She knew she shouldn't be there. She knew she was too young, too well brought up. She didn't belong with these people, all tattoos, piercings and dangerous amounts of apathy. It would be a precarious environment even for a biker or another type who was used to living and thriving on trouble. A small, skinny girl like herself, alone, would end up in a jam. No question. No doubt. It was only a matter of time. A glance at the wrong woman, the kind who has to prove she's as hard as a man. Staring a fraction of a second too long as some guys tattooed face. Speaking, just speaking any words in her accent which told everyone she had money in her pocket. Little did she know that they already figured that out just by looking at her. Her clothes, although casual and worn, were obviously high end labels. Cheap clothes fall apart when old. Expensive, well made clothes fade and wilt, but stay wearable if you're into that sort of look. Arya was.
She had heard about the fights by eavesdropping on her brother Jon and his friend Gendry's conversation. She had gone to visit her step brother one Tuesday afternoon when she had the day off school. As usual, she went around to the back of his house, today finding the door open. As she walked in, she heard Jon and Gendry talking.
"I owe him for the weed I got for Hotpie's party last weekend. I'm so fucking pissed off... I thought I'd be able to sell more of it and maybe cover a bit more rent, but the city is flush. My landlord's about to throw me out on my ass."
Arya stood in shock for a minute. She knew Gendry for the last few years. He was always in Jon's on Saturdays when she visited. It was obvious from his North side accent that he grew up on the other side of Dublin to her and her family but she didn't know much else about him. She never thought he was a drug dealer. Jon was so straight and honest. He was such a fitness freak and she had never known him to be interested in drugs. Arya was curious so she kept listening, her heart beating from her chest. If one of them walked out now she would be so flustered and embarrassed that they would know she was listening, spying like a child.
Gendry continued to tell Jon that he was desperate for money after his hours were cut at the garage. Ireland was so rich that everyone was buying new and upgrading their cars. Gendry was a basic mechanic, a dogs body really. He was good at his job but hadn't specialised in anything yet. He didn't have the money or time for more training.
"It's totally legal... and I'm pretty good, Jon. I mean... I have been doing Jiu jitsu for two years and boxing." Gendry continued, although something uneasy in his tone made Arya more nervous.
"Don't do it Gendry... it's not worth it." Jon pleaded suddenly. "You can't need money that badly."
"Ah... ya, I do. I got car payments and rent... you never understand stuff like that, cos' you're rich, but the banks and landlords chase the rest of us plebs, ya know."
"I'm not rich, my dad is." Jon said, obviously annoyed.
Jon hated when Gendry implied that he got things easy because his dad was a big shot in a top bank. It bothered him because he was the step- child, the runt of the litter. He was born after his father had a quick fling with his mother, who ran off when he was two. His father married another woman and had five more children. He had lived with them until he was sixteen, before insisting on quitting school and living on his own. His step- mother had never liked him so she was easily persuaded and convinced his father that it was okay for his sixteen year old son to drop out of school and move out of home. He worked in a gym where, in two years, he had become their top trainer.
"I have bills to pay just like you, Gen." He shot back.
"But the difference between you and me is, if you get stuck, your dad will help you out... I'm not saying that's a bad thing, Jon... it should be like that... it's just, I have no one to ask when I get stuck at the end of the month and can't make rent. The dept starts to build and I end up in the shit, like I am now. I wish I had dad to help." He said by way of explanation.
"Ya, okay, I get you're in some trouble... but cage fighting, legal or not... I mean... they fuckin' kill each other, Gen..."
Arya felt an unexpected flurry of excitement. She had seen cage fighting on the TV. It looked brutal and awesome. She really wanted to see the live version. Arya never understood why she liked to watch violent things, she just did. It excited her. She could not stand watching rom-coms and the crappy teen movies that her older sister Sansa and the girls in her class liked. They bored her. She liked watching martial arts movies, and adored Bruce Lee.
One day, Sansa sat down and watched Fist of Fury with her. She complained throughout the whole movie.
"This is so stupid... why does he jump around like that? Is it supposed to be funny?" she moaned.
"For god's sake, San... that's a martial arts style he developed... this is Bruce Lee. Do you not know anything?" Arya had little patience for people who did not appreciate the 'Dragon' and understand his influence.
She had begged her mother to let her take up a martial art of any kind, when she was ten.
"No... It's too... rough. You should try singing or dance classes." Her mother had said.
