Boys and Girls, Part III: Can't Stay Away

Chapter 13 – The Way it Has to Be

“Thanks for waiting with me, guys.”

The entire gang was in the waiting room with Lani while the doctor examined Ryan. He had suffered some serious gashes to his face, so stitches had been ordered for him. Furthermore, the doctor wanted to take another look at Ryan’s knee, which had suffered a lot of trauma after the fight with Hunter.

“Sorry it took so long to get there,” Joe apologized. Jason nodded in agreement.

Lani shook her head. “It’s okay. We managed, for the most part.”

“I didn’t want to bring this up,” Jason hesitated, clearing his throat, “but I gotta ask…is Hunter going to –

“I don’t think he’s coming back,” Lani interrupted.

Jason nodded, but he didn’t look so sure. Delaney leaned her head against his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head.

Just then, the doctor exited the room with his assistant. He addressed the entire group.

“You may see Ryan now if you wish. I’d like to keep him here overnight for observation, though.”

The group nodded in agreement, and all rose in unison. Lani was the first to walk over to the room. The door had been left slightly ajar. She pushed it completely open and peeked in.

Ryan’s face had been cleaned up, and his leg was placed in a sling again. He sat back casually as if he hadn’t taken a huge physical beating that day.

“Ryan?” she asked nervously.

“Yeah?”

“Can we come in?”

“Sure,” he answered nonchalantly, beckoning her in. Jason and Delaney followed, then Jacy, then Stephanie and Joe. The group walked in slowly and regarded Ryan with dead-serious faces. Ryan regarded them with an irate expression.

“I know, I know. It looks worse than it feels – really.” Ryan paused before continuing. “My face will be back to its usual, handsome way in no time,” he reassured them jokingly.

Everyone laughed, even Ryan himself. His lightheartedness had lifted everyone’s mood. The entire group just shot the breeze, talking about random things and strategically leaving out the topic of Hunter.

Eventually, Joe and Stephanie were the first to leave, followed by Jason and Delaney. Jacy wanted to stay a little longer.

“I’ll wait outside,” she told Lani, “ so that we can walk home together.”

Ryan grunted in agreement. “That should keep all the assholes at bay.”

Jacy smiled at Ryan before opening the door to leave. When it finally closed, Lani pulled a chair up beside Ryan. She sat and leaned her head against Ryan’s shoulder. He stroked her hair endearingly.

“How are you doing babe?”

“How are you doing? You’re the one who got physically tossed around today, Ryan,” Lani asked worriedly.

“I’ll be fine,” he answered. “As long as I’ve got you, Lani.”

Lani’s heart began beating a little faster. She dug herself more deeply into the crook of Ryan’s arm. He instinctively pulled her in closer.

“What did you say to Hunter, Lani?”

She pulled back and regarded him curiously. “Hmm?”

“You leaned down and whispered something to him,” he responded. “Will you tell me what you told him…please?”

Lani smiled at Ryan’s politeness; it was very uncharacteristic of him. She would reward him.

“I told him to please stop fighting you…because it would only make me love you more.”

Ryan swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. Lani continued.

“I hadn’t expected him to react so…calmly,” she began. She looked into Ryan’s gray eyes. “I think he realized that he had messed up when I asked you to stop and you did.” Ryan looked at her, confused. She explained. “Remember? I told him to stop, and he kept hurting you? It showed that he didn’t respect what I wanted. But then, even when you were so angry, you still stopped fighting him when I asked you to. You got up off of him and even offered him a hand.”

Ryan shrugged his shoulder. “I don’t like making you cry.”

“Downplay it all you want, Ryan,” Lani replied. “You showed me respect by stopping your fists, and that meant a lot to me. Hunter knew that…he knew that was the point where he had really lost me.”

Lani leaned her head against Ryan’s chest for a little bit. She thought it was just her imagination, but she could have sworn that she felt his chest begin to convulse. She ignored it, only to feel a warm droplet of water land on her cheek. She immediately pulled back to find out what was the matter.

That’s when she saw tears in Ryan’s eyes. Ryan Mackey was crying. He tried to cover his eyes with his free hand, but he’d already been caught. Lani regarded him with concern.

“Ryan, what’s wrong?”

He hesitated for the longest time, choking up and not saying a word. But finally, she heard him.

“I wanted to kill him, Lani. Like, really really wanted to kill that son-of-a-bitch.”

“Ryan…

Aggression began overtaking Ryan’s face. “I got so pissed off when he disrespected you and when he called me a gimp and –

“Ryan, you can’t take something like that to heart.”

“But I do, Lani. You know that I do,” he answered glumly.

Lani found herself beginning to choke up as well. “Why?”

He laughed disbelievingly. “Are you kidding? Look at yourself. You’re gorgeous, you’re smart, you’re driven to succeed. How are you going to feel next to a guy who’s so physically and emotionally fucked up that he’s gonna end up delivering pizzas for the rest of his life?”

“Ryan, don’t say that!” Lani said, tears beginning to pour down her face. She got up abruptly and leaned over Ryan, so that their eyes were in direct contact. She cupped his strong face in her hands and tried to utter the words as confidently as possible, which was difficult because she was driven to tears at Ryan’s heartfelt confession.

“You listen to me, Ryan Mackey,” she ordered. “Do not ever stop believing in yourself.” She kissed him on the mouth to reassure him. “I didn’t fall in love with you because you’re the type of person to give up on anything. You played football with a passion that I didn’t even know was humanly possible. Yes, you can’t play right now…but don’t tell me you’ll never play again, Ryan because you’re being unfair to yourself.”

