It was morning. Not a very bright morning, since it was September, but daylight came through the window into the living room. Ian had not slept all night, and it showed.
"Seems to be morning. Guess I should start getting up at some point." Ian thought.
He didn't start getting up, but just stayed in the same position where he had stayed all night. There he stayed for one hour more until he started hearing the sounds of waking up from the girl that he had been leaning on the whole night. He hid his own face by looking down and pretending to be asleep.
"Mmm good morning, baby." Cindy said satisfied and looked at Ian who was putting on his facade.
She looked at the wall clock and saw that it was half past seven in the morning.
"Mmm I won't need to get to work yet. But when does he need to get going? He came home rather late. Must be tired. But I have time to just... mmm... rest here." Cindy was saying to herself while stretching her arms.
"Does she always talk to herself when she's alone?" Ian thought in his head while staying quiet.
"Oh my God, is she petting me now? I mean, I like it , but what if mum comes down here? Fuck that, what if the police comes here? I'm fucked. Did it actually even happen? This feels too nice to be something as bad as that. I need to text Ronnie and ask him about last night." Ian thought and started subtly reaching to his pocket.
"What are you reaching for, Baby?" Cindy asked as soon as Ian's hand started going in the pocket.
"Damn. She was looking at me the whole time." Ian thought.
"Just checking the time." Ian said.
"It's half past seven." Cindy said in a friendly tone.
Ian took his phone out anyway and kept looking down. He hid the phone screen with his head so Cindy couldn't see. He found Ronnie's number and opened their chat. He however stopped himself from sending a message.
"What if he's in custody and the police has his phone?" He thought and put his phone away.
"Slept well, Baby?" Cindy asked.
"No." Ian answered.
"Aww, are you still distraught about something?" Cindy asked and attempted to lift Ian's face up to look at it.
Ian had forgotten about what was done to his face and so didn't resist at all. Cindy gasped when she saw Ian's face.
"Baby? What happened?" Cindy asked.
"Huh? What?" Ian said like an idiot.
"Your eye? Did I elbow you in the eye while we slept?"
"Oh. Yeah, umm... I don't think that's the case. Don't worry." Ian answered.
"Then what is it?"
"Umm..."
"Oh. It happened while you were out last night? Did somebody attack you? Is that why you're so distraught?"
"Uhh... yeah." Ian answered unconvincingly.
"If she knew what I was actually doing, she'd hate me. And if she knew who I was doing it with, she'd hate me even more. I don't want her to hate me. I like her."
"Are you sure? You don't sound sure. Were you drunk and you don't remember?" Cindy asked.
"I might have been." Ian answered, sounding unsure.
"So the thing that you were so upset about to the point that you came crawling to my arms, was just a drunken fight with the boys?" Cindy asked with slight amusement.
"So what if it was?"
"You didn't smell like alcohol last night. Are you sure that you're telling the truth?" Cindy asked as if she was interrogating Ian.
"I said that I didn't want to talk about it." Ian said and pushed himself away from Cindy.
"You're not telling the truth, are you? You were actually doing something else last night?" Cindy asked seriously.
Ian couldn't answer anything.
"Are you involved with a gang?" Cindy asked completely deadpan.
"No!" Ian answered seriously.
"Then what is it?"
"I..."
"Yes?"
"I decided to fight for money." Ian answered dishonestly, but managed to make it sound sincere since it's a part of his secret life.
"WHAT?" Cindy shouted.
"Yeah..."
"Why would you do that? I've told you that you don't need to worry about money! Ohh, you idiot!" Cindy complained and almost ripped her own hair.
"Because... I feel ashamed being dependent on you." Ian answered.
"Why? Why would you... For goodness' sake, I'm your..." Cindy was complaining until they both heard steps coming from the stairs and decided to calm down.
"Oh. You came home." Emma's voice said from the doorway of the living room where the woman in question was now standing.
Ian leaned his elbow on the backrest and his eye on his palm to hide his eye.
"Umm... Yeah. I did. Sorry for making you worry." Ian said back from the sofa.
"You did make me worry! I was ready to file a report about a missing person until you declined my call. That's when I figured that you're actually conscious."
"It could have been my kidnapper who declined the call."
"Please don't even joke about that."
"Right. Sorry. I'm fine though."
"And that's what matters. Just glad that you're home and safe. But please tell me before going somewhere late at night."
"I'm an adult. I own myself now."
"I know... I'm just worried. Naturally."
"Fine. I'll tell you from now on."
"You better. Also lovely to see you two getting along again. It's been an... interesting relationship between you two." Emma said and sneered at the two friends on the sofa.
Ian squinted his eyes and looked down to hide himself in embarrassment. Cindy chuckled.
