26. Sophia
26
Sophia
Stepping into the lounge room with the fluffy towel wrapped around me, I reach for my clothes on the ground.
“One sec,” Javi says.
He digs around in his suitcase, then moves over to some shopping bags and brings out pants and a tee.
He offers me the clothes. “So you don’t have to get back into your clothes, if you want. Some more options for your pyjama rotation.”
“Thank you,” I say and put them on.
The pants and t-shirt are a dusty pink and fit loose on me. They are emblazoned with his name and his bike number, 13.
“Would you like to hang here for a bit?” he asks, sitting on the lounge.
“Sure.” I really just want to be near him, especially after being around him this morning; having to be so secretive, flirting with the line all the time.
Settling on the other side of the lounge, he looks at me wickedly. “All the way over there?” His head shakes. He grips my arm and thigh and drags me over into his arms, pressing me to his chest as he leans backwards. Stroking my hair and face, he asks, “Want to over room service for lunch and watch TV?”
“That’s the smartest idea you have had all day,” I tease, fingertips running over his chest.
I make my sneaky way down to my hotel room without anyone seeing me.
Taking off the clothes Javi gave me, I neatly stow them away in a hidden, zipped spot in my suitcase.
It is an unusually warm afternoon, so I throw on a light, white tee and my leopard print skirt. I get a tingle down my spine thinking about the time I wore this skirt around Javi at the MudPit event.
I head down to the foyer, expecting to see Dave and Nikki, however only Javi is there. He is wearing a black t-shirt and chino shorts.
Loudly, I ask, “Where’s Dave and Nikki?”
He smiles and says, “They asked if we could meet them there. They had something last minute to do in town.”
I nod and start to make my way outside to the cab rank, Javi following behind me.
We get into a waiting cab and give the restaurant name.
I open the cab window a little to get some air on my face. I need all the help I can get to keep myself grounded.
My eyes watch the houses and shops passing by as I feel Javi’s finger softly touch my thigh. His eyes watch his finger as it draws a line across the bottom of the hem of my skirt.
His touch feels electric against my skin, causing everywhere he touches to tingle.
He moves closer to me in the back seat and drapes his arm over my shoulder before whispering, “How can I not think about the last time you wore this skirt and maintain respectable dinner conversation? You effortlessly look amazing in anything you put on, ace.” His breath is heavy in my ear. “You are putting me through torture.” He doesn’t move away. He plants a soft kiss under my ear and inhales. His other hand makes its way to my inner thigh, squeezing softly. His grip on my thigh is soft, yet demanding.
I reach a hand up to his face, my thumb grazing down his jaw and brushing across his lips. He kisses it and opens his mouth, letting it fall in and bites my thumb gently.
“You are impossible...” I mutter to him.
“Impossible?” he questions, breathy, leaning in close to my face.
“…impossible to resist,” I finish and kiss him passionately.
“Being back in the pit has been hard. I don’t know how I to stop myself from throwing you over the bike and fucking you any opportunity we get alone,” he whispers, now touching my neck.
“I’m sure you’ll continue to manage,” is all I can say. The air feels like it’s not returning to my lungs quick enough.
He kisses me again and moves his arm from my shoulders, holding my hand until we reach the restaurant. He kisses the back of my hand, and gets out of the cab.
We walk side by side into the restaurant where Nikki and Dave are deep in conversation until they see us. They smile and wave us over.
The restaurant is a cute pizza place. We sit in a corner area, away from most tables which offers a bit of privacy and quiet. We sit down opposite Dave and Nikki, greetings and grins all around.
“How was your afternoon?” Dave directs to me, assuming I had jumped on the laptop to get some work done.
Fobbing him off, I say, “No work talk. Let’s enjoy dinner.” That’s something that’s never come out of my mouth before, so Dave’s confused look is warranted.
“Anyone keen to try these totally awesome sounding drinks with me?” Nikki queries, shoving the cocktail menu into Javi’s face, pointing out the cocktail she wants to try.
“Yeah, I’m keen. That sounds delicious!” he replies, pointing to the menu.
Nikki orders four of the fancy, restaurant concocted cocktails that sound dangerous with around five shots of alcohol—with the caveat that it’s a celebration for having Javi join us and doing so well in the season so far. Everyone still has another four days before they need to be back on track.
We order food, and a short while later, four blue drinks come our way in what can only be described as fishbowls.
