Eye of the Tiger

Part 11

Dani POV

"Hey! Welcome back!" It felt weird finally being back here. It was weird because it was all familiar but I also felt out of place. I was excited to get back into boxing but I was nervous because 2 months of no training changes a lot. After I got my brace off I did more workouts but I couldn't actually work on any technique or lift weights so my muscles feel nonexistent.

"Thanks!" I grin at my coach, Chris. It was also weird being here without my dad, but as you've guessed it he still makes every possible excuse to not be around me.

"We'll take it easy today to see where I can push you and what we need to work on but hopefully we can get you back on track for the tournament next month." He helps me strap on my gloves and I can feel my heart beat in excitement.

"Sounds great." Warm ups were great. I fell back into routine and despite the amount of activity I was doing I felt my entire being relax. This was my therapy and I was so happy to have it back. When it got to the core training though, my frustration gave out.

"FUCK!" I spit out my mouth guard as an ache shot up my hand.

"Dani you alright?" Chris unstrapped my gloves immediately and threw them aside to check my hand. He's going to make me stop, I know it.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Let's keep going." I force myself to take deep breaths to pass the pain. He looks at me with his eyes filled with concern.

"No, you're done for today, take it easy okay?" I pick up my gloves to strap them back on.

"N-no please. I want to keep going, I'm fine." I say it to convince myself more than him to be honest. I want to be okay. I want my hand to stop hurting. It's so frustrating.

"Dani, I don't want to ruin that hand any more than it is. You need to take it easy, we will get you back on track but I need you to take care of yourself now okay?" I just nod in defeat and he rests a caring hand on my shoulder before giving it a squeeze. I honestly just felt my gut drop to my stomach the entire way home. All the euphoria I had at the beginning of training just washed away when the pain took over. Now I feel smaller than ever stepping up to the front door of my house. I dreaded being here, the silence from my dad broke my heart more every time I saw him.

But his presence wasn't apparent when I stepped in and I honestly didn't know what was worst, my dad not being here or my dad acting like I'm not here. Either way this loneliness was fucking brutal. He didn't even leave a note this time. His notes were always short like 'dinner in microwave' and it honestly shocked me that he still fed me after treating me like I'm non-existent. I opened the microwave to see if he left anything, but it was empty. I sigh. It's not like I had much of an appetite anyways.

I feel the tears threaten the corner of my eyes and pulled out my phone. Despite all this shit happening, things with Santana have been amazing. If you would have told me a few months ago that I would be dating a cheerleader I would have laughed right in your face. But she was different. Hearing her voice always brought a smile to my face no matter how down I was feeling.

"Hey D." Santana answered as I opened the fridge. I know I should eat because the lack of calories will only slow me down in training.

"Hey babe. What are you up to?"

"I was just finishing up some homework. How was your training?" I can hear papers rustling in the background and I smile thinking about that cute concentrated look she has on her face when she does homework.

"Not great but hopefully it'll get better..." I trail off. I can hear her sigh on the other end. I gave up to trying to find food in our barely stocked fridge.