In for the win

Chapter 8

ETHAN

Amara's been sitting next to me during the whole movie. She was concentrated, never letting her eyes leave the screen. She's watching intensely as Tom Cruise survives yet another stunt. I could totally pull that one off too. She sometimes lets out a laugh, or a big exclamation, in brief she's way too invested. I smile internally. She looks gorgeous as always. Her hair is in a bit of a mess, brown wisps of hair falling around her face. She's tied the top of her hair into a little bun, letting the rest of her hair fall to her shoulders. I like her hair. It's beautiful and above all it smells amazing, a mix of vanilla and coconut. The movie is about to end and Amara starts to phase out of her don't fuck with me while I'm watching Mission Impossible. I can't tell you the number of times she'd had punched me in the arm because I was either breathing too loudly or asking questions at the wrong moment. And trust me, she punches really hard. She's wiggling under the blanket I lent her, when the credits appear on the screen. "Should we watch the next one?" she asks in a small voice. It's funny, she reminded me of one of my little sisters when she did that, begging relentlessly to be bought an ice cream by the lake. I look at the time and nod. "Sure, but I can stay up too late. I've got a mock exam tomorrow and I really need to keep my grades up." "I'm happy to hear that my student is so involved in his studies." I don't know why, but when she says that, I feel myself blushing inside. "Amazing" she then adds, a wry grin taking shape on her face. Is she making fun of me? "I look at her, miming a desolate face, and she laughs. I love to make her laugh, because when she does, a little dimple appears in the corner of her mouth. "You've progressed a lot since I first helped you. You're getting better." "I have a great tutor" I mouth. "I know". She sits up and goes out of bed, and heads for my bathroom. She enters and locks the door. I search for the next movie, and as she sits back down, I press play.

We're not even ten minutes in and she can't stop wriggling. She repositions the pillow again and again under her neck, never seeming to find a comfortable position. She moves so much that I can't even concentrate on the film. Now she's messing with the covers, and makes the whole screen vibrate. "If you can't stop wiggling, I'll have no other choice than to kick you out from the bed" I playfully nudge her on the shoulder. She instantly stops moving, and rests the back of her head deeper into the pillow. After a few minutes, she's back to her film-self, as I like to call it, riveting her green eyes to the computer. It's been a while since she hasn't budged. Had she finally found the holy position? I'm about to refocus my attention to the screen, when I suddenly feel a weight on my chest. I look down to see Amara, peacefully resting on my torso. Half-awake, she puts her arm over my stomach and rests it on my lower abdomen. She appears to be cozy, so I force myself not to do any movements that could possibly disturb her. With her lying on my chest, I happily go on with the movie.

—

I wake up from the warmth of the sun on my forehead. I gently open my eyes and try to stretch my arms, but can't, a weight preventing me from moving my right arm. I turn and see a head comfortably resting on my forearm. She looks so at peace when she's sleeping, and the more I look at her, the more I smell her sweet perfume, a blend of cherry and vanilla. She doesn't move, only her chest as she inhales and exhales. She's still wearing what she was wearing yesterday, black leggings and an oversized hoodie. I really don't want to wake her up, but I really need to go to the bathroom. I try hard to move my arm so that it's no longer under her neck, but I have to pull too hard as she moves and turns against me. I stand up from the bed, and make my way to my bathroom. When I come back, Amara's lying on her back, and I'm guessing she's awake. "Amara?" I hush, hoping my voice isn't going to be what wakes her up. "Mmh?" she mumbles under her breath. I smile as I see her slowly opening up her sleepy eyes. She looks at me, a weird expression painted on her face. She looks around her and them seems to realize. "What time is it". I unplug my phone and look at the time. "8:02" I answer. When she hears me, her facial expression quickly changes from tired to exclamatory. "What?" She shouts. "I have class in ten minutes. Why didn't you wake me up?" throwing a pillow straight to my face. "How the fuck was I supposed to guess that?" Amara stares at me as if it makes sense. "Because we've got English now. And you're in my class. I'm not the only that's going to be late." she smirks. "No, because I don't have English today, Coach arranged with Mr. Strickland to replace the class with a training session to prepare for tomorrow's match. "So you knew." she declares. "Knew what?" "That we had class at 8:15. You knew I started early and voluntarily forgot to wake me up" she snaps. Fuck. I didn't think about that. "Oh shit Amara, I didn't think." I shoot an apologetic smile. She's running around the room, gathering her stuff and tossing it all in her bag, as she tries to get ready. "It's okay" she says, bending over to tie her shoelaces. Wow, good angle. She's right in front of me, in the best position any man would want a girl to be in, her perfect ass looking straight at me. "Get your eyes of my ass Crawford!" she hisses, still tying her shoes. "And get your car going, I'm not going to be late because of you." I accept. It's the least I could do since I forgot to wake her up, and bossy Amara can really be intimidating. It's cute. I walk down to the living room, and grab the keys to my BMW that are lying on the kitchen counter. I open the car door, and get the engine going. A few seconds later, I hear the front door slam, Amara running down the porch steps as she attempts to put her hair in a tight ponytail. She's wearing a different sweater from what she had before. She's wearing a white jumper, that's way to big for her. Wait. That's my sweater! She opens the passenger door, and jumps in. "Appreciated the little tour in my wardrobe did you?" I say, slightly nudging her in the arm. She blushes and gets her phone out of her pocket. "I needed a clean jumper." "I want that back by the way" I smile. When we arrive to campus, she jumps out the car and walks rapidly towards  the building. She turns around, looks at me and waves in my direction. She really is adorable. I drive out of the kiss-and-drive area and head to the ice rink. Training is going to be good, I can feel it.