Gravity

Chapter 8: The new plan

Chapter 8: The new plan (Aliya's POV)

The Russian team was bustling over breakfast. Vika and Anastasia chattered excitedly about both their qualification rounds that afternoon. Ksenia was fussing about how the team should hurry up with their meal and get back to training. Maria had just plopped herself down on Aliya’s right, and was noisily joking about the ‘funny rainbow marshmallow cereal’. The team was a ball of electricity and sheer enthusiasm, but not Aliya. Aliya sat at the table quietly, reclusively poking at her hardening oatmeal.

She felt Maria tap on her shoulder, and vaguely remembered her asking if she was alright. Aliya had absently waved her off and coughed out a gruff ‘yes’. She was right there at breakfast, sitting alongside her teammates, but her mind was distant. It was nowhere near London, gymnastics, or the gold. All she could think about was the accursed American who had made her so weak at the knees and hollow in the head. 

She’d been up the whole night just thinking about their endeavour in the locker room. She remembered how flushed she got just staring at Aly, and how she so wanted to cry out at her touch. She remembered wanting to strangle Ksenia for interrupting. Of course, she knew what was going to happen the moment the two girls started towards the locker room. She knew that solitude and their blood pumping with a fresh batch of teen hormones would lead to something like that. What she didn’t know was the effect it would leave on her and how long it’d last. She could still feel Aly’s lips; taking her shower, lying in bed, brushing her teeth, she could feel it on hers, butterflies springing to life in her stomach.

It had only been a couple of hours, but how she longed for it. She wanted to feel the warmth of Aly’s body pressed up against hers, have her pin her hands down again, and to see the look in Aly’s eyes when Aliya flipped her onto her back. The thought of Aly’s hooded eyes and flushed lips made Aliya bite on the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from sighing. Aly’s adorable last wave goodbye brought a smile to Aliya’s lips. Aliya had never done that with a girl, and even when she did do it with the boy she loved, it was never that passionate. She felt tingles at her fingertips and shivers down her spine as she recounted the previous afternoon. She wanted more.

No.

Aliya had a plan. Aliya came to London to fight, to crush, and to win. She didn’t come to fall in love. She wanted to lead the American on before crushing her into the pulp that was once her competition. She wanted to eliminate her rival by playing the dealing hand in a complicated game called ‘Love’. She wanted to tear Aly’s heart out and force her to walk away from the Olympics, her head hung low and her tail between her legs. She wanted so badly to believe that those things are exactly what she wanted. But they weren’t. 

What Aliya wanted was to love Aly freely, and to be far away from both their teams and the stress of the Games. She wanted to lie by the beach with her, stroke her hair and talk about their future with zest. She wanted to pop grapes into Aly’s mouth and laugh about how she hated the seeds. She wanted to sit by a crackling fire and listen to Aly go on about her stupid American life. She wanted to bake with Aly and leave the kitchen smothered in eggs and flour. She wanted to wake up to her peaceful face every morning and wake her with a peck on the nose. Most of all, she wanted Aly to love her back. 

Everything she felt was dangerous. It created cracks in her team and her hardy exterior. It made her average. It made her a tad bit less intimidating than she was three days before. The love she felt hurt her chances at winning the gold, or any medal at all, but did she care? Well, not in the slightest. When they had kissed, she felt her world go berserk. She looked at the world through a pair of brighter, more vibrant eyes. She didn’t know that she had wanted something like this so badly, or that what they did would have felt that good. Aly made her realise these things. Aly had set her free, liberated her. Aly was her saving grace.