Chapter 6

Friday.

The weekend had snuck up on us again.

This time we had different ideas in our head. It was time to party. Well, for most of us. Pepper had disappeared again. Apparently, partying with us was not as high on her list of things to do as it was on ours ... did that make sense? Well it wasn't important. What was important, was that I felt like I was becoming a bit of a homebody and it was time to hit the town again.

I had come back from my pretty much walkover interview at the bar where I was now gainfully employed on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I waited on the couch while Stella got ready. She was normally pretty good, so it was only half an hour before she came out wearing a casual dress and high heels with her makeup done and her hair out. She looked so good I wanted to mess it all up but I was blatantly rejected so I had to just go and put on my jeans.

After my usual two minute getting ready routine it was time to rock. We still had ten minutes before Leila and Ryan were coming by to pick us up in the cab, and I tried my best to score a blowjob. Again I was refused. I had my pouting face on when Ryan came up to the door and he looked between Stella, who thought it was hilarious, and me with interest.

'Trouble in paradise?' he teased.

'Trouble in his pants, that's all.' Stella brushed past me smoothly and took my hand on the way.

Ahh, college parties. Most of the time they aren't what the TV makes them out to be, but sometimes they are and then some. When we strolled in there were girls dancing in their underwear, kegs aplenty, frat boys screaming and hooting, and the usual skinny dippers in the pool.

I guess no one had told these freshmen that real life wasn't quite like that, but I was not going to be that teller. So if you can't be part of the solution, then add to the problem. We found a seat outside with some familiar faces and started downing the drinks.

I could see Ryan keeping his eye out for any sign of the fabled giant who was apparently going to kick our asses if we fucked with the Cardinals. It was only an hour before they rolled in, most of the football team, still wearing their jackets and hats and assorted douchebag paraphernalia. Most of our team were with us and there was an instant stand-off.

Their quarterback and linebacker, along with a running back and a block came over to us with folded arms. 'Well, well, if it isn't the retarded kids, ' said the linebacker, whom I later found out was called Jimmy.

I should probably describe Jimmy. I had imagined him for some reason being black, but he was actually about six foot four, a hundred and fifty plus kilos, (which roughly means three hundred and thirty pounds) of pure redneck. He had beady eyes, a tattoo of a snake running all the way up his neck, and a nose that looked like it had been broken about fifty times.

This in itself was curious, because how anyone could get up there was a mystery to me.

While I was thinking this, I saw Ryan look heavenward and mouth, 'thank you.'

He stood up, and as he did the crowd gathered like paperclips around a magnet. This was what he thrived on, and while Ryan had turned out to be one of the nicest guys I ever met, he was still pretty much an animal at heart.

'What did you call us, bubba?' he asked casually. 'My hearing is still a little out from having your mother sit on my face all last night.'

Jimmy's face reddened in a mixture of rage and incredulity, 'Do you want to die?'

Ryan grinned, 'Of course not, she still owes me money.'

The mother jokes were never going to go out of fashion. There was some muffled laughter from those who were afraid to get flattened but still appreciated Ryan's enthusiasm.

'You want to take this outside?' Jimmy smiled.

'We are already outside, ' he pointed out politely.

That was enough for big Jimmy. He swung a wild haymaker, exactly what Ryan had anticipated. His technique was flawless. As Jimmy's fist hurtled towards him, Ryan blocked out with his left hand, catching the punch high in its arc and taking out the power. He moved a short step in, then brought his elbow upwards straight into Jimmy's chin.

The linebacker's head snapped back and his eyes lost focus. He almost went down, but caught himself on a table edge.

It was officially on.

The first thing I did was lift Stella and Leila, one in each arm, and haul them out of the way. Once my gentlemanly duty was complete I launched over the table. During an all in brawl, there are no real rules. You can rabbit punch someone, kick them in the back, even cop a feel if you're that way inclined. The thing is, when you don't need to look the person in the eye you have no qualms about what you do to them.

So it was when I fly kicked some poor guy right off his feet as I landed in. I threw a wild hook, caught the quarterback on the side of the jaw, and ducked my head down so a punch glanced off the top of my skull. Two guys were holding Ryan while one lined him up for a kick but he twisted away and one of them ended up booting the other in the shin.

He swung one of his famous roundhouse kicks, knocking another player down and following through with a hook.

I ducked under another attack and rolled back on my hips to avoid the beer bottle that had been swung at me. That was dirty. I used the aforementioned rabbit punch on the guy who had tried to bottle me and watched maliciously as he crumpled. I turned and grinned at Stella, who was watching the whole thing with a patiently bemused expression, arms folded.

She pointed behind me just in time for me to turn at the warning and avoid getting whacked with a chair. I leapt sideways, came up and unleashed a left, cross, uppercut combo on the blocker who had tried such a dirty move and climbed over the pack back towards Ryan. Our boys were doing pretty well, but Jimmy was on his feet again wreaking havoc.

Ryan managed to fend off a few big hits, but it left him open for a lucky cheap shot in the knee that took him down. Jimmy tried to stomp on him but I kicked his foot from the side and threw it wide. For my trouble I got whacked in the side of the face and saw stars.

It was the quarterback, evidently having recovered from the fly kick. This time I came up under his guard and head butted him. That stopped him from getting up again.

When I looked back to make sure my friend was okay he was on Jimmy's back, hanging on with bug-like tenacity trying to execute a sleeper hold while the giant tried to pull him off. It was really quite comical, especially when Ryan finally got the crook of his elbow into the right spot and the big guy started to get woozy.

There were cheers all round as the linebacker toppled and Ryan leapt off, holding his fist high in victory. I took this chance to jump up on the table and thank everyone on behalf of the worse at football, but much better fighters and partiers, the Wolverines.

Everyone seemed to like that, and as our enemies limped off I was carried down from the table like a rock star. Yep, it was good to be out.

I evaded the now milling women who had decided that fighting was cooler than football and slithered back to Stella. A buxom dark haired beauty with stunning grey eyes was standing with her and both their faces were flushed.

'I'm Eve.' She held out her hand.

'Eve is bi-curious.' Stella said smugly.

'Well, Stella is pretty hot. I can see what you mean.' I grinned.

'No, bi-curious the other way, ' Stella corrected me.

'Ahh, ' was my rather lame response.

'Eve thinks we should go find somewhere quiet, ' she went on.

'Well, I have never been one to refuse a beautiful lady.' I had almost forgotten about the black eye that was forming.

'Most girls hate to admit it, but there's something primeval and sexy about a man who can look after himself. Your friend just oozes sex appeal when he is in a fight.'