Nicole woke up the next day with pain in her lower back, not too surprising considering she had taken the couch after her and Amy had fought. She was prepared for her parents to question why she had slept on the couch when she and Amy had slept together just fine the previous weeks. But alas there was no questioning, in fact no one was awake and it was already ten in the morning. Or Nicole assumed no one else was awake, she had checked her parents, but was too scared to go and check whether or not Amy was even still in the room. She decided to do some cleaning and get some work done.
When her parents finally woke up she felt it was time to go and check her bedroom. Amy was indeed still there but she was dead asleep. Nicole didn't feel like causing more problems between each other so she left Amy be. "You're not even going to come and check if I'm alive?" Amy sat up and shifted out of the blankets. "Maybe apologize, or try and wake me?"
"Did you know?"
"Know what? That you liked me, yeah the night you got out of bed to feed Bubble's I heard you, also when you breathed in my face." Nicole looked down, ashamed. "Look, there's nothing wrong with you liking me, I think I could like you too. But right now is not the best time, I live with you, and even if your parents like me I don't know if they'll like that I'm dating you and sleeping in your bed." Nicole nodded, still feeling a wave of shame coming over her with every word Amy said. "Please look at me Nicole, I don't want to hurt you." Nicole looked up, Amy was still sitting on the bed, she patted the spot next to her. "Come sit, you need to understand that I do love you, just not that way, alright?" Nicole had made sure to shut the door behind her when Amy sat up, so she moved away from it and towards the bed.
"Can I sleep in the bed then. I won't try anything, I'll even stop cuddling if that's too much."
"The cuddling is fine, and yeah. To be honest I felt kind of bad for taking your bed last night, was the couch uncomfortable?"
"Yeah, in fact my back still kinda hurts." Amy grimaced at Nicole and patted her shoulder softly.
"I'm sorry, do you want to sleep in the bed alone tonight?" Nicole shook her head, even if she had no chance with Amy right now that closeness was nice.
"I like being near you, even if we can't be together." Amy loved the way Nicole avoided her eye contact out of embarrassment, it was adorable and sweet, and desperately made Amy want to say yes to dating Nicole.
"Just give me time, I don't want to start anything until my life has calmed down a bit, and I'm stable on my own." Amy leaned over Nicole and kissed her forehead. "And maybe we can kiss a little, but I don't want to commit to anything romantic right now. I don't think it would be fair to you or me." The forehead kiss made Nicole feel elated, and the possibility of more kisses like the one they had the previous night. Nicole was still conflicted however. A relationship would distract her from making her father proud anyway. She needed to keep herself focused on track and getting scouted.
"Alright, we should go on a walk today. It's not too hot or cold right now, so I think a walk might help us clear our heads. Do you want to go?"
"Yeah, let me put on my tenni shoes though." Amy went to Nicole's closet where she had put her duffle bag of clothes. She also quickly changed into a pair of leggings and a t-shirt. "We could jog instead of walking, it'll be better for exercise. Especially after all the junk food we ate last night."
After the two had changed into appropriate running clothes they said good morning to Chris and Juliana and decided on a route before heading out. Nicole wanted to stare at Amy while they were running, but she kept running into things, so eventually she gave up on it.
The run ended when they reached a nearby park with a pond, they planned to rest there and drink some water. Nicole had brought a water bottle, but Amy didn't own one and instead drank from one of the water fountains. Both of them were covered in sweat in a way that made them want to keep running so their clothes would unstick from their body. They sat at a park bench and caught their breath, Nicole brought her shirt up from her stomach and used it to wipe some of her sweat from her face. Amy couldn't help but stare. Nicole was in good shape, her torso was muscly but not completely flat, something Nicole found unappealing. Amy loved the way Nicole's abs were defined, but not so much that a little bit of tummy poked out. Nicole caught Amy staring and decided to taunt her a bit.
Since she was wearing a sports bra underneath her shirt she decided to simply pull the shirt off. She was wearing mens basketball shorts which meant her pockets could fit just about anything. She quickly folded the shirt and stuffed it into her right pocket since the left was occupied with ehr water bottle. Amy's mouth fell slightly open as Nicole started running again. "You'll fall behind if you don't start running Amy." Nicole was already at the exit of the park when Amy finally started running again.
It was hotter now, which meant Nicole was sweating even more, but since she'd taken off her shirt the only thing sticking to her was her hair since the bra contoured to her body perfectly. When they made it a few blocks from the house Amy caught up and pulled Nicole's hand and turned her around. Amy tiptoed so she could reach Nicole's face and they kissed a slow and passionate one.