Free Southpaw by Raen Smith

don’t want you to be like the other girls. And
I know that I probably scared you earlier tonight with Beyer, and I know I’m
probably freaking you out now, but you need to know who I really am, and you
need to know I’m working on it. I’m doing everything I can to make sure that I
don’t end up like my dad, like Frank said.”
    “Kelly…” Olivia steps
toward me.
    “I understand if you
want me to bring you home and never want to talk to me again.”
    “That was the most
honest thing I’ve ever heard,” she whispers, trying to clumsily undo the Velcro
of the straps on her gloves. I slide off my training mitts and toss them on the
floor so I can help her out of the gloves. Then she goes up on her tiptoes,
leaning toward me to place a tender kiss on my lips. “And I don’t plan on going
anywhere. I want to finish this second date.”

 
    Chapter 6
     
    It’s Tuesday. Fight night.
    Well, it’s supposed to
be fight night anyway. I told Olivia I wasn’t going to fight tonight, who in
turn told Piper, who then convinced me to come out for drinks. Olivia vehemently
agreed. I knew I shouldn’t have brought Olivia around Piper so soon, but I invited
Olivia over for dinner on Sunday, and Piper conveniently came home earlier than
she expected, in typical Piper “I’m going to fix you” fashion. She wanted to
make sure Olivia didn’t end up nailed against my bedroom wall.
    I manage to make it
through my work day with no missteps and find myself waiting in silence on the
couch for Piper to get back from her classes. The rain pounds against the
windows, falling in sheets against the glass. The way the water cascades down
the window reminds me of sitting in my brother Max’s Impala, looking at our
mom’s burial site through the windshield. I’m in the passenger seat and Ted and
Jake are in the backseat. All four of us are staring at the cemetery, unable to
get out to say our final goodbyes. Whenever it rains like this in the summer, I
think of her funeral and her absent husband. Mom never deserved that.
    The door opens and Piper
tramples through, throwing her keys in the dish. Clink. She shakes out her head
and throws her bag on the floor with a thud. She’s drenched head to toe.
“Goddamn rain.”
    “Goddamn rain is
right,” I reply, putting my feet up on the coffee table. Seeing the state Piper
is in, I realize it’s going to be a while before we leave. Even though she’s
quick as hell for a girl, it’s going to take her some time to come back from
that. “Haven’t you heard of an umbrella?”
    “Haven’t you heard of
picking your friend up after class because she has to walk seven blocks in the
rain?”
    “You can’t get picked
up if you don’t call.”
    She shrugs and waves
her hand at me. “Move over. You’re on some of my stuff.” I stand and move to the
chair, watching her gather a pink t-shirt and pair of jeans. I’ve never seen a
girl have that many articles of clothing all in the same color. Piper never
goes anywhere without some sort of pink on her body. I found out why the same
night I told her about my dad. Her mom died of cancer when she was two. The
pink is homage to cancer survivors, victims, and those left behind, like her.
    “We should get a
two-bedroom place,” I say, watching her lift a couch cushion in search of God
knows what. “I know a great place that’s available. It’s just down the street.”
    “I don’t know, Kelly. I
think we’re moving too fast.” She spins her head toward me, holding the cushion
up. “What about Olivia?”
    “What about Olivia? I’m
taking things slow. I don’t want to mess this one up. As long as you promise
not to get in between us, I’m good. Plus, this way you’d have your own room,
and I can do whatever and whomever I want in my bedroom.”
    “And there it is,” she
says, putting down the cushion without finding anything. “I knew you had an ulterior
motive. Men always do.”
    “Whatever. Just get
ready.”
    “Are you