A/N: Ahh, I'm so sorry that this chapter wound up so short, with the way that I had planned my chapters it just ended up like this... It'll be longer next week, promise!
Thank you for reading though 3
Chapter Twenty-eight.
I woke up feeling completed. I hadn't expected to feel this fulfilled after last night, actually I had worried that I would be ashamed of myself. It was a nice surprise to be so happy with myself instead.
I looked over to my boyfriend turned lover, Alfred with a small smile. He was still asleep next to me, I was using one of his arms as a pillow but I carefully took it out from under my head and used it to hug on to, shifting closer to him and watching him breath.
It didn't take long before his eyes opened too, I was still watching him carefully as his eyes flickered across to me and a grin grew across his face. He turned onto his side, "G'morning." He murmured and pulled my face into his chest.
"Morning, love." I wormed out of the vice-like grip and he kissed my head.
We lay there for a moment in comfortable silence, relaxed next to each other under the thick duvet.
"School tomorrow." I reminded us both. I was actually quite excited to go back to the routine, I would get to get back to cheerleading and I wouldn't have any more boring days off.
Alfred nodded enthusiastically as he sat up, "Yeah, I can't wait! The high school football tournament starts next week~"
"How long will it last?" I was still lying down, looking up at him.
"The final's gonna be in mid-October~"
"Though you might not make it that far."
"Not make it that far? Of course we will! We're the best team in the world! We'll smash it!"
I rolled my eyes playfully, "Whatever you say..."
"And anyway," He took my hand and kissed it, "I got my perfect cheerleader to get me going~"
I glared at him out of embarrassment; I couldn't think of any comebacks, it was too early in the morning to get snappy...
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" I asked him.
"Sure am! But we're not doing any games until next week..."
"But what about classes? Done all your homework?"
I wasn't looking at him but I could feel Alfred stiffen, "A-Ah... Right..."
I rolled over to look up at him; he'd gone pale and put his face into his hands.
"How much do you need to do?" I sighed quietly; looks like any ideas of going out today could be forgotten.
"My English essay..."
"Is that it?"
"Math homework..."
I yawned and stretched out on the warm bed, "Well then, we won't get much done lying here. Come on, let's get this over with."
I climbed out of the bed and stood up, wincing at the sting in my arse as I moved my body. I heard Alfred chuckle behind me,
"Nice view~" He called over to me.
"What...?" I furrowed my brow and looked down at myself.
Ah.
I was still naked.
I grabbed a pillow and tried frantically to cover myself, before just deciding to flop onto the floor out of sight, "Stop looking!" I shrieked.
"Hey, come on, I've seen it all now..." Alfred peered over the side of the bed at me, sprawled out on his carpet, bright red, only a pillow to hide under.
"Shut up, you!" I grabbed the bed cover and yanked it with all my might, pulling it off the bed, Alfred came off with it.
"Oof!" He landed right across me, knocking the air out of my lungs.
I made some breathless struggling noises under him, bloody hell he was heavy... I flopped my limbs around pathetically, unable to shit the lump on top of me.
However Alfred was doing absolutely nothing to help me. He seemed to have recovered from his shock of sudden landing and was laughing merrily.
"You twit..." I hissed, "Get off of me!" I tried and failed at kick at him.
"Right, right..." He recovered and moved over me, grinning mischievously, "Now wouldn't it be strange if last night happened all over again since we're in this..." He winked, "Compromising position...~"
I was unimpressed, "No chance, you horny yank." I put my hand on my face and pushed him off, swiftly swiping up my clothes and making it to the bathroom before he even realised what had happened.
.oO0Oo.
Once we were both decently dressed and fed some breakfast I sat Alfred down, found his bag and dumped his work-load down in front of him. Alfred whined and put his head on the table, "But Artie, I don't wanna..."
I sat down across from him, "Then you should have been doing it earlier. We had six whole weeks, what on earth were you doing?"
He pouted, "Yeah, and when did you do yours?"
"As soon as we got it!"
He looked shocked and slightly in awe, "All of it?"
"All of it."
He tried to comprehend this, "But that sounds so boring!"
"It worked for me..." I sighed, "I thought you hated me, working through that lot was all I had."
His expression softened, "Oh." I sat back, at least I had shut him up, "I'll do the essay first..." He took the assignment from his English book.
"Cup of tea?" I stood up and got myself a tea bag from the stock of them I kept here.
"Tea? Gross, I'll have a coffee." He immersed himself in the work.
"Disgusting..." I muttered and wrinkled my nose at the mention of the bitter mud that Alfred for some reason enjoyed.
I brewed up his drink of choice and watched Alfred sit back, gazing at the sheet of paper, not quite sure what to make of it and chewing his pen thoughtfully,
"I don't understand..." He threw down the paper, "Artie, I can't do it!"
"Of course you can." I stood behind his chair, "Let's have a look, what do you have to do?"
