Head Games

When Mia arrived back at the apartment, she immediately went into her bathroom and turned on the bath. She decided she needed a nice long bubble bath to make herself feel better. She had been taking a lot of baths lately, because of this whole Dave fiasco, and they were quickly becoming short, temporary fixes.

She only used to take long baths maybe twice a month, because Dave used to help her relax mostly. And now that she was taking them more often, their effects were becoming weaker and weaker. She knew she needed to just break down and have a good cry, but she never had time.

She never knew when Dave was going to pop up, and she didn’t want to get caught bawling her eyes out. Sure, she had shed a few tears since the breakup, but she really needed to let it all out.

She stripped off her clothes and sunk into the hot, bubble filled tub, letting the warm water soak and soothe her tense muscles. She thought about how great one of Dave’s massages would be right now, and then almost immediately she scolded herself for the thought.

She heard the front door open and shut, and she sunk lower into the bubbles.

“Mia?” Dave called out.

“I’m taking a bath,” she yelled back. He didn’t reply, so she figured he had heard her and that was the end of it. So, to say she was caught off guard when he walked through the bathroom door would be the understatement of the year.

She sat up a little, so that the bubbles were still covering her from the collarbone down and her face was out of the water completely.

“Dave, what are you-”

“I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “I’ve gone about this whole situation completely wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

“My teammates. I don’t know why I didn’t tell them. I guess I figured it wasn’t really their business, even though I suppose since you’re their friend too it really was. After the first few days of not telling them, it kind of…slipped my mind, until today when I remembered they still didn’t know.”

Mia nodded, wishing he would leave already. She wasn’t exactly comfortable being pretty much naked in front Dave.

“You’re not mad?” Dave asked her. She hadn’t really thought about it, but now that she was she realized she didn’t know.

“I guess not,” she shrugged. Dave frowned at her, and you could almost see him let his surroundings sink in. He glanced around the bathroom, before looking back down at Mia in the tub. His mouth hung open slightly when he let his eyes travel over the glistening skin he could see.

The only thing visible was her body from just above her breasts and up, but it was more than enough for Dave. He knew what the rest of her looked like and he could picture it just fine. He caught sight of a droplet of water travel down her neck and into her cleavage, causing him to swallow hard.

Why had he broken up with her again?

Dave quickly made the decision to walk out of the bathroom before he did something stupid. Not even two seconds later, he walked right back in, stripping off his shirt quickly before discarding the rest of his clothes. He sunk down into the large tub with her, immediately setting his body on top of hers and kissing her hard on the mouth. His hands glided over her smooth curves as her hands rose up from under the water and ran along his back.

“Dave,” Mia moaned out. Dave kissed her harder as he-

“Dave!” Mia called out, snapping him out of his reverie. He looked down at his still fully clothed self, and then back at Mia. “Can I have a little privacy...?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said hoarsely, bolting out of the room. He made his way over to the other bathroom, deciding a cold shower would be a good wakeup call from the day-dream he had just had.

The next day, Mia made sure to not to wake up until she knew Dave would already be out of the apartment. He had practice, so hopefully while he was there she could get ready and be out for the day. She had to be quick though, because she knew he'd be back soon. She desperately wanted to avoid him, and was almost upset that she had the day off of work.

Almost.

Mia called her best girl friend, Alyssa, and asked if she could go over to her place for a while. Once it was settled, Mia hung up and went into the kitchen before getting ready.

Being the total pushover that she was, Mia made Dave a quick lunch and left him a note saying she’d be back later.

When she finally arrived at Alyssa’s place, she hugged her friend quickly and was ushered inside.

“What took you so long to get here?” Alyssa asked, taking Mia’s coat.

“Oh, well after I called you I made Dave some lunch for when he got home and then I had to get dressed-”

"You're kidding," Alyssa interrupted.

"What?"

“You made him lunch? Why?” Alyssa scolded.

“Well…uh. What do you mean why?” Mia inquired.

“Mia,” Alyssa sighed. “You guys are broken up. He might still be living with you, but that should be the end of it. Cut off all other ties.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Alyssa cut off.

“But we’re trying to stay friends!” Mia rushed out.

