I still do not own Twilight. I am however, the proud owner of a sore throat.
Chapter 3: A Major Letdown
"A fighter can condition his body to go hard certain rounds, then to coast certain rounds." ~ Muhammad Ali
The night's sleep had been as restful as what I imagined a new mother's to be. However instead of a screaming baby, I was awoken by a gruff voice and a shake to my shoulder, every hour. This morning, I envied that new mother; she at least got 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Ah well, tonight would be much better, Emmett would be at his own house. As grateful as I am for him staying to check on me every fucking hour, he snores. Loud. Some might even compare the volume to that of an army of fighter jets or maybe it's just me. Lucky bastard falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. I on the other hand, have a hard time getting my brain to shut off, last night was no exception. It felt like just as soon as I managed to fall asleep Emmett would be there to wake me up. The boxing karma gods must have had a good laugh at my expense last night.
I will never intentionally get a concussion again.
On top of my having to be checked on all night, I will be held back from training for the week. I really should have thought that plan through a little better. I should have made a list of pros and cons; weighed them back and forth, drew out pie charts or something like that. Then I might have actually made an informed, well-thought out decision. I better be reaping the rewards of these sacrifices.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I rolled out of bed. It was only 8:00am, I had slept in. Emmett was still breaking sound barriers in the spare bedroom down the hall. After changing into a pair of jogging shorts and a tank top, I brushed my teeth, washed my face and pulled my unruly hair into a high ponytail. With my runners and a zip hoodie in hand I went downstairs to leave a note for Emmett. I could count on him to be sleeping for a little while longer. I quickly jotted down my thanks for his taking care of me last night and told him I would call him later after I spoke with Jimmy. I stuck the paper on the fridge with a large magnet knowing he would help himself to breakfast before he left and wouldn't miss it under the bright smiling face of Mickey Mouse. Emmett hated Mickey Mouse, he said it was un-natural for a male character to have such a high voice and it freaked him out a little bit.
I quietly closed the front door and tucked the key into my pocket after locking it. Turning my ipod on I began stretching my legs out. The morning was cool with the begining of fall and a dampness still hung in the air. The sun was beginning it's journey through the sky and I was looking forward to letting my body work out the stiffness left in my muscles after last night's fight.
I barely noticed my feet hitting the ground and quickly leaving it only to land back down again as I looked around the street. It was still early enough that most people hadn't left for church or whatever else people do on a Sunday morning. That's what I liked about being a morning person, if you got up early enough the streets are yours to run free on. If I waited until early evening to go for my run I would be dodging all the people out walking their dogs or stand a chance to be flagged down by one of my neighbours for a chat. No thanks. I much preferred the early morning air and the stillness that comes with it, not to mention all the things a person could see that only occurred at this time of day. A wild bunny was hopping around munching on some lady's petunias and the way the moisture on the blades of grass from the morning dew sparkled like diamonds as the sun got higher in the sky.
I turned onto the street of Kellington's Boxing Club less than an hour later. My legs were warm despite the still chilly temperature and my breath left little clouds around my head as I slowed to a walk. Jimmy's old rusty Camaro was parked on the street in front of the gym. Next to it was a red and black Harley Davidson motorbike, what kind of Harley I couldn't even tell you. It was beautiful and expensive, I did know that much. I wanted to run my fingers along the sleek chrome handlebars but resisted the temptation. I idly wondered if the owner was as nice to look at as the bike.
Trying my hand at being stealthy, I peeked through the window to see what waited for me inside, it looked the same as any other day. Kellington's Boxing Club wouldn't be considered a normal gym, you didn't have to sign in at a front desk and the machines didn't line up facing the window for the users to be on display like some places. When you walked though the front door, there was a small area rug to wipe your feet on which was quite handy during the average 158 rainy days Seattle managed throughout the year.
The wide open space of the gym was separated into essentially two sections. To your left was a wall of machines and weights and along the back wall was where the speed bags and heavy bags hung. The two walls dedicated to actual equipment did follow the cardinal gym rule, they had mirrors so that you could watch yourself or those around you if that was your thing.
The other area was home to the ring, it took up the center portion of the large room with mats surrounding it to lessen the blow should you get tossed out while sparring. I've taken that trip a few times, the mats are only there for the appearance of cushion, they don't actually offer any sort of protection, just ask my ass.
To the right was a row of chairs pushed up against the window. Also along the right wall were three doors; a group of two and one off in the corner. The group of two doors each led to a change room equip with showers and lockers. The lone door in the corner opened to Jimmy's office. He never closed the door unless he was in a meeting, choosing to spend most of his time training with his boxers rather than telling them what to do from behind a desk. It was one of the things I admired the most about Jimmy. Not only could he tell you what you were doing wrong, he could show you.
