Love Bites

LOVE BITES Chapter 26 : Game On

A/N: I've always thought Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly & Camilla Cabello fit this story so perfectly. If you've never heard it, click the attached video!

Chapter 26 : Game On

Nikki's POV

I turned off the running faucet, placing my now clean breakfast dishes in the drying rack. I gripped the edges of the counter and leant against it, biting my lip.

I was finally going back to school, having already dressed and combed my straight hair into a high ponytail. Even with it up my long hair still reached past my shoulders.

Around me the house was silent. Painstakingly silent. I stood over the sink, scratching my stockinged leg with the other foot and all the while my mind trained on the man upstairs. Behind me the refrigerator hummed softly.

How was I suppose to cope living under the same roof, alone and only a door down from Alastair?

I breathed out deeply, rocking my body against the edge of the sink. After that night, I felt as if things had changed between Alastair but... nothing else had happened since!

It baffled me. What exactly was our relationship? Now that I knew we weren't related I struggled to label what we were. A couple? Alastair insisted he loved me and although it made me happier beyond words to know we shared the same feelings, I failed to understand why he was still holding himself back.

Why wasn't he holding me in his arms this precise second? I internally cried at the thought. I'd always envisioned my love life being some bliss romance, not that it ever was that, but I hoped one day it might.

Like my parents. You would always see them embracing, always looking at each other with equal admiration and always, always having each other's back. Glimpses into my memories as a child proved that.

Alastair was acting the same as always; mysterious and indifferent. I, on the other hand, could barely contain myself when in close vicinity of him.

I didn't understand, and it was frustrating me to no end. Perhaps I was to be the one to break the ice? The thought alone made my cheeks burn. Nikki taking the initiative wasn't an idea I was well aquatinted with, nor fond of.

"Good morning."

I jerked out of my stupor the second I heard Alastair's voice behind me.

Moving to the bench I began to pack the breakfast cereal away. With my back to him, I attempted to act as if everything was normal.

"Morning!" Ugh, too much enthusiasm. "Sleep well?"

He hummed in agreement. "Like the dead."

My lips fell into a thin line. "That wasn't even funny."

I could hear the amusement in his voice when he responded, "I thought so."

Knowing I had little time to spare before the first bell rung for school, I rushed to finish getting ready. I turned around -- only to stop dead in my tracks to find Alastair directly behind me.

My heart came to a screeching stop when he suddenly stretched his body out against mine, reaching for something up high. I sank into the cupboards behind me, the sharp edge of the bench digging into my back. But the pain hardly registered. I held my breath, crunching the cereal box between my hands, my eyes fixated on his lean torso.