Rules on Relationships

Not a day went by when people around the Campus cheered my way due to the Michael's daring tequila show, and I was constantly bothered by the attendees of Brunette B's party to spill the beans on how it was like to be dating the star swimmer and what went on in the room, but I wouldn't reveal a thing. I found it rather personal.
However, the gossip about Campus was that I had a new necklace that had the first letter of Michael's name, and I had proudly worn it. People began to whisper that things were rather serious in our relationship and that he had declared his loyalty when he gave me the necklace. I didn't know what people were talking about until I was told that Patricia tried to hit on him after training, apparently, he was trapped in the swimming facility, cornered and forced upon before he said to her that he didn't want anything to do with her. Though, am not sure if she left him alone after that, because one afternoon, I saw her follow him to the car park and try to seduce him with her breasts on the verge of coming out from her fitting black shirt, and I watched him from afar and saw that he really didn't want anything to do with her because he said that he had a girlfriend and mentioned my name.
Patricia wasn't happy.
She growled and bad mouthed me, but Michael told her not to say anything that she would regret and left her alone in the middle of the footpath. I could only laugh and walked back into the building. Brunette A and Brunette B had seen the whole thing while they parked into the car park, and they had to wait in the car because it was awkward to walk out in the middle of the dispute. When I met with Michael in the evening, I greeted him with a forceful kiss and he didn't know why. He was making me swoon day by day.

The Boyfriend-Girlfriend Contract.

"I have to go to New York for the next four days," I revealed once Michael opened the door of his home. He let out a chuckle and leaned to give me a kiss hello while grabbing my backpack, he let me in and shut the door behind me as he asked, "Why the gloomy face?"
"I told you, I have to go to New York."
"Isn't that a good thing?" He asked while walking into the bedroom, he probably placed my bag to the side as he came back and with his wallet and cellphone tucked into his pockets. I crossed my arms and shrugged. I wasn't really sure how to react, but I didn't really want to go to NYC yet. He wandered passed me to the living room where he turned off the TV and was continuing to scatter about while I stood by the door, I let out a small sigh and mumbled, "I guess, but you won't be happy who I have to go with."
"Wait, you never told me why you're going?" He yelled from the other room.
"I'm going to New York to see Fulton and later interview a few student Actors and Actresses," I explained with my voice slowly fading near the end. I saw him rush back to me as I added, "That includes Kenneth..."
"No," He reacted as he grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head and covered his singlet. He tapped his pockets to check if he had everything and later disappeared to search for his car keys, he even asked me if I saw it. I shook my head and noticed that the keys to his car were just by the bowl beside the door, so I called him and lazily picked up the keys and let it dangle down my index finger. Michael came back and rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes looked a bit embarrassed and grabbed the keys, he leaned and gave me a kiss on the forehead as a reward and pinned me against the door frame. He trapped my hands between his and the door, I was trapped and he stared so deeply into my eyes. He smirked and whispered, "I'd rather take you to Miami with me."
"Oh, that's right," I remembered. "When are you going? For how long?"
"Bob said tomorrow night for three days," He sighed and leaned his forehead against mine. "I don't want to go, and I won't have time to even enjoy the beach because all I'm doing is training with the other guys."
I raised my right eyebrow. "Enjoy the beach?" I repeated with a questionable tone. "And what does that mean?"
"I'm kidding! I knew you'd react this way," He laughed as he released me from his grasp, but not letting go of one of my hands. I furrowed my brows and tried to tug my hand away from him, but he wouldn't budge, instead he wrapped his free arm around me as he gave me a hug from behind, chin against my shoulder and his head rested onto mine. "I told you, I'm joking," He teased and pecked the side of my neck. "We'll just have to put up some rules while we're apart from each other," He added as he sounded displeased thinking about being away from me. I tried to hide a smile because of how cute he sounded, but I couldn't resist. I covered my mouth and rushed out of his grasp and walked out of his home, he followed not too long after and locked his home and caught me halfway down the pathway towards the car park where he kept his SUV. I let out a small yelp once he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off my feet and over his shoulder. I playfully slapped his back to put me down, but he only snickered and continued to walk further to the back where his car was parked. I could hear the alarm go off and he put me down, I was once again trapped, and that time, both of his hands were on either side of me so that I wouldn't escape, so I did what little else I could do, I wrapped my arms around his neck and began to kiss him.
"Mr. Phelps, this is inappropriate," I murmured in between kisses. "And we need to get going, Lia and Derek won't be too happy when we're late for their mini celebration dinner," I added and fully parted away from him, and he let out a displeased groan and opened the door for me.
"You know, if Lia wasn't your best friend and Derek wasn't my very great friend, and if they weren't the ones who introduced me to you," He listed down while I got into the car. "I wouldn't go to that dinner and rather spend time with you on the sofa watching a movie."
I laughed. Michael often made random comments like that.
"I'm serious," He defended himself, to which I replied, "But you would be alone because you wouldn't have met me if it weren't for them. Now stop stalling."
His lips curved as he nodded and closed the door. He rushed to the other side to his driver's seat and stared at me again, I stared back and began to feel my cheeks heat up. I touched my cheeks and looked away as I grumbled, "Can we just go? Stop looking at me like that!"
Michael laughed. "Not my fault," He commented before he turned the ignition and we were off. It was a silent car ride at first with his music booming, but he suddenly silenced it and exclaimed, "We need to put some rules up while you're away with this Kenneth guy."
"Really, Michael, really?" I couldn't help but giggle. "I won't do anything."
"If I put rules up, I'll obey to them too," He added, which he said with a lot of intention because he knew how I felt with him being away to Miami, where all the fun happened and such. I looked out the window to hide my surprised face as he continued, "I have ten things to say."

