Fitness Crimes

Chapter 22- Bacon mornings, new friendships and friendly returns.

The next morning I wake up to the smell of bacon filtering through my apartment. Stretching my arms high above my head I realise I once again fell asleep on the couch. Books, pizza boxes, a half eaten bowl of popcorn and two empty beers were scattered around me. Slowly I got up, my feet shuffling against the ground as I walked into the kitchen.
Ryder was standing at the stove, flipping some bacon with a slight twist of his hips.
"Never thought I'd wake up with Elvis in my kitchen." He jumped at the sound of my voice, spinning around with red cheeks and a spatula in his hands.
"How long have you been standing there?" He questioned, his eyes roaming about the room but never meeting mine.
"Just got here. How come you didn't go to your apartment?"
"You told me I could sleep on the couch or whatever, but then you fell asleep there so I sleep in Hein's room." He explained and with a wave of his spatula he turned around again and continued with his bacon.
"Okey, but why stay?" I walked to the counter and sat down on one of the stools, placing my elbows onto the counter as I rested my head in my hands.
"It was late and I was tired," he shrugged clearly trying to avoid this topic completely. I stared at his back for a few more seconds, my eyes glaring at the bulging muscles as he moved.
"What do you want to do today?" He asked, placing the bacon in a plate with some toast and eggs before the placed the perfectly decorated plate in front of me. He sat down at the counter and slowly started chewing on a piece of bacon.
"Well we still need to finish the last bit of the project and then we can maybe go to the astro. Hein and Gary are only coming back tonight." The food tasted delicious, but I refused to give him the satisfaction.
"Okey, well let's go finish the project then we can figure it out from there." He jumped up from the seat, his plate now squeaky clean, and placed it in the sink. I quickly ate the last bit of my plate before placing it in the sink and joning Ryder in the living room. His glasses was already perched on his nose as he sat cross-legged on the floor. He looked like a seven year old nerdy boy, overeager to study.I sat down at the same spot I did last night, grabbing my laptop and opening the file I had saved the project on. I only had two more pages to go before I was finished with the project. The project was surprisingly interesting and I had enjoyed writing most of it.
"Do you ever wonder what it would've been like if we were in the same school during high school,"Ryder comments after a while of silence between us. Only the sounds of the keyboard disturbing it.
"Never thought about it like that. What do you think?" I leaned back into the couch, my laptop still perched on my lap but my attention now fixed on Ryder.
"Well I think we probably would've been team captains. The most competitive team captains of all time. I think we would've been good friends when we weren't on the field and that we would've destroyed ever single school that tried to go against us."
"You really think we would've been friends? We fight most of the time." I placed my laptop on the space next to me, my mind knowing that I can't focus on the project now.
"Well we've spent most of our weekend together and we haven't fought once. I even slept over and we didn't fight about that. You took care of me without being spiteful and leaving me to die. We like playing hockey together on Sundays. We are in the same team now. We haven't fought in a long time and we get along quite well when no one is around to pressure us to be, well us." His words shocked me, but not because of how many points he had made but merely the fact that they are were true. We are getting along so well, we aren't fighting anymore, we have been together this whole weekend and we always fight when we are surrounded by other people.
"Yeah, I think we could've been good friends."
"Why can't we be now?" His eyes pierced into mine. A spectrum of emotions swimming in his irises. It was so mesmerising that I couldn't take my eyes of it. I never knew that a pair of eyes could hold so much depth and emotion in them. He looked hopeful in a way, something I thought I would never see in those pair of eyes. Does he really want to be friends with me?
"I don't know. Probably because we are still rivals."
"Are we really?" He questioned and without giving me chance to answer he grabbed his stuff, mumbling a quick goodbye to me and walking out, only informing me that he will see me at the astro at three. Silence returned to the apartment once more, making me think about all that has happened over this period of time that I have spent here.

