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

Discoveries

Liam's POV

I'm dying to find out, so I have to ask. "So Stella, do you have a boyfriend?" I ask. She doesn't act like a girl in love, she actually doesn't seem like she dates at all. She sighs, it sounds so sad when she does. "No," my heart skips a bit "I don't really date. Not very many guys are up for having a girlfriend that gets regularly punched in the face by a bunch of dudes" she answers, resigned. "Besides, I'm pretty focused on being a fighter. Right now I make a better friend than girlfriend" I look at her, I can just see the walls she's built around herself. "So what, you've dated guys that don't like you training or something? Why do you train so much?" I ask. I worry I may have been too intrusive, but I can't help myself. Who is this girl? Why does she keep herself so protected? She shifts around, trying to hide her discomfort, crap, she's gonna shut me out I think to myself.

"I train because I love it. I love pushing my body to the limit, I love feeling sore the next morning. I love the confidence it gave me to be ok with who I am. I was in an abusive relationship before and through training I was able to get away from him. The only thing is that it doesn't make you the sweetest nor the most feminine girl out there, which turns off a lot of guys. They don't want to be with a girl that has to be so aggressive all the time. It made some guys insecure when we dated. I understood,  but I wasn't going to stop training. Eventually I stopped trying to date altogether,  it was too much trouble.  We date, I train, we fight, we break up. Thats too distracting to deal with while trying to go pro. So yea." She says all this very bluntly, but it seems more like she was tired of getting hurt. "So what...you just gave up?" I ask. "Yep," she answers matter of factly, "its just easier that way. Training does a good job of keeping me busy so I don't have to think about it too much" I frown, that doesn't seem to be entirely true. "But what about when you go home? Don't you think about it then? That sounds fine for not getting hurt....but that sounds excruciatingly lonely," I comment. Again I flinch, I think I overdid it again. She doesn't say anything, just looks down for a minute and then smiles and looks back up, "yes it is, but at least while you're here I'll have a friend for a bit" she replies. I'm caught off guard, I'm glad to be her friend but there's a part of me thats a little disappointed. Maybe its from the fact that she won't have someone to keep her company when I leave.

"Well Stella, thank you for having me."