Forbidden Protege

Ch. 11: Getting Serious (Part 4)

"Well, hello there," Alexia greeted the surprise guest to her room.

Miyuki looked up from his English textbook and gave her a smile. "Hey neighbor."

She chuckled as she went about putting her shower stuff away. "Is my room now your official escape from your loud room-crashers?"

"Yep," he confirmed with his signature smirk. It quickly dropped as his brows furrowed. "Hey, why are you just now getting back from the showers? You weren't practicing this late were you?"

Alexia turned so that her back was to him. "I plead the fifth."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Reference to the American Bill of Rights. I can't be forced to testify against myself."

Miyuki blinked. "So you basically just admitted to it?"

She turned and gave him a wry smile. "I know what you're going to say but..." Her voice trailed off. A sigh escaped her lips as she ran a hand through her still-wet hair.

Miyuki swallowed his criticism as he noticed her nervous ticks. "Sit." She looked at him quizzically. "Your hair is wet. I'll dry it." He stood and moved to sit on the bottom bunk behind her usual seat.

"You don't need to – Ack!" Her argument was cut short as Miyuki grabbed her arm and yanked her to the floor.

"No arguing," he demanded as he threw a towel over her head. "So, how was practice?"

The question took Alexia by surprise, and she tilted her head back to look at the boy. Before having her head promptly shoved back down. "You're not upset?"

"Oh I am," he confirmed. "But I'm sure you're aware of how stupid you are. You're not Sawamura."

"Or Furuya," she added with a small smirk. She relaxed and leaned back against the bedframe, letting Miyuki to work on her hair. "I was using weights and swinging my bat. It was good practice. I'll probably pay for it tomorrow, but I was able to focus better than I've been able to in a while. For weights, I mean." She fell silent and Miyuki didn't push her for more. What he did do was smack her on the back of her head.

"Weights after pitching? You really are an idiot." She huffed but didn't try to contradict him. Silence fell and the two of them felt themselves fall into a comfortable atmosphere. Once he was satisfied with how dry her hair was he looked around the room. Finding what he was looking for, he leaned over to grab her hairbrush from her desk. His knee grazed her shoulder and she shifted to allow him to move. He settled back into his seat and began to run the brush through her hair. As he drug it through, more water was pulled out and dripped onto his sweatpants and Alexia's back. "How much water does your hair hold?"

She chuckled. "A lot. And this is why I wasn't wearing a shirt before."

A light dusting reached his cheeks. "I understand why now. Do all girls with long hair have this issue?" Alexia nodded. "Well, do you want to take it off?"

Surprised laughter was pulled from the girl as she looked up at him. Pink dusted cross her cheeks and nose as she quirked an eyebrow. "Aren't you eager to see some skin?"

Pink turned to red on both of their faces as they realized their position. Alexia was sitting on the ground between Miyuki's legs and was leaning back. He was leaning forward over her, their faces less than a foot apart. A teasing smirk etched onto her lips, drawing his eyes. "Well hello there," she drawled out, mischief glinting in violet. "Fancy seeing you here."