Here were Michael's rules:
1. Do not engage in flirting or gain unwanted attention from a potential threat.
My favorite.
2. Sharing a bed or a house or a room or sleeping over with the opposite sex is prohibited.
He then added, "Except Me."
3. Kissing, Touching and having Relations with another person is illegal.
I laughed at his use of words.
4. Getting numbers from an attractive person is not allowed.
He probably looked at the thesaurus for different words.
5. Certain people from the past are not allowed back in.
Cough, Kenneth, cough.
6. Making comments that another person is attractive or whatever is not okay.
He looked at me, he knew I was guilty.
7. Always mention that you're taken to possible threats.
He repeated this twice, like it was the most important.
8. Alcohol around opposite sex is bad, don't do it.
Then he commented about my drinking habits.
9. Don't do anything stupid with another person that you know is bad.
He ran out of words to describe 'potential threat'.
10. Make sure to Text or Call each other once a day.
Though it was him who would send or call more than once.

That was one of the cutest things I've ever heard him say, and the most adorable thing was that he was very serious when he was listing his rules down. I struggled to hide my reaction, but I just couldn't. I ended up commenting, "Michael, you know how cute that sounded. You must've thought about it for a very long time."
"I thought about it last night, actually," He confessed. "After I called you about Miami, on the way home, it came to my head that you'll probably go rebellious while I'm away, so it listed itself."
I gave him a pat on the shoulder. "It's you that I'm worried about."
"You don't need to worry about me, I'm a good boy."
I giggled. "Alright, fine, I promise I'll be a good girl while I'm away," I promised while holding in more giggles. He gave me an expression and mumbled, "You know that I'm serious, right?"
"I know, I know."
"Do you have anything to add?"
I tapped my lip and tried to remember what other things I noticed about the couples around Campus and those who went to the Ice Cream Parlor. I went silent for a while and tried hard to remember, there was one thing that I had wanted to ask him for a while since Brunette B told me when she covered a shift for Jesse, and while I sat there, Michael had pulled up at the restaurant that Lia and Derek booked for their gathering. He turned off the ignition and waited for me. I accidentally hit his arm when I realized and turned his way, my body turned and all my attention were all to him as he was surprised by my sudden rush of energy.
"What do you think about nicknames?" I bluntly blurted out. It was an embarrassing question when I thought about it, but I really wanted to know if he ever thought or considered calling me something else other than Anne, it wasn't something I wanted him to call me by because it was too casual, and I imagined the he surely wouldn't like to call me Roxy because of a certain someone who used to call me by that name. I always overheard boyfriends calling their girlfriends by babe or baby, but Brunette B stated me that it was a common or back-up nickname to use when a couple was in public. Derek called Lia, Angel, which was too corny for my taste, but Lia said it was something he thought up as it was something of significance, but in public, it was baby.
"What do you have in mind?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I moved my shoulders up and down about three times before I noticed that he was in deep thought. I smiled and tapped his hand that was calmly placed on the steering wheel. I pecked his cheek and said, "Don't overthink yourself. It's not important."
Not yet, anyway.

Nicknames.

Throughout the celebration, there were a few couples around and some singles who mingled with the other singles. It were these types of parties that I attended before becoming an item with Michael, and he would be there too, and the more I thought about it, I realized that Lia and Derek were already set on matchmaking their closest friends together, because every time I attended their gatherings, Michael and I were always placed near each other and were forced to talk when we weren't really that close. Yes, we were still awkward then.
But I'm thankful for their devious plot.
The couples that I paid attention to had called their significant other by a certain name, and it made me want to know what Michael would call me when it would arrive to the point where calling me by my name was too casual. I was told by this couple who studied in different majors that their nicknames for each other were more towards teasing one another, like they would call the other by the title of their major then babe or baby...
I can't call Michael, Swimmer Baby, that's... No, I'm not going to even think about it,
Another couple added an '-ie' at the end of their name. So, Michael-ie? Haha, no thanks. Then another added 'love' to the end of the name, and it sounded fancy when I tried it out, it made me laugh when I repeated it.
I didn't know thinking of nicknames were hard!
I even asked Derek, and I hardly ever ask Derek for anything, because, well, he was Derek. But he was pretty honest with me, he told me that the reason he called Lia, Angel, was because she saved him from the life of booze, negative thoughts and helped him get through his difficult time of wanting to quit swimming because he nearly got booted from the Swim Team because of his booze addiction. He then ruined our peaceful moment by commenting that I should just call Michael, Hottie, because that was what the other girls called him. I hit him for it. Although he did mention that nicknames were something that only a couple could share privately between each other.
Most of the night, I was so caught up with trying to figure out a nickname that I completely got distracted from the mingling, and at one point, forgot that I was with Michael and disappeared on him from time to time just to talk to couples. He had to wrap his arms around me to keep me on one spot and not wander off.
Michael Phelps can be so adorable sometimes.

