5. Champion
Chapter Five
CHAMPION
I f all the debs were half as delightful as Sunshine Rae Wilson, I’d have a hard time picking just one.
A nag? Me? It made me grin too familiarly at a young skinny kid with acne who dropped his books at being the target of so much attention.
He’d been bullied in the near-recent past and was worried about a repeat.
“Is there a self-defense club here?” I asked him.
His eyes widened behind his thick glasses. “I don’t know. I’m a freshman.”
“If there isn’t, we should make one. Self-defense is an important thing to know, not only for women who have lower body weight and therefore are more vulnerable, but also to anyone who wants more confidence.” I slung my arm over his bony shoulder. “I think that’s about everyone.”
He blinked at me. “Er, yeah, I guess.”
I let him go and sat down. The whole thing was very interesting.
Everyone was so young, and this wasn’t a demographic I’d ever tapped before.
My business was catering to an audience, so I was very aware of the tech these kids used, and the style, the conversation, all of it as fascinating as trying a new cuisine.
What kind of dinner would Kitten like? She was so soft and sweet, so delicate, but then she pulled off an ollie in the middle of a perfect slide, and it gave you ideas.
Or maybe that was being below her after she’d rolled her already short skirt.
She wasn’t aware of her appeal, wasn’t bothered by the completely disrespectful comment about her bra, didn’t notice it any more than she noticed the way the reprobate looked at her.
She was not threatened by the insecurity of others.
She didn’t even see it. Had she really given that other girl a tattoo?
She didn’t have ink on any of the perfect skin I’d seen.
Maybe she had a little ink somewhere I hadn’t seen. That gave me even more ideas.
I didn’t pay as much attention to the speaker as I did the crowd. By the time it was wrapped up, I was ready to stretch my legs.
“That’s not a bad idea,” the skinny guy said at the end, braced, like it had taken courage to talk to me.
I was a big guy, but I’d made a point to look friendly today.
“Good to hear. I’m Nix.” I held out a hand and he took it, wincing as he prepared to be crushed by my ego-driven strength.
I was as gentle with him as I’d been with Kitten.
Were all kids so delicate these days? “We’ll have to meet up and talk about it later.
I’ll let you know what I find out about the clubs. ”
“I checked on my phone during the lecture, and they don’t. So…”
“Great. Let’s meet up tomorrow and discuss it, say around five and go grab a beer and…” He was underage. “Root beer, of course.”
He fixed his glasses. “Yeah. Okay. We can meet on the green to talk about the self-defense club. I’m Henry.”
“Good to meet you, Henry. Have a great first day of the rest of your life.” That’s what the brilliant orator had said. I suppose it was worth repeating, particularly since no one else seemed to have heard it the first time.
Sunny the kitten was in my Philosophy class.
She smiled so bright all by herself, it was like she was competing with the sun.
She’d bounced into class like a kitten after a milkman.
I slid into a seat at the back and listened to Sunny chat cheerfully with another girl about the pros and cons of co-ed basketball.
The other girl wanted to know why Sunny didn’t play organized sports.
I wasn’t as interested in that as I was in the girl herself.
What would it be like to spend six months with someone that optimistic?
Would it get tedious or addictive? Neither one of those were great options.
I glanced around the room and noticed two other girls from my dossier, the stunning brunette and a milky girl who was a touch up blonde. How Daniel had found out about the hair dying of females was a mystery I did not want to unravel.
The brunette gave me a once-over and smiled at me. That smile said, ‘we could have fun together without any strings, are you interested?’ The thing is, I doubted she’d be nearly as fun as Kitten, because there would be no flying skateboards or spontaneous porch dancing.
I glanced over at Sunny, the blonde who was a natural blonde, without any touching up whatsoever, and saw her pull her shirt up to show a scar on her stomach to the basketball player, explaining how she’d gotten it with such earnestness.
It was a beautiful scar, but her own skin was even more stunning. No tattoos there, either.
