Invisible String| WinTeam

CHAPTER-7

At night, Team couldn't sleep at all. He counted sheep and he also drank a warm cup of milk but nothing helped. He searched for sleeping pills in his room but he couldn't find those either. Finally, a defeated Team sat on his desk as he looked at the window by his side. He had always wanted to see stars in a cloudless night but all he could see was a polluted sky with only a few visible stars.

All of Team's nights were really bad. He either had nightmares about that day or he couldn't sleep at all. He kind of preferred not being able to sleep to those scary nightmares. Whenever he thought about that day, he felt a dull ache in his chest. He realized that it was always gonna stay with him, no matter how old he gets. After all, he deserved it all.

Finally, it was morning and it was the time to go to his class. Team hadn't slept for even a minute. The small outing with his hia had been amazing but the night after was kind of difficult to go through.

He stuffed a toast into his mouth as he made his way downstairs. He was feeling drowsy and a bit disoriented as he made his way to his car.

"Good morning, Team." Someone spoke from behind as Team was about to get into his car. It was Win.

"What do you want?" Team wasn't in a mood for a conversation with anyone. Win had been really good to him but he just wanted to be left alone. Team realized that he had started pitying himself and according to his brother, self-pity was the worst thing that you could do to yourself. However, you can't be in control of who you are at all times and at times, who you really want to be takes over you and you don't even have a will to escape.

"Actually, my older brother took my motorbike today so can I get a ride with you?"

"Fine, but you'll drive."

"Done."

Sometimes, when life was pretty bad, those little wins made you a bit happy. Like, Team didn't want to drive that day because he was not feeling well but then there was Win to his rescue, unintentional on the blonde's part.

Team got into the passenger's seat as he shut the car's door. He started massaging his forehead which had been hurting since the morning due to the lack of sleep. Actually, not getting enough sleep was not a big deal for him but between his nightmares and his panic attack and the whole swimming ordeal, things had started to take a toll on him.

"Do you have a headache?" Win asked. Team discerned that the older must have observed him and he cursed at him mentally for being so observant.

"I am fine. It's just a headache."

"I have some painkillers in my bag's back pocket, you can take them if you want."

"Its okay, I am fine."

"You said that lie already."

"I am not lying, I just didn't get enough sleep yesterday."

"Because of the movie?"

"No, I am not a scaredy-cat like you. I couldn't sleep just 'cause I couldn't sleep."

"That makes no sense but okay."

"You won't understand it."

For the rest of their journey, Team continued to look outside the window without conversing with Win. He could notice the blonde staring at him from the corner of his eyes from time to time but he paid no attention to him.

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As Team walked into the changing rooms, he felt a bit nervous. It had only been a few days since the whole fiasco happened and people were looking at him as if they were looking at a train wreck waiting to happen. Team pretended to pay no heed to them but in actuality, he wanted to know what they were thinking about him.

Although, Dean had mentioned that it would be okay for him to take a few days' leave, Team knew that he could get into serious trouble if he was absent for more because he was a swimming scholarship kid and he couldn't skip practice more than he already had.

"Hey, you are back." One of the friendly swimmers said to him as he made his way to the pool.

"Yeah. It feels good to be back," Team said as he waved back to Pharm and Manow who once again had come to see them at practice. When Team saw his phone on the day the whole thing happened, there were a lot of missed calls from both Pharm and Manow. They had been dead worried about him. All of that made him realize that he had really amazing friends.

"Team, you really wanna do this?" Win asked as he suddenly came up to stand beside him. Win was already wet which meant that he had already been in the water. He noticed his wet locks swaying as he waited for Team to answer.

"Yeah, sure. Watch me but do not time me yet."

Team decided not to push his sleep deprived body as he took position and jumped into the water and swam in a speed that was neither too fast, nor too slow. The old fear threatened to return as Team pushed it to the back of his mind. Instead, Team chose to think about a certain someone. He thought about a certain blonde with sparkling eyes, his charming smile and his caring persona. Each and ever breath became fresher and easier as Team thought about his Win.

Team felt the familiar rush of dopamine as he cut through the water, he felt his heart rate going up which scared him and calmed him at the same time. When he finally got out, he looked at Win and Win looked at him. There was a strange electricity between them. He felt chills as he looked at the older boy. His skin shot up with goosebumps which were not caused by the cold water.

"I know that it was just one lap but I felt great and most importantly, normal and I definitely did not have a panic attack."