Anastasia

7- the last stand

A half hour later, Annya was at the gym dressed and ready.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do. Since you have some things to teach me and I have a lot to teach you, I figured we could train each other" she said as she walked up onto the mat.

"That's not how this works" Sean replied without even looking up at her.

"You're right. How this is supposed to work is you are supposed to be teaching me. The only problem is, I'm a better fighter than you." she said with fake regret in her voice, and giggled when she gave her an unamused look.

"You're a better fighter than anyone I know so you won't be able to learn much anyway. Tell me again why you're here?" He closed the distance, handing Annya the tape and gloves.

"My brother paid you and I'm not about to waste hard earned money." she took the tape from his hands, maintaining eye contact

"No, there's something else. You're too happy to be here."

"Would you believe I came here to spend time with you?" she joked

"No. You can't stand me. Try again" he looked behind her onto all the people working out, not letting her see the emotion in his eyes.

"How does Maintenance sound? Gloves please." she held out the tape to trade it with her boxing gloves, and he shook his head, unconvinced.

"Even rusty, you can kick anyone's ass" Annya could see Sean looking at her like he was searching for something on her face that would give her away, but she knew she had nothing to show. She was trained to not let anything out in any situation.

"Self defence. Being a woman is dangerous out there" Sean nodded his head, but kept staring at her for a few more seconds, unconvinced.

"Okay, fine. We can work on eachother" he said, reluctantly taking his eyes off of her after seeing a wide grin scratch across her face.

"Okay, so first, your stance is way off. Your balance isn't centered. That's why your movements are slow. I mean you're fast, but you can be faster. The reason why I beat you before was because I was able to predict your movements based on the patterns of your movements." Annya immediately started, adjusting his stance. "Also your control's impressive, but you still rely too much on your strength."

Most of the session, she was the one teaching Sean and he let her, seeing how much fun she was having, enjoying seeing her come out of her shell. She was starting to look like that little girl he saw when she was asleep. He could tell she really wasn't used to this feeling so he wanted to let her enjoy it as much as she can, even letting their session go on an hour after it was supposed to end. Every once in a while, he would ask questions or give suggestions with every instruction she gave him. Sometimes she would explain why his suggestions wouldn't work, but there were times where she would pause and think it through before she tried it out. If they worked, it would build on her excitement, making his heart and smile warm.

"Hey, Sean. I'm about to head out. You want the key to lock up after you're done?" A deep voice asked, bringing them both out of their little world. Annya looked surprised, as she looked at her watch to see how late it had gotten.

"Shit. sorry, we're about done anyway" she yelled back. Before Sean was about to object, Annya was taking off her gloves and tape off seeming to be in a rush.

"Why didn't you tell me it was getting late?" she asked

"I didn't notice" Sean lied.

"I'll compensate you for the extra time. I promise"

"What do you mean? You did the training today. I should be paying you" he laughed, as he took off his gloves and tape too. She looked up at him with thanks clear in her eyes, making him smile, wanting to kiss her on the forehead, but he knew that would get him severely injured, then scolded as she fixed him back up.