Practice makes perfect, and when you're fighting to be the best in your sport that is especially true. Ryder and Francesca are no exception. They are dedicated to their sport and refuse to let anything distracted. But when a scheduling conflict forc...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"What's wrong, butt?" Ryder asks as I lay in his bed reading for class, while he sits at his desk catching up on the piles of work he missed before going back to class tomorrow.
"Nothing," I pout childishly while flicking his hat away from me.
Abandoning his work, Ryder sits in front of me and grabs my face, forcing me to look at him. "It's about the welcome back today isn't it?sa" he says, already knowing the answer.
This is so stupid. The team got back around noon today and of course we went to celebrate at Yost with about half the student body. All was going well, everyone was having a great time, I saw Ryders Coach smile a genuine for the first time ever, all in all picture perfect. But then the team was leaving and of course people were trying to talk to them and get pictures so I went and waited at Ryder's car. As he was making his way to the car, at most 10 feet away from me, some girl, with I think the student paper, started asking him questions so he stopped. The entire time she was talking to him she kept touching him like rubbing his arm and then when asking about his ribs she even tried to lift his shirt so see if there was a bruise. Ryder attempted to kindly set boundaries which I totally appreciate but I still was upset. Not at him, I can't even say I am super mad at her considering no one even knows we are dating besides our teams but I realized this is my life now. This isn't going to stop once he is in the NHL, if anything it will be worse. When I joked that I was going to have to mark my territory it was just that a joke, but now I actually am worried.
"Babe, I am so sorry," Ryder apologizes, looking guilty which bothers me even more because he didn't do anything. It isn't like he stood there and flirted with her or let her be inappropriate; he quickly set boundaries out of respect for me.
"You did nothing wrong Ry, I just... I don't know I need to adjust to it I guess. It is nothing you did, I am just not used to this yet." Ryder is quiet as he pulls me into his body holding me while I mope. "Luna offered to cut the girl with a skate blade," I confess while I run my fingers over his abs.
"Going to take her up on it?"
"No, not right now. People don't know we are dating so it's not really fair to have Luna and I quote 'cut that handsy bitch' for me when she probably doesn't even know I exist. But if you want Luna to cut her for you for not respecting your personal space, I support that fully."
Ryder laughs but shakes his head. "I am kind of used to people like her; it can be uncomfortable but it comes with the territory I guess."
"Guess I just need to claim you now," I joke.
Ryder looks a little concerned as I kiss his neck. "Just for my own personal uh knowledge, did you go through a Twilight phase when you were younger?"
Knowing exactly what he is thinking I decide to play it up. "Oh yeah, huge. I read every book twice," actually true, "went to see every movie in the theater," also true, "and I even had my parents buy me body glitter and fangs and ran around school telling everyone I was a vampire." That last one is the lie, but Ryder falls for it. "I am still convinced that maybe I am a vampire."
