John ran his hands up and down Lottie's bare side, tracing his fingers across her soft skin. He admired the tan lines across her hip, smiling as he thought back to their holiday last month. Placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder, he pushed the duvet from himself and sat up, running a hand through his hair. "Come back." Lottie mumbled, reaching over and taking his hand, pulling it close to her and holding him tightly. "Stay with me today."
"I can't, baby." He whispered, leaning down and planting another kiss, this time on her cheek. "You know I've got to go to training." She turned to him and pouted. "And technically, you started work half an hour ago." Lottie rolled her eyes at him and rolled back over, pulling the duvet back up to her neck.
Six months ago, John employed Lottie as his personal nutritionist. She came to his house four mornings a week, and they prepared his meals for the day together. On training days, she packed him a nutritional lunch, and they cooked his lunch together when he returned home. John wasn't the best in the kitchen, and after a while, he got so used to having Lottie around.
"Do you think it's time we booked another holiday?" John asked her as he pulled on a pair of shorts from the floor. "I miss the sunshine."
"Maybe next time we go, we can actually leave the villa." She retorted from under the duvet. Lottie and John had flown out to Ibiza for a sun getaway, and due to the nature of their relationship, they'd had to stay put in their villa, away from the prying eye.
"You know why we had to do that." He said as he continued to get dressed. When Lottie took the job with John, her company made her sign an agreement that she wouldn't partake in any personal relations with clients. A month into her job in Manchester, Lottie found herself breaking the rules, as such. "It's for the best. You'll lose your job."
"I can find a new job." She sat up in bed, the duvet falling, revealing her chest. John's eyes darted downwards briefly, before regaining eye contact.
"Why don't you pack a bag and we'll go away for a few nights when I get home later? I don't have training again until Sunday."
Lottie smiled, placing her hands on either side of John's face, kissing him. "What did I do to deserve you?" Nothing was official between John and Lottie, but they'd been seeing one another for five months.
"I'm so lucky." He said, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her onto his lap. "Now, I really need to get going, babe." She frowned at him once more, climbing off of his lap and climbing back into bed.
"Have a good day. See you in a few hours."
"Are you seriously going back to bed?" He chuckled.
"My boss gave me the day off." She joked.
"He sounds like a nice guy." John responded.
"Bit of a prat." Lottie smirked. "Nice ass though."
John rolled his eyes. "Right. I'm off. I'll text you the details." He kissed her one last time before leaving the bedroom. Lottie groaned to herself. Why couldn't she just have the balls to ask him what was going on?
The boys were just finishing training, making their way back into the dressing room. "Did you wanna go out for a drink tonight with the lads?" Raheem asked John. John smiled weakly.
"I can't tonight mate, sorry."
"Ooh, is Lottie round tonight?"
The boys knew about Lottie, but they didn't know the extent of their relationship - all they knew was John was infatuated with his nutritionist.
"Yeah, she is actually." He retorted, annoyed they were taking the piss out of him again.
"Mate, she's probably not interested." Leroy laughed.
"Whatever, man." John rolled his eyes, picking up his pace and walking ahead of the boys. Changing into a clean t-shirt and a pair of shorts, John said his goodbyes to the boys and made his way to the car. Taking out his phone, he sent Lottie a quick text - 'all booked and ready to go, I just need to pack a bag and we can set off as soon as I'm done x'
Not long later, John arrived back home. Lottie met him with open arms, holding him as tightly as possible. She needed to ask him.
"John-"
"Come on, babe. Let's get sorted and we can leave. Sunshine awaits." He smirked, picking her up and carrying her up the stairs. She rolled her eyes at home; she was significantly smaller than him, so carrying her wasn't a difficult job for John.
"Babe..."
"Babe." He responded.
She hesitated. "Never mind." She shook her head. "Let's get your bags packed and we'll call a cab."
"What's the matter?" John asked, sitting down on the bed next to Lottie and pushing a piece of stray hair behind her ear. They were both tired from the flight and long day. "You look sad."
"I just hate having to hide." She frowned. "Who cares about my job? If they really have a problem then let them fire me. I can still work for you. I care about us far too much to just let this slip under the radar. I was to scream from the rooftops - I want everyone to know. I don't want to have to come on holiday and sit indoors because we're so scared that someone might see us and post a photo online."
"Pass me my phone." John said. Lottie frowned, but passed it to him anyway. Was he just going to ignore everything she just said? He tapped away at his phone for a few moments before dropping it into his lap. Lottie's phone buzzed, and as she picked it up, she read the notification '@/johnstonesofficial has tagged you in a post on Instagram.'
Smiling to herself, she opened the post and read the message. 'Looking forward to a few days away with my girl @/lottiehaynes96, how did I get so lucky?😍' He'd chosen a photo from their last holiday; a selfie taken at dinner, John watching Lottie instead of the camera, a huge smile on Lottie's face.
She looked up at John. My girl. "What is this?" She asked, motioning between the two of them.
"Whatever you want it to be."
He lent down and kissed her momentarily, pulling back and smirking at her. She also wore a smirk. "You know the boys are going to rip the shit out of you for that post, don't you?" She laughed.
"Oh, I know." He chuckled. "In fact, I bet there's already some messages from them now." He picked up his phone and laughed at whatever was on the screen. Turning it to face Lottie, she read the messages from the boys 'knew it', 'how did you bag that one?', 'my girl, god you're such a wet wipe'. The last message was from Kyle - 'so what's actually going on between you two? are you together?'
John shrugged his shoulders, looking intently at Lottie. "Ask me." She said confidently.
"Ask you?"
"Ask me." She repeated.
"Charlotte Haynes. Will you do the honour of being my girlfriend?" He asked, smirking at he took her hands in his own.
"Oh, I suppose so."
