"I can't believe you talked me into this," Molly pants as she takes a few swings at the punching bag.
Charlie moves around her, observing her movements. They're at Perry's house and after days of convincing she's finally let him teach her some self-defence. She's dressed in a training bra with tight sweatpants and her hair is pushed back with a black headband. She looks so beautiful that Charlie is finding it hard to concentrate. Perry and Lauren are sat across the room, they're too invested in each other to care about what's happening over here.
"You're hardly touching it," Charlie laughs.
"It's heavy, okay?" she hisses. She shakes her fists at her side. "And it hurts my hands."
"Punching hurts," he says. "But if it's your only option then you take it. You suck at this."
She folds her arms and scowls. "Let's see you do better."
Charlie approaches the bag and throws his fist against it; Molly stares up at the metal clip that moves the bag a few inches over. She narrows her eyes as he smirks.
"How did you do that?" she demands.
"Hours and hours of training," Charlie says. "You can push your body to do anything, if you exorcise and train enough then your body has no limits."
"I exorcise," she says bitterly. "Sometimes."
"The best chance you have is to go for the throat," Charlie says as he walks towards her. He places his fist into the dip of her neck. "Full force, no hesitation. Worst case is you wind them for a few seconds and even then it buys you time, best case is they drop to their knees."
"Do all of your opponents drop to their knees?" she says.
"Of course." Charlie grins and steps back. "I want you to try it."
She widens her eyes. "On you?"
"Yeah. Just hit me, right here." He points to the centre of his throat.
"I'm not going to hit you," she says.
"Please hit him," Perry shouts. "You're the only one that can and I've been waiting a long time to see it."
"Stop being such a girl," Charlie says. "I can take it. It's not like you're actually going to hurt me."
Charlie sees the anger flash in her eyes and she swings her fist at his throat. The breath leaves his lungs as he stumbles backwards. He holds his neck as he chokes and he spits down on the ground.
"That was good." He sticks a thumb up. "Woah, that was really good."
She straightens, smiling proudly. Charlie lunges himself at her and pins her arms behind her back. "What the hell?" she groans.
"Now, you weakened the attacker but not for long. He's behind you and he's got your wrists locked. You can't move so what do you use?"
"My head?"
"Mhm."
She starts thumping the back of her head against his chest as she struggles. He laughs quietly. "If he's tall how am I supposed to hit his face?" she demands.
"You wait until he leans down," Charlie says, bringing his lips to her ear. "Now."
The back of her head slams into his nose and he lets her go immediately, holding his nose as she turns around and panics.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he says. "The point isn't to hurt me, it's to shock me. Now I've let you go and I'm holding my nose, you're at the advantage until I recover, what do you do?"
Molly takes a deep breath as she thinks about it.
"Think a little faster, Moll," Charlie says. "Do you think your attacker is going to let you google it?"
"The stomach," Molly says. "It's exposed."
"Or the balls!" Perry shouts.
Charlie glares at him. "The stomach will do just fine."
He walks back towards her and she stares at his stomach uneasily, she clenches her hand into a fist and jabs it into his gut. He's still standing, it barely winded him, so she tries it again, harder, more direct. Charlie falls to his knees as he struggles to breathe and Molly punches the side of his face. She hisses as she shakes her hand, jumping as she holds it tightly.
"Yes!" Perry roars.
He cups a hand to the side of his jaw, checking she hasn't broken it. He underestimated her; she has power behind her punches. He stands up slowly as she cradles her fist against her body.
"You alright?" he asks her. "Let me check."
"I'm fine," she says, lifting her fists back to her face.
"You're getting cocky now," Charlie says.
They circle each other and she watches his footsteps, a technique that Charlie hasn't taught her. He charges at her and she takes too long to think of a way to hurt him, he sweeps her legs and catches her halfway down to the floor. He holds her back as he places her on the ground and he pins hers arms behind her head and locks her legs with his knee.
"I thought we were boxing," she says breathlessly. "You just wanted an opportunity to get me into this position didn't you?"
