Bell to Bell: A Boxing Story

Chapter Three

Gabe sat there waiting for Michelle, so he can confront his mom. He didn't want to face her at all, but for some reason he felt he could do it with her help. His whole lone wolf facade has slightly cracked since meeting Michelle. She has managed to get him to open up about things he wouldn't even talk about with himself. 

It was about nine in the morning before Michelle arrived at the bridge. She seemed different from the night before, as she seemed to have lost her smile. Gabe, saddened, asked her what was wrong.

She explained that she had gotten into an argument with her parents for arriving home so late. Her parents yelled about how irresponsible she had become recently. She said she explained why she was so late getting home and her parents took it the wrong way. They screamed that she shouldn't be out so late, let alone with a boy. She tried explaining to her parents that her and Gabe were not like that. They didn't listen and kept yelling at her until she stormed to her room.

"I'm sorry that I got you into trouble." Gabe apologized.

"It's not your fault. To be honest, I kinda wanted to talk to you for awhile now, but I never got the chance to talk. You were always busy training for your matches or surrounded by people that I never could talk to you." Michelle admitted.

"Why would you want to talk to me?" Gabe asked.

"N-no reason in specific, it's just you seem so nice in school all the time." she replied nervously.

"I'm only nice to people I can see me being friends with. Other than that, I'm usually aggressive towards others." He commented.

"You're nice to me, does that mean you can see us as friends?"She asked hopeful.

"I thought we already were friends, I mean, we did sit for hours last night talking about a million different things. Even though I only learned your name about nine hours ago, I feel like I've known you for years." Gabe relented.

Gabe and Michelle sat in the moment for a little while. The conversation replayed in there heads over and over. For Michelle, the words that came out of Gabe's mouth awoke some feelings she didn't know she had. She walked over to Gabe and put her head on his shoulders, like she did for him just the night before. To her surprise, Gabe wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on hers.

The two sat in this position for a while before they decided it was time to talk to Gabe's mom. They stood up and began to walk to Gabe's house. The two walked side by side, close to each other. They talked about the night before and whether or not they'll have the chance to do it again. They faded into the conversation. Each of them just focused on each other and never even noticed that they were walking slower and slower as the conversation progressed.

Each step was worth a thousand words to them, as they walked there conversation got deeper. They shared things that neither of them have ever talked about with anyone else. The two have grown close in the last day or so. 

They talked like they've known each other their whole lives. There was no difficulty or awkwardness between them. Their conversation flowed flawlessly from subject to subject, each one drawing the two closer together in the moment. They walked as slow as they can without even noticing. The two were just locked in the moment with each other as they walked.

Before either of them noticed anything, their hands were clasped together as they walked towards Gabe's house. The warmth of each of their hands were comforting towards the other. They walked hand in hand, word for word, step for step, in perfect synchronization. 

A few minutes later, they arrived at Gabe's house. The two stood on the steps for a few minutes wondering what may happen once Gabe goes in.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to go in with you?" Michelle asked once more.

"I think this is something I need to handle by myself. You just being here is enough for me, just wait out here for me." Gabe told her.

"If you need me, just say my name and I'll be there." She said.

"I know." He said with a wink.

Gabe drew a breath and walked inside his home to confront his mother.