Bruised, Battered and Bleeding
Chapter 1: Titanium Romance
A/N: I can't explain anything with out wrecking things for you. Read and Review. Okay so Faiths just come from Sunny Dale after the whole body swap incident and Marla and Tyler are just hooking up. It's around the soap part.
As we stood outside the little Starbucks franchise on Main I went through a mental To-do-list. Occasionally I'd forget the past year and find myself in condo land, staring into the window of a Barnes and Nobles at a self improvement manual with hungry eyes. That was usually when Tyler said something to bring me back to his world. The world where these kinds of thoughts were blasphemy.
"You know why they put Coffee shops in bus stations?" He asked.
I shook my head. I might have known, but I would have preferred his explanation anyway.
"Fifty percent of the people who travel grey-hound come from small towns. Seventy-five percent of small town jobs are hard labor, so these guys are working somewhere around Seven to Seven. With in the length of one day they average around two to three trips to the local Starbucks on a six day basis. That's eighteen espressos per week."
He tore the plastic lid off his little Grande Latte and dumped it into the dirt next to my shoe.
"Caffeinated nectar of the Blue-Collar-Bees." He said. He tossed his cup behind him and lit a cancer stick.
He was probably right, but I didn't care either way. I looked up at the flashing print on the top of the big titanium motor vehicle, lost in the twitch of florescent bulbs on my face. I decided to read the title as I'd been staring for quite some time.
"Sunny Dale" I read aloud.
"What?" Tyler asked, a little smile behind his big orange blinders.
I absent mindedly pointed to the bus I'd been reading.
"Oh yeah, isn't that in California? I didn't know they did cross-state travel to Miami."
The word Miami seemed to roll off his tong making it seem so much brighter and shinier than the shit city it was.
I watched the doors squeal open and heard a distant voice say last call. Tyler turned his head to watch with me. The people who stepped out where so average it made you want to hurl. Spill your lunch all over those naïve automatons and destroy their little Hawaiian button downs and g-string sandals. I prayed for a serial killer, an out cast, a reject, a harlot anything that indicated there was some shape of rebellion in their city. But there wasn't. I watched tourist after tourist pour out of the carrier and I saw nothing.
"Pathetic. Not a fighter in the whole place." Tyler lamented.
That was when I saw her. She was five, five, a hundred and twenty pounds may be. She squeezed into a pair of discount leather pants she'd stolen and a red halter that wasn't hers. She was raccoon eyed from the long nights journey and a misused tube of Maybe line eyeliner. #1593 Darkest ebony. Her skin gave off a toxic glow that consumed me along with something… else. Something very, very deep seeded, something I couldn't even touch.
Of course Tyler summed her up in two words; "Nice Rack." He said. She smiled at him. "Thanks. You got a light?" She asked. He pulled out his Zippo and snapped back on the gear. She took a cigarette from behind his ear and held it to the lighter. He smiled and flipped it closed.
"You got a name?" She asked.
"Ever met any body without one?"
"Have you?"
"Not yet."
"Me neither."
"I'm Tyler, Durden."
"You?" She asked flipping the conversation to me.
I told her my name was Jack. Not my name but still, I liked it.
"What's your name, little red?" He asked flirtatiously. I saw him move closer to her and in response she blew smoke in his face. He moved back, the glasses protecting his eyes, he got the message.
"Call me Faith, Tyler Durden."
"Faith it is." He said.
And this is how I met One Punch Faith.
Faith was Boston bred and on the run. I knew someone running when I saw them and she was skidding out of control. But I didn't care then. She was just the next Marla Singer to me then. Well, if Marla had looked even close to as good as Faith did.
"Where are you heading, Faith?" Tyler asked.
"No where, yet."
"Care to join us for a beer, my treat." She smiled. He was good. Really good.
"Sure."
"Great."
Tyler slung an arm around Faith on the way to the bar and they talked. They talked about anything and everything. And I droned along with them, because I had to. Because Tyler was my life and I had no where else to go. Well I had one other place to go. But it was too early to go now and without Tyler, I would never be able to have fun.
