Julien's Book

by Casey McMillin

  Shea truly loved writing, but nothing she'd ever done was quite like this. Julien and Nadine's story came so naturally to her that she felt like she had no other option but to write it.

  Shea had been in the office for three hours one evening before she came out to get something to snack on.

  "How's it going in there?" Chris asked. The kids were long-since in bed, and he was watching a documentary on Netflix. He paused it as Shea came into the living room.

  "It's good. I really need to figure out what I'm going to write about his status as a fighter, and I still can't decide how much experience I want to give him. Part of me wants to make him a big, hot-shot local fighter who's on the verge of getting called up to the UFC, but there's also part of me that wants to tell the truth."

  "What? That he's only had two amateur fights?"

  "Yeah, I guess."

  "There's nothing wrong with that. Besides, he knocked his last opponent out with a kick to the head. That's rockstar. You can't make that stuff up."

  "I know. I'm leaning towards just telling the truth too. I just sort of thought I should embellish a little bit."

  Chris shrugged. "If you make it like it is in real life, you could do a joke where he's talking to some of the guys at the gym and he says 'undefeated, baby,' and they say 'you're 1 and 0,' and he says 'still. undefeated.'"

  Shea laughed, thinking she could imagine the guys at the gym saying something like that. She liked the undefeated joke, and she liked the idea of using real details about him, but she ultimately decided to make Julien's character a more experienced fighter. She wanted to have a make-or-break fight somewhere in the story, and it was just a more believable scenario with an experienced, pro fighter.

  Nadine was from France and her character spoke with a French accent (although, Shea didn't write her parts to be phonetically French). She had dark hair with green eyes, and was a teacher at the French immersion elementary school. There happened to be a French immersion school in the town where they lived, and Shea thought it'd be logical choice for Nadine. Her job as a teacher, along with most of her other details, was part of that cup of coffee revelation Shea had experienced.

  As with all of Shea's novels, Julien's Book told the story of how they met and fell in love. Shea figured the women's kickboxing class would be the perfect place for Julien to find love, so that's the place where she introduced him to Nadine. That was an obvious choice since she could easily imagine him falling in love with one of his students.

  Shea wrote about how Nadine had been caught in the crosshairs during an altercation at a bar, and it scared her. She never wanted to feel defenseless like she did when that guy grabbed her, thinking she was someone else. She sought out a Jiu Jitsu class as a means of learning a little self-defense. She had family in France, but was alone in the U.S., and wanted to feel safe in her own skin. It was totally believable and Shea thought the readers would like a heroine who wanted to protect herself and learn how to kick a little ass.

  It took Shea Miller two months to write Julien's love story, and by the time she finished, she was convinced it was one of those things that was just meant to be. Nothing she'd ever written had come to her so naturally. It was as if the story had already happened and she was just recounting facts. Naming the book came easy as well. She did the only thing that made sense and called it Julien's Book, since that's exactly what it was.

  In the book, Julien and Nadine shared instant chemistry. They experienced a whirlwind romance, but when Nadine's psycho ex-boyfriend reentered the picture, they were blindsided by tragedy. As a result of the tragedy, they spent five years apart, but were ultimately reunited for the happy ending.

  The last chapter of the book was like an emotional, romance novel version of Rocky. Julien, whose professional fight record was 10 and 2, was in the middle of the biggest fight of his life. He was losing, and almost completely out of gas in the cage when he got the news that Nadine was okay. The news inspired him to come from behind and win the fight. The climax and conclusion of Julien's Book was an intense, tear-jerking love fest that Shea thought was worthy of the big screen. She was thrilled with the how the story unfolded.

  Julien's Book released in the spring, and by the end of the summer, she'd sold more copies of that book than all her other works combined. She did an interview with a major book blog when it first released, and somehow during the questioning, she revealed that the character Julien was inspired by a real guy. She didn't know when she did that interview that the book would explode. If she'd known that, she might have thought twice about revealing that piece of information.

  Julien's Book was one of the biggest romances of the year, and the news of Julien's character being inspired by a real guy spread. The women's kickboxing classes, which normally contained about twelve women max, had twenty plus women in every class. (Keep in mind this outpouring was in small-town Louisiana.) Shea was actually relieved that they didn't live in a huge city because she was afraid Julien would be eaten alive by all his young lady fans. As it stood, women's kickboxing class was overrun with a bunch of giggly, flirty girls. Other than that, life didn't change much for Shea or Julien.

  ****

  It took about eight months for the women's kickboxing classes to dwindle back down to their normal size of ten or twelve. Once all of the eager ladies got the picture that Julien was only interested in them professionally, they decided kickboxing was too hard to continue. Shea and her family continued going to the gym, and she marveled that whatever level of recognition Julien had received from the book didn't affect him in the least. He just kept right on training, fighting, and coaching as if he'd never inspired a beloved character. Not a single thing changed about him.

  Something else that took Shea by surprise was the fact that Julien didn't date. He hadn't had a girlfriend since she'd been there, which was almost a year, and everyone at the gym said he never dated anyone long-term.

