Ryan's POV
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"Can I get that break yet," I asked Canelo breathing heavily, leaning against the wall gripping the water bottle in my hand tighter.
"Yeah sure, I'll give you five minutes. You still got a ways to go though," he shrugged and walked away.
"You're doing great you know," Kyle said.
"Yeah right!" I said sarcastically. I was doing horrible and my stamina sucks. What am I doing to myself?
"Honestly, you are. I did some research on your little training program. I found it on this website and he actually compiled multiple daily workouts to one. Not only that, he also increased the amount of time and reps while getting rid of break time."
I stare at this one spot on the ground and my breathing returns to a normal pace, "So, I'm doing multiple daily workouts in one day?"
"Yep."
"And I do them longer with shorter breaks?"
"Yep, did you hear anything I said-"
"I'm a fucking badass!" I jump back from the wall and I look at Kyle with an ecstatic face, which he returned with laughter. "Hey, don't laugh."
"I told you that you were doing great, but you didn't believe me," Kyle shrugged.
I waved him off and Parker walks in, taking his usual seat behind Kyle near the hall to leave. "What are you doing here, Park?"
"Got bored," he replied dully. He sounded distant. Oh well.
"Well, you'll probably be just as bored here watching me," I laughed a bit.
"Come on, Tanner, let's get back to work."
"Okay, okay," I smiled and went to the large workout space on the blood red mat.
"Finish your workout for the day," Canelo ordered.
I started to repeat my workout program to myself, "Jumping Jacks: 1 minute -rest, Side Leg Rises: 1 minute -rest, Toe Tap Hops: 1 minute -rest, Lunge Step-Ups: 1 minute -rest, Plank Rises: 1 minute -rest, Climbers: 1 minute -rest, Plank Jacks: 1 minute -rest." For each thing I repeated, I did it, counting sixty seconds before taking another sixty second rest between each exercise. I started to notice a sudden improvement with my stamina, I didn't feel the need to take that long of a break. I'm probably just hyped up on adrenaline. What ever it is, it feels great.
*No I know for a fact it isn't drugs. Screw that shit, I only drink and smoke that good shit. No drugs, kids.*
I started my second rep of the set, my adrenaline lasted until I got to the 7th rep of the set. My heart heated quickly and I feel it pounding, knocking against my ribcage. Damn thing wants to break free. My throat was dry and coarse and it sucked. I downed the rest of my water after the end of my 7th set in the one minute rest. Come on, I can do this! I thought to try and encourage myself. There's two weeks until the tournament, and there's only two reps after this one, I go this far. That's a good energy booster. I completed the rest of the sets completely exhausted by the end. I collapsed to the ground and just looked at the hideous ceiling. Cannel's round face hovered over me, "You did good, kid. Kyle, Parker, bring him home and let him rest up." They grunted and helped get me up. Canelo put a hand on my shoulder, "Because of how well you did, the next two weeks we'll focus on boxing, got it?" I could hardly nod so Parker moved my head to nod instead.
"He said, 'Thank fucking god.'" Parker said with a smile almost reading my mind. Yeah, thank fucking god, I'm done with this torture. Torture Stage Two up next. Wait...should I be thankful? Shit, shit, shit, wait, no. Fuck. We were already in the jeep. Huh, that was fast. Oh well, nap time...
"Ryan!" I sit up quickly causing my head to spin. I wait a second and I process where I am. Once I see a poster of a Ferrari 250 LM, I knew where I was. How did I get into my room? Oh, Parker and Kyle probably. "Ryan!"
"What?!"
"Finally you're up," I heard Aunt Dani sigh loudly. Can you get your friends off of my couch, they woke me up...again."
"Sure, one second!" I get out and change out of my clothes from yesterday. They were still covered in sweat. I took out some grey sweatpants joggers that were black at the end with a white tank top. I rushed down the stairs heading to the living room seeing both of my friends on the couch, they were out. "Park, Ky, get up," I demanded poking them. Guys hate to admit their ticklish, so ladies, get them when they're still asleep. I leaned over Kyle and tickled his sides.
His eyes shot open immediately and he burst into laughter, trying to wriggle free, but fell off the couch. "Ass."
"You woke up Auntie," I say rolling my eyes. "Go to my bed if you want and get some clothes."
"Let me wake up Parker before I go and do that," Kyle smirks rubbing his hip. He went to Parker and tickled his neck. Parker's head looked like a turtle's head trying to return into it's shell and he made a strange inhuman screech/growl as he fell off the couch as well. I laughed a bit and went to the kitchen.
"I'm gonna eat, you guys can join or go to sleep in my room," I took out the ingredients to make my daily Green Protein shake before I work out again. Both boys ended up joining and grabbing their cereal from the top cabinet. Kyle and his Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Parker with his Frosted Flakes. I need to keep a box for each of them. Sad, I know. Anyway, while they ate, I went back to my room. I found the sweatpants Kyle and Parker always use and the hoodie and sweaters they always take from me whenever they can. They're comfy.
I went downstairs and leaned against the doorway and tossed the clothes at them. They both caught them without breaking anything, "Now, go get changed quietly. I don't need my aunt yelling at me again."
