✍🏻See You Again

23 🫐Chapter 23

When we finally get to bed it's already late at night but I'm fully awake, full of anticipation and excitement as if we had never shared a bed before. I come out of the shower in my Mickey pajamas, thinking it might be a little bit silly to wear those but when I walk into the bedroom and his face cracks into a grin, I don't regret my choice anymore.

He's lying on the bed with his hands behind his head and his eyes silently follow my every move until I turn off the light and slide under his duvet. He rolls to the side and I press myself closer, splaying my open palms on his chest while he drapes his arm over my hips, his hand resting on my lower back. It feels so nice and satisfying to be lying in his embrace without any more games, finally having the cards on the table and openly drawn to each other. We haven't kissed since the park and though I hope there will be way more of that before we sleep, I still want to get my answers.

"So, um," I start, my index finger playing with the fabric of his shirt, "you said you liked me for a while now? That there's a story? Could I, maybe, get it now? As a bedtime story?"

He laughs and presses a kiss to my forehead before letting out a fake sigh, "yeah, I guess I did promise you that."

"I'm listening," I wiggle and bite my lip, already melting at his first words.

"It was almost a year ago," he starts and I can't believe it's not a thing just of the past few weeks. His voice is quiet and low and I pause a little when his hand starts to slowly roll up my long shirt, gathering it in his fingers. He stops once he gets to my bare skin and puts his hand back on my lower back as if only wanting to feel me under his fingertips but not going for anything more. "At the Four Continents Championship this February. I ended up second but was still staying for the gala and went to watch the second half of the ice-dancing free dances to support our Japanese pairs."

"Yeah, we lost to Virtue/Moir there."

"They were good. But yeah, it was the first time I saw you guys on the ice. Until then it was just the ice shows where I usually missed your numbers while backstage and never paid attention to you two. But when I saw you skating at the Four Continents, I just...I don't know, I really liked it."

"Don't shy away from the praise," I chuckle, poking his chest. "You found yourself transfixed? Bewitched? Captivated?"

"No," he laughs and playfully scratches my back, "but I did think that you were pretty and that you guys skated really well." I huff at those words, hoping for sweeter ones, like the ones he told me in the park. "Don't be annoyed," he chuckles and again pecks my forehead. "Later that night when I was in my hotel room, I was still annoyed about the silver I got there and about messing up my short. I wanted to keep my mind occupied and then I recalled your program again and wanted to see it properly on camera, to have close-ups and replays. And yeah, I fell into that typical youtube rabbit hole. Suddenly it was 3 am and I'd seen all of your programs and had watched most of your interviews. And I kept doing that for weeks and months, trying to find out at least one interview where you would mention something in Japanese. At least a word. But you never did. I was picking up the courage to talk to you at the next ice show in summer but just before that an interview with you came out, and they specifically asked you if you spoke Japanese and you said you don't know a single word."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I peep and look up at him, "so you didn't even try to talk to me just because of that?"

"I really hate English, Ivy. With all my heart."

"Okay, so what then?"

"Well, I saw you at the ice show. And you were constantly looking in my direction. So I thought, maybe, you liked me."

I sigh, both of us knowing I was looking at Javi who was always around Yuzuru. "I'm sorry about that."

"Not your fault. Anyway, I kind of thought...hoped....and then Brian told us you guys will be training at TCC as of September. So I started to work on my English a little bit more. I was so damn nervous. Rehearsing what I'll say. And then you finally were there. Already on the ice when I arrived. And I saw the way you looked at Javi."