by Claire Adams
“But, I love you, Ally. You’re the best sister anyone could ever have,” I finished saying.
Ally put a hand over her heart. “Aww, Anna, I’m so flattered.” Still with the sarcasm, but I knew she loved me regardless.
The bell dinged loudly, and my nerves hit an all-time high. I turned my attention to the cage where Justin was standing, facing off with his opponent. Suddenly, he punched him in the right cheek. I couldn’t remember the name of the punches even though we had gone over them before. I figured I needed more practice before I learned them.
Justin punched him in the face a few more times, and the guy stumbled all over the place. I figured Justin had this in the bag in the first round. He was doing great. I wasn’t at his last fight, but I could already tell this one was going way better.
The bell rang once again, and they retreated to their corners. Justin smiled at me, and I smiled back. I tried my best to make it a bright smile, but it was hard to with how nervous I was.
“He’s kicking ass,” Ally said from beside me.
“I know. I hope it stays this way,” I said. My leg was now bouncing out of control. It was a nervous habit of mine.
The bell rang, and they touched gloves again.
“How many rounds are there?” Ally asked me.
I shrugged. “I think there’s supposed to be three? Or maybe it’s five.” I really had no clue.
We turned our attention back to the fight. Justin hit the guy in the ribs, and that must have been the last straw for his opponent. He picked Justin up and threw him on the ground and immediately had a hold of him. His arm was pinned in a weird way, and he seemed to be struggling to break free. Just as I thought he was about to tap out, he rolled out of it and got up. I watched him closely. Something wasn’t right. He was moving his arm weird, and I could tell from where I was sitting that he injured his shoulder.
“Justin!!” I yelled and jumped up from my seat. I tried to rush to the cage to see him. I wanted to make sure he was okay, but I was yanked back by Ally.
“Stop! You can’t go up there,” he said.
“I have to know he’s okay.” I pleaded with her.
“He’s fine right now. He’s up and moving around. You need to chill and sit down,” she said.
I sat back down. At that point, I felt a little defeated. My nerves were totally shot, and there was no calming me down. I was worried about Justin. He was obviously hurt, and I couldn’t help him. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.
I watched as Justin started hitting the guy in the face. Left, right, left, right, right. And then he hit him in the ribs. He hit him one more time in the face, and the guy fell to the ground.
I watched the ref rush over. “KO’d!” he yelled.
The crowd went wild. Justin won. I wanted to calm down and feel happy, but there was no way I was going to until I found out if he was okay or not.
He smiled and nodded his head at me as he passed our row to go into the back room. I jumped down and ran after him. I told Ally to wait for me out there and that I’d be back soon.
When I reached the room, Artie let me in, and I embraced Justin. He hugged me back.
“How is your shoulder?” I asked him.
“You could see that?”
“Yeah. It looked like you hurt it pretty bad,” I said, and before I could stop myself, I was crying. I couldn’t control any of my emotions at that point.
“It’s not that bad. Anna, what’s wrong?” he asked as he held me.
“I, I don’t think I can do this…”
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Artie said and left the room.
“Do what?” Justin asked.
“This, whatever it is. I just can’t. It’s too much for me. Watching you go through this.”
Justin looked a little hurt. “You have to, Anna; I need you. You can do this.”
I felt the butterflies when he said he needed me, but it still didn’t change my mind. I was an emotional wreck after watching that fight, and I didn’t think I could go through it all again.
“There has to be another way. There has to be some other way for you to pay back Markie,” I said.
“Anna, there isn’t. I made my bed, and now I have to lay in it. It’s only one more fight.” He looked scared, and I wasn’t sure why.
“Justin, I don’t know if you realize how hard this is on me.” The tears were still streaming down my face, but I didn’t care. I was too focused on arguing with Justin. I wanted him to quit fighting. I wanted him to get out now before it was too late and something really bad happened to him.
“It’s hard on me too, Anna,” he said.
“You have to find something else. I can’t keep doing this,” I said.
I pulled away from him and wiped my tears, trying not to smear my eye makeup too much.
He just stared at me with a blank look on his face. Just as he was about to say something, the door opened, and Artie poked his head in.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I can’t keep them back,” Artie said. “Your fans would like to see you now, and they’re getting pretty rowdy out here.
“Let them in,” Justin said.
Then the crowd rushed into the room.
“Justin! Justin!” They were chanting as they formed a semi-circle around him.
I looked at him and then turned and ran out the door. I needed to get away from him. I needed to be alone and to think about things. I knew we had plans for the following day, but it was the last thing on my mind at that moment.
“Let’s go,” I said and grabbed Ally by the arm.
“What the hell?” she said as I dragged her out of the building and into the parking lot.
“We have to get going,” I said. I let go of her as we made our way to my car.
Ally asked me what was wrong several times on the way to my house.
“I can’t handle this,” I said. “It’s too much. Watching him get hurt. I just can’t handle the anxiety.” I was trying my best to hold back tears.
