Once William was dressed, he walked out, bag thrown over his shoulder. He glanced over at Amber’s door before shaking his head. Whatever happened, happened for now reason. However, it didn’t help that he was confused. Confused by her behavior, her actions. And most of all, he was confused by his reactions to her behavior. When would she move out? He couldn’t wait to get his normal lifestyle back.
Amber sighed and pushed herself out of bed. She needed to shower. Her first class for the day had already started, so she would just skip it and get her notes from someone else. Plus, this way she had an extra hour or so before her next class.
[TIME SKIP: December 15, Saturday]
William finally pushed the cart inside the equipment room, sighing tiredly. Behind him, Caroline came in with a mop. She set it aside and looked at William, her arms folded.
“Good job today,” she murmured, brushing past him. William reached out to stop her and she froze, flinching. William immediately took his hand back, stuffing it in his pocket.
“Why are you so afraid of me?” He questioned, tilting his head. Caroline immediately turned around, surprise on her features. She opened her mouth to object, but William cut her off with a chuckle.
“You don’t honestly think I’m that stupid, do you?” He laughed, shaking his head. “Every time I’m near you, you flinch. I show signs of frustration and you try your hardest to walk away. The only time you let me come near you is when you’re sure I’m in a good mood. Why? Are you afraid I’ll hurt you?”
“That’s not it—“
William sighed, brushing past her, hands still in his pockets. What was the point, even? No matter what he did, she’d still be afraid. Despite knowing what he felt for her, she still feared him. Really, what was the point?
Caroline finally came out of the room, her hand in her hair. She clapped her hands, gathering the members, pretending as if nothing happened. It agitated William further.
“Tomorrow, we will be having a practice match against our ally school,” she said, causing the players to cheer. “Be here at five in the afternoon. You don’t need to come for our morning practice. You guys are dismissed.”
William turned around to walk away before he paused, sighing. He needed to do this. Five years was enough.
“Caroline?” He called out their manager, who shifted her gaze towards him. “From today onwards, I’m letting you go. I’m done pursuing you. From now on, we are merely teammates. Have a good day.”
It felt good walking away from that moment. William felt the burden from his shoulders lifting, and though he heard his teammates call for him, he ignored them all. He was going to be bitter about it at home, but what did he expect?
Meanwhile…
Amber was packing up some things to bring to her friend’s dorm where she would be spending the night. The girls were in he same Theatre class, and they had decided to have a study-night/sleepover thing. Amber was almost ready to go, she just had one thing left to pack…
She stuffed her sweatshirt in the bag she was bringing and slung it over her shoulder. Taking a glance around, she double checked that she had everything she needed. Once she was satisfied that she had everything and had gotten her coat and shoes on, she stepped out the door, locking it behind herself.
William walked back home, wishing he’d seen the surprised and startled look on Caroline’s face, or the uproar his teammates displayed when he practically confessed in front of them. Not siblings anymore, huh?
Shaking his head, he grabbed his clothes and his towel, barging into the bathroom and shutting it. He tried to lock it, but when it wouldn’t work, he furrowed his eyebrows. Was it broken? Fantastic. He was pleased Amber wasn’t home. He turned on the shower to adjust the temperature and discarded his sweaty clothes. The water helped calm his nerves down.
About a quarter of the way to her friend’s place, Amber realized she’d forgotten her toothbrush. She sighed and turned around, walking back to the dorm. When she arrived, she dropped her stuff by the door and pulled her shoes off before heading to the bathroom.
She frowned when she noticed the door was closed but didn’t think anything of it. Upon opening it, though, she seriously wished she’d knocked because the room was hot and steamy… And William was just stepping out if the shower.
“Ah, frick,” she muttered as her cheeks bloomed with color.
William froze, his arm reaching out for his towel when the door opened. He turned his head to look at Amber with her cheeks bursting with red.
“Oh, fantastic,” he muttered, shaking his head. Of course, William. Of course there would be no problems. This just had to happen, huh?
Amber coughed and tore her eyes away. She quickly grabbed her toothbrush before waking back out and slamming the door behind her, the blush on her cheeks almost impossibly dark.