Ryan allowed himself to avert his eyes because he couldn’t stand his girlfriend looking at him the way she was right now. She grabbed his chin and turned him back to her. “Hey,” she ordered, “look at me – please, look at me, Ryan.” His gray eyes reluctantly flashed back to hers, and Lani continued. “You’re the guy who chased me…remember? You fought and you argued with me, but in the end, you were right. You knew what I wanted…what I needed, didn’t you?” Ryan choked up again, and Lani had to dab at her eyes with the back of her hand before she went on. “Are you telling me that a guy that fought so hard for what mattered…a guy that fought for us…can’t fight for everything else too?”

Lani interlaced her fingers with Ryan’s and kissed him again. “I will never leave you, Ryan. I don’t care how you think you’re not good enough for me. If it takes the rest of our lives to convince you that you’re wrong…then so be it.” Lani wiped at her tears one last time before leaning in for another kissed. She pulled back only to whisper “I love you.” Ryan mouthed the words back to her, and they kissed another deep, meaningful kiss.

Lani carefully cleaned and dried the tears from Ryan’s face, worried that the salty tears would sting his wounds. Afterwards, she waited about fifteen minutes until Ryan drifted off to sleep. Lani knew that Jacy was still waiting outside, but she was sure that Jacy wouldn’t mind waiting in this situation. She gave Ryan a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the room.

****

“You were in there for a while,” Jacy commented, rather than complained.

“Sorry.”

“No problem,” Jacy answered. She closely studied Lani’s face. “You were crying, weren’t you?”

Lani smiled. “Nothing gets past you, Jace.”

The pair had taken a shuttle from the North Mission Hospital back to their apartment. They had begun to ascend the steps of their own apartments, but Lani really didn’t want to spend the night alone. At the last moment, she decided to crash over at Jacy’s at the last minute. Jacy was good company in hard times.

The two settled into their pajamas and sat on Jacy’s couch eating frozen yogurt straight from the cartons. Jacy looked into Lani’s violet eyes with a worried expression on her face.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jacy offered, referring to Lani’s earlier episode with Ryan in the hospital room.

Lani shook her head. “I think I’m going to be okay, actually.”

“Really?” Jacy asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” Lani answered. “The crying is actually what helped.”

Jacy sensed Lani’s sensitivity at that moment and subsequently abandoned the topic. They began talking about other things in their lives, from school to winter break plans. Jacy had actually let Lani in on some interesting information.

“A hot guy from England is staying over at your place during spring semester?” Lani asked, interested.

“His name’s Ewan, and yes,” Jacy answered.

“He’s available?”

“Yep,” Jacy answered.

Lani lifted her eyebrows suggestively.

“But not for me,” Jacy finished.

Lani frowned. “Huh?”

“Ewan bats for the all-boy’s team only.”

“Oh,” Lani replied, as realization of Ewan’s sexual orientation dawned on her.

“You sound more disappointed than me, and you’ve already got a hottie boyfriend!” Jacy protested.

“I’m just saying,” Lani began with a sigh, “it sucks for you. You’ve got a cute one within reach, and he’s gay!”

Jacy rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m pretty sure I’m done with guys right now.”

Lani suddenly remembered that entire episode with the Hawks. She remembered the promise she had made with Ryan not to spill the beans to Jacy, but Lani believed that Jacy deserved the truth.

“Hey, Jacy?” Lani asked, her tone growing a little more serious.

“What?”

“I have to tell you something.”

“Okay,” Jacy replied, shoving a spoonful of frozen yogurt into her mouth. “About what?”

Lani took a deep breath. “About the party at Hawk Manor.”

Jacy shifted uncomfortably. “Okay.”

Lani looked into her friend’s hazel eyes sympathetically before continuing. “Tristan was the one who asked Scott Wellesley to ask you to the mixer.”

Jacy blinked. “I know.”

“And Ryan didn’t want me to tell you, but I think as your good friend that – wait, what? You knew?”

Jacy nodded her head. “Yeah.”

“How?”

“Jason let it slip.”

Lani grew a little freaked out by Jacy’s reserve. “Aren’t you pissed?”

“I was at first,” Jacy began, “but I don’t really give a shit now.”

Lani tilted her head to the side. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Jacy answered, sighing. “Hatred is just excess baggage that weighs down the soul, Lani. I don’t want to waste my life thinking about how much I hate Tristan Carter. Hopefully, I’ll never have to see that son-of-a-bitch again.”

Lani smiled. “I hope so too.”

Jacy looked around absentmindedly for a few seconds before turning back to Lani with a mischievous look on her face. “So…since you and Ryan are officially together for real now, I think it’s safe to confess that he kissed me.”

“What!” Lani yelled. “Jacy, don’t lie!”

“I kid you not!” she protested. “Right on these lips.” Jacy pointed to her mouth.

“Did you blackmail him, ace?” Lani asked, arching her eyebrow.

“I was withholding a valuable commodity,” Jacy answered proudly. “He said he’d kiss me if I offered said commodity to him.”

“Oh my God!” Lani exclaimed, slapping her forehead and laughing. “I’m going out with a total manslut!”

Jacy giggled at that. She decided to create a little more drama. “He was a very good kisser. You’re a very lucky girl, Lani.”

Lani shook her head in disbelief. “You are unbelievable. What were you withholding?”

“My voice,” she admitted proudly.

Lani laughed, and Jacy frowned. “What’s so funny about that?”

“Your singing voice, right?”

“Yeah,” Jacy answered with a little hostility. “Why…what?”

Lani recognized Jacy’s consternation and quickly corrected the misunderstanding. “Oh, no sweetheart, you’ve got an absolutely beautiful singing voice. I thought you were talking about your regular voice…you know, your talking voice.

“And?” Jacy demanded.

“Well,” Lani began, “let’s just say that I know people who are willing to pay you to stop talking.”

Jacy scowled, and Lani laughter filled the entire living room.

****

A/N: Almost there...thanks for the R&R!