Rules on Relationships

So here we were, on Sunday, August 27th 2006.
Exactly a year since I stressed out over how to ask some hot shot swimmer to a date and tripped over to hurt myself, only to find that hot shot swimmer in the infirmary and treated my wound, and that same hot shot swimmer asked me to the Carnival instead.
I didn't intend to fall in love, heck, I didn't even intend to last a whole year. But things just happen.
I made it through a whole year, after all those scandals, bad rumors, useless arguments, near-break up moments, annoying people trying to meddle into the relationship and meeting the Parents, America... Wait, the whole world realized that someone like me would become the girlfriend of the Olympian and World Champion, Michael Phelps.
I've learned a lot from the passing year, and being his girlfriend was really hard work and the amount of patience I put up with his lifestyle was more than I expected. There were times when he was gone for so long or had no time to see each other, he made up for it whenever he was free to be with me or else he would take me with him to wherever he was bound to go. I've put up with him when he was moody, when he was too exhausted to talk, well, practically any emotion in the list, and he's done the same for me.
The thought that if we lasted longer than just one year made me anxious.

He can sure make me blush.

I slept over at Michael's home on Saturday night, straight after work. He insisted that I spend the night so on the morning of our One Year Anniversary, I would be the first thing he sees when he opened his eyes.
I thought it was sweet, but being the way I was, I teased him for it.
"Can you not stare at me while I sleep?" I groaned as I covered my face with the pillow. He was awake and I knew because I felt someone staring at me and his breath was pretty close to my skin. "It's kind of creepy, hon."
Michael chuckled as he lifted the pillow from my head and caressed my cheek. "Good Morning to you too," He whispered in a croaked tone before pressing his dry lips onto my forehead. The moment I opened my eyes, his brown eyes were burning into mine. He had a smile curved on his face, and his nose slightly wrinkled which meant that he found something cute about me that early in the morning.
"Are you pleased that for about three months, I have never gotten out of bed to make myself pretty?" I yawned, covering my mouth and stretched. I placed my hands on top of his and closed my eyes again as he replied, "I never knew you would change that habit for me."
"The things I do for love, Michael Phelps," I commented and snuggled closer to his chest. I could hear his heart at a steady pace as I pressed onto him, his arms so calmly wrapped around me and his head at the top of mine. I inhaled his scent and let out a relaxed exhale.
"Listen, I was wondering what you want to do today?"
I blinked my eyes back open and pushed myself up, my head turned away from him and towards the clock. It was still eight in the morning, and it was Sunday, why on Earth were we up that early?
"I didn't plan anything because I feel like being spontaneous."
"You shouldn't tell your girlfriend that," I advised him with a confused tone. "Because now I think you're up to something!" I exclaimed as I returned my gaze to him, my brows slightly furrowed while he grinned at me so deviously. I gave him a glare, my lips pursed together and turned to the side, but he still wouldn't budge about what he had planned that day, instead, he wrapped his arms around me and laid me on my back, his body atop of mine as his fingers began to tickle me. I shook my head in debate as I tried to push him off of me, but he was stronger and continued to attack me.
In the middle of that, we managed to get our lock our lips together.
It was a bit complicated to explain, but we got playful when we got out of bed and even ended up getting messing up his kitchen when we were trying to follow the recipe for a blueberry pancake.

You should've seen poor Lance's confused face when he was about leave for training.
How else would you react when you saw two people in pajamas, covered in flour and messed up the kitchen in the few minutes that went by since they got out of bed?

"I'm sorry, but I can't keep my hands off you," Michael answered as he stood behind me. We were finally up to the part where we were flipping the pancake. I complained that I couldn't do it right because of him, but he didn't want to leave either way. I screwed up the flip twice before he took a turn, and he managed to fluke a perfect flip.
"It's because there was no one distracting you!" I complained as I wrapped my arms around his torso when he prepared for the second flip, and just before he was about to toss the pancake, I tiptoed and planted my lips onto his which caused our breakfast to stick to the roof.
"Babe, we're going to have to clean that," He laughed and stared upwards towards the ceiling.
"You're just wasting food, hon," I nagged as he helped me up on the counter, holding onto me to keep me steady as I peeled off the pancake and it landed right onto his face. "Oh, shit, that was by accident!" I quickly defended when he pried the pancake off his face and tossed onto the pan, he then lifted me off the counter at one go and over his shoulder. I wriggled against his tight grip and pleaded to let me go, but he took me hostage and into the bathroom.

Breakfast was a mess, we managed to clean up just in time to go to the first place we went to eat together on our first date. The Pancake House where he first introduced me to the unhealthy combination of ice-cream, sweet syrup and waffles.
It grew to be my favorite.
The middle-aged woman who owned the place always knew when Michael and I were there because of our usual orders, and she gave us extra pieces each just to make sure we ate well. That day, she gave us four waffles on one big plate to share, and she claimed that because she had a feeling that we were celebrating something special.
"Be careful, love birds, with enough spark and chemistry fused together, you two might blow up my business!" She teased as she placed the big plate in the middle of the table. "Dig in!"
We thanked her as she wandered off with a big smile. I then turned to Michael and teased him, "Did you hear that? You need to be careful, Mikey, you'll destroy someone's business!"
"It takes two to do that," He added as he cut a portion of a waffle closer to him and stabbed his fork right through it. He waved it around, initiated to feed me the piece, but it went quickly into his mouth the moment I opened mine. I shook my head and decided to do the same thing to him.
"I love you," Michael suddenly said - quite loudly too - that the other people around us stared, smiled and couldn't resist to give out an 'aw'. "And I think I'm lucky to find a beautiful girl like you."
I covered my cheeks to hide the tint of pink that started to glow.
"I love you too," I shyly answered. He reached for my hand and gave it a peck.