“That doesn’t seem fair,” she said.
I gave her a dirty look before I turned my focus back on the road. She was my sister. She was supposed to see things from my point of view. I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by her.
“I’m just saying, don’t make any rash decisions,” she said as we pulled up to my house.
I ignored her and focused on cleaning my face. I didn’t want to face my parents or Margie after the fight I’d just had with Justin. I was hurt and scared. I hadn’t even been able to have a real conversation with him, and I now had no idea where we stood.
My phone buzzed just as I walked into the house. I opened the text message from Justin.
“I’m on my way to get Margie.”
“Ok,” I wrote back.
“How was the fight?” my mom asked.
“Good,” I said without looking at her. I didn’t want her to examine my face and start asking questions. “Justin’s on his way.”
“Did he win?” Margie asked.
I nodded my head and smiled. “Yes, he won.” I did my best to be okay and not let them know just how upset I really was.
“Well, I guess we’ll take off now,” my dad said.
My parents said goodbye to Margie and left with Ally, who had stayed outside. I figured she was pissed at me for ignoring her, but I had nothing to say.
Justin arrived a few minutes after they left. I’d been watching from my front window with Margie. She practically ran to the front door when he pulled up. I opened the door before he could knock.
He looked disheveled. “Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” I said. Things already felt awkward, and I knew it was my fault. I caused the argument after all, but I didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t even know how to act around him.
“Daddy!” Margie yelled and hugged Justin. “Anna said you won!”
“I did, sweetheart. Are you ready to go?” he asked.
We made eye contact, and I could alread
y see dark circles under his eyes. I was the first to break the eye contact.
“Can Anna come with us?” Margie asked, and I felt my heart break a little. “I want her to stay the night.”
It was hard for me to keep from crying again. I was ultimately hurting Margie, too. The thought of that had made me start to feel guilty.
“Anna needs to get some rest in her own bed,” he said. I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t make eye contact with him again.
“Okay,” she said, sniffing back tears.
“I’ll see you later, okay?” I said to her and gave her a big hug. “Have a good night, Margie.”
“Okay, Anna,” she said.
“Goodnight, Anna,” Justin said.
“Goodnight, Justin,” I said. I didn’t really know what else to say to him. Or how to even act around him. They went back through the door, and when they reached his car, he turned to look at me. It broke my heart to look at him, so I closed the door.
We had plans to meet up the next day and go on a walk with my family, but I didn’t think that was going to happen now. I couldn’t help the ache in my heart. Things had been going good between us, and now, I didn’t really know where we stood.
I was glad my parents left and didn’t see the way we acted around each other. I didn’t need to hear their opinions. In fact, I just wanted to go to bed and forget about everything that happened between us. I didn’t want to think about anything for the rest of the night.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Justin
I had a hard time sleeping that night, partially because of my shoulder and partly because of the dull ache forming in my stomach. My newest injury kept me awake, but thoughts of Anna were ever more powerful. I didn’t know where she and I stood. We hardly spoke when I picked up Margie, and I only hoped it wasn’t the end for us. I was in love with Anna. I needed her in my life, and I wanted nothing more than to find a way to keep her.
I was so close to being done with Markie and his bullshit. I just needed Anna to understand that and support me through this last fight.
Before our argument, we made plans to go on a walk with her family the day after my fight. Just because Anna was upset with me didn’t mean I wasn’t going to go. I wanted to prove to her how much she meant to me, whether she was mad at me or not.
“Let’s get going, pumpkin!” I yelled to Margie from the living room. She went into her room to get changed a few minutes earlier.
“I’m so excited for family day!” Margie said, running down the hall toward me. She sat down on the couch, and I helped her put her tennis shoes on.
We headed out the door and drove to Anna’s house.
Everyone was outside when we pulled up. I got out and grabbed Margie. When I put her on the ground, she ran over and hugged everyone while I walked over. The look on Anna’s face told me she was surprised to see me.
“You didn’t think I was going to miss this, did you?” I asked.
She shrugged but gave me a small smile.
“Are you guys ready? We’re going on a nature trail walk just outside of town,” Tom said.
We both nodded, and I moved Margie’s booster seat over to their van. We all piled in the van and drove off toward the nature trail. Anna still sat next to Margie, but we didn’t speak to each other. I felt awkward about the situation, but I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t sure how to make her feel better when she wouldn’t even talk to me.
When we got to the trail, we all climbed out of the van quickly. Millie immediately walked over to me and Anna and fixed us with a serious look.
“Now, whatever is going on between the two of you, just drop it. Let it go. Don’t stress over the small stuff. From what I can see, you guys are stronger together than apart,” she said sternly.
We looked at each other, both of us surprised. The tension between us must have been strong enough for everyone to notice. I instantly felt guilty.
Millie walked away, taking Margie with her. I figured it was so Anna and I could talk in private.
I turned to Anna. “Listen, I’m sorry about last night. Your mom is right. We need to just let this go. I know I shouldn’t have made the bet. I should have dealt with it a different way, but what’s done is done. I have just one more fight. Just one that’s all. We only need to make it through this next one.”
