Almost as if straight from some dramatic moment in a movie, a cigarette butt fell to the rough concrete, bouncing once before coming to a rolling stop. Like clockwork, a heavy, booted foot came on top of it, smashing the last remaining ashes to a memory. Audrie stood outside of the Hog Wild Bar, glancing at her thick leather watch on her left wrist. She was a little late. No big deal. She never was one to care.
Pushing through the heavy doors, the sound of hard rock flooded to her ears, and she made her way to the bar. Her appearance, alone, was intimidating. A thin white wife beater stretched across her upper torso carelessly and her scuffed jeans hung off her hips, down to her boots. Around her waist, she wore her signature leather belt with the large metallic belt buckle in the shape of brass knuckles.
"Hey," she spoke simply and mindlessly as she took a piece of torn paper from her back pocket and slid it across the bar top. The scruffy bartender glanced at the woman curiously before picking up the paper and reading it. "Hog Wild Bar. 11p. Give this to the tender. He'll show you. -Tyler" Audrie reached behind her, rubbed the back of her shortly cut, dark brunette mess of hair, and waited for further instruction. The bar tender gave her one last look, curiously arching his brow, and a faint grin appeared across his lips. "Alright," he finally spoke as he made his way from around the bar. "Follow me, then..." It was obvious he did not know why Tyler would give a girl the ticket to paradise, but he was not one to ever question Tyler's motives.
He brought Audrie around to the back of the bar and down into the cellar. Faint cries, yells, and hollers could be heard, but as the door opened, they seemed to pour out like music. Leading her down the stairs, the room suddenly fell silent and curious eyes watched the feet descend into the party.
Sweat dripped off Audrie's face like morning dew as she threw punches at the bag, violently. It was her stress reliever. After her cycle of 30 minutes had passed, she gave the punching bag one last hit, then stepped back, taking a deep breath. A sudden slow clapping began to form from behind her. Hesitant, she turned around. A slim, yet fit man stood in confident awe. "Not half bad," he spoke, his words looming out as the thunder one hopes to hear in a rainstorm.
"Who are you?" she said with narrow eyes. She never did like people watching her. Her day was full of stuck up snobbish rich bitches that thought that Audrie's only job and purpose in life was to serve them their daily dose of addictive coffee. Last thing she felt she needed was someone to come to her gym and treat her the same. Surprisingly, her temper had not let loose on anyone as of yet.
"My name's Tyler Durden, and you, my dear, are just what I need," he answered in full self-assurance as he crossed his arms over his tightly fitted t-shirt, exposing every chiseled detail in his torso. His pants hung low, which he wore it with extreme precise.
Audrie gave him another glance. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
"Here," Tyler reached down to a random chair which held a notebook and tore off a corner of the page. He wrote on it, and then handed it to her with a charming grin. The fact that a few of his teeth were chipped did not hinder the fact. By her mere answer to his words, he already liked the girl. Rough.
Taking hold of the paper, Audrie looked down at it as she read. A moment later, glancing up, he was gone. Audrie stood completely mystified for a moment, then returned to her punching bag. Only now, new thoughts ran through her head...
"Ah!" a familiar voice suddenly rang out. "And here she is...Our new member..." Other members saw her and began to look around curiously, beginning to talk amongst themselves. Questioning whether a female was even allowed. Tyler did not take notice to it, however. Instead, he watched with his pleased grin as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked around, curiously. Seeing this, he walked over to her, outstretching his arms, welcomingly. His shirt was off and his lip appeared to be bleeding; yet, he did not take notice to it. "Gentlemen, may I introduce Audrie Glassgow."
"What the hell is going on?" Audrie asked, shaking her head, not understanding.
Tyler placed his hand gently on the arch of her back as to guide her to the center of the room. "I've been watching you the past week. I have decided to let you in on a little secret. A club-if you will. I'm 100% sure you will enjoy your stay."
"What is this for?" she asked, beginning to grow more interested by the second. By every word he spoke, it penetrated into her soul.
"Your new stress reliever," he simply answered with that same charming grin as before. Turning to the crowd that surrounded them, he then spoke louder. "Gentlemen! Here is your reminder... The first rule of Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Fight Club."
Audrie was already beginning to realize what was going on. She was beginning to like it, already.
Tyler continued," Third rule of Fight Club, someone yells "Stop!" goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule, only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule, one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes...of course," he turned to Audrie once more," for you, we'll make an exception." He winked at her then turning to the crowd once more, he continued," Seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule, if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight..." he took a step back and looked at Audrie once more, assuring her with that grin.
Audrie could feel her heart beginning to pound inside of her chest. This was the real definition of an adrenaline rush, for sure. She was beginning to get excited. This would beat any punching bag, any day of the week. And if any day was the best to have come across this, today was the day. She found it funny how things worked out that way...
