Liam waited until I finished work, and then we went home together. He hadn’t come by any transportation—he never had any. He took Uber. He said he suddenly missed me and decided to just come see me. He claimed that he would find more motivation to do our assignments while watching me instead of the TV at home. I appreciated that really. I loved him even more now.
When we got home, after we took a quick shower together—we only had our briefs on—he gave me a romantic massage. Only the table lamp was on. This was one of my dreams, my fantasy, when I used to dream—or daydream—about him being with me. He made it come true without knowing it.
I moaned when his hand massaging my lower back suddenly slid into my briefs, reaching for my cock.
“Want to fuck me again, babe?” Liam asked in my ear, his cock grinding my ass in temptation.
What the heck? We’d just done it that afternoon. I looked at him, seeing if he was serious. Liam didn’t say anything. He kissed me on the cheek and then began nibbling my neck, enticing me. He squeezed my cock once. That did it. I pushed myself up from the bed and threw him off my back. I pounced and got on top of him. I pulled the waistband of my briefs down and released my cock.
Without waiting, I pulled his briefs down, turned him around so that his ass faced me and fucked him.
When we were done, we stayed on the bed to rest. We lay side by side facing the ceiling, panting. Our blanket covered our lower bodies.
I turned my head to look at him. Fuck, he looked so hot when he was drowning in sweat. My dick was getting aroused again. “I’ve never known you have this side of you, babe.” It was the truth. I never knew Liam could be a fucking horny person. He didn’t look like it when he was with Joanna.
He turned his head to look at me too. “I didn’t know you have this side of you too. In bed. Usually, you have lots of self-control.”
“Self-control?” I wondered. I’d never seen myself as a self-controlled person.
“Five years,” Liam said. “For five years, you’ve waited for me, babe. I don’t know how you did that.”
I faced back the ceiling, thinking back to my—our—past. There were other guys who approached me before but never once did I feel the same attraction towards them. Liam had always been my choice, even though it meant being only his friend and nothing more. It was painful at times, sure, but seeing the person I love the most happy, I was happy.
“Babe.” His hand reached over to hold mine. I turned my head again to face him. I waited for him to say what he wanted to say. “Although I know I haven’t loved you for how long you’ve loved me... I promise you, okay? I’ll make up for the five years that we’ve lost. I’ll love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”
I smiled, so wide that my teeth could have flown away if they had wings.
15
Now or Never
(Liam)
S amuel banged on the door three times. “Hey! Are you guys done yet?! Hurry up! We’re gonna miss Oli’s match, man!”
“Hold on!” I shouted back. “Ethan is still in the bathroom.”
“Well, go get him then!”
Why was he so impatient? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t of course, since it was our fault for being late. I put down my phone, squared my bare shoulders twice and went to the bathroom, looking for Ethan. “Babe,” I called as I twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. Ethan was sitting on the toilet bowl, naked except for his briefs around his ankles. He was doing... business.
“Fuck,” Ethan said. His face told me he’d forgotten to lock the door.
“Oops,” I said but I didn’t go back out. Instead, I leaned against the door frame, watching him poop.
“Fuck. Get out, babe!” Ethan said.
“Not going to,” I refused. “You look sexy when you poop.” I wasn’t lying. It was the truth. He did look very attractive when he was sitting there like that, pooping. Heck, he actually looked fucking attractive to me no matter what he was doing, even when he was just standing and doing nothing else. I was totally addicted to him and I didn’t know why. It never happened when we were just “best friends”. It was like he’d fed me a love potion. My entire being was attracted to him like never before.
“Fuck you, babe! Get out now!” I heard a soft plop.
I laughed. “You shy?” I grinned.
“I mean it, babe. Get the fuck out now before I get mad!” Ethan said and I knew that face. It meant I shouldn’t mess with him anymore.
“Okay, babe,” I shrugged and went back out. I just remembered that I wanted to do something. I sat on the bed and scrolled my WhatsApp contact list. I found Max easily and texted him.
