Move On (Jon)

Soundtrack ---> Irony in the opposite? lol

I was off schedule; totally off schedule, and I hated it. God! Why did I do that? It was irresponsible, inappropriate; it could have ended in disaster. She’s disaster! Why did I even go with her… what’s gotten into me?

I didn’t get home till almost 5, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I always got up at 6, and I always spent three hours in the gym; everyday. So, I only had an hour of sleep, but what’s that saying… ‘no rest for the weary?’.
I hopped in my car and drove through the semi-busy streets of Chicago. Normally it only took me fifteen minutes to get to the gym, but the city had a different idea for me today. Red light, red light, red light… if I hadn’t of gone out with her last night… they’d all be green!
Ok Jon, calm down. That’s a little bit of an exaggeration; but you’re right… no more Ryker.

I would do what I did everyday. Leave the gym at 9:30 and be at Burish’s house for 10 to wake him up; the only difference would be that today I would tell him he could have her. If Burish started dating her, then I couldn’t like her anymore. Not that I did… I didn’t.
Her? I chuckled as I shook my head. Right, cause… she’s someone I’d like to be with. I snorted at the thought; it was ridiculous. Who needs women?

After going through my pre-workout hydration, stretches and warm up on the treadmill; I hit the bike, hard.
I bent low over the stationary machine as I exhaled loudly; feeling the burn shooting up from my lower body. It’s not like, I’ll even think about her again… I mean, she’s just a girl.
I glanced up, and checked the speedometer on the bike; 22kmph, not bad - but I need to hit 25kmphor this was a waste. I pushed my legs even faster through the resistance, as I felt the sweat drip off the tip of my nose. And besides… she‘s a complete mess… I could never take her to a real function; we’d get laughed at. Ok wait, not thinking about her…

I hopped off the bike after a solid 30 minutes at 25kmph; feeling a lot better about myself. I wiped down the bike before grabbing a fresh towel and dabbing at my face.
Subconsciously I headed over to the bench-press; doing the same amount of weight, at the same rate, for the same amount of time as always.

I headed back down towards the locker room, hopping into the shower and letting the strong flow of water beat against my soar muscles. The water here was never warm, but at least it’s not as cold as last night… I sighed as I remembered the feel of the icy stabs against my body. She didn’t even seem to care… I can’t believe she does that kind of stuff for fun; I mean, who does that? I wonder what else she does for fun…

No! Bad Jon… no thinking about Ryker. I nodded in agreement with my thoughts as I turned off the shower and headed into the locker-room to get changed.


“Hey man!” Sharpie called over his shoulder as I came through the back door.

I threw my hand up in front of my face as I walked through the kitchen; the smell of dirty dishes, stale dirty water and garbage assaulting me. “I cleaned his kitchen on Thursday! How is it this gross again?!” I spat as I walked around the corner into the den; finding Sharpie laid back on his couch.

He shrugged, not taking his eyes off the TV. “I don’t know… cause it’s Monday, or something…” He laughed at something funny from the show he was watching as I turned around and headed back into the kitchen; rolling my sleeves up to the elbow and searching the bottom of the sink for the stopper. Not even Martha Stewart could sanitize a dish in this goo...
I groaned softly as I felt a gushy messy of something stick to my arm. I shouldn’t be doing this… he’ll never learn if I just keep cleaning up after him… but there was just something about the mess, disorder and unsanitary nature of Burish’s house. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t my mess because I knew it was there; and even if it didn’t bother him, it bothered me. A lot.

I bet her house is like this too… I shook my head as I thought about it; it gave me chills to think of how untidy it probably was; the outside was even disgusting.
Thinking about her brought her to the forefront of my mind, once again.
I spent the next three hours cleaning up Adam’s house, hoping that he’d at least keep it semi-clean from now on, even though I knew he wouldn’t. This little ritual had been going on since I came to Chicago.

“Hey Patrick!” I called out into the den as I continued to scrub at a used pasta dish. “Is Burish seeing that Jenn girl now?”

“Nope.”

“Is he still interested in Ryker?” I heard the noise from the TV stop, as Sharpie either muted it or shut it off completely.

“Why?”

I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me. “Well, I just thought if he liked her so much, he should go for it.” The couch groaned in protest as Patrick pushed himself off of it, his foot steps clunking towards the kitchen.

