The next Friday night, Sophie and Jessie were sitting on the couch.

"Warren’s already asleep?" Jessie asked.

"Yeah," Sophie sighed. "Rehab and school is really wearing him out, he’s so tired all the time. Plus he’s cranky and depressed. He hides it well, for our sake, but I know him too well. The poor guy’s exhausted and miserable."

"Which means, I take it, that Sophie’s not getting any."

"Sophie’s not getting any at all," Sophie started. "And, you’ve been spending a lot of time in your own bed."

"Yeah," Jessie agreed, "and I think it’s going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. I hope you don’t mind, and I’m sorry, since you’re obviously horny—but I’d feel funny sleeping with you guys now."

"What happened?" Sophie asked.

"Well, Ryan and I slept together for the first time a week ago tonight. Wasn’t the last time, either. In fact, if he were around, I wouldn’t be sitting here chatting with you."

Sophie laughed. "Where is he?"

"Moscow."

"Oh, yeah—Cup of Russia. I’ve kind of blanked on the whole Grand Prix schedule since we weren’t able to be in it this year. So," she grinned, "how was it?"

"Oh my God, Sophie," Jessie grinned. "Look, I knew I was falling for him before we went to bed. Now, afterwards? Even more so. He’s everything I could want—in a boyfriend, and in a lover."

"I’m glad, Jess, really," Sophie smiled. "I’ll admit it, I’m going to miss you, but I’m happy for you."

"Well, the thing with Ryan is still kind of new, so I don’t want to jeapordize it—but, as for you and I, I’ll never say never. I’m not quite sure how open-minded Ryan would be—especially if it includes Warren—but he didn’t have any problem with it before we went to bed with one another."

"Jess, it’s OK. Really. Ryan’s your important thing right now. Warren and I will always love you, no matter what, and no matter where you sleep."

"I know."

"Besides, you have a bigger problem, you know."

"Yeah. Courtney."

"Does she know?"

"I don’t believe so. I think Ryan’s trying to keep it a secret from her for as long as he can. Which, I’ll admit, makes me uncomfortable, but I understand his reasons."

"I hope it doesn’t blow up in his face," Sophie said.

Laurel was insecure, and she knew it. She couldn’t help it.

She still couldn’t quite believe she had snared someone like Ryan Kelleher—and, because she didn’t quite believe it, she didn’t believe in it. Laurel was a beautiful girl, but you couldn’t convince her of that—since she’d been invisible to guys until she met Ryan. That was because of her intimidating brains, but she didn’t always quite see it that way. Ryan being her first serious boyfriend, she didn’t have any experience to draw on. She kept seeing Ryan as keeping her around until he found something better.

This was especially true now that Ryan had become Georgia Tech’s starting point guard, and was playing well. The girls flocked to him.

And Laurel didn’t feel she could measure up. She didn’t even think she treated him especially well, though she didn’t do it on purpose. She was just very committed to her schoolwork—and she sometimes blew him off because of it.

On this Saturday night, he had pulled her away from the books long enough to go to a party. And she was not having a good time. Ryan was being bombarded. She had brought her friend Lisa, so she’s have someone to talk to, but that wasn’t enough. Ryan was trying, but, if it wasn’t the guys on the team pulling him aside to talk basketball, it was the horde of girls accosting him as he tried to make his way back to Laurel.

One was particularly persistant. To make matters worse, she was everything Laurel wasn’t—a bubble-headed bleach blonde with enormous tits and a waspish waist who was slobbering all over Ryan. Besides her self-percieved physical shortcomings, Laurel was well aware that she didn’t slobber. She loved Ryan with all her heart, but she just wasn’t the fawning type. She was too self-contained for that.

But this bimbo was certainly the fawning type, and, to Laurel’s horror, it seemed to be working. She saw Ryan—her boyfriend!—put her arm around this girl and lead her off from the main party, towards a room in the back! With her here? She couldn’t believe it! She knew this day was coming, but with her sitting there? She wanted to cry.

Lisa, her friend, saw it all. "What is he doing?"

"Replacing me, isn’t that obvious?"

"Nothing’s obvious, you can’t make assumptions," Lisa said. "Go follow them."

Laurel found where they had gone, a bedroom in the back of the house. She stood outside the door and heard the girl say, "Ryan, I’m so glad we’re finally alone!"

"Carrie, we’re alone so we can talk."

"Talk? I can think of more fun things to do than talk," Carrie giggled.

"Look, Carrie. I’m flattered, really. But you have to stop this. I have a girlfriend."