An eruption of noise came from the crowd once again. Many were eager to get their hands on a vicious female such as herself. She began to grin to herself as she reached down and started unlacing her thick boots. "Who's first?" he asked loudly, over the crowd, excited and interested himself, how the night would turn out. Stepping through the hoards of sweaty men, the bleached blonde haired man stood shirtless. "Angelface!" Tyler laughed out. "Haven't you had enough yet?"
"No, sir!" he answered with his own laugh. His once pretty face was now scuffed up with stitches above his right eye and a swelling bruise above the other. He began to stretch out his muscles, throwing punches to the thin air.
Audrie looked at her opponent and grinned to herself. "Here we go..." she spoke under her breath. She then reached down and removed her heavy belt, throwing it over her boots. Giving her own arms a stretch, she began to prepare herself for the fight. This was going to be good.
Tyler took a step back, outstretching his arms to make the crowd move, as well, and took a deep breath. "Let's go!"
"Ladies first," Angelface teased. He did not knowing what he was getting himself into. He grinned and offered a faint wink from behind the bruise.
Audrie shrugged carelessly. "Alright." With that, she threw a sudden punch towards his jaw. His neck cracked as his head snapped back against the punch. He certainly did not see that one coming. The crowd suddenly grew silent. It was not what they had expected and now they did not know what to think. Coming back, Angelface attempted to shake it off and get back into fighting stance. This sudden awakening pissed him off. Furious, he came after Audrie, holding onto her shoulder with one hand and a punch landed in her gut. She let out a grunt. Surprisingly, she enjoyed it. It felt great to feel the punching bag punch back.
Before he could think twice, she threw another punch at him. This time, it landed in his gut, but he was quick to retaliate, despite the pain. Before a blink of an eye, they were brawling on the ground. The crowd moved in around them to get a better look. Only a mere minute later, Audrie had him pinned to the ground, arm raised to throw another one. "STOP!" he suddenly spit out loudly. Audrie glanced up at Tyler. He was grinning madly as he watched, completely entertained. Finally, he raised his hand as the final call for them to stop. Audrie moved off from on top of Angelface, and outstretched her hand to help him up. Looking at it, he hesitantly reached for it, and then began to grin as she pulled him up. The crowd cheered frantically. She had made history.
Walking towards Tyler, her lip now bleeding, and an open wound from under her wife beater was made obvious as thick red seeped through, she smirked at him. "Come on, Tyler. Give me a challenge..." The other members who had heard her speak let out hollers. They were impressed, to say the least. So was Tyler.
"Okay," he responded with his grin, then unexpectedly outstretched his arms as if unverbally saying, "here I am..."
Audrie grinned at his offer as she wiped away the blood from her lip. "Okay," she repeated, tauntingly. The others soon realized what was going on and a feeling of discontent fell over them. They all took a step back, eager to see what would happen.
"You ready?" Tyler spoke through his grin of eagerness. Audrie simply nodded, not knowing what to expect out of the seemingly infamous Tyler Durden. Before another moment passed, she felt a hard blow to the gut. Grunting loudly, she soon realized it was the same place as before. She shook it off, despite the obvious pain and went straight for his face. Across his jaw line, she regretted it, thereafter, because she was beginning to like his appearance. It was only a game, though, right? Healing would come, right?
Soon, they too, were rolling on the floor, throwing punches, and yelling grunts. Rolling over, Audrie sat atop Tyler's lap, legs straddling his body as she pinned him down. Looking at the situation, Tyler raised his brows at her mischievously and let out a laugh. "Thatta-girl." She could not help but grin back. She had lost her sense and stood to her feet, laughing and shaking her head. Looking down at Tyler once again, she laughed even harder, blood spitting from her lips. She outstretched her hand to help him up. The crowd began to laugh lightheartedly as she did so.
"Alright, alright. That was good..." she spoke through a shaking voice. A product of an adrenaline rush, for sure. As Tyler jumped to his feet, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight. She hugged him back, laughing still. As they pulled away, he took her hand and raised it to the crowd. He let out a victorious yell. They all yelled back.
They had already started planning who was going to go next, leaving Tyler to tend to Audrie. "So what do you think?" Tyler asked, grinning eagerly.
Audrie nodded, grinned back as she started putting her belt back on. "That was awesome..." were the only words she could utter out.
"Good," Tyler then continued to say," Meet me tomorrow at Giovanni's Italy, 10p."
"Damn!" she laughed out. "You guys got stations all over town, huh? You haven't had enough, already?"
"Definitely not," he answered as she looked into her eyes.
Audrie caught the glance, but covered her feelings with another laugh. She nodded," Alright, Giovanni's Italy, tomorrow night, 10p, got it. More Fight Club."
"No," he answered," Dinner."
It took a moment for Audrie to realize what he had meant. She grinned to him once more, now even more excited then when the first punch was thrown. She nodded to him. "Okay..."
Their eye held each other's captive for a moment until Audrie looked away, grinning. Having a stressful day was probably the best thing to have ever happened to her...