Anna looked at me for a second, and at first, I didn’t think she was even going to respond, but then she did. She sighed, and her expression softened.
“Okay, Justin. I’m sorry for getting so upset with you. It’s just hard to watch you get hurt like that. I care about you so much.”
“I know it is, but it’s just one more fight. I’ve got this,” I said and pulled her in for a hug and a quick kiss.
“I’ll support you in this,” she promised. “Even though it’s hard.”
Margie ran up to us and hugged us both. “I love you both so much!” she said.
“I love you too,” Anna and I said at the same time, and everyone laughed.
We started walking along the nature trail, and Margie was fascinated by everything.
“Will we see any bears out here?” she asked Millie.
“Probably not, sweetheart,” Millie said.
“Bears typically stay away from people. They’re more afraid of us than we are of them,” Tom added.
“Good! I don’t want to see any ever!” she said. We all laughed at her innocence.
Anna and I walked hand in hand, enjoying the scenery and each other. Even after our fight the night before, it felt right to be there with her. I never felt that way about anyone, not even Tammy. I loved Margie’s mother dearly, but with Anna… we fit together like puzzle pieces.
“Are there snakes out here?” Margie asked a little while later.
“There might be,” Tom said.
“Oh no. Maybe we should leave, guys,” Margie said.
“As long as you don’t try to pick one up, you’ll be alright, sweetheart. They won’t get you; I promise,” Anna said.
“You’re so good with her; you know that?” I said as we walked.
“Thanks. I’m trying. She’s perfect. I love her so much,” Anna said. Part of me wished she would say that about me. I thought about admitting my own feelings, but I kept silent. Instead, I just smiled at her. Hearing how much she loved my daughter meant just as much, if not more, to me. Margie needed all the love she could get. I wanted her to grow up surrounded by supportive, caring people.
We walked for a good hour and a half when Millie said, “How about we turn around now and go get some dinner?”
We all agreed it was a great idea and made the trek back to the van. Halfway back, Margie asked Anna to carry her. She agreed and carried her the rest of the way.
Tom and Millie decided on an Italian restaurant in town that I’d never been to before. Margie was excited and told everyone about how much she loved spaghetti for the rest of the car ride.
“This is the best Italian place in the country,” Ally said when we got to the restaurant.
“Agreed,” Anna added, turning to face me. “Have you ever been here?”
I shook my head, “Nope, I sure haven’t. I love Italian food, though.”
“Me too,” she said.
We went inside and looked around. There were a few people, but it wasn’t busy yet. We were seated within a few minutes at a large, round booth. The inside was decorated like a place you might find in Italy, with soft Italian music playing over the speakers.
The waitress brought two baskets of bread and placed them on the table, taking our drink orders in the process. Millie and Tom picked out a white zinfandel for us to share. I wasn’t much of a wine drinker, but I figured trying a small glass wouldn’t hurt.
Margie picked up a crayon. She was sitting between Anna and me and leaned into Anna.
“Will you play this game with me?” she asked, pointing at a tic-tac-toe game that was on the back of her kid's menu.
“Sure, do you know how to pl
ay?” Anna responded to her.
“No,” Margie said.
“I’ll teach you,” Anna said. She picked up a red crayon from the pile on the table. “Do you want to be an ‘X’ or an ‘O?’”
“O!” Margie said.
“Okay. I’ll be ‘X.’” Anna said and then she walked her through the process of playing.
I watched as they played a round with Margie winning. I knew the tricks to the game, and I figured Anna let her win. It only made me love her more. Margie was so excited that she won her first game of tic-tac-toe. She grinned and bounced up and down in her chair.
“Good job!” we all congratulated her.
A few minutes later, Anna and Margie were finishing up another round, with Margie winning again, when the waitress brought our food out.
“I have to potty,” Margie announced.
“I can take her,” Anna said.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. I need to go, too,” she said.
“Thank you,” I told her.
They scooted out of the booth and made their way to the bathroom with Millie and Ally tagging along behind them.
“I don’t understand why all women have to do that,” Tom said with a chuckle.
I laughed with him, mostly to appease him.
“You and Anna get everything figured out?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. I mean, Tom.”
“Good. My daughter cares a lot about you, Justin. I can see it in just the way she talks about you and Margie. She’s a good girl. She’s never really been too serious about anyone. To be honest, I thought she was lying when she said she had a boyfriend that she never told us about,” he said, chuckling again.
I laughed, but it was uncomfortable and forced because she had been lying. We were just pretending before, but now I wasn’t sure anymore. It wasn’t a lie for me, at least.
“No pretending here,” I said truthfully.
“I know Millie already said this today, but she’s right. Don’t stress so much over the small things. Whatever it was that happened was obviously nothing big if you showed up today. Just remember that advice in the future. Things are going to happen that you guys might not agree on all the time, but you have to let those sorts of things go,” he said.
