Who: Tom and Rose What: Tom stops by the gym Where: Local gym Rose trains at When: Mid April Rating: Mostly Low, some language, no gratuitous violence or sex in this one. Status: Complete, when posted
The round was coming to an end and Rose was watching her opponent with a keen intensity. The other girl was breathing too hard to make it much longer and Rose just had to wait for that opening before she could strike. The two circled around the ring and Rose kept hopping around on her toes before she finally went in and struck. Her shoulder found the girl’s middle and plowed her down onto the mat of the ring and pinned her there. The ref counted one, two, three, and Rose let go with a triumphant grunt, grinning widely, before reaching out to help the other girl out. The two exchanged pleasantries before they parted ways and headed towards the ropes so they could get out.
One of Rose’s friends came over to congratulate her. The man was quite attractive and the two of them had quite a good flirting relationship before she had gotten together with Tom. She couldn’t help but blush as he complimented her technique and placed a hand on the small of her back. Rose gave him a smile as she grabbed her water, a nod to his comment, and took a swig of it, “Thanks, I appreciate it. I may need to hit you up soon to work out a few kinks in my technique though.”
Tom was really excited to go see where Rose worked. They talked a bit about work, the pair of them, but they'd never gone into really specific details or seen the other in action. It was time to remedy that, right? So Tom headed to the gym to get a view of her... fighting or training or something. She'd given him the time to come by. He was there to see the whole thing.
And he was impressed.
Then he saw someone else coming over to talk to her. To flirt with her. To touch her. Tom's brow darkened a bit. He didn't say anything, just stood off to the side, waiting for Rose to see him there.
Rose’s eyes glanced around the gym before she spotted Tom in the crowd. A brightness appeared on her eyes as she squirmed her way out of the man’s grasp and left him with a quick goodbye. She passed through the crowd before reaching Tom and looped her arms around his neck as she pressed a kiss to his lips. She may still be gross and sweaty, but she hoped he wouldn’t mind and she made sure she wasn’t pressed up too close to him, “Hi!”
Tom didn't mind. Actually, he barely noticed that she was sweaty. His arm looped down and around her and he returned the kiss. It wasn't a tight hug, but she could definitely feel his arm there. Supporting her. He grinned softly, trying to forget his jealousy. Though, that was hard. "Hi." He said, grinning a slightly distracted grin. "You looked good up there."
It felt so nice to be held like this and she smiled back at him. However, she did notice that his smile looked a little distracted, but she wasn’t going to bring it up just yet. A blush appeared at his compliment and she looked down bashfully before chuckling, “Thank you. Did you manage to catch it all? Not my best match ever, but I’m glad I was able to win when you were watching.”
"Yeah, I got here a while ago," Tom said. He tore his eyes away from her to glance over at the tall guy that she'd been talking to, and found that the guy was still checking her out. Tom's arm tightened around her waist a little. "You're really amazing." He brought his attention back to her, breaking into a somewhat forced smile. "Should I let you go shower?"
“You’re so sweet. And yeah, I can go shower. I’m sure you want to go out and do something after this and I don’t want to go out in public all sweaty,” Rose responded with a soft chuckle. She noticed his attention slipping to something behind her and she wasn’t quite sure what he was so focused on. But she did need to get a shower, so she unwrapped her arms from around his neck.
"Dinner?" Tom suggested as the thing he wanted to go out and do after this. And yes, it would probably be best if she wasn't sweaty for that. He released his arm from around her and let her go. "I'll... wait outside, then, shall I?" He added. He could go sit in his car.. She'd take some time to get dressed, wouldn't she? Girls tended to take longer with showers and blow-dryers and whatever else they had to do. Plus, he didn’t want to have to talk to that tall, handsy guy.
“Oh no, you can wait here. There’s some couches over there. I’m really fast at post-workout showers,” Rose insisted because it seemed weird to make Tom go outside and wait for her in the car. That didn’t seem like something he should have to do. She honestly only took about 10 minutes in the shower and then she’d throw her hair in a braid and call it good, “I promise, it won’t be long. Just don’t go picking fights with anyone because your face is too cute to mess up.” She gave him a giggle and a kiss as she dashed off to get changed.
Tom nodded. “Okay.” He gave a little laugh when she told him not to get into a fight, then returned her kiss. That was the last thing in the world that he was planning on doing. Tom was a lover, not a fighter. He moved over to the nearest sofa and pulled out his phone to fiddle with it for 10 minutes.
Rose emerged in a cute casual outfit with her wet hair in a braid. She was focused on going over to where Tom was that she didn’t even realize that her friend from earlier had walked into her path. He reached out to grab her hips to stop her and she let out a gasp. She laughed it off saying that he scared her and moved out of his touch before explaining that she had to get going and started to walk off towards Tom on the couch.
