A/N: Yeah, I know- I have 3 stories currently in progress and here I am writing a silly fluffy whumpy one- shot, but well, I needed something a bit more light- hearted
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Ryan paused to swipe his bangs off his forehead, they were slick with sweat and the damp mist that drizzled down from the gray afternoon sky. The air felt heavy and thick, full of more moisture than Ryan was accustomed to. He glanced around and noticed the other boys who had gathered for their pick- up soccer game were also glancing up at the rapidly darkening sky. He glanced over at Taylor, who flashed a bright smile at him, even as she sat on the ground in a trench coat. She had come to the game with several other girls, but most had fled with impending weather. Ryan's stomach growled, reminding him that it was almost dinner time.
"One more goal- then call it quits?" Mason asked. He was the organizer and de- facto captain of these loosely organized soccer matches that happened every Thursday afternoon in their makeshift soccer field. A few kids wore cleats, but most wore sneakers. Most of them might have been good enough to play on a team at a D3 school, but where nowhere near the D1- competitive level of their college, but still, their games were fast and furious. Ryan enjoyed the games and Taylor was usually content to bring a book and glance up occasionally. Looking back at her now, her head was back down in her book.
The other kids had assented to the last goal proposal, but now the mist had organized itself into actually fat drops of rain.
They reformed their lines, and Ryan took up his defender's position. His team had control of the ball, and Mason was charging up the field with it. Ryan moved with him, but not as far up the field, in case the other team got it and came back. Sure enough, Mason went for the quick kill and fired the ball toward the goal- but it was a straight shot, and the goalie nabbed it and tossed it to one of his teammates, Jake.
Jake was one of the bigger kids on the team, and had played ice hockey back home in Minnesota, he tended to be a bit aggressive on the field, so Ryan's team gave him some room as he charged down the field, but Ryan held his ground. He wasn't the type to be so easily bullied or intimidated, and Jake's main skill came from charging like an enraged rhino- and all the grace and dexterity of one. Ryan took a chance and sprinted towards him, managing to get within range and then kicked the ball away from Jake- right between Jake's legs. Jake glared, but Ryan had already darted around him, and was now headed up the wet field. The rain had started to come harder, he wanted to look around to see if Taylor was there- worried she was getting soaked, but the goal was getting closer, their field was not full regulation size. With a final sprint, Ryan drove the ball as hard as could into the high right corner of the goal, his back foot sliding across the wet grass, and both feet lifted off the grass. He felt a moment's elation as he watched the goalie jump and miss and then as if in slow motion, realized that he was slightly off balance. The grass was wet and slick, and as his right foot came back down, he was off balance. As he landed it rolled on the grass, his sneaker couldn't find stability, and his ankle rolled as his full weight of his body came back down to the earth.
The pop was audible. At least to Ryan.
"Woah man- are you okay?" Mason came running up beside him. The goal had been forgotten.
"Yeah," Ryan gritted his teeth. Mason offered him a hand and Ryan struggled back to his feet.
"Ryan!" He heard Taylor calling his name, as she butted her way through the other guys who had gathered around him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine…" He hissed as he tried to take a step. His ankle protested against taking his weight. The rain was starting to come down harder. The other guys glanced at Ryan and then back towards the sky.
"It's fine… We should get inside," Mason said, as giving the group permission to disperse. Everyone hesitated.
"I'm fine," Ryan assure them, "Just twisted my ankle a little." He pretended to stand on it.
"Take it easy man," Jake said, clapping him on the shoulder. The rest of the players said their good byes and drifted away.
"Let's get inside…" Taylor suggested, once they were gone.
"Yeah…" He took another halting step, and almost fell to his knees when his ankle refused to take the weight.
"Here," Mason said, pulling Ryan's arm over his shoulder. Taylor followed his lead and took his other. Ryan tried to take a few steps like that.
"Stop walking and hop, Ryan." Taylor ordered. Reluctantly Ryan obeyed, feeling kind of silly as they brought him inside the nearest dorm's stairwell. Mason eased Ryan off his shoulder and onto one of the steps, then ran his fingers through his wet hair, and looked around, as if to assess the situation. Taylor was already sitting next to Ryan, her hand had somehow found his.
"Should we call an ambulance?" Mason asked, pulling out a cell phone.