"But anyway, I'll occupy the shower for now. Ian should also get ready for the day." Emma said and went back upstairs.
Cindy gave a judging look to Ian from the other end of the sofa.
"What?" Ian said.
"You avoided her question. You didn't tell her where you were." Cindy said back.
"My answer seemed good enough for her." Ian reasoned.
Cindy sighed.
"What do I do with you?" She quietly asked herself.
"What do you mean? She doesn't have to know everything I do." Ian asked.
"You won't fight for money or do anything stupid for money anymore, okay? Please?" Cindy bargained.
"She seems like she really cares." Ian thought and remained quiet without answering Cindy.
"Well?" She asked again.
"You really think I should?" Ian asked and sounded like a fool.
"Ngh! Yes! You'll just get brain damage and fail at the university."
"But you said that you can't provide for us indefinitely."
"And you figured that this is how you'll make your own money on the side?" Cindy asked and crossed her arms.
"Well... Exactly."
"Ugh. How much did you even make?"
"A few hundred quid."
"Are you even any good at it?"
"I've only lost once and I was cheated out of it."
"Uh huh. Sure."
"I'm telling the truth."
"Why not just get a part time job on the weekends or something?"
"Because I suck at everything."
"Aww, don't say that."
"It's true. And this university thing isn't going anywhere. I need a backup plan."
"And your backup plan is fighting?"
"Exactly. It gets me paid. So we'll be less of a burden on you."
"But will it get in the way of your studies?"
"My own laziness has gotten in the way of them. I know I'm not going to graduate. But being a pro boxer is my dream."
"Why not do it the legitimate way? Get some training or something?"
"With what money?"
"Maybe with the money you already made."
"That money is needed for more important things. And the path from training to making money is too long. And I'd also need to get a licence before I can do sanctioned fights. Fuck that."
"Can't be that hard."
"Well, it's really just a medical exam. But I'd have to leave town to get it done."
"I'll take you there." Cindy said straightly.
"Oh. Really?"
"Of course! I'll support your dream always!"
"So now you're okay with it?"
"Only if you keep it legitimate and take care of your health."
"Ouch. That's a lot to ask." Ian said.
Cindy gave him a stern look.
"But I guess I can manage it. It's been years since my training ended so I don't think I should fight amateurs yet."
"But can we get the licence in advance anyway and then you can get into amateur fights when you're ready?"
"I suppose."
"Great. Let's do that some day! But no more back alley fights."
"Fine. Guess I'll have to train some other way." Ian said and remembered something.
"And you'll promise to get checked if you ever get hurt or feel headaches or anything like that?"
"Yeah yeah, I promise." Ian said while thinking about something else.
"Though I wish you'd graduate from the university and get a stable job. Maybe at the same company as me even."
"If you'd see my grades, you'd lose those hopes."
"I understand that not everything is for everyone. Like I said. I'll support your dream." Cindy said with a reassuring smile.
"I appreciate that."
"Now go take care of that eye."
"How?"
"I don't know. Steal some makeup from the other woman in this house."
"Good idea." Ian said and got up.
"But first..." Cindy said and also stood up.
She stood herself face to face with Ian, looked at him and gave him a smooch on the lips.
"You may go now." Cindy said and smiled softly.
"You're killing me here." Ian answered sarcastically and in a deadpan manner.
"That's the point. Now go be a thief." Cindy said jokingly.
"If only she knew." Ian thought and turned away before saying anything stupid.
16Please respect copyright.PENANAXn9y55hlUS
As Ian was rummaging through the drawers in Emma's bedroom, he got a thought in his head that made him wonder.
"Why am I actually looking for her makeup? I'm not even going to school today. I'm going to see the old fuck and see if he actually meant what he offered. If he sees my black eye, he'll know who I am. If he wanted me arrested, he would have sent the feds after me already. I think he's genuine. I'll still be ready for anything." Ian thought to himself and stopped what he was doing.
He closed the drawer and stepped away from it, pretending like he never did anything. Right as he did that, he heard the shower stop in the bathroom. He rushed out of the bedroom and went to his own. The door of the bathroom opened right as Ian made it to his own room. On his bed was a brown bag. He went to his bed and took the bag that had the words "For my love." written on it with a sharpie, accompanied with a heart. Inside the bag was a banana.
"Guess the shower should be free now." Ian thought and took the unoccupied shower before anyone else could.
As he came out out of the shower and entered his room again, he was startled by the voice of Emma coming from her own room.
"Ian Thomas Maltman!" Her voice screeched from her own room.
"Fuck." Ian said to himself.
He knew that avoiding his mother doesn't save him, so he got dressed in his home outfit and went to her room while covering his eye with his hand.
