*
04
SPENCER MURDOCK
His hazel eyes, the ones that change colors in the sunlight.
Punch.
His smile when he looks at me.
Punch.
His chuckle when I'm being 'adorable'.
Kick.
"Good." My father says watching me hit the punching bag. "Now go to the mat." I knew that meant I had to spar with him.
Before my mother was taken from us a few years ago, both of my parents treated me like a spoiled princess. I had gotten everything I wanted and more. And then, on a regular saturday night, my mother was mugged when she was getting into her car. The thieves pull the trigger on her and injured the driver. Ever since then my father became extremely cold to me.
I stepped onto the mat breathlessly, he stood there in position waiting for the first strike. I gave it to him, throwing my fist through the air and barely missing him as he ducked.
My father decided to train me to fight, he was pretty badass himself seeing as he served our country for over a decade. His only regret in life was not training my mom to defend herself. My father blamed himself for not being a good enough husband to save her. To show his wife how to survive and it devastated him. He wasn't going to make the same mistake with me.
I cut my leg through the air aiming at my father's head. He caught my ankle and threw me to the ground. He held my leg against his chest and pressed his knee against my stomach hard enough to keep me in place but not to hurt me.
So when I turned 12, he started to train me and I've been doing it ever since.
"Don't go easy on me, old man," I told my father. He chuckled and then twisted my leg earning a stabbing pain. I yelped and gripped the mat beneath me.
I raised my other leg, fighting through the pain, and wrapped it around his neck. My hips buckled in the air for a better grip. Using my muscles, I clench my leg choking him. Now, all we have to do is wait for the first person to tap out. And it isn't going to be me.
I breathed through the stabbing feeling and the cracking of my bones. I could see my father's pale face redden as the air left him. He hadn't tapped out, he will be like that until he passes out. I heart banged harshly against my chest and sweat beads down my forehead. I let out a few groans from pain.
"Ah- dad," I said letting out a large comical groan from a faux pain. My father immediately let go of my leg, frightened that he had hurt me. Not even seconds after, I let go of his neck and slammed his body into the ground in full force.
With my hand dangerously on his neck and the weight of my body heavily on top of him, he chuckled. "You weren't really hurting that bad, were you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"Gotta use every advantage I've got," I tell him. It was something he had said to me when we first started this.
My father smiled brightly, "Good. You're actually obtaining what I'm teaching." He says tapping the mat in obvious defeat.
I let him go, standing upon myself, walking off the mat. I unwrap my black sparring gloves to relieve the irritating heat, grab my water bottle, and chug some down after I run it down my face to cool me off.
"You're doing really well." He says coming right next to me.
"Thanks. I learned from the best." I say, letting my hair down from my ponytail. My brown locks hit my face and rest on my shoulders.
My dad nods at me not saying much more before leaving me behind. He hasn't talked to me a lot since the incident. It didn't really bother me growing up since I had a free realm of doing whatever. The only time my father ever showed interest in me would be if I got hurt or I was training.
I know he cares about me. I think he is scared of losing someone so close to him again. That could be why he puts me at a distance. Either way, I still loved him for who he was, no matter how he treated me. He's my family, the only one I had left.
___
I pulled into the parking lot of my job, something to keep me busy. It's not that we need the extra money because of how wealthy we are, but I just got bored way too fast and way too often. So I got a job at the cafe near the mall. A lot of teens or parents stop by for frappuccinos, even in the dead of winter, which is good for business.
I had one person I talk to, Jeffery, who happened to be the gayest of the gays. I considered him my closest friend but we aren't as close as I liked to make it seem. I walked into the store and see his eyes widen.
"Thank god, Spencer!" He exclaims running to me. "I am never watching that dog again. I am positive he is the devil."
"Auggie is not the devil." I chuckle looking at my husky across the room chained to the wall. Kids putting him and hugging him roughly.
"He pooped everywhere." Jeff commented, running his fingers through his ashy hair as if it were the most stressful times of his life.
"No, he didn't," I say looking around the room. Auggie would never do that, he's professionally trained.
"Okay, he didn't. But...!" He pointed his finger at the dog as if he had a smoking gun to convince me my husky was the devil. "he was about to and I wasn't going to clean it up."
I laugh at him. "It's your job, Jeff," I tell him.
"Whatever." He waves me off and goes back behind the counter. I follow him and grab the company apron on the way. "Jamie took off with her boy so it's just me and you today."
"I'm good with that," I say, after I clocked in on the tablet I washed my hands in the sanitizing sink. I tie my apron around my waist leaving a bow on the front. "I'll take the counter," I tell him.
I stand behind the front counter and wait for other people to come in while restocking and keeping the area clean. Usually, it isn't that slow but today is Monday and it's after school.
I hear the doorbell ring and who walked in was no one other than the kid for earlier today, Jackson. He walks in first and a couple of his friends walk in after.
"He is really hot," Jeff whispers in my ear from behind me. I chuckle and push him back from me gently making him smile goofily.
"Not gonna happen," I say. I don't really really know where that came from, Jackson could be interested, but I didn't want him to be.
I turn my attention back to the front after Jeff walks off away from me. Jackson and his friends stand right in front of the counter and I smile.
"Hi," I say. "What can I get you?"
Jackson opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Auggie who was barking at him harshly. The dog charged at the group but was stopped by the chain; yanking him back harshly. He continued to bark, scaring the kids that were playing with him. Jackson and his friends immediately quieted down and stared at the snarling dog.
"Ruhig!" I commanded Auggie and he immediately went quiet. He whimpered back to the wall and sat down. Calm. "Sorry. What can you get you guys?"
"Uh- I don't know," Jackson says looking at the menu above me. "What do you think is good?"
"I don't usually drink coffee," I tell him.
"Well... I'll have a caramel frappe and Cayden will have a blended chai." The ponytail girl looks at Cayden smiling. "I know you'll like that." She immediately turns back to Jackson and locks her arm with his.
My attention is back on him but it seems his was never off me. He stared at me, I couldn't tell if he was thinking about his order or genuinely admiring me. Either way, I didn't want to leave his stare.
"Jackson, babe." The girl says calls him. "What the fuck do you want? We weren't gonna stay here all day waiting."
I couldn't help but be jealous. I knew that someone as good looking as him must have a girlfriend. I just didn't want to believe it. But now it's right in front of my face. She was so comfortable with him that it was clear her gentle touches on his shoulder and biceps were a subconscious act and not diblerate. The way her dainty fingers wrapped around his arm controlling made me irritated, I wondered if she had thought Jackson was disabled because that was the only explanation besides girlfriend that made sense.
I felt a warm hand around my waist pulling me slightly behind a lean body. I pull my attention from Jackson to Jeff who was now in front of me staring calmly at the customers in front of us.
"I recommend the Pink Drink." Jeff covers for me. I see Jackson's deep beautiful hazel eyes narrow questionably at Jeff. "and Spencer loves it."
Jackson looks at me, his red silky hair slightly falling in his face. His tan skin sparkles somehow in the sunlight. His aura lightened once our eyes meet.
"Then I'll have the Pink Drink." He says.
if you wanted to know what August (Auggie) looked like then here he is