JC pulls me a little closer to him. I hear Nick. "C'mon, miss thang. Training time." I sigh and get up. I walk in the house and grab the punching block. I give it to Nick. Josh turns so he can watch me train. "Same as yesterday, I push you, push back and punch the block. Tomorrow we will work on kicks. Wait, no, I mean Thursday. No training tomorrow. Thursday and Friday we'll be focusing on kicks." I nod and get into stance. "Ready?" I nod. He shoves me, I shove back and attack. I hear JC and Lance talking, but can't hear what they're saying cuz I'm focused on my training. I go at Nick with the padded block for almost an hour. He braces me to make me stop. I stay in stance. "Upper cuts now." He angles the pad so I'd be able to hit it. He shoves, I shove back and attack with uppercuts. We work on this for almost an hour. Nick braces me again. He looks at JC. "Got another padded block?" He lifts the punching block.
"Yeah. Be back out in a minute."

I'm still in stance. Nick looks at me. "You take this as serious as possible. You eat today?"
"Yeah. Lunch. Shrimp scampi with an Alfredo sauce, corn on the cob and garlic bread. Have baked shrimp for after this."
"Pretty healthy. You choose better when given the choices." I nod as JC gives Nick the punching block, comes to me, pulls me close and kisses me. I start to drop my guard as we kiss. "JC, you're distracting my student. Let her train." JC lets me go and sits down. "Sam. Train." Nick has his wrists crossed so the padded blocks are facing the outside. I get in stance again and shake my head so I can focus. "Shove, shove and side attacks." He shoves, I shove back and begin attacking. "There's more emotion than there should be between you and JC. On both sides."

I attack harder. "Who said that?"
"That kiss."
"Nick. I use those kisses and the love making to hide my emotions."
He raises his eyebrows and braces me. I get back into stance. He shoves, I shove back and attack from the sides. He smiles. "He makes you happy."
"He makes me feel like I matter. Makes me more than happy."
"Treats you good?"
"Yeah."
"You want him close but you both have healing to do."
"Yeah, I know."
"One thing you don't wanna do is go into a relationship with an already broken heart."
"I know. Been there. Hardly been single since I started dating almost 16 years ago."
"You know what I mean, then. Do you know why he has healing to do?"
"Eva. James told me earlier. Also said Josh is getting back to his old self again."
"We are entirely happy to have him getting back to himself. It's been far too long since he's been himself. Thanks for bringing him back."
"I wasn't trying to but it happened. Welcome."

He braces me and I back down and get into stance again. "Combos. Forward, uppercut, side, side, uppercut, forward." He shoves, I shove and attack as he said. Takes a couple tries to get the order right. "He seems to have really clicked with you and vice versa."
"Well, yeah."
"Are you training for you or him?"
"Me. I wanna get back in shape and tone up. I don't like my middle section at all. Or the inside of my thighs."
"So you wanna strengthen and tone your core and inner thighs?" He nods and braces me. I get into stance and nod. Shove, shove, combo attacks. Nick hears someone behind him and glances back. "Aaron, I'm mid-training session."
Aaron smiles. "I'm only sitting in. First week?"
"Yes. She learns quick. Working on strengthening her upper and lower body this week, combine next week."
"Days off?"
"Wednesdays and Saturdays. Three hours a day."
"Why?"
"She has three kids and works."

"Oh." I hear Aaron trying to sneak up. I feel him just under leg's length away. I turn, position myself and spar with him for a few minutes. I mix the attacks. He shoves me and I shove back, making sure to follow through with a punch to his chest and push him backward as I knock his feet from under him. He hits the ground and looks at me. I hold a hand out to help him up. "Good sportsmanship." He takes my hand and gets up.
I look at him. "One, zip." I walk backward to Nick to watch him sit with JC and Lance. I turn to face Nick. Shove, shove, combo attacks. Nick nods. "Good job. You were ready for an impromptu test. You have good sensory skills. Will expand on those in a month. Take less to get him down. Might be able to do it in three months with less energy and moves than you did today. Very good. Thought you might need more training than you do."

"Grew up around boys. One of three girls between me and my cousins. Me, my cousins Ellen and Kari. Ellen is older, Kari is her daughter and younger than me. I'm the baby of my generation."
"Fight your own battles or babied?"
"Babied till I turned three. Gramma had enough. Told me to tear my cousins' asses up if they fuck with me. May not have won all the time, but I learned the basics of fighting. Learned it quick."
He nods, braces me and I get into stance. Shove, shove, combo attacks. The last twenty minutes are done in silence and with complete focus and full force hits. Nick braces me and bows to signal the end of the session. I bow with my eyes focused on him. He hugs me. "You did very good. Trained hard and kicked my brother's ass in less than ten moves. Shove, shove, punch, shove and trip. You pinned when you landed. Did you push off when you felt him hit the ground?"
"I think so. That was pure instinct and defense."
Aaron walks up and gives me a hug. "I couldn't do that until the third week. He had Justin do it to me. Less than six moves. I did it in twelve and on the fifth try."
I nod as I hear JC and Lance get up and come over to us. JC makes sure I know he's coming up behind me. "Nick, you showed up early."
"To see if she would train sporadically, if it calls for it. She was dressed more appropriately for it today."
JC wraps his arms around me, pulling me close to his body. I let my head fall back onto his chest, put my hands over his and smile. "She didn't get thrown in the pool today."

