11 - Ethan
Ethan
My eyes flickered over the empty gym. I hadn’t meant to be there that early.
The sky outside was still gray. We were in that in-between hour where the world was still deciding what it wanted to be, and I hadn’t slept a wink.
Every time I tried to drift off, my mind bombarded me with things I had no business focusing on at night.
I watched the team miss throws. Saw scholarship emails I hadn’t opened and heard that godforsaken bus rattling through the darkness.
They were hidden fears. Decisions about my future in football weighed on me, and I couldn’t just lie there while they consumed me.
I had to do something, to sweat it out because it felt like my future was slipping through my fingers.
So I picked up the weights and started lifting.
All I focused on was raising the metal, breathing, and the control I had over the situation.
That was something I could understand, and my mind needed something to ground it.
I had already been at it for an hour. I had long abandoned my shirt, and I wasn’t expecting anyone to join me anytime soon, but then the door opened.
I knew her frame before I fully looked up.
It was steady and unhurried, as if the room had given itself over to her, but she wasn’t alone.
Elizabeth and Jenna headed over to the treadmills without acknowledging my presence.
They faced the long wall of mirrors that ran behind the free weights.
Which meant her reflection was right next to mine when she stepped on and pressed start.
I tried not to look, but it was impossible.
The belt beneath her feet moved. It was slow at first, but her ponytail still swayed with each step she took.
Then she increased her speed. Her focus lingered on the machine, but then her gaze flickered in my direction.
She wasn’t looking directly at me, though.
She was looking at my reflection. And then, as if on cue, our eyes met in the mirror.
My grip on the bar tightened. And for a second, neither of us moved differently.
The gym was quiet. Jenna had vanished, so it was just the sound of the machine and her feet striking the band.
Then she increased the incline, and the shift changed everything.
Her posture angled as her muscles engaged in a controlled effort.
I shouldn’t have noticed the way her body moved, but I did, and suddenly the entire room got hotter.
Heat coiled low in my stomach as my cock hardened.
I tried to think of something else to stop it from getting worse, but nothing worked.
And she wasn’t helping matters at all. In the mirror, her gaze didn’t just shift.
It slowly traveled, taking in every inch of my sweat-covered frame.
She started with my shoulders, then she leisurely moved down my chest before going back up again.
She wasn’t shy or accidental. She was being intentional, and it affected me in ways I never would’ve imagined.
My breath shortened, and it had nothing to do with the weight in my hands.
Distracted, I racked the bar harder than necessary.
She noticed that, too. The corner of her mouth curved.
It wasn’t quite a smile. It was more of a knowing look.
I wanted to die right there on the spot, but I didn’t know if it was because of bliss or pure torture.
I knew what I truly wanted. My career, a well-balanced team.
A future in the sport. And I knew what it took to achieve my goals, but at the same time, I couldn’t deny that there was something going on between me and Elizabeth.
The treadmill kept moving, and so did her eyes.
There was something reckless about the way things were unfolding.
There were no words or gestures, just a shared awareness that kept building and building.
We were electric before. The day in the bar when I pressed my body against hers; yesterday on the bus when my fingers grazed her thigh, and she held my hand.
And yet this was more powerful than anything else that had happened between us.
The warmth that passed between us lingered for days.
And I didn’t even want to be reminded of the way she had invaded my mind.
She was all I could think about. Both in a good way and in a bad one.
Like the argument we had. I hated to admit it, but it was one of the main reasons I couldn’t sleep.
I knew I overreacted, and I felt really bad, but I didn’t know how it affected her.
I wished I could take it back. That I could explain why I acted like such an idiot, but I didn’t even know if she’d be willing to listen.
If the roles were reversed, I wouldn’t. I sighed.
Sometimes my actions were so moronic. Perhaps it would’ve helped if I thought things through instead of just acting on my emotions.
There were so many sharp words. And that was without the distance I had put between us, just as we were getting close.
On top of all that, I took my frustration out on her too.
And she wasn’t the only one who suffered because of that.
The guys had gone through the same thing, but for some odd reason, it was her reaction that mattered the most.
I was cold, and she was angry, but beneath her tough facade, I could tell that my words cut deep.
Far deeper than I had intended. I actually hurt her, and that was completely unfair because all she tried to do was help me.
And then we had that moment in the gym. It was completely different from anything else we had before.
I picked up a dumbbell because I needed to do something with my hands.
If I hadn’t, they would’ve roamed, and that wasn’t something I needed her to see.
