09 GAIDEN: INTERCEPTION

Ryan and Quinn sat on her couch watching Adult Swim. The lineup had changed and now their nightly routine involved watching Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Cowboy Bebop. Tonight was the first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist and just after one episode, they wanted more. It was about two brothers having made a mistake as children and paying dearly for it. They didn’t know anything about the series aside from Zack saying it was really good as he saw the Japanese version. The one on Adult Swim was the English dub. They were from the same company that did Dragonball Z. Quinn liked to figure out the voices. Most of the time she could match the voice to the voice actor. She looked up the cast online to confirm her guesses.

“That’s totally Laura Bailey,” Quinn said.

Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know who that is. You’re probably right.”

“She’s Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket and Trunks in DBZ.”

“She’s the voice of Trunks? I thought that was a guy. Actually, I’m certain that was a guy.”

“Nope, she’s the voice.”

“No way. That is a guy’s voice. I mean, if that’s her then she’s got some real talent with that throat of hers.” Ryan thought about what he just said. “Okay, that came out wrong.”

Quinn laughed. “I’m telling you, she does Trunks.” She grabbed her laptop. “I’ll prove it.”

“You’re about to prove she doesn’t do Trunks. That’s a guy’s voice,” Ryan said as he watched Quinn type away to bring up the cast of Dragonball Z.

“See? Here. Told you,” Quinn said pointing to the screen. Ryan looked to confirm her claim but he still wasn’t wrong.

“Yeah, Kid Trunks. Not Future Trunks which was who I was talking about.”

“You didn’t specify who you meant so I win,” Quinn said closing her laptop and setting it aside.

“Neither did you,” Ryan shot back.

Quinn leaned over and licked the side of Ryan’s face as she didn’t have a response. Ryan had no choice but to retaliate. He pushed her onto her back as he tried to break through her defenses. Their interlocked hands moved every which way. She laughed and protested his playful assault. He was able to wedge himself between her legs that she had pulled up as another line of defense. Once he was on top of her, he pushed her arms up and now he had a clear shot.

He moved to lick her cheek just as she had done to him. She moved her head at the last moment and he ended up licking her ear. She let out a moan. Her eyes widened and her face slowly turned red.

“Oh, sorry,” she said. “That’s one of my spots.”

“What? Here?” Ryan asked just before slowly running his tongue along the rim of her ear. She squirmed and let out another moan. He then kissed her ear and moved down to her neck. Her grip tightened and she pushed her hips against him.

Then their lips met.

They released each other’s hands and moved them about their bodies. Hers gripped the ends of his shirt as if she was restraining herself from pulling it off while his hands did their own thing acting like they were acting on their own free will.

She was wearing her high school windbreaker pants which caused her legs to keep sliding down. His left hand reached back to pull up one of her legs and the other massaged her one of her breasts through her shirt.

With him wearing shorts and her wearing windbreakers, she could easily feel his erection pressing against her. It was their problematic clothes that prevented him from entering her.

As if reading each other’s mind, their hands moved to the other’s waistband at the same time. She started to push off his shorts as he pulled on her pants.

Suddenly, they heard keys rattling with one of them entering the lock. The two scrambled back to their original positions with Ryan having to adjust himself to make his erection unnoticeable. A second later, Avery walked in.

“Why are people so inconsiderate?” Avery asked.

“I’ve wondered that myself,” Ryan said glancing at Avery. The meaning of his comment went over Avery’s head.

“What happened?” Quinn asked.

“Just people being loud and obnoxious in the library. I was trying to study with my group but these guys were being too loud and we didn’t get shit done.”

“That sucks,” Quinn said.

I can think of more annoying things, Ryan thought.

“And when I told them to shut up, they ignored me. I seriously wanted to beat the shit out of them right there.”

“I know the feeling,” Ryan said. He wondered if he put too much into it where Avery would catch on that he was referring to him. It wasn’t lost on Quinn who gave him a sideways glance.

“Yeah, I know people at Nelson suck,” Avery said.

Now Ryan was certain it went over his head.

“Yep, they definitely do,” Quinn said as she successfully fought back a laugh seeing Avery once again not pick up on Ryan’s meaning.

“But whatever,” Avery said. “I’m going to jump in the shower and go to bed.” He disappeared up the stairs.

“Do you want to take this to your bedroom?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Quinn said. “It’s probably best if I just go to bed.”

Phenomenal brakes.

“Oh. Okay.”

“Sorry.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Ryan said letting out a breath while scratching his head.

