Fight Like a Girl - Sheena Kamal Page 0,49

was trying to get over her. Then I met you, but I hadn’t really gotten over the breakup…”

Wow. “So I’m the rebound.”

“I swear I never saw you that way, Trish. I was at the gym a lot. Kept seeing you train. There was something a little crazy about you.”

“Did you just call me crazy?” All of a sudden I’m feeling mighty aggressive up in this car.

“Okay, sorry. Didn’t mean it like that. I just meant fierce. I liked it. And I realized I liked you, too. I wasn’t expecting to, but I did.”

So much disappointment in just one conversation. I need a thousand hot showers to feel like myself again. Maybe I should ask Pammy if I can borrow her self-help books or something, get some enlightenment. He didn’t expect to like me because why?

I kiss my teeth just like Ma would because that’s the only response I can think of with as much disdain as I’m feeling. I’m about to get out of the car when he touches my shoulder lightly. “How’s your arm feeling after all that training?”

“Don’t worry about it. I can take care of myself.”

He looks skeptical. “Yeah? Sometimes I see you whaling on the bag for so long, sparring all night, never holding anything back—it’s like you’re trying to hurt yourself. You’re not doing this as a sport. It’s not fun for you.” He moves the hand to my shoulder, and it doesn’t feel bad so I let him.

“It is fun for me,” I say. “It’s the only place where I have any control.”

“Trish, you don’t have control in a ring!”

That’s true. I’m smiling now, and so is he. I can see that he feels bad about being kind of a jerk. “I’m really sorry about not being around as much. I do like you,” he says.

“Why?”

“Why do I like you?”

I nod. I hope he doesn’t call me crazy again.

“I don’t know. Just do. Why do you like me?”

Is he high? “What makes you think—”

He kisses me then. And it feels just the same as the night in his dorm. Like I don’t want him to stop. I suddenly understand that scene in that old Titanic movie Aunty K is shockingly still into, where the windows in the car heat up and the hand presses against the glass. Doing this in a car isn’t as comfy as on the bed, but it definitely beats the train station and, all in all, is the nicest way I can think of for Jason to make it up to me.

We’ve been at it for a while when I see the headlights approaching. Another car pulls into the lot and parks in the space nearest to our unit. “Get down,” I hiss at Jason, sliding lower in my seat and pulling him with me. “It’s my mom.”

“Are you not allowed to date or something?”

“No, I…It’s complicated. My mom…she’s just not ready to know.”

We watch as Ma gets out of her car. She doesn’t spare a glance our way, but the mood is killed.

“I gotta go,” I say, pulling down my shirt. My hair is a tangled mess so I put it into a quick bun.

“Wait. That’s it?”

And then I do get mad. So he’s MIA for all this time and now he doesn’t want me to leave? “Yeah, that’s it. You bounced. I don’t owe you anything.”

“Okay, okay. I never said you did.” He puts his hands up. He’s gone quiet and serious now. “I know I messed up, but are we done here, me and you?”

Like I’m supposed to have all the answers all of a sudden. “I don’t know. There’s so much going on, especially now that I’m back training.” As soon as I say it, I feel awful. But it’s the truth.

He looks like I slapped him. “Right. Yeah. Of course. You have to train until you’re falling over and practically dead. My bad.”

“Are you jealous that I’m a better fighter than you?”

“Okay, I know you don’t want me to call you crazy but honestly that’s just ridiculous. I like that you can fight. That’s not what this is about. Trish, I’m worried about you, okay?” He pulls me in for a hug, messing my hair up again. “It’s like you got some kind of monster in you that you’re trying to work out, but that would only make sense if it came out in the ring, which it doesn’t. Maybe the little demos that don’t matter, yeah, you win those, but the others? Where it’s