Everything I'm Not (GirlxGirl)

14. Bittersweet

Gray and I have never been closer. Every morning before classes start, we talk about dogs. We both go to school early, so we usually have some alone time before our classmates start appearing. She gives me advice on how to handle Percy and how to train him so that the little incident on my room wouldn't happen again. I see her smile more often, and I can tell she's finally beginning to get comfortable with me.

Our team has less than a month left to prepare for the upcoming interschool competition and our training has been more intense as of late. Coach Martin is very strict when it comes to disciplining his team, and he doesn't give any exceptions to anyone—not even Diane. If one of us misses a training day, all of us has to do twice the drills. This way, Coach ensures that no one will skip training.

On the days I don't have training, she lets me stay in the editorial office to edit our documentary. Her colleagues there are also beginning to warm up to me—including Thea. At first, it was awkward, probably because everyone knew she had a crush on me but, she'll get over it.

She also told them the truth about the kiss and Gwen, her best friend, apologized for making that dare upon learning that it was supposed to be Thea's first kiss.

The others left early today to review for the upcoming exams, leaving Gray and me alone in the office. I stood up and stretched for a bit; my body feels sore because of the workout we did yesterday.

"You okay?" Gray asked as she was making her usual cup of coffee. "Should I make one for you?" She offered.

I had gotten used to the smell of freshly brewed coffee that it makes me wonder what makes Gray like them so much, so even though I'm not a fan of coffee, I accept her offer. "Yeah, sure."

After stretching, I sat back down and turned to my laptop. I volunteered to do the editing of the chess documentary despite the fact that I had no idea how to edit a video because I basically did nothing to contribute to the task. Gray taught me the basics and how she wants the video to look.

Gray put the coffee on the table and sat next to me. "Thank you," I muttered.

"We can leave early if you'd like. You seem exhausted." Gray suggested.

I took a sip of the coffee. The flavor immediately assaulted my tastebuds and I nearly spat it out. My face scrunched up because of the bitterness.

"You don't like it?" Gray asked, her eyebrows knitted together.

"It's too bitter," I said, making an unpleasant face to get the taste off my tongue. "How do you even drink that?" I asked, my eyes wide with bewilderment.

She took another sip of her drink as if to check the taste and said, "It tastes fine. I even added a little sugar on yours because I don't know how you like your coffee."

I shook my head and made my way to where the creamer and sugar were. "You have a strange taste." After making the blend that suits my preference, I went back to my seat.

Gray took a peek inside my cup. "That's nearly white." She took a teaspoon of my coffee and tasted it. Her expression was much like mine a minute ago, contorted into disgust. "Can you even call that coffee?! That's basically sugar!" She gave me an incredulous look and immediately took a sip from her cup to get rid of the taste in her mouth.

I shrugged. "We have different tastes."

"Yours is definitely weirder."

We went back to our respective tasks for the documentary after ridiculing each other's coffee preference—me editing the video and Gray beside me telling me what to do. I don't know if it was the coffee or the bickering with Gray that gave me the energy to continue working, but whatever it is, I'm thankful for it.