More Than Enough

by Johnson, Ashley

  I leaned against the brick wall, breathing in the cool November air. A lone tear slid down my cheek and I quickly brushed it away as Cole stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his bare chest.

  “I’m a big girl Cole. I don’t need you to protect me. I’m good out there; you know it so quit giving me a hard time.”

  “Sam, most twenty one year old women are in the bars, not cage fighting. I just want to know you, to figure you out. We need to get back in there soon; Rocky and Blaize are going to be looking for us.”

  I swallowed the rest of the tears that threatened to come up. “I’m not most twenty one year old women Cole. There’s nothing to get to know, what you see is what you get.”

  “I won’t hurt you in there. I swear I won’t.”

  I started removing my gloves and dropped them to the ground. Cole looked at me with a confused look on his face. “You’re right. You won’t be able to hurt me in there because I’m not going back inside. I’m leaving.”

  I bent down to grab my gloves and he still stood there not knowing what to say. I started to walk away and he grabbed my arm. This time, I didn’t pull away.

  “Sam, don’t go. We’ll tell them to pair you with someone else.”

  I stood there offended by what he just said. Was he serious? “Yeah, so I can look like I can’t handle the great and mighty Cole Johnson?” I pushed his chest so hard, he actually moved back. Rocky was going to be pissed at me, no doubt about that. I was leaving though and not even Cole with his baby blue eyes could stop me. I was a fool for starting to fall for him, my brain clearly wasn’t thinking. He didn’t know how I felt and it needed to stay this way. Forever.

  “Whatever Sam, have it your way. Run away from it all. You could just talk to me you know. Tell me why you’re so uptight all the time. Tell me what’s going on with you. Tell me how to fix you. I can do that you know. I can be there for you in whatever way you need me.”

  His eyes were pleading with me but I couldn’t listen to them. Instead I chose to pull the worst out of the situation and insert my foot a little more.

  “Stop trying to get in my pants Cole, it’s not going to happen. You can’t fix me either, so quit trying. Give it up, this is all you get.” I shoved past him and began walking. Home was a few blocks or so away but I didn’t care.

  Cole wasn’t one to give up easily, I already know this. He’s had his eye on me since I walked into Lou’s. He made snide remarks about me being a girl wanting to learn to cage fight until he saw me take Rocky down like it was nothing. Then he shut up and slowly began trying to make advances at me. I shot down every single one of them. The last thing I heard before he went back inside was him yelling to me, “Dammit Sam, you know it’s not like that. Come back and talk to me.”

  But I didn’t go back and talk. I kept walking away from him and the cage. Walking away meant I made no money for the night, but at least I saved myself from possibly embarrassing myself or ruining things. Fuck it. I’ve had enough of this bullshit. I don’t need any of this anymore. I can get by; no I will get by without Rocky and most importantly without Cole.