To Love A Fighter |||| l.p.

Houston

Liam's POV

My plane touches down in Houston. I'm wearing a blue hoodie, sweats, and have a different bodyguard with me to prevent myself from getting recognized.

I talked to the boys before I left, told them where I was going, Louis plops down on his laptop and googles as we're chatting. "Who is this?!?" Everyone perks over "did you know she was over there??" Louis asked, "she's pretty but she looks absolutely terrifying! I don't want her hurting our precious LiLi hahaha!" "Leave it to Liam to go overseas to get his arse handed to him by a scary woman from the internet" Niall jokes. "Oh shut it you two" I laugh. Overall they knew I needed this. I smiled on the drive to the hotel as I reminisced.

Stella's POV

I'm lost in the angry lyrics of the rock music blaring in my ears while I'm on the last 5 minutes of my bag workout. My arms feel like lead...its glorious. I feel my body ache as it twists for each blow. Left hook. Cross. Hook. Shuffle right. Jab. Jab. Cross. I stop because I hear Pat's muffled voice, did I screw up something? I take off my earbuds and turn around and see him talking to some guy in a british accent. "Stella! Come here! I'd like to introduce you to someone. This is Liam, my new friend from the UK." Pat introduces me to Liam friggin Payne. Holy shit! I balk a little and compose myself, "hi! Stella, nice to meet you, I had no idea it was you he met over there! What brings you to our hole in the wall?" Liam looking a little surprised himself responded,  "well I met Pat and he invited me, turns out I needed a vacation anyway, so now I'm here!" I look at the clock, almost time for strength and conditioning, "well, welcome to the gym,  if you need anything let us know, and don't worry, this isn't the place for screaming teenage girls haha. I have to go though, nice to meet you!"

Liam's POV

I walk into Underground MMA and hear someone hitting the bag. I don't see Pat anywhere, maybe he's hitting the bag. I walk over towards the noise and immediately walk back. It's the scary woman!! I power walk back to the front and bump into Pat, "Hey! it's Liam! I had a feeling I'd see you again. You coming to train?" Relieved, I greet Pat and tell him about my plans for the time I'm here. I'm also interested in exploring this MMA stuff. Looks pretty sick. Out of the corner of my eye I see a small figure peek out from where the boxing bags were and Pat lights up, "hey Stella! come here!" oh god, I hope I don't have to spar with her on my first day...But then, I finally get to shake hands with Stella, and turns out, she's much more beautiful and frankly less scary in person. She has a pixie like face with sparkling hazel eyes, her smile just lights up the entire room. She's smaller in person, though has a firm handshake. Her hands are feminine but calloused from all her training. Her voice is melodic and her laugh is contagious. She's definitely a diamond in the rough.

She greeted me with confidence, and I about fell over when I realized she knew exactly who I was! Maybe she's a fan, I secretly hoped she was.

"Nice to meet you!" I waved as she bounced off. Stunned, I just stared a bit. Scary woman wasn't so scary after all....

"Don't let her friendliness fool you. She's a monster in the ring." Pat interrupted my thoughts. "I believe you man." I replied. Pat added on, "she makes a great training partner, and an awesome coach though, you should have her teach you sometime" I nodded, but truthfully she seemed much more concerned with her training than with teaching an MMA newbie. I'll stick to the coaches for now.