Chapter Nine
Ryan
I was woken up that morning by a pounding headache. It wasn’t the best way to wake up, and I was surprised that it had happened before my training session this time. But perhaps I shouldn’t have had beers the night before. It was nothing the Advil couldn’t fix, I thought as I popped an extra one in my mouth that morning. I had a bite to eat and waited for the headache to settle before finally making my way to the training facility to meet with Nick.
“You’re late,” he said when I arrived.
I looked at my watch and shook my head. “No, you were early. I’m on time. So, what are we doing today?”
“Strength training first. After that, I want to get into the ring. Also, I was thinking of going on a run if you’re interested?”
“On a run? Since when do we run?”
“I’ve heard it’s good to get your cardio up. We want to increase your lung capacity, and running is probably one of the best ways to do it. We’ll finish up everything half an hour earlier and then run around the block. You in?”
“I’m always in,” I said.
I had been looking forward to training, but for some reason, I couldn’t get into it that day. I kept doing stupid things, and my mind didn’t seem to want to focus on anything for too long. Usually, the time went too quickly, and I was always so sad when the session was over. But this time I was grateful when Nick called the end of the session and declared that we were going for a run. I drank a glass of water and then went outside with him.
“Wow, this is strange,” I said as we made our way around the block. Nick had set out a half an hour route for us. It hadn’t seemed like much, but now that we were running I was already battling. “Why is this so hard? I’m fit. I shouldn’t be struggling.”
“Well, firstly, you’ve just finished an hour and a half of training. So your body is already a bit tired. But secondly, you don’t run, so your body isn’t used to this. You’re using different parts of your body. It’s natural that you’re struggling. But you’ll see—all of this is just going to make you stronger in the ring.”
“I hope so,” I said as I struggled along beside him. I didn’t like struggling. I was used to being good at everything I did when it came to fighting. This was a sensation I wasn’t used to.
We didn’t talk for the rest of the way. I was too out of breath to hold a conversation and thankfully Nick seemed to realize that. When we finally got back, I held onto the wall for support.
“That was tough. How come you’re so good at this?” I asked when I noticed that he didn’t seem to be struggling at all.
He shrugged. “I’m good at everything.”
I laughed. “Typical answer.”
“You’ll get better. I promise.”
“I don’t know. Maybe running just isn’t my thing.”
“And I know you. You hate being bad at something. Soon you’ll be speeding around here or asking me to make the distance longer. You just have that personality.”
“I don’t see that happening in a long time,” I said.
“Listen, Ryan, is everything okay?” Nick asked suddenly.
I lifted my head to look at him. “Yeah. Why do you ask? You know I’m not good at running. But like you said, I’ll probably get better at it.”
“No, I’m not talking about the running. You just haven’t seemed yourself this morning. You were battling throughout the training, which isn’t like you. It was like you were in a daze half the time. What’s going on? You don’t seem to be completely with it today.”
The truth was that my head was still giving me problems. The Advil hadn’t helped as well as I thought it would, and I couldn’t stop training to take some more. But the last thing I wanted was to have Nick on my back about my health. Ever since he had lost his eyesight, he had been a lot more paranoid about things going wrong. He never used to be like that. I didn’t want to make him worry, and most importantly I didn’t want him to make me worry. It was just a headache. Also, if I stressed about it, I was only going to make the headache worse. It was better not to think about it at all.
“Ah, sorry. You’re right,” I said. “I was thinking about Blaire. I know! I know! I shouldn’t let a girl stop me from training,” I said when I saw the look that he had given me.
Nick groaned. “Seriously? You were thinking about a girl? This is not the Ryan I know. He doesn’t let girls get in the way of his training. Does that mean the date went very well then?”
I hesitated before answering. “Yes and no.”
“Oh yeah? What does that mean?”
“The date went very well. Very, very well, actually. We got along so well. She’s absolutely gorgeous but doesn’t seem to know it. Which is so much better than some of the other pretty girls I’ve dated in the past. I’m not really into girls that prefer looking in the mirror to looking at me. But she’s not like that at all. She’s easy to talk to, and she loves fighting, as you know, so that helps. The date was great. The food was good, the wine was great, the company was even better.”
“So what’s wrong then? Because from the sound of it that’s a pretty perfect evening.”
“In many respects, it really was a perfect evening. Which is why I asked her if she wanted to come back to my place.”
“Don’t tell me she said no?” Nick gasped.
I nodded. “Yep, she said no. And that’s not all . . . she kissed me on the cheek when she left. Which, to be honest, might actually be worse than if she hadn’t kissed me at all.”
Nick burst out laughing. “Never thought I’d ever see the day when Ryan Maxwell couldn’t seal the deal with a girl. I think perhaps you’ve lost your touch.”
“Or maybe she was playing hard to get?” I suggested.
“Ryan, she’s a beautiful actress. I don’t think she needs to play hard to get. She could probably get any guy that she wanted.”
“So, what do you think I should do? Just leave her alone?”
“No way. I think you need to sleep with her. If you don’t, you’re not going to concentrate on your training and you’re going to lose your fights. I need you clear headed. So, you better sleep with her for the sake of your career.”
“I don’t need that sort of bad karma on me. You’re right; I need to sleep with her.”
“Poor you,” Nick teased. “If only my life were as easy as yours.”
I laughed. “I need to work on the charm a bit more. I hope she doesn’t turn me down, though. Maybe she’s just not into me.” Why did I sound so insecure? I was surprised to hear myself talk this way. It wasn’t like me at all.
“I think she is. I could tell from when I met her. She was looking at you in a way that she wasn’t looking at anything else. Also, she laughed at some of your jokes, which were really not funny at all.” Nick said.
“Hey, my jokes are funny. You just don’t have a sense of humor.”
“Well, why don’t you ask her out again? If she says no or makes some excuse, at least you know where you stand. Then you can move on from her. If she says yes, then you’re still in for a good chance.”
Later, when I got home. I thought about what Nick had said. I hadn’t been truthful about why my head wasn’t in the game that day. I’d just been too bogged down with the headaches. But I hadn’t been lying completely. I really had thought about Blaire a lot. I couldn’t get the thought of her kissing my cheek out of my head. Maybe she just wasn’t the kind of girl that slept with a guy on the first date, and there was nothing wrong with that. In fact, it was quite refreshing. I decided to take Nick’s advice and call her.
“Hello. Blaire speaking,” she said when she answered the phone.
“Hi Blaire; it’s Ryan. Ryan Maxwell,” I added in case she knew more than one Ryan.
“Ryan! Good to hear from you.”
I wasn’t very good at small talk, and I’d never been that good over the phone, so I just went straight to business instead of messing around.
“Are you free on Saturday night? I’d love to take you out for dinner,” I asked. I felt nervous, which annoyed me. I’d asked many girls out to dinner in the past, and I’d never been nervous before. What was wrong with me?
“Saturday?” she asked, and I sensed a rejection coming my way. “Saturday sounds great,” she said.
I grinned into the phone. “Wonderful. This time I’m picking you up,” I said and wondered if she would protest.
She hesitated but then answered, “Thanks, Ryan. That would be great.”
I smiled to myself as I ended the call. She liked me.