Ryan and I were lying exhausted on the floor of the living room in his new house. All of his new furniture was arriving over the next few days.
“I had no idea how tiring moving was”
Ryan’s comment made me laugh
“And I didn’t even have to train this morning how are you still awake?”
“I have you to entertain me.”
“Not for much longer I plan on spending the rest of the night right here.”
I sat up to look over at the sprawled out position Ryan had assumed on the floor. It made me smile.
“Or we could go back to my place and actually sleep in my warm comfortable bed.”
“Or you could stay here with me and come with me to the hardware store tomorrow morning.”
As Ryan was saying this in a relatively provocative manner to make it seem more appealing he had reached up and gently pulled me down so my head was now resting in the crook of his neck. I could feel his chin toughing my forehead as he spoke.
“Mmm the hardware store.”
I said this in a more provocative manner which made Ryan laugh which made me smile.
“Hey Ry”
“Yes gorgeous”
“Do you think were moving too fast?”
I think my comment shocked Ryan a little. He sat up, forcing me to sit up as well. I sat there cross legged facing him and he did the same facing me.
“Ice. I don’t really know what to say. All I know is that as soon as I saw you I wanted to get to know you and as soon as I did I fell in love with you and yeah I know it seems fast but either way I know that I would still feel the same. Do you think we are moving too fast? I mean if you want to slow down we can, I just want you to be happy.”
“Ry to be honest I feel the same I love you and I don’t really see how we can slow down, having said that though I don’t want to go any faster. I just wanted to know what you thought and I’m happy as long as you’re happy.”
Ryan smiled and dragged me towards him
“I’m very happy”
And inevitably on top of him. We began making out and just as he started taking off my shirt the door bell rang.
“Why?”
Ryan groaned as he got up to answer the door.
“Are you expecting anyone?”
I asked as he threw me my shirt and I put it on.
“No”
He replied and as he did he opened the door
“Surprise!”
I walked over towards Ryan so I could see what was going on.
“Hey Ice”
Someone said as whole crowd of people walked past.
“Umm Hey”
I said taken off guard. I finally made it to Ryan.
“Are you sure you’re not expecting anyone.”
“Yeah...Casey what is this?”
Ryan seemed more than a little annoyed
“It’s your house warming party.”
“Casey I don’t want a house warming party.”
“Come on Ry everyone wants a housewarming party”
“I don’t. What makes you think that you can just bring in all of these random people without even asking me first?”
By now everyone was staring at Ryan yelling at Casey and the stunned silent response that followed. I had to intervene.
“What he means is this is a really nice gesture but he has a demo that he has to leave for in about 20 minutes.”
“If he has a demo what are you still doing here?”
I heard someone yelling spitefully from the crowd of people of which I only knew 5 maybe 6 people out of the entire crowd however seemed to enjoy giving me an angry look as I was the one destroying their fun.
“I’m here to take him to the airport.”
I yelled back in an equally spitefully tone. Ryan put his hand on the base of my back giving me the signal to calm down.
“Hey sorry Ry I didn’t know.”
“That’s fine Casey but see why it is important to ask me first.”
“Yeah I get it. But hey at least when you get home all these people will be out and I would have cleaned up the entire place.”
“Casey.”
“I’m kidding were leaving now.”
The crowd quickly dispersed and Ryan shut the door behind it immediately turning to me afterward.
“So where exactly is this demo that I am leaving for.”
“I’m sorry I ....”
“Thank you”
He looked and sounded relived.
“Anytime.”
“But you do know that someone is probably outside checking if we actually leave in 20 minutes.”
“Yeah I know...Do you want me to beat them up for you.”
“No but we should probably go to your place now.”
“Yeah. On the Brightside you get to sleep in a bed as opposed to the floor.”
“And I get to sleep with you.”
“You know and I know that I would have stayed”
“Really you find me appealing enough to sleep on the floor with me.”
“No it’s the promise of the hardware store that did it for me”
Ryan laughed and we began to head upstairs.
“Ok so from now on we are going to act as if I am actually leaving.”
“Oh so you think they’ve bugged the house to now.”
“Shhh they might have heard that.”
We both laughed at our stupidity as Ryan packed a suitcase type bag.
“What’s with the bag?”
“Well I don’t know how long I’m going to be away for.”
I laughed and then the doorbell rang.
“Crap is been almost 20 minutes, that’s probably one of them.”