Hey, Max. U free anytime tonite? Wanna seek u for an advice.
After a while, Max replied to me. Working, but sure. U can see me during my dinner time.
Okay. What time? I texted back.
8 p.m. He texted. What kind of advice? I shud start charging u, u know. Haha.
I gave it some thought. If it was going to be worth it, I wouldn’t mind. Sure. Have some mercy please. Still a student. Haha. :P
Just kidding, haha. See u later. Max texted.
That was when Ethan got out of the washroom with his briefs on. He looked terribly pissed. “How could you, Liam?! You’ve just infiltrated my most embarrassing moment!” He charged and sprang, pinning me down against the bed and began tickling me.
“Babe, babe!” I laughed. “Stop, stop, no!” I tried to fight back but Ethan was so good at this. I was completely dominated. He even managed to roll me around so that my back faced him as he continued to tickle. I laughed even louder.
“That’s what you get for doing something so wrong, babe!” Ethan snarled, almost like a dog.
“But I’ve seen everything already. What is there to be shy about?”
“It isn’t about shy or not!” He tickled me again, only harder this time.
Samuel banged the door again, saving me. “Hey! Are you guys still fucking inside?! We’re gonna leave without you!”
“Coming, coming!” Ethan and I laughed before we got off the bed quickly. We put on our clothes.
When we got out of the room, Samuel was already waiting by the opened front door, arms crossed. He looked like he was about to eat someone. No, not like how Ethan ate me but literally eat someone. It was my first time seeing his face turned this red.
“Why did I even agree to go with you guys?!” he shouted as Ethan and I walked past him and out the door. He locked the door after he followed behind. “I should have just ridden my bike!”
“What’s wrong with you, Sam?” I asked as we walked towards the elevator. “It’s not like you’re the one competing.”
“Hey!” Samuel shouted again, but quickly enough, he realized that he’d lost his temper. He took a deep breath before he tried talking to us again. “Oli is our friend. If she doesn’t see us there before she starts, she’s gonna be so sad that she can’t play properly, okay? We mean a lot to her.”
“Okay, okay. We’re sorry, Sam,” Ethan apologized. “My fault. My stomach is acting up earlier.”
Samuel sighed. “You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, completely fine now,” I assured him, teasing Ethan at the same time. “Let’s hurry.” I began jogging, taking the lead. Sam was right. If we weren’t there on time before she started, her mood might be affected and that would definitely influence her performance during her match.
Nathalie was waiting for us in her car with Jerry. Together in the same car, we headed to the same sports center where Olivia had her semi-finals match. The crowd today was even larger than the last time we were here. The seats around the court—where Olivia was—were completely full. We wouldn’t have gotten any seats if it wasn’t for Olivia’s coach reserving their private bench for us. Thankfully, when we got there, Olivia hadn’t started yet. She looked extremely nervous, though. Even from far away, we could see her feet trembling against the ground nonstop as she sat on her seat.
“Oli!” Nathalie shouted as
she jogged towards her. Olivia stood up when she saw her. Nathalie hugged her. “All the best, Oli! You can do this!”
“Nat!” Olivia hugged her back. “Oh my god, guys!” she exclaimed, her eyes counting our heads. Once she was sure all of us were here, she continued, “Where were you all? I’m about to start! I thought you guys got into an accident or something!”
“We were all waiting for Eth to finish his business,” Samuel complained.
“Oh?” Olivia raised an eyebrow, and then grinned. “What business? Bed business?”
Before any of us could correct her, a whistle blew.
“Okay, gotta go. Love you, guys!” she said and jogged onto the court.
We hurriedly took our seats and watched the final match begin. Olivia got to start first, just like her previous match. She threw the ball high up and launched a smash. Her opponent, unlike the one in her semi-final, moved so quickly and gracefully to the back and countered Olivia’s attack easily. The ball flashed forward. Olivia almost couldn’t catch it.
The match was going to be tough for Olivia. As expected from two potential national players-to-be.
“Show her, Oli!” Nathalie cheered. “Only you can do it!”
