The next day, Julien had a women's kickboxing class at 8AM. He knew Nadine wouldn't be there. She never came to the morning classes since she either had school or work every morning. Actually, she never came to his classes at all, but he hoped all that would change now that things were different between them.
Were things between them really all that different, though? The more he thought about it, the more he doubted he even made it clear that he was interested. He thought back to their conversations at the park and in the Jeep. Somehow, he'd neglected getting her number, and to be honest, he wasn't even sure if she wanted him to have it. He thought back to how she'd broken the kiss only a second after it started.
He got to work fifteen minutes early so he could look up her number in the computer. He knew Tim wouldn't want him snooping around for a member's phone number, but it was one of those times when it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Chapter 10
Julien programed her number into his phone, but didn't do anything with it until after he was done coaching the 8AM kickboxing class. Actually, he didn't do anything then either. He had two fighters come in to spar back to back, and didn't have time to pay attention to his phone until almost noon. He typed out a text to her about how he had fun the night before, but deleted it. He decided to eat lunch before he sent anything since he wasn't quite sure what he should say. He'd never had feelings for anyone before, and the lack of control he was experiencing made him nervous. He almost decided not to contact her at all. He figured he should just wait until he ran into her again at the gym, but as much as he tried to talk himself out of it, he just couldn't refrain from texting her. It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon and he was in between sparring sessions when he typed out a text that he actually sent.
Julien: "You going to the fights next weekend?"
He knew it was cheesy, but it was the best he could come up with when he was trying to keep it casual.
Nadine: "Who is this?"
Julien read the text and flinched that he'd forgotten to tell her who it was in the text.
Julien: "Julien."
Nadine: "Hey! How'd you get my number?"
Julien: "Work. I hope it's okay."
Across town, in the library at UL, Nadine read the text and a wide grin spread across her face. She never dreamed she'd be hearing from Julien, but it was a welcome surprise because she'd been thinking about him all morning.
Nadine: "Glad you got my number. Don't know what fights you're talking about, though."
Julien: "Next weekend in Baton Rouge. We have a few guys on the card."
Nadine: "Are you fighting?"
Julien: "Not this time."
Nadine: "Then why are you inviting me?"
Julien: "Because it's fun, and you should come support the guys."
Nadine: "Are you asking me on a date?"
Julien smiled when he read the text.
"Why you so happy?" he heard a guy's voice say.
Julien looked up to see Christian standing there. He put his phone in the pocket of his hoodie. "I'm not, I was just laughing at a Youtube video."
Christian gave him a skeptical glance out of the corner of his eye and he went past him to put his stuff in one of the cubbies that lined the wall. "I heard you hung out with that girl Nadine last night," Christian said, as if he was reading Julien's mind.
Julien instinctually glanced down at the pocket of his hoodie to make sure his phone was covered. "We hung out," he said. "How'd you hear about it?"
"You can't leave the gym with a girl and expect no one would notice," Christian said. He cut Julien a sly, knowing look. "I knew you'd fall for one of those Nadine's one day. It just took the right one."
"She doesn't know anything about the book," Julien said.
Christian took a few seconds to let that statement process. Then he looked at Julien with an uncertain expression. "You think she's the real—"
"Yep."
"Are you freaking serious?"
"Yep."
"Shit, dude, are you scared that—"
"Yep."
Christian thought for a second. "That's crazy."
"I know."
Christian began changing clothes, and Julien took out his phone to text Nadine back. He didn't care if Christian saw him do it. He didn't know why he lied in the first place. Maybe it was just because he didn't normally mess with girls past a kiss or two at a bar, and he didn't know how his friends would respond.
"Youtube videos?" Christian asked, smiling back at him as he adjusted the compression shirt he'd just put on.
"No," Julien said. They were silent for a second before he spoke again. "Hey Christian, while I'm thinking about it—she hasn't read the book and I'm trying to keep it that way, so don't say anything about it if she comes to your classes. We're trying to sort out how much of this could possibly come true before we worry about the ex-boyfriend or anything. I know there's an ex, though, and that's enough to make me worry."
Christian gawked at Julien like he was out of his mind. "This is fucked up Julien. Who's trying to sort out how much of this could possibly come true? If she is who you think she is, you've got to tell her about the book."
Julien gave Christian and equally indignant look. "Don't you dare encourage her to read it."
"Or what?" Christian asked.
"I'm serious man, it's not easy to find out that your life is lining up with a fictional book. It's a lot for me to handle and I'm not even the one who almost dies in the book."
"You don't actually think that whole thing will happen?"
"Well dude, we just don't know."
"Who's we?"
"Shea."
"Yeah, what'd she have to say?"
"She didn't have anything to say other than the story came easy to her. You know, like she couldn't get the words out fast enough or whatever."
"That's all she said? The story came easy? Did you tell her you think this girl is the real Nadine?"
"Of course I told her that, but what was she supposed to do? Obviously, it was something she never expected to happen."
"You've got to find out about that ex-boyfriend."
"I'm aware of that, thanks," Julien said sarcastically.