"Yeah, okay bud. Can we get food after this?"
Kyle hit Parker over the back of his head, "I gotta leave after this, sorry. You gotta spend a day with this guy."
I sighed, "That's alright. Where are you going?"
"Out with the family, mom was hell bent on the idea," he looked at me but something was off about that. Eh, I won't push it.
"Tell Nicole to not sing, she sounds like a walrus getting stabbed repeatedly," Parker smiled.
Kyle bursts into laughter then he covers his mouth. "Shu-shut up, Parker!"
I chuckled, "Guys, let's go upstairs, come on," I walk up to my room and I hear two sets of footsteps following me up. I got to my bed, "Ky, what time is it?"
He sits in my black bean bag, "Uh 1:50, damn, we sleep a lot."
I roll my eyes, I mean, honestly yeah that's a lot of sleep. Oh well. "When do you have to go out?"
"3 ish, but I'll probably have to leave before that," I tosses his phone between his hands.
"Guys," Parker speaks up from the navy office chair at my desk. "Wanna go to the beach? I mean, it isn't that cold yet. I think it's gonna be in the 70's today, which is pretty hot."
I nod, "That's a pretty good idea actually."
"Should we get shorts or just borrow yours?" Kyle asked.
I shrugged in my seat, then slowly pushed myself up to stand and went to my dresser and opened one of the drawers, "Borrow mine. Walk or drive?"
"Drive, we can put some beer in a cooler and keep it in the trunk," Parker grabs the red swim shorts from the drawer I opened.
"Let's get the good kind, no Blue Moons. Get Buds or Yuenglings, or even Corona," Kyle grabs navy shorts right after Parker.
"Dude, Corona is a chick beer," I joke grabbing my black shorts and push the drawer back, closing it. "Get Yuenglings and if you can, some Bitburger; German's know their beer."
"Got it, I'll go out and get them," he says as we undress. It's never been weird for us, we all got bodies and manhoods we can be very proud of. *wink* When we change, Parker grabs his top and runs out, leaving the house. I sit on my bed and Kyle sits next to me.
"Ry, why do you feel like you need to box all of a sudden? It's nearly been a whole month and you haven't seen Caster since then, what's the point?" Kyle asked randomly filling the silence that Parker left us in.
I exhale slowly, "I don't know. Maybe subconsciously I'm trying to prove something to her."
"You've been training and working your ass off that time since she knocked you out. You did say she was hot. You also trying to get in bed with her subconsciously?" he asked chuckling slightly.
I groaned, "I don't know, dude. Why are you asking?"
He shrugged, "Don't know. Felt like it. It's been a question since you started going to Rand's Gym. I know you could care less about it, but how are your classes going? You've missed a few days already and the quarter ends soon."
"I'm not doing bad actually. Canelo was able to make it seem that I had excuses to leave early or miss days. Don't know how, but I keep up. But enough to keep my bad boy image," I smiled. "And with all those work outs, I got ripped, some shirts are a little tight and I guess everyone sees that. No one has said any shit. Even those dumb soccer guys, Tristan, Tyler, and Mark. Good for me, less detentions that I won't even go to."
Kyle rolled his eyes, "Good for you."
"Have you found yourself anyone yet?" I asked. It's been awhile since I've seen him with a girl.
"Yeah," he said quietly, I almost missed it.
"Dude, that's great. When will I meet the loser?" I joked.
He smiled up with a small shine in his eyes, "Soon, hopefully." After a few minutes of small talk, Parker honked then texted me, telling me he was here.
"Let's go," I said and got up rushing down the stairs and ran out the door, jumping into the front passenger seat with Kyle following and getting in behind me. We didn't bother with seatbelts, the beach was less than a minute from my house. That was pretty nice. Parker found empty spot and drove the car in, putting it into park. We climbed out and went to the trunk pulling out which ever beer we were in the mood for. I settled with my Bitburger as usual, Kyle grabbed his Corona that Parker reserved for him, while grabbing a Bitburger for himself. I raised an eyebrow, "Park, you going with a German beer tonight huh?"
He shrugged, "Why not? You always drink them and I saved the Coronas only for Kyle. He's a lightweight with darker beers."
"Oh shut up, Parker. Don't remind me," Kyle groaned. He likes beer but he's such a lightweight it's hilarious. After three or four dark lagers, he's done for. Hence why he needs to settle with light beers if he wants to drink longer to actually get drunk.
"Hey don't worry, dude. Let's just drink without getting drunk, you gotta go out with your family soon anyway. I'll get Parker to drop you off." Kyle nodded at my statement and we talked quietly for a while on the sand. The sun beating down on us was hell but the cold beers were great. After I finished my first can, I walked to the edge of the water, testing it by walking in to my knees. It's stil warmer than I thought it would. I went in the rest of the way relaxing and the boys just drank and talked to each other, not that I minded not talking to them. I looked at my waterproof watch on my left wrist and shouted out to Kyle. "Ky! It's already 2:26!"