  Shea was at the gym one Monday night, watching her boys' class while wrapping her hands for kickboxing when Julien came up to the side of the bleachers wearing his characteristic easy smile. "Those boys are looking good out there," he said, pointing at the mat.

  Shea glanced up at him long enough to see who he was talking about then refocused her attention on wrapping her hands. "Aw, thanks," she said. "They enjoy it, that's for sure. We all do." She clapped her palms together and then turned to square up towards Julien as if she were ready to throw some punches.

  Julien laughed. "Chris told me you were taking a fight."

  The statement made Shea giggle. "He's been saying that since I started doing this class. He just likes to tease me because I have so much fun striking. Plus, I do a bunch of smack talking and walk around the house all buck after every class."

  "You get buck and start talking smack after kickboxing?" Julien had a fist to his mouth, with a big smile.

  "Well yeah. Who wouldn't? We do spinning elbows and flying knees. It's impossible not to get buck."

  Julien just smiled and shook his head. At that very moment, one of the other instructors, a blonde guy named Christian, came up from behind Julien. Shea saw him approach before Julien did and she leaned over Julien's shoulder to give Christian a hi-five.

  "Sup," Shea said with a lift of the chin. She liked to act gangsta sometimes, and didn't care in the least that she was a little, white soccer mom.

  Christian smiled, returning the gangsta smirk. He reached out and punched Julien's ribs, which made Julien put out a hand to block.

  "We got a call from a girl looking for Julien St. James today," Christian said. "It's been a while since one of them called looking for Julien St. James. Most of them at least know your real last name."

  "What'd you tell her?" Julien asked.

  "I told her class started at five thirty, and you'd be wearing stretchy pants."

  Julien scowled and faked a punch in Christian's direction, but knew he was just joking. "Is she seriously coming to class? Is she local?" Julien asked.

&nbs
p; Christian shrugged and smiled. "It sounded like she was going to be here." He walked around the front of the bleachers toward the storage closet on the opposite wall. "Have fun at class Coach St. James," he said from over his shoulder.

  Julien rolled his eyes. That simple gesture made Shea worry for a second.

  "Do you get tired of the attention?" she asked. "Does it make you feel weird to know that one of the students in there tonight will want your body?"

  Julien gave her a reassuring smile. "It's really not that much attention—and no, I don't mind knowing that… especially if she's cute."

  Shea had heard him make comments like this in the past, but had never seen or heard about him with a girl, besides how he was spotted making out on the dance floor a time or two when some of the gym people had all gone out together. Shea asked personal questions all the time. But for some reason she'd never felt comfortable asking Julien why he never had a girlfriend.

  All that was about to change. Shea used Julien's comment as a way to bring it up. "What do you mean, if she's cute? You've had cute girls showing up in droves for months and none of them make it past the first few classes."

  Julien just smiled and shrugged in that mysterious way only he could. Shea didn't budge. She just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

  "Nobody's been right," he said. He shrugged again, but this time it was as if he were a little embarrassed. "I'm not going to waste time, energy, or money if it's not the right girl, and so far I haven't met her."

  Shea could respect that, but at the same time was a little worried that none of the little hotties that had been coming to class were doing the trick. "You're not waiting for Nadine are you?" Shea flinched when waiting for his answer, like she thought he might say yes.

  Julien busted out laughing. "There've been about twenty Nadines in kickboxing class, and none of them did the trick.

  And right then, as if the universe was playing a trick on them, John David, the gym manager, walked up and stood next to Julien. He had a nervous, though somewhat cute young woman standing next to him. She had a gym bag hanging on her shoulder, and was dressed to work out.

  "Coach Julien, this young lady is trying the class tonight. This is Nadine." John David stared onto the mat trying to remain composed.

  There'd been more than a dozen girls who came to kickboxing class claiming their name was Nadine, and the same thing happened to all of them. Every single one of them asked if they could use a pair of loaner boxing gloves since they didn't know they needed to bring their own. That was the part when John David told them they could certainly borrow a pair… as long as they leave their driver's license as collateral. Without fail, the girl would look panicked, and then say she forgot her ID. John David would let her borrow the gloves, but remind her to bring her ID next time since they would need it if she wanted to sign up anyway. None of the girls who were supposedly named Nadine ever came back for a second class.

  John David stared out at the kids class that was in progress, trying not to laugh as the girl smiled and batted her eyes at Julien. Then came Julien's deep voice, "Did you bring gloves?"

  "No," she said, surprised. "I didn’t know we needed them."

  Shea knew the poor girl was falling into a trap, but there was nothing she could do to help her avoid it… shy of offering her a pair of gloves, and she didn't have a spare.

  "We can let you borrow a pair," John David said, "I'll just need your driver's license as collateral.

  The unsuspecting girl got wide-eyed, and she patted her gym bag. "I actually don't think I have my license with me," she said, apologetically.