Christian huffed a laugh under his breath at the absurdity of the whole situation before he left the coaches' room headed towards the gym. Julien got out his phone and looked at the screen. The last text was from Nadine wondering if Julien was asking her on a date. He'd been talking to Christian for several minutes, and knew she probably thought he was ignoring her. He typed out a text as soon as Christian left.
Julien: "I'd be a lousy date since I have to corner all the guys and will be really busy the whole time, but I'd love to hang afterward.
Nadine: "What night?"
Julien: "Saturday."
Nadine: "I have the Christmas thing at school."
Julien: "All night?"
Nadine: "No. I guess I can try to get my roommate to come with me."
Julien: "Good."
A huge smile spread across Nadine's face, but she decided not to text him back. She didn’t want to seem too anxious. She didn't care if Lindsay could make it or not. She would be going to the fights even if she went by herself. She thought she'd be able to find some gym people to sit with once she got there anyway.
****
That Tuesday, when Nadine went to the gym for kickboxing class, she got a ticket for herself and Lindsay. The verdict was still out on whether or not Lindsay would be able to go, but Nadine figured she would make it happen since she was really interested in checking out the fighters. Nadine had been talking about them since she started at that gym, and Lindsay was extremely curious.
Nadine went to class early that night so she could buy her tickets. John David sat at a desk behind a window in the wall, and Nadine had her head through the window, buying her tickets and talking about the fights.
"Julien's fighting," John David said.
The expression that crosse
d Nadine's face was absolutely priceless. She was definitely affected by the news.
"I'm kidding," John David said, feeling sorry for the poor girl.
She put a hand to her chest in relief.
"I should warn you, though. Julien does fight. He doesn't have one on this card, but he fights."
"I know," she said, trying to act casual. "I just didn't think he had one this time."
"He doesn't," John David said, smiling. "I was just messin' with you."
Julien could see Nadine standing at the counter before he even opened the door. She was laughing as she talked to whoever it was behind the window, and he loved the sight of her profile. The door dinged as he opened it, and everyone in the lobby, including Nadine turned to see Julien.
"Hey," he said. There were several people in the lobby, but he was looking straight at Nadine.
"Hey," she said. Her stomach dropped like she was on a rollercoaster, and her palms instantly started sweating. She cursed herself for not putting more thought into what she was wearing. She stood up straight and sucked in her gut as she returned Julien's smile.
"I have to come to your classes since you won't come to mine," Julien said. He leaned past Nadine to hand John David a piece of paper, and she breathed in the clean smell of him. Nadine knew he was just being funny about coming to her class, but his comment had a sort of familiarity to it that had her feeling giddy. She knew she was smiling too big, but she couldn't help herself.
"What are you doing here?" It was the best she could come up with, and the obvious topic since she'd been expecting Brad.
"I'm teaching Brad's class," he said. He didn't add that he was the one who asked Brad if he could fill in for him and not the other way around.
"Really?" Her voice was an octave higher than normal when she said it and she didn't fully understand why she was so nervous about him coaching. She tried to tell herself that Brad was hot too in order to trick her brain into not caring, but it didn't work.
Julien laughed at her obvious nerves and said, "Don't worry, I won't be too hard on you."
She wasn't worried about the work out, but she went along with it. "Oh, good. I was scared for a second that it'd be like that first time I took your kickboxing class."
Julien smiled and had the decency to look a little regretful. He looked at his watch as he took off on his way to the striking room. "Don't stay out here talking too long or you're going to be late for class."
"All I'll miss is the jump rope," she said. Her French accent was surprising to him every time. She really worked at trying not to make it too thick, but you could definitely still hear it.
"I'm gonna make you do zee jump ropes regardless," Julien said, smiling as he mimicked her accent. He walked off in the direction of the striking room.
She laughed and turned to John David. "Looks like I’m in trouble if I don't get in there," she said.
"It's like eight minutes till," John David said.
Nadine looked at her phone to get confirmation. "I should probably go get my hands wrapped, anyway."
John David smiled. "Hey don't forget these," he held out the two tickets Nadine had just paid for.
"Who you bringing with you?"
"Huh? Oh, maybe my roommate, I'm not sure."
"She cute?"
Nadine's eyebrows went up, and she gave him a smile. "Yeah she is, actually."
"Okay then," John David said with a satisfied grin.
Nadine smirked at him before turning to walk off. She took a deep, calming breath before she reached the door of the striking room. She could see as she rounded the corner that there were already a few girls standing at the side of the mat. She was actually a little disappointed she wouldn't get a minute alone with him.
Julien was sweeping the mat and the three girls who had arrived before Nadine were all just staring out at him. He had on a pair of grey sweatpants that rested on his hips and a T-shirt that fit tightly enough to reveal all the muscles underneath. You could clearly see his triceps flex as he pushed the broom toward the back wall. Nadine wanted to blindfold every single one of those girls. She couldn't fault them for looking, but she caught herself wishing they'd find something else to focus on.
"Julien, we love you for sweeping for us," one of them said. "Last class I did a push-up, and I found myself staring at a pube."