Taylor scooted off the step and examined the damaged leg, and Ryan glanced down too. It was starting to swell, but not too badly. Ryan guessed that it was badly sprained, but not broken.
"No. No ambulance." He declared.
"Ryan, you have to see a doctor!" Taylor protested.
Ryan nodded, "I know, but I don't need an ambulance. Let's just drive."
Taylor nodded, "Okay, wait here, I'll go get the car. Do you mind waiting with him?" She asked Mason.
Mason nodded, "Sure,"
"Not like I'm going anywhere…" Ryan muttered, but he didn't mind. It would have felt a little weird to sit in the stairwell by himself.
"Nice goal, by the way." Mason said, as he slid down next to Ryan on the steps.
"Thanks…" Ryan said. "Probably my last for the semester…" He sighed in disappointment.
"At least you made it a good one."
"Go big or go home?" Ryan and Mason had taken an econ class together their freshman year and played soccer together every week, but they rarely socialized outside of a large group, and a silence fell.
"So uh… Is Taylor your girlfriend?"
"Yeah," Ryan nodded.
"Any cute friends?" Mason asked.
Ryan smirked, "Haven't you seen the crowd she brings to our games?"
"Yeah," Mason said, "There's a red head that usually comes… Do you know if she's single?"
"Ariel? Uh…" Ryan knew she had an on-again-off-again relationship with some basketball player, and when it was off, she always seemed determined to make up for lost time. "I don't know," he said.
"Hmm…" Mason sighed and leaned back against the steps. "Ankle feeling any better?"
"Yeah, a little." Ryan lied, mostly he had just been trying to block out the pain.
"You're from Newport right?"
"Uh, sorta."
"Sorta?" Mason asked.
"Didn't grow up there, moved there in high school." Ryan didn't want to start talking about his complicated past. That had been one of his goals when he came to college: A new start, a clean slate. The explanation seemed to satisfy Mason. Ryan shifted his position slightly, trying not to move his out stretched leg. "You're from New York right, Westchester or something? Everyone says its like the O.C. of New York."
Mason laughed, "Yeah something like that. Although, I think some people would say we're worse than you guys- what was that show?"
"The Valley?"
"Yeah, that show. Well, we could relate,"
Ryan snorted, "Yeah," he sighed, "So could we." Outside tires squealed to a halt and a horn blasted. "Guess that's my ride." Gripping the banister, he gets to his feet.
Mason helped Ryan outside, and then opened the door of Taylor's Lexus SUV. "Nice wheels," He grinned at the driver.
"Want a ride back to your dorm?" Taylor offered, it was still raining outside.
"Don't you have to get to the hospital?"
"I'm not about to bleed to death, it's cool." Ryan shrugged.
"Sure…" Mason opened the back door and was surprised to find the red head he had admired from a distance, sitting in the backseat.
"Uh… Hi…" He said, awkwardly.
"Oh, right," Taylor glanced back. "Ariel's coming along."
"You like going to the ER for fun?" Ryan asked, turning around in his seat.
"Taylor's my study buddy, and we have our midterm tomorrow in poli sci. I ran into her in the dorm- we'll be there for hours anyway. Hi, I'm Ariel by the way," She turned and stuck out her hand. Mason shook it, looking a little dazed.
"You know Ryan, why don't I come with you? I can uh… I mean, if the girls are studying and whatever…" Ryan caught Mason's eye in the rearview mirror and gave him a half- smile.
"Sure," Ryan said. Taylor caught his eye and raised her eyebrows but Ryan shook his head subtly at her.
"What happened Ry?" Ariel asked, as Taylor pulled away from the curb.
"I fell playing soccer," He admitted.
"You didn't fall- you pulled some crazy world cup shit and then you fell." Mason grinned, backing his new- found friend up.
"Oh… Okay…" Ariel said. "Sucks you messed up your leg."
Ryan shrugged, "Yeah." Taylor was driving to fast, and the wheels screeched as they skidded around a curve. "Uh… Taylor… how about getting us there alive?" He glanced back, Mason looked pale and was clinging to the coat hanger.
