I'd Kill You First: when bad meets bad

Chap. 8

SODA:

"Hey Lace, you busy tonight?"

I held the phone to my ear as I walked down the aisles with a red shopping basket on my arm.

"Uh no, I don't think so. Why?"

"A friend of mine knows of a party tonight. Interested?"

I pulled the phone from my ear as she squealed, picking up a few loafs of bread and depositing them in the basket.

"Of course!" she basically yelled, "I'll bring Lance too."

"Oh boy, I get to be third wheel," I mutter with a scowl.

It was quiet for a minute as I picked up lettuce and some sliced turkey, a few bags of chips, and bottled water packs and juice containers.

"You know," Lacy said slowly, "You should invite your hottie roommate!"

I choked on the gum I was chewing and listened as another voice could suddenly be heard from the other end.

"Did you just call her roommate hot?" I recognized Lance's voice.

"Yes, yes I did," she said cheerily.

"And what about me?" Lance questioned, an underlying motive in his tone.

"What about you?" teased Lacy.

"You seemed to think I was pretty hot when you were screaming my name last night," he mumbled against what I guessed to be her neck because his voice was suddenly louder.

"Ew gross, okay guys that's enough. Lacy, I'm not even mentioning it to that dickwad. I can't stand him."

"I think you secretly like him. He's a cutie and you're a cutie and cuties always get together," she said dreamily.

I groaned and stood in line to pay for my groceries. "I don't like him, trust me. And he's not coming."

"I'll call him," she decided.

"No you won't," I warned.

"Yep," she said with an evil grin I could feel through the phone, "Imma call him."

The line clicked dead before I could argue, leaving me to fume in silence. Why did I have to have such nosy friends? Maybe I would get lucky and he wouldn't want to come.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

KEENON:

"There is no way in hell I'm going to a party with that pain in the ass."

"You're going, and that's final," stated Toby, leaning against the ring post.

I threw a punch at the bag in front of me and growled. "No, I'm not. I don't want to go to a party. I need to train for the fight that's in two days!"

"If you over train for this you will only ruin yourself before the fight ever gets here. Take a one night break, please. I'll go with you!"

I looked to Tay for help as he leaned back against the ropes around the ring with his arms crossed, but he only shrugged with a smirk.

"Don't look at me, sounds like Toby has made up your mind for you."

I glared at him, then Toby. "You two planned this, didn't you?"

Toby grinned at me and chuckled. "You have been a mess long enough. It's time you got out again, party a little."

"I'm a big boy, I know what I need. I don't need a babysitter," I grumbled, laying into the bag again.

"You are so dumb sometimes it scares me," said Toby, coming over to slap me on the back. "For goodness sake, take a shower," he added, wiping his hand off. "That Lacy girl said to be ready by six at your place."

"Why our place?" I asked, frowning at the idea of having lots of people around my apartment.

"Lacy said your roommate doesn't drink, so I guess we are cramming everyone into her Camaro so we have a designated driver."

I rolled my eyes. Great, not only is my roommate a pain, but she's a tightwad goodie two shoes.

"Hey, do you know her name?" I asked, looking up at Toby's back as he walked away.

Toby stopped for a second and shook his head. "No, I don't. Never came up I guess. Why? You don't know it yet?"

I scowled and shook my head. "She won't tell me."

He laughed at me. "It's about time you met your match. I think this will be better for you than you think. You need a girl in your life that won't put up with your shit all the time and will actually give you a hard time."

I glared at him and went back to punching the bag. "Why are we friends again? You make it sound like I'm going to marry her."

Toby opened his mouth with a smirk already on his face, so I cut him off. "Don't even think about it, shut up. Just go."

"Bye Keenon!" He called over his shoulder. "Be ready!"

I grumbled to myself and looked at my watch. I had an hour to be at the apartment, so I nodded at Tay who came over with mitts. This fight was wearing on my in the worst way and I didn't know why. Everything was just so jumbled in my head and all mixed up, it was stressing me out.

I had to keep focused. Focus was key.