Steeling my nerves, I pulled open the door and walked in. I took a quick peak in Jimmy's office, the lights were on but he wasn't there. Turning around I nearly ran right into Victoria (who preferred to be called Vicky and would remind you any time you forgot), Jimmy's live in girlfriend. Vicky had long wavy red hair. I'm pretty sure her goal was for it to look like Tawny Kitaen's in that Whitesnake video. I'm even willing to go so far as to say she brought in a picture to her hairdresser and then practiced her hairography on the hood of Jimmy's rust boat Camaro. Being that it was still early in the morning, her hair was particularly poufy from all the teasing. You could still smell the hair spray if you got close enough, I didn't.
"Oh hey, Isabella. Jimmy told me about last night's fight. Sorry I wasn't there to watch," Vicky said smiling at me while patting my arm in mock sympathy, I'm sure. Did I mention how she only calls me Isabella when she knows I prefer Bella? Ironic, right?
"Yeah, that's why I'm here. Jimmy and I didn't get a chance to talk last night. Where is he at?" I asked while trying to look around her lion's mane of hair.
"He's showing some new guy around. I think he's just assigning him a locker in the change room and then they'll be out." Nodding my head, I moved to sit in one of the plastic chairs to wait. Vicky and her hair continued into Jimmy's office.
Not one to like having idle hands, I reached into my pocket, pulling out my ipod and began searching though my various play lists trying to decide what I would listen to on my run back home. It would all depend on how my talk with Jimmy went. If it was a good talk, and by good I mean The Major decided to go away, I would listen to my 90's Pop Playlist. If it was a bad talk, which would definitely include anything else besides The Major not going away, I would listen to the angry complaints of Anti-Flag.
Just as I decided, the door to the men's change rooms opened and Jimmy walked out alone, the other guy must be staying to do some training or something. He made eye contact with me and quickly made his way over.
"Good morning, Swan. How's the head?"
"It's good, the headache is pretty well gone. Emmett stayed last night to check on me." I tried to reassure him.
"That's great to hear. I'm sure Carlisle will be pleased to hear that as well when you see him at his office tomorrow," he said as he tilted his head in the direction of his office. It would seem he wanted to get straight to our talk.
Jimmy walked around his desk as I followed him into the office. Vicky wisely left and shut the door on her way out. I've decided not to say anything unless Jimmy directly asks me a question.
"So, last night," he began. "Definitely wasn't your best match. Hell, I'd venture to say it was your worst yet, Swan. Care to explain what happened out there?" He looked at me, I was unsure if this was a rhetorical question or not. Did he want me to tell him I threw the match or was he just torturing me because he knew what really happened?
"From what I saw last night, you were sloppy. You had trouble connecting your punches. When you did connect well, they were body shots. The only thing that kept you alive was your feet, you're lucky they move as fast as they do." Jimmy had a look of concern on his face that made a small crease form between his eyes. I must be a better actress than I originally thought because he is not giving me any indication that he knows the truth.
"Yeah, I guess I was just having an off night," I replied, it's not the truth but it's not exactly a lie either. "I'm sorry I messed up."
"We all have those matches when we are lined up against someone bigger and better. The only thing we can do is learn from it." Did he actually just say Lauren was better than me?
"No Jimmy, that isn't it, I know I can beat Lauren. She just got the best of me last night." I argued.
"Hmmm. I can't argue with you there, I know you are better than that. Maybe we just need to change your training. Get you sparring with other boxers besides Emmett. Yes, I think maybe you've become too comfortable with Emmett and it's time to try a different paring." Jimmy scratched at what looked like a couple of days worth of stubble as he considered his suggestion like it was up for debate.
"What? I like sparring with Emmett, he pushes me and doesn't baby me like the other guys here, you can't make me change to one of those other guys who will treat me like glass. Please," my plea was met on deaf ears, Jimmy was already shaking his head no.
"I'm not suggesting a permanent change here Bella. I just think you need to switch things up for a bit. In fact, once Carlisle clears you, I want you to pair up with the new guy who just joined the club for one of the weekly training sessions, alright?" This time I can tell Jimmy's question was rhetorical and I nodded my head in defeated acquiescence.
