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The second Blaese lands a left hook to his opponent’s head, I’m on my feet along with everyone else. And as his opponent falls to the octagon floor, my hands are in my hair and there’s a smile on my face. Blaese wins with a knockout. Everyone in the room is cheering and as I pull my eyes from the TV, they meet Luca’s.
He is looking back at me with a genuine smile, and it takes a moment longer until my own smile eventually fades away. He keeps his eyes on me as his features soften, until I’m jolted back to the moment by Noah bumping my arm.
“That was awesome,” he says, smiling at me.
“Yeah, it was.” I nod in agreement and take my seat again.
Adão whoops and claps his hands together. “Fuck, man, that’s why he’s the best.”
I take the last drink of my beer and glance at my watch. Fights are over. What is proper protocol here? Can I just leave now?
The uncomfortable feelings settle in again now that the fights are done, and I have nothing to keep my interest and attention. Everyone starts talking about the fights and their own training, but I’m having a hard time paying attention to them. I just want to go now, but I don’t want to be a complete dick and leave when they’re in the middle of a conversation. And the fights ended just minutes ago.
“I actually want to work more on power in my left hook. And not just because Blaese made it look so easy tonight,” Elijah laughs. He turns to Seb. “You up for a spar tomorrow?”
“So you can land your left hook on me with more power?” Seb says with a mouthful of cookie. “Oh yeah, sounds super fun.”
“Sick, it’s on.” Elijah nods seriously, draining the last of his beer while Seb rolls his eyes.
“Speaking of,” Rosa stands, “I do actually want to train some tomorrow afternoon, so I should head out and stop drinking and eating sugar.” She shoots a look at Luca, who just laughs.
“Yeah, me too,” Noah says, standing as well. “Need a lift?”
“That’d be great, thanks.” Rosa smiles and they head towards the door, while everyone calls out their good-byes to them.
Adão, Seb and Elijah also stand, and thank fuck, now I can just leave with everyone else.
But as I stand, Luca catches my eye and shakes his head.
And that subtle excited feeling comes back.
“Well, thanks for having us, Luca. You may need to host all the fights,” Seb says with a chuckle as he makes his way towards the door.
“I’m fine with that,” Luca says with a proud smile.
Elijah looks at me. “Did you drive here, or do you need-”
“Ty is going to stay so we can play chess,” Luca says matter-of-factly, as he puts his hands in his pockets.
I try to keep the look of bewilderment off my face, as I glare back at him, wondering what the fuck he’s talking about.
“Chess?” Adão cocks an eyebrow.
Luca nods. “Yeah, working on burying the hatchet, you know? What better way to do that than with chess?”
I’m clearly not alone in the struggle to follow this logic, as the other guys slowly nod and look between us cautiously.
“Ok…” Elijah says slowly. “Um, well… be… safe?”
“Scouts honor.” Luca salutes him and Elijah chuckles. He then turns to me, eyeing me carefully.
I shrug one shoulder with a slight shake of my head to show that I am not completely on board with this.
Which is probably a lie.
“Alright, well,” Seb opens the door, “see you tomorrow?”
“Yup,” Luca nods, “thanks for coming.”
