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onek1995 — 8 - An Accord
Published: 2019-10-19 03:15:13 +0000 UTC; Views: 1224; Favourites: 25; Downloads: 6
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“What’s that mean?” Laura asked, surprise in her voice.
Allison paused for a bit, then just came out with it.
“Im sorry I haven’t thanked you yet.”
“Thanked me?”
Allison nodded in reply, a sheepish sort of look on her face.
“What did I do to earn it?”
“Look, I know Holly is your friend and I am really fond of who she is and what she’s becoming, but we both know it was very unlikely she was going to win her match against that thug.”
“We don’t know that at all!” Laura said defiantly, though her words didn’t quite have the conviction behind them that her face showed. She was defending her friend but wasn’t sure Allison was wrong either.
Allison threw her hands up palms first at Laura in a defensive posture.
“Im not knocking Holly at all, Im really not. There is a difference between what we do here and what they do. Holly is not on that level and we both know it. She works hard and is going to get her wins for sure but I put her in a terrible, terrible spot. I was trying to protect her by hoping we’d get enough wins that I wouldn’t need her. That backfired badly and she ended up needing the biggest win of all.”
“Sounds like the apology isn’t to me it should be to her.”
“Don’t worry, I took care of that already, but if you’ll just let me finish” Allison got a little snippy.
“It had the potential to go south in a hurry, and unfortunately it did. My sister tricked me into taking my eye off the ball…”
“I remember. I remember seeing it as something different but I was wrong about that. Sorry again.”
Allison put her hand up in a ‘please we are moving on’ gesture.
“My sister got me away from the ring, away from Holly. Her girl Val was going to run her over. Then ...”
There was a pause. Allison was looking at the mat. She was having an equally difficult time as Laura had.
"I showed up."
"You did. You did and you saved my gym.”
That got Laura’s attention.
“What?!”
“You did! If you don’t show when you do, Holly loses, that’s Kate’s 5th win, my match with her is meaningless. I probably lose that because I know my heart wouldn’t have been in it, which is likely what Kate was counting on. She’d have beaten me down. Probably was her plan all along. And how do I thank you for that? By dancing around you because you were angry. By not coming to you first. By not being a very good friend.”
They stared at each other for minute. Both seemingly looking for a little bit of acceptance, redemption and closure all at the same time.
“Thank you Laura, for being there when I needed you most. You saved my future. I am grateful.”
It was rare that Laura was caught unaware and rare that Allison opened up.
“Im sorry Allison, sorry for putting you through that. I really needed to be a better friend myself.”
Now the silence and space between them seemed to nearly grow as awkward as before they stepped into the cage. Neither knew what to say or how the other would react.
Finally Laura broke the uncomfortable silence.
“So, are we supposed to hug or something now?”
“It doesn’t seem like that’s right, does it?”
“It really doesn’t…. but I appreciate the thank you, Allison. That really means a lot.”
“And I appreciate your apology. That really clears up some blank spots.”
“Yeah….” Laura added. She felt like more needed to be said, but wasn’t sure what to say. They’d covered a lot of ground, made amends, or at least laid the serious groundwork for mending the wounds.
“Tell you what… one more round to break the tie. Whatddya say?” Allison smiled at her.
“Now that’s an icebreaker!” Laura smiled back but quickly added. “But a tie? I don’t think so. I think Im way ahead. I seem to recall you getting whipped pretty good.”
“I seem to recall only one of us getting knocked on our ass.” Allison replied back.
Laura backed up, rolled her shoulders, brought her fist up, and started circling to her left.
“Not for long, Ally. But remember…. You asked for this.”
“Yep, I did.”
Allison circled to her own left.
One more round to go, but this one had a lot less attitude to it, but no less seriousness.
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Comments: 12
Very interesting... Laura apologizing for not being there to do her part, followed by Allison crediting her with saving the gym. That's not a circle I think any of us were expecting to go around.
BTW, I like the way you're writing the conversation here. Some of your sentences are... well... NOT sentences. Which sounds bad, but is most certainly not. Natural, informal conversation doesn't always follow the standards and practices we learned in Language Arts class. The same standards and practices we were told we MUST follow when we write. Which presents quite the conundrum when you attempt to write the way people speak. Writing everything to the letter of the old MLA handbook results in very stiff, almost unreadable conversation. On the other hand, part of the reason spoken conversation doesn't really have to adhere to the rules is that inflection and gestures add meaning to what you're trying to communicate. Those are tools you don't really have when the dialogue is written. So... following the rules is too stiff, but writing exactly the way people speak would generally be unclear. That leaves you to figure out when to break the rules and when not to... and you seem to be getting the balance right.
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I dont think Im very clever but I thought this played well. It sort of took shape recently, so much so that I had to go back and make sure I hadn't covered the apology angle already. When I hadn't it sort of fell into place. It really made sense as to why Allison might not have reached out after. Gave me a reason for this quid pro quo fight to take shape.
I appreciate the conversation comment as well. I dont know that Im good at it but I at least am attempting to give it more thought as I put it down. Practice as they say. It also helps that Language Arts Etiquette isn't exactly my strong suit. 
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Is this gonna be a ROCKY III moment? Cue to the next day and an unanswered question??
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I think I dodged this bullet. I will say I've often thought of that blurred effect, but I do NOT have that skillset!
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Natasha: nothing like a conversation with fists
Leona: perfect we to talk your feelings out
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fists and conversation. A natural pair!
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