Rules on Relationships

I read through another book about relationships by one of those experienced women.
They all said something about going onto dates with another couple at tow so there would be a comparison between other couples, who were more experienced, and our own. It was also a way to see what was really in the future for the younger couple, which meant, Michael and I would see what we were going to go through as we went on with our relationship.
So who better to invite on a double date than my best friend, Lia, and her boyfriend of two years, Derek?
Derek didn't like the idea because he wasn't interested with wanting to see me when I while I'm with Michael, but with Lia's demanding tone, he followed along without another word. The two of them agreed and wanted to treat us to one of the fanciest restaurants in town, and it was a first for me to see my best friend's boyfriend quite polite.
Who was I kidding? Derek was the a bit worst.

Best friends and their Significant Others are always the top contenders.

Lia dressed me up that night, she said that it was sort of a formal dinner as it was the first time we would be on a double date, and she also forced Michael and Derek to dress up as well. She loved dressed up parties that it became a bit of a burden on all of us, especially when she planned occasions - our friends seemed to love asking her to plan out events because of her whacky ideas.
And I guess that the restaurant was pretty fancy, so semi-formal was the way to go.
Dressed in a blue knee-length dress with a thick strap, matched with a white cardigan and a pair of black wedges that lifted me two inches taller. She instructed me to do a few things, and that included keeping my hair down and a headband over my head to keep my fringe out of my face, light make up and my valuable necklace to finish my outfit. Michael looked handsome in a pair of black dress pants and a blue sweater with a checkered one underneath, the sleeves were rolled up to his elbow and he had his hair neatly combed. We wore matching outfits, but then again that was what Lia wanted.
She can be so bossy sometimes, but I still love her.

"I haven't seen you this fancy since you met my Dad, Sweetie Pie," I teased as Michael helped me down from his SUV and gave me a peck on the forehead in response, he then closed the door and pressed the alarm in his pockets while we walked closer to the footpath, and is other hand tightly grasped onto mine and he swung it proudly in between us. He seemed pretty happy that evening, and to think that he was angry an hour ago about my sudden plan to go to New York for one whole week and reuniting with Kenneth for a collaborative project that he begged me to help him with. I rejected it at first, but Fulton said it would be a good idea for honing my skills, and I trusted my boss, so I had to beg Michael to change his mind to let me go.
My dear boyfriend wasn't happy, although he stated that he trusted me.
"Babe, I'm still not happy with you going to New York to hang out with that guy for one whole week," He groaned as we turned one corner and continued to stroll a few more blocks. I didn't know why he decided to park a corner and three blocks away from the restaurant. "But if he pulls a move on you, I'm going to-"
"-Just trust me, I won't do anything stupid," I managed to speak while giggling.
He didn't seem happy again. "I should come with you," He grunted as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, giving me a kiss on the top of my head and whispered, "If you want, I can come."
"Bob won't be so happy if you disappear on him when you're meant to be training," I reminded him while wrapping my arm around his torso. "I don't think you'll miss me that much if I was gone for a week."
"Do you want to bet on that?"
"I wouldn't agree on it because I have the worst luck when it comes against you." I didn't want to bet, if I did, I knew it would be my fifth time in a row losing against him and do something that he asked for.

No, the Naughty Angel get-up wasn't part of it. That was my decision. And I felt regretful over it because he used one of the pictures he took of me as his phone background, and apparently, the other Olympian Swimmers saw it when a few of them grabbed his phone off him while he was sending me a text. I didn't like hearing that the Olympians ogled at my semi-exposed body, and when they complimented my curves, I hid away in the apartment and rejected the idea of going with Michael whenever he wanted to take me with him.

It flashed into my mind all over again when I thought about it. I even groaned in frustration as Michael took notice of my sudden change of expression, and he even questioned me about it.
"Has Lia been a topic with the Olympians during training?" I interrogated.
He only laughed. "They talk about girlfriends once and a while, but Lia hasn't been talked about in that particular topic, probably because she swims with us," He replied before he tried to get me to look at him so he could explain himself even further. "I thought you were over that, babe? I'm very sorry. I told you that it was Lochte and Peirsol who snatched it out of my hands while I was in the middle of texting."
"But why did you have to put me as the background on your phone?"
"I like to see your face whenever I look at my phone."
"Why is it that photo?"
"Because that was the first time you dressed up like that!" Michael teased making me uncomfortable and red. I took a big step to get out of his grasp, but he caught up with him and slithered his arms over across my stomach and pulled me back in. "I'm kidding, babe." He nibbled on my neck. "I change it every week, but I chose that one because it motivates me more knowing that you got motivated to work out just to dress up for me," He described. "And I know how you don't like to work out. I felt so loved after a hard training session with Bob."
"We're out in the open, Michael," I giggled. "We should at least try to stay out of the paper."
The Swimmer muttered something against my neck before he let go and returned back to the way we were - hand in hand while swinging our hands and big smiles plastered on our faces.

When we arrived at the restaurant, Lia and Derek were already there canoodling in the booth while they waited.
"Gross," I greeted Derek once he got out of the booth to greet us.
"Hello to you too, Monkey." He glared at me before brushing passed me to Michael and gave his teammate a hand shake. I gave Lia a hug before we took our spots in the booth.
Even though she was my best friend and I've been around the couple since they started dating, however, the situation changed because I wasn't there to just eat dinner and be a third wheeler, but I was there as part of a couple with Michael and we were on a double date. I didn't know what to do on a double date, I've never been on a double date nor have I ever thought of going on one.
It felt like a first date all over again.
At least that time, Michael was with me to get through it.

The only difference between us and them was that they dated longer.