She tried asking again when she was twelve, thirteen and fourteen, but each time her mother would find some excuse to refuse. It usually involved how bad she was doing at school. Arya tried to understand her school work. She preferred to read the books than talk to the idiots in her class, but the words seemed backwards somehow. She had told her mother, but Cat just said that she wasn't focusing hard enough and she should try to be more like her sister. Her father had intervened and got her a tutor who said she was dyslexic. He helped a bit, but she really did not have any interest in school. She wanted to be outdoors, not in an All Girl's private school, wearing a maroon uniform with a tie and tights... ugh...they were the worst!
Arya quietly scurried away from the back door and out the side gate. She realised she had pushed her luck long enough and if she stayed any longer she would be caught. Also, she was determined to find out more about fights being held in Dublin. She had never seen any advertised so Google would be the place to look. When she got back home, she went online and used every clue they had unintentionally given her to find an address for the fight. It took a while but she found it. There were fights every weekend in an area of the North side which had a terrible reputation. She swallowed her fear. Nothing was going to stop her from going and it probably wasn't as bad as everyone said anyway.
Dublin was a beautiful, leafy and clean place to live, at least in the area on the South side where Arya's family grew up. It also had some seriously deprived neighbourhoods, racked by drugs and violence. She never went to these parts of the city. Everyone in her school was from her area, so she never really met any poor people, or those that lived in disadvantaged areas. Gendry was probably the poorest person she knew. He and Jon had met at the gym where Jon worked and Gendry took boxing. Arya usually only went to Jon's place at weekends so it was then that she and Gendry spent time together. She would call around on a Saturday morning when both men were hungover. Arya would cook them eggs and bacon, before making them laugh with tales of Sansa's stupidity or Robb's infatuation with his newest girlfriend.
Jon and Gendry were both eighteen and Arya sixteen, but that didn't seem to matter. They all had the same sense of humour and similar interests. Arya begged Gendry to teach her to box every weekend, but he always said no.
"You need to learn the basics from a proper instructor." He would say.
"But my mom won't let me take classes... come on you stubborn fuck... teach me!"
Both Jon and Gendry had burst into laughter at this, as they always did at Arya's particular use of unladylike language.
"Stubborn fuck, that's a new one... although I've been called worse, but not by a little lady like yourself." Gendry had laughed.
"I'm not a lady, asshole... and I'm not that little. I'm sixteen, so fuck you!" But that just made them laugh harder. "To hell with both of ye."
Arya spat back... but she couldn't stay mad at them for long. She liked being around them because she could be herself. Her mother always scolded her for cursing at home, but in Jon's apartment she could curse like a sailor and no one cared.
She had noticed that Gendry was really attractive as soon as she met him. It was hard not to. He had the most amazing eyes she had ever seen, a piercing blue colour, and he was ripped... really ripped. One Saturday she called over and he was still asleep on the couch. He was just wearing his boxers when he got up, dazed and hungover. Arya was thirteen and it was the first time she had seen a guy like that who wasn't her brother. She nearly dropped the egg's when she turned around and seen him walking to the fridge in his underwear to fine something to drink. She went a deep shade of red and tried to hide her face. She was so relieved that he didn't seem to notice her embarrassment. He was too groggy to see much of anything that morning. She decided, after that unexpected reaction to the sight of a man's chest, that she was not going to be one of those girls. She would never react like that again. So a few months later when Gendry woke up on the couch in his boxers, Arya just looked up and said,
"Can you put some clothes on, Waters? Some of us are trying to eat."
Jon and Gendry laughed, but Arya had to shovel food into her mouth fast to avoid leering at him. God, he looked good in his boxers, all messy hair and 'I don't give a fuck' attitude. She never entertained the feelings she had for him, except to acknowledge 'he's hot'. There was no point. Whenever she walked down town with him and Jon, they would get stares and giggles form virtually every girl, and woman, on the street. She assumed they both got with girls as much as they liked. He would never be interested in a tomboy like her. Besides, she was too young for him. He might only be two years older than her, but Gendry looked like a man. There was nothing boy like about him. He was tall and well built, but also there was underlying seriousness about him that made you think he had his shit together. He wasn't childish in any way. When Theon, her brother Robb's best friend spoke, you could tell he took nothing seriously. Everything was a joke to him. In comparison to Gendry and Jon, Theon was immature asshat. A lovable immature asshat, but an asshat none the less.
After Arya found the address of the fight, she devised a plan to sneak out. It was a Saturday night and she had been over to Jon's as usual that day. Gendry had taken a shift at the garage for the cash so she and Jon just relaxed with some Crouching Tiger. She had debated all week whether to tell Jon that she was going to the fight, but had decided against it. As cool as he was, she was still his little sister and he would never think it okay for her to go to something so dangerous. Also, he would probably figure out that she heard about it by listening in on his conversation with Gendry and be pissed off.
