#abbie king

[belsasim]

Rayne didn't have time to think about his relationship status, as the same evening he already had a match to play. But after his break in Sulani and distracted by the situation with Mao, Rayne didn't play as well as he used to. His team lost the match and Rayne got injured when he was tackled. "Well, back to training hard," he thought.

The next morning, he bumped into Mao in the hallway.

Mao (wide eyed): "What happened? Are you ok?"

Rayne (smiling): "Yeah, no biggie... I fell and my arm was in the way."

Mao (worried): "You don't have to put up a brave face for me, this must be painful. I'll take of my boyfriend, don't you worry."

There it was again: 'boyfriend'... The word gave Rayne a queasy feeling in his stomach. This wasn't right.

But when Mao put her armes around him and embraced him tightly, well, that felt quite good. Her hair smelled so good and he could feel the warmth of her body through her clothes, it all made his head spin and once again, his desire for her took over.

He gently pulled her closer and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Look, I'll be fine... But I could use some help in the shower?"

[belsasim]

Everyone went to Pepper's Pub that evening to celebrate the end of term. Rayne was a little ashamed that this was the very first time that he even set foot in the pub, loved by both students from Foxbury and U-Brite. Even after good trainings or soccer games, he'd always hurried to his dorm to work on coursework.

He loved the place instantly. The darkness of the wood of the bar, furniture, floor and walls, the very distinctive smell of drinks and sweaty students, the sounds of music and chatting, of beer glasses being put down or (not so) softly clinked for a toast. This was nice!

The glasses of IPA went down pretty well while chatting with his roommates about the past term and all the gossip and drama he had apparently missed. Suddenly, he found himself dragged upstairs by Takumi to play foosball and 'beat Kiyoshi and Mao, 'cuz we've got the future soccer champion of Foxbury in our team'. That didn't really work out as well as Takumi had hoped though. Rayne had started to feel a bit tipsy, was largely distracted by standing at the same foosball table as the gorgeous Mao and he had never played foosball before. He may have total control of the ball on the soccer field, on the foosball table, he barely managed to make a few goals... and they were all own goals... oops...

After the match, they needed a refill and went back downstairs to the bar. While Rayne listened to Takumi give him a few foosball tips to 'not get ass whooped next time' he suddenly noticed Mao watching him from the other side of the bar. When their eyes met, she waved at him and beckoned him. Rayne blinked to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him and promptly left his bestie rambling about good foosball advice.

Mao (smiling): "Hey there."

Rayne (a little insecure): "Hi... Eh... How's it going?"

Mao (giggling): "Considering I gave 'the future soccer champion of Foxbury' a real ass whooping on the foosball table, pretty good."

Rayne (blushing): "Yeah, well, I..."

Mao (giggling again): "You're pretty cute when you're embarrassed."

Rayne felt his head turn even redder, but Mao seemed to ignore that and continued to give him some foosball advice herself and asking him about soccer... Continuing to chat with her, Rayne started to feel more confident. After a while, he took a breath and asked her: "Do you want to go somewhere more quiet to um... talk?"

---

Pepper's British AF Pub by @harrie-cc - I just love this pub :-)

[belsasim]

Surprisingly, Rayne's team won the match (but Rayne wasn't the one leading them to victory this time... not even close. Most of the time he had been running around like a headless chicken, miraculously stealing the ball from his opponents enough for the coach to leave him on the field).

After the match, Abbie and Rayne sat for a while in Abbie and Mao's mini-flat to chat about the game. Mao was away on a short exchange trip, Rayne didn't really know the details and hadn't bothered to ask her. He had to admit that he was a little relieved not to see Mao for a few days.

Rayne: "I can't believe I lasted for the whole match, I was wasted. Please, next time, remind me not to play beer pong before a match!"

Abbie (frowning, but also smiling): "Shouldn't Mao be the one to remind you of such things? She's your girlfriend after all..."

Rayne (suddenly feeling awkward): "She... eh... I... It's not like that, actually..."

Abbie (surprised): "What do you mean?"

Rayne (flustered): "We... eh... never really discussed... eh... relationship status." (clearing his throat and looking down to the floor) "I'm... not interested in a relationship, to be honest."

Abbie: "Ooooh, so you just wanted to have some casual fun and she thinks you two are dating?"

Rayne (his cheeks burning): "Yeah... I know it's kinda awful..."

Abbie (shrugging): "We're young adults here and we're in uni. We all want to have some fun. If Mao just unilaterally claims you to be her boyfriend, then that's her problem. You don't owe her anything."

Rayne blinked a few times. Was he still drunk? Did he just hear that correctly? He was so confused by Abbie's reaction that he stood up, telling her he probably should turn in for the night. "Sure," Abbie had said and she also rose to her feet, accompanying him to the door. But after they had said their goodbyes, she hesitated to move away, standing between Rayne and the door.

Rayne felt a tension building up, a tension that was familiar, but not with Abbie. He saw her cheeks turn red and heard her say: "Why should Mao be the only one to have fun?"

Abbie leaned into him and before he fully understood what was happening, he felt her lips on his. To his surprise, Abbies lips were even softer than Mao's. She tasted a little salty and smelled a little sweaty, as they had been running around the soccer field only a short while before. But that didn't bother Rayne. On the contrary, he felt heat rising in his body. He put his arms around her, pulling her closer in the kiss, breathing heavily. He felt her hands on his back moving upwards to his neck and she ran her fingers through his hair. Rayne started kissing her cheek, her jaw, her neck.

Without words, they started to move, knowing very well where to go and what was going to happen there.