Teach Me Something // LH44

Chapter Thirty-Three

"I'm leaving," Lewis yells from another room, his words urging me to locate him in the labyrinth of this hotel suite and so I walk out of the bathroom, his t-shirt from last night still drowning me as I brush my teeth. The moment I walk into the main room of this hotel suite I freeze as I realise that he isn't alone. Not only are there people standing and talking to him but they're also holding up cameras and microphones, pointed towards him, and now me. My eyes widen as they search to locate Lewis who is smirking by the time I find him standing to the side of the room, and the moment I do, I think my expression explains everything as I slowly walk backwards and watch him jog to follow me back out of the room. "I probably should have said that there are people here - sorry!" He giggles, following me back to the bathroom as I spit into the sink and stand back up with a face that tells him I agree.

"You think?" I ask him while giggling lightly so he knows that I'm not being totally serious. I put my toothbrush away and jump to sit on the countertop, eyes surveying to make sure there are no cameras or people in sight before I let my hand rest upon his cheek to reassure him. It works as he smiles and steps in between my legs, hands running up and down my thighs in a way that isn't indicative of the previous suggestion that he was leaving. I think he almost forgets as well as he pauses for a moment before taking a small step back. Not very far but just enough to remove the temptation.

"You... are distracting. But they are... it's just my documentary series, so don't worry. I have total control of the content and they all have NDAs," he explains and I feel relief wash over me and rest my head on his shoulder, sighing contently when he pulls me into a tight hug and kisses the side of my head. "You're on holiday from next week right?" He asks, both of us taking a moment to recalibrate before falling into rhythm with each other again.

"I am! From Thursday afternoon I will be on holiday for six glorious weeks and then I get a class of twenty-seven to teach from September. They're young, they're cute, only two of them don't speak English and only four have learning disabilities..." I tell him, feeling my relief at the class news I had received on Thursday after he'd left for the race this week. It was by far one of the best classes in the school and I was beyond relieved that it would be mine... an easier year after this last one would be greatly appreciated because as lovely as 80% of the class were, teaching was not an easy job and they were a difficult class.

"Really? Aw baby, that's so great!" He says, lighting up with genuine excitement, seriously thrilled for me and very aware of how much I wanted this exact class. "Why didn't you tell me last night?"

"Well, I had some marking and you were busy prepping for the race," I remind him. He pouts before nodding to let me know that he understands why I forgot to say anything. His excitement just seems to grow as the silence drags and he picks me off the counter to spin me around, making me laugh and smile along with him.

I always found myself laughing with him, it was the one thing I found I could rely on, that there was no one able to make me laugh more easily than him. The room could be empty and nothing entertaining would be in sight, but he could just look at me and make me burst out laughing - the words often not needing to be spoken for me to know what he was thinking.

"Agh, I'm so happy for you and we can celebrate that and my seventh-place finish later tonight!" He says, still hugging me and I snort, shaking my head against his chest as I roll my eyes to myself at his miniature pity party. I knew this season was draining him, we'd spoken about it a little bit recently, both of us trying to integrate that part of his life into our relationship more so than we had before. Still, that didn't stop me from being a little bit hard on him sometimes - I wasn't always the most sympathetic to his struggles but I knew that was okay by him, he told me he liked the grounding and the reminders of a world outside of the sport.