"Y/N, I told you to go easy on the poor kid...sheesh." My longtime coach Marty chuckled as he expertly cleaned up my opponent's small open wound.
Marty, Lorenzo (my opponent and Marty's son), and I were all in the locker room where most injuries were taken care of. The smell of sweat, blood and literal salty tears was all that I inhaled whenever I stepped into this building, but the locker room's smell was the worst. I always had to breathe through my mouth or else my nose would fall off. That's what I get though, for wanting to practice and work at a male dominated gym. Thankfully, there were a few other women that liked to work out here just like I do. So these guys got a taste of their own medicine whenever they gave us, women, the chance.
"Maybe if he would've stopped talking and actually done more swinging, he wouldn't have gotten hurt so bad." I smugly smiled as I shrugged, feigning innocence.
I had already taken out my mouth guard and unstrapped my gloves by the time Marty started to clean Enzo's wounds. So I just stood there with my old muscle tee and black sports leggings, cooling down from a heated workout.
"If I would've swung, I would've hurt you." Enzo quickly defended, flinching at the antibacterial cream Marty was rubbing on his eyebrow.
"Oh really? That's why we're 4-0?" I clapped back, my arms crossed on my chest as I squinted at him skeptically.
He huffed out incoherent words under his breath, turning away from me while Marty just waved me off and told me to head back out to the main gym.
Marty's Gym had become a second home to me, a place to escape to when school and home life was getting overwhelming. And it was where I became a part of an entirely new family, of big muscular Italian guys and Marty's wife, Patty, who have all been working there since before I was probably born.
I started coming here when I was in the 10th grade, after months of constant violent and physical bullying. A group of senior girls, decided that I was neither good nor attractive enough to ever step foot onto school grounds peacefully while minding my business and getting my education. Stupid right? I know, so that's why instead of crying about it to my parents I walked into the gym and told Marty what was going on.
Almost immediately, Marty, Patty, and the guys all came to me with open arms, taking me in and caring for me as their own blood. As for the bullies, they learned about 3 months after I started boxing not to put their hands on me again.
Now, I'm in college as a full time student while working here Thursday's, Friday's and weekends in the afternoons. I usually spend time playing with the kids to distract them while their parents work out. Today was a pretty slow day, but being as it's Thursday, it wasn't much of a shocker.
I decided to start wiping down the punching bags with disinfectant spray since there wasn't much to do. Some of our regulars were here, like Fredo, Vincent, and Benji; all close friends of 30+ years, working on a few combos and jumping rope together. Or Nancy and her daughter Marci, they were on the treadmills.
Everything was going by smoothly until the front door's bells rang and fell to the ground, from impact of whoever opened it. I turned around to be met my a very aggravated yet astonishingly good looking guy walking into the gym with a bloody nose and cut cheekbone. He stomped his way up to the receptionist desk where usually Patty would be but she took the day off, so I rushed over there seeing as I was the only employee around. I hastily set the spray and wipes down next to one of the bags, and casually walked up to the desk like the guy hadn't just ripped the door bell off.
"Hi....Hi welcome to Marty's Gym. Can I....uh can I help you?" I struggled to ask in both a polite yet worried way.
The guy looked a bit embarrassed but replied back anyway, "Is there someone who can teach me to kick my sister's boyfriend's ass?"
Oh...
He wasn't a twig but he also wasn't Mr. Universe. He also didn't seem like the type to like to get physical but I would never really see him as being the type to be defenseless.
"Uh yeah, of course. Marty....Erm Marty can set you up with a trainer. A-And we can get all of the details done later, but uh can I help clean you up? But only if you're okay with it....Cause it looks like you got a bit of dirt on that cut......and you'll want to clean that up before it gets infected." I stuttered as I slightly hovered over the desk to get a better look at the wound.
"Yes please...thank you." He mumbled.
"Oh I'm Y/N...by the way. Marty's probably still in the locker room so he can—Marty! I was just about to ask you to—" I perked up as I noticed Marty and Enzo walking out of the locker room.
"Y/N, sweetie, who's this? You alright, son?" Marty asked.
The guy nodded but I shook my head, "He needs to get cleaned up. And....he would like to become a member."
"I'm Harry, Harry Styles. It's nice to meet you." He blurted out as he reached out to shake hands with both Marty and Enzo.
Harry....? Hmm, I like it. It suits him.
"Great to meet you! How about we have you and my son, Lorenzo go back to the locker room to clean you up and we'll discuss your membership in a bit with Y/N, here since she knows how to work the computer." Marty kindly smiled as he shook Harry's hand, nodding at me.
"Thank you." Harry meekly grinned as he followed Enzo to the back.
"Wipe the drool off your face and let's go get the kid his membership contract." Marty scoffed as he walked towards the reception desk.
"I'm not drooling." I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, stop undressing the guy with your eyes." He joked, causing me to groan in annoyance .
"Jesus Christ, Marty...I wasn't undressing him with my eyes! If anything I wanted to help him out, I felt bad." I responded back confidently, as I plopped down on the office chair.
"Yeah, he did look a bit rough. Did he tell what happened?" Marty sighed as he opened each drawer in hopes of finding the stack of contracts.
Then I opened the bottom drawer, handing him a copy of the contract, "He just asked if there was someone who could teach him to kick his sister's boyfriend's ass."
"Well, I have a new job for you..." He nonchalantly spoke as I set up the new membership file on the computer.
"What is it?" I replied, too busy looking for the right file.
"You'll be his trainer. Just teach him the basics until Big Al gets back from vacation." Marty explained, causing me to seise my scrolling.
"W-w-wait Marty, no I can't teach him! I can't even get out a full sentence. Why can't Enzo teach him?!" I argued.
Marty stifled his laughter, "Enzo's going to South America for the summer remember?" He added, "It's pretty funny how that confidence you had ten minutes ago literally just flew out the window once that kid walked in."
I scoffed at his comment, and sat up straighter with my chin in the air while acting unbothered, "Pssh, sure. Whatever."
"Alright pops, got Harry all fixed up and ready to get down to business." Enzo blurted out as he and Harry joined us in the main gym again.
Enzo had his Nike bag slung over his shoulder while Harry stood next to him, his wounds completely fixed. He had a big smile on his face, almost like he was excited to start already.
Wow, that smile is something those girls in movies gush over. Oh...wait.
"Thanks again Enzo. I really appreciate it." He kindly acknowledged, earning a grin from Enzo.
"No problem, man. Can't wait to share the ring with you sometime." Enzo graciously smacked Harry's shoulder in the 'bro' way, "Okay, I gotta get out of here, have a train to catch to get to Manhattan on time. And hey, Y/N next weekend your little 4-0 run is going to end." He obnoxiously remarked as he headed out the door.
"In your dreams, Lorenzo! Next weekend it's gonna be 5-0!" I yelled back, my previous confidence showing a bit again.
Enzo just cackled as he held the front door open, "Okay Y/N....I'll catch you guys later. Bye! Love you Pops, I'll call you when I get there!" We waved at him as he left.
The smug grin I had completely faded away once I remembered Harry was still there and realized he was smiling at me. Probably completely amused by my competitive nature.
My cheeks instantly got warm, which didn't go unnoticed by Marty since he softly nudged my side.
"Okay, let's start this membership application...Shall we?" He teasingly interrupted.
This is going to be fun...
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[Unedited, sorry if it's cringe]
I hope you enjoyed this new imagine! I'm thinking about making a part 2? Let me know if you'd like that. And thank you for the 100+ views, it's oh so greatly appreciated!!
Thanks for reading, lovelies.
More coming soon!
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- lilharrie, xx