When the buzzer sounded, Alex peeked through her fingers.
She watched the ball as it landed on the floor. It moved in slow motion. She held her breath. She could hear her heart beat loudly. Overcoming her anxiety, she listened for the commentators. She needed to know the results.
The inevitable had come.
“And that is it, ladies and gentlemen! Chipmunks takes home the championship!”
Alex froze.
Did she hear that right?
She pulled her hands off her face. An answer came in the roar of the crowd behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched her schoolmates stand up. They yelled out their cheers. Selene squealed beside her and joined along. It didn’t take long for the court to be flooded by their team’s supporters.
It felt like a dream.
She stumbled backwards.
“Woah! Alex!” Selene reached out to catch her.
“I’m fine” Alex breathed out. She had held it for too long. She gasped for air, gulping it down her throat. It was as if something suffocated her. Her hand pressed backwards and searched for support. There was nothing.
“Are you sure? Give me the camera and I’ll help you to a chair.”
Alex’s hands trembled as she grabbed the DSLR. She checked its contents. The screen remained black. She fiddled with the buttons, noting how it was already on. That could only mean one thing.
“It’s dead.”
Selene exhaled sharply. She ushered Alex towards the benches, “Well, let me take you to a chair before I get a battery from the student council room.”
Alex stepped back, raising a hand, “No, let me do it. I think the walk would do me some good. I could use some space and fresh air.”
The hot gym lights must be getting to her. She hadn’t had a drop of water for hours either. It had been quite an eventful day. The student council room also had a dispenser. A walk, cool air, some water… it would be more beneficial if she left for a while.
Selene wasn’t convinced, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Can you walk?”
“Yeah, I can do it,” Alex insisted. She patted her companion’s arm, “Thank you for your concern.”
She surely felt better now that she breathed properly. She only needed to deal with the heat. This would have been worse if she still wore her old hoodies. She had never been more glad to wear the tunic top with balloon sleeves her mother had bought. The loose fabric allowed her skin to breathe a bit.
Selene relented and handed over the keys, “Come back as soon as you can. If you’re not here in 10 minutes, I will go look for you myself.”
“Alright” Alex nodded. She directed herself towards the exit and waved her hand, “See you.”
As she expected, the hallways were much better. She paused in her steps and filled her lungs with the cool air. She stretched her arms overhead, her muscles relaxing. She also felt more alert.
She walked down the corridor and headed for the student council room. The lights were dimmer compared to the gym. Half of them had been turned off. This part of the school was also empty. She didn’t bump into anyone.
She welcomed the solitude, taking her time with the battery.
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Alex drank a cup full of water before she left the student council room. She easily found the battery and replaced the one inside the DSLR. It lit up as soon as she switched it on. The last photo taken made her cringe. It was during the first half of the game, making her realize that she failed in her task.
Hopefully, the others wouldn’t be too harsh on her.
She could hear the celebration happening at the gym. The news of victory finally sinked in. They had actually done it. They had won the championship. It still seemed too good to be true but she couldn’t deny the praises they deserved.
Logan deserved the praise for his strategy.
On top of winning the bet, it had led the team to triumph.
A hand yanked her off the hallway. Another one clamped her mouth, sealing the scream that threatened to escape her lips. Darkness clouded her vision. Her hand hit several shelves. It ached from the impact. Plastic bottles fell, thudding on the floor.
It didn’t take long for her to guess where she was…
… or who was behind her.
She tugged off the hand on her mouth.
“Logan!” She hissed. Light illuminated the janitor’s closet. She turned around and faced her kidnapper. His emerald eyes seemed unworried, shining with amusement. She felt the opposite.
“Seriously! What is with you and closets?”
Logan took a step forward, “Is that all you have to say?”
Alex gulped. She backed away slowly. Something didn’t feel right. The gaze on her resembled a predator’s. The gold flecks in his eyes had darkened. Focused on their target, they came closer. Her heart raced inside her chest when she met resistance. She had nowhere else to go.
A shiver went down her spine, “Congratulations on winning?”
“You weren’t running away from the bet, were you?” Logan demanded, trapping her to a wall. He raised an eyebrow.
“No?” Alex squeaked. She needed to get a hold of herself. She had done nothing wrong for him to act this way. She slapped his arm and scolded him, “Speaking of which, I can’t believe you dragged the whole team into your schemes!”
Logan bowed his head, his shoulders shaking from laughter. The tense atmosphere faded away. Alex rolled her eyes. She should have known that he was messing with her. She probably looked silly to him.
Her hands itched to strangle his neck.
“They’re just very supportive,” he explained. He tilted his head up. The dark gaze had disappeared. Instead, they brightened vividly. Alex could almost believe they were real jewels.
“So you left them?” She asked, wearing a deadpan expression.
Logan traced her outer ear,“I came here to collect my prize.”
(A/N: Take my advice. Listen to “Hero” by Enrique Inglesias while reading the following :D)
Blood rushed from Alex’s collarbone to her neck, to her cheeks and up to her forehead. She felt the room rise in temperature, similar to the gym. Her breath hitched, stopping her airflow again. He became a blur. Her vision could no longer distinguish his features.
