Fighting (10 page)

I
put my hips against the back of a couch and fell backward, so that my back was
against the seat cushions and my legs were curling over the back of the couch. 

Ollie
collapsed beside of me and asked, "Did you know that your foot fits
perfectly between your wrist and the crook of your elbow?"

I
turned my head against the cushion to look at him.  "Did you know that
light travels at 186,282 miles per second?"

He
smiled and countered that with, "It takes a little more than eight minutes
for light emitted from the sun to reach Earth."

"Honey
never expires."

"It
only takes about forty pounds of force around someone's neck to knock them
unconscious."

"The
human ear can usually detect frequencies between twenty Hertz and twenty
thousand Hertz."

"What
is this?  The quest to find the smartest loser?" Spencer asked as he and
August came into the room. 

"Jealous
you wouldn't win?" Ollie returned.

Spencer
leveled a look at Ollie and flopped down noisily across another couch.  August
sat daintily in a recliner and produced a book.  I cocked my head at her and
said, "I didn't know you liked to read, August."

"Not
as much as you do.  But I do like it."

I
raised my eyebrows at her in astonishment, which made her giggle, probably
because I was upside down.  "How do you know I like to read?" I asked
her.

"I
see you reading on the balcony in the studio a lot."

"And
you never stop to say hi?"

She
shrugged.  "I didn't want to disturb you."

"That's
very thoughtful," I said.  "I appreciate it, but if you want to join
me, we can read together."

She
smiled.  "Okay."

"That
was touching," Spencer said dryly.  "Let's kill some bad guys,
now."

He
booted up my game system and chose a multi-player war game.  I saw movement at
the doorway and looked over to see Ethan hovering, looking at me with a raised
brow.  I didn't know if it was because I was upside down or that I was there,
at all.  I looked at my watch and saw that it was a little after eight.  So
this is where he was when I was usually doing my solo gig upstairs. 

Ollie
saw him too and said, "Come on Ethan, Alex and I are going to demolish the
opposition.  Choose your team wisely." 

His
eyes found mine again and he hesitated, obviously unsure because of my
presence.

I
made a split second decision to take the attention off of him so he could
decide what he wanted without pressure.  "Ollie, who says I'm on your
team?  I thought to be the best, you're supposed to beat the best?  And we all
know who the best around here is."

I
paused and we said, "
Me
," at the same time.

He
laughed and said, "Come on, we'd dominate together."

I
swung my feet around the side of the couch and sat upright.  "It does seem
kind of unfair to the others, doesn't it?"

Ollie
looked back to the doorway, but Ethan was gone. 

Ok,
then.

Spencer
passed out the game remotes and I turned to Ollie.  "Do you guys hang in
here every night after supper?"

He
kept his eyes glued to the screen and shrugged his shoulders. 
"Mostly."

"Why
didn't I know this?"

He
shrugged again but looked at me this time.  "You like your alone time.  We
didn't want to bother you."

Who's
the biggest asshole in the land?  That would be me.  But I wasn't used to
living with people who actually spent time together! 

"I
didn't mean to ignore --"

He
nudged his shoulder against mine and interrupted me.  "I know.  You just
needed some time to adjust."  And then he looked back to the screen. 

This kid has a magical ability to always put me at ease.  He's so
damned understanding.  There's no way he's only twelve.

Ollie
and I took turns playing against August and Spencer.  Around ten o'clock, I
felt an urge to sneak upstairs and spy on Ethan, just to see what he did, but I
didn't.  Instead, I called it a night and went to sleep with a fantastic but
foreign light, fluttery feeling floating around my stomach. 

The
next day after training, we all trooped down to the room full of knives and
targets.  Brooks was waiting when we got there. 

He
gestured to the table filled with more knives than I've ever seen at once and
said, "Knife throwing drills first.  Knife fighting second.  Gun range
third."  Everyone nodded and he walked over to address me personally. 
"Practice what we went over yesterday, and then just observe for the
fighting.  You've been to a gun range before, but before you go down to ours, one
of us will take you through the parts of this particular gun and show you how
to load and clean it.  Deal?"

I
was nodding a little eagerly almost the entire time he was talking, so I
stopped and said, "Deal."

He
smiled at my enthusiasm and handed me a set of three knives.

"Throw
to your little heart's content, oh Violent One."

I
stepped up to an
x
that was marked on the floor in tape.  I started at
the seven foot mark and checked my stance and my breathing, and then I threw my
first knife.  It didn't stick, but my second and third did.  Gratified, I
waited until the others ran out of knives and went to retrieve theirs from
their targets before I did the same. 

I
did this for a while and when I felt like I really had a hang of it, I stepped
back to the next
x
, which was farther away at about fifteen feet. 
Brooks approached again and taught me how to adjust my grip and technique
because of the distance change.  It took me a few shots to get it right, but
after I did, I spent the rest of the time throwing from that distance. 

