Awakenings - SF1 (49 page)

"My boyfriend is here," she said, as though Ryan could have known that.

"Why didn't you have him help you get her into bed?" she snapped.

"I don't want him to see other women naked," Cassie snapped back. "It's inappropriate!"

"Great. So should I sleep with her or with your boyfriend?" she asked wryly. "I'm can assure you
,
he would be safe with me."

"You're hardly his type," she scoffed.

"That's a relief," Ryan muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

"Do what you want," Cassie fumed. "Besides, I think you're just what Jamie's looking for, anyway!" She stormed from the room, slamming the door and startling the half-unconscious woman awake.

"Wha...
what happen'd?" Jamie muttered.

"Nothing," Ryan murmured softly as she sat on the bed and soothed her friend. "Nothing at all. You just lie down and go to sleep. I'll be right here," she promised.

"Are you stayin' with me?" she asked shyly. "I'm a little drunk."

"You're more than a little drunk, Pal," she chuckled. "I'm gonna stay right here to make sure you're okay."

"
'Kay," she said happily. She pushed the covers back and demanded, "Get in."

Ryan shook her head firmly, remembering the earlier flush of feeling she had at the bowling alley. "I'll just curl up on the love seat or the floor."

"Don't you trust me?" Jamie asked with her face contorted into a sad little pout.

"Of course I trust you," Ryan soothed as she sat on the bed and ran her fingers through her friend's pale hair.

"Well?" she demanded, not verbalizing the obvious unasked question.

Ryan just nodded as she kicked off her running shoes and unbuttoned her jeans. She noticed that Jamie was staring at her intently as she did so and she briefly missed the unconscious phase of the evening. She shucked her pants and slid into bed, still in her salmon colored polo shirt and sports bra.

But even through her drunken haze Jamie was still able to make her uncomfortable. "Don't you have to wear that shirt tomorrow?" she asked lazily.

"Um...yeah, I guess I do."

"Why don't you put on one of my tshirts," she offered.

Knowing that the idea was sound Ryan got to her feet and went to the dresser. A small voice floated over to her. "You don't have to keep your bra on, Ryan. I want you to be comfortable."

"I think I'd be more comfortable on that floor, fully clothed," she mumbled to herself, but did as her friend asked. She found a t-shirt that looked like it wouldn't be skin tight and stripped off her polo and then yanked her sports bra over her head, demurely turning her back to Jamie as she did so.

That soft voice again commented, "You have a really nice back."

Great! Just great! Every one of my senses are on full alert, I'm unreasonably attracted to my best friend tonight and she's watching me undress like a guy at a topless bar!

She gingerly approached the bed and slid in to the small space her friend had left for her. "Umm, can I have a little more room?" she asked in a voice that hardly sounded like her own.

"Sure," Jamie mumbled as she scooted even closer and curled up against Ryan's side. She snuggled her head up against her friend's broad shoulder and let out a deep sigh. "This doesn't bother you does it?" she asked softly.

"No, no, it's fine," she squeaked as Jamie's arm curled around her waist.

"Good," came the mumbled response. "I need to be close tonight."

Oh God!
Ryan cried to herself.
Please, please, don't want to be any closer, 'cause I don't think I can resist!

She lay still as a statue for a few minutes until she felt a gentle bump against her side. "Relax," Jamie mumbled. "It's okay, Ryan. I want this."

Want what??
her internal voice screamed.

As though she could hear that voice Jamie replied, "I want to snuggle a little. No big deal between friends, huh?"

A small smile curled the edges of her mouth as Ryan felt her own body begin to relax as she indulgently replied, "No big deal at all, Pal." She brought her right arm around to tenderly rub her friend's back, slowly and smoothly urging her into sleep.

