Rules on Relationships

The next morning, the only thing I could remember was making a fool out of myself in front of Michael. And I had a feeling I said some horrible or stupid things again. I woke up the next day at around noon, my head was in pain and my vision was at a blur. Luckily for me, I had no work and no classes and it was Saturday.
"Where am I?" I groaned as I scanned the whole room. It wasn't my room. I touched my body to check if there was nothing on me, and I was still wearing my dress from last night. I sat up and scanned the room, and it definitely wasn't my room. I rubbed my head and let out a groan of agony from the hangover.
What happened last night? Seriously.
I tossed the duvet off of my body and got out of the bed, though I wobbled at first and struggled to keep steady, I managed to stand and walk by the tenth attempt that morning. I used the walls as support as I went towards my purse and found a note. It instructed me to borrow any clothing I needed before going outside.
Did Michael write this?
Without a second thought, I wandered over the closet and opened the drawers. Everything was too big for me, so I decided to just put on a pair of his boxer shorts and threw on one of his shirts that drooped down one shoulder because it was loose on me. I made sure that I chose the plain colored clothing so that I wouldn't ruin anything that may be of value to him. I rushed to the bathroom and tried to untangle my hair and wash my face to get rid of the makeup that smeared all over my face, I probably looked like a clown.
Wandering out the door, I couldn't help but scan all the things in Michael's home. He said he had no roommates, only his dog, Herman, who was nowhere to be found. There were pictures of his Mom, his Sisters, Family photos, his friends, his coach, teammates, and of course, his dog. There were some articles, and along the way, I saw his Gold Medals. They were so shiny and tucked away behind a case. I gawked at all seven of the medals, and he said in an article that I read that it was one of his greatest achievements. The only medals I ever saw were tow Lia's Gold that she won for Breaststroke and Butterfly at High School, but those didn't seem as real as the ones Michael won.
"You want to hold one of them?"
I slightly jumped and turned around to see Michael with my backpack. "Can you stop scaring me like that?"
He only chuckled. "I see that you found yourself something to wear," He beckoned at my choice of clothing from his wardrobe, "I picked this up from your place so you can get changed to something that actually fits you."
"You drove all the way there just to get those for me?"
"Yeah, and I got food for you to cure the hangover."
"Did I do something stupid last night?" I asked as soon as he mentioned my hangover.
"No, but you began to slur your words when we got back here."
I sighed and mentally slapped myself, though I guess I was relieved to know that he and I didn't do anything too far...

Oh, and yeah! I finally realized what Lia finally meant that night at the club. I built up some kind of imaginary wall around Michael since we talked about our exes, and whoever crossed it were all threats. And Lia was proud of that?

"You want to eat first or change?"
I rubbed my head and pointed to the takeout bag. "Eat."
He nodded and placed my bag to the side before he came to me and wrapped his arm around me for a short embrace and led me to the kitchen area of his home. I still couldn't believe that he lived on his own.
"I have a feeling something bad happened last night," I proclaimed as I sat down on one of the stools to his kitchen counter. He had a curious look on his face as he unpacked the takeout bag and revealed that he bought pancakes from the place where he took me to eat on our first date. I could smell the strawberry seep through the holes of the boxes, but I didn't want my hunger or my hangover stop me from continuing on with what I wanted to say to him. I placed both my hands flat on the counter and asked, "Do you think it would be appropriate for me to flirt around?"
"No," He sternly grunted. "Wait, is this still continuing with your rant from the other night?"
"Yeah! I just remembered what I was angry at you about," I exclaimed.
"Oh, really? You were angry at me?" He didn't seem to be taking my argument seriously.
"But admit it, you were angry at me when I interviewed Kenneth and he was flirting with me-"
"-And because he was your ex-boyfriend," He added. "Can we not have an argument?"
Argument?
I crossed my arms and looked away. My hangover wasn't as bad as when I woke up, but because I started to get angry and had my blood heating up, I suddenly forgot about it and was legitimately angry.
"What's wrong?" Michael took notice. "Don't be like that."
"Nothing's wrong," I stubbornly responded as I picked up a fork and roughly cut right through the pancake and viciously ripped it apart. The small pieces were violently stabbed by my fork and crunched by my teeth. Michael noticed the tension in the room, and after watching me rage through my meal, he finally said, "You're not okay."
Obviously not.
"You need to tell me what you're thinking so I can understand what you're mad about," He added.
"Nothing," I continued to be stubborn. I inhaled deeply and exhaled heavily to try and cool down, but he wasn't making me feel better at all. "How would you feel if I was flirting?"
"Why are you asking me these things again? You know very well how I feel about you and flirting, we talked about it last night." He actually sounded agitated as he put down his fork and leaned forward against the counter. "Listen, there was nothing between me and that woman last night, and I spent the rest of my night with you, here, watching a movie and trying to let you sober up. You fell asleep. I stayed here with you. No one else was in here. Just me and you," He argued back. I gave him an unsure stare. I wasn't actually sure what happened after that tequila shot and make out session. I was really wasted last night and Michael was at least a bit sober.
"I really can't remember anything," I groaned. "I got my days mixed up. Last night wasn't the night we went to the club, right? It was Tiffany's birthday, right?" I questioned. He only nodded and added, "And we solved our flirting problems last night before we took the tequila shot."
"Then how did we end up here?"
"You said you were feeling sick, so I asked you if you wanted to go home, but you complained that it was so far, so you asked if you could just sleep over here."
I quickly covered my face. What was I thinking?
I could hear Michael's usual chuckle as he continued to eat. I heaved out a lot of air as I exhaled, my eyes still covered and my fingers rubbed my forehead while I was at it. I got angry for no reason, and I solved a problem while I was intoxicated. Did I miss something in between?
Stupidity to the next level.

The Affectionate Type.