"Write an essay on why I'm either for or against animal testing..." He recited his task grumpily.
"Ah, so persuasive?"
"Yeah..."
"Well then, are you against it or not?"
"I don't know, that's the thing! I don't really care!"
I patted his shoulder encouragingly, "You have to pretend you do, that's the trick of it."
"What did you do yours on?"
"The teaching of Religious subjects. But this isn't about mine, let's concentrate on yours."
"I can't write this! I've got nothing to say."
"Yes you can. Just lie, it's all in the language and the ways you exaggerate things."
He chewed on his lower lip as he reassessed the task. He sighed quietly and I knew that I had convinced him to get started.
He began to write and I sat back, sipping my tea, mentally urging him to go on whenever he stopped. After half an hour he looked up at me, "Aren't you gonna do anything?"
I shrugged my shoulders, "Like what?"
"I dunno..." He took a sip of his cooling coffee, wrinkling his nose on the discovery that it was lukewarm, "Anything."
"I'm alright where I am."
"Must be boring."
"Not really... I'm thinking."
"What about?"
"Just things. You should be working."
"Thinking about last night?" He grinned from across the table.
I very suddenly stood up, walking quickly to put my cup away so he wouldn't notice that my face had coloured. He got it exactly.
"It's none of your business... You have an essay to write now!"
He stood up and the next think I knew what that his arms had snaked around me from behind,
"It was pretty good last night, wasn't it?" He pressed his face into my neck.
I tried to shake him off but he wouldn't budge, "Don't act so cocky!" I told him sharply, "It was new for us both!"
I felt him falter as he tried to nuzzle into my neck, "Huh? Cocky?"
"Yes, don't say that like you've done it a thousand times before! It's not like we can compare it with anything."
He turned me around and took both my hands, "Well, it felt good right~?"
"Y-Yes..."
"Great! Same for me! Sure beats getting myself off with my hand~"
My eyes widened and I let go of his hands, "Your what!?"
He frowned, confused, "Y'know... Like jerking off..." His jaw suddenly dropped, "Artie... Don't tell me you've never done it to yourself before!?"
"You mean you have?!"
For a moment we were just looking at each other in disbelief,
"Ah... We are talking about the same thing, right? The whole..." He gave a little mime with his hand which I quickly batted away.
"Yes! Of course I know what it is!"
"Then how have you not done it before?!"
"I thought only bloody porn stars did that sort of thing!"
He suddenly smiled and started to laugh, "Oh my god, Artie..."
He was still laughing, "What!?"I snapped.
"If that was true then every guy must be a mega porn star!"
I didn't say anything as Alfred continued laughing; I had to take a moment to let it sink in... Doing things like that was actually normal?
"So... You do that sort of thing?"
"All the time~!" He laughed, "You should try it, it's actually pretty good for you...~"
"Me?!" My voice went high in shock at the suggestion, "No. No, no, no. I couldn't do that."
"Sure you could!" He sounded so bloody cheery, it was scary, honestly, didn't he realise what we were talking about?
"Stop, you have an essay to do." I put a hand on his chest to stop his advances.
His face fell, and he looked miserable again, "Artie... I can't do it!"
I smiled lightly, I actually felt quite sorry for him, and relieved that I had changed the subject, "I'll help you, what have you got?" I took his hand and led him back to the table and sat his moping frame back down.
I picked up his paper, he didn't have much, a few scrawled out paragraphs with atrocious spelling. I read over it as he waited patiently for my advice.
"Now..." I pulled up a chair as I finished reading, "As a whole, it's good..." I paused before I delivered the criticism,
"But...?"
"But I'm just not being convinced by you! You need to seem stronger, make it relatable, get me where it hurts and make me want to back your argument up!"
"I don't know if I can..."
He looked at me hopefully and I took the hint, I wasn't supposed to, we were meant to do this on our own but together we worked on the essay. Alfred came up with the main ideas; I just helped him with the details. It made me as happy as he was to see him when he was finished, reading over what we had done with a huge beaming smile, telling me it was the best piece of writing he had ever seen.
After he had finished his thanks to me and let go of me he started on his maths. I couldn't provide any help there; numbers were another language to me. It was actually nice to sit next to him, leaning on his shoulder, and watching him go through long confusing equations without even taking time to think. It was actually quite amazing; I made sure he knew this by murmuring what I thought to myself as he completed each one.
By the time we finished it was time for a late lunch. We ate happily and sat at the table for a while before I told him that it was time for me to head home. He protested, even suggested that I stayed another night, but I insisted. I had to be ready for tomorrow! I had to stretch my limbs, check my bag to make sure it was all in order and catch an early night.
So we bid each other goodbye and I headed home again. I was actually quite looking forward to tomorrow, it would be a routine I was so used to by now but still so different. I had a completely different relationship with Alfred and I could show up each morning feeling more positive. Things really seemed to be going my way.