She faked her cramps at about four that afternoon when she got home. She curled up on the couch and her mother made her hot chocolate. At about eight she said,
"I'm just going to go to bed, mom."
"Fine darling."
She knew Cat would check on her. She needed to be there when she came in and turned off the TV and fixed her blankets. This happened at about half ten. She pretended to be in a deep sleep. When her mother left, she put on an old pair of jeans, t-shirt and hoodie with some battered red converse. Her hair was cut below her jaw line and she left it lose under the hood. A bit of eyeliner and mascara and she was ready to go. She bungled a jacket from her closet under her blankets to look like someone was in the there if her father popped his head in the door before bed. She climbed out of the large window of her bedroom which was at the rear of the house. She had parked her banged up mini, which she insisted on buying rather than a new car, around the corner from her house, so her parents wouldn't hear her drive away. Of course, she was not supposed to drive alone. A sixteen year old is supposed to have a fully licensed adult present when driving, but she figured that if she was going to risk going to a cage fight, what harm could it be to risk being caught by the police and suspended from driving for the next ten years or so?
She finally found the run down shithole that was hosting the fight about an hour later. She had never been to this side of town so had problems finding the place and missed the first fight. There were bodies everywhere outside the hall. Groups of people drinking cans of beer and smoking splifs. There was no police anywhere. She kept her hood up and walked up to the door.
"You got ID?" the bouncer asked, roughly.
Arya made a show of putting her hand in her pockets, pretending to root around a bit before answering,
"Ah, nope... I left it at home, sorry... can I get in without it?" she asked in a strong confident voice, which surprised even herself.
The bouncer raised an eyebrow,
"What age are ya, kid?"
"Eighteen," she lied easily.
The man snorted. "I doubt that."
Two guys came up behind her. One, with short length fair hair in kind of neo- punk clothes, put his arm around her and said,
"Hey Bronn... She's a friend of ours." He looked down at Arya and said, "We were waiting for you... what took ya so long?"
"Traffic." She answered, shrugging a little to sell it a bit more.
"So can we head in, Bronn?" he asked casually.
"Go on." The bouncer said as he moved aside to let them through.
After they paid for their tickets and entered the main hall, Arya said,
"Thanks, there was no way he was going to let me in."
"No worries, we couldn't leave you outside on your own." He looked her up and down. "What age are you anyway?" He asked with an amused look on his face.
"Sixteen." Arya said flatly, trying not to get annoyed by the way he was smiling at her as they had just done her a favour.
He laughed lightly and shook his head. 'I'm Lommy and this is Mycah.'
"I'm Arya."
"Come on down to the front... the second fights about to start."
Arya followed them and they got good seats near the front. Mycah went and bought them all a beer, which Arya happily accepted. She had only drunk alcohol a couple of times at family functions when her and Bran, her younger brother, would steal a glass of wine or a beer. She drank fast tonight. Her adrenaline was up and she was losing what little restraint she had. It was going perfectly. She pulled a twenty out of her pocket and asked Mycah to buy them all more beer, which he did.
She took her hood down when the fight started in order to get a better view. The crowd went wild when the fighters were being introduced. They got to their feet, cheering their favourite and booing the other. It was just like on TV but the energy in the room was electric and with the alcohol on top, Arya was in her element. She loved every minute of it. The fight itself was brutal. The men punched, kicked, gouged, bit and threw each other around the ring. There were no rules, just two thousand euro in prize money. Arya found herself roaring at the men in the cage, egging them on to brutalise each other some more. It was best entertainment she had ever seen. Lommy kept looking at her and laughing.
"What the fuck are you laughing at?" she shouted at him, when her third beer was in full effect.
"You!" he answered unapologetically. "You're a crazy little thing aren't ya?" And he laughed again.
Arya just shrugged her shoulders, no longer caring about his laughing, the rough and dangerous environment she was in, or much of anything else either. When the second fight ended, the crowd calmed down slightly. She and Lommy sat down, talking about movies. They were leaning into each other so that they could hear better and laughing at each other's jokes. Mycah was on another beer run. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice the man looking from the other side of the cage. Watching them intensely, growing more and more agitated as time went on. He walked over to their seats slowly, making his way through the crowd of spectators at a pace which reflected his anger, slow but intense and with purpose. When he finally reached them he just stood and stared, casting a large shadow which loomed over the oblivious revellers.
Arya suddenly felt the need to straighten up. She was leaning over talking to Lommy when her spine seemed to move on its own, with no direction given by her. It made her feel nervous. Then a tingling feeling crept up her neck and face and she knew something wasn't right. She looked up tentatively with a weary expression. Her mouth dropped open as a cold energy hit her face.