Just before first light Ryan slowly blinked her eyes open and tried to order her thoughts.
Where am I?
she wondered.
And who's this?
Her face was burrowed up against a very soft, very warm back. Her right arm was wrapped around a small waist, and an arm rested upon her own with a soft hand covering hers. Suddenly, all of her senses shot to full alert.
My God! I'm wrapped around Jamie! Shit! Shit! SHIT!!
She fought with her mind to think clearly and help her extricate herself from this predicament.
Okay, okay, just calm down
, she soothed herself.
She wanted to cuddle, remember? This was her idea. It's okay if she wakes up and you're touching.
But her rational mind reminded her,
She wanted to cuddle you, but she didn't ask you to plaster yourself up against her like a wall to wall carpet!
She took a deep breath to speed the flow of oxygen to her brain.
You've got to pull away before she wakes up but you don't want to wake her when you do it
, she instructed her body.
You've got to be smooth and gentle!
She took a few more calming breaths and let her mind wander for just another moment.
I wonder if Tracy will feel this good when we sleep together.
A deep sigh sprang from her chest as she thought,
I wish I could have this with Jamie. I just feel so comfortable with her. Yeah, yeah
, her conscience interjected.
You feel comfortable with Duffy too, and it would be just as morally wrong to sleep with him! Get up, you lazy bum, and stop trying to cop a feel from your best STRAIGHT friend

She began to remove her arm as slowly as possible, but she was pulling Jamie's hand right along with it. Going for another tactic she moved back to her original position and lifted her head until it was hovering over Jamie's shoulder. She pursed her lips and blew a forceful stream of air right onto the mussed locks of hair trailing over her forehead. Jamie's face scrunched up into an adorable frown and finally her right hand lifted to brush against her hair, freeing Ryan's arm in the process. A satisfied smile came over her face as she checked her watch alarm and reset it for 7.
No clothes to run in anyway
, she thought to herself as she rolled over onto her side, back to back with her deeply sleeping friend.

"You awake?" a soft voice tickled her ear.

"I am now," Ryan's sleep roughened voice replied. She turned onto her back and gazed up at the surprisingly bright green eyes that faced her. "You look pretty peppy for a drunkard," she teased.

"Oh God, was I really bad?" her blushing friend choked out.

"No, not at all, but Cassie and I had to undress you."

"Cassie? Did you need help?"

"No, but she thought I would molest you so she wanted to supervise," she informed her with a tight smile that could double as a grimace.

Jamie flopped onto her back and draped her forearm over her eyes. "I've got to get rid of her," she grumbled. "I cannot have her insulting my friends like that. It's just not acceptable."

"It's okay, Jamie. She generally doesn't bother me and now that I know you don't care how I respond I'm perfectly capable of defending myself."

"You have my permission to deck her," she grumbled as she rolled over and got to her feet.

"How do you feel?" Ryan ventured.

"Fine," she replied easily. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Don't you have a hangover?"

"Unh uh," she replied with a shake of her head. "I don't think I ever have."

"Do you do this often?" Ryan asked suspiciously.

"Of course not! I must just have a strong constitution."

Ryan's gentle smile beamed back at her from across the bed. "That's not how I would describe you," she admitted. "I feel like I'm carrying you up those stairs every third day!"

Jamie sat down on the bed and gently trailed the tips of her fingers down Ryan's arm, starting at her shoulder and continuing on to her fingertips. "Lucky for me that my best friend is stronger than Atlas, huh?"

"You're always unconscious," Ryan reminded her. "You don't hear me gasping for breath by the third stair."

"Not a chance, Buffy," she admonished her with a playful tweak of her nose. "You've got muscles for days."

"I've also got an 8 o'clock class that I can't be late for," Ryan reminded her. "Let's get shakin'."

"Hey," Ryan said as she responded to Jamie's page on the following Tuesday. "What's up?"

"My father offered me 4 tickets to the Warriors tonight. Wanna go and bring a couple of brothers?"

"Ooo, I'd love to," she said quickly. "But I've got a date."

"That's okay," Jamie said, a little disappointed.

"I could ask Tracy to go too if it's important to you," Ryan offered.

But the thought of sharing Ryan's attention made the evening seem much less attractive. "No, she doesn't look like the basketball kind of girl," Jamie admitted.

"No, she kinda doesn't, does she?" Ryan agreed. "Tennis, maybe, or even the LPGA, but probably not basketball."

"That's okay. Maybe I'll call Conor and see if he'd like all 4."

"He'd love to have you go too, Jamie," she reminded her. "He thinks you're fine."

"Yeah," she laughed. "I think he thinks I'm too fine," she admitted with a little chuckle. "I'm having a hard enough time with Jack. Going to a game with Conor probably isn't in my best interests."

"Well, let me give you his pager. I'm sure he'd be happy to take the tickets if you don't want to use them."

"Okay," she said when Ryan had related the number. She knew she should hang up, but she just didn't want to. "Where are you going tonight?"

"Tracy's having me over for dinner," she replied with a laugh. "But I have a feeling that someone else is doing the cooking. She's not very domestic."

