Nine
OLIVER
Is it wild behavior to come to a coffee shop in hopes to see the girl you are lowkey obsessed with driving crazy only to buy your best friend, who happens to also be said girl’s best friend, her favorite coffee because you don’t want her to yell at you for being dumb?
Yes. And that’s why I’m standing in line, searching for Mia every few seconds because she should be here working, and praying for AJ to be in a good mood.
A flash of blonde hair comes around the corner, but it’s straight and lifeless.
Not my girl’s. This girl looks up and sees me staring and smiles blindingly.
She rushes back to working behind the espresso machine as I move up in line.
I take another look around in hopes of seeing wild blonde hair but still nothing.
I shuffle forward after someone clears their throat behind me.
“What can I get you?” I give up my search as I give my attention to the sweet girl at the register. She treats every customer the same and Mia talks fondly of her a lot.
“Trix, right?” Her eyes light up as she nods her head yes.
“I need a double shot irish cream and banana latte, iced. And I’ll take your candy bar special latte.
” I give her a twenty dollar bill and point to the jar on the counter.
“Keep the change.” Clearing my throat, I ask, “Is Mia here today?” Trix just looks up kindly at me before putting the change in the jar.
She opens her mouth to answer me before the other blonde is leaning over the counter.
“We love a guy that knows how to tip.” She winks up at me as she snatches my ticket from Trix’s hand. “I’ll make these.” She sings as she turns to start making the drinks.
“She looks like she probably smells like vanilla.” Mia’s sweetly vicious voice comes from behind me.
And I don’t miss the side eye she throws the other girl from over the counter.
Trix tries her hardest to not laugh but fails as Mia steps in front of me.
She gives Trix her order and I give over more money to pay for it before taking in Mia again.
She’s wearing a sports set like AJ normally wears but her hair is up in a pony tail today.
“You don’t like the smell of vanilla?” I ask her. Her eyes are such a perfect mix of all the colors today.
“Do you?” Mia crosses her arms and leans back on the counter. “Make your decision quick, before she sets down your drink.” She never breaks eye contact with me, giving me a clear challenge.
I can see the other blonde, I don’t even know her name, putting lids on the cups. I wait until the last second before she places the cups down to give Mia her answer. “You know I don’t.” I admit softly.
“Perfect!” She chirps and leans over the counter.
As in her whole body is over the counter and her head is now under the counter top.
She nearly falls backward when she straightens herself back out and I have to steady her.
The other girl is still lingering by the counter and she gives me a sweet smile which I do not return.
“Bye Miranda.” Mia dismisses her and the look on the girl's face is honestly comical.
Mia uncaps a sharpie and starts scribbling on the side of my cup.
“What are you doing?” Miranda sounds very offended, but Mia just blows her a kiss and then shrugs.
“He doesn’t like vanilla.” Mia scrunches up her nose as she picks up AJ’s coffee and hands it to me followed by my own coffee. It's already a little sweaty on the side but I can see the messy scribbled out phone number. She is jealous.
“What did you fuck up?” She asks as we move to the door.
“I didn’t fuck up anything.” I defend myself, but it’s pointless because we both know that AJ is going to be upset with me for fighting. It’s a constant battle I already have with my brothers to not tell her because I don’t want her to worry more than she needs to.
“She didn’t know you were fighting this weekend, neither did Maxwell.” Mia confirms what I already know. She absolutely talked to them about the fight. Or she talked about her date which was at my fight.
“How did your night with Davey go?” The words leave my mouth as I maneuver her to my left on the sidewalk, putting myself closer to the moving traffic.
“He’s a super sweet guy.” She deflects my question about how her date actually went but that also tells me all I need to know.
And a sense of relief floods my chest. I don’t know what to classify what this is between her and I, but whatever it is…
it’s inevitable. And I know that. She just wants to fight it and I’m okay with that too.
“Are you nervous for your first women’s defense class today?
” I know how hard she’s been working to be prepared for this class.
Dad is ecstatic about it. He and AJ have been wanting to start one for nearly two years but they both have such busy schedules.
