Make the Most of It

4. Gym Mats

"God this year has been a complete disaster so far," I complained, as I took a sip of my coffee. Ari, Carter, a couple other friends, and I decided to go out for a cup of coffee and then hang out at the mall today since we were all off of work early.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad Nikki," Alexandria argued. "Besides, from what I heard, you went a hot date a couple days ago," she said as she winked.

"I don't understand why everyone keeps saying that. It was horrible." Everyone laughed at my complaints. "What have you guys done so far this year?" I asked, wanting to change the topic.

"Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat," Liam answered. We all nodded, as we laughed about how true this was.

"Anyways I have a brilliant idea," Scarlet said. "Since Nikki's birthday is coming up, why not hold a party?" I immediately started shaking my head.

"No thanks. I'd rather not."

"Oh come on, it'll be so much fun," Ari urged.

"Yeah Nikki, we haven't had a party in forever. This is perfect."

"Please Nikki!"

"Come on, we'll make it extra special."

"Ok ok! Fine! But you only have one weeks to plan. My birthday's on the 27th."

"Yes!"

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Ivy screamed. "It's going to be great!" They all cheered. Hoestly, it had been a while since our last party with only our friends and I also hadn't seen some of my college friends in forever. Maybe this will actually be a nice way to catch up.

"We need to start planning immediately!" Aria cried.

"Yeah no thanks. The guys and I are going to let you girls do that. We just show up and keep the party going," Luke said, gesturing towards Levi, Carter, and himself.

"Yeah we're good," Levi agreed. We all laughed together and soon it was time to get back home. It was almost dark out and we all had work tommorow.

We said our goodbyes and left. Once I got home, I got dresed and went to bed, wanting to wake up early the next day.

The next morning, I went to the studio for boxing and once I got there, I noticed that Jake had already begun practicing. For some reason, he seemed extra happy today.

"Hey Nikki. How are you?"

"I'm great, how about you?"

"Doing wonderful."

"Great." I put my bag down and took off my sweats, since I already had my shorts underneath. After putting on my gloves, I joined Jake on the mats.

"So today, I was thinking we should try an actual match. One on one."

"Um Jake? You could kill me."

"Yeah with my good looks," he retorted, pulling an 'attractive' face. We both laughed and I could feel myself blushing.

"Ok I'm up for it."

"Don't worry. I'll go easy on you." I smiled at his words, secretly planning my moves ahead of time.

We both squared up with our hands held in front of us. Jake went in for the first punch, but I deflected him. Then, I did it back to him. We did this back and forth until finally I punched him in the abs. He stopped for a second to take in the blow and I threw a punch at him one more time, which knocked him over. Of course, neither punch hurt him majorly since I hadn't hit too hard. Besides, that was the point of boxing.

While he was on the ground, I crouched down and jokingly pecked him on the cheek and quickly hopped back up.

"I win," I stated as I smiled at my triumph. Then I extended out my arm to help him back up. He reached for it, but instead of pulling himself back up, he pulled me to the ground with him. I landed right on top of him with a thud. He wrapped one arm around my waist. I could feel the warmth of his hand on my back through the thin layer of my shirt. We looked at eachother, not wanting to divert our eyes from eachother's eyes. Then, ever so slowly, he reached up and latched his lips with my own. The taste of mint and a hint of of sweat circulated through both our mouths. We moved slowly until he flipped me over so he was on top. The kiss became more heated as we lay there on the mats of the studio. Finally, our lips parted and we lay there together, unable to comprehend what had just happened.