool area! Haven't you ever been to a public pool?"
"Not during the hours, no. You're really not allowed to run?" Clark asked as he jumped into the bubbling jacuzzi.
I soon caught up to him, and lowered myself into the steaming water. "No, because you can slip!"
Clark turned towards me, leaning in to kiss my cheek. "Well I'm glad that you're worried about me."
"You should be," I huffed as a small warmth appeared on my cheeks, "I don't worry about just anybody."
"You say the sweetest of things Graham." Clark pulled me closer to him, to the point where I was practically sitting on him.
"And you say the oddest of things Ellington. But it's cute, so I'll let it slide."
"Cute? I'll take that." Clark leaned in slightly to the point where his breath slightly fanned my face.
"Hi?" I exhaled, slightly nervous. I don't know why I felt nervous, probably due to the butterflies. It wasn't a bad nervous. It was good. A good nervous.
Instead of responding, Clark leaned even further until our lips met.
Everything always seemed to fall into place whenever I was in Clark. That realization had come to me as soon as he kissed me. It was like he brought some odd balance, which was weird in a way. It is also a little frightening that everything in our relationship is progressing so much, even though we are in the honeymoon phase still. But then again, everything just feels right.
"What about the guys?" I broke away from Clark briefly, sweeping my eyes in the direction of the doors.
"They'll be awhile, Nico gets lost a lot. Luca likes to trick Nico. Doesn't matter." Ellington murmured, going back to kissing me.
With a grin, I happily continued on. I let my hands make their way towards Clark's hair, doing what I always do and pulling the strands. Almost immediately a small noise sounded from the back of his throat, causing me to smile even wider.
But before anything could go further, the door slammed open. We immediately jumped apart before the other two saw us.
"How does he make me get lost in my own fucking hotel?" Luca threw his hands in the air.
"In my defense, I tend to be very indecisive with directions." Nico tried to rationalize, clutching two tubs of ice cream in his arms.
"How is that even possible though? It's not even leaving this area!"
"Whoops." Nico muttered, "At least we got ice cream!"
"Thank god for that. Hand me the chocolate will you?" Luca stuck his hand out for the tub.
"Man fuck you and your chocolate, strawberry cheesecake is way better!" Nico lifted his tub happily.
I got out of the water, making my way towards my towel to dry myself. "Hey I'll take some chocolate also. Ellington, what do you want?"
"Guess!" He called over to me.
I sighed. "He'll have the strawberry cheesecake. Jesus, this guys gonna die of a sugar overdose or something."
"I think the proper term is diabetes." Nico supplied, handing me a bowl of Clark's ice cream.
"Clark get your ice cream!"
"Can't you bring it to me?"
"No."
"Fair enough." Clark groaned, getting out of the hot tub to get his ice cream.
I sat next to Luca, who had been eating the ice cream straight from the container. He handed me a spoon and made way on his chair for me.
"Did you enjoy your little adventure?" I smirked at Luca, who responded with a groan.
"I don't know who's worse with directions. My mother or Nico! You lucked out and got the one who has at least a little common sense!"
"A little does make sense." I motioned towards Clark, who was sitting inside the pool with Nico shoveling ice cream into their mouths.
"Well it's good that I tolerate those idiots. I have to have some balance to my so called stoic-ness. But my balance is three of them!" Luca widened his eyes, referencing to Clark, Nico, and Dakota.
"I think it's cute, you four. From everyone's perspectives it seems like you guys are all super closed off, but once I got to know all of you it was like a little happy family."
"Wait are we getting takeout?" Nico called from the pool.
I just waved him off with a playful roll of my eyes. "Anyways like I was saying, you guys are all such good friends and that's so rare in our kind of lives. It's good to have some real-ness in all this gold spray painted world."
Luca grinned at me, "You know Blake, you're a little bit of a genius."
"A little?" I furrowed my brows at him.
"Just a little."