"Eve!"

As soon as my head jerks back from the impact of my opponents blow, I hear my name being called from the crowd.

Out of human instinct I whip my head toward the sound. I was used to people yelling my name in celebration after I had won a fight, but never during it, and definitely never out of fear. There was an understanding amongst the spectators that calling someone's name during a fight was off limits for this reason exactly: it was distracting. It pulls the fighter out of the moment.

"Eve! Lookout!"

Realizing the mistake I've made I start to turn my head away from the crowd and back toward my opponent. Suddenly, it feels like a cement block hits my chest, knocking my feet out from under me, and sending me straight into the ground.

Black dots begin to fill my vision as I lay gasping on the mat. The impact of the hit has taken the air from my lungs. I lay staring at the basement ceiling desperately sucking in air as the crowd begins to count down from 10.

Come on Eve get up! I plead with myself in my mind. Get up!

The crowd yells out 5 when I finally have enough strength to roll onto my side. I try to raise my body to a sitting position but my arms shake under my weight and my head spins due to loss of oxygen.

The crowd breaks out into a mix of disbelief and celebration as they scream out 1. I hear the final bell begin to ring as I make eye contact with Renan. Instantly I recognize his voice as the one who called my name. His still shocked figure a stark contrast to the drunken movement of the crowd.

If looks could kill.

~•~•~•~•~

"Eve, come on, just stop for a second would ya? Please. Eve!"
Renan has been trailing behind me like a lost puppy for the past 10 minutes pleading with me to turn around and talk to him.

Pissed off and hangry I ignore him and keep walking down the sidewalk along Maylord Street.

After I lost the fight, Mr. Hender had yanked Renan to the side of the ring while I laid defeated on the mat. A couple of minutes passed before I finally got up and made my way through the crowd to exit the basement. I could feel people's eyes following me as I passed Renan. I could see Mr. Hender, with steam practically spewing from his ears hounding Renan, who looked like he might cry.

Serves him right, I thought to myself stepping into the shower room where I quickly cleaned myself and got dressed before I grabbed my gym bag and walked to the entrance of the gym.

As I got closer to the double glass doors I saw Renan leaning against one of them with his arms crossed.  His posture relaxed as I approached to his left and his expression softened.
"Hey Eve, I'm..." but I didn't hear the rest of his statement because I kept on walking through the door and into the night.

Which brings us to where we are currently: Renan pleading for a response.

~•~•~•~•~

I start to speed walk, clenching my jaw in growing annoyance, and trying my best to keep myself calm.

"Evelina!" I feel his hand grab my wrist and my body jerks to a stop.

I twist my arm free whirling around to face Renan who's face is half light by a flickering street lamp.

"Don't touch me," I snap. "Just go home already Renan." I turn and begin walking away from him.

"No," he says jogging around to stand in front of me blocking my path. "Not until you let me apologize, properly."

I glare at him in silence with my arms crossed and jaw still clenched. In the middle of our awkward stare-off my stomach lets out a loud low rumble.

I keep up my cold display. "There's a diner around the corner. You can apologize to me while you buy me dinner."

"Deal."

"Let's go," I growl bumping shoulders with Renan as I pass him.

Bells jingle as I open the diner's door. I don't wait to hold it open for Renan before making my way to a corner booth in the back of the restaurant. Renan slides into the seat across from me, his knees touching mine, and we sit in silence as an older waitress walks over and hands a plastic one-sided menu to Renan.

"Nice to see you again Eve," Marge greets me. She smells like cigarettes and peppermint.

I give her a thin smile. "Nice to see you too Mar."

She points to my left eye with her pen. "Rough night?" I guess it's already starting to bruise.

"You have no idea," I respond my gaze settling on Renan while he continues to look over the menu. I see a pink tint start to appear on his cheeks before he finally looks up and at Marge.

"You ready to order sugar?"

"Uh yeah," Renan clears his throat. "I'll have a tall stack of cakes with 4 eggs, bacon, and hash browns, as well as a cup of black coffee and a glass of water.

"Ok," Marge nods writing everything down. "You getting your regular Eve?"

"Yes ma'am. But make it a double and bring one serving out in a to-go box would you?"

"Sure thing sugar," she says before collecting the menu and walking back towards the kitchen.

No longer able to hide behind a menu Renan looks at me and clears his throat once again.
"How's your eye?" He asks.

"That's a weird way to start an apology," I reply crossing my arms.

He sighs.

"Do you even know what you did? Do you know why I'm mad?" I question.

"I never meant for you to get hurt, trust me. I don't know what I was thinking," he shakes his head, "I should've just kept my mouth shut. That bruise is my fault." He looks down at his hands which are clasped together and resting on the table.

