Boxer or Blonde
Chapter 1 Recovery
OLIVE HAIN'S APARTMENT SUITE
Olive and Jamie are relaxing on the couch after dinner. It is 4 weeks after her last fight, only her 3rd loss after 26 victories. She ended up in the hospital for 2 days with a broken hand, broken ribs, punctured lung and a concussion; the doctors wanted her to stay a day or 2 longer, but she refused. Jamie had offered to stay with her to assist; the doctors relented. Needless to say, the relationship between the two was tightening significantly.
"Babe," Jamie starts. 'Die Hard' is on the DVR, neither are paying much attention.
"Um?" Olive sounds almost asleep.
"Are you ready to start sparring, yet?"
"My physical therapist says next week. Why?"
"Well, you know that I box for exercise. I've thought of sparring with you – a light workout I mean."
She looks at her boyfriend; then starts to laugh.
"Sure, go ahead and ridicule me!" Jamie tuns away from her.
Olive cuddles closer, "Jamie, I'm not ridiculing you. You know I'm a professional, right?"
"Yes, so?"
"Well, we do not mess around. And, I do not want to hurt the man I love. Period."
"I am pretty good. I've won my weight class in the NYPD boxing league 4 years running. Just a session or two, while you get started?"
She looks at him seriously; "You really want to do this?"
"Yes, I do."
"Ok, but I set the conditions and rules.
"NO EXCEPTIONS!"
"Agreed."
Jamie attacks, taking his girlfriend to the mat (couch cushions). She is down for the count!
888888888888888888888888
DONOVAN'S GYM
Olive's manager, Rich, accompanies the couple to the gym. He is NOT in favor of this. He sees downside: not vigorous enough work-out for Olive, Reagan will get hurt, negative publicity if word gets out. He sees no upside.
Jamie is looking forward to this; he has dreamed about sparring with her for a long time.
Olive has misgivings, but she couldn't say NO to her boyfriend. She is going to pull some punches, of course.
Jamie is a regular at Donovan's; Jim Donovan (JD) is a long-time friend. He welcomes the group enthusiastically. He posted flyers around the gym 5 days ago – CLOSED AFTER 21:00 PRIATE PARTY! The gym is quiet; only Jamie's group, JD and 2 staff – Dave and Louis.
Rich will be the only corner-man; assisting Olive and Jamie as needs be. The two fighters go through 15 minutes of warm-up. Then gather in the center of the ring for instructions from Rich. He checks their gloves, head-gear and other essentials. Then sends them to their corners, to await the bell.
Jamie can't believe that Olive agreed to this. Or that Rich let her do it! But when she decides to do something, Rich doesn't have much hope of dissuading her. Jamie has learned that much.
8888888888888888888888
ROUNDS 1 & 2
Sparring is light; Olive isn't even working up a sweat.
ROUND 3 OF 6
After 1 minute, Olive allows Jamie to connect to her jaw. She knows that he isn't throwing hard enough punches to be a real danger. She lets out a mild exclamation, staggers and falls to the mat flat on her back. (Rich has been fore-warned, as has JD)
Jamie is stricken! He throws his head-gear off, rushes to Olive's side and kneels.
"Olive! Olive!" He yells.
Her eyes open, she grasps his biceps and whispers, "Gotcha!"
He attempts to pull back, but she won't let go. She rolls them over and begins a kissing barrage; he joins the party!
Donovan goes to the control booth and shuts all cameras down, and dims the lights.
Dave and Louis run into the ring, throwing a large blanket over the combatants, and then run for their lives.
Donovan yells, "Cameras off, lights dim." The song "The Stripper" by David Rose begins to play, followed by other appropriate music.
88888888888888888
30 MINUTES LATER
Jamie & Olive reappear mid-ring. They are grinning ear-to-ear. Olive gives Jamie a fist bump – "YES!" "What a work-out!"
Jamie shakes his head and blushes. "Damn, there better not be pictures!"
They gather their things, move to the locker rooms, shower & change, and go back to Olive's place.
88888888888888888
REAGAN'S SUNDAY DINNER
After all are seated and the food is blessed, Danny asks a question.
"I talked with a buddy in TARU this week. He is in charge of scouring social media from time to time. He found a couple of interesting pictures on the Internet. I wonder if these rings any bells? With anyone?"
Olive whispers to Jamie, "TARU?"
"Later," he whispers back.
Danny passes his phone around. Nobody recognizes anything, anybody. Jamie & Olive are careful to school their facial features as they look at the two pictures.
"What should we see, Danny?" Erin asks.
"Let's ask the kid," he smirks at his younger brother. Danny hands the phone back to Jamie.
Jamie takes it and looks. "Well, it looks like a boxing ring. There is something in the middle of the ring; covered up. A blanket maybe? That's all I see." He hands the phone back.
"Do you recognize the gym, kid?"
"Nope."
"Looks like Donovan's to me," Danny smiles.
"And you can tell because?" Jamie retorts.
"See how the equipment is arranged on the back wall?"
Jamie brings a hand up to his mouth to stifle a laugh, "Really, Danny? You must be kidding me!"
Jamie squeezes Olive's hand under the table. He hopes she will keep quiet. Danny is expert in picking up body language. Too late.
"You're crazy!" Olive snorts. Looking right at Danny.
"No, I'm a trained detective!" He returns.
"Check your glasses, cop!" OH!
"You don't know a damn thing about evidence!" Looking right back.
"Shut up!"
"Quiet, you b-
Olive leaps to her feet, circles the table and stops 1 ft. from Danny. "What were you gonna call me?"
"Nothing you don't deserve!"
Only Jamie saw what happened next, because he knew what was coming. The punch was almost Superman quick. Danny was flat on his back; everyone else was paralyzed.
Olive stomped back around the table, Jamie joined her as they grabbed their coats and left the house.
Linda dropped to her knees, checking her husband. "He's breathing, pulse regular and strong. He will come around in a little while."
"She's never entering this house again," Pops declares, angrily. Erin says, "Amen!"
Frank holds his tongue, for now.
8888888888888888888888888888
TBC