  They all tried not to smile as John David told her a few things that resulted in her knowing they'd need her ID at one point or another. You could visibly notice her deflate as she realized she'd have to tell everyone her real name sooner or later. Shea wondered how any of them even made it this far without thinking it through. She assumed they were just so excited about meeting Julien that it didn't occur to them. A few of them over the past months had the presence of mind to claim they were joking and go on with the Intro class unphased, but most of them continued the charade for the evening and never showed up again. That night's Nadine was one of those. She did the class, which was really hard for beginners, and went home red-faced and frustrated, never to be seen again.

  Chapter 3

  At twenty-three, Julien was young enough to have real potential in MMA. Even more important than his potential was his work ethic, and he trained non-stop. Julien enjoyed coaching as much as he enjoyed fighting, and his goal was to make a living at the sport he loved so much, no matter how he had to do it. For now, he was balancing both, and his boss at the gym encouraged him to do so.

  The fact that Julien inspired a character in a popular romance novel didn't change much for him where fighting was concerned. His fights drew a pretty good crowd, but that was more a result of him being a good fighter and not about the book. It was one thing to read about a fight, and another to watch one in person, and fans of the book weren't necessarily flocking in droves to watch him compete in his regional amateur fights.

  It was a gorgeous winter evening, and Julien Breaux was about to compete in his biggest amateur fight to date. It was to defend the amateur title from his last fight. If he won, his next fight would be pro. He took just about any fight that came his way, and because of that, he had to be ready to cut weight at the drop of a hat. This fight wasn't sprung on him, however. He'd been losing weight slowly for the last month, and when it came time to make the cut, he only had to lose six pounds. He was more than prepared for the fight, and had no doubt in his mind what the outcome would be. That was exactly the place a fighter wanted to be, and he was chomping at the bit to hear the lock of that cage door.

  Julien Breaux heard the sound of his walk out song as he made his way, entourage in tow, to the stairs that led up to the cage. He was so pumped that he felt his heart might jump out of his chest at any moment. He didn't know much about his opponent other than the fact that he didn't have much ground game. Julien preferred standing as well, but was more than happy to take it to the ground if it meant finishing.

  From what he heard, it was supposed to be a good fight, but he had no doubt he'd win, and that was a good feeling. The cage door locked, and the referee made his speech about rules and keeping it clean. Both fighters knew the rules, so they just used the opportunity to stare at each other. There's a lot to be said for a good stare-down, and Julien Breaux knew what he was doing. His opponent's name was Vick "The Razor" Rasmussen, and the two of them looked at each other like neither of them could wait to land the first punch. Some of the crowd got to their feet based on the stare-down alone.

  The fighters duked it out for the entire first round. Julien landed significantly more strikes, but took a few himself. His eyebrow got cut during round one, and they had to tend to it while he was on the stool between rounds. The other guy was cut too. Julien wasn't sure where, but he knew all the blood hadn't been coming from him. His corner men poured into the ring, carrying all the supplies they needed to make him comfortable. He sat on the stool they'd brought in, and felt the welcome shock of coldness when someone put a bag of ice on his neck. Coach Tim kneeled in front of him to offer advice for the second round. He told him he was happy with the way things were going so far, but he wanted Julien to go for the takedown since they'd heard Vick struggled with Jiu Jitsu. Julien nodded as he drank out of the water bottle that was being held to his mouth.

  The bell signaling the beginning of round two sounded. The fighters barely had time to square up when Julien went for a takedown. He had Vick The Razor flat on his back within ten seconds of the bell. Julien remained in a dominant position, putting heavy pressure on the other fighter's chest with his own while he landed four or five solid blows to his opponent's head. Vick shifted to his side to avoid getting hit, and Julien used the opportunity to take his back. He latched onto Vick's back like a monkey, wrapping his arm around Vick's neck and using the st
rength of his legs to stretch Vick to his breaking point.

  Vick tapped, signaling his submission, and the referee hastily broke the athletes apart at the point of contact. The fighters stood up before giving each other a respectful clap on the shoulder. Julien was still so full of adrenaline that the seconds after the fight passed in a warbly blur. The referee stood in the center of the cage with the fighters positioned on each side of him.

  "Your winner," the emcee said with great drama, "by way of tap out due to rear naked choke, at forty-seven seconds into the second round… Julien Breaux."

  The referee raised Julien's hand to the sound of cheers from the crowd. They were at a casino on the west side of New Orleans, and while it wasn't the UFC, there'd been a good turn out. There was nothing like the feeling of submitting an opponent and then hearing the cheers of the crowd as your arm was raised. Julien's corner crew rushed in to offer him congratulations after the photos were taken, and the few minutes that it took them to get out of the ring passed in a haze. Julien's rush of adrenaline had shifted to elation, and he went to the locker room feeling better than ever.

  He didn't even feel or remember the cut on his eyebrow, but the ringside physician pointed it out and told Julien he'd need a few stitches. He couldn't leave the ring to tend to it, but he told Julien to have the paramedics look at it when he got to the locker room.

  The cut needed three stitches, but that was a small price to pay for defending the amateur title. Julien's next fight would be pro, which meant he might break even instead of having to pay out of pocket to travel to a fight. He still had a long way to go before he got a fight that would pay big, but the wheels were set in motion, and he was prepared to work as hard as he needed to.