Michael's a keeper, and I've thought so for quite a long time... But then...

How long will he really be with me?

While strolling through the streets, we held onto each other's hand like we were afraid to let go.
People still stared, though it wasn't a bother to me as it used to, their gawking gazes were somewhat reminding me of what I had to go through when news broke out that I was Michael's girlfriend, and how he managed to end the criticism with one sentence, "because I chose to be with her".
However, the more I thought about what his Mother said to me about love, and how my Parents were respectively giving their own opinions on the four letter word, I decided to take it straight out of my mind and wanted to discuss it - as a couple - about where we were really headed with our relationship. Apparently, couples do it when they've committed and passed a milestone that's of great importance.
"Michael, I was wondering," I started with my head turned away from him. "Where do you think we'll be in the future?" It didn't really come out the way I wanted it to. I guess it's a start.
"Never thought about it," He calmly answered as we stopped by a spot at the park that overlooked the people who spent their Sundays playing around in the sun. His bottom landed on the grass before I did, and he had to tug me to get me out of my deep thought and I landed in between his legs. He cuddled closer to me as he asked, "Why?"
"I just wanted to hear your thoughts."
"I promised your Parents that I'd take things slow, but if you really want to hear my plan then..." Michael's voice faded and eventually went quiet. I sat very still with my legs crossed and my head against the biceps of one of his arms, and my fingers trailed around his hands as they were gripped onto one another pretty tight. I didn't want to pressure him to say anything else, and I didn't want to get annoyed at myself for bringing it up, so I tried my best to distract myself.
But if he knew me well enough, he knew that I was getting irritated the longer he stayed silent.
"Michael-"
"-Shh," He suddenly cut me off. "I'm trying to figure out how to say it."
"Say what?" I sternly grunted.
"Well, I don't know yet," He mumbled.
"You went quiet and you have nothing to say?" I twitched. I heavily sighed and prepared to stand up, but he grasped a hold of my wrists and kept them away from the ground so I wouldn't get up.
"Baby, don't get angry, please. Let me think for a bit," He begged.
"I'm not going to wait."
"You're so impatient."
I groaned while I forced his hands off of me and I pushed myself to my feet, I then distanced myself by two to three steps. I faced him with my arms crossed over my chest.
What was he thinking about? It was driving me crazy!

"I want to move in with you one day," Michael announced. "And maybe, every time I compete, you'll be in the stands and cheer me on. Maybe even come with me to Beijing, and be at the stands with my Mom and Sisters."
My glare towards him eased down, my arms uncrossed and lowered to the side, my mouth slightly opened in shock of his answer. Did he mean it?
"2008 is two years from now."
"Well, yeah, don't you think we'll still be together then?"
I bit my lower lip. "I thought about it the other day, about how long we'll actually be together," I admitted. "And it's a hard topic to deal with because I know we're meant to take things slow-"
"-But you'd rather plan things out first?" He finished my sentence. I brushed the brown strands away from my face as I made my way back to him, he welcomed me back with open arms when I sat down facing him. I had my thinking face on, and he had his goofy smile on.
Michael held my hand and caressed my fingers with his. He particularly began to pay extra attention to the ring finger of my left hand and stared at it for a while, and I became tense at the thought.
"One day," He purred.

One day, he kept telling me.
He kept using those two words to describe our future together, and he told me not to plan it out because we've lived out our relationship with surprises.

Speaking of surprises...

"Happy Anniversary!" I yelled as Michael entered the bedroom, he returned from training with a tired look on his face. His hand was over his chest as his bag dropped instantly to the ground. To be honest, he didn't expect me there because I lied to him that I'd go home and sleep early.
"You know you didn't have to," He grinned as he entered the room fully, his foot used to shut the door and he lazily tossed his bag to the side. He made his way to me like a hungry wolf.
"Well, you've asked for it for a while, so I had to suck it up and buy it," I explained as he finally reached me, his hands placed on my waist and his lips licked by his tongue. I temporarily gazed away from him to suck up more of my embarrassment, but I wanted to treat him.
"You look sexy, baby."
I poked at his chest to make sure he kept his distance. "I had to work out in order to pull this off, you know."
"Best girlfriend ever." He whispered while pressing his body against mine. "Never knew you had this in you, Sweet Cheeks," He whispered as his fingers trailed up and down my arms.
It was embarrassing. I never thought I'd do something like this, and he even begged to take a photo of me before it was taken off of me. I didn't want to do it, but there were just some sacrifices I made for him as a reward.
"Ah, I can't stand it anymore, I don't want to keep this on!" I growled after the third picture. I reached over to grab his phone and tossed it to the side of the bed and kissed him.

What did I do?
Well, I dressed up like a Naughty Angel, courtesy of the adult store on the other side of town.

Oh, the things I do for love.