X-X-X-X-X ::: Chapter 4: She's Dangerous - But Worth It
"I still can't believe you talked me into this." Joe said, standing in the middle of the racquetball court.
"'Talked you into this'? Who's the one wearing a sweatband with matching wrist-sweatbands?" Liv said, laughing.
"I told you, they were on sale." Joe said.
"Uh huh." she replied. "Let's just play, yea?"
"Ok, but I'm warning you, I'm probably going to be really amazingly good." Joe said. Liv rolled her eyes, but smiled and laughed. It was supposed to be an idle Saturday afternoon spent wandering about, but Liv had mentioned working out and Joe made a subtle suggestion that he was probably stronger than her...and that had somehow led to a racquetball challenge.
"You're going down." Liv said, serving the ball lightly. After all, they had to warm up a little first. Joe, however, hit the thing as hard as he could. Liv chased after the ball, opting not to warm up as well as the slammed the ball against the wall. Joe had to admit, this was pretty intense - a little more intense than tennis with Kevin. Perhaps cause it was faster game.
"That's right! That's what I thought!" Joe said later as he scored another point.
"You're only winning by two." Liv pointed out.
"Shoot, girl, but that's all I need to win!" he replied, twirling his racquet. Liv smiled, shaking her head, and prepared herself to receive his serve. The game went on for a while, so long that Liv's ponytail was falling out with all the movement and Joe's hair was starting to recurl because of his sweat.
"Alright, this is your game point," Liv said. "Don't mess up."
Joe looked back and scrunched his face up, sticking his tongue out. "Don't worry, I won't." he said, and served the ball. It was a long rally, but Joe was sure that he would get her with this hit as he swung as hard as he could, making perfect contact. The ball flew, hitting the front wall and bouncing of hard, taking one skip, and bouncing off the back wall. And strait into Liv's backside. They both stood, a little shocked, as the ball bounced off and rolled into the corner. Liv's jaw fell as she stared at Joe, wide eyed. Joe, however, suddenly burst into laughter.
"You hit my bum!" Liv cried, but she was laughing too.
"You should've...seen your...face..." Joe said, his speech interrupted by laughter, which he was having trouble stopping. He collapsed against the wall of the court, still laughing.
"Now you're laughing at me!"
"Do you want me to rub it for you?" Joe asked, still laughing unceasingly. He didn't wait for a response, re-collapsing against the wall.
"Oh yea? Let's see how you like it." Liv said, taking her racquet and hitting Joe's backside with it. His laughter stopped as he turned to stare. The next four words sealed his fate.
"Oh no you di-in't." he said, adding a snap, getting close to her face.
"Maybe I did." she replied, staring back with her eyebrows raised. Joe smirked (quite evilly), and swung his own racquet around to hit her again. The actual racquetball game was soon forgotten as an all out brawl erupted on the court. Joe had the advantage of having longer arms, but Liv was just a little bit quicker. They chased each other around the small room that made the court, unaware of the racket (pardon the pun) that they were making. At one point, Joe fell down, and laid down strait on the floor, on his back.
"Haha!" he taunted. "You can't get me now!"
"You wanna try that?" Liv said, grabbing him under his knees and flipping him over. He yelled, wide eyed and open mouthed, as he was turned onto his stomach and assaulted with a racquetball racquet. All of the sudden, someone knocked on the glass door of the court. They both stopped (Liv her hitting, Joe his screaming) and turned to the door quickly as a worker at the gym opened the door.
"If you two are finished using the court for racquetball," he stated as if he was containing his anger, "it would be nice if you could leave so that others who would like to play can get their time in."
"Oh, right, sorry." Liv said, grabbing their stuff as Joe struggled to get up from the floor.
"We'll just be leaving now." he said, following Liv as she hurried out of the room, both of them having to contain laughter at the unusually stern look the man was giving them. They collapsed on a bench outside the weight room, laughing.
"Ah, well that was good cardio." Joe said as the laughter slowed.
"Definitely." Liv muttered sarcastically. "Remind me never to play racquetball with you again. I think you left marks."
"Aw, poor little baby." he said in a baby voice. "You're just sour cause I won."
"You didn't win - you cheated." she replied, smacking the side of his leg.
"Pssshh, how did I cheat?" he asked.
"You assaulted the other player, namely, me!" Liv said as if it were obvious.
"I did not assault you - you just couldn't get out of the way fast enough!" Joe countered, laughing. Liv waved it off.