“Yes, Oli!” Samuel shouted next. “Oli, Oli, only you can do it!” Then, he was talking to us all. “C’mon, Lithium, Jerry! Cheer for her!” he gestured. “Oli, Oli, only you can do it!”
Ethan and I exchanged glances. Samuel was pretty excited today. He even had his phone up to record Olivia’s match. “You can do this, Oli!” We cheered, hoping to touch her and motivate her even more.
Olivia flashed forward as she saw through her foe’s trick return. She blocked it and managed to send it back to her opponent. And then I couldn’t follow the game anymore. They were moving even quicker and faster. Their movements began to blur and the ball was almost unseen at the point of player return. The numbers in the scoreboard rose for both of them. They were almost always tied. The match suddenly got so intense that even us, spectators, began to sweat.
In the middle of the third set, when Olivia tried to deflect her foe’s ball, suddenly, the ball went through her racquet. A hole was in the middle of her racquet’s net.
Nathalie gasped. All of our eyes widened at what had happened.
Olivia froze in the middle of the court. Her opponent gained a score. The referee whistled.
She was so close. The match was going to be over soon but without a racquet, how was Olivia going to continue?
Samuel, from his big bag that I’d never realized he’d brought—or was it Olivia’s bag?—pulled out something. The way he did, it was as though he was pulling a sword from a stone. And then it came out, a brand new racquet that shined brilliantly at the reflection of the center’s lights. He ran into the court to pass it to Olivia.
“Here, use this.” Samuel held the shiny racquet out to her.
“But…” Olivia hesitated to take it. “I haven’t won the game yet. I’ll break our promise...”
“The promise doesn’t matter, Oli,” Samuel said. “What matters most that you can continue to compete and you continue to fight for your dream.”
I couldn’t understand. What were they talking about? What promise? I only remembered the one Samuel said he would buy a racquet for Olivia. Was this the racquet? But Olivia had said she was just joking. Was this...
Olivia looked at Samuel for a while, and then nodded. “You’re right.” She took Sam’s racquet. “Thanks, Sam.”
Samuel nodded and quickly jogged back to us. He sat back down and continued to watch.
“I’m sorry,” Olivia told her opponent. “Let’s continue.”
And the fight went on. The moment her opponent attacked her, Olivia was all over the court. She appeared at the side of the court, foreseeing where the ball went and deflected it. She flitted to the other side as her opponent sent the ball towards that side to make her run. Then, Olivia went berserk. She was even faster than before, as though the racquet Samuel passed her had given her strength. Her score rose rapidly.
Seeing how Olivia performed, her opponent was even more motivated. Her performance quickly matched Olivia’s and in no time, there were even again. The intensity of the match never wavered. Because they were always even, there were more sets involved in this match as compared to Olivia’s last match. I started to worry about Olivia’s stamina because I could tell that she was starting to have trouble breathing evenly. She began to take big, big breaths at a time.
Olivia’s movement began to slow down. Her foe began to dominate her. Her opponent’s score rose above hers consecutively. Just when her opponent scored again, Olivia fell. She managed to crouch before she hit the ground, panting heavily.
“Oli!” Nathalie worried. “The match is still going!”
Samuel shot out of his seat and ran to the court’s side. He stopped right behind the court lines. “Remember why you started this, Oli! Remember what’s ahead of you! Your future, your dream, everything that you have work for! It’s just within reach! It’s now or never!”
Her opponent fired the ball.
Samuel’s pep talk worked. It got Olivia to move, lunging to the side and hitting the ball back. The ball flew in a straight line, so fast that it almost hit her opponent’s chest. The ball dropped from her opponent’s racquet shielding her breast. Olivia scored.
“That’s it!” Samuel shouted like he was Olivia’s coach. “Three more, Oli, and we can celebrate this shit!”
The referee whistled, warning Samuel to go back to his seat.
Olivia nodded and threw the ball upward.
“Let’s cheer for her, guys!” Samuel said. “Oli, Oli, Oli, Oli, Oli!”
