Closer

Chapter 10

That night after dinner I snuck away from our dorms and made my way to the training room. I was happy to discover that the doors hadn't been locked as I made my way in. I walked over to the punching bags and began to stretch my muscles. As much as I wanted to jump right into blowing off some steam, pulling something while doing it would just be flat out embarrassing.

Once I felt that I had gotten in my share of stretching, I got to work. From hooks to jabs to kicks, I went over everything, hitting as hard as possible. Not soon after, I was drenched in sweat. I peeled off my shirt as it clung to my body. I was left in just a sports bra, but felt much better now that I wasn't restricted by the wet material. I took a quick drink from the water bottle that I had brought with me before turning back to the bright orange bag.

I had maybe landed a dozen or so hits before I heard the training room door opened. I planned to just ignore who it was, but was forced to acknowledged them when they spoke.

"You're not gonna win like that," the voice sounded familiar, but I was hoping it wasn't who I thought it was.

"Excuse me?" My voice made it clear that I was somewhat offended by the comment. I turned to see who the owner of the voice was.

"You're not putting your whole body into it," Eric commented. His voice had a little edge to it and his face was void of emotion.

"Why are you here?" I asked, ignoring his previous statement. He made his way over to one of the benches and picked up a bundle of black material.

"I forgot my jacket." He said flatly. Instead of making his way out of the room like I expected him to do, he began to walk in my direction. I rolled my eyes and looked back to the punching bag.

I took a few punches as he finally got to me. I tried to block him out, but his presence was a distraction. I continued to throw punches as I saw him place his jacket down from the corner of my eye. Once his jacket hit the floor, he came closer to me, a little too close. As my fist set out to make contact with the bag once again, Eric's hands found my mid-section and lower back. His hands were cold, but my skin burned at the contact.

"You need to keep your core tense," he informed me. I wanted to say something slick back, but my mind was blank for once. "Put your whole body into it," he mimicked the motion by twisting my torso with his hands.

I could feel his breath the side of my face. I swallowed hard and looked up meet his eyes, but they weren't where I thought they would be. He was looking further down my face, at my lips. He was so close... His eyes shot up and connected with mine.

His hands dropped from my torso and he stepped away, dropping eye contact. "I don't understand you," I blurted out. His eyes met mine again as I continued. "You come in here like... like this, but not even an hour ago you were sending me some pretty nasty looks in the dinning hall."

"Those looks weren't directed at you."

"Then who were-," It clicked as soon as the words left my mouth. I was only with one other person. "Four? Why?"

"Don't worry about it," he shot my question down as he turned away from me and grabbed his jacket off of the floor.

"Aww is someone jealous?" I teased. Of course he wasn't, but that doesn't mean I couldn't pester him with it. He rolled his eyes as he faced me.

"I'm not jealous." He took a few steps closer to me.

"Oh really?" I pushed on.

"I don't need to be jealous, because in the end, I always get what I want," he smirked as he turned away from me and made his way out of the training room before my mind could process what he had just said.