They settled for just making sure the gym was as inclusive as possible and cultivating a schedule that allows women to feel safe for the classes they want to attend.
We used to all train throughout different times of the day.
The gym being more of a personal home workout space instead of a business.
AJ came in like a wrecking ball and changed that entirely.
She made sure that a space was created for everyone who would walk through those doors and we just fell in line, no questions asked.
“Do you think that they will hate me?” The ghosted confidence in her voice is what stops me in my tracks. She stops a few steps ahead of me and turns softly on her heel.
I wait for her to look up at me, so she can feel how serious I am when I say, “No one could ever hate you.” I want to threaten to break the nose of anyone who even tried to hate her but most girls hate violence.
She stares up at me just a little longer, with sad eyes exploring the genuineness of my words. “And if someone does hate you, there’s a line of people that will make them bleed.” Fuck it. I love threatening violence.
She reaches up to the healing cut on my lip and barely touches it. “You bled a lot Friday night.”
“You bleed in fights.” I shrug off her concern before I think too hard about it. Or before I remember the way she gasped when I fell down.
“Is she going to be mad at you?” She’s asking about AJ. It’s no secret that AJ is not a fan of me fighting right now. But my leg is fully rehabilitated and strong.
“For fighting?” I clarify and she hums. We start walking again, towards the gym.
“No. She will be mad that I didn’t have her help me prep for the fight.
She thinks I’m fighting because I have something to prove.
And she’s not a fan of people feeling like they aren’t good enough.
” It’s one of my favorite things about her.
The way AJ fights for her people should always be the example for how to show love.
“Do you?” Mia’s voice is soft and for a moment void of the bite it’s normally laced with. “Have something to prove?”
“It’s the only time I feel like I matter.
” I decide to answer honestly. The normalcy of this conversation should feel foreign but it doesn’t.
It feels safe. It’s weird that we never talk about the moments in the dark we have spent with each other.
That we just pretend they don’t exist while knowing that is the exact thing orbiting us.
We walk in silence the rest of the way to the gym.
I probably shouldn’t have been so honest with her.
We don’t do scary honest conversations, that’s not us.
She and I are both flames of uncertainty and seeking.
And the person we both seek out for our assurance is now standing outside with red cheeks from running.
I don’t see Rory around though, which is odd now. He’s always gravitating to her.
“Hey, A. Where’s your body guard?” I give her my best smile.
“Funny he used to call you that.” Her voice is short and void of any amusement. She’s definitely mad at me. She texted me yesterday and I chose to ignore it because I hate fighting with her.
“Hopefully she doesn’t make you cry too much.” Mia blows me a kiss as she goes into the gym.
I hand her the coffee I got her. “Your favorite.” AJ takes it but I can see the disappointment make her blue eyes turn a shade deeper.
She punches my arm with her free hand. “He was twice your size, dumbass. You could have actually gotten hurt. And then who would help run the gym with me.” She starts in on me just like I knew she would. But she doesn’t seem nearly as mad as I thought she would be.
“Mia is doing a wonderful job helping you manage the gym.” I remind her.
“She’s incredible, yes. But I need you to help me train the fight team.
” She’s not wrong there. AJ is a phenomenal trainer, she catches everything that a fighter needs to work on to be that extra level of better.
But she can’t go the hard rounds simply because she isn’t big enough. It’s not an even weight match.
“I won.” I say, like that makes up for everything. She could at least acknowledge that I won the fight. I didn’t get hurt and I kept her best friend safe too. Shouldn’t that earn me some extra points?
“I know. You let him play around with you too long though. You should have cornered him against the wall much sooner.” There it is. She can’t help herself from immediately going into coach mode. It’s adorable but I’ll never tell her that and risk her punching me in the face instead.
“I ended it first round, A… come on!” My voice gets more excited as I throw my hands out to the side.
“Don’t take bad match ups, let me help you train. I can’t always be in the corner now but I can help make sure you are clean and healthy with training.” I reach over and kiss the top of her head before wrapping her up in a hug. AJ will always be who I prefer in my corner.