I wake up hungry. The noise from my stomach woke both of us. Ben stretches with a yawn and the cover rolls down his waist to reveal his dick.
Heat floods my cheeks from thinking about sucking him off. I don’t know if it’s weird that I like the taste of his sperm but I can’t be the only one who loves giving her boyfriend a blowjob. Ben grins and wiggles his eyebrows when he catches me staring at his erection. He brings my hand over his penis.
“Food,” I say but I stroke him slowly. “I need food.”
Ben helps me with the stroking. His free hand plays with my nipple. “I have food for you right here.”
“Real food. Not Benny’s food.”
He falls back to the bed with laughter, rolling me over him. My hair curtains our faces and his eyes narrow a bit. His manhood digs into my stomach.
“This is real food. With enough protein, I may add.”
“Fuck you, Benny.”
“But you already did.” My mouth closes and his dick does a little jerk. I jump off the bed to put on my clothes but Ben drags me back to him before I can leave. He pins me under him and nibbles the spot behind my ear. A moan hitches in my throat as his fingers rub my nipples till they harden. Now, I’m wetter. “Are you mad? It was just a joke.”
I kiss him. “No. But I’ll be if you don’t feed me.” He offers me his arm and pulls me out of the bed. I wait behind for him to dress. I don’t know my way around anyway. He turns his back to me to get his sneakers and I smack his ass. “You have a nice butt.”
“Says the girl with the nicest butt,” he replies. Stomping his feet on the ground, he grins at his sneakers matching mine. “Are you ready? There’s a place down the corner.” He peeks at his wristwatch and a wedge appears between his brows. I walk over to him and massage his forehead. “If we make it back in time, I can show you the apartment gym.”
Since I left San Francisco, I have not been to a gym. I perform some drills in my room to keep fit but Coach will be disappointed in me. Sliding my arm into the crook of his elbow, I drag him outside. Visiting the gym would be nice but I need food first. I can’t function without it.
We head downstairs to the place he talked about and make our orders. Ben wolfs down his meal while I chew slowly. A notification pops up on my screen, I dart a glance at it and Ben snatches the phone from the table before I can react. The text is from Jon. He wants to know when I’ll be available for the shoot.
I swipe the back of my arm against my lips and stretch my hand for the phone. Ben frowns.
“It’s important, Benny. I have to reply.” He spares the phone a glance and slides it across the table to me. Whenever we go out to eat, he sits across from me so he can watch me. I start typing up a reply to him. But pause. “When do you think I should go?”
School will be done soon and we will have all the time in the world before we resume NYU. We will also need to find an apartment. I kick his leg under the table and he shrugs. I sigh.
“Whenever you want,” he says.
I lean back into my seat. The place is busy. Everyone moves like they have to be out of here immediately. Ben and I are the only ones who look relaxed. My finger circles the rim of my can of soda and I squint at Ben.
“Next week sounds cool,” I tell him. He gives a nod of approval, I stretch forward and intertwine our fingers on the table. “Will you come with me? And you have to drive.”
I don’t drive as much anymore. It’s kind of fun to have someone drive me around.
“Hmm. What if I have something to do?”
“You’ll cancel it.”
Ben snickers. “Fine. Because you asked nicely.”
About twenty minutes later, we head out to the gym. It’s different. It’s bigger. There are some men practising their punches in the ring. At the corner is a punching bag hanging from the ceiling and a glass office at the other end. The smacks, grunts bring back good memories and I poke Ben’s shoulder.
“Wanna spar?” I ask.
“Do you?”
We pause at the side of the ring, looking up to the people fighting. A tall, dark-skinned man pulls up beside Ben. I blush when Ben introduces me as his girlfriend and soulmate.
“Y’all look good together,” he says.
Hiding my rosy cheeks, I reply, “Thanks.”
Ben’s arm wraps around my shoulder, he’s still smiling as the duo finish up in the ring.
Sweats roll down their foreheads to the tops matted to their chest. Their chests rise and fall. I scramble to get inside the ring and and one of them helps me up. He’s tall. Really tall. If we were in a fight, coach will ask me to focus on scoring points since I will have the advantage of speed. I motion for Ben to come up but he rotates his shoulders in refusal.
Jutting out my lower lip, I blink twice. “Benny.”
It has been so long since we fought together or even trained as a team. Fighting kind of started what we have, it should be part of our lives if possible. The gentleman left in the ring comes to my aid when Ben doesn’t move.
“What do you want?” he asks.
I shrug. “I want to spar?”
Laughter echoes around us. He’s laughing. The men lifting weights are laughing. Even the man in the glass office is cackling. Haha. Not funny. I might not be able to knock him down since he’s taller than Ben and I haven’t practised in a while but I can get a few punches in.
“You want to spar?” The guy says it slowly like I have trouble understanding English. He is bald with a build and height that reminds me of a basketballer. “With who? Me?”
I shove my hands into my back pockets and bounce on the heel of my sneakers. “Maybe.”
