Rules on Relationships

Life went back to the way it was before the excitement of our weekend getaway.
Michael was back to training, he received a hefty scolding from his Coach, Bob, for getting distracted and getting on the cover of tabloid magazines about keeping his relationship a secret. Don't worry, Bob knew about me as well as Mrs. Phelps and Michael's Sisters, but we haven't officially met just yet, because Michael said he wanted me all to himself before he had to share me with the important women in his life.
I didn't understand what he meant - not yet anyway.
Although I apologized for distracting Michael away from his swimming, Bob stated it wasn't my fault at all and claimed that he understood what type of boyfriend the Olympian was, since he had been through a few milestones with Michael, and added that seeing him happy was the best thing ever. He didn't seem as strict as how Michael, Derek and Lia described him to be. Maybe it was because I wasn't a swimmer.
While Michael Phelps was off being... Well, Michael Phelps. I continued writing my book. I didn't forget about my book, and every chapter had been sent every two months. However, Fulton didn't want it to be written that slow, he expected me to have reached at least six chapters by the end of 2005, but I'd been too busy with my new relationship that I had moments where I forgot I had a book to write. Fulton lectured me about the life in the literacy world. I knew he was right, but after two years, I felt like I finally found a guy who showered me with praise and I loved the attention from him. Though, I did tell Michael that I was writing a book for a project, I never really mentioned what type of book and what topic as well as the fact that I was somewhat basing it on my experiences with him. Fulton said I had to tell Michael the truth... Eventually.

Breaking Point.

One night, I slept over at Michael's. He said that he wanted me keep him company while Herman was with his Mom again. I didn't hesitate to reject his offer since Lia was in Los Angeles with Derek to give her extended Family the opportunity to meet the man, who tamed the oh-so-boyish Liana Grace. Actually, they were attending her Cousin's Wedding, to which I was also invited to go, but I gave my slot to Derek so that he could have a reason to meet Lia's extended family - and because he changed his mind to attend the wedding in the last minute.
Anyway, Michael and I haven't had a proper date or be together for a long time because of his hectic schedule and my constant flights back and forth to New York, and my classes were on the North end of the Campus, so it took time to actually see each other if we wanted to visit in between classes. I worked and he trained in the afternoons, and we were both exhausted by the end of the day. It was that or I had to do the heap amount of assignments the Professors and Tutors wanted us to do, it led to minimal contact and resorted to phone calls or text messages, which we both said was as horrible as being states apart.
Michael was forced to abstain from sex for a few months that led up to a competition, though he broke it a few times when late night booty calls happened. But it stopped a couple of weeks later, well, because he agreed to take in one of the new swimmers as his new housemate until things were settled with the accommodation at the student residential home. So Lance moved in and Michael couldn't sneak out anymore.
Just the thought of it made me sigh as I stood outside the door of his home with my backpack.
Lance opened the door with a wide grin and gave me a hug. He was always hugging me, I didn't know why. I cleared my throat and muttered, "Uh, hey Lance."
"Roxanne!" He exclaimed before he took a step back. "I'm off to Tiffany's," He randomly added as he moved to the side and beckoned me inside. "I can't thank you enough with the introduction," He gave me a pat, no, a push on the back so I stepped inside. I stared at him oddly as he suddenly rambled on about sleeping over there and to tell Michael not to wait up for him. The door slammed and I blinked in shock, I let out a small chuckle as I came back to reality and realized that because Lance was a new transfer student and new to the Campus, I - for some reason - introduced him to Brunette B, and they began dating three days later. I was called, 'Cupid', for two weeks since then, and I didn't like the amount of attention I got with random singles who thought it was appropriate to ask me to introduce them with a person of the opposite sex.
I rubbed my forehead from the thoughts that followed and groaned, "I can be so stupid sometimes."
"Only sometimes, Sweet Cheeks." I heard Michael whisper into my ear and teasingly bit my ear while wrapping his arms around me, his head leaned against mine as he inhaled deeply. I gave his arms a pat while holding in the giggles that wanted to come out after his breath would touch the ticklish spot of my neck, I couldn't hold it in and had to step out of his grasp before I playfully said, "Naw, I missed you too, Sweetie Pie."
"Did Lance finally leave?" He asked as he took my backpack and took it instantly to his room.
"That boy has problems," I commented while walking behind him. "He gives me really cuddly hugs, but it's just wrong because I know it's part of your rules not to initiate some sort of skin contact with the opposite sex," I teased while mimicking his voice. Michael wasn't a fan of Lance's hugs towards me, though he had to put up with it because I told him to play nice. I liked Lance. He was like an older version of my little Brother.
"Again?" He whined. He turned to me and gave me a sudden kiss before lifting me off the floor. My legs instantly wrapped around his torso before we made our way to the bed.
But then again, we didn't do it.
Nope, instead, his phone rang with Bob on the other line and told him that in the morning, they would have an early start because in the evening they were off to Baltimore for the pre-season competition with the other Olympian Swimmers. It was like a mini training season for the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, I remember him telling me that he would bring me along with him because it was held in Canada and around my birthday. That phone call ended with his frustrated growl. He and I knew that the moment was gone and if we decided to continue, it would be quite hard to build up the tension. Air left my body in one big exhale as I lay flat on my back and revealed, "Michael, I can't keep up with this. You and I hardly have time for each other anymore!"
"What!?" Michael reacted with a shocked tone. I sat up and rubbed my face and realized I was too tired to even do anything but sleep. I shook my head instead of saying another word as he remained standing at the other side of the room. He let out a heavy sigh and noted, "You know very well that this is my life, baby, I'm committed to Swimming as much as I committed myself to you and trying so hard to make us work."
"You can't compare me with Swimming!" I aggressively responded.
The both of us were on attack, frowns on our faces and tension built up in the room.
"Seriously, Anne, you can't bring this onto me. That's a lot of weight on my shoulders already."
"What do you expect me to do? Put up with it?" I asked in frustration as I rolled out of bed and wandered to the end where my pants dangled, and I roughly pulled them up my legs. "Hon, I'm tired, I don't want to do this right now," I muttered as I tugged my shirt over my head and covered my body.
"Maybe we should," Michael blurted out. "We should talk about this now, because it seems like you suddenly gave up," He added sounding a bit irritated as he walked over to his side of the bed and sat down, his back faced my way as I sat down as well, and my back faced his way too.
"Fine," I mumbled while I clasped my hands together and looked down, I didn't want something drastic to happen between us, but lately, all we ever did was slowly fading away from each other. The only thing that held us was the text messages and late night calls.
Were we sitting down for a final conversation?

