“It’s perfect timing that you’re here,” I say with a grin. “Ready to pull off some poses with me?”
“I reget every life decision that brought me to this moment.”
“Youloveme!”
“Whatever,” he says, moving the wheel as I look up some poses for us to try. It’s a disaster but chat eats it up.
After all of this, I plan on sending my community over to Rodney’s stream which he sets up after our failed attempt at yoga poses. Thankfully, it’s not long after Rodney leaves my room that I’m finally allowed to end my stream. After saying goodbye and thanking everyone for the subs and donations, I hit ‘end stream’.
Once the stream is over, I sit back in my chair, letting out a long sigh. It was a great stream. Excellent even! With an averageviewer count around thirty thousand, I gained a ton of new subscribers, and lots of people left me donations.
I am really, really lucky that this is my job and I make way more money than I need. That doesn’t mean that being ‘on’ during the last couple hours wasn’t exhausting. It’s a different type of exhaustion than a ‘regular’ job.
After shutting down my computer, I move straight to my bed, faceplanting. I know I should probably eat something but I can’t be assed right now. Two edibles and shotgunning a beer is too much for my poor brain to deal with. It only takes a moment before I’m passed the fuck out.
Chapter Two
Maki
I turn onto myside, blinking my eyes open slowly. My alarm clock reads 6:29. I stare at it until it flips over to 6:30 and my alarm starts to beep. Reaching over, I click it off. I yawn to myself as I wait until it flips over to 6:31 before turning the switch back on so it’ll go off at the same time tomorrow.
I get out of bed, stretching my arms over my head. I start my day the same way as I start every day; with some calisthenicsand then some yoga. It’s the perfect way to not only wake up my mind, but also my body. As a professional athlete, my most prized possession is my body and I have to do everything in my power to keep it safe, healthy, and performing at its best.
After two sets of jumpsquats, I start going through my yoga poses. I let out a satisfying noise as I stretch my body out. I do my best to keep my mind clear, thinking back to the dreams I had last night.
There was one in particular I can’t seem to stop thinking about. My volleyball team and I were playing but we were playing in a special underwater arena. I kept getting frustrated because the ball wouldn’t do what I wanted it to do because of the physics of hitting a ball underwater. I was ready to give up until someone came closer, stealing the ball from me.
It was so absurd. You can’t just steal the ball like that in volleyball. There arerules. I was planning on telling the faceless person with the striking blue hair just that, only instead of listening, they kissed me.
The kiss is what woke me up right before my alarm went off.
I sit on the floor, placing the soles of my feet together. I put my arms out, stretching out my chest muscles, letting in a deep breath before slowly letting it out. As I sit here, with my eyes closed, I can’t stop thinking about that vibrant blue, I can’t stop feeling little tingles against my lips.
I’ve kissed a few people before, but they never felt like that. They never left me thinking about them the next day.
Dreams shouldn’t have this sort of effect over people. I’m an undine, not a djinn. Dreams aren’t something I’ve ever been interested in thinking about more than mild amusement at how weird they can get. Yet, I can’t seem to get this one out of my head no matter how long I sit here, attempting to meditate. I try to clear my mind over and over to no avail. Eventually, I have to give up and continue on with my day.
With a sigh, I finally stand up and move to my kitchen, making myself a veggie filled omelet for breakfast. I sit at my breakfast island and eat slowly, checking my social media accounts on my phone. My manager is always on my case to post more often but I never know what to say. It’s easier when I’m promoting something or am posting about a sponsorship because they always just tell me what they want me to say. It takes all the guess work away.
I’m not what most people would call a people person. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s just that I have a hard time understanding them. I enjoy watching, I enjoy being quiet. I like things done a certain way and sometimes, people don’t really like that.
I make sure to give Bo, one of my teammates, a like on his new post. I leave a comment, telling him the new jacket looks good on him. Oli, another teammate, also posted a picture with himself and Ivan. Oli is throwing up a peace sign while Ivan looks unimpressed. I like that as well, asking if they had fun last night.
My notifications start going wild, people also commenting on my comment, asking what I mean by last night and if I’m trying to imply something. I simply say no, that I hope my teammates had fun spending time together last night, that’s all.
I put my phone back down, pinching the bridge of my nose. Hopefully I haven’t started some media nightmare that Cleo, my manager, has to deal with. A few times I’ve commented something that led to a long meeting in her office while she lectured me about how the things I say can sometimes come across wrong or rude. It’s exhausting. I just want to play volleyball.
After eating, I put my dishes in the sink and move to the bathroom. I shower and change before grabbing my phone, wallet, and keys. Then I head out of my apartment and towards the grocery store.
Despite the wind blowing and everyone around me shivering from it, it doesn’t leave me feeling overly cold. One of the perks of being an undine fae is that the cold doesn’t bother me.
The grocery store is warm inside. I grab a cart and start heading towards the produce department. I make sure to stick to the diet my nutritionist set out for me. Some people on my team don’t mind cheating on their diet regularly so long as they stay in shape but I’d rather follow it as closely as possible. The man is doing his job, making this plan for me, why would I waste his time not following it?
I walk past a man with bright blue hair and my stomach sinks to my toes. I turn away, not wanting to be caught staring. The blue hair reminds me of the person from my dream this morning.
What a weird coincidence. It feels unlikely that I dreamed ofhimspecifically but the resemblance is uncanny.
I do my best to focus on my produce, picking out everything I’ll need for the following week. Then I move over to the meat department. I see a flash of blue from the corner of my eyes and I can’t help but look, watching as he moves across the store.
