Midnight Rain

11.

POV Chiara

You've got to be kidding me. No, I won't do that. I'll talk to Simone about that and tell her I'm out of this.
At least now, I know why she's been over for dinner the other day.

I was sitting in the team meeting when Ava told us the news, and everyone got excited except me. Why should I be happy about this? Spending the weekend with the team, I'm not too fond of half of it. And then there's Ava. Since the other day, when we almost kissed for the second time, things got even worse. The day after, she wanted to talk to me, to tell me that whatever was going on between us had to end immediately and that it was all one big mistake. If she sees it that way, fine. But don't expect me to be nice to her. We have had training a few times since then. It was okay; I couldn't really concentrate, but that's about it. I try not to talk to her if it's not necessary, but that seems to be also a mistake since she always tries to start a conversation. Now I'm supposed to spend a whole weekend with her? No, thank you.
"Chiara!" I heard Ava shout, I looked around, and the whole team had already left. When did that happen? I must have been lost my thoughts.
"Everything okay? You didn't seem to pay any attention to the meeting." Of cause not, Ava, I could not concentrate on anything when you're around, and by now it's pissing me off. I've to stay focused.
"All good" was all she got before I left her alone in the meeting room.
"Chiara, wait!" I heard her but decided to ignore her. Seconds later, I could hear her running after me. She grabbed my wrist and stopped me from going further.
"Don't. Touch. Me. Ever." I hissed, and she immediately let go of me.
"Oh gosh, yes, I'm sorry!" Yeah, you better be. What was she thinking?
"I just wanted to check on you. You seemed off during the meeting. Just wanted to let you know if anything is bothering you, you can talk to me." She looked at me like she cared, but I couldn't care less.
"That's private." I tried to leave but was again stopped by her. I looked at her hand, again grabbing my wrist. If I wouldn't be so pissed, I would definitely get weak under her touch.
"Can we at least try to get along with each other?" Her blue eyes stare at me, still feeling her touch on me. I need to get out of this situation.
"Like if I'm not already." I freed myself from her, turned around, and left, ignoring her calling after me.

"Chiara, you seriously need to stop being such an ass towards her," Natalie was trying to talk some sense into me.
"I'm not the one who started it!"
"You're not in kindergarten. No one started anything. You're both two grown-up women who feel attracted towards each other. But due to some unlucky circumstances, I can't do anything about it. So leave it be. I know it sucks. But you have to keep in mind your goal. The Olympics" Natalie was right. And I was indeed behaving like a child.
"Okay, okay, you're right. But I will continue keeping my distance from her. And this team Weekend.. it will be a torture."
"Maybe it won't be that bad. Imagine you would actually have fun ... would that be so hard to believe?" How does she always see the good in things?
"To be honest, yes. I hope we'll at least stay in a nice hotel and not some disgusting motel. I'll bring my own champagne just in case." I started laughing, and Natalie just rolled her eyes at me.
We spent the rest of the evening in my room binging some series. But my mind wandered off to Ava and how she grabbed my wrist today. It reminded me of the other night at the club, and I won't lie. She does affect me.

The following day, we were sitting in our dining room having breakfast when Simone joined us.
"You're still here? Don't you have classes or training to attend to?" She questioned.
"I've got 30min left, so I thought I would give myself some time for a second coffee. But now that you mention training... " Natalie bumped her foot against mine to stop me from talking.
"Ouch! That hurt!" I hissed.
"Natalie, dear, don't you dare injure my top athlete." Simone joked.
"I'm also your daughter if you forgot. But thanks for caring," I replied, annoyed.
"True, but my daughter does not necessarily need both her feet. My top athlete does." I was surprised by her response. "But what did you want to ask about your training?" Natalie was staring at me, but I ignored it.
"About that Team Event where we stay somewhere in the Nature for a weekend .. do I..." Simone interrupted me, "Yes, you do. You're a part of this team, just like everyone else. Give it a try, and I'm sure Miss Grothe has planned great activities for all of you." Rolling my eyes at her, I grabbed my purse, stood up, and left.
"Have a good day," Simone yelled after.
But I was already out the door and on my way to Campus.

When I arrived at the athletic facility, I was already running late. Again. I don't know how I lost track of time, but I did. I rushed into the locker room to Chance and made my way to the gymnastics room where Ava was already waiting. There was one thing she didn't like as a Coach, and that was being late.
"You know, if you're already running late, you can at least shoot me a text so I don't waste time waiting on you" She sounded pissed, and I get it, but it's not like it's intentional.
"I'm sorry, not sure how this keeps happening. But by the way, how am I supposed to text you when I don't have your number?" I shoot my shot. I'm pretty sure none of the other athletes got her number, either. Coaches don't give out their private phone numbers.
"Fair point. Here," she gave me her unlocked phone, and I didn't quite progress what was happening since all I did was, well, I didn't do anything.
"You know, you've got to take my phone if you wanna put your number in."
"Yeah, right, sorry!" I took her phone, still perplexed by, handing it to me and putting my number in it.
"Here," handing it back, our hands touched for a split second. I might mistaken it, but she kind of looked like she was blushing.
"Anyway, can we start now?" I turned back to bitch mode and threw my water bottle to the ground.
"Sure, let's start."

After the training, I had two more classes but didn't pay any attention to them since I only thought about this stupid Team weekend, which was already starting this Friday. During training, I tried to get some information from Ava, like which hotel we were staying in, what was planned during the days, and so on. She didn't tell me anything, which annoyed me, but it seemed to amuse her, which annoyed me even more.

On my way home, I got a message from an unknown number.

-unknown-
Hey, I figured that if you wanted to text me that you are late for training again, you would still need my number. Good thing I asked for yours 😅
Ava here, btw ☺️

-Chiara-
Looks like we didn't think that through. But at least I have your number now.

-Ava-
Well, that is what happens when one gets distracted 👀

-Ava-
I'm sorry. I didn't think that one through either.

-Chiara-
All good. I mean, we both know it's the truth...

-Ava-
.. still unprofessional. See you tomorrow for training.

-Chiara-
Right. Unprofessional. See ya.

Well, that was ... strange. But she was right, we both know that we got easily distracted by each other. Hopefully this whole situation will go by soon and we can really start training for Olympia.

Lying in bed, I set my alarm and put my phone down.
Only two more days till the Team weekend. Great.