The teacher started class and I forced my attention forward, past the girl who was oblivious of what those flashes of perfect skin would do to a man.
The teacher talked about various philosophies and how they would interact in a real life setting.
While the teacher lectured, I looked up the names to go with the faces of all the females in the room.
The stunning brunette’s name was Littlefield, Christina, and had a long list of past beaus.
An experienced girlfriend would suit me much better than a naive kitten.
“Do any of you have a philosopher whose teachings resonate with you?” the teacher asked towards the end of class with a professional smile. How old was she? She wasn’t in the dossier, but I felt more kinship with her than most of the kids there.
The class was quiet. I raised my hand and spoke before she could call on me. “Hobbes.”
The Camaro kitten turned around with a slight frown between her eyebrows. “Life is ugly, short, and brutal?”
“Brutish,” I corrected and winked at her when she recognized me as the guy who’d saved her from the flying skateboard.
She was still frowning, even as she studied me, like she was thinking about the implications of my favorite philosopher more than how astonishingly handsome I was.
“Why would you think that? I get that life can be short, believe me, but it doesn’t have to be ugly, particularly when there are such beautiful people in the world, like you.
” She delivered that with a completely straight face, without a flicker of flirtation.
She was being matter-of-fact about the way I looked, which was as strange as it was refreshing.
I cocked my head. “Beautiful? I’ll leave that to the fairer sex to decide. It means that life is short and hard so we need to take as much out of it as we can. No regrets. No second-guesses. If you hesitated, you failed. The moment is the only thing that matters, and every moment matters.”
“Live in the moment? Really? You don’t find that a little bit short-sighted?” She smiled apologetically, but she wasn’t backing down.
If she wanted a fight, even if it was genteel and polite, I was always obliging. “I feel like we’re on unequal footing, you knowing my deep, dark, philosophical leanings and I don’t know yours. Maybe you’re an anti-believer without anything that you’re willing to put on the line.”
She lifted her chin. “If you really want to know, I’m actually a Stoic, and I believe in Sen’s Capability Approach.”
And there she went being smart, sweet, and strong all in one adorably wrapped bundle of cuteness.
“Really? Tell me more,” the teacher said, nodding for her to continue.
Sunny glanced around at the class and kind of flinched when she saw the way the gorgeous brunette, Christina, was looking at her before refocusing on the front.
“First of all, you have to make the best of what you’ve been given.
Second, people shouldn’t live carelessly and spoil more than their own lives.
Life is a precious gift that has to be protected and sculpted into something beautiful.
When people throw away their potential or live beneath their capabilities, it’s not only tragic, it’s morally wrong. ”
I’d had no idea what Sen’s Capability Approach was.
I’d be googling that. I didn’t expect to be schooled by a little kitten, and I didn’t exactly agree with her, but still.
“You can’t judge how another person needs to live,” I said as gently as possible, recapturing her attention.
Her eyes were so luminous, so full of emotions I didn’t understand, but wanted to.
“Sometimes life is all about the moment, honey. Sometimes one moment is all you can handle at a time.”
The brunette cut in with a sharp laugh. “That’s right. Life’s hard, honey. No one nominated you to judge their potential and whether or not they’re reaching up to your standard of perfection.”
Christina Littlefield said that with pointed venom directed at Kitten, like it was personal. Ah, the drama of the well-bred but no longer wealthy vs. the up-and-coming.
Kitten’s eyes widened showing her hurt and confusion before she frowned down at her desk and started getting her things together. Typical prey behavior, but I’d seen her on the board, and the girl had a spine, so why was she folding to the beauty? Not that I cared.
“Time’s up for today,” the professor said, giving me, Christina, and Sunny equally delighted smiles. “It’s going to be a very good year. I can tell.”
Sunshine left as quickly as possible, before I had the chance to catch her.
“Hi there,” Christina said, taking the direct approach and cutting off my own escape. “I can save you some time. She’s not interested.”