"Very true. This is what I mean, Sam."
"I know, Nick. Shut it."
He puts his hands up in front of himself, as if he's blocking an attack. "Ok. We can talk about it another time."
"Thank you." I relax again and face JC. "I have to go fold that load of clothes." He gives me a kiss and I walk inside, switching my hips as I walk cuz I know he's watching. I let them talk as I fold the laundry and put it in a basket, bring it upstairs and put it all away. I leave my jeans on his bed. I go back outside.
I hear JC as I get in earshot. "...more emotion on my end."
Nick and Aaron nod. I notice Nick signal to me. JC turns around and lets me stand in front of him again, holding me. I smile. Nick looks at me for a second. "JC, got any Mountain Dew?"
"I'm not too sure. Let me check." JC kisses me and goes to check.
Nick and Aaron focus on me when JC gets to the door. "What's your side of it?"
"Won't he be back quickly?"
"He doesn't have that soda. Barely ever does. Spill it."

"I hope he's the one and I think I love him. I'm just too scared to say anything. Every time I've tried so far, all I can do is smile or we kiss. I wanna be with him. Nick, you and James know why I can't right now. I've been dealing with a broken heart for seven years. My head spins, my heart races, I can't breathe, my body screams for him and my day is better when he's near me or calls me or texts me. He touches me and I feel like putty. He calms me down. He's just so sweet and well, our signs are compatible. We get along great and the sex is a mind blowing bonus. I guess I'm scared to open up and just tell him. I hear his voice or see him, there's nothing but chaos within me. Yesterday, after our first kiss, part of me wanted to scoot against the wall and hug my knees just outta his reach, another part of me wanted him to bring me home, but most of me wanted him to want me or him to kiss me. Everything is like a spin art picture, Nick. It makes sense to who made it, but when you try to explain it to most people, it doesn't make sense but they say they understand. When you do come across some people who have had the same results, they take one look and recognize it almost immediately. It's like that."
Nick nods. "I know what you mean."

Aaron is confused. "Until the spin art thing, I understood it. Now, I'm confused. Lamen's terms please."
Nick laughs. "Basically, she's saying everything makes perfect sense to her, but when she explains how she feels to someone who's never felt this way, they'll never understand. When she walks by or hangs out with someone who has felt like she does, they can see her emotions and recognize it right away. She can't think straight, breathe, talk, she wants him and can't do anything but smile when he's talking to her or touching her. He touches her and she feels like her knees are gonna buckle. Kinda like how Les is when it comes to Mikey. How I feel about Lauren. Angel with Danny. Like how Brian and Leighann have been since they first got together. Kevin with his wife. AJ and Rochelle. Howie and Leigh. Joey and his wife. Like all of them, just newer and currently broken hearts. Hers has been getting shattered for the past seven years by one guy, who's an asshole and treats her like a slave. His by Eva, he was a rebound she didn't care about. Remember back in, I think it was 05, when JC didn't talk to anyone for a few weeks and just poured himself into his work and producing?"
"Yeah, of course I remember that, Nick."

"Aaron, that was his way of dealing with a broken heart. She's just shut down and shut everyone but her kids and one friend out. They clicked and truly feel the way they do, which is slowly reversing all the hurt, heartache and negative emotions. Only downfall is because they both have dealt with truly broken hearts all these years, they're afraid to tell each other how they feel because they fear rejection."
Aaron thinks for a second. "But I don't think they should cuz we know-"
Nick puts his hand over Aaron's mouth. "Ixnay on the upidstay. THEY have to tell each other, not us. Shut it. This is why I don't tell you shit when it comes to secrets and surprises. Understand?"
Aaron nods and Nick takes his hand off Aaron's mouth. "We know how they feel and what the outcome would be."
JC stands behind me and wraps his arms around me. "How who feels and what outcome?"
Aaron look like a deer in the headlights. Nick laughs. "Aaron has friends that like each other. We were trying to figure something out about them. An icebreaker."
JC shrugs. "That's cool."
They all decide to go home and will call us later or text. JC and I clean his whole house, top to bottom in three hours. I have my iPod on and the earphones in.  He brings me home. We keep the same routine for a few months before there's a big change.