"Yes?" He hesitantly asked.
"Why is my drawer a mess?"
"I don't know. Ask Cindy. She's more likely to be interested in lady stuff."
"You're not good at lying." Emma said and felt sick of her son.
"I know that." Ian said in shame.
"Why are you hiding your eye?"
"Umm. I... got attacked last night." Ian said and revealed his eye.
"Oh, what the hell, honey? Who was the bastard? Are you alright?" Emma asked worriedly.
"I... I don't actually know. I'll find the bastard today." Ian answered, making his web of lies even more tangled and knowing it.
"No, you will not! Don't even start playing that game. Just leave it be and be the better man. Don't be like your idiot father was... or probably still is." Emma told Ian with her voice getting a tone of resentment towards the end.
"Okay... I won't."
"Good. So what was it that you were looking for?"
"Oh. Right. You got anything that could hide... this?" Ian asked and pointed to the black eye.
"I might. Want me to apply it to you?"
"I think I can do it myself."
"You ever put on makeup? I don't think you have."
"Can't be that hard."
"Suit yourself. I'll head to the office now." Emma said and walked past Ian.
Before Ian could go any deeper into the room, he was touched on the shoulder.
"And do not go out looking for payback." Emma reminded firmly and then finally left.
"Alright. Of course I won't." Ian quietly said after Emma had left.
Inside the room he took the makeup from the top of the drawer where Emma left it, and looked at it. There was a tiny brush next to it.
"Guess I have to use this now after all." Ian said and dipped the brush in whatever the makeup was.
He applied to around his eye, which didn't look any better as a result.
"Fuck this. Good enough. Not like I'm going to school anyway. I don't need to look good." Ian said and gave up.
He went back to his room where he didn't change into his uniform. He only put his favourite sweatshirt on and headed out the door without his rucksack or Cindy's brown bag.
He left the entire house without saying Goodbye to anyone, and just started jogging to the same direction where he came from last night. All the running he had done in the past week had an effect on him. On his journey he only had to do one bit walking when he was catching his breath. All the rest he did by running. As he was running, he remembered that he's still wearing the same clothes as he was last night.
"Fuck, if anyone sees me and recognises me from last night, that'll get me in trouble. Everybody on the street of that house has probably heard about what happened. I can't just go there looking the same as I did last night. I have to look different." Ian thought and got an idea.
He took off his sweatshirt and tossed it in somebody's rosebush. That was his great idea.
"I'll get it on my way back." He thought to himself and kept walking along the street where he had ran away from just the previous night.
The house that he had been inside the night before was still where it was back then. Obviously. Ian approached the house carefully and slowed down as he got nearer to it, as if the house was going to attack him. Once he was right outside the front yard, he stopped completely and made his last minute thoughts.
"Fucker might have an entire police unit in there. I might be making a stupid decision here. I was supposed to live my life as if last night never even happened. But fuck, my life isn't going anywhere. This guy is a pro. If he meant what he said, this could be my chance." Ian thought outside the front yard with his hands in his pockets while looking around.
A dog barked somewhere.
"Fuck it. I'm going in." Ian quietly said and stepped up to the front door.
He rang the doorbell and waited. And waited some more. He understood that he still had a chance to run away but he had made his choice. The dog was still barking somewhere in the street. That was the only noise around, until the sound of stepping and cussing could be heard coming from inside. The door was opened, and in front of Ian was the same old man that he boxed inside the house last night.
"Who the fuck're you?" The old man at the door asked grumpily.
"Umm. Yeah. So... You might know me." Ian answered awkwardly.
"From where?"
"Well..." Ian said and made sure to show the side of his face with the poorly disguised black eye on it.
"Oh. I see. So you were so daft that you came here for seconds? I thought you'd stay far away from here."
"So you're Jacob Oxen? You said something to me."
"That's me. And I did. Rare to see someone so young know my name."
"I wouldn't have the slightest clue who you are if it weren't for your memorabilia." Ian thought.
"Yeah. But the thing you said. The thing you offered. Did you mean it?" Ian asked and acted less embarrassed and more confident now.
"So that's what you're here for?" Jacob asked and stared down the young fool.
"That's what I'm here for."
"Well, bloody hell. Someone wants something to do with old and useless Jacob Oxen in the current year. I'll be."
"I want you to teach me to fight." Ian said with certainty.
For that he got a hard punch in his left cheek. It surprised him and angered him, but didn't knock him back much.
"The fuck was that, old man?" Ian said angrily and stepped up to Jacob, who due to his slouch had to slightly look up at Ian.
"Ha. You really are the young bugger who wouldn't go down. You've got a tough head, kid. And the right attitude too. You'll just let some old fuck smack you around like that? Huh? You going to do something?"