“You really think they’re out there don’t you?”
“Trust me.”
“Ok you finish up here I’ll get the door”
I ran down stairs to get the door and just as I opened it Ryan came down stairs.
“Ok we better go or I’ll miss my flight.”
Ryan stopped just behind me to see a rather slutty girl standing there.
“Wow you really do have a demo. We all just thought you wanted to sleep with her.”
The girl gave me a look and I mumbled to myself
“And that would be 53”
Ryan looked at me and then at the girl.
“Do I know you?”
“Um yeah I was here for the party before she kicked us out.”
“She may have kicked you out but I’m the one that wanted you out. Is there a reason why you are trespassing?”
I looked at Ryan defending me, he seemed genuinely annoyed.
“Um yeah I think I left my bag here.”
“Alright go in and get it can you hurry please I have to go.”
She ran in to go locate her bag.
“Trespassing”
I looked at Ryan and he just shrugged
“53?”
I’ll explain it to you later. He smiled and then he realise the girl was back.
“Bye Ry”
She put her hand on his chest as she walked past and the look on his face caused me to crack up laughing, which brought her attention to me.
“Are you ok Ry?”
I had to ask he looked as if someone had just shown him a hideous infected gash.
“Yeah I think I just threw up in my mouth a little”
I was trying so hard to hold in my laughter.
“Bye”
Was all she said in a glum ‘i can’t believe he is dating her manner’
“Toodles”
I replied cheerily. This really pissed her off and she stormed out. I laughed and Ryan and I followed her out. He kissed me and began to lock the door. We then heard a voice.
“Wait you are actually leaving”
“Yes I am actually leaving. I don’t know when I’ll be back and I don’t know why you people seem to doubt that I have somewhere to go.”
I was shocked at his slight outburst towards Casey. I reached a hand up and began to rub his back in an attempt to calm him down.
“Well it’s just that no one knew about it.”
“Oh yeah I’m sorry I forgot to give you a chance to go through my phone in the past 24 hours. I only got the call from plan b to do it this morning so sorry”
Casey had that look on his face. The one where he regrets what he did but he regrets the fact that he got caught more. As Ryan and Casey continued to argue about a demo that didn’t exist the worst possible thing happened, Paul Rodriguez and Jeremy Rogers pulled into the drive way. I walked over to them to tell them what was going on and they understood.
“Hey Ice what’s going on”
“Well Casey showed up just a little bit ago with a whole bunch of people for a surprise house warming party that Ryan didn’t want and so we said that he has a demo with you guys and he has to catch a flight in 20 minutes so they left, and Ryan and I decided that because his furniture hasn’t arrived yet that he would stay over at my place. So just as were leaving it turns out that a whole bunch of people waited to see if he actually left and now him and Casey are arguing about Casey going through his phone and some other stuff that I don’t really know anything about. So basically if anyone asks I’m dropping you off at the airport so you can leave for a demo.”
“Oh ok”
The guys nodded in agreement.
“So what are we supposed to do because we were going to help Ryan build the skatepark for his backyard tomorrow and we were just going to hang out tonight.”
“Oh that explains the hardware store”
I mumbled to myself
“What?”
“Um well do you guys want to stay over at my place too. We can probably get my roommates in to help tomorrow.”
“Ah yeah sure.”
The guys grabbed a couple of overnight bags and their boards out of the trunk of their car.
“We probably need these for tonight”
The guys smiled.
“Yeah here chuck them in my jeep.”
We began walking towards my car which was parked on the street at the front of Ryan’s house. The guys were walking behind me and all of a sudden I heard them drop all their stuff and by the time I had turned around a brawl had broken out between Ryan and Casey. Paul and Jeremy were furiously trying to pull Ryan off Casey and a couple of other guys were trying to pull Casey off of Ryan, they were all failing quite dramatically. I looked to the left and I saw Taylor and some of her friends crying and yelling at them to stop and Gretchen, Shane and Kane had just parked behind my car on the street and Randy had parked behind them Gretchen had no idea what to do, Kane started crying at the sight of his brother getting beaten up and Shane had already joined in, Randy was very close to doing the same and if his girlfriend hadn’t stopped him he would have and things just kept getting better when Steve Ryan’s agent showed up I figured he would love this.(Sarcasm) I was shocked to see that he nearly joined in but Bruce Gretchen’s boyfriend stopped him. I looked over at them almost as if I was asking permission to stop the fight.
