Taking The Class Pt. 04

"Bruh. Not cool."

"Wait a minute, you're taste testing drinks? As in alcohol? I thought you didn't drink?" asked Alaina.

Daniel looked at her as though she'd just said boobs couldn't be his favorite thing in the world. "Bruh, for real?" He looked at Don. "You believe this shit?"

Don laughed so hard that he tipped back against the unoccupied row of bleachers behind him, unable to even respond.

Will chuckled. "When did they tell you that?"

Alaina looked back and forth, confused. "But... On Monday, you said..."

Daniel spluttered, then started to howl with laughter. "Don, she actually fuckin' believed that shit!" He bent over, slapping his leg.

Don had both arms crossed over his stomach. "Dude, stop, I can't breathe."

"Bruh, I thought you were supposed to be smart!" Daniel slowly knelt down on the ground, his face completely red. "We were both hammered out of our fuckin' minds by the end of that night!"

Tears were streaming down Don's face. "I totally thought you knew. I mean, you had a fucking glass of champagne and everything!" He squeezed the words out while gasping for breath. "What the fuck kinda guy our age is gonna be drinking a plain fucking seltzer when they've got JW Blue by the bottle? That was like, ninety percent vodka as a starter round."

Alaina looked shocked, her head pivoting between the two of them in dismay. "But... But... You said you were keeping an eye on—"

"Whoa," said Daniel, suddenly serious despite his red face and continued chuckles. "That was two hundred percent fuckin' serious. I don't gotta be sober to beat the shit outta some guy."

"Same," wheezed Don. He levered himself back up into his seat. "We paced ourselves pretty good, but if you'd found us an hour later it would've been a totally different conversation."

"Huh," said Alaina. She frowned, then looked over at Will. "Do you drink, too?"

"Nah, somebody has to drive these lushes home when Vin's not around," said Will. Though they've actually been pretty reserved the past few times we've gone out. Maybe they're cutting back.

"Shit, I really gotta go. Good seein' you, Will. Don, I'm sendin' you pics because you're a dick. Girls, nice seein' you." Daniel waved and started hustling—as it could be described only for Daniel—over towards the parking lot.

"Later, dude," called Don. "Have fun sending those phoner boners!"

Rita was laughing heartily.

Daniel raised his middle finger over his head but didn't look back.

He passed Ayanna and Ken, who were just arriving, on his way out.

"Hey, look who made it," said Will, nudging his girlfriend.

"Ugh, fucking finally," she groaned, leaning her head against his arm. "I kept hoping she'd show up sooner!"

Uh oh. "You okay?"

Alaina looked up at him, pressing her lips together in an attempt to stifle a smile. She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "I really wanted to start laughing before, but it seemed like it was more hilarious if I didn't laugh. Your friends are funny." She pressed her face into his sweater and started laughing.

She was acting? "So you knew they were getting drunk on Monday, then?" Will gave her an amused look.

Alaina shook her head and pulled her face back. "No, they really got me. When I first met them, I thought they were just a couple of idiots. But now I realize: they're clever idiots." She resumed laughing into his sleeve.

Will laughed, but for a different reason. Great work, guys, you've gone up a fractional amount in her eyes.

"Look at these two lovebirds! {Like Romeo and Juliet, right? 70%}"

He turned. "Hey, Ayanna, hey, Ken. That was a hell of a show you put on out there earlier."

Alaina pulled her head out of his sweater and jumped up, running over to barrel into her friend and nearly knocking her over with the force of the hug. "You finally did it! That was so cool, Ay!"

The tall runner made a show of trying to pry the smaller girl off her, but she clearly seemed to be enjoying the praise.

"We would've made it over sooner, but we got a little held up. {I ate her out in the car. 60%}" said Ken, grinning slightly.

Alright, no breathing on me, Ken. Don't do it.

"This the whole crew, Alaina?" The tall runner was eyeing the rest of their group.

"You just missed Daniel," said Alaina, releasing her friend and stepping back, but not before tucking in the tag on the back of the other girl's rumpled shirt. "He's off to judge some male strippers for his brother's bachelor party."

Ayanna's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. "Will, I'm gonna need that spot. {Move. 60%} A! Spill!"

"Hold on, that was Campanelli?" said Ken, looking back towards where Daniel had gone. "He looks totally different without the dress code."