"Laurel?" Carrie snorted. "I hear she treats you like shit." Laurel, still listening from outside the door, blinked at that.

"Where did you hear that?" Ryan asked incredulously. "Laurel treats me like anything but shit."

"It’s common knowledge around the team that she blows you off to study."

"So? School’s important to her. I ‘blow her off’ for basketball, sometimes."

"What does she have that I don’t?" Carrie asked.

"My heart," Ryan said. Laurel just about melted at that. How could I have doubted him for a second, she thought to herself. Carrie was still babbling, but Laurel barely heard it. She did hear Ryan’s voice rise, just a bit, in response.

"Listen. I’ve tried to be nice, but that’s not working. First of all, Laurel’s brilliant. I’m not in her league, but I’m no dummy, and I prefer a girlfriend who I can have an intelligent conversation with. Sorry, Carrie, but that leaves you right out. Second of all, Laurel’s every bit as beautiful as you are—and she’s wearing a quarter of the makeup you are so she comes by it naturally. I’d even bet your boobs are fake." Laurel heard Carrie hiss at that one! "Third of all, Laurel loves me for me—the whole me. She wouldn’t care less if I quit basketball tomorrow. Without basketball, you wouldn’t even give me the time of day. What does Laurel have that you don’t? Everything. Goodbye, Carrie."

Laurel waited, out of sight, until she saw Carrie clomp out of the room. Then she ran in and launched herself at Ryan, tackling him back onto the bed in the room.

"Wha….Laurel?"

"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!" she blurted.

"For what?"

"For spying on you," she said. She was blubbering by now. "I followed you, I saw you bring her in here, and I thought, you know—I’m so sorry!"

"It’s OK. It probably did look suspicious," Ryan said, cuddling her close.

"I’m so insecure. I keep waiting for you to tell me you found someone else. What you said to her, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard."

"You’re so self confident everywhere else, maybe I just don’t realize." He pulled her head up so he was looking in her eyes. "Laurel. I love you. You have nothing to worry about. Ever. Got me?"

"Yes," she said.

"Face it, kiddo—you’re stuck with me."

"If that’s stuck, I’ll take it!"

Courtney Rogers was beside herself.

She and Ryan had gone to Skate Canada and had finished second—good enough. But then they had gone to Cup of Russia. The world silver medalists, Kuznetsova and Vasilyevskiy, were there, so they figured another second would be fine.

They finished fourth. Not only the Russians defeated them, but the Brits—who they had beaten at last years’ worlds, fluke though that might have been—plus a young Canadian team that nobody had ever heard of. Heck, they barely beat the Irish team.

Courtney was livid. She blamed Ryan for the bad showing. It wasn’t as though they had made mistakes or anything—they hadn’t. They were just sluggish—and Courtney blamed Ryan because he just didn’t seem interested.

They got on the plane back from Moscow and Courtney started in on him. Usually, a good harangue worked wonders—because Ryan was a wimp. It didn’t take much to get him cowering in the corner, determined to do everything Courtney said.

Not this time. "Court, shut up," he said the minute she started in on him.

"What?"

"You heard me. I’m in no mood for your tongue."

"Well, you’re gonna get it anyway! You blew that competition!"

"Me? ME? The last time I checked, there were two skaters on that ice!"

"Right," Courtney said, "and the male skater of that couple skated like he didn’t want to even be on the same ice surface as the female skater! And the judges noticed it! You weren’t skating with me, you were throwing me around like a sack of potatoes!"

"Maybe if you made skating with you a more pleasant experience, I wouldn’t feel that way."

Courtney was taken aback—Ryan was never like this. He was a very manipulatable person. He never fought back. What was going on? Time for the heavy artillery. "Fine, Ryan, if you feel that way, maybe you shouldn’t be skating with me. You can be replaced, you know."

"Really?" he snorted. "With who?"

"Well, I hear Evan Pogdar needs a partner."

Ryan actually laughed at that. "Evan? Are you shitting me? Evan wouldn’t put up with your bullshit for seven seconds! And the minute your fucking mother said one word to him, he’d be out of there. Don’t give me Evan. Face it, Court—you’re stuck with me. And if you want this to work, you might want to start treating me as a human being, and not something you scraped off your shoe."

Courtney didn’t say anything to that. She couldn’t—she was too stunned. What the hell had gotten into her docile, accomodating partner?

Kristin Kelleher was driving to Tom’s apartment in Acton, thinking.

She trusted Tom, she did. But there were times when it was difficult—because he really got along well with Allison. And they were living together.

