Unexpected

Chapter 8

I blinked open my eyes, sitting up. I felt the covers slide off me. I looked down confused... wasn't I at the desk? Wait!
I jump up, running over to the desk seeing all the paperwork finished. I let out a sigh of relief, "Thank god."
I organized the paperwork quickly, then went over to check the time on my phone and see if there were any texts from anyone. It's out of habit, sometimes I'll get texts from the members of the board or a complication.
I noticed there were five missed calls from Benjamin. Huh weird, I'm not late... yet. I dialed his number, putting the phone next to my ear.
I heard it ring a couple of times until, "We have a problem!!" I winced at the sudden loud noise.
Alarm filled me, did Ryder do something, did something happen with the game plot I created? "Was it the game plot? Did it get deleted?" I questioned.
"No worse." He said, fear laced in voice.
"What could possibly be worse than that!?" I questioned.
"Your mom is going over to your house!" Benjamin said quickly.
"What!? Today!?" I asked. Immediately going over to my closest, shuffling through my many clothes.
"Luckily no but... it's tomorrow." Benjamin corrected.
"What!? But tomorrow we're introducing the new game!" I practically groaned, sliding down against the wall.
"Yeah I know. I tried rescheduling it today but... they can't come today." Benjamin said.
"Did you try calling my mom?" I asked, feeling the stress and frustration over taking my thoughts, practically throwing common sense out the window.
"Believe me, I tried reasoning with her. I even mentioned the whole meeting but... she refused to change the date." Benjamin said.
"Of course she did." I sighed, "First Ryder and now this."
"Wait, Ryder's back!? Are you alright!? Did he hurt you!?" Benjamin questioned, his tone getting deadly serious.
"He grabbed my arm roughly and most likely made a dent in my car but... I'm fine." I told him, avoiding the topic of him trying to drag me away.
Benjamin sighed, "I thought me and your brother finally got rid of him. Clearly not."
"I was surprised as you when I saw him again." I explained, bringing my knees to my chest.
"If that bastard ever comes near you again, you call be or one of the countries you understand." He spoke firmly, sounding like a dad lecturing his child.
I was pretty surprised he even mentioned the countries... I guess he trusts them. After all they haven't really tried anything.
"Alright dad." I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
    "Alright see you in a couple of days." Benjamin said with a sigh.
    "Alright see ya." I hung up, then changed into a tank top and some khaki shorts. I look at my arm to see the bruise had gotten worse.
    I groaned, changing my tank top into a long thin (f/c) shirt then walked out of the room. I brushed my teeth and hair, then walked down the stairs. This time I saw Soviet reading a book, he looked over as he heard me coming down the stairs.
    "Where are the others?" I asked,
I figured they would be up by now.
    "Some are in the gym while the others are either asleep or doing whatever in their room." Soviet answered, looking back down at his book.
    A light bulb went off in my head, I smiled, "Thanks Soviet." I skipped over into another hallway. Making my way over towards a glass door. I opened it, walking through and letting it close on its own behind me.
    Surrounding me was many exercise equipment ranging from weight to treadmills. I smiled, I haven't worked out in a few days. Might as well get back in the routine. I grabbed some headphones out of the drawer, plugging them into my phone, placing it into my pocket.
    I stepped over to an empty space, doing a few stretches to warm up my muscles. Then I got onto one of the treadmills and begin to run for a couple of miles... ok I only ran for about 15 mins. I'm not that fit.
    I then walk over to the pull up bars. I never was an upper body strength kind of person... it's sort of my weak area.
    I did about 8 pull ups before stopping in exhaustion... again upper body strength isn't my strong suit. I'll do a couple more later... probably.
    I did a couple of bench presses after that, a plank for about twenty minutes, lifted ten pound weights a couple of times, squats, burpees, push-ups, sit ups, and finally last but not least... laying down on the bench acting as if I'm going to do more sit ups.
    I closed my eyes, listening to the beat of the music. All of a sudden a shadow seemed to fall over me, I blinked open my eyes looking up to see America... with his shirt of... drenched in sweat.
    I sat up quickly, taking my ear plugs out, pressing a button to pause my music.  I couldn't help but look at his chest... it was muscular and contained a six pack.
   America was pretty muscular to begin with, same with Russia. Soviet has to be above the both of them while North, South, and Poland had to be just a little below them. As for everyone else... I don't really know.
    "Like what you see?" America smirked, throwing the small white towel over his shoulders.
    I blushed in embarrassment, "U-um." I cleared my throat, "You're working out too?" Stupid question, I mentally facepalmed.
    "Yep, I'm with South at the moment. I'm going to get South and I a glass of water. Do you want anything?" America asked, placing one of his hands on his hips.
