They Weren't Kidding

Chapter 2

The year that I met Ryan Kaye, I was attending a different school than her, but saw her quite frequently; every week, in fact, sometimes multiple times a week. I would find myself going to the volleyball practices some of the times. The volleyball team would meet every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I also would play for the band at her school which met every Monday and Thursday.

The very next time I saw her, it was a practise for the volleyball team in which my mother was helping out with. She had called up to me from the downstairs. I was sitting in the room of my house appropriately classified "the game room." It held the gaming consoles I would play along with my brother when he would come back into town from California, where he attended college.

"Alex! Would you like to come with me to volleyball practise?" I heard my mother call to me. I pondered for a moment. I was finished with any schoolwork I had for that day and was only going to spend my free time watching TV. I was beginning to grow bored of the programs and wanted to get out of the house.

"Yeah, sure," I called back due to my boredom and desire to leave the house even if I weren't going to do anything.

I ran down the steps, shoes already on my feet due to fact that my feet are easily chilled and shoes seem to be the only remedy to combat that. Once I made it down the steps, my mom headed toward the door, me following close behind her. We climbed into the van that belonged to my mother as I could not drive at the time. I had not even received my learner's permit, but that's a story for later.

We begin the drive which was actually quite uncomfortable for me. The radio played their news section for the week. The article that seemed to catch my mother's attention was one on homosexuality. She went off on a rant filled with homophobic remarks to which I tried my best to tune out. I had begun to really loathe talks my family would have involving the LGBT+ community. I had a majorly different opinion to my family. They are completely religious when it came to that topic and I'm just not.

We eventually made it to the school, the ride feeling longer than normal due to the very discomforting rant my mother decided to have during that time. Once my mom parked the car, I hurriedly stepped out of the car in hopes to dispel the topic from my mother's mouth for the moment. I stepped into the gym, having left my mom behind.

I suppose I had forgotten that Ryan played for that team, as I was quite pleasantly surprised when I saw her in the gym, warming up for the practise. Where I was quite awkward with our first encounter, I wanted to make our possible second experience meeting a bit smoother. I leaned against the wall and made myself look more disinterested in the practise than I was. I wanted to appear cool for Ryan who had paid no attention to me.

As the practise began, I let my eyes wander back to Ryan and over her body. I hadn't really appreciated it at the game that I watched in which she had not gotten the chance to play. This time around, I got around to taking in all of her features and how they would expose themselves as she played. I found myself staring at her, focusing only on how she played and how she looked as she played. I found her more attractive the more I sat and stared at her.

That day, I left the gym not noticing my growing attraction to Ryan despite the fact that she and I hadn't had a real conversation with each other. However, I found myself having a desire to wanting to get to know her and see exactly what she was like and how she would act towards me.

Upon reaching the stage in which the praise band and I were meant to play on, donned in the attire we were all meant to wear, I placed my Gibson SG on a stand on stage and began to plug in my amp into the extension cord set out specifically for my amp. I plugged my guitar into my amp and tune as I awaited the rest of the group to be ready.