“Do it Ice”
Randy answered, I nodded
“Wait who is that? What the hell can she do?”
Steve asked
“She is Ryan’s girlfriend and she is a professional martial artist she can do a lot”
Randy replied
“How do you know she isn’t the cause of the fight? I mean she didn’t seem to want to stop it before now.”
“I’m not trust me and I would have stopped it already but I know what it’s like to be in that position and sometimes fighting it out is the only solution.”
I looked over at Steve waiting for his approval or at least and answer. He nodded
I figured that was my cue to stop them. I ran up and stood in the middle dodging punches hoping that at least one of them would realise that I was there and stop throwing them and luckily enough it worked. Ryan stopped and Paul and Jeremy forced him to back up.
“Ice get out of the way”
“I can’t do that Ry. Sorry.”
I said as I quite literally ripped Shane out of the fight with the other guys and shoved him in Ryan’s direction.
“Hey look everyone Ryan needs a girl to protect him.”
It was as if I felt Ryan tense up. I looked over at him and shook my head I realised then that Randy, Gretchen and Steve were already standing there making sure he didn’t get involved again.
“Trust me Casey I’m here for your safety not his.”
“I doubt that.”
Casey threw a punch at me causing Ryan and Shane to try and get in the fight again. Everyone was struggling to hold them back. I could only here Randy talking.
“Let her take care of it Ry. She is trained to take care of it.”
I caught Casey’s punch and threw him to the ground to the surprise of everyone watching. I was still holding his arm.
“Are you still doubting it Casey.”
I said calmly which to be honest probably angered him more.
“You’re going to break my shoulder”
Was all Casey could scream amid the pain, so just to piss him off more I retained my calm unwavering tone completely contrasting his exasperated shout.
“You’re lucky I haven’t already.”
“Let go!”
Mitch yelled as he attempted to punch me much the same as Casey. I did the same thing and now they were both on their stomachs on the ground each of their hands in one of my own.
“Well look-y here”
I looked up to see another friend of Casey’s who I had never met, he was smug and a tool and he continued talking when he shouldn’t have.
“Both of your hands are full what will happen if I throw a punch”
“That depends if I feel like being the good martial artist that I am or if I feel like being the shit martial artist that you deserve.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means that if I decide to be the good martial artist you leave with a bruised chest and they leave with a sore shoulder. If I decide to be the bad martial artist you walk away with a broken sternum and possibly some broken ribs and if you’re really lucky a punctured lung. And these two walk away with a broken collar bone and a separated shoulder that may or may not need surgery. It all depends on how much I hate you.”
“Oh you should definitely hate me”
“Not helping Rick”
Casey and Mitch yelled out.
“Don’t worry Rick I do hate you I just haven’t decided how much I hate you.
I think the last comment shook him a little he began stuttering so I thought I’d try and shatter his ego more.
“can we hurry this along because I’m getting bored.”
He threw the punch I jumped trying not to put too much weight on Mitch and Casey’s arms. I didn’t actually want to send anyone to the hospital. I kicked Rick in the chest with one foot and hooked him in the back of the knee with the other foot causing him to fall on his back. I stood there with my foot still on his chest.
“I swear when I tell the cops about this you will be arrested for assault”
“Wrong again Ricky boy. One. I am a certified fujitsu jujitsan martial artist which basically means that I have a license to do this. Two I am a girl, a rather attractive girl who if she tried hard enough could pull the good old ‘I came over and they were hitting him I thought they were going to kill him. I know it was wrong but I had to do something’ and trust me if I feel so inclined, which if you call the cops I will, I’ll throw some tears in there, just to shake things up a bit and believe me when a girl cries because some guys were bashing her boyfriend no one can refuse especially if that girl is me. And finally three if you really want to play hard ball technically you threw the punches at me first, we have the witnesses to prove it, so that means that I acted in self defence and I can take you down for attempted assault and for the record I am a world champion martial artist and a singer with millions of dollars at her disposal, I have good lawyers do you? But hey if all of that doesn’t convince you call the cops, tell them I assaulted you, see what happens.”
I let everyone go and I turned to walk away
“Oh and by the way you’re on his property and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want you here so I suggest you leave before he calls the cops and reports you for trespassing.”
Rick, Casey and Mitch got up and I had already started walking away with Ryan and everyone else following.
