Bounce Back

Chapter 40

Ryan's POV

After a week I had got used to the routine of college. We had actually started learning content in my classes and I already had pages of notes. Alex and I had also settled in a routine of talking after our classes if we could and compare notes.

Tyler and I didn't end up seeing a lot of each other during the day because of when we had classes and when he had training. We still managed to be home at the same time for dinner. Both of us were average cooks but we made it work.

I still had quite a while before the basketball season even started so that wasn't a commitment at the moment but I knew that it would take up a bit of time when it did start. The days that I didn't have an early morning class I would go for a run.

This morning was one of them and before Tyler woke up I clambered around in the dark to change. I think that Tyler might have woken briefly and then fell asleep again. I had a route that I liked to run and at this time there weren't many people around.

I always found running relaxing so it was a good way to forget about everything else. Some days Tyler would come with me but I think that he was doing a lot of fitness training with his team so he was tired enough.

I got back to the dorm just as Tyler was climbing out of bed. He pressed a soft kiss to my lips before shoving me towards the bathroom to shower. I still had a bit of time before my first class so I spent a while under the hot water before joining Tyler again.

He had made a couple of pieces of toast and I grabbed one of them. He pouted at me and tried to reach for it even though he had plenty.

"Have you talked to your friends much since we came here?" he asked.

"I've talked to Jordan quite a few times. I've also talked Drew and Morgan a couple of times but we always seem to miss each other. What about you and James?" I asked.

"We've talked a couple of times but it's hard when he is on the other side of the country," Tyler complained slightly.

I nodded before moving slightly closer to him. He wrapped an arm around me as we settled into silence. It was hard moving across the country even to go to college. I hadn't managed to talk to my parents much because we ran on different schedules now.

I had managed to talk to each of my brothers once while I had been here but that was even harder. We didn't have long to sit there because we both had classes to get to. I stood up and grabbed my bag so that Tyler and I could head out together.

"Are you doing anything after your last class today?" he asked me.

"I don't think so," I said.

"Then can we do something afterwards?" he asked softly.

I nodded while smiling at him. It wasn't long until we had to go our separate ways but we agreed to meet up later. I still had a slight smile on my face when I made it into class and Alex immediately noticed it.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Just Tyler," I said vaguely.

He nodded and we briefly talked before our professor started talking. The whole room quickly quieted and started to talk notes. We all that our first major assignment was going to be coming up soon and no one wanted to do badly on the first one.

The weeks had already been ticking by and I couldn't believe how long I had already been here. I listened to our professor talk and continued to write until the end of the lesson.

"I'll see you outside. I just want to talk to Mr Fisher," I told Alex.

He nodded and headed up and out of the classroom while I headed down to talk to our professor. He was tidying up his papers when I reached him.

"Ryan, what do you want to talk about?" he asked.

I then explained to him what I was going to be doing for the basketball team. I was talking to all my professors so that they knew that I might be messing a couple of classes. I had talked to Coach a couple of times about my missed class time.

"So I can provide you notes for the classes that you miss. I think that that could count for extra credit," he told me.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean I will talk to Coach about exactly what you will be doing but it is applying what we are learning so it should."

I wasn't expecting that but I wasn't going to complain. He didn't have much longer to talk and I realised that Alex was still waiting for me outside the classroom. I headed out and found him leaning against the wall.

"You were longer than expected," he said.

I nodded and since we had a while before our next class so we headed outside to one of the tables. We both spread out notes out and started to talk about what we had been doing. The rest of the day continued in a pretty normal fashion until I headed out of my last class and Tyler was waiting for me.

"I'll see you later," I said to Alex.

He nodded and headed off away from the classroom. I wrapped an arm around before we also left the block.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

He shrugged and I didn't bother asking again. Instead we talked about other things as we walked. I let Tyler lead me off campus. I hadn't had much time to explore around the campus as I had been busy doing other things but it was clear that Tyler had because he knew where he was going.

We ended up at this tiny Thai Restaurant just away from the campus. Tyler had also already booked a table and we ended up in the back corner which given the size wasn't far from the door.

"How did you find this place?" I asked.

"I think that someone recommended it to me but I can't remember," he said.

I nodded and we both ordered before we started another conversation.

"Are you ready for the season?" I asked.

"Yeah, it feels like we have been training for ages without playing any actual games," he complained.

I then was reminded of my conversation with Mr Fisher so I told Tyler all about it. I watched the smile break out onto his face as I told him.

"That's so awesome," he said.

"I know because that is what I want to do and I'm already doing it," I smiled as well.

"It's awesome that Coach realises how important what you do is," Tyler added.

We started talking about other things and I was struck by comfortable we were together and it was like we had been together a lot longer than we actually had been. I was glad that we headed here together.

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The Wise One