"Whatever. You assaulted me."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"This argument is going no where." she said.
"That's true." he agreed.
"I think we should just continue our challenge - I mean, workout." she stated.
"I concurr."
The pair then got up from the bench, entering the relatively empty weight room. It all started out innocent enough - Joe lifted his weights and Liv lifted hers, but it soon turned into a friendly (and flirty) competition as to who could lift more weight.
"Psh, your tiny little weights cannot handle mine." Joe said, impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegger as Liv did bicep curls with a 10 pound weight.
"Well I'm trying to tone, not bulk up, Governator." Liv replied, lifting her weights with measured precision.
"You got that? YES!" Joe said, thoroughly excited. Liv perked an eyebrow. "Sorry, Nick and Kevin always insist that my Schwarzenegger impression sounds like a Middle-Eastern hillbilly. But you get me!"
Liv started laughing. "I got your back, homie." she said, giving him another heartmelting smile. They continued the light workout without fault...until it came time to bench press.
"You only use two ten-pounds each?" Joe asked incredulously. Liv stuck out her tongue.
"We've been through this - no bulkage, remember?"
"Righto, sorry." Joe replied, returning to his spotting. When his turn came, he loaded on the weights - probably as much as he weighed.
"Joe, I'm not sure about this..." Liv said, eyeing the bar warily. Joe waved her off.
"I'll be fine - I'm strong like an ox." he reassured her. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, but took her post spotting him anyway. He lifted the bar fine, went down fine...then, he got stuck.
"Alright, back up Joe." Liv said, nodding in encouragement.
"Uh oh." was all Joe said before the bar was dropped the remaining couple inches onto his chest. The wind was knocked out of him, and Liv immediately began trying to pull the bar back up.
"I told you! Goodness, Joe..." she said, trying to lift it off of him. His face began turning red, and the bar suddenly rolled dangerously close to his neck. "JOE, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T DIE! IF YOU DIE, I'LL KILL YOU!" Liv exclaimed, finally getting enough of her body under the bar in order to be able to lift it off of Joe's esophagus and back onto the support bars. She collapsed on the ground next to the bench as Joe regulated his breathing.
"You can laugh, you know." he gasped, noticing that she was shaking trying to hold in her laughter.
"I'm not laughing." she said, though she clearly was.
"Seriously, go ahead." Joe insisted. "If I hadn't fractured my lungs, I'd be laughing my head off right now." he said. Liv took it as her cue and busted out laughing, clutching her stomach. A couple minutes later, she was still going. "Alright, that's enough." Joe said pointedly.
"Ah hah...oh. Ok, I'm good now." she said, finally calming after a moment. "Are you ok?"
"Other than the fractured lungs? Good to go." Joe said, turning his head to look at her. She stood on her knees next to the bench, resting her head on her hand.
"Poor muffin. Where does it hurt?" she asked, her blue eyes suddenly sparkling a little more than usual.
"Well, right here." Joe said, pointing to his sternum. He watched as Liv silently moved and gently pressed her lips to the spot he had pointed at.
"Anywhere else?" she asked.
"Right here, too." he said, touching his collarbone. Liv smiled, scooting up and kissing the soft skin just below the collarbone.
"Any more?" she asked again, smiling by now.
"Right here, a little bit." he replied, touching his lips. Liv smirked, scooting a little more so she could softly place her lips on his. He pushed himself up onto one elbow, placing his free hand on her cheek and returning the kiss. After a few moments, she pulled away.
"Is that better?" she asked breathily.
"Eh, could use a little more." Joe replied, pulling her face back to his. Her hands moved into his now curly hair, submitting herself to more kissing. However, they were soon interrupted by an annoying "Hem, hem". They broke apart abruptly, turning to see...the same worker that had kicked them out of the racquetball courts, standing there with his arms folded.
"You two again, I see." he said snarkily.
"Seriously, Dolores? (1)" Joe said.
"You've got a really awful sense of timing." Liv bluntly told the worker.
"If you two are finished with the...weights-" he started.
"Yea, we get it. Leave." Joe said, getting up from the bench.
"Peace out." Liv said as they powerwalked out of the weight room.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that guy was creeping on us." Joe said. Liv laughed.
"I'm going to have to agree with you - he couldn't have gotten us both times by accident." she agreed as they walked towards the locker rooms. "Where do you want to go eat?"
"It's always about food with you." Joe said with a smile on his face.