"Maybe," he says. "Can you think of a way out of it?"
"No," she says angrily as she tries to squirm her way from under his weight. "God, you're heavy."
"Think," he says. "There's always a way."
"Sing them to sleep?" she offers. "You have literally got all of my limbs pinned, how the hell am I supposed to fight you?"
"You feel for the shift," he says.
"What?"
Charlie shifts his weight slightly off his leg as he adjusts his position. He releases the weight from her legs for one second and she waits for it. She swings her legs sideways and then pulls her knee to her chest and kicks him in the face. He falls backwards and lands on his bum. Molly jumps up and smiles.
"Woah," she mumbles.
"That was instinct," Charlie says. "You can't teach instinct. You used your body in a way you've never used it before and you escaped because you were patient. No matter what position someone has you in there is always a way out of it because they can't hold you in that position forever. The moment they move, the moment they even twitch, gives you an opportunity."
"Okay," Molly says. "I get it."
"Now try the bag again," Charlie says as he walks over to it. "Remember to breathe and focus your centre."
Molly closes her eyes and takes deep, slow breaths. Her hands clench into the fist position and she directs several jabs at the bag.
"Better," Charlie says. "The power comes from the shoulder; you need it back as far as you can." He takes her arm and moves it backward. "There."
She releases her fists back to the bag, taking breaths in between. He's amazed by how quickly she's picked it up and she's finally taking it seriously. After watching her for several minutes he wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her away.
"That's enough," he whispers.
She smiles at him before walking across the room to pick up her water bottle. She takes a seat on the couch, panting as she wipes her face with a towel.
"It's fun, isn't it?" Lauren says. "Kills your joints though."
"Don't act like you've spent more than five minutes on it," Perry laughs. "You give up, a lot."
"It hurts my hands," Lauren mumbles. "Molly, if you want to do more exorcise then you should come running with me. Perry refuses to."
"Sure," Molly says as she leans back into the couch. "Not today though."
"You're coming to our party on News Year Eve right?" Lauren says.
Molly exchanges a look with Charlie. "Um, we were actually going to go to the firework display. Sorry."
Lauren hits Perry's arm. "Why can't we go to the firework display? That sounds more romantic than a stupid party."
"The party was your idea," Perry says.
"Whatever," Lauren mutters, leaning closer to Molly. "So what was Bakersfield like? Was it really a mansion?"
Perry widens his eyes and walks past Charlie. "You want to help me with something?"
"Sure," Charlie says.
Charlie follows Perry into the kitchen and he steps to the side as Perry closes the door behind them.
"That girl is driving me nuts, man and not in a good way," Perry says as he walks over to the fridge. Charlie swings into the stool at the breakfast counter. "On Christmas morning she rang me sixteen times and left me ten voicemails. I was sleeping, man. She constantly wants to be with me all the time."
"What's so bad about that?" Charlie says.
"I need space, I like space. But she's suffocating me."
"Tell her to back off then."
Perry shrugs. "I don't want to hurt her feelings, I love her. I didn't even want to have the damn party but she kept going on and on about it until I caved. Whatever she wants, I do it. I don't even understand it! It's like some weird voodoo shit."
Charlie smiles. "Welcome to being in a relationship, Perry."
"This is what it's like?"
"Yeah, only people don't usually complain about it, they just accept it."
He whistles and bangs his hand down onto the counter. "Damn. So I'm doing all this stuff because I love her and not because she scares me?"
"She scares you?"
Perry laughs, waving a hand in the air. "No, of course not. You know, you should come hang out with the boys soon, they miss you. You spend all your time with Molly and that's great but just don't forget about us okay?"
"You make it extremely hard to forget you," Charlie says. "But I get what you're saying. We'll have a night downtown soon, just the four of us."
"Yeah," Perry says. "Like the old days. So. . . you told her you love her yet?"
Charlie sighs and averts his eyes.
"Oh, come on! It's obvious. What the hell is wrong with you? First Aubrey now Molly, what's so bad about it? You scared it'll make you exposed? Look weak?"