Great going, Amber…
Forgetting his towel, William immediately pulled on his shirt and sweatpants, ruffling his hair. He walked out of the bathroom, watching as Amber finally made her way towards the door.
“Leaving so soon, Blue?” He tilted his head, an amused expression on his features.
“Mm, yeah. I’m headed to a friend’s for the night. Just thought I’d return the favor, ya know?” Amber muttered, feigning nonchalance as she ran a hand through her hair.
William let out a chuckle, catching her steaming cheeks.
“Ah, I see,” he smirked, folding his arms as he leaned against the wall. “So… did you like what you saw?”
Amber coughed, choking on air. She started at him as if he suddenly had two heads. “I’m sorry?” she choked out. “No. No, I’ve seen better, thanks.”
William’s smirk widened. He tried to pull on an innocent smile, but failed so he gave up.
“Of course,” he hummed as if he knew better. “The blush on your cheeks tell me otherwise, but don’t worry. I’ll take your word for it.”
“Mmhm… You do that,” Amber muttered, turning away to pull her shoes back on.
William threw his head back and laughed, trying to rile her up further. God, she was so amusing. The red on her cheeks. That made his day.
“Have fun, Blue,” he winked at her, though she had her back to him. Chuckling, he pushed himself off of the wall and began to make his way to his room, the smirk still on his features.
Amber groaned and leaned her head against the wall. What the heck had just happened…?
Shaking her head, she pushed off the wall and finished getting her shoes on. As soon as she was ready, she slipped out the door, heading for her friend’s dorm.
Amber sighed loudly and tore a hand through her hair. Why couldn’t she understand this? This wasn’t like her. She could normally understand things like this easily…
William snorted in amusement when he saw Amber struggling. Really, what was she not understanding?
“Keep at it and you might go bald early,” he remarked at her pulling her hair, pouring his noodles into a bowl.
“Oh, shuddup… If you’re so smart, come over here and help me,” Amber muttered, still glaring down at her evil book.
William brought his bowl over, setting it on the table and taking a seat.
“Right, what do you need help with?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Which section of math are you on?”
Amber looked over at William with slightly raised eyebrows. He was seriously going to help her?
“It’s algebra. Which is apparently more difficult than it is in high school,” she sighed, pushing her textbook over so he could see it.”
William skimmed through the question, furrowing his eyebrows.
“Ah, that’s easy,” he muttered. “Show me your work.”
Amber took her notebook from her lap and set it down on the table in front of William. She flipped to the page she had last taken notes on and left it here for him.
“I meant, show me how you’ve been trying to solve the question,” William said, rolling his eyes. “So I know where you’re getting it wrong.”
“Oh,” Amber mumbled before pulling the notebook back into her lap. She went through the problem, making sure to show all of her work as she did it.
“Ah, that’s wrong,” William murmured, reaching out to point at her third step. “These three linear systems are confusing, but what you have to do is eliminate the same variable twice. So if you were to eliminate ‘y’ for one equation, then you have to eliminate ‘y’ for the second one, too.”
Amber blinked, letting out a soft, “Oh…”
“Huh. Okay, thanks. That makes sense,” she murmured, looking over it again.
“Once you do that, you’ll get two new equations,” William leaned closer, grabbing her pencil so he could write them both down. “Now you have two new equations, which you can use to find one variable, say ‘x’. Leave that and focus on ‘y’…”
Amber hummed, ignoring the bit of heat in her cheeks at his proximity. There was no other signs that she was flustered, however, other than the slight pink in her cheeks.
“Okay… And then what?” she murmured.
“Ah, my bad. I meant ‘z’,” William, unaware of the pink on Amber’s cheeks, rewrote one of the equations and plugged it in one of the equations they created. Once he plugged that in, he didn’t put in much explanation as he calculated everything to find ‘z’. “The final part is the simplest. Just take the original equation and plug in ‘x’ and ‘z’. You’ll get ‘y’, like this…”
When he was done, he showed his work to Amber.