"Maybe I'll finish what I came here to do last night. I won't let you stand in the way." Ian threatened without really meaning it.
Jacob stared down with Ian and had a mean look on his face for a solid ten seconds before he burst out in laughter. Ian let out a confused sound.
"Save that attitude for the gym." Jacob said walked past Ian to get out of the house.
Jacob pulled out a small remote control from his pocket and pressed a button on it. The door of his garage opened and revealed a home gym inside the garage. Also in the garage was a punching bag, a weight bench and a very flimsy boxing ring that looked like it would collapse if somebody stepped inside of it.
"So that's what's in here. So we weren't going to get any car parts from here either way." Ian stated.
Jacob didn't comment anything about that, but just got in the garage and stepped in the ring that didn't collapse.
"You going to stay out there or get in here?" Jacob said from the ring.
"Right." Ian simply said and got in the ring as well.
Jacob pressed a button and the garage door closed. He pressed another button and the lights in the garage were switched on.
"So we're going to fight now?" Ian asked, not being certain of the situation.
"Ha. We saw how that went last night. Old me is not fighting anyone anymore." Jacob said and picked up a pair of focus pads from the corner of the ring and kicked a pair of boxing gloves into Ian's direction.
"Oh. This stuff. I know how to punch already." Ian said.
"I know that. I found that out myself. But do you have the right form when punching? Do you have the right sense and good movement?" Jacob talked while putting the focus pads on his hands.
Once Jacob was equipped, he raised his hands at the level of his head. Ian put on the gloves and took a fighting stance.
"Now hit me with a quick jab to the torso. Go!" Jacob ordered.
Ian did what he was told and threw a jab aimed at Jacob's torso, knowing it'd be blocked with the focus pad.
"Now to the head. Go!" Jacob ordered and Ian did as told.
"Now a quick one-two to the torso and the head. Go!" Jacob ordered and Ian once again did as told.
"Okay. You've got some amount of training. You don't hit like a completely inexperienced fool. Your form could be better though." Jacob stated.
"Guess you'd know." Ian said back.
"Let me show you how it's done. Give me the bloody gloves." Jacob said and shook the focus pads off his hands.
Ian shook the gloves off his hands and the two switched equipment.
"I'll do the same that you did, alright? You brat better watch my form and feel the hits too." Jacob explained.
"Got it." Ian said back.
"Jab to the torso coming. Now!" Jacob called and then did what he promised.
Jacob did the same jabs that Ian had done earlier and after that, shook off his gloves.
"Did you see the difference?" Jacob asked.
"Not really, mate." Ian answered honestly and Jacob only sighed quietly.
"Let's move to the bag. I'll explain it to you as you go." Jacob said and stepped out of the ring.
Ian shook the focus pads out of his hands and followed Jacob to the punching bag.
"Where the fuck're yer gloves?" Jacob asked.
Ian blew air out of his nose in a long stream and retrieved the gloves from the ring. He returned to the punching bag with the gloves in hand and gave the bag a little practice shot.
"That was awful. How you do it is..."
Ten minutes passed.
"Boy. You're awful mate." Jacob commented as Ian was catching his breath and gritting his teeth by the punching bag.
Ian just kept kept his eyes on the floor and breathed heavily.
"Can't even get the hang of the most basic form and then you get angry at the bag like your failure is the bloody bag's fault." Jacob said and chuckled.
"You're the one expecting me to move and breathe and shit exactly like you." Ian said back with the exhaustion audible in his voice.
"You think you'll learn anything from me if you can't hit like me? You know what, kid? Maybe you should just rely on your hard head and win by endurance every time. That's how I won most of the time."
"So you're somebody who can take a beating like no one else?" Ian asked and got his back straight.
"Kid, I was known for that. People were baffled by the shots that hit me but didn't knock me down. I amazed people by getting up from the canvas when anyone else would have been out. I was the toughest bloody bastard in any building I stepped inside of. Of course you wouldn't know that. You caught my curiosity because I saw something like that in you when you didn't go down. But you can't be a champion with just a hard head. You need a hard body too." Jacob explained and then kicked the weight bench inside the garage.
"You calling me soft, you old fat fucker?" Ian asked.
"I'm giving you advice and the permission to use my hardware. Not like I've used it in bloody years. You want to be serious about being a fighter? Then train those arms. You can leave when you want. Just close the garage door when you leave. The button is by the door." Jacob said and left through the door that leads into the house.
"Guess he trusts me. Not like there's anything worth stealing here in the garage anyway. Not that I would steal anything even if there was. Suppose I can use some real weights for once since I don't have any of my own. I'll definitely have to talk with the old fucker more about his career. Might learn something. Off to work then."
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