I turned around to see him leaning on the counter, a grin on his face. “Why? I thought you two had a little…” He made a sexual reference with his fingers that caused me to grimace. He was so inappropriate sometimes…

“No… why would you think that?”

“Oh, no reason. If you don’t want her though… I‘m sure Bur will be happy to take her off your hands. I wonder if I she’ll tattoo his number on her too…”

Too? As in… also? “What are you talking about?” I asked, shaking the now clean dish off and laying it to dry on the rack.

“Nothing, she felt bad for you… probably figure you’ve got no fans so she tatted your number on her neck.”

“She likes me?” I spun around, causing my face to redden as Patrick laughed.

“I never said that,” he shook his head as he watched me. “Then again, I can never really tell what’s going on with her… she’s a strange one.” I shrugged and turned back to the sink.


“Hey man, are you still at Rykers?… yah… Tazer says you can have her…” He laughed heartily into his cell phone as I shook my head in disgust. ’Have her’… like she was some kind of property. “Sounds good then… we’ll meet you there.” He flipped his phone close and pocketed it as I drained the soapy water. “Come on buddy, we’re going for breakfast.”

“It’s almost 2 o’clock Sharpie.”

“Mmm… breakfast…” I laughed as I followed Sharpie out the back door and towards his SUV.



It was dumb of me to assume that Ryker wouldn’t be there. Sharpie had just called Adam and told him that I wasn’t interested in her… so why wouldn’t he invite her? I felt like kicking myself as I walked through the door of the small café behind Patrick; catching a glimpse of Ryker laughing in a booth with Burish.
Her outfit was a weird collection of fabrics and colors, but she looked good, even I had to admit that she looked good.
She was wearing a fitted, grey cotton dress over a pair of calf length blue leggings and orange flip-flops. Topped off by a large, sheer scarf; yellow, black and green in colour.
She looked up and smiled at me as I approached the booth; sliding over a bit on her side to make room for me. I watched as Sharpie slid in beside Burish; taking that as my cue to sit down.

She smelt like soap and strawberries; at least I know now that she showers… I blushed slightly as I thought about her in the shower; realizing how inappropriate that was. Then again, it wasn’t like I hadn’t just about seen her in that position last night… minus the clothing she was still wearing, of course… “What do you think Tazer?” I looked up, completely convinced that I had been caught thinking about Ryker.

“About what?” I stammered out as Burish pointed towards Ryker.

“About the tattoo… don’t you even want to see it? I told her she should get my number but she just laughed at me… apparently she thinks my ego’s been too inflated already.”

I grinned and looked over at Ryker, “I guess she’s a good judge of character than… if your head got any bigger, we’d need another booth.” She smiled back at me before turned to face the wall, pulling her long dreads on top her head and tilting her neck forwards.
I knew what was there, knew what she was showing me; but I still grinned like an idiot when I saw it.
So it was irresponsible, childish, odd, and probably unwise; but it was still kind of flattering… in an inappropriate way. I glanced away from Ryker as she lowered her hair and turned back around; catching the glance between Sharpie and Burish.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Ryker smiled excitedly as she dug threw a big yarn bag. She pulled out a small plastic bag and handed it across the table to Sharpie. He grinned as he took it, unwrapping the white plastic from the thing inside; his grin widening once it opened fully.
He held up a large glass butterfly surrounded by white and clear glass beads; an intricate bracelet. I looked back and forth between Ryker and Patrick, confused by the exchange - feeling a tiny tinge of jealousy shoot through me as I wondered who the bracelet was for.
It was dumb; she wasn’t a toy. I knew this well enough, but I still had an ‘I saw her first’ feeling every time I glanced across the table at my team-mates, and saw them smiling back at her. Of course there was also the issue with me telling Burish he could ask her out if he wanted; a good move on my part… I reminded myself as I looked away from Ryker.
Sharpie saw the look on my face and grinned, re-wrapping the bracelet and pocketing it.

“Ryker makes jewellery for a living… she made me a bracelet for Amber’s birthday present.” Of course… I gave him a small smile as I looked up in time to see the waitress coming up to our table to take our order; figuring the best thing to do was just let it all go... just move on.