“Why?!”

“Because he’s one of my best friends! I don’t want to lose that,” Mia defended. Before Alyssa could respond, her fiancé, (and Dave’s teammate) Ben Eager walked into the apartment.

“Babe!” He called, not seeing them.

“In here,” Alyssa called out. Ben walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss before turning to the other woman.

“Hey Mia,” he greeted, hugging her.

“Hey,” she replied. Ben sat down next to Alyssa and made himself comfortable.

“What are you guys talking about?” Ben inquired.

“Your deadbeat teammate,” Alyssa remarked.

“Alyssa!” Mia groaned.

“What? He is,” she insisted.

“What about him?” Ben asked, ignoring the women's banter. Alyssa shot him a pointed stare and the light bulb suddenly clicked. “Oh. Right. Yeah...actually, we were all wondering about that ourselves.”

“Which part?” Mia inquired.

“The part where Dave is a douche bag and treated you like shit,” Alyssa remarked.

“Just stop, alright. I didn’t come here to have my relationship with Dave criticized,” Mia informed.

“Then why did you come?”

“To forget!” Mia exclaimed, standing up. “You think I want to constantly be reminded that I wasn’t good enough for him? That my relationship was a complete fail because I couldn’t keep Dave satisfied?”

Alyssa’s and Ben’s mouths hung open, and although Mia was still angry she felt tears stinging at her eyes.

“No, I came here because I thought maybe my best friend would know how to cheer me up and make me feel better!” Mia put her head in her hands, feeling frustrated.

Ben shot his fiancée a ‘See what you’ve done?’ look as he rose from the couch and sat Mia back down before going to get her some tissues. Alyssa sat next to Mia and pulled her into a hug, and Ben came back soon after with a water bottle and some Kleenex.

“Mia,” Alyssa cooed. “I’m sorry, alright? But you can’t think for a second it was because you weren’t good enough.”

“Why then?” Mia challenged. Alyssa shot a glance at Ben, prompting him to answer, but he just returned the glance uneasily.

“Well, he’s kind of been avoiding the topic,” Ben explained. “He just plain refuses to talk about it. But, uh. I think I know.”

Alyssa and Mia both turned to him, waiting.

“It’s just that…you know, we’re getting more…well known. And uh, you know. More people, especially females are…taking notice,” Ben fumbled, glancing nervously at Alyssa every so often. “I think Dave is just…curious.”

“Because I’m not enough,” Mia repeated.

“No! No, Mia,” Ben backtracked. “Look, Dave can probably explain it better than I can.”

“A deaf mute could probably explain it better than you could,” Alyssa remarked, looking at Ben incredulously.

Mia, not wanting to deal with it anymore, shook her head and told them she had to leave. Before either Ben or Alyssa could stop her, Mia had walked out. She made her way back to her apartment, and immediately regretted it when she walked in and saw Dave coming toward the door as if he was just about to leave.

“Hey!” He greeted. His happy expression faltered as he saw her expression.

“Hi,” she replied softly, turning so he couldn’t see her face. It was too late though, as Dave grabbed her arm and turned her back toward him.

“Are you okay? Have you been crying?” He noticed.

“I’m fine.”

“Mia,” Dave said, his tone telling her he knew she was lying.

“I really don’t want to talk about it Dave. I’ll be fine,” she assured. “Where are you going?” She diverted.

“I’m going out to dinner with…uh…a friend,” he stuttered.

“It’s only like, three o’clock,” Mia noted, choosing to ignore the obvious fact that he was going out on a date.

“Yeah, we’re hanging out a bit beforehand,” Dave informed.

“Oh,” Mia sounded. “Alright. Have a good time.”

“Thanks,” Dave nodded, watching her walk further into the apartment. “Mia,” he halted her. “If you’re really upset, I’ll stay.”

Mia’s heart fluttered as she stood in the hallway and looked at him. She so badly wanted him to stay.

But she didn’t want him to stay because she asked him to. She wanted him to stay because he wanted to.

“Don’t worry about me,” Mia said. She turned into the kitchen and disappeared from his sight, prompting Dave to shake his head and walk out the door, shutting it behind him.