One Kiss (Niall Horan Fanfic)

Chapter 41

Next day June 15th

Niall's pov

I headed to the gym, trying to clear my head. Too much is going on. The fight is in a few weeks, Jessica's sick and is Moody on top of that. There's a lot fogging up my mind and the gym is one of the only places I can relax, sounds strange I know. But when I'm practicing, I can let everything out - my pain, my aggression, my sadness, my frustration. I'm not afraid to let my emotions run wild as I'm beating the shit out of a punching bag. That's also why this fight scares me, I don't want to lose control and permanently damage somebody. I'm also worried I might scare Jessica. I never let her come to any matches because I'm afraid she won't like what she sees - all my anger powered though punches. I don't want to scare her.

***

I walked through the doors of the gym to hit with the same damn smell I smell every day, Sweaty bodys and dirty gym clothes. I've grown rather accustom to the smell, of course it's not the best smell in the world, but you get used to it. I walked straight to the locker room, where the smell simply intensifies, and met Liam sitting on the bench, strapping his gloves on. "Hey, man, how's it going? " I said to make my presence known.

"Fine, how bout you, nervous? " The guys, especially Liam, knew how nervous I got when a fight was coming up.

"You have no idea. " I chuckled. "But you know, fights always make me nervous. "

"That's good, though. Means you don't have a big head about it. " I nodded. I suppose he is right, I don't want to go into this fight thinking I have nothing to worry about. I threw my bag in my locker after getting my gloves and wrapping tape out. I wrapped my hands and strapped my gloves on. We walked out of the  locker room to see Josh, Zayn, Harry, and Louis setting things up. Liam and I decided to have a practice fight to work out some rough edges. We climbed in the ring and the rest of the boys stood on the outside. When we do this they can see what I'm doing wrong and what I can improve on. Louis rang the bell for us to start.

Don't rush, Niall. Don't rush!

A problem I have is rushing, once I'm in the ring, I'm ready and willing to go.

"Chin to your chest, Niall! " Louis yelled. During a real match the boxers are required to wear headgear, protecting everything but the chin, leaving it wide open for a jab. I secured my chin to my chest and continued with my stance, eager for Liam to hurry up and throw a punch.

"Let your opponent make the first move and counter-punch " Zayn reminded me. I waited and Liam finally threw a punch at the side of my head and I reacted with a swift hit to his ribs. I made a mistake and lifted my head. Liam took the opportunity to punch me, sending me to the floor.

Fuck! I did it again! Lifting my chin is probably my biggest problem, always has been. Liam came over and extended his hand for me to take and pull me up. "Shit, Niall, Keep your chin down! " Liam exclaimed as he hoisted me up to my feet.

"Sorry, man. " I mumbled, keeping my voice low as my chin throbbed.

"Come on, let's work on something else and we'll come back to this later. " We climbed out of the ring and I followed Liam over to the ladder. "Give me three sets, you gotta keep your feet moving. " It's not a real ladder, it's tape on the floor in the shape of a ladder. In this exercise, the person has to move his feet in and out of the squares and move forward until he reaches the end, it's to help keep one constantly moving. I finished my three sets and Josh handed me a water bottle, in order to stay in the game I need to keep highdrated.

"Hey, guess what I found out about Logan. " Harry said.

"What? " I asked after swallowing a gulp of water.