CHAPTER 2 – PLANS TO MEET AGAIN
The alarm clock buzzed loudly in Kevin's ear as he rolled over in his sleep. He had only came back from the club three hours ago, and although he wasn't hung-over, he felt exhausted enough to grab the clock in frustration and throw it across the room. The bang it made against the wall caused him to sit up suddenly, and he scratched his arm drowsily as the little clock scattered into little pieces.
"Dammit!" he growled as he flopped back onto the bed, "that's the fifth one in two weeks – there's gotta be a better way of getting up in the morning."
He groaned softly as he stretched lazily across the bed which creaked under the weight of his body.
After doing this he sat up again, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His eyes were still heavy with sleep and his brain felt numb with exhaustion; he was going to need a lot of coffee to get through this day.
A knock at the door signalled Lord Flash's arrival, and reluctantly Kevin let him in before heading to the kitchen and putting the kettle on.
"Good morning, Kevin. Fine day for training."
"Morning! Flash, it's four in the morning – the bloody sun's not even out yet – how could you possibly know if this is going to be a fine day for training?"
"One acquires a certain wisdom of these things," Lord Flash answered sagely, "particularly when you've been doing it as long as I have."
Kevin didn't answer. His mind had wandered back to the night before; and to the girl, Sally Kon.
They had talked for a while at the bar, as Sally served drinks, but as the night went on and more of her staff came to pick up the slack, Sally had suggested sitting at one of the private booths, where they had talked until dawn…
"So, you were infact one of the dMp?" Sally asked as Kevin poured her another drink from the pitcher they had brought.
"Yes… Not a part of my life I'm proud of, but there's no use denying it. I am doing my best," he added quickly, " to make up for those mistakes, however, and redeem myself."
He had said this fearing that Sally's reaction would be one of disgust and anger, but instead she sipped her drink thoughtfully.
"Well… I suppose the first step is to accept that you made the wrong choice and live with the consequences – In my opinion that's the hard part, cause no one ever wants to admit they're wrong, never mind face the consequences – so, I think you mastered the hard part.Still, I think seeking redemption is a good idea, considering the seriousness of YOUR wrong choice."
Kevin was taken aback. The more time he spent with this girl, the more of an impression she was making.
"I couldn't agree more," he replied, raising his glass to her.
She grinned cheekily at him. "I suppose your more used to women telling you how it wasn't your fault and that you had no choice in order to try and get in your good books and maybe even bag a date with the great Kevin Mask."
Kevin laughed. "I'm used to it," he admitted, "but that doesn't mean that I like it. I find it deplorable that people should act like sheep towards wrestlers they admire. Your honesty is most refreshing."
"I'm glad," said Sally, "my friends tell me I'm sometimes a little too honest for my own good – I have a knack of speaking my mind before thinking about what I'm saying. I tend to get into a lot of fights that way."
"Yeah…I've gathered that much," Kevin replied, referring to their sparring match at the gym.
"Well…you deserved it !" Sally said, sticking out her tongue and making Kevin laugh again. He couldn't help notice how cute she was when she did that.
"I agree entirely," and raising his glass once again he said:"Here's to unrestrained honesty!"
"Here here!" Sally answered heartily as their glasses chinked.
Yes, Kevin thought, that Sally Kon was definetly something. He couldn't remember ever having such fun with someone before, and all they had done was talk. He had thought of her constantly all the way back to his apartment, and when he had went to bed, his last thoughts before he fell asleep were of her long raven coloured hair flowing down her luscious body, her flawless, silky pale skin glowing with an aura out of this world: her eyes, her lips…
"Kevin? Are you even listening to me?"
Reluctantly, Kevin returned from his private thoughts to find Lord Flash glaring at him from the living room.
"What?"
"What do you mean 'What'? The qualifying matches for the Chojin Crown begin in a week, giving us only a few days to hone your skills to perfection and your not even listening! What were you thinking of anyway!"
"Nothing!"
Lord Flash's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but Kevin turned away from him and began pouring himself some coffee.
"Give me a break, Flash – I only got to sleep four hours ago, so I'm not exactly at my sharpest right now."
Lord Flash didn't reply immediately, so that the only noise was from Kevin's movement as he poured some cereal into a bowl.
"Well.." Lord Flash said eventually, "you should've known better than to stay out that late the night before training. I know I said you need to loosen up, but really!"
Usually at this point Kevin would have retorted with a witty remark, but he was too relieved that Lord Flash didn't pry too hard into what Kevin had really been thinking of. Thank God he was wearing a mask or else he might not have pulled it off.
"Anyway," Lord Flash continued, "hurry up and get dressed, and we can put in a few hours training before you go to McMad's institute and sign up. I suspect that alone will take atleast a couple of hours, McMad and his son always manage to have more forms to fill out at these things than any other organiser."
Kevin nodded absently, for he wasn't really listening. His thought had returned to Sally, and a secret plan to go and see her at her club again that night.
Fortunately, Lord Flash didn't notice.
The morning ran in quickly, thanks to Lord Flash's new intense exercise regime which ranged from basic exercises to practicing new wrestling techniques as well as brushing up on old favourites such as the Big Ben Bash and the Royal Stretch.
It was mid-morning before Kevin, after a relaxing bath and a quick nap, leisurely jogged to the Ikemon McMad institute. There were already groups of wrestlers assembled both outside and inside the building; some of them filling out numerous forms, other conversing about the Chojin Crown preliminaries and what they would entail.
A path was made out for him as he made his way to the building. His reputation was giving him some much appreciated respect amongst many wrestlers, some of whom gave him recered looks as he passed, while the rest just looked terrified.
Kevin smirked. "Frightened idiots," he mumbled as he entered the great hall, "can't say I blame them, but it doesn't matter; most of them wont even make it pass the preliminaries."