Allison was outgoing, vivacious, fun. Now that her skating was in a much more comfortable position, having gotten away from Ron Aztov, the real Allison came out more and more. She was great, even Kristin liked her, a lot—but Tom was who she was with, day after day. Kris couldn’t say that this fact made her at all comfortable.

Kristin pulled into Tom’s apartment complex, and went to his apartment. She had a key, so she just let herself in. She found Tom and Allison in the kitchen.

They were cooking, standing very close together. In fact, Allison had her hand on Tom’s shoulder. Kristin started a bit at that. "Hello," she said.

They spun around, but didn’t jump or anything like they’d been ‘caught’. "Hi, Sweetie," Tom said happily, walking over to Kristin and giving her a big kiss.

"Hey, Kris!" Allison said. "How’s things?"

"Fine," she said after Tom had broken the kiss. "What are you two up to?"

"Cooking," Allison said. "I want it to be good and Tom’s a better cook than I am. Eddie’s on his way," she giggled.

"Yup, you’re finally gonna meet the famous Eddie," Tom told Kris.

That made Kris feel better. Eddie was Allison’s boyfriend from her hometown. When he got there, Kristin really felt better, because Eddie and Allison were clearly over the moon about one another.

Later, cuddling in bed, Tom said, "You OK? You seemed kind of subdued when you first got here."

"It’s nothing. It’s silly." She sighed. "I worry about Allison."

"Well, that’s natural. She lives here, and we have become very good friends. You have nothing to worry about, though, you know. Allison’s not my type. I love her as a friend, but romantically? It would never happen, even if I didn’t have you. Besides, she and Eddie are a perfect match—believe me, she’s not looking."

"I know. I said it was silly."

"Well, not that silly, due to our sharing an apartment. But, believe me, sweetie, the only person I want is you."

"Good!"

Courtney knew something was up. Ryan had changed. She needed to find out why.

Unbeknownst to Ryan, Courtney had a key to his apartment. The Friday after they got back from Russia, after trying to get a hold of him, she let herself in to his apartment.

She didn’t know what she’d find, but she didn’t expect him to be there. But, when she got in, she heard noises coming from the bedroom. She followed them—and stopped short.

There was Ryan, she could tell, stark naked, fucking the ever-loving daylights out of….someone. Courtney couldn’t immediately tell who it was. Ryan had a girlfriend? One that wasn’t her? What the hell was going on here?

Then Courtney saw who it was—that girl who was friends with the Kellehers! Jessica! What the hell did Ryan think he was doing?

Before she could say anything, Jess spotted her. "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" she screamed, throwing Ryan off of her. Ryan sputtered, looked up, and saw Courtney.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?" he screamed.

"I have a key," Courtney said.

"I didn’t give you no key!"

"I had it made, when we first got you the apartment."

"Oh, isn’t that just dandy. Courtney? Get out. And leave the key."

Recovering herself, Courtney said, "I will not. Just what the hell do you think you’re doing? Her? Sleeping with the enemy, isn’t that just dandy!"

Ryan jumped out of the bed, and stomped over to her. Jessie had covered herself up with the blanket and was hunched on the bed, but Ryan was too enraged to care—besides, Courtney had seen all of him anyway. "Enemy? What the hell are you talking about? Warren and Sophie aren’t the enemy! They’re good friends, good people. Yes, they’re competitors; and, yes, I want to beat them, but that’s on the ice, you idiot! As for Jess, I’m in love with her. Period. You have nothing to say about it. Now GET OUT!"

Courtney, at a loss, got out.

Ryan turned back to the bed. Jess looked at him. "You’re in love with me?" she said.

"Damn. I did want to say that to you a wee bit more romantically."

"Well, take two, then," Jessie giggled.

Ryan grinned, and climbed back into the bed. "Jessica, I love you, heart and soul."

"I love you too," Jess returned with a smile, snuggling into him. "So, tell me something. Did the excrement just collide with the portable cooling device?"

"Oh, in a big way," Ryan confirmed.

"Hmph. Well, thus endeth the peace and quiet phase of our relationship."

"Oh, really? I wasn’t sensing much quiet a couple minutes ago."

"True," Jess laughed. "But we were rudely interrupted."

"I think I can pick up where I left off."

"Well, not quite. You’ll have to work me up again—somebody kind of killed my arousal."

"No big surprise, she did that to me when I was sleeping with her," Ryan quipped. Jessie cracked up laughing. "Anyhow, build you back up again? I think I can do that," he said, reaching underneath the blanket.

"Knew you could," she purred.