Lia and Derek have been together for two years and a few months, and they were headed for their third one in a month or two. And as a person looking in, I saw that they grew to love each other more and more every day.
I wished I had that. I wasn't even sure where Michael and I stood.
"Love Birds," My best friend called as she snapped me out of my thought while also snapping the bread stick and placed the other half into her boyfriend's mouth. They knew what the other wanted without even asking. "How are you two actually doing?" She smirked.
I exchanged gazes with Michael before I answered, "We're doing okay."
"More than okay," I heard my boyfriend add. "We're perfect."
"What about in the bedroom?" Derek chuckled which made me frown towards him while he chewed on his bread stick and waved it around towards me. "Oh come on, we're all mature people, we can talk about it."
"You're sick," I hissed. "And for your information, you're the one who's older than us."
"I graduate roughly at the same time as Michael since I came here at the same time too."

Ouch. That was right, Michael would graduate a year before I did, and that would mean that he wouldn't be around the campus as often as he did, and what would it mean for us?
I figured that Lia would eventually want to move in with Derek when she graduated, fortunately, they would still be in Ann Arbor because Bob remained the Coach of Swim Team. But if Bob left, I thought it would mean that both the couple and Michael would leave too, right?
I'd be alone.

"If you want to hear about my future plans, then I'll tell you." Derek opened up after a few gulps of liquor. He wasn't drunk yet, but he was on the stage where he felt like telling everyone everything he thought about a day or two before, and he became friendlier. "I love Lia very much. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me," He happily acknowledged while his girlfriend went to the bathroom. "I want my future to have her in it. I told her on Valentine's Day that I will marry her in the future, and have little rascals run about. I know that it may not be next year or the year after that, but I will marry Liana Grace. Have her carry my last name. But she's still 20 and I'm 22, and I don't want her to think I'm rushing things. When she's ready, then I'm ready."
Michael fell quiet, the smile on his face was a fairly decent one, which meant that he wasn't comfortable with the topic but he didn't want to be rude - it's like the smiles he usually does when he's on the spotlight in interviews and press conferences with the questions that he didn't seem fit to answer quite honestly about. I didn't stare at him for too long because Derek called me to look at him, and staring into his blue eyes, it seemed like he was softer towards me since he was opening up.
"Anne," He struggled to say. It would always be odd to hear him call me that, maybe because he normally called me something that had something to do with an animal or just plain old... "Monkey," He smirked. I spoke to soon. "You know how much I love Lia, right?"
I simply nodded.
"Then... It's important for me to know if you approve of me," He looked with pleading eyes.
Michael's eyes fell my way too. I was under the spotlight so quickly that I couldn't reply so quickly.
Lia returned with a confused expression. "Did I miss anything?" She asked with a cautious tone, and her eyes shifted from me to Derek and back. She then faced Michael and questioned, "Did these to go at it again?"
The Olympian shook his head and appeared to have been in quite a deep thought. He pulled me closer to him and held me close, and it was an unexpected reaction from him as though he got a bit defensive.
"So, as I was saying before I left, I want to go to Beijing, swim and hopefully get a medal, because when I get one wrapped around my neck, I would feel accomplished enough and see that my hard work paid off," Lia continued on, and throughout the whole time, Derek sat back and only stared at his girlfriend with an affectionate gaze. He had a grin on his face that showed that he was head of heels with the woman, his hand was calmly pressed on her the other shoulder, and if I wasn't mistaken, his cheeks were tinted in a shade of pink while he paid attention to his girl.
That was love.

It was magical.

"I know we're not particularly nice to each other, but I don't hate you, you're like a little Sister to me, Monkey." Derek randomly said while he wrapped his jacket around Lia followed by his arm to keep her warm.
It got a bit chilly outside all of a sudden.
"I know, I treat you the same way, Gorilla," I retaliated as I wrapped my arm around Michael's.
"Can I ask? Why do you call each other animal names?" Michael cut in. "I noticed that it even has themes too. The other day, you were calling each other a farm animal," He couldn't resist to asking us about our habit.
Both Derek and I laughed.
"Oh, Michael, Anne started it," Lia answered on our behalf and pointed towards me. "The time when I announced to her that we were dating, Anne reacted, don't tell me that you're actually serious with that Ox," She mimicked my voice while playfully smacking my arm. "Then Derek called her a 'Chicken' when they saw each other the next day and Anne called him a 'Cow' just to get back at him. And I guess... It suddenly became a habit for both of them."
"The next I see her, it'll be some sort of sea critter."
"But for tonight, it's still Gorilla," I cheekily added.
"Enough," Lia interrupted as she rushed to me and gave me a hug. She was staying at Derek's for a while before he had to go to Miami for the rest of the month because of training at his old club, and she had to go to North Carolina for her Grandmother's Birthday. I wouldn't see either one of them until next month. "I will miss you, Anne," She whimpered. "But we have to get used to the fact we're growing up."
"Have a safe flight, Lia, and greet your Grandmother for me." I held back my tears knowing that we'd be apart the moment we graduate. "You've grown up pretty well, kiddo," I lastly said as I parted from the embrace. I peeked at Derek and waved at him, telling him to have a safe flight too.

The moment they disappeared, Michael turned me around with a subtle look on his face and tugged me into a hug. I instantly began to cry the moment my head leaned against his chest. He placed his hand at the back of my head and told me to let it out. He understood of my personality and knew exactly how I would react when I saw one of the important people of my life leave with the man of her dreams.
But it wasn't just that, I also cried because I feared that Michael would turn around and leave me too.

Sometimes, I wish that growing up wasn't so emotional...