At the end of the night, I was back at my swimmer boyfriend's place since I needed a place to stay while my best friend and her boyfriend wanted the apartment to themselves for the rest of the night, and I was disgusted just thinking about it that I instantly called Michael and packed my bags without another word. It wasn't even their anniversary, they were celebrating because Lia won a majority of her swim meets for the past month and had gained a full scholarship because of her success, AND she was listed as a potential for the Beijing Olympics in three years. I was happy for my best friend, I mean come on, it's Team USA to the Olympics! That also meant that I would have a higher chance to actually go overseas to watch the events live. Though, on the other hand, I did complain to Michael about being kicked out of the apartment in the middle of completing an essay, and he just laughed at me. He always laughed at me. I seemed to be so charming around Michael Phelps.
"Thanks for letting me stay over," I whispered as I followed him inside, it was a bit late and his neighbors were asleep and I was the type to be considerate of others. His neighbor to the left was an older couple with their Grandson, who also studied at the Campus, and the other side had two men and a woman sharing the house. Michael said that there was a scandal about the three around his block, apparently the woman dated one while sleeping with the other, something like that, and the man who she was sleeping with had slept over his house for a week before he moved back in and the three are in mutual terms. Sounded like those soap operas on TV.
I hoped I wouldn't go through that type of thing with Michael.
"No problem," He replied while tossing his keys into the bowl along with his phone and wallet, he then checked if the door was locked before he returned his attention to me. "It's nice having someone around here," He added while he wrapped his arms around me. He then commented, "You were pretty busy tonight."
"I was mingling," I slightly lied, though I did mingle, I hid the truth about why I mingled with couples in particular.
"I thought about what you said earlier." He led me to the bedroom. It was slightly nerve racking to think that we had agreed to sleep in the same bed that night, and I was nervous because I hadn't slept in the same bed with a guy since an intoxicated exchange student fell asleep next to me when he got home from a party. I was sober.
"I said a lot," I joked as I wandered to the spot where he placed my bag. I avoided looking at him when he took off his shirt and tossed it in the basket on the other side of the room, and that meant that he was officially half-naked. I gulped as I grabbed the pajama pants from my bag and rushed out to the bathroom outside, I was slightly sweaty and shaky from the thought that right in the other room was a half-naked Michael Phelps, and if I thought right, he would have just stripped naked the moment I ran out the door. I stared myself in the mirror and had to wash, dry and slap my face to realize that it was just sleeping time. There was no need to worry.
When I finished up in the bathroom, I reentered Michael's bedroom, he was dressed only in sweats and didn't bother to cover up his torso. I could feel my heart race in my chest, it seemed like if whatever he did made his muscles flex, and I swear that the lines of his abs formed each time he inhaled.
I felt like fainting.

"Ready for bed?" I stammered as I folded and placed my clothes neatly beside my backpack, I turned to him and found him so close to me. His lips curved before giving me a random smooch, it was a fiery one. It suddenly felt hot in the room when his arm wrapped around my waist and his free hand on my arm. I let out a small moan before he parted and said, "This isn't your first sleepover here, you know."
"But you didn't sleep beside me when I slept over here a few nights ago," I debated. "And I wasn't sober."
Michael only chuckled. "Oh yeah, I didn't finish what I said before," He recalled as he released me from his hold and walked to his side of the bed and just tossed the blankets back, my eyes plastered onto him as I took small steps to the side I slept in when I was last here. I arranged the pillows and returned my gaze to him and saw that he was already watching at me. I swallowed the last ounce of my fear before I climbed into his bed, and he followed as soon as he turned the lights off. I lay on one side to face him as he did the same. His arm hauled me closer to him and rested it calmly on my waist, and he closed his eyes and yawned, "I know what to call you."
"Were you thinking about it all night?"
He lazily nodded.
"Then what is it?"
"It's too embarrassing to say..." He slurred as he was probably on the verge of falling asleep. I quickly tapped the side of his face to keep him awake long enough to tell me, but he mumbled something and, I figured, he fell asleep. I could only stare and a sigh escaped my lips as I examined his peaceful face, a smile curved on my face as I cuddled closer to him. When I closed my eyes, nearly falling asleep, he suddenly whispered, "Goodnight Sweet Cheeks."

My eyes opened. Did he call me Sweet Cheeks!?
I couldn't sleep thinking about it, and I really wanted to ask him what it meant.
Was that how he summed me up? Was that officially the start of calling each other by nicknames?
I had hoped so.