"Oh… Right, sorry." Taylor wasn't a good driver at the best of times, and when she was stressed it got even worse. Somehow, they got to the hospital in one piece. Taylor had taken the back roads and made good time. Ryan hopped out of the car, and then looked around to Mason. Mason however, had staggered out of the back of the car, looking positively green, and then stumbled over to the nearest trashcan where he proceeded to lose his lunch. "Was my driving really that bad?" She turned and looked at Ryan.
"Uh…" He decided not to answer that question. Ariel was staring at Mason's heaving shoulders with slight disgust.
"Gross…" She said, her nose scrunching up.
"Sorry guys," A pale and embarrassed looking Mason came back over to him. "I'm not so good with car rides," He admitted.
"Clearly…" Ariel said, edging away from him. Taylor pulled a water bottle and a pack of gum from her bag.
"Thanks…" Mason said gratefully. He took a swig of water and then spit it into the trash can, then drank a few more sips of water, and a piece of gum, and then finished the water off. He glanced at the empty bottle. "Oh… Sorry…"
"It was almost empty anyway."
"Can we get inside? I'm getting wet," Ariel complained.
"No one's stopping you princess," Mason muttered, as he walked towards Ryan and helped him hobble inside. Once inside, they dropped into four empty chairs then Taylor stood to go and get Ryan checked in. She returned with a clipboard full of paper and handed it to Ryan.
"Shit… I don't have my insurance car-" Taylor cut him off when she dropped his wallet into his lap.
"Grabbed it from your room." Taylor had been holding onto his room keys while he played soccer- Ryan had forgotten. He had once lost his keys on the field and it had taken nearly an hour to find them, now he asked Taylor to hold them. That explained why she hadn't gone inside with everyone else.
"It's cold in here," Ariel whined. It was true, despite the cool weather outside, the AC was blasting. Ryan was glad he had been playing in his Under Armour under a t-shirt. Mason glared at her, he was wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. Ryan felt kind of bad for him, when he saw the goose bumps on his arms. He could tell Mason was starting to regret his decision to tag along. Well, that's what you get for following your cock… Ryan thought, reminded all too well of the bad decisions he had made because of love… or hormones. It took Ryan nearly ten minutes to finish the paperwork, and then Taylor marched it over to the receptionist. She and Taylor had a conversation that Ryan couldn't hear, but when Taylor came back she looked seriously dejected.
"Going to be at least two hours."
"What? Why?" Ariel glanced around the seemingly- empty ER waiting room.
"They're backed up, back there. A car accident came in or something."
Ryan sighed, "Let's just go home, I can just tape it up or something. Go to the school's clinic on Monday."
Mason shook his head, "That place is terrible, all they can do is write out prescriptions for penicillin and tell you to use condoms." He paused, "That came out wrong." He glanced at Ariel, who just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever," She said. "I don't care, as long as we study." She looked pointedly at Taylor.
Taylor sighed, "Well, Ryan, up to you."
Ryan felt uncomfortable as three pairs of eyes turned to him. "Well, uh…"
"Maybe the wait won't really be two hours," Taylor suggested, trying to sound chipper. "And I mean, we're here, right?"
"Yeah dude, you mind as well get checked out." Mason shrugged. "I mean, if you to the school clinic, they're just going to end up sending you back here. Mind as well get it over with." Mason was running his hands up and down his arms, clearly freezing.
"You know… Taylor, why don't you take Ariel and Mason back? I mean, we're going to be here awhile… Maybe I can just call you when I think I'm almost done."
"But Ryan…" Taylor protested.
"I'll be fine."
"I'll stay, it's cool." Mason said.
"I say driving back and forth is a waste of time, and we should just start studying."
"Okay," Taylor agreed. The matter was settled. Taylor and Ariel pulled textbooks out of their backpacks and started studying.
"Want a magazine?" Mason stood up.
"Sure," Ryan shrugged. He was ankle was starting to really hurt, it throbbed with every heart beat. He pulled the plastic chair that was next to him, in front of himself and propped his leg up on it. It felt a little better.
"Not a very good selection," Mason said, coming back, "Car and Drive or Sports Illustrated?"
"Whatever man," Ryan said. Mason gave him the Sports Illustrated. Ryan tried to read but his ankle hurt and he couldn't focus on an out-of-date story about some baseball player he had never heard of. Well, it wasn't like an ER would have the latest of copy of Architectural Digest. He wished he had thought to ask Taylor to grab that off his desk when she was getting his wallet. Of course, who would have guessed they'd be here just waiting for hours? He glanced down at his watch. Not even half an hour had passed yet.