“Wait we don’t even have a scratch on us”
They said to each other. They didn’t expect me to hear. I stopped and everyone continued slowly walking past me.
“You should be glad I’m a good martial artist.”
I turned and continued to walk away as they all left.
“I want to see all of you in my office now!”
Steve seemed more than a little perturbed about the fight. We all including Gretchen and Randy got into our cars and drove to Steve’s office.
In The Car
It was silent no one said anything. Paul and Jeremy were sitting in the back just looking at each other wondering the same thing that I was wondering. Ryan sat in silence in the front seat just staring out the window.
“What was the fight about Ry?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“Ok”
It was strange for Ryan not to say what was on his mind this concerned me. He still looked so mad I had no idea what to do.
“Ok? That is all you say. I just bashed up my best friend and all you say is ok.”
I looked at Paul and Jeremy in the rear view they had the same confused look I did.
“Ry I don’t know what else to say you don’t want to talk about it...Was it about me Ry, did I do something.”
“No Ice you didn’t do anything.”
“Are you mad at me for getting involved is that why you don’t want to talk to me about it?”
The guys in the back pretended they weren’t listening.
“Not really, I’m more frustrated at the fact that I can’t be mad at you but you shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
“Ok I’m sorry.”
“I know you are a great martial artist and that you love me and want to look out for me but I can handle it I was handling it. It wasn’t your place to just go in there randomly and take everyone down because you can. You should have just left it alone.”
I don’t know why but tears began to fill my eyes as he raised his voice. I had never heard him talk to me like that or to anyone like that. The guys in the back also seemed shocked it was as if they felt sorry for me but despite all of this I refused to cry. Ryan realised what he was doing and he paused and he started calmly but he got increasingly annoyed
“He has this weird idea that Taylor and I got together while they were still dating and he thinks that Taylor broke up with him for me. Taylor is like my best friend she is literally like a sister to me.”
“Have you and Taylor ever gotten together”
Before I knew it the guys were all smiling.
“Wow look at you get all jealous”
“I’m not jealous I just wanted to know.”
“No I don’t see her in that way I never have, you have nothing to worry about.”
Steve’s Office
“What the hell was that?”
Steve yelled just as we all walked into his office. He yelled so loud that the several people outside and people in other offices looked around to see what was going on. Ryan began to explain but was interrupted to be lectured not only by Steve but by Gretchen and Randy. All of these ended with the thanking me for stopping it even though I didn’t want to. This was the last thing I wanted them to say. Ryan turned to look at me.
“What do they mean by you didn’t want to.”
I didn’t say anything so Steve did
“She thought the best thing was to let you fight it out, we didn’t, so we told her to go in and stop you.”
Ryan just looked at me.
He then turned his attention to Steve and explained what happened and why? About 45 minutes later he told us that we could go. We got up to leave and Ryan and I were the last to go out. Just as we were walking out of the building Ryan grabbed my hand.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?”
He pulled me over to the side and we stood there facing each other.
“What do you have carpal tunnel again.”
I said smiling.
“You’re amazing.”
“You’re delusional”
“No really you are.”
The look on Ryan’s face was so determined to make me believe it, so I did.
“Well thank you.”
“I mean it. I spent the entire drive over here yelling at you for getting involved when you shouldn’t have and then I get here and find out that you would’ve just let me fight and after all that you’re not even mad, you’re all joking about carpal tunnel. I love that. I guess I’m just trying to say I’m sorry and thank you.”
“Well I have to admit that, that is the first time I have been thanked for beating up someone’s best friend, but I know that the last thing you wanted to here is me saying that I would have just let you fight.”
“I have a feeling Casey isn’t going to be my best friend for a while.”
“And I have a feeling that this isn’t over.”
“Yeah I know. I love you.”
“I love you too and you know if you need me I’m here no matter what.”
“No matter what?”
“No matter what. If you decide that you need me to fly to Siberia at 3 in the morning I’ll be on the next plane.”
“You know I’d do the same right?”
“And you know that you have to let me fix that eye right”
“I know.”
We got in the car.
“So are you guys done sorting out your issues.”
“We have no issue Paul”
“Call me P-rod”
“Thanks calling you Paul was freaking me out a little”
“Call me J-Rog”
“You know I don’t think that’s going to happen J”
“Ok J is cool too”
“Wait then you can call me P and the three of us could be PB and J”
“Ok but where does the B come from?”
