#Anna#
Anna's phone vibrated, and she frowned. Who would text at this hour? Anna's eyes slid to the left as she glanced at the clock. Almost 11 o'clock. The moonlight falling through the kitchen window gave the room a silver sheen. She turned her head to the right and looked at her boyfriend. He was snoring softly; a stab of annoyance went through her stomach. It was anything but the romantic evening he had promised her.
Curious, Anna took out her phone and looked at the message. It was from an unknown number.
"Hi, how are you?"
Anna frowned deeper. "Who is this?" she thought silently; through the annoyance she felt earlier, her curiosity further spurred nonetheless.
"Who are you?" She typed fleetingly. She kept staring at the screen, and a few seconds later, her phone vibrated again.
"Nick, from the gymnastics club." Anna's stomach contracted, and a shiver went down her spine. The message was enough to make all her memories of Nick come flooding back. She had secretly fallen in love with that sweet boy with chestnut brown hair five years ago. She was 14 at the time, and he was the first person she had ever really felt for. Although he had stopped doing gymnastics a few months later, she had never really forgotten him. But she nor he had ever tried to find contact again. So why would he text her after all these years? She wondered.
"Oh! How nice to hear from you again! I'm fine; how are you?" A smile formed around Anna's lips as she pressed the send button. Her thoughts wandered back to their training sessions, how she secretly watched his muscular body as he exercised, how a tingling spread through her chest every time his eyes caught hers. She glanced sideways; she had never felt that same excitement with Damien.
He answered again within seconds. "I'm fine. And yes, it's nice to hear you again. Sorry we haven't kept in touch; someone was jealous." Anna frowned again as she read his reply. She remembered Nick's girlfriend, the dirty looks she always threw her when they talked and how she always claimed Nick's attention after a few moments.
Anna's thoughts were interrupted by Damian's voice. "Who are you texting?"
Anna locked her phone and looked at him. "A girl from the gymnastics club." The lie came out suspiciously smooth, and Anna wondered why she was lying. She had nothing to hide; she had buried her feelings for Nick long ago.
"Ah," Damien replied as he looked past her at the clock, "What do you think? Are we going to have some fun in bed?"
Anna sighed, annoyed, and again the lie came out way more smoothly than it should have. "No, I have a headache."
Damien rolled his eyes. "You always have a headache. I'm starting to understand why so many men cheat."
Anger flared up in Anna. "If you think you can better yourself, you should leave me," she said dismissively. And though she didn't have the guts to utter the sentence, she thought. 'And if you gave me some attention without wanting sex, maybe I'd become more willing too.'
"Jesus, cranky bitch." Mumbled Damien inwardly, And although Anna had understood him perfectly, she decided to ignore his words. She didn't feel like arguing again.
"I'm going to sleep." She said, and before he could reply, she stood up. Then, she made her way to their bedroom with a tight stride. She dropped onto the bed and unlocked her phone.
"Sorry, I can't text anymore. I'll send you tomorrow." She fleetingly sent it to Nick and placed her phone in the charger on her nightstand.
A few moments later, she felt Damian crawl into bed. He placed his hand on her leg and let it slide to her hip. A shiver ran through Anna's body as she felt his hand slide under her nightgown.
Anna felt Damien's warm breath on her neck as he whispered. "Come on, a quickie." His rough, calloused fingers wriggled between her thighs.
It wasn't the first time Damien had tried to force himself on her, and Anna knew what to expect. He would try, but if she persisted, he would eventually give up.
Something she kept in the corner of her mind, longed for him not to. She was hoping that one day he would take control, to the point where she had to take what he wanted to do to her. That he would decide for her and that she could let go of control for once. The thought unexpectedly excited her. Maybe a quickie wasn't a bad idea?
Anna glanced at his bedside table; he had already laid out the condom. As quick as the excitement had come, it was replaced by annoyance again. Did he really expect her to give in so easily?
Anna pushed his hand away. "Damien, I said no. I have a headache."
Damien growled. "Come on; I'm only asking for 5 minutes. Just open your damn legs."
His words caused Anna to have mixed feelings. On the one hand, they thrilled her enormously, but the part of her mind that always wanted to stay in control suppressed those feelings. Suddenly, she turned to him with a jerk, landed her hand on his cheek with a loud slap, and cried out. "Is that all I'm good for? Opening my legs?" The controlling part won and left her humiliated; a tear rolled down her cheek.
Damien rubbed his cheek and looked at her angrily. "Don't be so fucking touchy."
"I'm not touchy," she sneered back. "You're just disrespectful; I'm not a doll you can take whenever you feel like it."
"No, that's obvious," Damien replied. "Lately, you've been acting more like an ice queen."
Anna shivered with anger and got out of bed. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand and called out. "Fucking bastard."
She ran to the guest room and lay down on the small bed, where she hugged her pillow and let her tears flow.
#Nick#
Nick woke by the first rays of sunlight entering his room. He lived with his parents again for a week after a failed relationship. And as grateful as he was to his parents for letting him live with them again, he hated it.
Nick grabbed his phone and opened his social media. The picture that had made him text Anna last night was still open. Her wavy copper-coloured hair stood out against the white background and framed her pale skin. Her olive-green eyes sparkled in the sunlight, accentuating her rounded jaws, and her little rocker nose completed her slender face.
He had always found her attractive and wondered why he had not taken a chance on her five years ago instead of choosing Emma. At that time, the choice seemed obvious. Emma was the same age as Nick and Anna, although only two years younger, was too young at the time. Furthermore, Emma offered him things he could not expect from Anna. Although, He could still remember their playful manner and how that cute blush formed on her cheeks when he teased her. Suppose he'd only given it a chance.
Nick smiled sadly at the memory and couldn't stop himself from sending her a text message.
"Good morning! Ready for a new day?"
Nick continued to stare at his screen for a moment, but there was no immediate reply. Maybe Anna was still asleep? Nick sighed; Anna had probably moved on with her life as he had. Why would she want to text him after all those years?
He stood up and got ready for work. While he was eating his breakfast, his phone vibrated.
"Morning! Everything's better than last night, so absolutely."
Nick frowned; her last message had already made him suspect something was wrong with her, but he hadn't wanted to reply more so as not to appear intrusive.
Now he opted for a playful reply hoping that, if she was sad, he could still make her laugh.
"Oh, no! I knew my messages were a horrible idea. Can you forgive me?"
A few seconds later, he received a smiling smiley reply; a second message followed a few seconds later.