"I need to call Kirsten." He suddenly realized, and then noticed that he must have said the words out loud because both Taylor and Mason turned and looked at him.
"Oh yeah, you should do that." Taylor nodded.
Ryan pulled his phone from his pocket then sat there looking at it for a moment, "You know, maybe I'll wait. She'll just worry…"
Taylor shrugged, "Yes, but think how mad she'd be if you didn't tell her?"
"It's not like she'd find out though…" Ryan said.
"But if she did, and you didn't tell her?"
Ryan sighed, "She'd kill me, right?"
"Right." Taylor affirmed, then went back to studying with Ariel who looked impatient with the whole conversation. Ryan noticed Mason was looking at him curiously. He was probably wondering who this Kirsten was.
"My mom…" Ryan said, quickly, feeling awkward as he said it.
"Oh, right." Mason accepted the explanation and went back to reading.
Ryan sighed as he dialed Kirsten's cell phone. She answered on the third ring, "Hi Sweetie, I didn't think I'd hear from you until Saturday." Ryan called home every Saturday. Seth called home every Sunday.
"Uh yeah…" Ryan said. He hated having to tell Kirsten stuff like this. Hated making her worry. "I just… Uhmm…" He stalled, suddenly he didn't want to tell her. "I uh, I got an A on that paper that I wrote about IM Pei," Okay, so he hadn't gotten the grade back on Tuesday.
"Really? That's great! I know how hard you worked on it, and how nervous you were."
"Yeah, well, uhmm, thanks." Kirsten had proof- read it for him. She knew more about that sort of thing than Sandy, even though Sandy was usually the one to whom the boys sent their rough drafts. Ryan tried to smile as he spoke, he didn't want Kirsten to know something was wrong, he decided, and what was there to tell? He was at the ER. They were forced to wait. What could she do? What good would it do to tell her?
"How's everything?" Kirsten asked.
"Things are good, you know, school's busy."
"Good," Just then Ryan heard the sound of a child start crying. "Oh shoot, that's Sophie. I have to go. I'll talk to you on Saturday? Congratulations on the A! You earned it!" And then Kirsten was gone. Ryan hung up the phone.
"You didn't tell her?" Taylor glared at him.
"I decided it wouldn't do anything if I did." He said defensively. Taylor sighed.
"You can be so stubborn."
"Taylor? Can you focus? Puh-lease?" Ariel asked.
"Right…" She shot one more glare at Ryan then turned her attention back to her notebook. She and Ariel were writing out practice outlines on different themes they thought the teacher might bring up in their essay questions.
"Didn't tell your mom?" Mason asked, still looking at the magazine.
"Nah, she might, you know, show up here or something."
Mason snorted, "Nah, not really. My parents both work full time, if I called from the hospital and said I might have broken my ankle they'd say two things: Did you remember your insurance card? And do you need money? Even if I wasn't on the other side of the country…"
Ryan paused, both Sandy and Kirsten had worked full- time but both had almost always had time for him if he needed him. And Dawn. Well, a situation like this with Dawn, she would have had neither an insurance card nor money. "That sucks man," he said.
"Whatever. Could be worse." Yeah, it could be. He debated telling Mason that it hadn't always been like that, but somehow that would seem like he was trying to compete for "Who's life has sucked more?" And well, he usually won that contest. Or lost, depending how you looked at it.
"Westchester's near the city, right?"
"Yeah, right next to actually."
"Did you go to the city a lot?"
"Yeah, in high school, on the weekends. We'd go down there- there was this one bar in St. Marks place, we were usually the only white kids there, but they never carded. When my sister was in high school, the city was a much more, I dunno, relaxed place. Then they had all these crack downs and stuff started to change. I mean the city was already gentrifying, but especially after 9/11… She said stores in Times Square used to advertise that they made ID's like in their windows, but nowadays, it's totally different. Times Square is the last place you wanna go if you're under 21 and want to get drunk. You ever been?"
"Times Square? No."
"Well, I meant to like New York City in general."
"Oh… No, not really. I mean, my brother goes to school in Rhode Island, but I haven't gone out there yet." Ryan didn't want to admit that he had in fact only ever been to two states in his entire life.
