Fighting For Her - A 'Warrior' Fanfiction

S.M.J.

Tommy placed his arms out, leaning against the tile wall as the hot water thawed his back. He closed his eyes and saw Riley's face smiling back at him.

Ryan.

He grimaced at the thought. There was no way he would ever want to break up a relationship but he just couldn't get enough of Riley. He decided to push the thought from his mind.

Riley's laughter echoed through the locker room as it broke his train of thought. He peered around the shower curtain and saw the doors swinging behind her. He shook his head and turned off the water. Draping the towel around him, he went to grab his bag and realized that he had left it out on the gym floor and hadn't grabbed it earlier because Riley had been yelling at him. He looked for the pair of work out shorts he threw on the floor and couldn't find those either.

"Alright, give it up." He stood over Riley who was sitting on top of his gym bag looking quite conspicuous, twirling her hair around her fingers.

"Give what up?" She cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows. He was standing in the middle of the gym wearing nothing but a towel.

"What are you, 12? My gym bag. Hand it over." Keeping a straight face, he pointed toward his bag.

She smiled, knowing she had his full attention. "Tell me you're sorry."

Tommy snorted. "Sorry for what?"

"For running by me without saying anything!" And for splashing me with water. She thought, but then laughed to herself knowing she let him stay in there an extra thirty seconds and that seemed like punishment enough. She grabbed the sides of the bag for reassurance.

"Are we still on this?" He let out a loud sigh as she nodded her head up and down. They stood there in silence, waiting for the other to break first.

"You're really not going to budge about this are you?" Tommy asked, breaking the silence. She shook her head and smiled.

"Fine have it your way." He leaned down and lifted her and the bag over his shoulder, carrying them both to the locker room. Riley let out a squeal and started punching Tommy's back.

"Put me down!" She tried to sound serious but couldn't help the laughter that escaped her mouth. He kept a firm grip on her legs with one arm as he held the bag in the other. Her arms grabbed his sides as her long hair tickled his back. He squirmed a little before setting her down.

"And you think I'm 12?!" She stood with her hands on her hips as he rifled through his bag for dry clothes. "I'm not leaving until you apologize." She immediately regretted saying that because she knew what was going to happen next.

Tommy shrugged his shoulders and began to unwrap the towel that was hanging on his waist. Riley quickly turned around, her face turning red. "You're not shy, are you?"

"I can't even tell you how many locker rooms I've changed in." His voice a little muffled as he slid on his shirt. "Plus guys in the Corps don't really have time to be shy."

"Lucky me." Riley mumbled under her breath, not sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

The double doors swung open and a guy smaller than Tommy walked in. He was bleeding from a fresh cut above his eyebrow. The blood dripped onto the tile floor as the guy just stared at Riley. Another man, drenched in sweat followed behind him.

"Uh, I'll just be outside." Riley said, suddenly feeling a pang of discomfort.

When Riley was in the gym earlier, the boxing ring had been surrounded by guys yelling and shouting at the match going on with in it. Now it stood empty, its previous inhabitants had either already left or were heading into the locker room to call it a day.