"I'm not mad because I got hurt," I state. "I get hurt all the time." I motion to my face, "this is nothing." I pause. "I'm upset because I lost. I lost my winning streak, I lost my rank in the ring, and most important: I lost what should have been my money."

He lifts his head back up to look at me. "These fights are all I have. What you witnessed tonight is my sole source of income. I get one fight a week and the money I collect for being the victor goes towards things like bills and groceries and, God forbid, medicine when Eli gets sick. And..."

"Who's Eli?"

"My little sister," I say. "Who, no thanks to you, will still get to eat for the next seven days, because luckily for her I save what ever little money I can in case of an emergency."

"I didn't know you have a little sister."

"Well you do now. But that's beside the point. Which is: the stunt you pulled earlier almost cost me a lot more than a black eye and a sore ego. Don't you ever do that again," I threatened.

Renan nods. "I didn't know you were fighting for money, let alone money just to get by for the week. I would never have interfered if I had known." His voice softens. "It's just, the whole secret 'fight club' was surprising enough, but when I saw you get punched it shocked me, scared me. I don't know, I felt like I needed to do something but I didn't know what."

My expression softens ever so slightly. I'm not used to someone other than Eli caring if I get hurt. Renan catches this shift and takes it as a sign to continue.

"I'm sorry. Really Eve I am. I hope you can forgive me."

I take a second to think. He didn't know what he was doing, I tell myself. Can you really blame him for what happened? It's not his fault Sarah has a small bladder and wasn't at the front desk to stop him from coming in. Poor boy must have been so confused, I mean do you honestly know what you would do in his situation? I didn't, so I couldn't judge him, which is why I say:

"It's fine Mathews, don't beat yourself up about it."

He lets out a relieved chuckle and scratches the back of his neck making his bicep flex. "Thank God," he breathes. "I thought any chance of us being friends was lost after this."

I fight a small smile from forming on my face. "What makes you think you ever had a chance to begin with?"

Renan's taken aback by my question. "Well, I didn't know, I just thought since, you know, you were the first person I met here that, maybe, you'd eventually..." he continues to ramble before I cut him off.

"Relax," I chuckle, "I was only joking."

"So does that mean we're friends now," he asks.

"Eh, we'll see. After my group crushes yours at the showcase Friday, being friends with me might just be to embarrassing," I tease finally starting to relax since the fight. "I'd just remind you of your defeat."

"You know it's not a competition, right?"

"Oh please," I say as I see Marge walking over with our food, "you of all people should know that everything in life is a competition."

~•~•~•~•~

Sat in the passenger seat of Renan's car a comfortable silence settles over us.  As he makes his way to my apartment one thought keeps running through my head: I hate to admit it but think I actually enjoy Renan's company. 

We ended up talking and eating at the diner for a little over 3 hours and I made a mental note to thank Elizabeth for being such a sweet girl who gets invited to so many sleepovers. Otherwise I could never have stayed out so late.

Of course, Renan did most of the speaking which was impressive considering how much food he ordered to eat. I really just asked questions and listened to his answers as I savored my burger, fries, and cookie dough milkshake.

As each minute passed that I spent with Renan the idea of letting him in just enough to be friends didn't seem so terrifying, and the words of warning Mr. Hender spoke to me on the first day of school kept playing in the back of my mind. 

Maybe I could try one more time, I thought, to let someone in. Maybe instead of adding bricks to the walls around my heart, he would be the one to start tearing them down.

Renan pulls to the side of the street in front of my home when I've made the decision on where I'll allow our relationship to go.

"Thanks for the ride," I say grabbing my to-go box and getting out of the car. Renan rolls down the driver's side window so he can talk to me as I walk around the front of the car. I stop by his window.

"No problem," he says smiling. "Any time you want to go get food at midnight, don't be afraid to hit me up. Those pancakes were delicious."

"If you think those were good," I muse, "you should try mine. They'll knock the wind right out of ya."

Renan rolls his eyes at my jab at my recent loss in the ring. "After Anna and I dance circles around your little girl group, and we inevitably become friends, you're gonna have to make me some of those pancakes."

"We'll see Mathews, we'll see," I chuckle before turning around and starting to climb the cement steps. I hear Renan call out "see you Monday" so I give him a wave with my back still turned.

I start to unlock the door fumbling to find the keyhole in the dark when something white catches my attention in the corner of my eye. I look up after finally unlocking the door and see a folded piece of paper taped to hit. The words: To: Elizabeth Maria Ortiz. Love: Mama are printed on the front.

I snatch it off the door before entering the apartment. My hands shake as I stuff the note into the bottom of my gym bag.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

A/N:

Hey y'all! Hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy! Thanks again for every read, vote, and comment!

Wanted to let y'all know that I'm starting my online classes tomorrow so I won't be able to update every day.  Right now I plan on updating for sure every Saturday and sometimes Wednesday as well :)

Love Life & Live Well,
Anne <3