"Where does she live?" Jamie asked, just trying to prolong the contact.

"The Marina. She has a nice little apartment...and no roommates," she added with a deep chuckle.

"The perfect woman," Jamie laughed gently, trying to get the image of Ryan and Tracy locked in a passionate embrace out of her mind.

"Yeah, so far so good," she conceded. "It's still too early to tell, but she's pretty special."

"She'd better be, Buddy. You deserve the best."

"Thanks, Jamie. I've got to run, but thanks again for the offer. Ask me again, okay?"

"Count on it," she promised.

On Thursday afternoon Jamie went to the gym to get in a little cardio. Ryan was just finishing up her last client of the day. "Hey," she said by way of greeting when she spotted Jamie on the stairclimber.

"What's up?"

"Not much. I just finished for the day."

"Wanna hang around for a few? I could make you dinner?"

"Oh, no can do. I'm going to the opera," she said as she rolled her eyes rather dramatically.

"The opera? I didn't figure you for the type."

"I'm not, but apparently Tracy is. The things we do for love," she said with a shudder as she considered how long the evening would probably be. "I'd rather be eating your delicious food, but I've got to make some sacrifices I suppose."

"Well, have fun," Jamie said in a much lighter tone than she truly felt.

"You okay?" Ryan asked as she came closer and gave her a penetrating gaze.

"Fine! Just trying to keep up a conversation when I'm laboring on this machine," she said, slightly out of breath.

"Okay, take it easy, Buddy," Ryan said as she gave her a sweet smile and took off for her date.

"I liked her better when she was a slut," Jamie grumbled to no one in particular.

She's turned you down twice, Jamie. Twice in a week. Of all the times you've seen her, she has refused you just twice. Don't be such a baby. She has a girlfriend now. She can't be sitting by the phone just waiting for your call. Tracy is everything that you say you want for her. She's smart, she's sweet, and she's very funny. Ryan seems awfully cute with her. Do you want her to be happy or not?

At least Tracy is going home to visit her parents for a couple of weeks during winter break,
she thought selfishly.
That's nice, Jamie, very generous of you. Do you think Ryan would wish the same for you? She has been nothing if not supportive of your relationship. You have to do the same for her.
She knew that her conscience was correct but she really did not want to share Ryan with another woman. But that honest reaction made her feel quite ashamed of herself.
Do you really want Ryan to be fulfilled or do you just want her to be available to you when you call? You can't have it both ways, Jamie. Either be her friend or admit that you're just using her to satisfy your own needs!

After class on Friday Ryan popped over and asked, "What's the earliest you're free today?"

"Ahh, I'm free after 2, why?"

"Let's have some fun before you have to go down to Palo Alto," she suggested with bright eyes. "I thought we could take our workout outdoors for a change of pace."

"Okay," Jamie said cautiously. "Where should we go?"

"Let's meet at the football stadium at 2:15. But first let's get some juice. I've gotta tell you all about this opera thing!"

At 2:15 sharp Ryan climbed out of the small set of bleachers set up next to the track and jogged over to meet her friend. "Been waiting long?" Jamie asked as she trotted over to meet her halfway.

"Nope. Just got here," she said happily. She carried a small nylon gym bag which Jamie eyed suspiciously.

"We're gonna duplicate our workout with the things you have in that little bag?" she asked as she pointed at the kelly green bag that read, 'Lady Dons'. "And what in the heck is a Lady Don?"

"Oh," Ryan said rather absently, "That's my old school, U.S.F. And to answer your question, yes we can duplicate your workout with even less than I have in here. I'm gonna work out too, and I bet I use less of this stuff than you do," she said, in a challenging tone.

"Okay, Ms. Magic, let's see what you've got."

"Well first, let's just do some warm-ups. Since it's cool out we need to make sure we get loose before we try anything strenuous." She walked over to the grass infield and sat down on the closely cropped grass. "Let's do some hamstring stretches and loosen up our adductors and abductors." Jamie joined her and they spent a few minutes getting their muscles warm. When they were warmed up to Ryan's satisfaction she suggested, "Let's jog a little to get our blood moving." The quarter mile track was completely deserted on this cool but sunny afternoon since it was too early in the season for the track or field athletes to be working outdoors. They moved together briskly down the brick red pebbled rubberized surface, increasing their pace slightly after the first quarter mile. 4 loops of the track had them sufficiently warm, but Jamie was already a little winded.

