Honesty - SF8 (37 page)

Jamie knew that the San Francisco Symphony was one of the favorite events on her mother’s busy schedule, and she was quite touched that she would give it up just to watch Ryan play volleyball.

Catherine looked about and commented, "Interesting look for the band, Honey. Where on earth do they even purchase straw hats any more?"

Jamie shrugged, rolling her eyes a little as she said, "They’re called the Straw Hat Band, so the hats are mandatory. They must have a secret supplier." Both women gazed at the members of the band, clad in their straw boaters, navy blue vests and jeans. Even though they were making a tentative attempt at uniformity, the fact that each person covered nearly every centimeter of the vests with patches, badges and pins allowed them to maintain their individuality.

Catherine leaned over and asked, "Do you know much about this game, Dear? It’s been many years since I’ve seen a volleyball match."

"No, I don’t know much at all. Ryan talks about it with all of this jargon, and I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t know what she’s talking about. I don’t think that will hamper my enjoyment, though. Heck, I get pleasure out of watching her work at her computer!"

"That doesn’t surprise me in the least," Catherine chuckled. "I’ve seen you watch her in rapt fascination when she’s studying a menu at a restaurant!"

The younger woman shrugged her shoulders and said, "What can I say? She’s inherently fascinating." As Jamie surveyed the court, she decided,
There’s only one thing I really need to know to enjoy the game—that Ryan is playing.
That decided, she went back to her favorite activity of watching her partner like a hawk. Ryan was a blur of activity during their warm-ups; and when she wasn’t actively hitting or slamming or blocking the ball, she was animatedly talking to the younger players.

At seven o’clock Stanford came running out of the visitors’ locker room and took over the court. Jamie thought it funny that the Cal players acted like they didn’t know the other side was there. Ryan’s team just casually walked off like they had all decided it was time to take a break. But when they got to their own sideline, they spread out and watched Stanford with rapt attention. Both of Cal’s assistant coaches went out on the court to shag balls for the Cardinal, and Niall informed Jamie that they provided that service mainly to get a good feel for how the other team stacked up.

Jamie didn’t know much about volleyball, but it was clear that this team was good. They were very tall, very agile, and very athletic, and all of those skills were displayed during their warm ups. "They look good," Jamie mused to Niall.

"They are good," he said seriously. "They are very good."

They watched the Cardinal go through the same types of drills that Cal had gone through, and at 7:10 Cal got the court back for their final warm ups. Ryan ran over to the curtain that separated the court from the rest of the large gymnasium and poked her head through. She was obviously speaking to someone, and when she popped back out loud music started coming from the public address system. The players seemed to get into the music, and Jamie noticed that they were all speaking to each other in an animated fashion. As the songs changed, they looked like they were trying to guess who had chosen each particular one. Then it dawned on Jamie why Ryan had called each of her teammates the night before. She had obviously asked each of them for their favorite song and had arranged to have them played during the warm up.

After a few minutes Stanford took the court at the same time, and the teams each stood back on the service lines and simultaneously hit serves at each other. There were 30 balls flying in the air and Jamie could not understand how someone did not get hit in the head, but they all seemed cognizant of where the balls were at all times. Amy’s song was obviously cued up because she started hopping around when Cyndi Lauper started to wail out "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." She forced Ryan to stop serving for a moment and dance wildly with her behind the service line, looking very loose and carefree.

Jamie happily noted that the antics of the upperclassmen seemed to visibly relax the younger players, and they began to dance around a bit also. It was almost 7:25 by this time, and the teams stopped their serving practice and paired off to warm up by tossing the ball back and forth. Most of the pairs passed the ball in a leisurely fashion, but Jordan and Ryan made the game a little more interesting. They started off like everyone else, but within a few tosses they were hitting the ball with more and more velocity. They were standing about 20 feet from each other, and as the game escalated Ryan’s song came on. She had chosen "Jump" by Van Halen and as she and Jordan tried to kill each other, she began to jump as high as she could every time the word was sung. It was truly mesmerizing to watch 15 women hitting the ball back and forth while they jumped in the air in time to the music, and they all got into the game quickly.

