Chapter 146: Suspicions

The next Friday night, Sophie and Jessie were sitting on the couch.

"Warren's already asleep?" Jessie asked.

"Yeah," Sophie sighed. "Rehab and school is really wearing him out, he's so tired all the time. Plus he's cranky and depressed. He hides it well, for our sake, but I know him too well. The poor guy's exhausted and miserable."

"Which means, I take it, that Sophie's not getting any."

"Sophie's not getting any at all," Sophie started. "And, you've been spending a lot of time in your own bed."

"Yeah," Jessie agreed, "and I think it's going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. I hope you don't mind, and I'm sorry, since you're obviously horny--but I'd feel funny sleeping with you guys now."

"What happened?" Sophie asked.

"Well, Ryan and I slept together for the first time a week ago tonight. Wasn't the last time, either. In fact, if he were around, I wouldn't be sitting here chatting with you."

Sophie laughed. "Where is he?"

"Moscow."

"Oh, yeah--Cup of Russia. I've kind of blanked on the whole Grand Prix schedule since we weren't able to be in it this year. So," she grinned, "how was it?"

"Oh my God, Sophie," Jessie grinned. "Look, I knew I was falling for him before we went to bed. Now, afterwards? Even more so. He's everything I could want--in a boyfriend, and in a lover."

"I'm glad, Jess, really," Sophie smiled. "I'll admit it, I'm going to miss you, but I'm happy for you."

"Well, the thing with Ryan is still kind of new, so I don't want to jeapordize it--but, as for you and I, I'll never say never. I'm not quite sure how open-minded Ryan would be--especially if it includes Warren--but he didn't have any problem with it before we went to bed with one another."

"Jess, it's OK. Really. Ryan's your important thing right now. Warren and I will always love you, no matter what, and no matter where you sleep."

"I know."

"Besides, you have a bigger problem, you know."

"Yeah. Courtney."

"Does she know?"

"I don't believe so. I think Ryan's trying to keep it a secret from her for as long as he can. Which, I'll admit, makes me uncomfortable, but I understand his reasons."

"I hope it doesn't blow up in his face," Sophie said.

Laurel was insecure, and she knew it. She couldn't help it.

She still couldn't quite believe she had snared someone like Ryan Kelleher--and, because she didn't quite believe it, she didn't believe in it. Laurel was a beautiful girl, but you couldn't convince her of that--since she'd been invisible to guys until she met Ryan. That was because of her intimidating brains, but she didn't always quite see it that way. Ryan being her first serious boyfriend, she didn't have any experience to draw on. She kept seeing Ryan as keeping her around until he found something better.

This was especially true now that Ryan had become Georgia Tech's starting point guard, and was playing well. The girls flocked to him.

And Laurel didn't feel she could measure up. She didn't even think she treated him especially well, though she didn't do it on purpose. She was just very committed to her schoolwork--and she sometimes blew him off because of it.

On this Saturday night, he had pulled her away from the books long enough to go to a party. And she was not having a good time. Ryan was being bombarded. She had brought her friend Lisa, so she's have someone to talk to, but that wasn't enough. Ryan was trying, but, if it wasn't the guys on the team pulling him aside to talk basketball, it was the horde of girls accosting him as he tried to make his way back to Laurel.

One was particularly persistant. To make matters worse, she was everything Laurel wasn't--a bubble-headed bleach blonde with enormous tits and a waspish waist who was slobbering all over Ryan. Besides her self-percieved physical shortcomings, Laurel was well aware that she didn't slobber. She loved Ryan with all her heart, but she just wasn't the fawning type. She was too self-contained for that.

But this bimbo was certainly the fawning type, and, to Laurel's horror, it seemed to be working. She saw Ryan--her boyfriend!--put her arm around this girl and lead her off from the main party, towards a room in the back! With her here? She couldn't believe it! She knew this day was coming, but with her sitting there? She wanted to cry.

Lisa, her friend, saw it all. "What is he doing?"

"Replacing me, isn't that obvious?"

"Nothing's obvious, you can't make assumptions," Lisa said. "Go follow them."

Laurel found where they had gone, a bedroom in the back of the house. She stood outside the door and heard the girl say, "Ryan, I'm so glad we're finally alone!"

"Carrie, we're alone so we can talk."

"Talk? I can think of more fun things to do than talk," Carrie giggled.

"Look, Carrie. I'm flattered, really. But you have to stop this. I have a girlfriend."

"Laurel?" Carrie snorted. "I hear she treats you like shit." Laurel, still listening from outside the door, blinked at that.

"Where did you hear that?" Ryan asked incredulously. "Laurel treats me like anything but shit."

"It's common knowledge around the team that she blows you off to study."

"So? School's important to her. I 'blow her off' for basketball, sometimes."

"What does she have that I don't?" Carrie asked.

"My heart," Ryan said. Laurel just about melted at that. How could I have doubted him for a second, she thought to herself. Carrie was still babbling, but Laurel barely heard it. She did hear Ryan's voice rise, just a bit, in response.

"Listen. I've tried to be nice, but that's not working. First of all, Laurel's brilliant. I'm not in her league, but I'm no dummy, and I prefer a girlfriend who I can have an intelligent conversation with. Sorry, Carrie, but that leaves you right out. Second of all, Laurel's every bit as beautiful as you are--and she's wearing a quarter of the makeup you are so she comes by it naturally. I'd even bet your boobs are fake." Laurel heard Carrie hiss at that one! "Third of all, Laurel loves me for me--the whole me. She wouldn't care less if I quit basketball tomorrow. Without basketball, you wouldn't even give me the time of day. What does Laurel have that you don't? Everything. Goodbye, Carrie."

Laurel waited, out of sight, until she saw Carrie clomp out of the room. Then she ran in and launched herself at Ryan, tackling him back onto the bed in the room.

"Wha... Laurel?"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she blurted.

"For what?"

"For spying on you," she said. She was blubbering by now. "I followed you, I saw you bring her in here, and I thought, you know--I'm so sorry!"

"It's OK. It probably did look suspicious," Ryan said, cuddling her close.

"I'm so insecure. I keep waiting for you to tell me you found someone else. What you said to her, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."

"You're so self confident everywhere else, maybe I just don't realize." He pulled her head up so he was looking in her eyes. "Laurel. I love you. You have nothing to worry about. Ever. Got me?"

"Yes," she said.

"Face it, kiddo--you're stuck with me."

"If that's stuck, I'll take it!"

Courtney Rogers was beside herself.

She and Ryan had gone to Skate Canada and had finished second--good enough. But then they had gone to Cup of Russia. The world silver medalists, Kuznetsova and Vasilyevskiy, were there, so they figured another second would be fine.