She swallowed, closing her mouth and tried to regain some composure when she seen him.
"Gendry... what are you doing here?" she asked, trying to sound as innocent and unaffected as possible.
He looked angry... really angry.
"Does Jon know your here?" he said curtly, never acknowledging Lommy.
Shit! Arya thought... I'm fucked!
"Ah... no he doesn't." She tried to bring out that confident tone she had somehow mustered up earlier at the door, but failed. There was something about the way Gendry was looking at her that made her wilt. He was so angry, and that made her feel small and childish. Like a kid who just got caught stealing sweets. A wave of annoyance washed over her at her own stupidity. Why should she feel that way? It's only Gendry. It's none of his business what she does.
"Come on... I'm taking you home." Gendry said. It was not a request.
Just as Arya was about to tell him to go fuck himself and shove that order up his arse, Mycah came over and handed her a beer. He didn't seem to notice the tension.
"Go easy on this one." He said to Arya, smiling. "You won't be able to walk out of here if you keep drinking like that."
Gendry withering restraint snapped. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet, taking the beer out of her hand and slamming it into Lommys chest.
"Hey... what the fuck?... let her go." Lommy began to argue as beer soaked his shirt.
Arya felt panic rise from her belly. She was hoisted up so quickly. When she looked up, Gendrys eyes bore into her, black with anger. She lost her nerve and instead of telling him to fuck off like she wanted to, she tried to appease him because she was scared of the look in his eye.
"Gendry... for fuck sake, you're going to break my arm." Her words were frantic.
Gendry let go of her as quickly as he grabbed her, instantly regretting the way he acted and realising he was too rough. She was drunk and he didn't want to hurt her, but he had to get her out of this place, now.
"You can come with me or I can call Jon to come and get ya, your choice Stark." He said, looking her directly in the eye.
Arya had never seen him so angry... or intense. The Gendry she knew always tried to maintain a carefree attitude around her. Like nothing bothered him.
He wasn't going to take no for an answer, that was obvious and he had let go of her arm when she asked so she was feeling less scared of him and brave again.
"Okay, okay... jeez Waters, keep your fucking hair on." She said dismissively to show him she wasn't frightened.
His eyes widened in anger.
"Are you sure you should go with this guy? He seems kind of crazy." Lommy said.
"I'll show you crazy if you try and get in my way." Gendry threatened.
"Oh, for fuck sake." Arya spat, rolling her eyes. "Calm down, Waters."
She turned to Lommy and Mycah who were looking worried at the thought of getting into a fight with Gendry,
"He's my brothers best friend... he's just taking me home." She said before pushing Gendry out of the way and heading for the door. Unfortunately, she was unsteady from the beer so what she intended to be a dramatic fuck you exit ended up to be an embarrassing display as she stumbled and twisted her ankle.
Gendry was right behind to catch her before she completely fell. He put his arm under hers, hissing " For fuck sake..." under his breath. She felt her cheeks flush as her ego deflated rapidly. Gendry seemed to be almost carrying her as she hobbled along. It took a long time to get outside. Her ankle really hurt. Before she knew what was happening, she was completely off the ground.
"What the fuck?" she protested.
"We'll be all fucking night trying to get the car at this rate." Gendry said by way of explanation, his tone clearly annoyed.
She was going to tell him to put her down but she knew he wouldn't listen. She looked up at his face and felt a wave of guilt and embarrassment penetrate her as she looked at his angry expression. She had ruined his night. He had to go early because she was a child who needed babysitting, couldn't handle her drink and made an ass of herself. More embarrassment washed over her. There seemed to be no end to it as she was carried to the car until anger started to replace it.
Defensiveness was always Arya's answer to anything embarrassing. If you pretend it doesn't bother you, then it doesn't bother you. If all else fails, get angry. Never let anyone think that they affect you. People will just take advantage because they will assume you're weak. Always put on a brave face.
"I can drive myself home, you know... if you want to stay."
Gendry snorted. "You can't drive anywhere, you're pissed!"
His attitude was really pissing her off now, but he was right too. She couldn't drive like this. He stopped, plonking her on the hood of his car with little care.
"Hey, no need to me a complete asshole Waters." She sneered. "I mean, you've obviously been taking lessons on being a gobshite in your spare time, but no one likes a teacher's pet."
His head shot up as he glared at her. She didn't even flinch this time. She was angry too.
He opened the passenger door, resisting the urge to go over and get in her face.
"Get in."
"What the fuck are you so angry about?" She asked, leaning into the car to steady herself as she climbed down from the hood.
"Just get in the damn car, Arya." He snapped.