Brooks
called time for the second part of knife training, hand to hand combat with
knives.  I stepped back and watched as they paired off and moved into the more
spacious part of the room.  They exchanged their real knives for wooden ones
and got into their fighting stances.  Spencer was with Ethan, August with
Ollie.  I switched my gaze back and forth between the two, observing as much as
I could in the excitement. 

Brooks
drifted over to me and stood at my side, watching for a different reason.  He
was looking for tactical errors, but he didn't find many.  When it was time to
go shoot the guns, I just assumed we would head outside, but no, there was a
basement and it was dedicated entirely to a shooting range.  I also assumed
that Brooks himself would show me my way around the gun, but August did
instead. 

From
behind the Plexiglass partition that separated the range from the 'waiting
area,' she walked me through how to load, take apart, and put back together a
9mm automatic gun.  The fact that she was wearing pink did not retract from her
aura of badassness, I thought.  Once she quizzed me and I got all the answers
right, she taught (or re-taught) me how to stand, hold my gun and position my
arms.  Once cleared for shooting, we both donned glasses and ear plugs and
ventured out to the loud booths. 

After
I emptied a new box of bullets into a paper dummy, August reeled in my paper so
we could judge my skills up close.

"You
did well for your first time," August said.

"It's
not my first time."

"For
all intents and purposes, it is," she countered.

Fair
enough.  We looked at the target together, and I happily noted that most hit
somewhere inside the main chest area of the paper dummy, with a few strays that
landed on the edges. 

But
then I looked at everyone else's papers, and all of their hits were not only
clustered together in the center, they were in the
center
of the
center.  It just kind of looked like a big hole in the heart area instead of
lots of little holes like in mine.  Even Ollie's and he wasn't using a real
gun, just a paintball gun.  The heart of his paper was filled with paint rimmed
holes.

Ollie
noticed my face fall just a little and said, "Don't worry, you'll get
better with time."

I
looked at him and shoved his head to the side playfully. 

"Whatever,
kid."

*****

The
evening after our kitchen dancing extravaganza, I helped Gwen cook again, but
with the music less loud this time around, and helped cleaned up after, as
well.   There was something satisfying about eating a meal you helped prepare. 
Made it taste better, somehow.  I also went to the living area with the kids
again instead of retreating to my room.  Ethan was already there when I arrived
this time, but he didn't play video games with us.  He just watched and worked
on his laptop. 

Around
nine, I left for Yoga Alone Time in the studio.  I almost didn't want to leave
the living room because we were having fun, but I had a good routine going and
I didn't want to mess it up.  I went through my poses and breathing techniques
and felt the breeze stir my hair around my shoulders, tickling the skin there. 
I realized my hair was still loose, so I made a braid down the side of my head,
pulling it back from my face and off my neck. 

By
the time I did my last pose, I was more relaxed but not quite ready for bed.  I
knew Ethan was coming though, so I rolled up my mat and stowed it by the
window, knowing no one would mess with it there.  I turned and Ethan showed up
like clockwork.  I made to pass him and looked at him right as I got near him. 
He was already looking at me and he opened his mouth to say something.  My
pulse jumped but I paused and waited somewhat anxiously, having no idea what he
would say. 

He hesitated, and then closed his mouth again.  Looking
annoyed, his eyes trailed down my long braid and landed on his hands as he
wrapped them.  I waited, but after he remained silent for a few vulnerable,
heart pounding seconds, I left, thinking I must be out of my mind for waiting
at all.

All that guy has to do is look at me and he's
automatically annoyed.

The
next evening though, when I looked up at his entrance, he actually walked
toward me and tossed me a pair of hand wraps.  I raised my hands, catching them
instinctively, but I was thrown completely off guard.

Before
I could ask what he was doing, he said in a no-nonsense voice, "You need
to work on your feet placement.  You should be quicker on your feet than you
are."

His
hands were already wrapped, so instead of watching his hands, he watched me,
waiting for a reaction.  My pulse was hammering from having his full attention
directed on me.  I opened my mouth for a scathing reply because my guard, as
always, was instantly up because he walked into the room, and it took me a few
alarmed seconds to realize that yes, he spoke directly to me but no, he wasn't
insulting me.  He was
helping
me.  Again. 

Uh,
say what?

I
closed my mouth and looked at the hand wraps I was holding in bewilderment.  I
considered saying
no thanks
, but thought about how much I actually was
struggling with fighting and remembered what Brooks had said about asking for
help.  Ethan was making it easy on me so that I didn't have to ask for help, I
simply had to accept it. 

I
studied his face for a moment, wanting to make sure he wasn't just screwing
with me.  Finding nothing in his features but determination, I shoved my
speculation aside and strengthened my resolve.  As soon as I began wrapping my
hands, he pivoted on his heel and walked over to a mat on the opposite side of
the room, where he normally trained. 