Tom glanced up when he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. He frowned deeply when he saw that doucebag’s hands on his girl’s hips, and he climbed to his feet. He was scowling like a petulant child when Rose caught up with him. He turned to head out, not saying anything.
The scowl was quite noticeable, but Rose wasn’t completely sure the reasoning behind it. And then he walked off like that? Ugh, what had crawled up his ass. She followed after him, grabbing his elbow, and pulling him to a stop, “What’s wrong?” The concern in her voice and eyes shone through as she looked up at him trying to figure it out.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked, frowning. How on Earth could she not know what was wrong? He shook his head a little, then turned to drag her out the door. They didn’t need to do this inside, where the douchebag was still hanging around. Once the door closed behind them, he got out his keys and fiddled with them, to have something to do with his hands. “Do you always let random jerks at the gym fondle you like that?”
“Fondle me?” her face was a look of surprise and anger before she realized what was truly going on. Tom was actually jealous. Wow, she didn’t think that he had that ability because he was just so sure of himself. She frowned just slightly before letting out a sigh, “Alright, first, he’s not random - I train with him. Second, yes, he got a little handsy there but I got away from him. I’ll talk to him about it. I can’t just punch him in the face at work. And I didn’t ask for him to do anything like that, so why are you getting upset with me? You should be upset with him.”
She should be amused at his jealousy. Tom didn’t get jealous. Because jealousy meant there were stronger feelings there than Tom was used to having for people. It meant a sense of ownership or entitlement that Tom didn’t ever feel. Especially toward a woman he was dating. He sighed and turned to face her, torn somewhere between anger and confusion and sadness.
“I am upset with him. You think I’m gonna pick a fight with someone you work with? I’m not stupid. You’re better equipped to handle him than I am.” Tom was definitely a lover, not a fighter. He’d get creamed. It wouldn’t be pretty.
“I would step in before your pretty face got injured,” she quickly pointed out to him. And she wouldn’t laugh at his jealously. It was a telling thing and not something she was going to let go lightly. She certainly didn’t want him to think that it was okay to think he owned her or anything like that, but he could certainly express this to a point before she got wholly upset, “You can at least tell him that you think he should take his hands off me before you get angry. Just don’t take it out on me.” Any idea that he was kinda sexy when he was jealous was going to have to wait until they finished talking this one out. And of course it was scary to have these feelings, but it was good for him, especially since she was his first real girlfriend in this time of his life.
“Does he know we’re together?” Tom asked. Wasn’t that like, a code of ethics or something? If a girl had a boyfriend, didn’t that make her off-limits? Maybe this guy just didn’t know. But wouldn’t it be Rose’s responsibility to make sure he knew she was off the market? “Or does he not care?”
“I don’t think he gives a shit. They all know I have a boyfriend,” she certainly wasn’t going to add in that she had hooked up with him once or twice in the past, so that’s probably why he felt he could still be handsy around her. But she had let basically everyone in the gym know that she had a boyfriend, so that shouldn’t be that big of a surprise to him.
“So, he knows you have a boyfriend, and yet he still puts his hands all over you?” Tom asked, incredulously. The hypocrite. He’d done similar things back before Rose. But never again. Not now that he knew what it felt like to love someone. To belong to someone, and for her to belong to him, too. He sure as hell wouldn’t let any woman put her hands on him anymore. At least, he’d try not to.
“Yeah, he’s a bit of a creep. But I guess I’ve just gotten used to it over time. But I’ll make sure to make it clear once again to him,” She reached over to grab his hands and pulled him over to her, “But hey, you know that I only have eyes for you, right? You’re the only guy that can get away with putting his hands on me in non-professional manner. I love you and I have to admit that you’re kind of cute when you get jealous - well, when you’re not being upset with me.” And it wouldn’t surprise Rose that he had done things like that in the past, but it was certainly giving him a new perspective on his past transgressions.
“I’m not jealous,” Tom lied after she took his hands and pulled him closer. The lie wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all Tom. He came in another step and lowered his hands to wrap them down and around her. “I’m not upset with you, anyway,” his large, warm hands explored her back, drawing her in against him. “I’m thinking maybe we need a little PDA. Y’know, make it obvious who’s allowed to touch and who’s not.” He waggled his eyebrows.
The look she gave Tom was withering and completely revealed that she did not believe him at all. He was most certainly jealous, but she wouldn’t press the issue if he wasn’t going to. But that was quickly forgotten when he pulled her close and she giggled at his comment, “You are such a perv, but I really like it. Now kiss me properly already.”
Tom didn’t have to be told twice. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her flush against him, and kissed her like nobody’s business.