Flaws. We all have it. No one's perfect.

Thirty minutes, yep, thirty whole minutes.
That was the time we could've spent doing something else, but instead, we decided to try and have a go and settling a conflict between us as grown adults. But those minutes just ticked by, the hands on the clock were slow and quite painful for the both of us because we had debated and argued and never understood or had an understanding of what the other was saying. It was a battle of power, stubbornness and pride.
Neither of us wanted to say we were wrong and our opinions were misunderstood.
Whatever Michael said had driven me crazy, and whatever I said seemed to have done the same. We both paced at different ends of the room, our hands waved about and our mouths continued to speak words that we couldn't even hear or understand. Everything was blurted our without even thinking about how the other may have felt, and I knew that because there were moments when he would flinch or stare at me with hurt in his eyes or I would feel the water swell up in my eyes, but I swept them off and swallowed my wish to cry.
Flaws and faults were listed down, and it had horrible feelings in my stomach when Michael listed down mine. I'm not perfect, I got that, but he told me that there were times when he was afraid to let me near alcohol knowing that if I drank too much, it resulted to cheating. He didn't want that. He hated the idea of me being in the arms of someone else. I expressed the very same, and I let out all my frustrations about our lack of privacy since the press figured out that we were a couple. His status in the country didn't help me at all.
It wasn't just those. The minor things were listed as well. There were things about the lack of cleaning his house was, the fact my room had too many things, his dislike for my mini tantrums when something clashes into my dream, my irritations towards his lack of interest when we he gets distracted, and there were much more. So many, seriously, and it became a trouble for the both of us as there was enough friction to burn down the house.

Michael let out a frustrated growl. He took a seat on the side of the bed as I took the space on the other side. We were back to where we started. Our backs turned to each other and avoided to look at each other.
I fiddled with my necklace for a bit and felt my heart just pound harder and harder on my chest.
"Roxanne," Michael breathed. "I know I've been busy, but you have to admit, you have been busier than I've been."
"I know that, but it's not that I'm frustrated about!" I nearly yelled. "Michael, I really like you, it's far more than when we started, and we've been through a few tough patches when we started to take things seriously, but I've noticed that recently, while we were talking on the phone or texting or just sitting there next to each other, you've suddenly become distant. You've lacked interest."
He seemed surprised. Or was he in deep thought? He didn't reply to me or even made a movement as he sat there with his head down. When I turned my body to look at him and saw that he had his hands running back and forth over his hair. I began to worry, my heart raced and panic took over as I wondered if he had done something so bad to have caused his distance. I frowned and bluntly asked, "Did you cheat on me?"
"What the fuck?" Michael quickly reacted as he faced me, his hand slammed onto the bed and his stare so focused into my eyes. "Why the hell would you think that?!" He growled. "That is not me, don't even assume that."
"Then tell me what the fuck is wrong!" I began to sniff, but I managed to fight off the tears that wanted to get out.
"I started thinking about us..." His voice trailed off.
"Us?"
"Yeah, like when I go to the Olympics in a few years, would you still be with me by then and cheer me at the stands with my Mom and Sisters? I don't know, with the shit that's been making me stay away from you and having you face the reality of my lifestyle... Anne, we had our fun," His voice was shaky, and it sounded that he was in pain as he said those words. "I was okay during the second half of the year because there weren't as much swim meets to go to, but then I knew we'd have to come to this spot. This is the very reason I was too scared to ask you on a date, I knew that when this moment came, something bad would happen."
I whimpered. "M-Michael, don't you think that I thought about us too?" I sobbed. "When I graduate, I move back to New York and work there, and I knew that I couldn't bring you with me because you can't be separated from your life. Swimming is your life. I can't take over that, and you know it. I don't want a long distance relationship."
"I want us to work," He whispered as he reached over and caressed my cheek.
"I do too, Michael." I gulped while holding his hand and pulled it away from me. "That's why I'm suggesting that we should have time apart. I think it'll be good for us. We're so pressured by this relationship that we forget about ourselves. I think we should be selfish this week and completely go without making any type of contact."
His eyes narrowed. "But-"
I shook my head. "-It'll be easier since we're in two different states this week. You're in Baltimore, I'm here, and when you come back, I'll be in New York. This time apart, we'll think whether we really want this more than the dreams we had before meeting each other."
"Anne, I-" I cut him off by giving him a peck on the lips and stood up. I had to rush out of his house with my things in order to have my tears pour out of me like a waterfall, but I knew we needed to be apart for a while... A while...
I covered my eyes and leaned against the steering wheel of my car, tears wouldn't stop falling. Why did it hurt? We weren't really breaking up, we didn't say we were breaking up, we just said we needed time away from each other...

This was only for a while... I hope...