Ben joins us. He drags me behind him as if I need protection from big guy. “We were just about leaving,” he says. I poke him on the side but he doesn’t lose his composure. “We’ll be off now.”
“No we won’t,” I say over his shoulder. Ben balls his hands at his sides. He should be rightfully worried about me getting my teeth knocked out but I step in front of Ben, chin tilted in defiance. “Yes, you. Let’s spar.”
Another round of laughter follows my words. I swear these guys are crazy. So what if I am a girl and a bit skinny? Ben gives me a look and heaves a sigh. “Fine,” he says. “No sparring.” He doesn’t believe in me too? He grabs my shoulders and his lips quirk in thought. “But the first one to get a punch in receives a twenty from the loser. Good?”
Ben’s eyes search mine to be sure I’m okay with the rule. I kiss him and giggle. This should be... fun? I think so. What’s the worse that can happen? Tall, huge man here will knock me out or send me into a coma if his fist gets close to me. Yeah, that’s totally fine. I can handle a little bit of unconsciousness.
We get into position, Ben collects a whistle to officiate our bet. He holds his hand but never brings it down because someone stops him. The dark guy.
“I’ll throw in fifty box if she gets in the first punch,” he says. He winks at me and Ben blows the whistle. “Sorry man, she’s pretty.”
Like a robot he turns to the man and answers on my behalf, “Thanks.”
Jealous Ben is so cute but I belong to him one hundred percent. He has nothing to worry about.
“Make that a hundred dollar,” another guy chirps in as we resume our position. Leaning on the rope of the ring from below, he peers up to me with a smile. “You will get one hundred from us and twenty from him if you get in the first punch. Deal?”
Voices break out in the gym before I reply. Another person steps forward to make an addition of ten dollars to the one hundred. They are betting on me getting in the first punch. Talk about no pressure.
Ben blows the whistle when all is done, he stops in front of me. “Are you sure you want to do this?” I pop my knuckles and make throaty sounds to cheer myself on. You act strong in front of your opponent even if you don’t feel it. Ben laughs and places a kiss on my cheek. “You’re so silly but I love you.”
Moving away from me, he stands between me and my opponent. In a louder voice, he says, “Light touch. A tap.” I suspect he said that for my sake and I am super grateful. This is not San Francisco. One touch is all I need. “No hard punches. Just tapping.”
Tapping is more or less a soft hit. It’s not hard enough to knock you out but it’s hard enough to score a point. All you have to do is get really close to your opponent. Ben gives me one last look of worry and promise and steps away from the middle.
The whistle blows but I don’t move. One touch. A punch or a kick. My opponent rushes for me and I sidestep him at the last minute to give him a kick to his side.
Adrenaline pumps through me. I keep my guard up, one leg behind and the other in front, bouncing and ready to strike again. It is over but I wait in position. Ben blows the whistle and I loosen up. He doesn’t come to me immediately but towards our spectators.
My heart beats a sharp staccato. Ben should at least look at me so I know if I did well. He looks up to me and winks. “What’s the verdict?” Ben asks them.
The guy’s fist brushed my side. It happened so fast for me to determine if my kick came in before his gentle punch. In unison, everyone turns to me.
“The girl hit first.”
Ben tries to remain collected but his body slumps in relief. He’s grinning sheepishly as he stalks towards me to lift my hand. I bow to our audience as they clap for me. I scored myself two hundred and twenty dollars. I’ll buy Ben a new pair of sneakers.
“You did good, babe,” he says.
Smoothening his shirt, I say, “Not to worry. I will buy you a car with the winning prize.” Ben bops my nose with a laugh. “Oh, wait. You want a house?”
I pucker my lips and he kisses me. Rubbing his nose against mine, he teases, “I want both.” My grin is instant as he plays along. “A house and a car. We should be able to get both for two hundred dollars.”
My responding laughter is unbridled. He holds my hand as we step forward to collect my prize. The proud smiles on our spectators’ faces make my chest puff in pride. Ben gives my hand a squeeze.
They don’t waste time in giving Ben the money and he counts to be sure. His smile makes me smile.
“There you go, babe.”
Money in my pocket, our grins are intact as we exit the gym. Ben opens the door of the passenger side for me but stops me from entering. “Do you want to get married?” My eyes bulge. He’s joking, right? We are both eighteen. “No. I’ll be nineteen soon.”
I ruffle his hair and kiss him. Without a word, I slip inside the car. The ride back is quiet. We don’t speak when the car stops in front of my house.
“Sorry,” he says.
“Why?”
His fingers thread through his hair and he tilts his head back to look at me. “I think I freaked you out.”
“A bit.” When he doesn’t say more, I add, “We will get married but in the future. I promise, Benny. I want to marry you too.” His mouth opens but he says nothing. I unfasten his seatbelt and crawl to his lap. My thumb brushes the arc of his jaw and his breath catches. “When we are both older and wiser and have jobs and our degrees. Until then, let’s just be Gracie and Benny. I will always love you.”
“Till then.” I nod again. His big band palms my face and I lean into his warm touch. “I love you too.”