It took me a while to sort through my thoughts, gathering every memory that Ryder and I have shared over here and over the past few years. It was a bitter pill when I realised that we have indeed drifted from our former ways. It was only when three o'clock was close to arriving that I realised it was time to face my new demon. Was I really ready to push away this hatred for Ryder and step into a new friendship. I quickly stood up, grabbed my hockey things and ran down to his apartment. My hand furiously knocked on his door, hoping that he hasn't left yet as I had no way of getting to the astro.
"Yes?" He asked as he dramatically opened the door for me.
"I need a ride to the astro," I smiled and it was as if he understood the hidden meaning behind my words. A soft smile spread across his lips, his eyes staring into my as he cocked his head to the side. It was an odd atmosphere to have between us and I quickly realised that this is how we have been this whole weekend. Tranquil.
"I just need to grab my stuff. You can go down to the car so long," he threw me the keys and rushed to find his things. I gave one more glance at the spot that he was just standing in before making my way down to the car.

Ryder joined me soon after and within minutes we were parked outside the astro and shuffling onto the green paradise. The ball glided next to my stick as I quickly got my eye in whilst making my way to the goal box. We had decided on our way over that we were going to do a 1v1 for fun today. A lot of our teammates went home this weekend, leaving only Ryder and I to fend for ourselves on the astro.

After playing for an hour we decided to call it a day and grab some tacos on our way home. I knew that Hein and Gary would be home soon and that they would probably be starving the moment they stepped foot in our apartment. Once we got the food we made our way back to the apartment building. Their car was still not there, giving me some time to go shower and ensure that the tacos stay warm.
"I'm quickly gonna shower. I'll see you in a bit," Ryder stated once we got to his floor, leaving me to make my way to the apartment all by myself. I placed the tacos in the oven before quickly jumping through the shower, just as I was finished getting dressed the sound of two hungry teenage boys filled the apartment, making me rush out of my room.
"Your back!" I yelled and jumped into Gary's awaiting arms, my legs wrapping around his waist as I hugged him. "I missed you," I said with a smile, kissing him on the cheek.
"I missed you too Riv," he said with a giant grin on his face.
"Heeeyyyyy, I want some River love too," Hein whined from behind us, making me jump out of Gary's arms and into Hein's.
"I've missed you too my little chipmunk," I tease, grabbing his cheeks for dramatic effect.
"Stop it."he grumbled, slapping my hand away and placing me down on the floor again.
"We bought some tacos for you guys. I put it in the oven to stay warm." I explained, walking into the kitchen and grabbing the tacos from the oven.
"We?" Gary questioned from behind me as I was placing them onto a plate for us.
"Yeah, Ryder and I. We sorta spent the weekend together." I explained nonchalantly with a wave of my hand.
"You and Ryder in the same room without a fight. This I have to see!" Hein exclaimed with shock, grabbing a taco and scarfing it down.
"Sure, he's probably on his way over already." Just as the words slipped out of my mouth a knock was heard on the door.
"I'll get it," Gary grumbled and stalked into the living room to open the door.
"What stick got stuck up his ass?" I asked Hein once he was out of earshot. I grabbed a taco and started eating it, only now realising how hungry I have gotten.
"Don't know," Hein shrugged," He's been like this for the whole weekend. When he saw you it was literally the first time he smiled for the whole weekend. He was so damn irritating on the way back, the whole time-" his sentence got cut off by the entrance of Gary, shortly followed by Ryder.
"Oo yay, experiment time. Get me my stopwatch, I need to see how long they can stay in peace." Hein says, jumping up and down before sprinting away. The previous topic was now long forgotten on him when he came back a few seconds later, clutching a stopwatch in his hands.

The rest of the evening was spent in perfect tranquility, expect for Hein's constant clicking of the stopwatch but other than that was I glad that I had finally buried the hatred between Ryder and I.

Hope you are enjoying the story.
What do you think of this new friendship? Do you think it'll last?

Comment your thoughts♡

-CharleCloete