Her and the Basketball Champion

chapter 51

Eliza

I stare up at the tall man in front of me. His black dress shirt is clinging impossibly close to his body, and his trousers are... God his trousers. I lift my eyes to meet his and inhale a sharp breath at the intensity swimming behind them. 

Jonas has been standing in my office for approximately 10 seconds now, and during that time, he's managed to make my heart nearly explode out of my chest, and my cheek nearly bleed from how hard I'm biting it right now. 

I have no idea what he's doing here, but I intend to find out, because I need to get rid of this tension. It's been killing me for days and nights now, and all I want is a conversation. An explanation. Something that doesn't consist of hopeless staring and my legs feeling weak whenever I'm around him . 

"You can sit down you know." I attempt to smile at him, but it's a poor attempt, because my heart is still beating erratically, and I can hardly hear my voice over the thrumming of blood in my ears. The fact that just his presence makes me feel all of these things is concerning. 

He nods and takes a seat opposite me, very gracefully, may I add. It's like he doesn't even notice how sensual the act of him just sitting in a chair is.

I clear my throat and fiddle with the skin around my thumb, under the desk. 

"So..?" I try to coax him into telling me why he's here, and at the sound of my voice, he seems to focus back on my presence, staring straight at me.

It makes me nervous, and habitually, I bite my cheek harder.

"Stop doing that, princess." I nearly jolt out of my seat at the nickname. It makes a familiar feeling bubble up inside me, making my insides buzz. Frankly, I miss it. 

"Stop what?" I'm half knowledgeable to what he's trying to get me to stop doing, but I ask anyway, because I need to keep talking even if I die out of embarrassment. 

He sighs frustratedly and waves his hand around, gesturing to my face. I raise my eyebrows in response, a small smile tugging at the corners of my lips. "Stop biting your cheek. You'll have no gums left by the end of it." He says, and he's looking at my cheek like he wants to murder it. 

I can't help but let out a little laugh at his concern for my gums. He continues to stare at me, but this time it's different. He's looking at me like he.. admires me. It makes me stop, and a comfortable silence settles down around us as we both try to look away from each other, but fail miserably. It's like when he's around, my eyes can't seem to stop looking at him. The sight of him in front of me is like a drug, and I happily take it in. 

"I've missed you." It's a barely there mumble, and he looks down at his lap as he says it, but I still hear it like he just shouted it straight in my ear. 

I can feel my heartbeat increase tenfold within the three seconds it took for him to say those three words. I look at him, and as if he senses my confusion and shock, he looks up. I don't bother hiding the emotions in my eyes, because every single one of them comes down to him. 

I feel angry. Angry that he hasn't tried to reach out to me for the past five years, but then the rational voice in my head tells me how I didn't try to reach out either. I'm sad because he's sitting in front of me, and I have this overwhelming urge to jump into his arms and never let go, but then reality kicks in and I'm left hopeless. It's all washing over me, and I curse myself inwardly for allowing my emotions to take over.

He frowns, and moves to reach forward, but clearly thinks better of it. "Why are you crying? Please don't cry. Did I say something-" I laugh a small, defeated sigh of a laugh and wipe the stray tear that unfeelingly rolls down my left cheek. I hadn't even noticed until he pointed it out, and I turn my head up to the ceiling, trying to force myself not to cry.