"That's disgusting," Julien said. "It was probably a leg hair or a beard hair something. They do some grappling in the Intro to MMA class."
"It wasn't a leg hair," she said. "It was totally a pube."
"What's a pube?" Nadine asked. The other girls and Julien all laughed, which made Nadine blush. She tried to remember what they said about it. It was something about leg hair, but she still couldn't imagine why that would be so funny.
"It's the really thick, curly hair at the very top of your leg," one of the girls said. Another one looked to make sure Julien wasn't looking and then pointed to her own crotch to demonstrate. Nadine's eyes widened, and they all laughed.
Julien was just finishing up sweeping, and he told them they could use the mat to stretch out before class started. Nadine sat on a punching bag that was lying against the wall to wrap her hands. She was still a bit clumsy at it, but she liked doing it because it sort of hurt her hands and wrist to hit the bags without them, even with the gloves on.
Chapter 11
Julien put up the broom and went over to Nadine. She was still sitting on the overturned heavy bag, struggling to finish her first hand wrap.
"I'll do that other one for you," he said, standing over her and holding out a hand. She stuck her wrapped hand in his. "You're gonna have to redo this one then because we can't have them that out of balance."
"It's not that bad," he said. He turned over the wrapped hand in his own to inspect her handiwork. It was loose with bits of wrap sticking out here and there. "Okay, it's pretty bad." He started unwrapping it so he could start from scratch. "I'm gonna show you the pattern that I mostly follow, but it's not an exact science. I always just try to make them look pretty. That's when they feel best."
"That's definitely not pretty," she said, nodding at the hand he was unwrapping. He smiled like a patient coach would, and she stared up at him as he worked. He took the three minutes to turn the wraps up into a tidy roll before beginning the wrapping process, and Nadine thought that probably made more sense than dealing with the tangled mess she'd been trying to use. She watched him the whole time he was working on rolling them up, and she marveled at how very much she liked how he looked. The birthmark on the side of his head looked like a beautiful, ornate piece of burgundy lace positioned between the perfect, black mohawk, and striking blue eyes. His dark lashes against the blue eyes were absolutely stunning, and the rare birthmark did nothing but add to the effect. She studied him shamelessly while he rolled her wraps into tidy balls.
He held out his hand and she put hers in it. He turned it over, positioning it right where he wanted it. "Keep your fingers spread a little bit so I don't get it too tight," he said. She spread her fingers to the max, which made him laugh. "Not that far."
She relaxed slightly and he began wrapping the long strips of fabric around her hand and wrist. He told her what he was doing step-by-step, but she found it hard to concentrate on what he was saying. She kept looking up at him, and every time she did she was distracted by something else. He had a few days growth on his beard, but it wasn't thick, and just grew in little, dark patches that lined his jaw. She loved everything about his freaking face, and couldn't stop staring at it.
"The other one," he said. It was obviously not the first time he asked, because he sounded amused like she'd been sleeping on the job. Nadine quickly gave him her bare hand and he set to work on wrapping it. He didn't give instructions that time, probably because he thought she paid attention the first time. She wished she had been able to, but found it impossible when she couldn't quit staring. All too soon, he was done wrapping her hands, and she flexed and squeezed them to test what sort of j
ob he'd done.
"Nice," she said. "These feel awesome, thanks."
"You need to get some longer ones," he said, "Then I'll show you how to go between your fingers." He flashed her a smile before turning his attention to the mat. "Grab a jump rope," he yelled.
Nadine ran out onto the mat and got in line behind the rest of the girls. They jumped rope for three minutes before going right into warm-ups. Julien wasn't at all like he'd been that first time at kickboxing, and she felt an odd sense of pride at what a good coach he was.
There were nine girls, which meant that when they partnered-up one of them was going to be the odd man out. She knew from other kickboxing classes that the last person without a partner was stuck being partners with the coach, so when he announced that everyone needed to grab a partner, Nadine conveniently went to get a drink of water in the adjoining room. She had a perfectly good bottle of water in her gym bag, but she wanted to be stuck without a partner.
Her plan worked.
By the time she was back from getting water, everyone else had found someone to work with. Julien knew he'd be partnering with her, so he was already waiting in the middle of the room with Thai pads on.
"Waiting on you, princess," he said.
Nadine let out an embarrassed squeal and grabbed her gloves in a hurry so she could get out on the mat. Julien explained the combination he wanted them to do, and told them they'd be doing that for the next two minutes before adding on to it. Nadine was still self-conscious about her abilities in the gym, but she was a confident person in general, and knew she'd never learn anything if she didn't mess up.
Julien gave her instructions the whole time she was repeating the combination. "Tuck your chin, keep your hands up, stay light on your feet, keep breathing, lean this way, jab with the other hand," and so on and so forth. Nadine was breathless and exhausted after just the first two minutes, and was glad for the break while Julien went to the center of the room and explained what he wanted them to add to the combination. He used one of the other girls to help him demonstrate, and Nadine felt a stab of jealousy at how natural that girl looked throwing those punches.
Julien's Book Page 8