Loving the Fighter

18

Jax's POV
I sigh as I jog a few steps in front of Ryder.

We were only on lap 5 out 9 and he already looked as if he was ready to pass out at any given moment.

"Find your pace. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth," I say for the thousandth time, which only aggravates him more.

"I have a pace and breathing is breathing," he argues as he slows down and begins to walk. I hold in a sound of annoyance and stop walking all together.

"You don't have a pace. You speed up for a few seconds then slow back down because you're tired. And breathing the way I told you to helps you set a pace and keeps you from passing out. You learn to breath in for a certain amount of steps and to breath out the same way."

When he gets close enough to me he stops walking as well. I could tell he was getting frustrated but there wasn't anything I could do about it. It was hard enough to keep my frustration out of my voice.

"Can we just go home?" He asked after a few seconds of us standing in silence. He begins walking off but I don't let him get far before I grab his arm and pull him back to the center of the track.

"No we can't. I told you I would help you get your time up but I can't help you if you don't put the work in. This isn't like any other class, I can't do the work for you."

"I have 2 more months to get my time up," he tried to reason. "Let's just go home today and work extra hard tomorrow. Liam will be back soon anyway."

If I had said that to my father he would have beat the shit out of me.

'That's what quitters do,' he would say. 'And quitters never win. Get your ass out there and start pulling your weight.'

I grit my teeth as I remember those words and the stoic expression that would go along with it.

"Fine," I grumble as I let go of his arm and walk back to the cabin without another word Ryder. He was a few steps behind me but I didn't mind.

When we got back to the cabin Ryder immediately went for a shower while I face planted on my bed.

"How did the running go?" Callum asked warily as he looked up from a book he was reading.

"We got five laps in and he decided he was done for the day," I said simply as I roll over on my back.

Callum frowned at my words before speaking.

"Yea that sounds like something Ryder would do. How was it though? Did he get any better?"

"He would have if he would've listened to me. I thought Liam was supposed to be the stubborn one," I pointed out with a scowl, to which Callum's frown deepened but before he could say anything the door opened and Liam walked in.

Without saying a word to anyone, Liam walked past me, threw his book bag on the ground by his bed, walked over to Callum, and plopped down on his boyfriend's lap.

I look away from the two of them when I see Liam lean down. From the sounds coming from that direction I could tell they were a few seconds away from a full out make out session.

"How was your day?" Callum asks when he pulls away from his lover.

"Boring," he said quickly before he turns to me. "Are you ready to start homework?"

"Not really but I don't have a choice now do I?"

"Not if you want help," he says with a smirk as he goes to sit down on his bed.

Without a word people began to move. Callum moves towards the door, while Liam walked over to his bed, just as the bathroom door opened.

"We're starting homework. Get over here if you want help," Liam said to Ryder as he got his books settled while seated myself on the edge of his bed.

"I don't want to," Ryder pointed out but Liam didn't seem to care.

"Then I'm not checking it later when you finally do it." With that Liam opened his math book and told me what page to go to. I was honestly glad that we were starting this first to go ahead and get it out of the way.

"That's not fair," Ryder said.

"You know it is. You know I hate doing homework twice but I have to anyway to check Callum's things because he can't avoid it. I'd have to do the same homework three times and I'm not going to do it. So either get over here and get help or do it when you feel like it and don't get it checked." His statement left no room for argument and eventually made Ryder settle down with us begin working.

An hour later we were finally done and Callum walked in the room as if he didn't just spend an hour with the devil himself.

After that things seemed to settle down. Ryder and Liam cuddled on Ryder's bed watching a movie. Callum sat down to read a different book than earlier; I think he finished the first one but I'm not sure.

They seemed to have their own routine down for this time of day while I was the odd one out in the corner.

I did nothing but lay on my bed and stare up at the celling, which felt strangely normal.

The sound from the TV and pages being turned drowned out the silence.

At home the silence would be so loud it hurt until it was put to an end by the sound of screaming, which was always worse than the silence.

"We should paint your nails," breaks my train of thought, causing me to look over at Ryder.

I expect to see him staring at Callum, or maybe even Liam, but my eyes go wide when I realize he's talking to me.

"Why in the hell would I let you do that?"

"Because it fits your personality as a depressed, emo, loner." I raise an eyebrow at him while Liam elbows him in the ribs.

"That was rude," Liam grumbled but I smirk.

" 'A depressed, emo, loner'," I repeat. "Who said anything about depressed?"

"You reek it," he says with a teasing smile to which I roll my eyes.

"Do I now?"

"Yep," he said as he settles back into Liam's side before his eyes went wide. "What if I can get my mile down to 10 minutes? Then will you do it?"

"So on top of helping you get the mile, I have to do something i don't want to do if you succeed?" I ask as I look back up at the celling.

"Fine. What if I get a time under 10 minutes?"

"You really think you can get under 10," I ask to which he frowns.

"What will it take then?"

"If you can get a time better than mine, I'll let you paint my nails."

His frown deepens at that as he officially gives up hope.

"Going once," I say to get his attention again.

"Fine," he says before I could get the next few words out of my mouth. "It's a deal. An unfair deal, but a deal."

"This is going to be fun to watch," Callum decided from the corner of the room.

"Game on Ryder. Good luck."