Page 108 of More To Us

Chapter Twenty

Kira

"I got an apartment," Austin says as he comes in the door, a huge smile on his face. It's six-thirty and I invited him over for dinner. His arms go around me and he kisses me. "Now we can finally be alone. No roommates. No family walking in. Just us."

"What are you talking about?"

"My brother, Jake, told me about an opening at his apartment building. It's just a studio but that's all I need. I went there and checked it out during lunch, then I went back after work and put a deposit down. Someone else also wanted it but I got it before they did."

"That's great! When do you move in?"

"Not until the end of September. I was hoping to move in earlier than that but that's the soonest it's available. But it's less than a month away."

I loop my arms around his neck. "So you'll finally be able to have girls over?"

"Just ONE girl." He kisses me. "Is Amber home?"

"No. She won't be back until after ten. I haven't started dinner so..."

"Forget dinner." He lifts me up and I wrap my legs around him. "I already ate."

I laugh. "I did too."

"I knew you didn't invite me over here to eat," he says, carrying me into the bedroom.

"I will some other time, but we haven't done this since Sunday and—"

He kisses me, and starts undressing me, and I forget whatever it was I going to say. We have sex, twice, then linger in my bed until Amber gets home. I'd like Austin to spend the night but I have homework to do.

It's only the first day of class and I'm already losing motivation. I'm in classes I don't even want to be taking but my advisor assures me they'll count towards whatever major I choose. But I have no idea what that will be. I talked to some people in class today, all freshman since I'm taking all freshman classes, and at 18, they all know what they want to do with their lives. They've got it all mapped out, just like Amber does. But I have no clue what I want to do. My mind is solely focused on gymnastics. That's the only thing that interests me.

The week goes by and I see Austin every night. I also see him in the morning at the gym. I didn't tell him this, but I started going to the campus gym in the afternoon because I feel like my morning workouts aren't enough.

Ever since the incident with my leg the other day, Austin is keeping a closer eye on me during our workouts and keeps fighting with me every time I want to add more weight to a machine. I told him he can't train me if he's going to limit how much I can do, but he still tries to, which is why I decided to work out on my own later.

So in the afternoon, I go to the campus gym. I mostly do cardio, along with some stretching and yoga to maintain my flexibility. Sometimes I also do weights, but lighter weights than I do in the morning, and I increase the reps.

All this working out is paying off. I feel myself getting stronger and my endurance increasing. But my leg isn't holding up well. It's used to gentler workouts for shorter amounts of time. It doesn't like being pushed to the limit. It hurts all the time so I load up on ibuprofen to make the pain more manageable.

Between the workouts and spending time with Austin, I haven't had much time to study. I had a quiz last Friday and barely passed. It doesn't count much toward my final grade, but still, I can't get another barely-passing grade, which is why I spent most of this past weekend doing homework and studying.

Now it's Sunday night and I'm finally allowing myself to relax and watch movies with Austin. We had dinner, followed by sex, and now we're lying on the couch. Amber's gone again. She's been gone every night this week. I don't know where she goes. I can't keep track of her schedule.

My phone rings but I ignore it because it's on the coffee table and I can't reach it. I'm lying in between Austin and the couch and I don't want to get up.

"Don't you want to get that?" Austin asks as the phone continues to ring.

"I'm too comfortable. I don't want to move."

He chuckles and sits up enough to get the phone. "What the hell?" he says, holding the phone up. "It's some guy named Luke."

I laugh. He's just teasing. He knows Luke is my little brother. "Give it here."

He hands it to me and I answer. "What do you want, goofball?"

"We just got back from camping," he says, sounding excited. He's 10, and still in that little kid stage where everything's exciting. "And guess what?"

"What?"

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