Elizabeth adjusted her pace again. She was moving faster.
Her firm breasts bounced deliciously with each step she took.
I swallowed hard. This was more than I could handle.
Her gaze dropped to my bare chest once more, but this time it was slower.
It felt like a caress, and the mirror only made it worse.
It made it feel safer and more dangerous at the same time.
The air had gotten thicker, making it impossible to breathe.
So I exhaled through my nose. My jaw clenched tight.
I had enough. It was too torturous to continue like that, but I also didn’t want to push her boundaries.
I had done enough damage already. Elizabeth stopped the treadmill and walked over to the leg press.
It was a chance. A gift from the universe.
I put the weight down and grabbed my shirt, throwing it over my shoulder as I walked up to her.
She saw my approach and took a sip of water. The tension grew sharper with each step I took toward her.
“Good morning,” I said, feeling like I was back in high school for some reason.
Her eyes flickered over my body once more before settling on my face. “Couldn’t sleep?”
I let out a quiet laugh. “Something like that. Are you going to do your legs?”
She tilted her head slightly. “Maybe.”
I stifled a groan. This wasn’t her usual attitude, but there was something about the way she was carrying herself that fueled my desire.
“You were loading the leg press wrong the other day,” I said, because I needed an excuse to be close to her.
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”
“Yes,” I gestured toward the machine. “Come.”
She didn’t argue, which made matters even worse. I adjusted the weight for her, deliberately focusing on the mechanics so I wouldn’t have to pay attention to the way her presence was crowding my senses.
“Feet higher,” I whispered as she sat back. “You don’t want to stress your knees.”
I stepped closer, too close by normal standards. Then I lightly placed my hands on her calves to help her with the placement. The contact was brief and controlled, but it sent a jolt through me either way. Her breathing shifted. It wasn’t a dramatic change, but it was noticeable.
“Like this?” She asked softly.
“Yeah,” I said, but my voice wasn’t as steady as I wanted it to be.
She pressed the platform up in a slow, controlled manner. I spotted without needing to. My hands lingered near the sled, mostly because I didn’t have the strength to pull them away. And I could feel the heat radiating from her body, filling the space between us.
On her second rep, her gaze lifted and locked onto mine. The intensity was no longer playful. It was charged. I swallowed back the urge to do something inappropriate. This was too much to bear, yet not enough to fulfill my aching desire.
“I was out of line,” I blurted out suddenly.
She blinked once, not breaking eye contact.
“Yesterday.” I forced myself to hold her gaze. “I’ve been… caught up in my head. Everything that’s going wrong is weighing on me, and I accidentally took it out on you. It wasn’t your fault.”
The machine lowered again, and she pushed it up.
“You shut me out,” she said, and her voice was calm but not soft.
“I know,” I said on an exhale. “And I’m sorry.”
The words were powerful. They cost me something. It wasn’t pride, but something more like vulnerability.
Her expression softened. It wasn’t quite melting, and she wasn’t forgiving me outright, but she was softening up around the edges.
“You don’t just get to disappear when things get tough,” she said, and suddenly I felt like a child being scolded by his mother.
“I know,” I mumbled. “And I won’t do it again.”
The words sounded hollow, but I actually meant them.
The sled locked into place, and she sat up.
We were close again, closer than before.
There was no mirror this time. No buffer to absorb the desire that was coming my way.
Hot breaths filled the air, along with all the unspoken thoughts between us.
Her eyes briefly dropped to my parted lips before coming back up, and my chest tightened in a way that lifting could never achieve. For a second, I thought she might move back, but she didn’t. She didn’t close the space between us either.
“Good,” she finally said, catching me completely off guard.
I couldn’t breathe. It was as if that one simple word had turned my entire life upside down. Like she had more control over me than I would ever be comfortable with. And in that moment, I wanted it more than I ever wanted anything else.
She stood up and moved past me. She was close enough that her shoulder brushed my arm, sending another jolt of electricity through me.
It definitely wasn’t accidental. Everything she had done that entire morning was deliberate.
And that graze wasn’t any different. She walked off, but I stood there for a moment longer, trying to steady my racing heart.
My future was still uncertain, and the losses we suffered still stung, but for the first time since I arrived at the college, something deep in the pit of my soul didn’t feel cold anymore.
“Are you coming or are you just going to hang around there, looking like you’ve been hit by a roach bus?” she asked as she reached the door, and I couldn’t help but laugh.