"Actually, he should still be here so I want to introduce you to him. Come on." Thinking I've gotten off easy with this talk, I followed Jimmy out of his office to see a tall male figure standing, talking with Vicky. Rather, it appeared he was listening to her talk, by the sounds of things, it looked like he made the mistake of calling her Victoria, poor shmuck. I took a quick assessment of him before he turned around. His dirty blond hair was a mess of waves and curls that rested just above his shoulders; shoulders that were covered by a leather jacket. Continuing down, he was wearing dark wash blue jeans and a pair of worn-in black Doc Marten boots. I also noticed he was holding a black bike helmet. He must be the owner of the Harley outside.
"Jasper, I want you to meet someone," Jimmy called out before we reached the pair. "This is Bella, you saw her fight last night. Bella, this is Jasper Whitlock, he just joined the club." At the sound of Jimmy's voice, the Harley owner turned around. As soon as I recognized his face, Jimmy's words registered in my head …you saw her fight last night…Shit, he's The Major. Looks like all the self-induced suffering I've caused will be for naught. Fuck my life.
His steel grey eyes are calculating and assessing me, much like I did to him only moments before. I felt like I was on display under his intense gaze, I tried not to twitch or fidget. There was no way I wanted to let this guy see me vulnerable like he did last night when he interrupted us in the dressing area after my match.
He didn't bother with things like salutations or any other normal social graces like a hand shake. He simply raised his one eyebrow at me, noding his head in a way of dismissal and looked back at Jimmy, waiting for something; I'm not sure what though.
Jimmy looked down at me and jabbed his damn elbow into my ribs. I assumed he was expecting me to be congenial to this new guy. I looked back at Jimmy with an eye roll; he elbowed me once more for good measure.
"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm sure," I said looking in his direction, carefully avoiding eye contact, shoving my hands deep into the pockets of my sweater. I wonder what Jimmy thinks of that for being pleasant?
"I'll bet," he replied back. I was not really sure what he meant by that but choose to ignore him and looked back at Jimmy waiting for him to make this awkwardness go away.
"Isabella, isn't that your car? I didn't see you drive up when you got here," Vicky broke the silence pointing toward the street through the giant glass window of the gym. We all turned our heads and sure enough, there was my un-necessarily large Ford Expedition, pulling up behind Jimmy's car. I couldn't see who was inside because of the tinted windows and the sun was shining on the windshield causing a glaring reflection back at us.
"What the hell?" I said in disbelief as I began to make my way toward the front door. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Emmett climb out of the SUV and made his way toward the front door of the gym.
"Wait a second," Jimmy was looking back and forth between my SUV and Vicky. Finally turning his hard stare on me. "If you didn't drive your car this morning, how did you get here then? I know you didn't run or walk here when Carlisle told you NOT to do any training, right Swan?" I could feel the tell-tale blush creeping it's way up my neck and ears. Shit, I am so fucked.
"Calm down Jimmy-man, I dropped Cricket off while I went to return a movie," Emmett saved my ass as he clamped a heavy hand on Jimmy's shoulder. He turned his attention toward Jasper quickly bringing the attention to himself. "Hey man, I'm Emmett McCarthy." Emmett did that universal guy head nod thing while removing his hand from Jimmy, sticking it out in front of Jasper.
"Jasper Whitlock," he saids while firmly shaking Emmett's hand. Jimmy still looked suspicious of me but let it go.
"Right, so now that you've all been introduced, I've got some phone calls to make," Jimmy said as he headed back to his office; Vicky was hot on his heels, her hair billowing behind her as she all but ran to catch up.
We didn't say anything to each other and were forming a strange obtuse triangle. Emmett and I stood closely together facing Jasper. The silence was awkward. I didn't feel much like doing anything about it and began to zip up my sweater.
"Ready to go?" Emmett broke the silence looking down at me with his easy smile.
"Yeah, let's get out of here since I've essentially been banished for the week." Emmett nodded and gave my pony tail a little tug while putting his arm over my shoulders and ushering me in the direction of the door.
"See ya around, man," Emmett said over my head to Jasper. I didn't hear a reply but heard footsteps following us.
The sun wais bright and I had have to use my hand to shield my eyes as we stepped onto the sidewalk.
"Keys, Emmett," I demanded while holding out my hand expectantly. He dangled them over my head but pressed the unlock button.
"No way, I'm driving. You owe me breakfast after all the hero overtime I've been doing for you."
I sighed and made my way over to the passenger's side and got in. Emmett was still standing on the sidewalk. He'd been sidetracked and was now ogling the Harley I had admired earlier, before I knew who it belonged to. Jasper was putting on his helmet. It wasn't one of those full head ones; I was pretty sure it wasn't even a legal helmet. It barely reached his ears, it actually kind of reminded me of one of those old war helmets except it was black instead of green. He must take his fighting name seriously. Leave it to a guy dubbed The Major to wear a military inspired helmet.
