Midnight Rain

9.

POV Ava

Time couldn't go by slowly, and I stared at my watch. All I wanted was for this day to be over. Chiara's training was at 1 pm, only 20 more minutes.
My nervousness was getting the best of me, replaying what I wanted to say to her repeatedly. Let's get over it. This is the right thing to do.
I grabbed my iPad and made my way to the gym room. To my surprise, Chiara was already there, lifting weights. I stopped and watched her through the glass walls. Not sure how much time had passed, I was brought back to reality when she moved her head in my direction and looked me right into my eyes.
Now, this was embarrassing. I felt my cheeks turning red, but suddenly, Chiara shifted her weight on the bench and slipped her hand off the barbell, and it fell onto her chest.
I rushed to her but tripped over something and fell onto her. My leg between hers, and our faces so close I could feel her breath against my lips. For a split second, I got lost in her hazel eyes, and then I remembered why I ran here. Carefully, I lifted the barbell off her and put it back into its stand. Still standing above her, Chiara was looking at me, emotionless.

"I would like to get up."
"Sure, sorry!" I backed away and left the room to get my iPad. I must have thrown in the ground on my way here. While bending down to get it, I turned my head to quickly glimpse her, to find Chiara already staring at me.
Immediately, I looked away, picked up my iPad, and composed my thoughts. Walking back into the gym room, the air was thick and full of tension. I can't work like that. I've got to talk to her.

"Chiara, can we talk?" Now I'm getting nervous. Great.
"Sure, what's up?" ... what up? Seriously, Chiara, what kind of response is that? As if she wouldn't know what I wanted to talk about.
"About the other night at the club, can we .."
but I got interrupted.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Can we start my training now? I have no time for interruptions." Okay, well, that was harsh, but okay. At least She sees things as I do.
"I agree, no interruptions. We have to focus on your training for the Olympics. So let's begin." I looked at my training plan for Chiara and started to explain the first few exercises.

The whole training, Chiara's said nothing unless it was
Training related, and even then, it was only an "okay" or "understood" there wasn't one single sentence.
It's okay, I will give it some time. Our situation is complicated, tho she doesn't seem to have a problem with it, unlike me. I keep thinking about what happened and how messed up everything could have been. Now I'm just things work just fine between us. And maybe in some days, she'll be more talkative.

"And we are done! Awesome, you did great." I ended the training amazed with Chiara's performance and strength. But she didn't give me a response or anything else that would give away how she was feeling about the rain. Completely emotionless.
She cooled herself down while I was putting away the equipment we used.
Suddenly, I felt someone watching me, and since we were the only people around, it could only be one person. I ignored it and continued getting the gym room ready for the next training.

When I was done, I turned around and grabbed my iPad to see what was on my schedule for the rest of the day.
My last training will be a freestyle session with ... of curse.. witch Chiara. But well, the training will probably be as good as the last one, just personally I would like some normal conversation or at least feedback so we can improve.
But that again, I could feel someone watching me. Looking up, I could see Chiara looking at me, her hazel eyes staring directly into mine. She didn't break eye contact, and I was about to get lost in hers. Reminding myself to stay professional, I cleared my throat and left.
"I'll see you later. Have a good day till then, and regenerate a bit." I gave her a small smile, but instead of responding, she just took her water bottle and left without saying anything. I wish I knew what was going on in her mind, if there was a problem, or if that's just how she is.