Playing For Keeps (Harry Styles)

Chapter 8

The ugly blaring of an alarm clock pulls me yet again from my cherished sleep as my eyes flew open Monday morning. I groan, running my hands over my face before reaching for my phone, the source of the disruption. I then proceed to sit up carefully, minding the ceiling, to sleepily look around my room with my hair in my eyes. When my gaze falls onto Alex, I find her still softly snoring and unaffected by the ringing of the alarm. I feel a devilish grin spread over my face, and I reach behind me for my pillow. In one swift motion, it's flying across the room and connecting with the side of her head. As I climb down my ladder and approach hers, I hear a soft "oof" and make out her shadowy figure starting to rustle around. By the time I climb to the top of her ladder, she is leaning back against her pillows with a sleepy grin to match my own. Before I can say anything, the next thing is I see is my pillow being rocketed back towards my own head, causing me to stumble downwards back to the floor. I let out my own "oof" as Alex's head pops over the edge of her bed, still smiling widely. "Good morning, asshole," she says jokingly, still looking down at me.

I look up at her from my position on the floor, and lay back with my arms under my head, stretching my legs. "Good morning to you too, sunshine," I laugh back up to her. "But in case you've forgotten, today's the first day of preseason. It's hockey time."  Her face disappears again as I hear her body fall heavily back into her mattress again with a loud "UGH." 

"Same, my friend, same," I reply with another laugh, pulling myself up off the floor. I reach up to her ankles and sharply pull, causing her to kick out at me but getting her out of be effectively. She slides down the ladder expertly to land next to me, her hair disheveled eyes barely open. I slap her back a few times to wake her up, successfully earning a playful glare. "Hey," I whipser. "Just think of all the lacrosse boy booty we can check out today." Alex laughs loudly and bends down to grab her towel off the floor. "Okay, okay," she surrenders, still giggling. "Let's get ready then..." She trails off as I walk towards my closet to get my towel. I feel a sharp sting against my back and I whip around to find Alex strolling past me, twirling her towel in hand. "That's to get even for the pillow," she says in a low voice while looking at my from the corners of her eyes, causing us both to laugh again.

...

As Alex and I each stepped into our respective shower stalls, my chest began to buzz with excitement. Today was finally the day I'd been waiting for since before I'd graduated from high school back home. As I strip out of my clothes and turned on the water, I reflect on the events that have happened since I moved in Friday night.

Alex and I clicked right away when we met Saturday, and I smile as I hum under the water and think about  how we spent our Sunday. Gemma and Alex's big sister, Eleanour, had shown us more around campus and filled us in on how the hockey team was run.  We briefly met with some other girls on the team, hung out for a while, then went back to our dorm rooms. To wrap up the night, Alex and I went to the floor meeting of our dorm as was requested by our dorm advisor. Everyone had been seated in a circle and the typical ice breaker games were played. Alot of our floormates were really cool, and the night would've been perfect had I not felt Ethan's eyes on me as I avoided his gaze coolly. He even winked at me on his way back to his room.

An uncomfortable shiver rolls through me at the fresh memory while I stand under the shower head. I decide it's time to get out as I hear Alex yelling through the curtain, "Hey princess! I know practice doesn't start till one but we haven't got all day! I'm hungry! Get your ass out of there!" Wrapping my towel around me, I rip open the curtain and stick my tongue at her. She looks surprised for a moment before returning the gesture. We laugh as she shivers exaggeratedly, whispering, "Jesus, Izzy, I thought you were gonna flash me." Laughing harder, I reply, "You got lucky this time!" with a wink.

Not wanting to risk another run in with Ethan, I race Alex back to our room; this was quite difficult in a towel. By the time we reach our door, we've both succumbed into fits of giggles and rush inside to get changed. Once that is done, we throw open the little fridge's door to grab some breakfast. 

I am leaning back with my socked feet up on my desk, finishing up my banana as Alex brushes out her her hair in front of her mirror; our idle chit chat about our nerves for our first practice is interrupted by the sound of her phone buzzing across her dresser. I toss and shoot my banana peel towards the garbage can, but it lands at Lex's feet. She simultaneously bends down to pick it up while reading the text message from her phone's screen. "Who's it from?" I ask, bringing my hands up behind my head.

"It's from El," she replies. "It says to meet at the locker rooms right next to the field, and to bring a change of clothes?" She looks up to me with a confused look, one eyebrow raised quizzically. My phone vibrates as I shrug. After glancing over it quickly, I see that it is Gemma with a similar message. I take my feet off the desk and lean forward in my seat as I shoot her a quick text back. "I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but Gem said the same thing." I eye the clock next to our door. "We better start getting ready then, it's a bit of a walk." Alex nods in agreement and I get up to start and pack my sportsbag. My stomach was doing nervous flips, but I couldn't be more excited. I felt something was going to happen today, and it was gonna be good.

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