The Fighter *ON HIATUS*

Chapter Seven: Date

The morning after the fight, I woke up to my phone ringing. I expected it to be Axel since I was working out with him that morning, so I answered it without opening my eyes. "Hi, what do you want?"

"Uh, hey Delilah..."

My eyes flew open, and I sat up, putting on a much sweeter voice that I tended to use with Landon. "Oh, hey sorry. What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out today. It's been a while since we've gotten to hang out alone together..."

"Yeah!" I tried not to think about how the last time Landon and I hung out was the night that I was attacked. "I just have something for the next few hours, but I'll call you when I'm done, okay?"

"That sounds good! I really miss hanging out with you, Delilah..."

"I miss hanging out with you, too." I tried not to let the insincerity of that statement show through in my voice. We said goodbye to each other, and I realized it was pretty much time for me to wake up and start getting ready anyways. I went downstairs and ate some breakfast with my mom, before going back up to change. I put on a tank top, leggings, and tennis-shoes before throwing my hair up in a pony-tail and waiting for Axel.

When he got here, he did his normal thing and started honking in my driveway. "Gotta go. Love you!" I kissed my mom quickly on the cheek, before running out to Axel's car. "Good morning," I said brightly.

"Hey," Axel mumbled. I looked at him, and he looked rough. His hair was all messed up, his eyes had bags underneath them, not to mention his knuckles were bruised and cut up from the night before. It looked like he had barely gotten an hour of sleep the night before.

My stomach did an odd tightening thing when I realized that was probably exactly the case. "How was your night after the fight?" I asked, trying to sound casual. I didn't know why I was doing that. I always tried to be real with Axel, but this time felt different. I didn't want to say to him how weird I felt about him sleeping with Raven, mostly because I didn't know why I felt so weird about it.

"It was good... Raven and I, we... Yeah..." He coughed awkwardly, his hands shifting on the steering wheel.

"Cool... I'm uh, going on a date later today with Landon..."

"That's great..."

Thankfully, we were almost to the gym, so we could change the subject easily soon. That day we were doing weight training, which was always better than cardio for me. As I worked out, Axel stayed mostly quiet, occasionally said, "Another set," "Good," or telling me what to go to next. Finally, when he shortly suggested we should practice the self-defense he'd taught me, I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." he said, walking away to go get the mats.

"Axel..." I followed him, grabbing his arm to stop him. "Talk to me..."

"I think I must just be tired. We had kind of a late night last night..."

At this, the lump in my throat appeared instantly. I had no idea why, but I hated the thought of him sleeping with that girl. So, I didn't push him further and just nodded.

"Okay, ready?" he asked once he had put down the mats.

"Yeah." That wasn't a lie at all. I was completely ready to take any anger out with this.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed when I gripped his shirt tightly, sweeping my leg behind his knee and taking him down. "Good one!"

Even through the anger I felt, I couldn't help but smile. It always felt good to be told I was doing something right by Axel.