"Wow," she panted. "I've never run on a real track before. You move so easily on that surface!"

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "This surface is pretty new. They're always coming up with something better in the lab. When you put on a pair of track spikes you can really fly on this."

"Have you run track?"

"Yeah, I fooled around with it in high school," she admitted. "I liked it pretty well but team sports have always held my interest better."

"I bet you were fast," Jamie said appraisingly as she looked at her friend's lean, lithe form.

"Good guess," Ryan said with a raised eyebrow as she dashed back to the track for another very quick lap. "I was pretty quick," she said with a proud grin.

"Show
-
off," Jamie teased as she slapped her on the stomach.

"That wasn't showing off," Ryan insisted. "But if you want to see me in action I'll challenge you to a little race." Her waggling eyebrows attested to her confidence in her abilities. Jamie knew that no matter how the race was structured she would lose, but she was terribly interested to see her friend perform.

"Okay, how am I going to be humiliated?" she groused.

"You're not going to be humiliated," she promised. "I'll give you a very, very big advantage." Ryan walked over to her bag and extracted a well worn pair of spikes. She sat down on the infield and quickly laced them up, then jumped up and down a few times to settle them on her feet.

"You've got the right shoes!" she complained.

"Yeah, but I need them," Ryan assured her. "I'll probably break my neck as it is, Jamie. Don't make it harder for me."

"Break your neck?" she asked, truly confused.

"Yeah," Ryan explained. "You're going to run the track but I'm going to do the hurdles," she said as she pointed at the low hurdles set up around the track.

"When was the last time you did this?" Jamie asked with trepidation.

"Umm, 7 years ago?"

"Are you nuts?" she nearly screamed. "You'd better practice or something before we do this for real!"

"Nah, I'll be fine," Ryan assured her. "It's really not that hard. Besides, I'm a couple of inches taller than I was the last time I did this. My crotch is even higher off the ground." She said this with that terribly adorable crooked grin that Jamie had discovered that she was addicted to and powerless over.

"Do you have your health insurance card on you?" she asked as they walked over to the starting line.

"Not to worry, Pal," Ryan assured her once again. "I've fallen dozens of times and lived to tell the tale." They stood together on the bright track; Jamie shooting worried glances at her friend. "They've got the hurdles set up for the 440," Ryan informed her. "So let's run a 440 meter sprint. You've got to run on the outside here," she pointed at the lane next to the hurdles." She got down in a modified sprinters crouch and asked, "Ready?"

"I guess so," Jamie replied, truly reluctant to encourage her daredevil friend.

"You call the start."

"Um...ready...set...go!" And they were off, flying down the track as fast as their legs would take them. Jamie was concentrating so hard on her own race that she didn't even pay attention to Ryan. She heard several of the hurdles fall to the ground and she shot a quick glance over when the first hit, but Ryan seemed fine, so she focused again and gave it her all. She dug into the track for any extra speed she could get but she saw Ryan's dark blue clad body streak by her about 5 meters from the finish line.

"Excellent!" Ryan's voice rang out as she continued on about another 25 meters to cool down.

"But I didn't get to see anything!" Jamie complained. "Show me how you do that!"

Ryan bent over and placed her hands on her knees and sucked in a few deep breaths. "Boy, I really had to haul ass to take you," she gasped. "You're pretty quick yourself, you little sand bagger!"

"Yeah, I'm sure I was a real threat," she laughed, secretly proud that she had at least made Ryan go all out.

After they had gotten their wind back Ryan stripped out of her sweats, revealing a pair of shiny electric blue Lycra leggings and a skin tight white nylon tank top. "If I'm gonna do that again I need to cool down," she admitted.

Walking back to the start she explained, "Hurdles are more about timing than anything else. It's really not that hard to stick one leg out and tuck the other one up. But you have to practice a lot to be able to always start with the same foot and keep your stride length the same. You try to take the same number of steps between each hurdle and that's impossible to do if you vary your stride too much."

"That makes sense," Jamie said slowly. "I didn't realize that timing would be so important. It looks like the hard part is getting that leg up."

"Well, it takes a while to build up your legs when you're a kid. That's actually how I got my big thighs," she said as she slapped her powerful quads. "You've got to have strong muscles to be able to sprint and pop that leg out."

"Show me how you do it," Jamie urged.