"No," Charlie says. "I've just never said it and I'm not explaining why."
"Mhm. Why though?"
"Because I don't need to say it," Charlie says. "Drop it."
"Alright. Moody. You slept with her yet?"
Charlie drops down to the floor and walks towards the door.
"What?" Perry shouts. "Give me something!"
Charlie sits on the armrest of the couch and Molly glances up and smiles at him. Lauren is halfway through telling a story about a time when she was apparently chased by a pack of wolves through the woods and although Molly is trying to listen her body is tensing as he swipes his fingers across her back. He bends down and presses his lips to her ear.
"I have an empty house."
"We're gonna go," Molly says, standing to her feet. "It was good catching up, see you soon."
"Okay?" Lauren says. "Bye."
"Bye," Molly says, dragging Charlie towards the doorway.
They laugh together as they run down the driveway and get into his car. Charlie becomes impatient at every red light, his eyes moving over her skin until he's biting on his lip to keep his cool. Just as the light turns green and Charlie turns to go down his street, he sees the black BMW again. It's right behind him, just like last time. He keeps his eyes on it as he parks on the street and the BMW speeds by them.
They enter the house, kissing each other as they stumble up the staircase. He lays her down on the bed and she slowly removes his shirt, her fingers creasing into his chest. She spins them around and sits astride him, she grips the rim of his sweatpants and drags them down his legs. Her lips move down his body and he can't breathe. He stares at the ceiling as he thinks about the BMW, that's the second time it's followed him, in separate locations. It could be a coincidence but his gut instinct is telling him otherwise.
"What's wrong?" Molly says.
"Nothing," Charlie says. He pulls her face back to his. "Nothing at all."
+ + +
They lay in bed for a while waiting for their breaths to come back and then Charlie takes her home. He walks her to her door and places his hand to her face. Her eyes are shining so brightly, he's never seen her as happy as she is right now. It's like she's glowing.
"I wish we could do that every night," she says.
"We will," Charlie says. "One day. It's getting harder to say goodbye to you." He places his forehead to hers.
"We'll see each other soon," she laughs. "Now go before I drag you inside."
"Okay," he says. "Call me later."
"I will. Goodnight."
He holds her eyes as he backs up down the driveway. They're still bright, still looking back at him with the highest dose of admiration. And that's the moment he knew he is going to spend the rest of his life with this girl.
Before going home Charlie stops at the supermarket to pick up some supplies. It's dark and there's hardly anyone out. As he carries the groceries back outside his phone vibrates.
"Hey, stranger," Charlie says as he puts the phone to his ear. "Do I know you?"
"Funny," Molly says. "Have I left my water bottle in your car? I can't find it in my bag."
"Hang on a minute, I'll check."
"You sound like you're jogging. Where are you?"
"The supermarket," Charlie says. "My mum left me a list."
As Charlie approaches his car he hears an engine rev to his left. His squints his eyes at the road and the bright lights from a car blind him.
"It's that damn BMW again," Charlie says as he drops the bag and places a hand above his eyes.
"What?" Molly says.
"Hang on, I'm gonna approach it."
"Don't approach it! Charlie!"
Charlie lowers the phone as he steps towards the lights. The BMW is turned sideways in the road, the front end directly pointing at the entrance. The car suddenly roars to life and comes right at him. He picks a direction and runs but the car turns and hunts him.
"Molly, don't come to me," Charlie yells into the phone. "Don't-"
The car hits him. The car flaws him. Charlie feels time slow down as his body is crushed against the glass windshield, his body, as though it's made of merely paper is thrown forward and he rolls over the bonnet and hits his head on the pavement. He's still conscious but he can't move. He can feel the pieces of glass embedded into his back and his chest is becoming heavier as he tries to breathe.
The phone is still tight in his hand and her voice is screaming through it. He hears a car door open and brown boots walk across to him. The phone is yanked from his hand.
"Hello, Molly," the voice says. "I'll be seeing you soon."
The last thing that Charlie sees through his blood-soaked eyes are the boots walking away before he lowers his head and everything goes black.