We sat down and Tyler went to get the beer.
She looked back at me. "So, you know Tyler well right, Jack? What's his deal?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"How does he like his women?"
Topless and screaming.
"I really don't know."
She leaned back and looked at him bent over the counter.
"Too bad. Be a lot easier to talk to if I had an angle." She said this mostly to herself but partly to me, so I knew she was into him.
For a second I wondered what it was about Tyler that women found appealing. Was it his wit, his dick or his abs?
"Here you go, two Coors Lights and a Keith's for the lady." Tyler said putting down the three big glasses.
"What's with the Canadian Beer?" Faith asked.
"Canadian Beer is the best in the world, plus I get it free here."
"Interesting." Faith said, smiling.
"Very." I put in.
I chugged back my snifter and thanked god for the wordless conversation Tyler and Faith had constructed under the table.
When we were done Tyler paid and we went to Lou's Tavern.
I am Jacks panic attack.
I pulled Tyler aside.
"Where are you going with her, Tyler?"
"Where am I going 'Jack'?"
"Fight Club."
"Exactly" He started to walk away but I pulled him back.
"No Tyler, No. You can't bring her to Fight Club."
He tilted his head back and rolled his eyes.
"Why not?"
"It's breaking the first and second rule and she's a woman."
"So?"
"So, you yourself said that another woman is not what we need."
"Right, but the context I used was a marital one, I'm not walking down the isle, I'm going to show my flavor of the week some quality entertainment."
"The Rules Tyler—"
"Fuck the rules man, I made Fight Club I can bring whom ever the hell I want to it. So fuck off with your rules and your sexist attitude, Fight Club was created to make every one equal, to liberate us from rules and societies bullshit and here you are trying to oppress us."
I am Jacks bitter confusion.
He walked away again. But I didn't pull him back. I couldn't care less. So I followed.
The room was filled to overflowing with shirtless men. They'd already started with out us, Fight Club was growing more and more with out us, becoming a force of it's own. I was kind of scared by that, but Tyler was proud. I could see it on his face when he and Faith stepped off the last stair together.
He brought her to the left corner of the room, where he stood with a few Italian guys and talked for a bit. He didn't seem to notice the wondering eyes though, the eyes that pressed on Faiths body. She was the first ever woman to know about Fight Club. Did Tyler know something I didn't? Of course he did. That's how it always went with us.
I tried to take my mind off it, I tried to watch the two guys in the center. But then I'd smell her cigarette or hear the suction sound of two lips meeting or the clicking sound her heels made on the concrete. She was an infection and nothing could help me from her.
I heard the last cry and the rising screams of victory and I smiled. I wanted to go next. I needed to.
Tyler walked into the middle of the room and folded his arms.
"Any one new tonight?"
"Yeah." I heard a voice from the crowd say. "Her."
Then all eyes turned to Faith and she smiled. She followed Tyler to the center circle and said "Any takers?"
I intervened. "Whoa, Faith. I don't think you really understand what your getting into here."
"I do. It's a boxing club, no shirts, no shoes style. I get it."
"She's ready. Any of you fella's want to take on my girl here?"
"I will." A tall skinny guy stepped out of the crowd and smiled. There was a lot of that going on tonight.
Faith peeled off her sleeveless to reveal a little strapless Victoria secret number.
They circled each other and the fight began.
He grabbed her by the mid section and tried to take her down but she pushed him back, he went flying. The skinny guy found his feet and threw a punch. She dodged it.
He made another and she raised her forearm to repel it. He started to get angry. With a loud shout he struck her in the gut. All I heard was the loud pound and everything went quiet.
Faith stood still, she hadn't noticed the blow. She waited for the perfect moment, when the crowd was still and she knocked him flying with a single punch.
I think I saw his tong fly out of his mouth with a few teeth. He hit the ground with a loud packing sound and the fight was over. No questions asked. Faith had won.
I am Jacks Idle heartbeat.
A/N: I hope to update soon. The next chapter explains everything. Read and Review please!!!