At this point, he had reached the front of the queue, were a woman with curly hair and big glasses looked up at him in awe.
"Kevin Mask, signing up for the Chojin Crown."
"Of course, of course!" the woman squeaked as she jumped out of her seat in her eagerness to assist him, "Mr McMad and Mr Ikemon will be most honoured that you have entered, sir. If you could just sign your name, I'll get you your forms."
As Lord Flash predicted, there were a lot of forms, but Kevin didn't care as long as it led to him being listed in the Chojin Crown.
Taking the bundles of paper without waiting for explanations as to what they were for, Kevin stepped back and walked outside.
He was looking around for a bench to sit on while filling out the forms, when his eyes rested on the familiar little figure of Sally at a coffee stand close by. Kevin's heart missed a few beats as he saw her. She was wearing a beautiful green summer dress that began loose at the top and became tighter as it came to an abrupt end mid-thigh, revealing a gorgeous pair of legs. Add to that high-heeled sandals with straps that ran right up to her calf and Kevin had to really supress the thoughts that were coming to him as he watched her.Once he had recovered, he shoved the papers into his pocket, and walked closer.
"Hey!" Sally said brightly to the coffee guy, "could I get a large latte with a shot of caramel, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, please."
"Coming right up."
Sally fiddled with her bag, a frown appearing on her beautiful face as she tried to get her purse out. Tugging hard, the little purse flew out of her grip onto the ground, where loose change scattered everywhere.
Kevin smiled as Sally's arms flopped to her sides in exasperation.
"Doh…" she said softly as she knelt down and began picking up the money.
"You know, this would be a cute way of meeting if we hadn't already met," said Kevin as he knelt down beside her and picked up some coins.
"Kevin! Hi…Well, this is nice and embarrassing…"
"Do you want to make a dive for the bushes, I think I saw some roll there," said Kevin handing her the money.
"No…" Sally replied rising, "I think people have had enough humiliating images of me for one day."
She said this with a smile, and Kevin marvelled at her ability to jest about her own embarrassing situation. She had turned back to the coffee man, her money ready in her hand, but Kevin interjected.
"Here, let me pay for this."
"Oh, no – you don't have to do that."
"Please," Kevin insisted, thrusting his money to the coffee guy before she could do anything, "I owe you for last night, besides," he added teasingly, "I cant afford you to take out that purse again – someone might get hurt."
Sally gave him a pretend glare and giggled as he gave her the coffee. "Well, thank you."
They were walking slowly back down the street, Sally taking small sips of coffee as they walked.
"I must say I'm surprised to see you here," Kevin said after a moments silence.
"I'm only here to pick up some forms for Roxeanne's friends," Sally replied, "they were at the club last night; I don't know if you saw them?"
"You mean Kid Muscle and his friends?" and Kevin couldn't supress a hiss of hatred as he said this, but Sally didn't appear to notice.
"Yeah, well… they're a bit worse for wear after last night – my fault really – I shouldn't have given them free drink, but it was my first time meeting them, so I wanted to make a good impression."
Kevin fought back any remarks he had about making a good impression of Kid Muscle.
"Anyway," Sally continued, "they're all hung over, so me and the girls decided to get their forms for the Chojin Crown. Roxeanne's just getting them now."
Kevin nodded. They were now standing outside the institute again which was becoming busier by the minute, not only with wrestlers but with fans, including groupies who had just spotted Kevin and were gawping at him openly.
"Stupid tits!"Sally muttered as she watched them, "don't they have lives!"
Kevin smiled.
"So… Will you be at your club tonight?"
He was trying to find a way of seeing her again, without making it too obvious. His plan had been to just go to the club and look for her, but since she was here…no harm in asking, right?…
"Probably, last night was our big opening night and we're expecting tonight to be busy as well, so yeah."
Kevin felt like his insides were doing backflips. How did she do that?
"Why do you ask?" she said suddenly, bringing him back to earth.
"I – Well, I – um, I was thinking of maybe popping in again tonight."
Nice, he thought, very subtle, she's bound to be suspicious now.
"Really? You - a big celeb – want to come back to our club? Surely there must be better ones more suited."
"Not at all," Kevin answered quickly, relieved that he could answer without lying, "your place is great, best I've been in."
"But," Sally persisted with a side glance at the McMad institute, "won't you be in training?"
"Yes, but I need time to relax as well. I don't have to drink alcohol to go out, do I?
He wondered why she was questioning him so. Did she maybe not want to see him?
"No, I suppose not," she answered thoughtfully, then she said with a bright smile: "well, if you are coming, then I'll put you down on the list so the bouncers wont give you any trouble, not that they would," she said looking up at his huge frame.
"Thank you."
"Sally!"
They turned round to find Roxeanne, looking slightly dishevelled holding a pile of papers in both hands. "C'mon, Sal, we gotta get back. I gotta go strangle Kid for making me carry all this crap for him!!"
Sally smiled. "That'll be fun," she said turning to Kevin, who chuckled.
"Sorry, but I don't want to miss this."
"I understand."
She started to run to Roxeanne but then stopped and turned back to Kevin. Her face was set in a somber expression, making Kevin think that something was suddenly wrong.
"You know, I probably won't be at the club til eleven, so if you wanted to wait, maybe we could…hang out again, like last night."
She spoke softly, and with her head down, as though she didn't want him to see her face, but Kevin caught every word.
"Of course!" He cried, before he checked himself. "I'd be delighted!"
Idiot! He thought to himself, that was too happy, she probably thinks you're a freak.
But Sally had already turned away (was she blushing?) and had started running to Roxeanne, leaving Kevin standing on the street, confused as to what just happened.