Toxic ✔️

5 | i'm trying to be serious i swear

chapter five: i'm trying to be serious i swear

My eyes do not deceive me.

Standing right there in front of me was the guy who rejected me and slammed his freaking door in my freaking face.

"Are you stalking me or something?" He says, folding his arms as he studies me. My jaw drops slightly and I notice his clenches. He slams his door in my face and thinks I'll go after him?

"You..." I growl, trying to calm myself. "You fucking asshole. You. You appear here and have the fucking audacity to say I'm stalking you?" Aw darn, he's making me curse so much. I take a few deep breaths. Colton sees us and instantly gulps, standing up and trying to cool things off.

"Well, hey, you know each other?" He asks, adding a laugh behind to try and lighten things up. "That's great. So, you probably know he's your trainer, right?" Hearing his words, I'm suddenly blinking rapidly, my eye starting to twitch as I try to process the information. Kellan seems to be in shock as well, but I'm not sure. The only sign that he's giving off is his eyes, which widen instantly. He looks around, seeming confused, before looking at Colton.

"This is Astrid. Astrid Flynn. As in, the person who's won the women's championship before she stopped fighting?" He confirms with a look of disbelief. Colton nods slowly, before looking at me, eyes still twitching, with a strange look. Kellan gives me an equally weird look, moving closer to look at me from eye level. "What the..." he murmurs. "...fuck is wrong with your eye?"

"WHAT?!" I scream at Colton and dramatically flinging my arms back, also almost hitting Kellan in the face. He grabs my arm before that happens though, and I yank it out of his grip quickly, finally processing the news. Colton coughs awkwardly.

"Yeah, he's your trainer. I have some...stuff," his last word is quiet as he goes off, obviously worried about what's about to happen, but at the same time probably doesn't mind since we in the ring anyway. Kellan tosses his bag over the rope and gets into position.

"Let's see how good you are now, Astrid Flynn," I get into position and he places his arms around me so that my back is pressed into his chest. Kellan raises my hand slightly higher so that I'm protecting my face. "You're rusty, Flynn," he says beside my ear. Why is he so close? No, get away from me. I roll my eyes. "Punch."

"You?" I ask jokingly. He doesn't think of it as a joke.

"Don't try and be a smartass. Punch the fucking bag," he snarls, standing away and giving me space. Geez. Okay. This guy can't take a joke. I exhale lightly and punch the bag twice. He walks a few circles around me before speaking again. "Push off with your back foot. One more time," he instructed.

I punch it again, following his instructions. He continues to get me to do this for quite a while more, giving me tips and techniques from time to time.

Eventually, he lets me take a break and I sit on the same bench as before. All of that made me forget about Nick and Brooke, forcing my energy somewhere else for those twenty minutes. But just temporarily. It wasn't enough. As much as I hate them now, I hate that I have to hate them.

No, it isn't that I have to. I want to.  I want to hate them so much because they hurt me so much. I want to hurt them so much that they feel the hate I feel for them. Maybe they're happy together. But I can't help wonder that if I just pretended I didn't see anything, that maybe I'd be able to share that happiness with them.

Every moment I have which I'm not preoccupied with something, I think of them.  Something won't let me escape it. But I have to escape it. Just...how? I don't even realize that Kellan has been watching me quietly for the last minute. So instead, I plaster on a fake smile. "Aha! You're the stalker," I say, pointing at him. Kellan's expression doesn't change at all, almost like he was expecting me to do just that.