*"Give em hell, turn their heads
Gonna live life 'til we're dead.
Give me scars, give me pain
Then they'll say to me, say to me, say to me
There goes the fighter, there goes the fighter
Here comes the fighter
That's what they'll say to me,
say to me, say to me,
This one's a fighter"*
Outside the stadium Christian was waiting for his taxi to arrive to take him to his parent's house for dinner. After that he'd would be meeting up with Westley. The rest of the team filed onto the bus to head back to the hotel where they would be spending the night. They were joking and messing around, spirits high after a good game and a great win.
"See you at practice next week Christian." Mick called as he got on the bus. Christian waved distractedly. He'd been having some second thoughts about meeting up with Westley, but he couldn't bring himself to bail on the little dude. And he didn't want to either. Finally the taxi pulled up and drove him to his parents house. Unbeknownst to him, his Aunt and cousins had swung in for a visit, so he was technically without a bed. He texted Westley to meet him at Nevaeh's diner, and then called a local hotel to get a room. Sure he could have slept on the couch, but after a game he was always sore. Plus it was a good excuse to spend the night with Westley. Westley texted back after a few minutes that he'd meet him in a half hour, he was still stuck at the hospital for a while. Christian made small talk with his family and then begged off, explaining he was meeting a friend for dinner. His parents assumed he was talking about Nevaeh, and his sister jokingly asked when he was going to marry the poor girl and put them all out of their misery. Christian got into his car feeling miserable. He knew it would be hard to come out to them, much less the rest of the world, but if he couldn't even be out to his family, how could he even hope for a relationship at all?
Westley sat in the diner chatting with Nevaeh while waiting for Christian to show up. Nevaeh was a very colorful individual and had a bunch of great stories to share about growing up with Christian.
"So then, because he was so mad at me for not letting him ride my big wheel, I just kept doing circles around him laughing. Well, he threw his baseball mitt at me, which missed, of course, but landed in front of me. So when I hit it with my big wheel, it practically spun me out of control, sending me flying at Christian. I've never heard that boy scream so loud in my life."
"It was a traumatic childhood experience. I'm terrified I'm going to be run over by a big wheel every day of my life now." Christian said as he sat down across from Westley.
"That's hilarious."
"Oh, next time you're here, when Christian isn't, I will have to tell you about the gum incident."
Christian groaned.
"Oh, yes I went there!" Nevaeh said walking away laughing.
"Did you order food already?"
"Yeah. I figured you'd eat what you had last time."
"Yup. What are you getting?"
"Chicken sandwich."
"Those are second best to the swiss melt. Still good, just not as good." Christian paused.
"How's dad?"
"Doing alright. It's progressing the way this cancer usually does. So we still have a few months according to the specialist. He'll most likely get to see me graduate."
"When's graduation?"
"In 3 months basically."
"Ah."
The men were quiet for a bit, the seriousness setting the tone.
"So, I had to get a hotel room for the night, my Aunt and cousins showed up at the parent's house."
"Oh..." Westley said quietly.
"So if you want to watch a movie or something..."
"Sure. I'll let mom know I'll probably not be back tonight."
"Sweet." Christian said.
Nevaeh came back with their food, which the men ate with enthusiasm. This time though, once they were finished with the food, they paid their bill and left, rather than hold up Nevaeh as she started to close down the diner. She waved from the kitchen as they excused themselves.
"Follow me?" Christian asked.
"Sure." Westley got into his car and drove behind Christian as he weaved his way to the hotel. It turned out that Christian was staying across the street from the hotel Westley and his mom were staying at. Christian checked in while Westley called his mom and told her to not wait up for him.
Christian unlocked the door to the hotel room. Westley was at first shocked, because the room was huge, but then remembered who Christian was. It was easy to forget that Christian was famous when he acted like such a normal person. The king sized bed took up the bulk of the room, but the door to the bathroom was open, showing off a huge stall shower, Westley figured it had one of those newer waterfall showerheads. Christian set his bag down next to the bed and shook his head. His dreads bounced vigorously.
"I could use a swim." He said nonchalantly. He walked over to the phone and grabbed the laminated sheet. "The pool is open until 12. Want to go?"
"Um. I'll walk with you, but I'll just hang out. I'm not big on swimming."
"If you don't have a suit I have an extra one."
"I don't know..." Westley was always afraid his scar would show when he went swimming.
"Well, why don't you put it on, and then if you want to, you can join me. I just want to do a few laps before I crash for the night."
"Like you didn't get enough exercise today?" Westley laughed as Christian chucked the swimsuit at him.
"Never. I always am so pumped after a game. I hate the bus ride back, can never move around enough. And then we're always at a hotel, so I rarely get the chance to work out right after. Makes me restless."