His head blocked out the only light source of the room.
Logan’s eyelids drooped as he leaned down. He stared at her luscious pink lips. His gut twisted. They were parted open just like when she realized his tactics during the game. He rubbed the tip of his nose against her small button one, testing the waters.
When nothing pushed him away, he persevered.
Alex closed her eyes reflexively.
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His lips touched the spot beside her mouth.
Alex snapped her eyes open. She gazed at the ceiling, the lightbulb dangling on its wires. She could smell sea water on his hair. At first, she wondered if it was his shampoo. Then, she realized it must have had a mix of sweat. It reminded her of the summer season after a whole day in the sun.
Seconds later, Logan pulled back and rested his forehead on her shoulder. He pressed lips together and whimpered like a puppy. His body quivered from the restraint. His hands on the wall clenched into fists. He struggled to keep himself in check.
“You have no idea how much I want to kiss those lips right now” he whispered, “How much I’ve wanted to for a long time. You’ve been teasing me with them ever since we presented our Romeo and Juliet project.”
“I have?” Alex blinked.
Had she?
“But…” Logan heaved a sigh, “I won’t do it.”
Blinking a few more times, Alex scrunched her eyebrows, “That’s not what you wanted for the bet?”
After all the teases about a kiss, she thought he’d go for it. She had mentally prepared for all the possibilities of his requests. That one didn’t escape her mind. It was the one she had to digest the longest. She had to literally swallow it down.
She needed that physical action just for her brain to process it.
“No,” he chuckled, leaning his head back to grin at her bewildered face. He didn’t know if he should laugh or cry that she had thought about it, “I want something more valuable.”
“And what is that?”
He unclenched his hands and cupped one of her cheeks. His breathing became ragged. This moment made him more nervous than the game. The strategies had been created from years of training, practice and other games. He could almost predict the consequences of any move they’d make.
On the other hand, nothing had trained him for this.
“For you to acknowledge my feelings about you.”
Alex.exe stopped working.
Except for her five senses, her mind shut down. It only registered what her eyes saw, what her ears heard, what her skin felt and what her tongue tasted—which was her own saliva if that could even happen.
Logan didn’t wait for a reply. He had to elaborate for her to fully understand him, “I chose this place because it was the first place you’d been honest with me. It’s the place you confessed your secret. Well, I am here to confess mine.”
He pressed his forehead against hers. His eyes closed shut. It might be able to go through with it if he couldn’t see her. Those gray eyes could shake his core. They could almost ask for anything and he’d grant them in a heartbeat.
“More than kissing your lips, I want to hold you at any given chance” Memories flooded behind his eyelids. He narrated them one by one, admitting to all he had done, “I want to escort you during any event. I want to dance with you in my arms. I want to drive you to anywhere you need to go. I want to argue with you about anything.”
“I want to share the same fork when we eat lasagne. I want to take care of you when you’re sick or whenever you need it” he cleared his throat before it became too hoarse, “I want to make you smile. I want to make you laugh.”
Opening his eyes, he lifted his head. His emerald eyes bore into her gray ones. They locked her in place. He mustered every ounce of conviction he had. He needed her to believe his next statement more than the others.
“I want to stay by your side as long as you’d be willing to let me.”
Silence surrounded the closet.
Logan’s chest rose and fell rapidly. He had finally done it. He had been tempted to say only three words but… they didn’t seem to be enough. He wished for her to see what ran in his mind. He hoped that by painting her a picture, his feelings would reach her more.
He ached for her to hear the action behind his words.
Alex recalled every memory he implied, looking beyond them. She remembered what Selene had said about the game. The effort he exerted to succeed in winning both the championship and the bet. He had demonstrated everything he mentioned in those several hours. The marathon had been cramped into a sprint.
He had done them all for her to recognize what his heart desired.
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Creator’s Thought
(What? Why are you still scrolling? What are you looking for? I’m already here :P)
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Alex grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him in. Rising to her toes, she closed her eyes.
Logan froze as her lips touched his. He didn’t dare to move, fearing that it would evaporate. The kiss was simple yet he engraved it in his mind, in his heart and in his soul. He memorized everything—the taste of her strawberry lip balm, the citrus smell of her, the soft plumpness of her lips…
The sensation made the wait worth it. The fact that it was Alex who kissed him instead of the other way around made it much more worth it. If he went back in time, he would have done the same things to receive this kiss.
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It only lasted three seconds but it was sweeter than any candy.
Breaking away, Alex stared into his eyes. Her fingers played with the tips of his hair. She couldn’t tell how long they stayed in that pose. Time became an irrelevant thing. Nothing outside of the closet reminded them of its existence.
She uttered two words.
“Feelings acknowledged.”
Author’s Note:Yes, you read that right. This is the end of the novel. 🙂
There is an epilogue and two side stories to come. The latter were written during the first chapters and are simple bonus scenes.Thank you for joining me on this journey! It has been a pleasure to be with you all!