"What? I've got a fast metabolism." Liv said, shrugging.
"Hopefully, considering you eat like a twelve year old boy." Joe said, his smile getting wider.
"Well, would you rather me not eat?" she said, raising her eyebrows.
"Of course not."
"That's what I thought." she said. "So, food?"
"Let's go see a movie." Joe said suddenly. Liv stopped, staring with her brow furrowed.
"Food..." she said, holding up one hand. "...to movies?" she finished, holding up the other hand. She was trying to figure out how Joe could get "movie" from "food."
"We could eat at the movies!" he insisted.
"Why the sudden interest in the movies?" Liv asked.
"I don't know...I feel like seeing a movie or something. Random urge." Joe said, shrugging.
"Well, ok." Liv said, shrugging as well. "What shall we see?"
"Eh, I hadn't quite gotten that far yet." he said, adopting a thoughtful look on his face. "I guess we can just see what's playing when we get there, eh?"
"Sounds good to me." she said, moving towards the locker room entrance. They showered (separately), but Joe was sitting outside the two locker rooms for quite a while until Liv finally emerged, clean and dressed in jeans and a tshirt.
"What took you so long?" he asked. "I feel like I've been waiting for like, twelve years."
"Shoot, do you know how long it takes to blow dry this?" Liv said pointedly, holding up a chunk of long, blonde hair.
"Apparently twelve years." Joe said, getting up and walking out next to her.
"But it's worth it, because now it smells good and is sinfully soft." she said, flinging her hair into his face. "See?"
Joe did see - her hair did smell really good, and it was extremely soft. "I suppose it was worth it, then." he said as they climbed into the car.
"I'm glad you decided it's ok." Liv said sarcastically, laughing. Joe suddenly spazzed. "What's wrong with you?" she asked him.
"Oh, I just thought of something - I need to call Kevin to see if he can pick me up." Joe explained.
"I can take you home, you know that." she said, suddenly feeling a little self conscious. Did he not want to ride with her anymore?
"Oh, I know." Joe said quickly. "But you always take me home...and almost every where else we go. Plus, Kevin and I are planning this really elaborate prank on Nick, so we need to go and get the sufficient supplies."
"I see." Liv said, nodding. "What are you doing to poor Nick?"
"That, my dear, is a secret." Joe said solemnly. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you, and that would suck."
Liv laughed. "You know, I bet Kevin would tell me if I asked him." she said, whipping out her cell phone.
Joe shook his head. "Nope, Kevin is very hard core with all the secrets, he's the one - hey, what are you doing?"
"Calling Kevin." she explained as if it were obvious.
"How do you have his cell phone number?" Joe asked, not believing her.
"I got it from him once, so that I could call him when you don't answer and find out where you are." Liv explained. "I've only had to do it once - hey Kevin!"
"I don't believe this..." Joe said, holding the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
"Oh, I was just curious what you and Joe were doing to poor Nicholas tonight." she asked. Joe shook his head again.
"He's not going to tell you..." he said as Kevin answered her.
"What do you mean you 'can't tell me'? Ugh, you both better watch your backs, I'm going to get you both..." she said menacingly. Joe could hear Kevin laugh. "Oh," Liv continued. "Joe needed to talk to you - he's right here." she handed the phone over to Joe.
"Yo K-bro, what's the delio?" Joe said.
"Joe, we've been through this..." Kevin said tiredly.
"What it do. Hey listen, Liv and I are going to see a movie, you think you can pick me up afterwards?"
"For sure. Just text me what time and where, okay?" Kevin answered.
"Will do, home skillet." Joe responded.
"Alright, peace out, brother." Kevin said, making fun of Joe a little bit.
"Word to your mother." Joe responded, hanging up before Kevin could once again say anything about how they had the same mother (supposedly). "Alright, we're good to go."
"Awesome, cause we're here." Liv replied, pulling into a parking spot. Before long, they were standing in front of the listings, trying to decide what to go see.
"Alvin and the Chipmunks?" Joe threw out.
"Nah, I've seen it, and it's not cute enough to see twice." Liv said. "National Treasure?"
"Saw it with the brothers last week." Joe said. "One Missed Call?"
"Which one's that one?" she asked, looking to him. "I haven't heard of it."
"Really?" Joe asked, already formulating a plan in his mind. "It's about these people who get a voicemail, and it's their death. Then they hear it, and they die." he explained.
"Sounds scary." Liv said, biting her lip. "I don't really do well with scary movies."