Emmett was still talking and making excited gestures towards the bike. Jasper looked at him and chuckled replying back to the bike. It annoyed me. The guy only managed to say two words in front of me both of the times he spoke while in the gym but had no problem chatting it up with Emmett. Fuck that shit. I reached over and honked the horn at Emmett, raising my eyebrows at him when he looked back at me. The two Chatty Cathy's finished their conversation and did that stupid fist pump thing.
I watched Jasper get on his bike and start it up while Emmett made his way over to the car and climbed in.
"You sure are impatient for someone who should be extra nice to me, you know."
"Whatever, Em." I kept looking forward and listened to the purr of the Harley trying not to be obvious that I was still watching Jasper in his illegal helmet on his beautiful bike.
"Seriously, I was just admiring his bike. Did you see it? I know you saw it, Jasper said he was here before you got here."
"Yeah, I saw it. I might have even admired it for a small minute or three. But now I've changed my opinion, knowing who owns it."
"Jesus Bella, you already hate the guy and you don't even know him!" Emmett sighed at me.
"What and suddenly from a two minute conversation, you are his BFF or something?" I looked over at him indignantly. We both looked toward Jasper as he reved the motor and took off down the road.
"No, I'm just saying he seems cool. We're obviously going to be spending a lot of time with him now that he has joined the club. Maybe you should just get to know him before you pass judgement." Emmett started the car and backed it up before pulling onto the road.
"How can I do that when he only said two words to me and looked at me like I wasn't worth the time it took to acknowledge me."
"All I'm saying is give the guy a chance. You never know, he may take your job as my new BFF," Emmett joked using my own words against me.
"We'll see about that. Didn't you say something about breakfast?" I asked in an attempt to change the topic and avoid making any commitment about niceties to Jasper.
"Yeah, you're buying me breakfast. It's the least you could do after I saved your ass from Jimmy's wrath. What were you thinking jogging down here? You really are a glutton for punishment." He smiled at his own joke and pressed the accelerator as the light switched to green.
"It wasn't a long run, Em. I wanted to stretch my muscles and work the stiffness out. Breakfast sounds really good, but if you expect me to pay, we'll need to go back to my place so I can get my purse."
"Already taken care of," he smiled at me. A few minutes later he pulled up front of the Blue Star Café. He reached into the back seat and pulled out my purse, passing it to me.
"You planned this." I smiled while shaking my head at him.
"You know it, baby. Now hurry up, I'm hungry for some steak and eggs." he said to me as he closed the door of the car and made his way toward the restaurant.
After I ate and watched Emmett wolf down an obscene amount of food we drove back home. Once there, he gave me back my keys and hopped into his Jeep Rubicon to drive it across the parking lot, parking it in front of his townhouse. I watched as he climbed up his stairs and smiled at him as he turned back toward me and waved goodbye.
We were both tired after the long interrupted night's sleep and I had promised Emmett I would take it easy for the rest of the day. At least until I saw Carlisle the next morning where I could hopefully convince him to allow me to do light training. If he said no I would have to find someone to teach my yoga classes at the Y for the rest of the week.
I spent the rest of the day doing some light cleaning and the few loads of laundry that had piled up from the week. After I was satisfied with the few things I got done, I crawled into bed to watch some TV. There was a John Hughes Movie Marathon on. Sixteen Candles was just finishing with Samantha and Jake kissing over the birthday cake. As soon as the closing credits were done, The Breakfast Club started, there wasn't even a commercial in between.
I loved this movie, even if it came out the same year I was born, it didn't matter to me; the message was still applicable. And who didn't love Judd Nelson? John Bender may seem hard and criminal but he still managed to get Claire to like him in the end. The only thing that would have made his character more bad ass would have been a motorbike. Instead of walking through the football field he could have rode through. That would have been great; brown hair whipping behind him in the wind. Who am I kidding, that would have been stupid. What's more stupid is that in my mind, John Bender's hair isn't brown, it's dirty blond and being held down by a military helmet. And just because my imagination isn't deranged enough, John's long coat became black leather. What was wrong with me? I managed to ruin my favourite bad boy image by replacing Judd with Jasper. Who does that?
Send your thanks to TellMeTheTruth, she betaed this while on vacation! How lucky am I to have her, right?
Tell me, which bad boy would you have Jasper take over for?
~cusher