Battleground | Juju Watkins

***

"Are you excited to see the Eiffel Tower tomorrow?" Noni questioned me as we walked down the hotel hallway to our rooms.

Noni had linked her arm with mine and had been continuously talking my ear off from the second she found me standing outside of the arena.

I nodded my head absent mindedly as I felt my legs grow numb with every step I took. I had once again been crowded by Noni outside of my hotel room door and there was no escape but this time, something was different.

This time I didn't dread the thought of having to go into a hotel room with Juju, who was only a few steps behind us. Her eyes were constantly on me, whether it was on the bus back to the hotel, on the elevator or now, as we stopped to stand outside of our doorway.

Juju's eyes burned into me in a way that I can't explain. They held emotions that I couldn't decipher and they let me know that something was about to happen.

I heard Noni say her goodbyes but as I struggled to open the door with my key due to how shaky my hands were, I couldn't bring myself to respond.

I could only focus on Juju standing behind me. Even though there was some distance between us, I could feel the heat radiate off of her body and it engulfed around me like a blanket, making me overheat. I finally heard the door click open before I pushed through it and I left out a huge sigh of relief.

I started to clean up my side of the room, desperate to do anything to distract myself but I was constantly aware of Juju's presence. Even when she was on the other side of a room, my attention was always on her.

I continued to clean up my space, grabbing the shopping bags from my secret admirer before I started to organise them. I dotted the presents all around my dresser as I crushed the boxes that they came in with my hands before throwing the rubbish in the bin.

"Your girlfriend get you those?" Juju spitefully spat as she folded her clothes before putting them away into the drawers of her dresser.

Juju had been fidgeting just as much as me since we entered the room. We were both picking up on each other's nervous energy and it was causing a deep tension to form between us.

"Probably," I answered in a fake, sweet voice while rolling my eyes at her before I continued to organise all of my new things.

I didn't know who they were from but I wasn't going to give her that satisfaction. I tried to ignore how my chest ached slightly as I started to realise that the chances that they were from Juju were slim to none. I attempted to shake the thought off, focusing my attention back on my organising but I couldn't. I just had to push her to the edge.

"Jealous?" I questioned Juju as I continued to move around my new makeup and my new lotions before grabbing the small, blue bag that contained my favourite present of all.