Heartdriven: Too Driven To Drive

23. Build-up

    SMACK! SMACK!
    Oh no. The ping pong balls were already echoing in her dreams. Another smack, and Alice finally awokened to the hand that caused them, targetting her bottom area. "Hello there!"
    "Good lord," she mumbled at the annoyance of the nap interruption and covered her head with a pillow.
    Sebastian hadn't given up and pinched her buttcheek, making her reactively kick at him. "Ah, you're still alive."
    "Mm-hmm. What do you want?..."
    He crawled up the bed and laid down next to her, "The food's in the oven. If we hurry up, we can get in a round before dinner," travelling his fingers up her back in light taps.
    "You're kidding," still disguising her sleepiness with the pillow.
    She could barely make out the words as his chuckle ruptured her eardrum, "Ping pong—I meant ping pong! The table tennis!"
    "That's not any better," the thought of running around a table after a ball right now, made her groan.
    He sighed. It wasn't quite loud, maybe it wasn't even intended for her to hear, but her eyes opened wide and peaked out from under the pillow.
    "Come on, Alice. It's the last day of fun, don't sleep it away. You can get plenty of rest when we get home." He leaned over and kissed her shoulder.
    She rolled around and threw the pillow to the foot of the bed, "Yeah... I know. You're right...," she blinked a few times to adjust to the light. He had opened the curtains again and the afternoon sun was right in her face. "Can you please get me a glass of water?"
    "Of course, honey." Kissing her cheek, she felt his 5 o'clock shadow—or rather 5-day shadow. He hadn't kept up with his shaving during their holiday and the little scruff was starting to turn into a beard. The blonde curls not quite covering his cheeks, it was an admirable attempt of showing he was in holiday-mode. Perhaps he felt the same about her unshaven legs. And then it hit her.
    "Honey?!", she sat right up, aiming her surprise at him in the bathroom.
    He returned with her glass, all giddy, "Yes, darling?"
    "What is this? What are you doing?", her suspicious eyes not leaving his own supsicious self for a second.
    "You always call me 'babe'," mocking her own voice back to her by that word, she almost spat the water in his face in surprise. He seemed to enjoy giving her that reaction. "I want to call you something... what do you want me to call you?"
    "I can't do that!", finding herself just as surprised by how shrill the voice coming out of her mouth became. Maybe Sebastian had been onto something when he mocked her.
    "Why not? You tell me what not to call you." In fact there was only one nickname she had told him not to use, and it was not because it irked her, but rather because it triggered something in her. Luckily he didn't let her sit with that thought for long, before rambling on, "What do you like? Is it honey or darling? What about sugar or sweet cheeks?"
    "Oh my God, stop it! Alice is fiiiiine."
    But he couldn't stop. It was like he was listing off names he had memorised, "Pumpkin? Buttercup?"
    "Babe!"
    He had slowly crouched closer to her and was poking at her thigh as if he was making a point. It was distracting her though. "I'll think of something. When you least expect it."
    "You know what you did call me once? You were drunk but...," kind of embarrassed to bring it up, he didn't seem to feel the same way as he already continued her thought, "Tinkerbell just doesn't roll off the tongue the same way."
    "Speaking of...," putting the glass on the bedside table, she laid back down on the bed with her exposed breasts, "Come lie with me again."
    His eyes went over her body with a curious look of interest, but quickly replaced by a frown and a shake of the head, "Oh no, you are not going to get me to lie with you again and just end up falling asleep! You are just trying to distract me with all your femininity and your shapes and soft skin... and the way your hair always smells like strawberry candy...," seemingly losing his train of thought for a moment before catching himself, "No! I'm not falling for it this time! We have some ping to pong!"
    "Fine! Then get me my sports bra while I go to the bathroom!", serving the playful banter right at him, she jumped out of the bed butt naked, "You know you're going down, right?"
    Flailing his arms around her suitcase, he maintained the excited look on his face, "What, like the sports bra is your secret weapon?"
    "Awh, that's sweet. You have no idea," crossing her arms, she leaned up against the doorframe. It actually was sweet that he was so confident she would be easy prey, when she thought of him just the same.
    "Your gloating will only be more satisfying when I beat you 10-0." His own gloating just as bad, she felt like she was about to enter a race track with him. But she thought of something better than a winner's trophy.
    "How about, if I win, you shave that mountain man beard?", she didn't realise how much its unkemptness had been bothering her until the wager came out of her.
    He put his hand to his cheek, like he felt it precious (and proud of his achievement), "Fine! And when I win, we are going to watch Shawshank. All of it."
    "You know, you were a lot less dorky when we were dating." She went to the bathroom and he followed her until she shut the door in his face, but leaving it just open enough to hear him speak through.
    "Yes I do know, I had to act sophisticated to lock you in. Then I realised you were worse than I am. Miss Cocky." He threw her sports bra in through the door, followed by her underwear... and then came a t-shirt and shorts.
    He handed her a hairband as she opened the door back up with disappointment, "Please don't tell me that is your nickname for me."
    "Let's see how well you behave as a loser, maybe you will coin that name yourself."
    She put her palms to his chest, moved close and pressed herself against his body, kissing his chin, "Let me say goodbye to those curls."
    "Oh it's on." He caught her lips first and pulled her along the wrist, as they finally headed to let the game begin.