Fight ME

Ecstacy

It was already Friday afternoon one day away from ringing in the New Year. Maxine was tired and not in the mood to train, but she still pulled through as she swung her achy arms at the girl standing in front of her. She could hear Marco throwing out random moves for her to perform. Suddenly she stopped to watch Nick storm by. Marco looked in the direction she was looking and his eyebrows creased. Nick was storming towards the exit.

"Where are you going Carter?" Marco shouted.

Nick didn't answer.

Maxine took off the gloves and hopped out of the ring and ran after him. "Where are you going?" She asked walking backwards in front of him.

"Go back to training, Max." He was serious and didn't bother looking at her.

"You can't quit! The fight is in a week."

His gaze fell upon her and he scowled. "Get out of my way. I'm tired and I want to go home!"

"Yo! Nick, you can't quit in the middle of training man. What's going on?" Marco came from behind.

Nick stopped abruptly and took two steps towards Marco. They were face to face and Nick looked like he might swing at him. "I don't want to do this shit anymore. I'm not going to win that stupid fight...actually, I don't want to win it."

"You don't know what you're saying. You're just frustrated. Go home get some rest and we will meet up Monday."

"I'm going home, but I'm not coming back Monday. Fuck this!" Nick pushed past Maxine and continued out the door. Maxine and Marco both looked at each other confused about Nick's sudden mood change.

          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maxine was all smiles when she got home. She was carrying a ton of registration papers and a black shirt that was draped over her shoulder that Marco had given her to join 'Fight Me'. The house was quite and there was no Turbo or Nick to be found.

"Hello?" She shouted. There was no answer. With a sigh she dumped the papers on the table and went off to shower.

A while later she walked out into the living room to find Nick sprawled out on the sofa along side Turbo, he was channel surfing. She took a seat next to him, but he didn't even acknowledge her presence. Maxine fiddled with her fingers trying to not say a word. But she was curious as to what had made him suddenly change his mind.

"Uh...has Howie called?"

Nick shifted and turned to glare at her. "Does it look like I'm your secretary?"

She rolled her eyes. "Who pissed in your cheerios this morning? Why the sudden change in mood?"

"It's everything; the pressure about winning this fight. I'm exhausted. I need to get laid. I want to drink and have fun again. Now, I'm always working out and I'm stuck taking care of you."

"You don't have to take care of me. I can take care of myself; my mother taught me how to do that very well. I'm sorry that I'm such a damn burden to you too." Maxine got off the sofa and headed outside.

"Max, that's not what I meant." He didn't get a response. Instead he heard the sliding door being slammed.

It was always chilly around five in Malibu. The misty air was fresh against Maxine's skin and the sand felt soft and cold under her feet. She didn't dare go near the water imagining it being freezing cold. At that moment she thought about her mom again. Howie had helped out with the whole burial and it had been just them three in black standing around her.

She was thankful for Howie and Nick that day.

"Hey!" The familiar voice startled her and when she looked up to see Derek she half smiled.