His teammate

Chapter 22 - Red alert!

I open my eyes to the bright light outside, it's sunny today which feels ironic. I stretch as I lay on my back and my muscles feel stiff. I could use a long hot bath by now, but my dad doesn't have a bathtub. I long for my apartment back in England where I can bathe whenever I want to. It's such a luxury.

I hear the front door close and look over at the watch beside my bed and see that it's eight already, so I guess that it should be my dad going to pick up my cousins at the airport.

I pull myself out of bed and don't bother to throw anything on, I'm already wearing a huge t-shirt. I take light steps over the hall and open Link's door without knocking. I get shocked when I hear his voice as I get in, I would have thought that he would be sleeping, but he's not. He's half sitting against the bed frame and is talking on his phone.

He smiles big as he sees me and look me up and down, stopping an extra second on my bare legs. I stand there feeling a little self conscious, crossing one leg over the other and twisting my hands over and over. He holds his free arm open as an invitation and I walk over and climb into bed beside him and lay down. I snuggle into his chest as he puts his arm around me.

"Yeah, I know." He say to whomever he's talking to. His hand I lightly stroking my arm and a shiver goes through me. "I promise that I will." I feel the rubble coming from his chest as he talks. My hand is making small circles on his bare chest and my eyes is closed as I feel his lovely smell in every breath I take. I hear a hum on the other side of phone, but can't tell what they are saying.

"Okay, I'll call you when I know. Bye!" Link say and hang up the phone. He embrace me with both arms and I nuzzle closer to his chest. "Good morning!" He mumble into my hair.

"Hello." I say with a smile.

"I'm gonna miss these mornings." He say and sound sad, making me frown. What does he mean by that? It sure has been nice waking up in the morning and sneaking into Link's room, which I've done these last couple of days. But why would he miss them, it's not over yet.

"What do you mean?" I bring my head up to look at him. He look my face over before answering.

"I have to go back, we have a game and I have to be there." He say and stroke some hair from my face. I knew this was going to end some day, but I had thought he would go back with me. That way we would at least have a couple more mornings left.

"When are you leaving?" I say, trying not to sound too whiny.

"Tonight." He whisper and look me deep in the eyes. I groan and put my head down on his chest.

"I didn't think this day could get any worse." I say and feel like crying. Link holds me tighter and we lay there quiet for a while.

"I should go get a shower before the others get here." I say after a while, realizing that we have to get ready. Soon our home will be invaded by my cousins and then it's off to the church. I can't believe that this day is here already. It's just over a week ago my aunt passed away and I've been home for almost a week. The time has flown away quickly, a lot thanks to Link. He's been distracting me in a good way. It seems to have had an good affect on my dad too. He has actually smiled a couple of times in the last few days. Not a full hearty smile, but close.

"Yeah, tell me when you're done and then I can take one." Link say and we start to sit up. "If you don't want to share one?" He ask and I look over at his one raised eye brown and push him back onto the bed. He laughs loud and I can't keep the snickering coming from my mouth. I stand up and walk out of the room and pick up some clean underwear from my room before heading to the bathroom.

I pull the black dress over my head and look myself in the mirror, it's a simple dress which is tight against my body, ending right under my knees and doesn't show too much chest. We went out and bought it on Friday when I realized that I didn't have anything to wear that would suit the occasion. It's about one of the few times when me and Link went out together here in Philadelphia. He's been laying low, not wanting too many people to know that he's here. The guys know that he's in Philly, but they think he's visiting one of his old friends. They saw an picture of him in a gossip magazine and he had to tell them something. Thankfully I wasn't in that picture, so he could tell them that he didn't even remember that it was here that I went. They bought it.