Will stood up with an amused grin and was quickly replaced by the taller girl and his girlfriend. He turned to Ken. "Yeah, that was him. That's why I was laughing so hard at your stories earlier. Oh hey, Ken, this is Rita," he gestured, "and Don," he pointed. "Rita, Don, this is Ken."

"Nice to meet you," said Rita, looking up from her phone as she returned it to her pocket.

"Hey, dude," said Don.

"Hi," said Ken, looking slightly nervous.

"Actually, Ken, I think you and Don would get along great," said Will. He took a few steps towards his friend and gestured for Ken to follow. "Ken's a big anime fan."

Don perked up. "Yeah?" He looked over at Ken. "My dude, would you rather be the Hokage or the Pirate King?"

"Hokage, obviously," said Ken, no longer nervous. He moved closer and took a seat next to Don. "But..."

Will stopped listening. That was fast. He spotted Rita sitting alone between the two pairs on the bleachers and gestured with his chin towards the fence next to the field.

"You really got the full course for meeting all of Vin's friends today, huh?" he said when she joined him.

The brunette guffawed. "Yeah, that's for sure. Daniel and Don were exactly like he said, though. {Daniel and Don were a riot. 0%}"

"He told you about them ahead of time?" Will ran a hand through his hair. "That's almost like cheating. Alaina had to go in cold, and she didn't even like me back then."

Rita grinned. "He told me a little of that story, too, but it didn't really click until I heard them talking about it. Too funny," she chuckled, shaking her head.

Will spotted Vinnie looking over and waved. Rita spotted him and bounced up and down while waving.

"Sounded like you really riled him up before the game from what Daniel said," Will commented.

Rita looked up, her grin turning bashful. "I really didn't know it would have that much effect! {I didn't expect him to be able to lift that big guy up like that! 5%} I thought he'd just have an extra spring in his step when he went out onto the field. I hope he doesn't get in trouble. {I'll definitely apologize when I see him. 10%}"

"Vin'll be fine, don't worry about it. He probably had a blast now that he finally had a reason to cut loose. I'm just upset that I missed it. That must have been a fast first half."

"Well..." Rita laced her fingers together on the fence and began twirling her thumbs. "They don't stop the clock on quarterback sacks, and it's hard for passes to be incomplete if there's no defense..."

Fucking hell, Vin, what did you do to them? "What did you say to him before the game to get him so fired up?"

"I might've let him know that my roommate is gone until Monday? {He's so getting lucky tonight after destroying those pussies on the other team. 40%} And I said that if I was pleased with his hustle today, I'd let him come to the gym with me tomorrow to do legs. {I thought maybe he'd wanna do a gym date? 45%}" Rita looked up at him questioningly.

Will rolled his eyes. "Vin's favorite day at the gym is leg day."

* * *

"Yesss!" shouted Vinnie, holding his fists over his head and looking up towards the sky.

Will smirked. Told you.

Rita pulled one of Vinnie's tree-like arms down and started rubbing his biceps. "I was thinking maybe we could start off with some deep squats. And then I've got my hip thrusters at some point..."

"We gonna do some cardio after?" Vinnie asked excitedly. "Because if we are—"

"—then you've gotta do some squat thrusts."

"Oh, I usually call 'em burpees."

"Vinnie." Rita gave him a look. "I'm not talking about the gym."

"Oh." Vinnie blinked, then blushed. "Ohhh."

"Fucking fitizens," grumbled Don. He turned to Will, holding out his fist. "I gotta go, dude. Late afternoon date prep isn't something I'm gonna be rushed with."

"Later, Don." Will bumped him farewell.

"Don't over-think it," said Alaina. "Just—"

"Wait a minute, since when are you givin' dating advice, A?"

"Come on, Ay. Don's like a kindergartner trying to take Calculus. Any advice would be an improvement."

"Uh, dude, I'm right here..."

"Puh-leeze. If he listens to you he's gonna spend the next week holed up in his room, layin' on his floor, tryin' to figure out if this girl meant a smiley in some message was supposed to be sarcastic or not."

"Hey! I only did that one time!"

"I'm...gonna go. Ken, lemme know when you wanna watch it."

"You mean one time this past week?"

"Yeah, sounds good, Don. Cool meeting you."

