It was day two of having the shrew as our team trainer, so that meant it was day two of the sort of physical activity only our soldiers were expected to do. My legs ached. My shoulders ached. Actually my entire body ached. But I got out of bed two hours before I was supposed to be at the arena and warmed up so I could be ready for whatever she asked us to do.
The sight of her coming into the gym took the breath from my lungs. I’d always found her beautiful, so I struggled to hold back and pretend she was nothing to me aside from a respected team trainer when I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her.
I didn’t kiss her. And aside from a polite greeting, I said nothing else to her all morning. It was agony. The only thing that made it bearable was when I caught her watching me with longing. She quickly looked away, but it thrilled me to know that the reckless kiss yesterday hadn’t destroyed the fragments of what we still had between us.
I had hope. But I knew that I’d need to take things slow, to court her. We’d began our relationship backwards with intimacy first. I didn’t regret that, but it was time to show her I loved more of her than her body.
Instead of staying behind, I went to the locker room with the others, and when I was freshly showered and dressed I texted her.
Eng: That was a difficult workout today. The mouse-chase exercise is terrible. Please do not ever ask us to do that again.
I followed up with a few of the emojis that Bwat had taught me to use. One of a winky-face to indicate I had said the last two sentences in jest, then a hockey stick and a mouse. Then a burger and fries, because I was hungry.
Walking back to my hovel, I bought tacos from a street vendor and completely devoured them before I reached my front door. My phone chimed as I put my key in the lock.
Willa: You realize you’ve just guaranteed that mouse chase will be on the schedule at least twice a week. And what do the food emojis mean? Should I have you all chase burgers across the ice instead of a mouse? Is the burger supposed to represent a hockey puck? And what’s with the fries?
I chuckled, throwing my keys in the basket by the door and sitting on my sofa before replying.
Eng: They looked tasty. A Hot Pocket for dinner and a cannoli for breakfast wasn’t enough to get me through that workout.
Willa: Ah, so you’re blaming lack of food for your terrible performance on the ice?
She’d replied. She’d finally replied to my texts with more than just an acknowledgement. This was a conversation, even though it was over a phone, and I didn’t want to screw it up.
Eng: No, I’m blaming my lack of skating ability for my terrible performance on the ice. I’m blaming lack of food for the empty hole in my stomach.
I followed this one up with several other food emojis.
She replied with a “U” and the drawing of a peach and a hot pepper.
I frowned. Spicy peaches sounded tasty.
Eng: Is that good?
Willa: Oh, it’s very good.
Eng: Send me the recipe.
She replied with the image of a man and the one of a hockey stick. I absolutely did not understand, so I sent her a series of question marks.
Willa: The peach is slang for butt. The pepper means hot. I just told you that you have a nice ass.
I caught my breath, unable to believe that she was flirting with me. I’d thought I’d lost her forever, and while I still realized the battle had not been won, at least she was flirting with me.
Eng: You also have a spicy peach
I teased.
The next text was the emoji of an eggplant.
Willa: This one is slang for hand-axe.
Eng: That hand-axe has some serious problems. Why is it shaped like that? I think that orc should immediately see a healer.
In reply I received a series of laughing-face emojis.
Eng: I am not joking. If my hand-axe looked like that, you would drive me straight to the hospital.