Catherine leaned over and asked, "Is that Ryan’s friend you’ve talked about?"

"Yep. That’s her," Jamie smirked. "Good thing I’m not the jealous type, huh?"

Catherine chuckled and said, "Oh, Jamie, you have nothing to worry about. If those two were together they’d be dead in a week!"

Watching them play their little game, Jamie had to admit that Ryan and Jordan could never be a couple. They were far too competitive with each other to ever be vulnerable enough to open up to each other fully. But as she watched she realized that even though she had never been jealous of Jordan sexually, she did envy her athletic ability. As she watched the interplay, Jamie saw Ryan’s eyes take on a familiar glow, and she whispered to her mother, "Buffy’s back."

Just when the gleam came into Ryan’s eyes, Jordan’s song came on. She had chosen "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and they watched with rapt attention as Ryan began to spike the ball at Jordan’s knees with as much power as she could generate. The sharp smack of the ball echoed through the auditorium as the entire crowd focused on the two women who looked like they were
trying to hit the ball
through
the other rather than
to
the other.

It was obvious that neither woman would back down, and the other pairs started to move further and further from them to avoid being hit. The pair switched roles, and now Jordan was doing the spiking, with Ryan digging. Jordan kept hitting hard knuckleballs right at Ryan’s feet, but no matter how low or how hard she hit, Ryan dug each one out and returned a scorcher. Jamie was beginning to worry that they would hurt each other, and the assistant coach obviously was worried about the same thing since she gingerly approached and told them to knock it off. Ryan gave her a sheepish grin and immediately started to play nice. But as the song ended and they started to walk back to the bench, Jordan had to zing a hard serve right into Ryan’s butt. The rest of the team had to wait for a moment as Ryan tried to chase Jordan down, but the blonde ran onto Stanford’s side of the net and tried to get into their huddle. The entire crowd laughed at their antics, and even Coach Placer seemed to get a kick out of it. The Stanford team pushed Jordan out of their midst, then watched Ryan put a firm headlock on her and drag her back to their own side.

"You’re certain that they’re friends, Dear?" Catherine asked as she watched the drama unfold.

"Yep. She’s used to a lot of rough play from growing up with her brothers and cousins, but I think Jordan is the only woman who brings out that rough side of her."

"Lucky for you," Catherine laughed, knowing that her daughter would be no match for the wild side of Ryan.

The band performed a reasonably professional rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at 7:30 on the dot. The starting lineups were introduced by the very enthusiastic announcer, and Jamie smiled at the exaggerated way that he pronounced each player’s name. He emphasized Jordan’s first name, calling out, ‘Joooor-dan Ericsson’ as she was introduced. But he clipped Ryan’s first name and called out ‘Ryan O’ Flaaaa-her-ty’ when it was her turn. Martin turned around and smiled up at Jamie as he said, "He did that well, didn’t he, Darlin?"

"He certainly did, Martin," she agreed wholeheartedly.

As the players took their places, Jamie noted that Ryan had rolled up the sleeves of her jersey and neatly tucked them in so they were invisible. She wondered why that was necessary, but her question was answered a moment later. Stanford served to open the match and after a flurry of fakes and leaps by both outside hitters and the middle blocker, the setter passed the ball to Ryan. She exploded from behind the three-meter line and slammed the ball so forcefully that after it bounced untouched on the center of the court, it ricocheted into the stands and hit a very surprised woman right in the lap. Catherine slowly turned her head to look at her daughter, her wide eyes nearly popping from her head. "Did you see…?"

"Yep. And I figured out why she doesn’t like sleeves on her jersey," she said happily, realizing that Ryan needed every bit of mobility she could muster.