"That wasn't over a smiley!" Alaina whined. Her head whipped around to look at Will. "I mean..." She blushed lightly. "Ay!"

That sounds like a story.

Will's pocket buzzed. He turned away from grinning at his girlfriend's plight to check the notification.

C♡rl♡: How's Laura?

Will grimaced. How the hell do I respond to that? He paused, continuing to stare at the message on the screen. Why is Carla asking about Laura? He scrolled through his message history again. Weird that Laura didn't send me more messages over the past couple days. She was always sending me cutesy things between classes when we were together. Eh, maybe she deleted them. That was one of the reasons I broke up with her, after all—not like it would be the first time.

He pocketed his phone once more. I'll just let it sit for a while until I come up with something that doesn't feel like a total lie.

"Hey, man, uh... We're gonna go, I think?" said Vinnie, looking down at his suddenly-antsy girlfriend.

"Yeah, we're going. {I don't think we're even gonna make it to a bed. 90%}. Good seeing you again, Will. {Bye! 91%} Alaina, Ken, uhhh... Ken's girlfriend? Nice meeting you. Bye!" Rita dragged Vinnie away with both hands on his arm at first, and then one arm as she struggled to keep up with Vinnie's longer strides once he realized what the situation was.

They're a cute couple. She seems like she'll be good for Vin. Likes to exercise, really low-key, easy-going—just like Vin. Will turned his gaze away from the direction his friend had left in.

"I can't believe you're bailing on ice cream again!" Alaina said, frowning with her arms crossed over her chest. She tapped a finger against her arm.

"Whoa, whoa," said Ayanna, holding her hands up as she faced off with her much shorter friend. "I'm not bailing, I'm just...not gonna be able to go today, okay? I didn't think we were gonna be hangin' around here after my meet, and Ken's gotta get over to his meet soonish or his coach is gonna kill him. Again."

Ken came up behind his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her, poking his head around her shoulder. "If you wanna stay and hang out with Alaina a while longer, that's fine with me, Yanna." He kissed her jacket-covered shoulder, then looked up and winked at her. "He can't yell at me every time."

"Yes he can," muttered Alaina. She looked at Will and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, what she said," said Ayanna, giving her boyfriend an amused look. "You're already gonna be missing part of warmups if we don't leave in the next thirty seconds or so. He yelled for a while last time; you really wanna do that to him again? He's so old he's probably gonna fall over and die mid-curse."

"Well, when you put it like that, we should probably get going, Miss [Organizer]." Ken said in a thoughtful voice. He released his arms and stepped around in front of his girlfriend. "Guess we're going, then," he announced. "Cool meeting you, Will. {Awesome that Alaina managed to find a guy as cool as you. 10%} I'm sure I'll see you around. {It'll be nice having another guy around when we hang out with Alaina. 10%}"

"Nice meeting you, too," said Will. I really shouldn't. But... "Good luck with your tsundere nekomimis. Hope they're kawaii enough for an otaku like yourself."

"Oh no," said Alaina, giving him a horrified look.

Ayanna laughed. "Yeah, they're sugoi," she said while looking at Alaina.

Will ineffectually stifled a laugh of his own when his girlfriend's expression turned to one of utter despair. It's not that surprising that Ayanna would be at least a little bit of a weeb if she's going out with Ken, but it looks like it took Alaina by surprise. I'm gonna pay for this later, aren't I?

The other couple started off. Ayanna slowed as she passed him.

She leaned down slightly to whisper in his ear. "Nice going so far, Will. {She looks really happy right now, but if you hurt her I'll make sure you regret it. 50%} The runner flashed him a smile and winked as she walked away.

Uhh... Will stood frozen for a moment as he stared after Alaina's friend.

The tall girl was bending over to wrap her boyfriend in a hug around his shoulders while they continued towards the parking lot, her head coming down to his ear. Ken's faint laughter drifted backwards to him.

I think that might've been the most visceral thought I've ever gotten from my Trait. I know I decided I was gonna pay more attention to it last night, but maybe I'll ignore it just for her...

Chapter 4: Saturday Afternoon, 2:58PM

"You're not like, actually one of them, are you?" Alaina asked in a voice full of trepidation.

"Huh?" Will looked over at his own girlfriend, who was eyeing him suspiciously. "One of what? An anime fan?" Pretty sure saying 'weeb' would have gotten me killed.