We all look at them wide eyed and burst out laughing. We cheers to the successful season, to working together on the motocross project, and many weekends on the top step. We sip the drinks, and they are definitely dangerous. How ever many shots are actually in here are well disguised under the sugary, berry mixer.
I make a mental note to pace myself.
We have a wonderful evening of conversation, laughter, and Nikki and Dave getting to know Javi more.
I sit back and listen to Nikki ask Javi, “How did you get into the sport?”
“I grew up on a massive property and Dad used to restore bikes, so bikes were always around. Parents saw I had some talent and encouraged me to go into the Local, and then to Nationals comps. I enjoyed winning, so I wanted to keep it going up to this level,” Javi replies.
“Awesome that your parents were so supportive,” Nikki engages.
“Yeah, they still are. They normally come to my races, but they decided to take a long cruise, so they have missed this season. Which is weird not to have them around,” he replies, and I can see some sadness sweep across his face. “There is always winning the championship next year, too, right?” he recovers.
Nikki is enthralled. “Exactly!” She pauses and holds a puzzled look on her face. “Sophia, wasn’t your start similar?”
I nod my head. “Yeah, I didn’t win championships, but I did come close,” I reply.
“I didn’t realise you were in the Nationals,” Javi says, looking towards me while he takes a sip of his blue fishbowl. He’s making it very hard to take him seriously, so I simply nod in reply.
He looks away, seemingly pensive at something.
“Nikki,” he directs his next question to her, “you never wanted to get on a bike when you were young?”
Nikki laughs. “No, nothing like the three of you. I was just happy going to dance and drama classes. No need for extreme speeds pulsing through my veins. I’ll jump on the back with Dave here and there, but I’ll let him enjoy that on his own.”
“Oh my goodness, I’m bruised and deaf when she’s on the back with me.” He softly chuckles. “Hands are digging in and she’s yelling for me to slow down when I’m going 60 kph.”
We all share a laugh as she reiterates, “Just not my thing. I can appreciate why you all love it, but I don’t need to love it, too.” She absentmindedly puts her hand on Dave’s neck and strokes the bottom of his hair; an act of familiarity and intimacy. He returns the gesture and puts a hand on her knee and squeezes.
I excuse myself to go to the bathroom and Nikki jumps up to join me. We walk; elbows linked together. I really am grateful to have her around.
While we wash our hands, she looks up at me via the mirror and says, “You’re keeping a secret.”
Fuck. How do I play this? Act dumb.
“What? What secret?” I feign confusion, brows overly furrowed.
“You and Javi. You like him,” she whispers, a sweet smile on her lips.
“Nooo, not at all,” I fob her off. “I’m career focused. No time for boys,” I reply, reaching for paper towels to dry my hands to avoid her stares. Javi definitely isn’t a boy. My word , is he a man .
“Then tell that to your face,” she says, standing in front of me and folding her arms. Her face is still soft and kind.
“What do you mean?” I continue to play dumb.
“The way you are looking at him. I can tell you are trying to only look at him briefly, but you look away and blush,” Nikki says, kindly.
“Oh, I don’t kn—”
Nikki raises her hands to my shoulders and moves her face so I can’t avoid her eyes. “Sophia, he is doing the same.”
I stare into her eyes, biting my bottom lip to avoid smiling so big. This has been killing me not being able to talk to her about this. I give it all up.
“Argh, Nikki. Don’t tell anyone. We probably shouldn’t be doing anything together, especially now that we are back in the pit together and have been working together! We were together and it was so easy and comfortable, and then I told him we need to stop. But I can’t stay away from him. I have told him I would give him an answer end of the season, but…I can’t stay away from him.”
“Hang on!!! How long has this been going on for?” Nikki finally catches on.
“We hooked up a few months ago, but decided to go secret squirrel a few weeks ago,” I share.
“Ohhhh goodness! That’s brilliant!” She laughs. “Dave wouldn’t have any idea, either. Otherwise, he would have asked me.”
“I wanted to tell you and Dave, but it just happened. Then we weren’t going to do anything about it, but then it happened again. It got harder to…broach the subject with you. How do you text something like that?” It is now my turn to laugh.
“No problem, your secret is safe with me, you can talk to me anytime about it. I won’t tell Dave, either,” Nikki reassures. I hug her, relieved I can share it with someone.
We head out the bathroom and back to Javi and Dave, who are also laughing and enjoying each other’s company.