"Okay," Ryan said as she got into position. "I start on my left leg. I take 12 steps between each hurdle, which is kind of a lot. I used to use 10 steps but I pulled my hamstrings a lot. So I shortened up my stride and adopted the 12 step routine. It didn't slow me down much but it sure helped with the injuries." She leaned over and squatted down a bit before she took off, more slowly this time so she could explain what she was doing.

She counted her steps aloud, and when she reached 11 she called out, "Watch!" as her left leg shot out straight in front of her and her right leg tucked up just like a gazelle's. She leaned in to the hurdle a little bit as she went over, almost touching her thigh with her chest. Rather than go on to the next she made a little half circle and came back to stand by Jamie. "Get it?"

"Yeah," she said thoughtfully. "When my father took me to Africa we saw gazelles in the wild. I swear that their back legs look just like yours," she said with wonder.

"I'm sure they're a little more graceful," she said modestly, "But thanks for the compliment."

"Will you do the whole thing for me again?" she asked hopefully. "I'd really like to see you."

"Sure," Ryan agreed. "But you might have to carry me home." She trotted back over and adopted her most focused gaze. Jamie could almost see the world fading away from her friend's deep blue eyes. Her face became a mask of concentration and after a few seconds she nodded briefly and took off. Now that she knew the drill Jamie counted with her and smiled to herself as she watched her friend make exactly 12 strides between each hurdle, always starting with her left foot and always sticking that same leg out to take the hurdle. She noticed that this time Ryan knocked down every single hurdle, and she thought,
She must be a little rusty. Not that she shouldn't be after 7 years!"

When Ryan came trotting back, winded but very happy looking Jamie enthusiastically complimented her. "You were great!" she enthused.

"Yeah, it felt pretty smooth," she admitted with a satisfied grin. "And I did a great job on the hurdles if I do say so myself."

"But...you knocked them over," Jamie offered hesitantly.

"I know," the crooked grin replied. "I tried to, Silly," she laughed. "The lower you go the less time you waste. You try to be so low that your trailing foot just ticks the hurdle enough to knock it down, but not so low that you catch your foot."

"Well, then you did even better than I thought!" she laughed as she wrapped her arm around Ryan and gave her a squeeze. "Get that sweatshirt back on, young lady," she ordered. "You're drenched!"

After she had dried off and put her regular shoes back on Ryan produced several lengths of rubber tubing in various colors. The attached handles made them look like sort of a jump rope. "What are those?" Jamie asked as she examined one length.

"These are your weights," Ryan said with one wiggling eyebrow.

"These little things?" Jamie scoffed. "How can they duplicate what we do at the gym?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," she assured her. "I believe this is leg day?" she inquired.

"Yep."

"Okay. On your back," she ordered as she produced a very thin foam pad for Jamie to lie on. Once she was down Ryan showed her how to use the bands to provide resistance to her quads. She had her using the strongest band and after 10 reps of the exercise her legs dropped to the ground and she moaned, "Enough!"

"Not so easy, is it?" Ryan laughed. "I'll knock you down one level for your next set."

"You'd better if you want me to do more than 4 reps! That was killer!"

"Well, it isn't just the tension in the band. When you use these you don't have the machine guiding you at all. Every bit of force and energy has to come solely from you and that takes a lot more effort."

"I'll say," she agreed as she started her next set with the lighter tubing.

The next exercise called for her to tie one of the ends around each ankle and slowly pull one leg away while balancing on one foot. This motion also had her calling for mercy after only 9 reps. "Geez!" she complained. "Am I that weak?"

"Not at all," Ryan assured her. "This is much harder than what you're used to. This makes you use your legs to hold your balance at the same time and that makes it very tough. But it's very important that your balance be very good, especially for a long bike ride. I work on my balance all the time," she conceded.

"With these?" Jamie asked.

"Sometimes, but I've got lots of things I do to keep myself entertained."

"Show me some of them if you can," she urged.

"Well," she said digging into her bag. "I jump rope sometimes. That helps a lot." She produced a professional quality jump rope with wooden handles and little ball bearings in them to allow the rope to turn smoothly. She began to slowly jump rope, increasing her speed gradually until the rope was just a slight blur. When she was at full speed she lifted one leg slightly and jumped on one foot alone. "I try to jump on each leg for 10 minutes or so," she advised as she proceeded to do just that while Jamie did another set of her own exercises.