After breakfast, I showered and got dressed in the clothing Lia packed. I didn't like what she chose for me.
I was forced to wear a pair of denim short shorts and a loose white singlet that had a pretty low curve around the neck region, and the lingerie she set out were all white and the ones with the lace. What was she thinking!
I packed away my belongings, stuffing them all into my bag and lacking care about arranging them. I walked out and saw that Michael had also taken a shower and changed into something appropriate, he was watching TV and channel surfing through all the movie channels he had. I calmly took my seat next to him while his arm automatically wrapped around me and pulled me close to him, our heads against each other as he lazily mumbled, "Are you calm now?"
"Yes, I am, thank you," I lazily replied while pulling my feet off the floor and crossing my legs. "Where did you sleep last night? And I've been dying to meet your dog, where's Herman?"
"I slept here, since you occupied my bed. And Herman... Well, he's with my Mom."
"What's he doing with your Mom?"
"I'm not home a lot, and Mom thought it would be nice to have the dog around her house, I guess he'll be back in a month or two, depending on when Mom decides to bring him back."
"I see, well, you're a bit of a loner until then."
"You can always sleep over, I don't mind a bit of company around here." He calmly answered as he stopped pressing on the remote control and tossed it to the other chair, he left the TV on to the music channel, when Lil' Wayne was playing. I remembered him tell me that he was into that type of music, and I didn't mind it.
"No thanks, I'll let you be a loner for a while," I teased. He then turned to me and had a mischievous grin. I looked at him with a confused look before I realized that he was set on tickling me. I prepared to run, but he managed to grab my wrist and tugged me back onto the sofa where I was caught between his body and the cushions. His fingers were wriggling about on my waist which made me let out a laugh, though I tried to push him off and fight back, he was just stronger. I pleaded for him to stop, and it was a while before he did, his arm against the top of the sofa while the other was holding to the side to control his weight on top of me. I slowly began to calm down from the mini giggles that followed from his tickling attack. I reopened my eyes and met with his, they were glistening and soft and warm, it had my stomach getting all fuzzy. A school girl's feeling towards her crush.
"How long have we been together?" My boyfriend suddenly asked. Felt weird saying it like that.
"I guess nearly two months?" I shrugged as I reached forward and gave the sides of his face a tap. He turned his head slightly to kiss my hand and slowly down my arm and then neck, his lips reached my jawline and towards my chin, but then he went far from me again. I let a groan escape my lips to show disappointment.
"When we reach two months, I want to take you away for a weekend."
"How come?"
"I think you deserve time away from here, you've been stuck here too long. I think that's what's driving you a bit crazy," He teased, which reminded me that I was one of the unlucky few that was stuck in Ann Arbor when they went to another State for the swim meet. I poked my tongue out and said, "You'll have to work hard, because it'll take a while for me to agree on that."
"And that reminds me," He suddenly exclaimed as he stole a kiss from me and got off the sofa, he wandered away, leaving me confused as I sat up and pulled my knees closer to my body and hugged them. I stared at the TV and saw that another rapper was on, and his song had women prancing around in their bikinis and dancing alongside a pool. I stared down at my body and compared it to one woman on screen, and I let out a small chuckle when I began to imagine myself in a body like that. I didn't look nice.
"What's funny?" Michael asked with his head towards the TV. He let out a chuckle and commented, "Don't worry, Anne, your body is way better than those women."
I blushed as I remembered that he actually saw me in a bikini on the night we first kissed. I covered my cheeks to make sure that he didn't notice my tomato red cheeks. He took a seat at the other side of the sofa, by my feet, and revealed a small box.
"Ta da," He cutely said. "I didn't buy you anything significant when we celebrated our first month together, and I even made you cry. And I thought I'd make up for it, so yesterday, before Derek and I met with Bob, we went to the jeweler and picked out something." He explained. I nearly choked when I wanted to reply, and he pushed the box into my hands and asked me to open it. I could only stare, it was a box, but it was fancy and I instantly felt that he must've spent a bit when I saw where he bought it from.
"But I didn't get you anything either," I mumbled and looked at him, he probably noticed that felt bad because he shook his head and told me to make up for it by going on that weekend away with him on our second month. I still didn't budge on that idea, so I only looked back at the box and slowly took off the lid. It was one of those moments where everything decided to go in slow motion, and it made my heart pound harder and harder in my chest. I felt like I was going to blow up when I saw it.
And when I finally did, I melted.

A promise.

Inside the box was a silver necklace and it had the first letter of his name.
My jaws dropped when I saw it, and it just stared back at me and called me to wear it. I covered my mouth to hide my shock and held back my typical tears when something sweet or emotional came my way. Michael took the box from my grasp and took out the necklace, he held it between his fingers and instructed me always wear it so that wherever he was, I would know that he was there with me. I nodded as he stood up and went behind me to put it around my neck, and once he clipped it, the necklace dropped into place and just above the cleavage of my breasts. He sat back down, and the moment his butt touched the sofa, I tackled him onto his back. My arms around his neck and kissed him. He was surprised with what I did, but his arms wrapped around me and kissed back.
We parted a bit later and I lay against his chest. His heart racing at the same pace as mine. We both exhaled at the same time and laughed at the same time. We were probably in sync, like the other couples I've seen in Campus.
"So a weekend away sometime next month?" Michael asked again. He was so persistent! Maybe that was how he made it to the Olympics. I grabbed his nearest hand and bit his finger. "Fine," I said in defeat. "Where are we going?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out," He teased as his tone sounded excited. "Just bring your bikini again."
I pushed myself up and glared at him, it was our inside joke that started right after our swimming pool date. He started it, and I always got embarrassed whenever he brought it up.
So I told him that I changed my mind, but he responded by tickling me.

Ah, this guy was really a keeper.