Junior Year Box Set

I’d practiced a lot with Cassidy, who was much quicker than Ricky. I concentrated on defending myself. Ricky quickly tired, and in a last-ditch effort, launched into full attack mode. That left him open to my counters.

The way the scene was supposed to play out was Ricky was going to kick the shit out of me. Before he could make his killing strike, the Police Special Forces would storm the room. I was to dive through the window that overlooked the water where I would disappear. The window was made of breakaway glass, and I would land on a big foam pad, but it would look like I’d gone into the water.

I did as Cassidy had trained me and cracked him across the bridge of the nose to stun him. He dropped his batons and came at me. I decided that I shouldn’t just pound him with batons since that didn’t seem sporting. Cassidy would kill me later, but I dropped them. Blood was now running out of his nose. I don’t know if he imagined he was Rocky, and this was his big comeback scene, but I was having none of it. The man had tried to end my football and baseball careers. I did a bone strike to the side of his head, just behind the ear.

He wasn’t quite sure what was happening and shook his head. I followed it up with a left-right combination that blackened both his eyes as his brain shut down and he collapsed. The police burst in, and I dove through the window. That part was a lot of fun.

When they finally called ‘cut,’ they discovered that Ricky was out cold. Cassidy and Paul grabbed me and hustled me off the set.

“Props man, that looked awful real,” Kent commented.

“It was real,” Cassidy said.

“He tried to hurt me, so things got real from that point forward. Let’s get out of here before they decide they need a second take,” I suggested.

“They haven’t needed one yet,” Hana commented.

◊◊◊

We drove to the hotel so we could check out and I could shower. We were on the red-eye back to LA. As we were getting ready, Hana came and found me.

“I’ve decided to stay for a while. The purpose of the trip was to see what my heritage was about, and we spent most of it working. Caryn said that the ticket can be converted for when I want to come home.”

“Does this have anything to do with a certain cute actor?” I asked.

“Some. I want to take some time getting to know him and see if there’s anything there. Please don’t tell my dad that,” she said, suddenly worried.

“I won’t lie for you, but if he or your uncle don’t ask, they won’t hear it from me,” I assured her.

◊◊◊

We survived the paparazzi gauntlet at the airport and were waiting for our flight when I received a call from Haru.

“I want to apologize for my boyfriend’s behavior. At first, he wanted to accuse you of assaulting him, but they caught what he said in playback. He confessed that he was jealous and tried to hurt you.”

“Is he okay?” I asked.

“For someone who lost a fight, he’s not too bad. He received a concussion, two black eyes, a broken nose, and a dislocated shoulder. Ricky always brags about how good he is at the dojo. I expect I won’t have to listen to that anymore,” Haru said.

“So, you and he are fine?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, I love him. If I didn’t, he would be hitting the curb as I kicked him to it, but I can’t see living without him.”

“Then, I can’t imagine why he would ever be jealous.”

“That is a topic we will be discussing for quite some time. I’m sorry Ricky acted like he did, and I hope you didn’t get hurt.”

“If he had followed through with his plans, I might never have played sports again. Tell him that if I ever see him again, I might do even worse,” I admitted.

She sighed.

“I really don’t know what to say. You helped the show and me so much. The guys all love you, and the director even admitted you weren’t too bad for an American. He didn’t understand how bad that sounded and said he is sorry if he offended you.

“They would all love for you to come back for a sequel,” she said hopefully.

“We’ll see. I honestly don’t know when I would have time to do it.”

She laughed.

“You did six episodes’ worth of scenes in two days. I’m sure they could get a full series shot if you came back for a week.”

“I was just a bit player in this one. If they could figure out a way to make it work, I might be able to do it,” I said.

“We’ll make sure Ricky is out of the country,” she said with a laugh.

I still wasn’t happy with him, so that might have to be a requirement. We said our goodbyes, and my plane was called.

◊◊◊

I was sitting next to Brook.

“So, you love me,” she began.

“I do.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“What do you want it to mean?”

“I’m not sure,” Brook admitted. “I have a feeling that if we become exclusive, things could get serious.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“Are you ready for that?” she countered.

“I think I’m there. Tami did a number on me. I pushed it, and she wasn’t ready. To be honest, I probably wasn’t ready. I can’t say for sure if I’m ready now, either, but for you, I’d be willing to give it a shot. Over the last year, I’ve come to realize what a special woman you are. Then last night happened …”