Cal was very sharp in the first game, and they stunned the Cardinal with a 15-7 win. Conor was making a run for nachos and as he walked by Jamie he predicted, "The next game will not be so easy."

True to his prediction, the Cardinal bounced back and squeezed out a 15-13 win. Their winning point did not come easily, however; Cal was dogged on defense, and the final point came from a long rally that had the entire gym buzzing. Ryan made a spectacular dig by diving for the ball with her entire body perpendicular to the floor. Amazingly, she managed to return the ball as her body hit hard on the rubberized surface, but Stanford’s highly touted middle blocker managed to stuff the ball right back at Cal for the winning point.

A ten-minute intermission followed game two, and the O’Flahertys buzzed about the match for the entire time. Each of the cousins had a theory on what Cal could have done differently to take the game, but Caitlin cared only that Ryan was missing. She was not happy until the team came back out and she got to watch her favorite playmate jump around again.

Game three went to Stanford rather easily at 15-6. Cal looked nervous and tentative for a good portion of the game, and their service game was abysmal. Jamie counted six net serves in a row, and it was clear that the team was becoming frustrated. As point after point went against Cal, Jamie tapped Niall on the shoulder and asked, "Why do they keep congratulating each other when they lose a point?"

"You know, I’ve got to admit that makes no sense to me. I guess it’s a woman thing," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Jamie wasn’t sure how it happened or what the difference was, but game four turned into a showcase for her lover’s enormous talent. Ryan was in some kind of a groove that lasted throughout the game. The announcer called her name again and again, shouting out ‘Ryan O’Flaaaa-her-ty’ every time she scored a kill or blocked a ball. Ryan was in the backcourt serving at 13-11 and Niall leaned over and predicted, "She’ll nail this one with a jump serve."

Ryan bounced the ball twice and tossed it high into the air. Just when the ball began to descend she leapt as high as she could and smashed the ball with her open hand. It skimmed just over the tape, barely missing being called a fault. The ball curved wickedly and landed untouched between four diving players who hit the mat in frustration. Jamie detected a glimmer of a smile on her partner’s face, but she knew that Ryan would never show her feelings too obviously in a match like this.

Serving for the game, Ryan zipped another scorcher, but this one was dug out in a desperation play by their talented freshman outside hitter. The rally had been going on for nearly a minute when the ball was perfectly fed to Jordan. She jumped higher than Jamie had seen her go all night and slammed the ball powerfully into the leg of a Stanford player. The ball flew off at a wild angle, and Cal had evened the match.

"This is enervating, Jamie!" Catherine cried as she sank to her seat. "I’m exhausted from watching! How can she play so hard for so long?"

"I have no idea, Mother," Jamie admitted. "She just hates to lose so badly that she would do anything to avoid it. I guarantee she doesn’t even feel tired right now. She can just go into a zone and do what she needs to do, ignoring her own body."

Another short intermission allowed everyone to get up and stretch. There were a few cheerleaders, and they performed while the crowd buzzed about. Caitlin was getting fussy again so, after Jamie and Catherine changed her, Conor took her for a horsey ride around the auditorium. After ten minutes of racing around, they were both able to sit and enjoy the final game of the match.

Both teams were a little tentative at the start. The ball was served at least ten times before a point was scored, and Coach Placer finally called a time out to re-group. The break was only one minute long, but both sides seemed to benefit from it. The points started adding up, and in a matter of minutes the score was knotted at 13. The rotation was in Cal’s favor, as Niall pointed out. Cal’s smallest player was serving and their best middle blocker and the two outside hitters were in the frontcourt. Stanford’s smallest player was at the net and their best middle blocker had been taken out in a defensive strategy, leaving them a little weak.

As the team got ready, Erika Selznick came up behind Ryan and stood so close that their shoes touched. She appeared to be speaking to her, and Jamie noticed that she placed her hand against Ryan’s butt and held two fingers pointed down at the ground for the other players to see. "Niall, what’s the setter doing?" she asked.