“If it helps, we totally would’ve done it if Avery didn’t come home.”

Fucking Avery!

Ryan was surprised to get so much playing time as a walk-on. He had already been assigned to be on kickoff return and that’s all he expected to do. It may have something to do with the fact that the starting cornerback had gone out with an injury early in the game after his interception for a touchdown that tied the game. He had taken a bad step and messed up his foot.

Ryan had surprised and impressed the coaches during the kickoff after Pitt scored on their kickoff return for a touchdown. Ryan didn’t run this one back but he caused a penalty for Pitt. The kick was high and short which would give Pitt’s special teams the chance to reach the returner quickly. He let the ball bounce where it stopped deep in Bobcat territory near the sidelines. The coaches yelled for the returners to get to the ball as it was a live ball and could be picked up by Pitt for another score. Ryan stepped out of bounds and reached over to touch the ball. The refs threw the flags causing a roar of confusion in the crowd. Because Ryan was out of bounds when he touched the ball, it was treated as if the kicker had kicked the ball out of bounds. This would automatically put the Bobcats at the forty-yard line instead of wherever Ryan would have been tackled. However, that drive would not lead to a score.

The game had gone into overtime tied at ten and Ryan was the left side cornerback. Pitt was deep in Ohio territory and still driving. On third down and four, Pitt’s quarterback dropped back and threw a pass to a receiver on the 15-yard line. Ryan sprinted toward the receiver stepping in front of him and grabbed the ball. The crowd erupted letting themselves be heard all over the city as he dashed to the end zone. Pitt’s quarterback had an angle to tackle him. Ryan pushed himself to his limits to beat him. Ohio’s inside linebacker was close to the quarterback to block him if Ryan needed it. When Ryan reached the Ohio 45-yard line that’s when he knew he wasn’t going to be touched. He had a clear lane to the end zone. He saw his teammates on the sidelines jumping up and down encouraging him to keep going. He could hear his teammates still behind him yelling for him to keep going. He ran into the end zone and the refs threw up their hands signaling a touchdown. Ohio beat Pitt 16-10. His teammates rushed over, crowding and high-fiving him. The field was instantly filled with players and fans.

It wasn’t until everyone cleared away from him, both players and fans, that he had a chance to breathe. The stadium still roared celebrating what he did. This was his first college touchdown and a game-winning one. That’s when it finally hit him.

“Holy shit!”

Ryan and Pei Fen awoke to loud music coming from Shawn’s room. Ryan looked at his phone thinking it was still in the morning but it was already afternoon. He dropped his arm letting the phone roll from his hand and slightly under the bed. He threw his arm over Pei Fen, pulled her close, and kissed her. They hoped to take advantage of the loud music.

Ryan saw Pei Fen uptown after the game against Pitt. She was his history teacher. A young Taiwanese woman in her third year of teaching. Aside from her Asian accent, she spoke English well. He thought she was pretty and wanted to talk to her more, hoping to impress her with his knowledge of history. When he spotted her at Pawpurr’s last night he knew it was his chance to do so. He didn’t expect her to come home with him but he wasn’t complaining.

He, Riley, and some of the other players made their way around the bars uptown. Students were celebrating the win not only at the bars but in their homes as well. Palmer and Mill Street were infamous for their parties and couch burning, particularly during Palmerfest and Millfest, the two big street parties. Last night’s win gave them an excuse to set another couch on fire.

Ryan rolled onto his back with Pei Fen cuddling up next to him. They both wanted to go back to sleep but the music wasn’t going to allow that. It penetrated the entire house. It wasn’t unusual for Shawn to play his music a little loud but it had never been this loud.

The pair emerged from the stairway to find Riley and Kaiser watching season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kaiser’s friend and fellow Walmart employee, Eric Garfield was on the other end of the couch opposite Riley. Eric sported a dyed mohawk. He didn’t have any gel in it now so it just hung over the side of his head. Pei Fen smiled at everyone before proceeding into the kitchen and out the side door.

“So, you making a trek across Asia?” Riley said with a giant smile. Ryan wasn’t fully awake to understand her meaning. He raised an eyebrow to show his confusion. “JiaHui’s from China, Taeyeon’s from Korea, and Pei Fen’s from Taiwan. All you need now is a Japanese girl.”

Ryan smirked not realizing he had slept with three girls all from different Asian countries. “Well, there are some I met through the Japan Club so there’s a chance.”

