Loving the Fighter

54

This is the 6th update this month, I want some commentary 😂

Jax's POV

It was not all sunshine and rainbows.

I'm assuming Liam filled Ryder in on everything that happened last night on their way to first class since they share it.

Ryder tried to be friendly before class started but I could tell he wasn't exactly sure where to go from here either so we pretty much pretended that neither of us existed for the reminded of the class.

I tried my best to pay attention to class for Liam's sake but after about the fourth thing I didn't understand came out of the teacher's mouth I was done paying attention. I turned back to my paper, knowing I wouldn't be able to focus on it in History with Liam in class with me.

When the bell finally announced that class was done, I was one of the last ones to leave the room. Ryder was one of the first so I decided to give him a head start to the cafeteria so he didn't think I was following him.

Eventually I was kicked out when the next class started showing up and people needed their seats back.

The lunchroom was full when I finally showed up.

Kyle and Kellan stared at me, like they always did, as I found way to my normal table.

Ryder was picking around his food while Callum tried to get a word of him. Liam was scanning the room for something until his eyes landed on me.

He smiles at me as he waved me over, as if he thought I was going to sit anywhere else; it's not like I had a line of people wanting me anywhere near them.

"It took you a while to get here," Liam whispered, moving a bit closer than I would normally like.

"Yea I was letting Ryder get a head start," I say as I focus on the food on my trey. Today were having some sort of meatloaf and what seemed to be mystery peas. Even if I didn't have a probably with food I wouldn't want to eat this.

"Have you talked to him at all today?"

Only shook my head as I tried to force down my first bite. The second I began to swallow I gag and spit it back into a napkin.

"I'm not doing this today," I whispered back to him while moving things on my plate at random to fool Callum but he didn't seem to be paying attention to me anyway so it didn't really matter.

Liam looked like he wanted to say something but he seemed to know better than to start this already.

"Can you at least stop by the snack bar before P.E.?"

Realistically I knew that if I ate too much today it would be coming back up and it wouldn't be my fault, but I simply nod in response. If he was going to try to avoid fights I might as well try too.

Kyle and Kellan were still watching me like always, Kyle looked worried for some reason while Kellan was dismissing whatever he was saying.

Liam noticed my staring and stared at the two of them with me as he connected our hands under the table.

"What's up with Ryder?" I asked even though I wanted to stay out of it.

"He's blaming himself for last night."

"It wasn't his fault," I whispered as I rubbed the sleep out my eyes.

"He's convinced it is. He said that if he hadn't tried to touch you none of it would have happened." I wanted to dismiss him but he wasn't entirely wrong; he wasn't entirely right though either.

"It would have happened regardless. It's probably better that it happened when it did since Andrew was still here."

"We tried telling him that but he doesn't believe us."

"Switch seats with me," I grumbled out as I grabbed Liam by the shoulder and pulled him out of the chair.

Ryder noticed the fact that I was closer to him now but he didn't comment on it. Callum on the other looked quite pleased but I didn't know where I was going to go from here.

I know he hates being touched more than I do so that's out of the question. Small talk wouldn't get us out of this mess. So I was out of ideas.

With nothing else in mind, I decide to go straight to the point.

"It's not your fault," I say as I look around the cafeteria just to keep the attention off of Ryder. "It would have happened regardless and if it happened while Andrew wasn't there I would have been screwed."

"If you hadn't walked in on me and Callum it wouldn't have happened at all." I shake my head with a small smile.

"I was slipping long before I went to the cabin."

"I was still a reason why though."

"If you are going to blame every single person that has ever helped me slip responsible for my break downs you're going to have to make a list."

"Can you just let me sit here in my own self misery? Can't you see I'm trying to be irrational?" His voice sounded serious his expression told me he was joking.

"Afraid I'm not going to let that happen," I say with a small frown as I move my hand.

Ryder's hand now rests beside mine on the table but they don't touch. They were just close enough together to feel the warmth from each other.

Our hands are so much different than each other's. Mine are much bigger and paler than his. His palms are small and his fingers are short but skinny, while my palms are narrow and my fingers are long. Not to mention the fact that my knuckles are currently cracked and still have a bit of dried blood on them.

"So I hear you are dating Liam and Callum," he says after a few minutes of silence. Callum smirks on his other side while Liam lays his hand on my knee. "I don't know if you are aware of this," he said as a small smile forms on his face, "but we are kind of a package deal." His hand comes to wrap around mine as he pulls it closer to his chest.

I stay quiet for a moment before looking at him for the first time all morning. A blush stained his cheeks as he focused on any part of me other than my face.

"I wasn't positive about it," I say as I bump his shoulder with mine, making him finally look at me. "But I'm more than pleased about it." He smiled back me before slightly leaning into my side as he launched into a story that happened a few years ago when he and Liam first started dating but as much as I hate to say it, I wasn't listening to him.

Now that the crisis was averted, my attention was back on Kyle. He had finally stopped glaring me and now had sympathy floating in his eyes, which only made my blood boil.

His eyes kept shifting from Callum, to me, then Liam to me again, and finally to Ryder before circling back to me, as if he just now realized what was going on. I wanted to stand up and put him on the spot to see if he had any smart-ass thing to say about this but Liam seemed to read my mind.

Just as I was about to stand up, his hand rested on my shoulder and gently pushed me back my chair before whispering in my ear.

"Leave him be. If he wants to start something he can come to you," he said with a glare set in Kyle's direction before turning back to Ryder and defending himself against a play accusation Ryder had made.

With Liam's words playing on repeat in my head I tune back into story and let Kyle glare at for as long as he wanted.

R3kiKy4n feast my child.

Last updated March 19, 2021