"It's a cool place, I mean, I'm sure it's sort of like LA or whatever. Just a lot colder. But you know, one big cultural melting pot. Man, I'm hungry."
"Yeah," Ryan glanced at his watch, "it's dinner time." Not to mention that earlier Mason had lost the entire contents of his stomach to a trash can.
"I'll go to the cafeteria and grab something." Mason offered. "Girls, you want anything?"
"I'll go with you," Ariel popped up.
"Uh, okay. Taylor, Ryan?"
"Diet Coke-" Taylor started to say, Ryan gave her a meaningful glance, "And a bag of chips?"
"Sure, Ryan?"
"Uh, I'm not really hungry…" He felt bad saying it, after he had just given Taylor that look, but truthfully, he wasn't.
Taylor went and stood next to him, "You should eat something- your body needs to heal it needs nutrients."
"I don't think it's healing yet…" Ariel glanced at his ankle, it was twice the size it had been when they had first gotten here, and was starting to turn black and blue.
"Can you get me a coke? And some fries?" Ryan asked.
"Sure," Mason said. Ryan pulled out a ten, figuring that would cover both him and Taylor.
"Ariel feels bad," Taylor said, when the two had walked away.
"Huh?"
"She feels bad she was so mean when he puked. She kind of has a crush on him. She just… hates vomit. Even her own. One time when she was drunk, she puked, and she actually started sobbing hysterically. She practically never drinks anymore. But anyway, she told me she thought Mason was cute. When I told her that he was with you, she agreed to come. I mean, we were supposed to study anyway, but Mason was totally the deciding factor."
"That's funny cuz' Mason asked if she was single…"
"Your ankle looks pretty bad…" Taylor said.
"Yeah," Ryan shrugged, and glanced at it. Okay, it wasn't a pretty sight. It made him slightly nauseous to look at it.
"I'm going to go ask if they can hurry this along." Taylor said.
"Wait…" He grabbed her wrist. "Just stay, with me, okay?"
"Okay…" Taylor sat down next to him. She knew Ryan. The only time he became clingy was when he was hurt or sick. Well, actually, it could go one of two ways. Either he got clingy, or he pushed her away and tried to be super- manly about it. It was the same whether or not it was his body or his emotions.
"Just talk to me, okay?" He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
"About what?"
"I dunno… Anything."
"Uh…" Taylor was at a rare loss for words.
"Have you talked to Summer recently?" He volunteered.
"Oh yeah, she called the other day."
"Tell me how she's doing."
"Okay, well, she's doing good. She's become really involved with this environmental grass roots organization that was founded by a Brown graduate. They're undertaking some initiative to raise money to buy this big plot of land that's for sale. They want to buy it so the developers don't. And the sellers have agreed that if they can raise a certain amount then he'll sell it them, and he'll sell it to them cheaper because if he sells to a non- profit then its partially a tax write- off, but they have to raise the money. So Summer's been trying to organize this phone bank of students, but apparently, no one's that interested in volunteering their time to make cold calls. So she's sort of on her own. And Seth is apparently no help. She said he might be the world's worst fundraiser. I mean, he's kind of a really good sales person, but he talks them into making a donation and then somehow out of it. Like they agree to give him a $100 and then he like makes sure they can really afford to do it and starts going on about all the better places they could or need to put the money. Like their rent and car insurance." Ryan chuckled. "Needless to say, Summer's asked that he not 'help' them out anymore, but of course that offended Seth. Oh, and she suggested maybe that he could like draw caricatures in the park and sell them, and donate the proceeds. Maybe even more people would sign up to get them done if they knew the money was going to a good cause. But then he got all offended, said she thought that his art was trite. So she tried to say portraits, but he was already pouting and refused to hear another word. So then they had angry sex and then they kissed and made up and make up sex." Ryan was smiling, he knew Summer had a tendency to over-share about her and Seth's sex- life. Ryan and Taylor usually just smiled at one another, content to secretly know that theirs was better. Or at least not based off cycles of love and hate. There was just good sex. And better sex.
A/N: Well, what do you all think? Keep going? Basically I was gonna write it as a 1-shot... But I just kept writing and writing... And then I ran out of time...
-CW