“Dude,” Eric said. “I thought Buffy was like a chick show but it’s actually pretty good.”

“If you thought it was a chick show then why did you start watching it?” Ryan asked.

“Curiosity. And Riley telling me that it wasn’t.”

“Well, I have the whole series sitting there. I watched the entire seventh season in one night when it came out.”

“Bullshit.”

“Ask Quinn. I was staying at her house for winter vacation when I bought it. I started it that day and when Quinn woke up the next morning, I was almost finished with it.”

“Why would you stay up all night watching it?”

“That wasn’t the original plan. I only planned on watching a few episodes but each time I planned to go to sleep, that episode ended on a cliffhanger and I had to find out what happened.”

“Fair enough.”

“So, what’s with Shawn? Why is he playing music so loud?”

“He’s got a girl.”

Ryan’s head shot back. “A girl? Who?”

“Crystal.”

“Crystal? Really?” Ryan laughed.

“I guess she got tired of hearing him constantly bitching about being a virgin and took one for the team,” Kaiser said.

Ryan shrugged. “A little mean but probably true.”

“Oh yeah, I’m the mean one. Meanwhile, you and your sister tag team people to the point they want to kill themselves, and I just state what was most likely the case for the girl to sleep with Shawn and I’m the mean one?”

“First of all. I never drove anyone to suicide. Secondly, I said your comment was mean. I didn’t say anything about us not being mean.”

“Yes, we can be straight-up assholes if we wanted to,” Riley said. “And you’re probably right about how everything went down with those two.”

“Oh hey, dude. Do you want to play Battlefront or some Rising Sun later? Battlefront Two comes out in October. We’re gonna play the shit out of it.”

“I’m game for some Battlefront,” Ryan said. “I’m going to run Pei Fen home first and then I’ll be back. I’ll grab some pizza or something on the way back.”

“Look at you being all gentleman after last night. At least Shawn had the decency to play music. We had to hear you guys for a while last night.”

Ryan shrugged. “Sucks to suck.”

Riley decided to stay an extra day to tag along with her brother and Quinn to go to a high school football game that night. Normally, the games were on a Friday night but it was rescheduled for Saturday instead. Ryan assumed it was because the Bobcats had a game last night instead of a Saturday game like usual.

The game was between Quinn’s alma mater Athens and another local school Alexander. Athens sported green and gold just like the twins’ high school. Standing down next to the field sent waves of nostalgia through them. They felt like they were in high school again.

Athens was in the lead and didn’t look like they were going to give that up.

“Does Athens do this every game?” Ryan asked.

“God, no,” Quinn said. “Alexander and River Valley are the only teams we regularly beat. All the other teams beat us, especially Logan. They’re supposed to be our rival but it’s totally one-sided these days. I hear it was better back in the eighties and early nineties when the rivalry was back and forth.”

“Sounds like our high school team,” Ryan said. “In fact, we had the same colors and the uniforms are almost exact. If I wore my jersey then I’m sure I would confuse a lot of people.”

“What was your team name?” Quinn asked.

“Thundercats.”

“That’s unique. I wish we had a unique name. Instead, we’re the Bulldogs. Don’t get me wrong, I like the name. It’s just too generic.”

Two girls approached them and happily greeted Quinn. The twins assumed they were old high school friends that hadn’t seen each other for a while.

“So,” Riley said in a low voice. “You gonna go after Quinn or what? I think you two would be a good pair.”

“I think so too but I don’t know what she thinks.”

“Well, from what you told me, she was ready for you to fuck her brains out until you were interrupted. I’d say she’s into you.”

“Physically or does she want a relationship?” Ryan asked. “Let’s be real here, I’m in shape and have a good body.”

“Way to sound full of yourself,” Riley said with a laugh.

“You know what I mean. I’m only in shape because I play football. If I didn’t look like this I don’t think she’d be so ready to do anything. Maybe sex would kick start a relationship or maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe it’d be only a fling or a one-time thing.”

“So, you’re saying she’s superficial?”

Ryan shook his head. “No, I know she’s physically attracted to me but maybe my personality isn’t what she wants.”

“You mean she wants something else of yours?”

“Well, I mean, if she’s in the mood like she was the other night then yes but I wouldn’t say she dreams of getting me into her bed. Not that that would be difficult. I’m just saying personality-wise she’s not interested.”

“How do you know?” Riley asked. “She’s only been single for a few months so give it time and see what happens. Maybe she’ll like your personality now that she isn’t focused on her boyfriend.”