I
followed him, not knowing what the hell was going to happen.  Surely he
wouldn't take advantage of the situation and just kick my ass, would he?  My
gut told me no, so I followed him wordlessly.  My suspicion disappeared but I
was still kind of apprehensive.  This was the first time that we were
voluntarily alone together, and not only were we going to be openly staring
each other, we would have to touch and probably talk, on purpose. 

"You
have good technique when you're stationary, but the moment you're engaged in a
fight, your balance is off and you become unstable on your feet.  You need to
keep your body aligned instead of overextending to the side in caution."

I
nodded and he motioned for me to put my hands up.  We went through several
fighting combos in slow motion, him pointing out in great detail what I was
doing wrong and how to fix it.  And he wasn't even condescending about it.

"Good,
that's better.  So when you block with your arm, be confident and don't screw
up your face and eyes protectively.  Keep your eyes on your target and stay
steady on your feet or he'll have an opportunity to grab your shoulder and
shove you off balance.  Or worse."

"Okay."

"And
when you punch, use your entire body to empower it."

"I
knew that!" I said, happy to know at least know
one
thing.

"But
you don't use that," he insisted.  "Knowing and doing are two
different roads."

He
straightened and looked at the clock on the wall.  It was three past eleven. 
Good God, it'd already been an entire hour.  And we both survived without
tossing any insults around. 

He
twisted back to me and I said impulsively, "Ross is not a very good
teacher."

I
meant what I said, but what I really meant by that was that Ethan
was
a
good teacher.  I did not see that coming at all.  He was patient with me the
entire time, and much like I was with tutoring people in school, he saw what I
was doing wrong and explained it better so that I'd more easily understand it. 
And he never taunted me when I was down or took an opportunity to make me feel
stupid.

Oh God
, I realized with astonishment. 
I
think I respect him
.

How
did
that
happen?

Judging
by the look on Ethan's face, I think he read between the lines and knew what I
meant.  He nodded his head slowly and said, "Murphy's an okay
teacher." 
But you're a better tutor
was implied. 

With
that, he turned and left the room, leaving me completely disarmed and off
balance, which is exactly what he was coaching me against.  

*****

The
next morning after my drills, I applied everything Ethan and I went over the
previous night and noticed that Ross seemed a little surprised when I didn't
fall down as much.  I flicked my gaze over toward Ethan when we were done and
my body gave a little jolt to find him already watching me.  When we made eye
contact, he nodded his head in approval almost imperceptibly.  I clenched my
teeth to keep from smiling at him.

Just
because we weren't openly glowering at each other didn't mean we were best
friends.

I
lifted my chin in acknowledgement, turned on my heel and unwrapped my hands.  I
took down my hair from my pony tail and braided it down the side again.  Ollie
came over and bumped knuckles with me, which made me chuckle.  We made our way
to the kitchen and saw that Gwen made us grilled chicken sandwiches for lunch. 
It looked delicious, but before I made my plate, I washed my hands and made
everyone a drink like I usually did. 

No
one noticed that I made Ethan a drink, too.  Except, of course, for Ethan.  I
set it down in front of his plate and he looked up at me like he had never seen
me before.  I held back another smile, this one from the funny look on his
face, and bounced away to retrieve the rest of the glasses.  When I finally sat
down and took a bite of my sandwich, I felt like I had a
eureka
! moment,
only it was in my mouth. 

"Damn,
Gwen," I groaned between bites.  She laughed and shook her head and I
said, "No, you don't understand.  This is my favorite food and you made it
perfectly.  I think you're my favorite person today."

"I
get that a lot," she joked.

After
lunch, I agreed to tutor Spencer with his math and then later, August, Spencer,
Ollie and I congregated in the kitchen again to help with supper.  I caught
Gwen smiling at us individually when we weren't looking and I knew that she was
thrilled that we were spending time with her instead of just bounding in and
out for food.  I think she actually craved company.  Thrived off of it, even. 
I made a mental note to let this become a regular thing. 

After
supper, instead of playing video games, Brooks hung out with us and the five of
us played Texas Hold 'Em.  Ethan sat in his usual chair and was on his laptop
again, but Ross, Ben and Gwen were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's
Gwen?" I asked.

"She
went home," Brooks said.  "She's married with two grown kids in
college."

"Hmm,"
I said thoughtfully.  "Ben?"

"Security
room."

"Ross?"

"Out,"
Brooks said.

Around
nine, I went all in and sacrificed my chips to August, who was really very
good.  She had that whole shy thing going for her, which meant we constantly
underestimated her.

I
didn't know if it was from weeks of being constantly aware of him, or just that
his gaze was that tangible of a thing, but I felt Ethan's eyes on me as I left
the room.  I fought looking back at him until I was almost completely out of
the room.  I looked at him from under my eyelashes and we had eye contact for
about two seconds until I rounded the doorway and disappeared down the
hallway.