    "U-um yeah. Could you give me a glass of water?" I asked with a slight stutter.
    "Yeah sure." America smiled, shrugging. He then turned and left.
    "Oh (Y/N)! You're here too?" I heard a voice call out behind me. I sat up, looking behind me seeing South walking over... with his shirt off as well.
    My cheeks warmed up even more, I could imagine my face is as red as a tomato. "You ok (Y/N)?" South asked, giving me a concerned look.
    "Y-yeah, I'm f-fine. Just... really hot is all." I explained, giving him a reassuring smile.
    "Oh! Do you want a cool towel or anything?" South asked.
    "Yeah sure that'd be great." I said with a bright smile. South nodded and went to grab a towel from the cabinet in the corner of the large room.
    I let out a sigh, "How on earth did I not notice them before?"
    South came back giving me a towel, I thanked him and took it off his hands. I patted around my face, then let the towel lay around my neck.
    "You know I don't think I've ever seen you in the gym. What made you come here this morning?" South asked, sitting down next to me.
    "I really had nothing else to do. What about you?" I asked, looking over at him.
    "America asked me to join him, since his own exercise buddy wasn't awake yet." South answered.
    "Who is America's exercise buddy?" I asked, cocking my head to the side slightly.
    Before South could answer someone else did, "Russia. But he was in his room still and I didn't want to disturb him."
    I look over to see America coming back over carrying a couple of drinks. He handed South one then me. I took a couple of small sips from my own glass.
    "He's still in his room? I would've thought he would be out by now... it's almost noon." I commented, taking another sip out of my glass.
    "He does that sometimes. Me and Germany knock to check up on him but he never answers. So we give him privacy." America explained, chugging down his water in a matter of seconds.
    "Oh you three lived together?" I asked.
    "Yep, in our world we did." America answered with a smile.
    "South who were your roommates?" I asked.
     "A lot of countries to be honest. Me and my brother live together though." South answered. "Now if you'll excuse me real quick... I have to use the bathroom."
    South left quickly leaving his drink behind. "So (Y/N) ... have you ever used a punching bag?" America asked, snapping my attention back to him.
    "No, I've never used it." I answered.
    "Figured. It seemed as if it hadn't been used for years." America stated, gesturing over to the punching bag a few feet away. "Would you like me to teach you?" America asked.
    "Teach me?" I questioned, giving him a confused look.
    "Yeah, I can teach you how to fight or really how to punch properly." America suggested, putting his empty glass on the ground.
    "There's a proper way to punch?" I questioned, raising a brow.
    America simply nodded. I sighed, "Fine." I could use this just in case Ryder comes around again... which he will. He doesn't give up easily.
    His eyes glistened with excitement. "Alright, c'mon." He exclaimed, gesturing me to follow him over to the punching bag.
    I placed my cup down, then followed him over to the red punching bag. America got into a fighting stance saying, "Now first things first is your stance. You need to have a strong stance that you could easily move if you need to dodge."
    I nodded, trying to copy him. America walked around me, inspecting my stance. "Have you legs spread out a little more. It will give you more stability." America instructed, putting his hands on my shoulder and using his foot to scoot my foot back a little bit. "Also relax, don't be too tense. It could limit your movement."
    I nodded, letting myself relax. America stood behind the bag, holding it. "Now punch it." He said.
    I looked unsure, "Shouldn't I have something on my hands?"
    "You won't have anything on your hands when you punch a person right? So just punch this." America pointed out.
    I punched the bag, using little force. I was afraid to hurt my hand and accidentally miss the bag and end up punching America.
    "C'mon I know you can punch harder than that." America said.
    I punched harder a couple of times, making impact with the bag. "Good, you're doing great." I did this for a few minutes till America said, "Alright you can stop now."
    I stopped, looking at him expectantly. "Now try kicking it." He said.
    I nodded, kicking the bag with a great force but it was not really in the middle of the bag. "Here, kick in the middle of the bag. You'll have a greater impact." South said, standing next to me.
    He stood in a fighting stand then raised his leg, turning his foot to the side and kicked the bag right in the middle. America stumbled back a little, but afterward he nodded in agreement.
    "Ok." I said, then begin to do the same thing South just did.
    After a few minutes of that, America stated, "Alright I think we're done for now." He walked around to stand in front of me. "We can do this more if you want, just let me know." He said with a smile. I nodded.
    He then left saying he had to take a shower, South left as well most likely doing the same thing. I decided to leave as well.
    'Maybe I should go check on Russia. To make sure he's ok.' I thought, grabbing the glasses as I walked out. 'They could've picked up their gasses.'