Even with the distance and being partially underwater, I heard him cursing and ordering Parker to bring him to his house. Parker panicked and obeyed but they forgot one thing in their haste, me. While I was mid swim back to shore, they drove off and I glared at the fleeting car off to Kyle's house. Damn bastards. I got out and sat on the towel that was left behind. Dammit, my phone is in their car too. I groaned again and let out a frustrated growl. So much for a good day.
"You okay there, Ryan?" I turned and looked at Kevin standing there in running clothes right next to a taller than average girl, Grey. She ran?
"Fine," I hissed through grit teeth. Obviously I wasn't.
"Obviously not, just take my phone and call the friends that ditched you," Grey muttered a bit, annoyed? She held out her phone for me to use. I muttered a thanks and took it dialing Kyle's number, no answer. I dialed Parker's number, no answer either. I was about to squeeze the phone to pieces when Kevin snatched it from my grip.
"Don't break her phone! We'll give you a ride to your place. Just dry off before you get into the truck," Kev smiled a bit and Grey looked at him shocked. As did I. Grey Carson the nerd? And the newbie to the team, Kevin Michaels? Weird.
"Sure, thanks, Kevin," I said quietly.
"Oh I'm not driving, Grey is. I still gotta run another 3 miles."
Really? Ughhh. Fuck.
Grey held the same reaction as me. "Really? Fuck!"
It's weird to see her curse... Kevin shrugs, "I'll pay you back later! See ya!" He then runs off as fast as possible. Grey was surging with anger then spun around to me.
"Dry off as much as you can in five minutes. I am not letting you ruin the leather seats with your wet ass," she spun back around to the parking lot and went to a large, lifted, black truck. She drives that thing?
I dried off until a horn made me jump back and I glared at Grey. She smiled amused. "Get in."
I sighed and opened the door climbing in. It looked familiar some how? Don't know but just the thought of a high schooler with a lifted truck like this reminded me of something. Someone? Don't know. I shrugged it off and sat on the leather seats leaning in comfortably.
"What's your address?" She asked.
"110 Sawyer Street," I said and she turned to look at me with a poker face that even her large glasses couldn't hide.
"You're a minute away from here, just walking."
I shrugged, "Well, I got a day off from working out for the first time in awhile so Ima enjoy laziness."
Her eyes burned into my skull which was kinda funny. And cute? No, shit no it isn't cute, Grey isn't cute! "Well, do you have $10?"
"Wait, why?" I asked suddenly regretting the fact I kept money in the sneakers I wore. My dad always told me to keep money there if something were to happen, now, I feel it taunting me.
"Might as well use the gas with purpose and get me some McDonald's, then I'm gonna bring you home." She sounds like Parker.
"Fine," I sighed as I gave in, wanting some now myself after she brought it up.
She nods mutely and continues to look ahead driving to the nearest McDonald's drive thru. She pulled up to the order machine thing. "What do you want?"
"Big Mac meal, with a Coke."
She mutter something again and rolls down her window and shouts my order and hers, a Mighty Kids meal with a Coke and apple slices. I looked at her wanting to laugh at her childishness but I just felt like with her aura right now, she'll hurt me. Except my brain doesn't register the warning.
"Mighty Kids meal? No Happy meal? Might have had helped you smile," I say with a smirk.
She glares, "You're paying anyway, give me that ten dollars." I sighed and pulled it out from the inside of my show and she cringed. "That's disgusting."
"I'm prepared!" I glared back at her. We had a glaring contest until she paid and got our meals and drinks. She drove back toward my house and dropped me off in front of the small red building called home. Auntie Dani sat in front with a lawn air and umbrella.
"Hello, Ryan!" She shouted smiling. How did she know it was me? Is she really blind?
"Thanks for the ride," I say looking at Grey as I slid out of the car with my McDonald's in hand. She nods and thanks me for McDonald's before driving off. It finally hit me that Grey saw my house. The high school bad boy lives in a 1,000 square foot house with his aunt. Fuck. But for some reason, I don't think she would tell everyone, plus, Auntie Dani didn't look like my aunt, more like a mom anyway. I approached her and raised an eyebrow. "How did you know it was me?"
She laughs a bit, "I may have weakened senses but my sixth sense is always there." She said it so convincingly. "Give me your fries," she smiled as she smelled them in my arm. I sighed and opened the bag and pulled it out put in it on her lap. "Good boy."
I went inside and ate there quietly plotting how to kill my best friends. I heard Parker's car pull up outside and I went to it with my arms crossed and a scowl. "Nice of you to ditch me," I said.
"I'm sorry, dude!" He wines.
I roll my eyes, "Why didn't you answer your phone?"
"I left it in my car. Here's yours," he handed my phone back to me. I sighed again and went back to go inside. "Ryan, you gonna go to the homecoming after your first match in the tournament?"
"No. Why are you asking?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Just asking, Kyle said he might know who Caster is and she'll probably be there."
I smiled slightly, "Then I guess it won't hurt."
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Published July 2nd, 2016. 3118 words.
I'm so sorry with the month gap in publishing. I've been having to deal with end of the year tests, 3 jobs, writer's block, and being out of the country with bad WiFi. Forgive me!