Elias looked around to make sure no one saw him before opening the door to the women's locker room and sliding inside. He had been close enough to see everyone leaving except for Samora. She was still in there finishing up for the night.
He tiptoed forward and stopped when he noticed her. Her long, black hair was put up in a messy bun. She was standing in front of a mirror with her head leaned back and eyedrops in her hand. He had no idea what she might be using eyedrops for. All he knew was that her pretty, light green eyes were currently getting treatment.
"Did you hurt your eye?" He asked.
"Just a second," she answered.
She put eyedrops in her other eye as well and then finally looked at him. Her eyes were wet from the drops. If he had walked in a few seconds later and seen her like this, he would have thought she was crying.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I have posterior vitreous detachment," she answered. "I have to use eyedrops three times a day."
"That sucks," he said.
"It's a natural part of aging. I'm 42," she shrugged. "At least I don't need glasses yet."
She walked back to her bag and put the eyedrops away.
"You haven't told me that," he said.
"There's a lot of things I haven't told you," she smirked. "I thought you were only interested in fucking me. Not knowing weird things about me."
She grabbed her bag and walked over to him. It was true they were friends with benefits. They had been for around a month. It just happened. He couldn't explain how they had passed that line. He had been in her hotel room like many times before. One moment they were laughing at some cat meme on her phone, next moment they were kissing and tearing each other's clothes off.
"Come here," she said.
She stood up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss. They would be leaving the arena together. As friends, if anyone asked. Everyone knew they were friends and that they were carpooling. Nothing wrong there. What people didn't know was that she would come to his hotel room first before making her way to her own in the early morning hours so that no one would spot them together.
"Ready to go?" She asked.
She walked past him without expecting an answer. He turned around and suddenly knew he couldn't go on like this anymore.
"What if I want something else?" He asked.
She turned around and looked at him.
"With us, I mean," he said.
"You wanna stop?" She asked.
"No, I want something else. I want more," he said.
"You wanna put a label on us?" She asked.
"I think I do," he said. "I'm falling for you, Samora. I can't help it. I wanna be with you. I wanna wake up next to you. I wanna cook for you. I wanna go to thrift stores with you. I wanna be the guy who knows about things like your eye condition and buys you eyedrops when you run out. I wanna call you my girlfriend. If you don't want all that, please, tell me now. We need to stop this thing right now if we don't want the same."
She dropped her bag on the floor and walked the few steps over to him. She had a little smile on her face, but she was always smiling like that at him. He wasn't sure what to expect.
"Kiss me," she said.
"Samora," he said lowly.
"Kiss me, Elias," she said. "Right now. Come on, big man, give me a kiss."
He leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. He opened his eyes and looked at her. He was fearful if this would be the last time he ever got to kiss her.
"Hi, boyfriend," she said.
"Boyfriend?" He asked. "I'm your boyfriend?"
"Don't tell me that little speech wasn't real and that you didn't mean a word you just said because that will break my heart. I'm falling for you too," she said.
"I meant every word," he broke out in a wide smile. "I'm your boyfriend."
He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up while laughing. She locked her legs around his waist and stroked his cheek before leaning down to kiss him again. He moved her over to the wall and held her up against it.
"Elias," she breathed heavily. "We need to go right now."
"Where's the fire?" He asked.
"In my pants," she smirked. "You better be ready to fuck me like this the moment we enter the hotel room."
"Don't I always deliver?" He smirked back. "Girlfriend."