"Yeah, that."

"Nah, I used to watch a bit when I was...before, but I'm not much for watching stuff nowadays." He stepped over to Alaina and put his hands on her hips. "Plus, I've been really busy lately," he said, looking down at her with a lazy grin.

She studied him for a moment before breaking into a relieved half-smile. "Alright, good." She tugged on his sweater until he leaned in for a kiss. "Very good." She took hold of his right hand and turned towards where all their friends had left, starting a leisurely pace after she laced her fingers tightly through his.

I can't get over how easy-going she seems today. She hasn't gotten upset or been unreasonable even once. It's like some kind of fantasy version of Alaina. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand. I could get used to this. "What do you have against anime, anyway?"

"I used to just think it was weird," said Alaina. "I mean, Ken tried getting me to watch a few things over the years, but it was the same every time. All the characters were idiots, they always had those faces with the creepy, huge eyes—bleh."

She wrinkled her nose as they turned to walk along the side of the bleachers. "Fine, whatever, that's anime, I guess. I told him I wanted something with a great story. I said it'd be a plus if there was a well-written female character. But half the episode would be awkward shots of girls' underwear or bouncing boobs with impossible physics—Like, has anyone in anime-land ever even heard of a sports bra?—and all the girls in the series always fell in love with these idiot, boring guys for no fucking reason. Argh! And the one series we watched a few episodes of that he said was for girls was somehow worse."

That's... I don't remember any of those things bothering me that much? Maybe Ken has bad taste? "You said you used to think it was just weird?"

Alaina snorted. "Yeah, that was before I got... you know. And then I researched those stupid things a bit and they're all for anime creeps. It was... Well, it was more than a little traumatizing with everything else that was going on."

"Ah." Will remained silent for a moment as they crossed the upper field parking lot on the way to the lower lot. "That must have been really tough." He squeezed her hand.

"It was," she sighed. "Especially Tuesday after our little rendezvous mishap the day before. You really showed up at the worst possible time, y'know."

Will blew out a breath. Ugh, I feel so bad about that. Even more so now, hearing her talk about it. Shit, did she get her Class while we were having sex that day? That's really fucked up. "I really am sorry about that. The whole Monday thing, I mean. That was—"

"Hey." Alaina came to a stop just as they passed the short log fencing on the other side of the lot. She gave him a serious look. "Will, I forgive you. Alright?"

"Er... You do?"

"Yeah." She shifted in place and looked down for a moment. "I mean, I understand. Your Trait was working on me then, so you probably knew I was turned on right away, and that I thought you were cute. Right?"

"Yeah, more or less. But—"

"And I am an amazing actress, aren't I?" Alaina giggled.

"You were kind of blowing my mind with how real I thought your acting was," Will said, grinning sheepishly.

"Don't get too cocky about this, but..." His girlfriend moistened her lips, then beckoned him in closer as she rose up on her tip toes. "I've been thinking maybe we should try it again sometime," she whispered hotly into his ear. "Without my Quirk, though."

She relaxed, giving him a single raised eyebrow as she began slowly walking once more.

The gentle tugging on his hand dragged him out of a brief, but intense daydream.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Alaina. She grinned widely back at him.

Will started forward once more. She's amazing. He glanced around, but they were crossing past the tennis courts now and nobody else was nearby. "I was just thinking how amazing you are."

She squeezed his hand. "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"It's sort of like what you were saying earlier," Will said after a moment. "I thought even if we ever went out, it'd be...difficult? Er... No offense, I just meant that it was hard to tell if you were, um, having fun sometimes before today? I, uh..." he trailed off. I should put down the shovel before I accidentally say the wrong thing.

Alaina was silent for a few paces. "Do you... Um..." She lapsed back into silence for another moment. "Do you like me better today, then?" she asked in a small voice, not looking at him.

"No," Will answered quickly.

She turned, hiding a disappointed look a fraction of a second too late.

"It's not that I like you any more or less today, I didn't mean it like that. It's more like..." Will frowned. How do I phrase this? "You're complex," he said slowly. "Today you seem more confident, maybe? No, unburdened, I think is the word I want. As though a big weight is off your shoulders. For the past week, you always seemed very..." He paused. "Introspective, maybe. Like you were watching things happen from behind a wall of your own thoughts. And today you're actually here."