I followed him. “Oli, Oli, Oli, Oli, Oli!”
Knowing Ethan, I knew he wouldn’t be comfortable. He was the quiet type, so this would be hard for him. Nathalie started cheering too, followed by Jerry. Ethan looked at us, his eyes told me that he wished to do the same thing. When his eyes met mine, I gestured to him to join us. He swallowed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The moment he exhaled, he started cheering too. I was proud of him. “Oli, Oli, Oli, Oli, Oli!”
A few more hits and then Olivia jumped, delivering a flying smash.
The referee whistled again and gestured to Olivia. Olivia had won!
“Yes!” All of us jumped up and fist-pumped.
Olivia screamed, spreading her arms wide out with the racquet still in her hand as she sprinted towards us.
Samuel sprinted towards her. When they almost collided, Olivia leaped. Samuel caught her in the air and they spun around at least twice before he put her down. They didn’t say anything. They kissed.
What the… Since when did they become a couple?
I looked at Ethan, trying to ask him if he knew about them. Ethan shrugged and shook his head.
“Hey, hey,” Nathalie said in a teasing tone. “What is this?”
“Oops,” Samuel and Olivia laughed when they were done.
Olivia smacked Samuel on his chest. “This is your fault.”
Samuel laughed again. “I was too happy for you, Oli.”
“What is going on?” Jerry scratched his head. “Since when did you…?”
“Take a little break, my ass, Sam,” I teased, remembering him saying that when he used me to help him get rid of Daisy in school.
“Your ass belongs to Eth, Liam,” Samuel said back.
Nathalie and Olivia gasped.
Ethan hooked his arm around my neck. “Yup, mine.” He grinned.
“You’re supposed to be on my side.” I bit his neck once. It tickled him. He laughed as he tried to dodge me.
“Anyway, dinner is on me! Time to celebrate!” Olivia raised her racquet high up. “Woohoo!”
“Wait, wait, no, no!” Samuel pulled her racquet—her arm—back down. “You’ll be broke doing that,” he whispered. Every one of us here could hear him though. “We split the bill, okay?”
“Oh, how sweet of you, Sam,” Nathalie teased.
Jerry, Ethan, and I were smiling at the sweetness.
“You guys go ahead, okay?” Ethan said. “I have to work tonight.”
“What?” Nathalie said. “No way.”
“Yeah,” Olivia said. “We’re planning on celebrating you and Liam too.”
“Celebrate us?” I wondered.
“What else?” Olivia put a hand on her waist. She looked like a total badass like that, especially when she had just won the competition. “For becoming Lithium, of course.” She grinned. “It’s something worth celebrating.”
“And both of you are not going to get away from it.” Nathalie grinned too, snapping her fingers in front of Ethan and my faces. I wondered what they had planned for us.
“Olivia,” Olivia’s coach called out as he came over.
“Oh, we’ll talk later!” Olivia said. “Eth, you decide the date! We’ll celebrate together!” And then both of them walked away from us, heading over to the other side of the court to talk to two men.
Ethan chose Monday, which was his off day. And we’d also decided where to celebrate; a fancy bar located in the town center. After Olivia was given the medal, we went for a normal lunch. We got home afterward and prepared for school. By the time we finished our classes, we still had some time left before Ethan had to go to work.
We napped at home. Ethan needed the rest. We slept, Ethan spooning me in his arms. The nap was happy, but it felt like the nap lasted for only a second before Ethan woke me up with a kiss.
“I gotta go, babe.”
I nodded and kissed him back. “I’m seeing a friend later, okay? Before I come see you.” I didn’t want him to know who. Because he would definitely ask why. And I didn’t want him to know why.
Ethan smiled. He patted me on the hair twice. “You don’t have to ask for my permission, babe.”
“But you’re my babe,” I insisted. “I should at least tell you where I’ll be going so that you don’t have to worry.”
“Okay.” Ethan smiled again and nestled his chin around my neck. He closed his eyes.
A Monster's Love Page 23