Behind

Chapter 22

We shoved some food that tasted like cardboard down our throats and wasted the time remaining between then and training reeking havoc on the couples that were trying to enjoy their day quietly. It made me forget about everything going on around us.

The group of us that were assigned to a training partner clustered into the hotel's gym area and took our shoes off as we approached the padded floor. I couldn't help but let an "aw" slip out of my mouth when Carter swept Carmina off of her feet and hugged her. It's a shame we couldn't pick our training partners.

Kendra walked in the door after everyone else had entered and we all turned to face her. "Good evening everyone." She smiled.

The group of us nodded our heads and shot back a friendly smile instead of using actual words. 

"Please get with your partners." Bart ordered. Immediately, I made eye contact with Shawn and moved closer to him.

"Hey." He whispered and flashed me a vibrant smile.

"Hi." I smiled back, swiping the hair off of my shoulder. 

"Boxing and kick boxing." We all looked at Bart peculiarly and he raised his voice. "Today's lesson will be on boxing and kick boxing." He slowly walked over to Gilinsky and Jack. "Show them an example of something you'll be teaching the ladies today."

Jack and Gilinsky slid some thick gloves on their wrists and strapped them. After moving their arms and legs around to warm up, they eyed each other and quickly turned to face opposite one another. They stared eye-to-eye for a few moments until suddenly Jack picked his foot up and jammed Gilinsky in the gut. 

The group of us girls clutched at our bodies as if that had hit us directly. Gilinsky revolted by faking Jack out once and then smashing his other fist into the side of Jack's face. 

The match switched between part time victors, tripping each other to the ground and leaving immediate bruises on skin. Finally Bart called it off before I swear one of them was going to bite the other's head off. 

"Okay boys, thank you."

They stopped moving and stared at each other, panting. There was a tense and thick air that lingered in the room.

Suddenly, Gilinsky patted Jack on the back and took out his mouth guard. "Nice job bud. Remember to be harsher on the uppercuts next time."

Jack patted Gilinsky's back in return and took off his gloves. Shortly after, he left the room, considering he didn't have anyone to train. Bart smiled at our terrified faces; wide eyed and dropped jaws. "This will be fun."

I looked up at Shawn. I didn't want to beat him up. And he wouldn't hurt me. Would he?

We reached in a large bucket and slid some gloves on our hands after putting in our own mouth guards.

Shawn looked at me and smiled. He tried to say something but it came out all mashed up and slurred, so I didn't have a clue about what he was saying. I keeled over laughing.

Gilinsky stared at me with narrowed eyes and I straightened my back immediately. Sometimes I forget what I'm now apart of and how serious it's supposed to be.

"Okay!" Bart shouted. "Newbies, you're going to punch your partner in the face."

He said it so casually, it made me extremely uncomfortable. I widened my eyes at Shawn and he smiled at me.

"I'm not punching you." I whispered.

"Just do it."

"No." I persisted.

"Teal," He laughed. "Punch me in the face." I never thought I'd actually have someone ask me this request. 

I took a deep breath as I watched Nicole, Kelly, Kaitlyn, and Carmina hesitate as well as myself. Maybe I should be the leader. 

I straighed my arm forcefully and my fist sped towards Shawn's face. I closed my eyes as Shawn blocked my hit with his lower arm. I let out a sigh of relief and I could hear the girls watching me do the same. They took my attempt as initiative to start their own punches.

Gilinsky was talking to Kaitlyn before he let her come at him. He put his hand up to her for a moment and yelled out. "Hold up!" We all stopped what we were doing and turned towards Gilinsky.

"Did Bart say to block their punches?" He looked at Nash, Shawn, Aaron, and then to Carter, the guys that were training us. "No." He answered his own question. "This is supposed to teach everyone not to be sissies. People are going to get hurt and it's better practice now than when you're in an actual situation that involves combat." He spat on his gloves. "Now suck it up and start getting physical."

I looked at Shawn and breathed in roughly through my mouth guard. Every inhale lead to a nasty slurping noise from the saliva building up in the plastic inside my mouth, so I tried to take shallow and short breaths.

"I can't punch you." I admitted. "I'm not that type of person."

He looked me solemnly in the eyes. "This is why you're training. You need to learn to build that person inside of you." His face loosened up a little. "You need to be able to keep yourself safe when we can't. I know that part of you is in there somewhere."

"It's really not." I stated flatly, looking down at my gloves.

"Oh yeah?" He asked. I saw a smirk on his face for the first time since I've met him. It didn't seem to suit his personality.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nash get smoked in the face by Kelly. I flinched back a little at the sight. "What do you mean 'oh yeah'?"

He held the smirk on his face. "I bet you wouldn't hit Nash either."

My heartbeat stopped. He's never teased me about Nash before and it didn't feel right. "I definitely would too."

"Oh, sure." He mocked. "You like him too much to hurt him."

"I do not." 

"You definitely do, don't hide it."

I bounced on my toes. "Watch your mouth, I'm not hiding anything."

"You say that now," He looked at me. "Wait until he tries to get into your pants." 

With that last sentence I flung my arm forward and my glove fired straight at Shawn's nose. The force was so powerful that it sent him flying backwards and onto the floor. He held his nose and looked at the ground.

Everyone in the room stopped their own punches and stared at our partnership in awe. Gilinsky even looked stunned as well as Bart and Kendra.

I didn't know if this was a good thing or not, but I figured that confidence would get me bonus points here. "What?" I snapped to the group. Everyone immediately forced their eyes back to their own training exercises.

Shawn still held his hand over his nose with his eyes wide as baseballs. I looked over my shoulder before I reached my hand out to help him up. As he stood up I leaned into his ear. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

There wasn't any blood, but his nose had already turned a darker color on the bridge. He snuck me the smirk from before. "I told you that part of you was in there somewhere."