"It's not that bad, Nick saw it with Miley a few days ago." he insisted. Nick had also mentioned that Miley was practically on top of him the whole time because it was pretty frightening.
"If you say so..." she said reluctantly. "If I can't sleep tonight, I'm blaming you."
"Sounds like a fair deal." he said, walking up to buy the tickets. They did the usual movie thing - got food, drinks, seats, etc, right before the movie started. As soon as the movie began, Joe realized that his plan was so going to work. The first scary moment that happened, Liv grabbed onto his hand, only letting go a few minutes after the moment had past. By the time things really got rolling, Liv was hiding her face in Joe's shoulder, and the only thing Joe could think was that hopefully she couldn't hear his heart beating, because the movie was freaking him out as well. But he wouldn't show it - he was a man, after all, and men simply do not show that they are afraid of measley things like movies! Even if there was a psycho killer who called people and then KILLED THEM!
"That was the worst movie I've ever seen. Ever." Liv said as they walked out of the theatre - but she was laughing. "That was not a good idea."
"You didn't even see half of it! You were hiding." Joe responded, laughing with her.
"Well I wouldn't have to hide if we had picked a safer movie! Goodness, now I'm going to freak out every time my phone rings..." she continued, linking her arm with his.
"Surely you won't freak out every time..." Joe said, holding the door open for her as they exited the cinemaplex.
"I will. So now I'm afraid I won't be taking your calls. Sorry." she said in a way that Joe knew she was kidding.
"I suppose I'll just have to show up at your house randomly every time I want to talk to you then." Joe said. He then spotted Kevin's car a couple rows in. "Ah, there's the darling brother now." he said, tapping on the window. Kevin looked, then rolled down the window.
"Finally." he said. "I thought you two had gotten lost."
"Not this time." Joe responded, leaning down to rest his elbows on the open window.
"Hi Kevin!" Liv said, pushing Joe over so that she could rester her elbows on the window instead.
"How's it going, Olivia?" Kevin asked as the two got in a push war for the spot on the window.
"Fabulous! So, about this prank you two are pulling on Nick..." she said, finally hip-checking Joe so hard that he collapsed on the asphalt.
"I still can't tell you. I'm sorry." Kevin replied solemnly.
"Can't I even get a hint?" Liv said. "I would hate to have to get you two back for not including me on this."
"Girl, please." Joe said from where he was still on the ground. "Nothing you think you can do can scare us."
"Alright, fine." Liv said, standing up and holding up her hands in submission. "I give up. The only thing left to say is...watch yourselves."
"We'll be careful." Kevin said sarcastically. "Joe, you ready yet?"
"Yea, let me just walk Liv to her car real quick." Joe said, popping up. "Be right back."
"Bye Kevin," Liv said, waving to him. He gave a wave and a smile before looking at Joe with a look that clearly said "hurry up."
"See? Told you he wouldn't tell you." Joe said with a smirk. Liv sighed.
"Yep, I guess I should've believed you." she said, pretending to be sorrowful about it.
"Well hey, maybe next time." Joe responded, tipping her chin up. She gave a cheesy smile.
"Sounds great." she said, pulling her keys out of her bag as they came up on her car. She fiddled with them idly as they stood next to the Huge Honkin' 4Runner. "Today was fun - even though the movie was dreadful." she said, giving him a shy smile.
Joe swallowed, suddenly nervous. "Hey, Olivia?"
She looked at him expectantly. "Yea?"
"I was wondering...thinking...um..." he said, his nerves showing. "Are we dating? I mean, can we be dating? I mean, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked, the words tumbling out with his nervousness. Liv smiled softly at him.
"I'd really like that." she said. After another brief kiss, she climbed into her car, and he practically floated back to Kevin.
"This may be the most magical night of my life." Joe said, smiling like a maniac.
Kevin oddly patted his shoulder. "You do realize this means you can't make fun of Nick anymore, right?"
"That's ok." he said, still adopting a dreamy look on his face.
"Ok, let's snap out of it for a moment," Kevin said bluntly. "we've got a job to do, remember?"
"Oh, right." Joe said, shaking his head and blinking rapidly. "Let's roll this chuck wagon."
X-X-X-X-X
(1) - in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter," there is a character called Dolores Umbridge who interrupts everyone, including Dumbledore, with an annoying "hem, hem".
wow, this one was a bit tough to write. hope you all enjoyed it! leave love or ideas of anything you want to see! peace out!