"No...Maybe...Yes," he says and we both smile at each other.
"I'm flattered," I say putting my hand with the towel on my heart.
"If it made your day then I'm happy."
"Yes, it did. You know, when I woke up this morning I never thought that a guy will come and almost knock me off my feet."
"I didn't think that this girl will come and take my breath away...Literally," he says and I push him lightly.
"You're overreacting," I say as we both laugh.
"You're going to the boxing?" He questions and I nod. "Any particular reason why you're boxing?" I don't want to scare him away by telling him my reason. Drunk cheating ex.
"Alice," I hear a familiar voice behind me. I look past the stranger and see Justin at the doorway of section C. "I have been waiting for 15 minutes for you." He saved me.
"I'm sorry, I got distracted by...Him," I say pointing at the man that is standing next to me now.
"Let's go," he says and I smile at the stranger.
"See you around," I say and walk to Justin.
"See you around," he whispers back and walk to the treadmills. I walk past Justin who is about to say something.
"Don't even start," I say with my hand up indicating to him to not say anything.
"What? I didn't say anything, I just want you to be happy, you deserve it," He says handing me the gloves. I put it on and smile at him.
"You know I'm here for you, Alice," he says. He is a really nice man. His wife must be so happy to have him in his life. "Okay, but enough of the lover boy. Stretching first."
*Lando's POV*
I haven't seen her since I met her. I have been coming to the gym more frequently to see her but it's useless. I even signed up for boxing and I came one morning but looks like she's staying at night workout. I know it sounds stalkerish but I felt something when she was near me.
I walk past all the boxing rooms until I hear her voice I fail to forget. Her smile, her sparkling eyes... How can someone forget her? She has my sense of humour too and that's rare.
I walk closer. She's having an individual lesson because they're in a smaller room. I wish I knew her name. You should've asked it.
"I don't have anger in me," she says to her instructor. I hear him sigh and she groans. Anger? What anger?
"Is it because of that other guy?" There is silence. I wanna peek so bad but I don't wanna get caught.
"Yes, I can't seem to forget about him and move on with my life. Everything I do, I think of him and I barely know him." I look down smiling to myself. She is thinking of me?
"None of that. You can't concentrate and you focus on someone that you don't even know. Think about Jack and how he made you feel," he says trying to hype her up. Who is Jack?
"I...I just want to know his name," she says making my heart flutter. Stop with all this heart fluttering.
"Lando, mate. What are you doing?" I hear Carlos' voice. I've been caught. Abort! Abort!
"I dropped my keys," I say trying to cover up the fact that I was eavesdropping. He looks down trying to find my keys.
"Lando, why are you lying? What's in that room?" He asks walking over to the room.
"No!" I say a bit too loudly because the talking and the sound of punching isn't audible. I hear footsteps getting louder and louder. Oh dear. The next moment I see her instructor's face appear. When he sees me he sighs and crosses his arms.
"Speaking of the guy who is influencing Alice's boxing," he says with a grin. Alice. Beautiful Alice. I finally know her name.
"Justin, who is it?" I hear Alice's voice coming from the inside with a few punches after she said it. Justin looks at me with that grin again.
"Come see for yourself," he says I shake my head and I hear Carlos chuckle. Alice comes into my view and I see her blush slightly when she sees me. She's absolutely gorgeous.
"Carlos," Carlos introduces himself smiling at them. He turns to me putting his hand on my shoulder. "This is my mate, Lando," he continues and I see her smile. I know that she was wondering what my name was. Carlos looks between me and Alice. "Justin, can you show me the...umm...boxing gloves you sell?"
"I don't sell...oh...yeah sure. We just go new stock," Justin says as they walk into another direction. I know what they are trying to do here.
"Do you wanna go sit down?" I ask her and she nods. I follow her and we sit on the benches displayed next to the punching bags.
"Alice," I say softly and she looks up. Her hands are on her lap, her hair are falling out of her braids but yet she still looks beautiful.
"Yeah," she replies and smiles at me. That smile.
*Alice's POV*
My heart flutters when he says my name. I reply with a short yeah. He asks the question I was dreading to answer. "I'm sorry that I eveasdropped but I just wanted to ask, what anger?" I look at my hands and I feel his soft index finger under my chin lifting it slightly. I realise now that we are extremely close. I clear my throat breaking the moment.
"My ex cheated on me...And...abused me," I say softly trying not to cry but I'm failing miserably. He puts one of his hands on my low back and the other one on my hands. "I box because he made me angry, he made me mad at the world, he broke my trust." My voice crack.
"I'm sorry for what he did," Lando says rubbing his thumb over my hand. Why do I feel the need to trust this guy. I saw him once. "I know we don't really know each other but I care about you already. You are so nice and gorgeous inside and outside. You deserve so much more than that. You deserve breakfast in bed and foot massages." I chuckle slightly wiping my tears away with the back of my hand.
"It is fine. Thank you so much, Lando, for cheering me up." No, Alice, don't catch feelings.
It has been 3 months now and we are actually boxing together every time he had time off. "I want to talk to you about something," he says and I knit my eyebrows together.
"Yeah sure." He sounds really serious. I thought it was going well. We call and text a lot so I don't know what he is going to say. He always comes to you with a surprise.
"I was only wondering if you will be able to come with me to the Italian race this weekend?" He asks and I freeze. The what? I only stare at him not knowing how to reply. "I'm sorry if that caught you of guar..." Before he can finish I grab his soft cheeks with no stubble on. I lean in and make the first move. He immediately kisses me back. His one hand goes to my cheek and the other one on my lower back. My hands find their way to his short hair.
I know saying there was sparks is going to sound cliche but it's true. He let's go and we stand still. We stare deep into each other's eyes and we smile. I steal a tiny peck and grab my boxing gloves.
"Ayyy, I waited long for that kiss. I believe it must be longer than that." he says and I shake my head.
"You have to earn it," I say and he pouts. I motion for him to come closer. "Maybe after." He grins. and grab the gloves from my hands. Ah, Lando. We flipped each other's lives around.
********
Thanks for reading. Requests are open!
L.Norris - Boxing
Start from the beginning