I wasn’t sure what to do with that. “The teacher seemed very?—”
“Sunshine. And yes, that is her real name. She’s the worst tease. She’ll lead you on, but no one’s actually good enough to touch her.”
“You’ve tried? Maybe she’s just not interested in women, however beautiful they are.”
She stepped closer to me and touched my chest. “I’m not the one who wants to touch her. Trust me. You’re much better off looking elsewhere.”
Did I mention my perverse streak? This was the second person to tell me that the kitten wasn’t a good idea.
I stepped back far enough that her hand dropped between us.
“I appreciate the chivalrous streak in you that yearns to protect the unsuspecting, poor, defenseless male, but I’m pretty sure I can take the disappointment if a woman I approach turns me down.
Just because a woman smiles at a man doesn’t mean she’s a tease if she doesn’t want to take it any further.
And honestly, I don’t mind being teased.
” I gave her a slightly charming grin then headed out, hoping to catch up to the kitten.
It took me all the way outside, down the sidewalk towards a big building that my map said was the art building to finally see her.
“Hey, Kitten, wait up,” I called, breaking into a jog as she turned to smile cheerfully at me.
“Hi there. Hobbes, huh? Too bad. I thought we would be great friends.”
“Speaking of great friends, what did you do to that poor girl to get her all heated up?”
She wrinkled her nose, once more losing that smile. “It’s because she has perfect breasts.”
I almost tripped. “Come again?”
She stared at me, like she’d never seen me before. “Did I say that out loud? Oops.”
I felt a flicker of disappointment. “So, you are into her, but she’s not into you?”
She laughed, and that smile, it really was as infectious as yawning and twice as fun. “No. She dated a friend of mine for a little while. He told me all about it, unfortunately. I’m not into her or anyone. I do think that you’re really attractive, but I don’t date.”
She was so straightforward about everything, so refreshingly honest, or maybe that was terrifyingly honest. “I don’t either, but I thought I’d change things up while I was at this school. If you did date, what kind of guy would it be? Geek? Jock? What else is there?”
“Normal student who works hard at three jobs to pay his way?”
“Ah, that’s me then.”
“You have too many muscles to be normal. How many hours a day do you spend working on your physique?” She was too cute to be offensive, but that had probably been a delicate little jab.
I laughed. “You want some pointers? I do self-defense classes, and we’re going to start a club. You could come, learn how to stay safe.” I hadn’t liked the way the skateboarder with the piercings and the undisciplined board had looked at her, talked about her.
“You’re a martial arts teacher?” Her smile faded slightly.
“Sure.” Among other things. “Not seriously, just for exercise and boosting self-confidence.”
She brightened up. “Like forms without contact? I could do that. Sounds fun. Sign me up, Brutish.”
“Sure thing, Stoic. I am seriously thinking about lunch. Do you have any recommendations?”
Her eyes widened and she took a small step back. “You’re asking me out to lunch, like a date? I told you that I don’t date.” Her smile was still sweet, but her voice was very firm.
That was interesting. She really would give me some resistance. Why didn’t she date? Why did Christina think she was a tease? Why did I care?
I casually closed the distance between us and leaned down so I could say low, “I’m actually already seeing someone, Henry, from orientation.
We’re going to get root beers and talk about the self-defense club.
You can come if you’d like, if you’re hungry, but it’s not a date.
I’m feeling like a good sandwich, something with bacon.
” I backed off so I could see her smile, so sweet that I wanted to taste it.
I took my own step away from her. If a woman said no, you respected that, however sweet her lips looked.
“I have a class, but I can highly recommend the Sandwich Guys.”
“Sandwich guys? That’s what it’s called?”
She shrugged and headed off across the green. “You will not regret it.”
I watched her go for a long time before I shook my head and kept walking. Walking away from her was filling me with all kinds of regrets. Still, if she wasn’t interested, she wasn’t interested. I’d just have to scratch her off the list.