Heart Of A Fighter

Honest Responses

"How was it?" Liam queried, tossing a bottle of water to Lavender, who was on the loveseat ever since she came home. She hung upside-down on the loveseat, her legs crossed in the air with her hair sprawled on the floor.

Lavender caught it, tossing the water beside her. "I need something strong."

"That bad today?"

She flipped off the loveseat, landing on the floor in a sitting position and crossing her legs at the ankle. Lavender looked at her work with drudgery.

"The workers that were there before you left magically disappeared, so I had to do everything myself."

Liam gave her a slight nod. "Are you gonna quit?"

Lavender gaped at Liam as if he had lost his mind. She got a job, something she really needed.

Quitting wasn't an option for her, despite how exhausting it was. If Lavender had quit every time something got too hard for her, then she would've been in death's arms the moment her father left.

"Do I look like a quitter to you?"

"No. You've got the willpower of a bull," he said astutely with a smile. "I'll be back just before the end of August. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. Lele, thank you."

"What're friends for?" he shrugged.

After poking his barely there dimple, she hugged him. "I'm going out for a run, but I need to take a shower. I smell like food and sweat."

"Dinner will be in the microwave," Liam shouted after her.

As she was peeling her clothes off, her phone rang showing an unknown number. She answered it, already knowing that was Damien.

"Good evening, muffin. How was your day at work?"

"It was great." It was a lie that Damien didn't need to know.

"Let's go out tonight."

Lavender kicked around for her running shoes. Liam was serious about her finding all of her belongings in the empty room after she got from work. He didn't leave even a penny behind.

"No."

"What do you want to do?" He sounded irritated.

"I'm going out for a run, Damien. What do you want?"

"I'm joining you."

"If that's what it takes to shut you up then sure, cupcake," she answered in mock sweetness.

"Remember, I am a winner."

They scarcely started and the pretentious man was already reminding her that this was all a game that made it less interesting.

"Don't make me regret this. Meet me at the park," Lavender said, hanging up the phone. Lavender quickly dressed for exercising and was out of Liam's apartment.

She jogged all the way to the park, spotting a dark figure that was seated on one of the wooden benches. She stopped jogging, walking slowly not out of fear but out of caution.

The person was dressed all in black, but the light that illuminated on his face gave Damien away.

She quickened her pace, placing her foot on the bench to tie the laces of her black puma tennis. "You sounded kinda irritated over the phone."

"We're supposed to be a couple, but you keep avoiding me." His frown deepened.

"Awww, is your feeling hurt?" She played with his chin as if he were a baby, mocking him. He stopped her, holding her hand in place by grasping her wrist.

"No, I need to win."

"See, you're constantly reminding me that this is a game. Where's the fun in that?"

He let her hand go in a huff, pushing his hands in the pocket of his Adidas windbreaker. "Maybe you're right."

She sat down on the bleacher. Damien shifted closer to her, placing his hands around her shoulders. "I'm surprised you're early. Hmmph, how chivalrous of you."

Damien scoffed, pulling his hoodie down. "I'm no gentleman, babe. Nice setting. C'mere, lemme give you a kiss."

She placed her palm over his mouth when he leaned in closer to her. "Nuh-uh, don't get ahead of yourself. You have to be smooth with it. You're too commanding."

"Girls love that shit. You do realize that kissing is the best part of this game right?

"I'm not one of your sex toys, Damien. You don't get to have your way with me as you please."

To get a better view of him, she adjusted herself and placed her legs on his lap. A small but prominent beauty mark sat comfortably- about an inch away-under his right eye.

"You're no gentleman alright, but yet you're being chased around as if you're one. What is it about you that has women coming back for more? You don't even smile!"

"It's not my fault that I'm irresistible without having to try. I guess, they come back because I don't smile," he meditatively answered. "They crave for something more than the nice guys. I've seen the nice guys get curved for guys like me my whole life."

She expected to hear him say something in between the lines of, 'It's the sex' or 'I'm just that good in bed' so his honest response stunned her.

"Anyways, I warned them not to get attached," he continued in honesty. "Nothing good ever comes out of falling in love with a guy like me. All I want is sex."

Lavender laughed at how straightforward he was, but something about that sentence sobered her. It couldn't be possible for someone to be that shallow.

He pointed with his cleft chin for them to start jogging. During their jogging, they talked about random things but never anything personal.

They did one more lap before Damien plopped on the grass, gently pulling Lavender down with him. They were on the ground opposite of each other with their heads touching. Lavender gazed at the sky in silence and Damien's eyes closed, their breathing loud.

"That one looks like a fire breathing dragon," Lavender said when she got her breathing under control. She pointed towards a cloud that was visible amongst a few others despite the darkness creeping in.

Damien opened his eyes and turned his head to stare at her with confusion. Their faces were only inches apart, but none of them seemed to care.

"What?"

Lavender rolled her eyes, pointing upwards again. "That one--the cloud over there, resembles a fire breathing dragon."

Damien drummed his fingers on his chest, the confused expression still plastered on his face. "You're not normal at all. You're fucking weird."

"We're all weird. Nobody's really normal, Damien."

Finally, he looked up at the clouds, his facial structure slowly relaxing. "Your accent makes you pronounce my name like Dame-yun instead of Day-me-in."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, I like it. It sexy different." He closed his eyes again and then sighed after a long lapse of silence. "I can't believe I'm doing this. That one looks like a---wait."

He paused.

Damien sat up, leaning on his elbows so that he could get a better view of the clouds. Lavender watched as he bit his tongue in concentration with knitted eyebrows. Several seconds after examining the cloud, the corner of his lips did that slight twitch.

"It looks like that little yellow chick from wonder pets."

Lavender laughed so hard, she was clutching her stomach. It amused her how a man that made smiling look painful refer to a cloud as a cartoon.

"You watched wonder pets?"

Damien looked at her with a straight face, his forehead crinkling more than she thought was possible which made her laugh even harder. "I was once a child."