Game Theory × NH

035 | bromine

× Mercury

I felt like I just drank a two-liter of Dr. Pepper and ran a 10k before being kicked in the lower abdomen multiple times.

My teammates were out on the field, stretching and passing the ball back and forth as they waited for Coach to arrive, while I lay on my back on the grass, clutching my stomach like it might explode at any moment.

When it came to periods, I got the worse cramps. It gets so bad that I throw up and even pass out. I'm on the pill to reduce the discomfort, but it doesn't always work out in my favor. Like today for example. I'd rather lick an Apple store display iPad, covered in finger prints of one thousand previous customers, than suffer through this hell.

It hasn't started yet. The cramps always come first, and then shark week begins.

To add onto my pain, I was also starving. The craving for cheese curds seemed to take over my thoughts and the soccer practice at hand was the last thing I was thinking about.

Rolling onto my side, I watched the field as the team stretched.

Almost like a spell, my eyes landed on Niall. He was wearing a baby blue shirt with his last name written in bold, white letters on the back along with his number 33. His torso was so nice, so slim and muscular. And his hands, Jesus, his hands looked so sinful with the veins popping out and his thick fingers.

I closed my eyes and groaned. Why the fuck was I so horny all of a sudden?

Closing my eyes only made it worse. It was easier to envision what those hands could do without the world moving around me. I could practically feel his callused fingers running up my legs, little goosebumps rising on my flesh from the imaginary contact. I thought back on our first kiss in the hallway, how my hands felt through his hair and the touch of his lips against my neck. I imagined how they would feel elsewhere, and how he would call me-

"Princess."

My eyes shot open, only for them to close shut again from the brightness of the sun above. I groaned for a completely different reason as my head started to throb with a soon-to-be headache.

"Are you alright?"

Slowly, I opened one eye, just wide enough to see a shadowed figure leaning over me, the sun shining behind him like a halo. Now the sight of Niall made me pissed. I was still really mad at him for punching that Louis guy in the face for me, and seeing him now only reminded me and made me angrier.

"Why do you call me princess?" I asked him, sitting up. "It's demeaning and objectifying."

"It's just a nickname."

"No, it's not," I argued. "There is a percentage of context within the term that refers to an ego filled meaning. I don't want to be treated like a fucking princess, so don't call me one."

Niall opened his mouth to respond, but right then a new wave of pain twisted in my abdomen and I doubled over with a moan. Nausea slowly crept up my stomach and closed up my throat, and I slowly lay down on the grass again before anything could happen.

"Shit, Lynn," Niall said, bending down on his knees to get a closer look. "You really don't look good. You're as pale as a ghost."

With my eyes closed, I said, "No, I'm fine."

"Fuck that. What's wrong? Is it cramps?"

My eyes shot open for the second time in a span of five minutes and I looked at the boy hovering over me. He generally looked concerned for my comfort, and I might have been a little surprised that he would even ask such a thing. Usually boys dance around the subject of periods, but Niall brought it up like it was the weather.