Jeah, Whatever

[Natalie]

“Are you okay?” Michael asked as I hung up on Ryan.

“Yes, your teammate is just, well he’s simple!” I couldn’t think of much else to say.

“Ryan? He’s just, he’s got a lot going on,” Michael put it nicely.

“You don’t have to sugarcoat him for me, he’s a punk,” I said.

“And you knew this about him before?” Michael asked.

“Kind of”

“So why are you angry now?” He asked me.

“Because stupid feelings get in the way,” I sighed, slumping into a chair, Michael sat down next to me.

“They always do, in fact, I don’t know how Ryan has masked them for so long, I think he’s probably freaking out too,” Michael advised. I knew he was right.

“But that doesn’t explain the girl in the background,” I said, trying to hold to my justifications.

“Girls? Oh he’s with the team tonight, they’re karaoking,” Michael laughed. I felt so dumb.

“I think I’d like to go apologize to him,” I looked to Michael. He stood and held his hand out to help me out of my unclassy position.

“I’ll take you to the Village, I should get back anyways,” he said. We said our respected goodbyes and he and I made way back to the Village.

Michael led me to the Olympian Common Room. We walked in and Ryan was singing. And it wasn’t good. At all.

“MY LONELINESS IS KILLING ME AND I
I MUST CONFESS I STILL BELIEVE
WHEN I’M NOT WITH YOU I LOSE MY MIND
GIVE ME A SIGN
HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME!” He shouted in the microphone, his voice cracking like a boy going through puberty. Everyone was laughing at him, including me.

One girl was falling to the floor when she spotted me and Michael by the door.

“Mike! Come sing, you too friend of Michael!” She said cheerfully.

“Actually, I’m pretty down for some bed, maybe check the scores, this one, she’s all yours,” Michael said pushing me deeper into the swim team crowd. Ryan looked over at me, unsure.

“Well welcome! I’m Missy,” she said extending a hand, I recognized her voice as the girl through the phone.

“Natalie,” I smiled slightly, everyone was looking at me.

“Well you HAVE to go next,” she said, dragging me to the microphone.

“What can you sing?’ Missy asked. I gave her a blank stare. I felt Ryan’s eyes on me the whole time.

“I know, how about Adele, she’s always fun to belt out to. Here, sing this one,” she clicked on the ever popular, “Rolling in the Deep” and I was extremely nervous and felt incredibly awkward.

Swallowing my pride I sang out the words. It seemed people were impressed.

I didn’t dare look at Ryan as I sang, I was too scared to. When the song finally ended, people began clapping.

“Well, good luck following that one, Connor!” Missy said into the mic, Connor walked over in defeat as he was being forced to sing.

I walked over to Ryan.

“I thought this was done,” he said, straight to it.

“I, look, Ryan, I’m sorry,” I said, trying to speak coherently.

“I am too, to be honest,” he said, leading me out of the room to the dining hall, Connor would be singing “Man I Feel Like a Woman,” I was a little sad to be missing that one.

“You’re right, I’m not your girlfriend, I don’t even know you enough to be your girlfriend. And coming into whatever this is, I knew you weren’t looking for, well anything I guess and I let feelings get in the way and that was wrong of me, I’m just sorry,” I got it all out. Ryan looked me in the eyes.

“I got so freaked out by my feelings, I lied to you and blew you off and that was wrong of me,” he spoke up.

“So we’re just two scared people who suck at dealing with romantic emotions,” I concluded.

“And somehow, we happen to like each other, real cool world,” he laughed.

“So what do we do?” I asked, looking to him for answers.

“I’d like to know you, maybe end my hit it and quit it ways,” Ryan said.

“I’d like that,” I smiled.

“But Natalie, you’re like really hot,” he said, eyeing my body.

“Yeah, you’re pretty average,” I shrugged. He chuckled.

“Meaning, I am a guy, I am sexually attracted to you, like, really attracted,” he emphasized.

“Who said the games had to end completely, Ryan? Particularly in that department,” I bit my lower lip.

“Ah yes, there comes my little freak,” he winked. I stood up and rolled my eyes.

“Come on, we can probably catch Connor making a fool of himself,” I extended my hand to help him up.

We walked back into the common room, sadly Connor had just finished feeling like a woman when we arrived and he was clearly ashamed.

“Lochte, do one more!” Missy begged. I linked his arm.

“Yeah, Lochte, do one more,” I smiled. He looked at me and I pouted a little.

“Don’t do that, it’s such a turn on,” he whispered.

“Then I guess you better get up there,” I insisted. Missy came and pulled him back up there.

“And you have to join him, Natalie,” Missy insisted. I protested.

“Oh no, Ryan can shine on his own,” I argued. Missy didn’t listen to us and put on a duet to the song “No Air.”

People were laughing at how poorly Ryan was singing and I tried not to laugh as we were singing but the way he was getting into the song physically was also overwhelmingly hilarious.

Everyone applauded as we finished the song and Ryan and I took a bow.

“That was too spectacular,” Missy came up to us, giving each of us a hug.

Soon the party disbanded, many had multiple swims tomorrow, including Ryan who had two within thirty minutes of each other.

“Tomorrow, everything ends until worlds,” he sighed as he walked me back to my hotel.

“And then you get really old,” I said, leaning on him as we walked.

“Well not REALLY old, just kind of old,” he reasoned with me.

“28, two years before 30, you’ll be 32 in the next Olympics. Double the age of the gymnasts, you might even have a couple of grey hairs,” I said, I was going to continue on as he pushed me lightly into the hotel building. He rested his hands on either side of me.

“You like it,” he whispered on my lips. I shrugged, looking unimpressed.

“It’s not bad,” I replied. Ryan kissed my neck, pushing himself onto me. My breathing got a little heavier.

“Your breathing says it’s more that not bad, Natalie,” he said as he reached to kiss me once more, I bent down and moved away from between his arms. He ended up hitting his head against the building and sighed in defeat.

“Good night, Ryan,” I smiled before skipping inside the hotel, leaving him a little confused, turned on, and wondering.

As I got in the elevator, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were really going to both face our fear of feelings and if Ryan really did want to give up sleeping with multiple women.

I also couldn’t help but plan ahead for what to wear and do for his birthday.

This could be a lot of fun.