Lessons Learned

I love sleep. I love the feeling of snuggling into fresh pillows and clean sheets. It's awesome. Seriously. Ya know what I hate? Alarm clocks that screech in your ear when it's time to leave the comfort of sleep. I groaned and slapped the aforementioned offensive device repeatedly, attempting to shut the damn thing up without opening my eyes. I gave up and cracked one eye so that could see the clock, groaning at the bright red 5:45AM that was blinking back at me, and shut down the alarm. I had a workout in an hour that I had to get to, but my body was screaming at me from the abuse that I had put it through yesterday. Wincing, I got up anyway and limped into the bathroom to take an incredibly hot shower and hopefully loosen up my muscles.

Once under the hot spray, memories from last night surfaced. I giggled as I remember how awesome the date had been. Evgeni did win that giant panda for me...it just took forty dollars and almost an hour to do it. Which personally, I thought was adorable. The stuffed bear had taken up residence in the corner of my room and I fucking loved the thing, it was just so....fluffy. And awesome.

Mostly fluffy.

I just stood and let the hot water beat down on my aching body for a little bit, then washed quickly, shut the water off, and stepped out, wrapping a towel around myself and stepping into my room. I dried off as quickly as my protesting muscles would allow, and pulled on some workout clothes. Once dressed, I walked out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen in search of food.

"What you doing up?" I screeched in alarm and whirled around, my closed fist making firm contact with Evgeni's face.

"Oh my god, Ev! I am so fucking sorry!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen, making him stand against the counter while I grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. He flinched away from the cold, whining softly in protest,

"NO! That cold!"

"Ev, it's supposed to be cold, it's an ice pack."

"No need it."

"Yes you do, your cheek is already swelling." He pushed the cold pack away again with a pout,

"Don't care." I sighed, now totally aggravated.

"Ok then, go to practice and tell the guys just who punched you in the face so hard that it started bruising within two minutes." He thought about it for a second, before snatching the cold pack and pressing it against his puffy cheek. I laughed,

"Good job babe." He sent me a small glare, causing me to giggle hysterically.

"Why you so crazy?" I waved at him from my new spot on the floor, still giggling like a...crazy person. Wow, he hit that nail right on the head...

"Trin, too early for this much noise." I waved Max off too, he just shook his head and ambled out of the kitchen, mumbling something about crazy women and coffee.

Max is weird.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Trin."

"What?"

"How much longer were you planning on running?"

"Just till five miles."

"Really now? Might wanna stop then, since it's BEEN FIFTEEN!" I looked down at the mile counter and laughed, slowing the treadmill down so I could have a cool down.

"So that's why my legs hurt so bad!"

"Trinity Rose, you.are.an.idiot."

"Shut up Katarina."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"MY LEGS HURT SO BAD!"

"No run fifteen miles next time."

"SHUT UP GENO!" I wailed from my position on the couch. He just looked at me and grinned widely, so I chucked a pillow at the smug fuckers head.

"Rude Trinity. Just rude." I, being the highly mature human being that I am, stuck my tongue out at him in response.

Which I learned was a bad idea when he quickly reached over and grabbed my still out stretched tongue. I squealed in shock,

"Lekjsf uff mah tohngue!" Well, that sounded retarded. Evgeni shot me a rather...predatory look and released my tongue,

"Do not stick that out unless you plan to use it." I gaped at his now retreating form. Not only was the longest sentence I have ever heard him say, I CANNOT BELIEVE HE JUST SAID THAT!

"Le gasp! I must call my mommy." I muttered as I stalked to my room, closing and locking the door behind me. I snatched my phone from where it was charging on my nightstand.

"What's up Trin?"

"MOMMY!!!!!"

"What? What's wrong? Are you ok? No one's hurt are they?"

"Mom, mom calm down. Everyone is ok. I just have an issue."

"Oh thank God. Ok, what's up baby girl." I relayed the entire story, in exact detail, and at the end, all my mom did was squeal. A lot. Very loudly. I winced and held the phone away from my ear, waiting for the banshee on the other end to stop screeching.

"Ya done?" I asked dryly, my ears still ringing from the pitch of my mothers voice.

"Yes, yes I am. But honey, that is so great! He likes you!"

"Well, duh Mom. He asked me out. Not the point. At all. Not even a little."

"That is so the point. Seriously, you're over thinking things again. I've said it once, and I will say it again, just let it happen."

"Bleh. Fine, whatever."

"Don't whatever me young lady. Now talk to your father, he's rather bitter that he hasn't talked to you in a week and a half."

"Ok, love you mommy!"

"I love you too, here's yo daddeh."

"Hi baby."

"DADDY! I MISS YOOOUUUUUU! Come visit me." He laughed deeply, and the sound made my heart twinged. I miss my family, especially my dad...

"I have a better idea. Just come home. And not to that shitty apartment either. Come home." I pinched the bridge of my nose in aggravation. And this is exactly why I haven't called my dad in almost two weeks.

"Dad, we've talked about this. I like my apartment. And I don't want to move home, I need to be at least a little independent. So if all you're going to do is nag me about moving home, I'm hanging up."

"Do not take that tone Trinity, you may be an adult, but I am still your father. We want you to come home because we love you, and we worry about you in that nasty building of yours. You know I wouldn't have a problem with it if you were in a safer part of town, but the fact is, you're not. You live in a really shitty place Trin, last week four people were shot and killed in your hallway."

"What? I talked to mom last week, she never said a thing! Why doesn't anyone ever tell me anything?!" I raged, kicking the wall for good measure. Now I have to move, there is no way I can stay there. Fuck fuck fuckity shit fuck.

"She doesn't know, the only reason I do is because I'm your emergency contact in your lease agreement. They didn't call you?"

"Nope. But now I get to move. Great. This is just fantastic. Alright, Dad, I gotta go. I need to figure some shit out." I hung up the phone and screeched in annoyance.

Seriously, this is bullshit that I do not need to be dealing with right now. At all. Fuck. My phone vibrated in my hand and I glared down at the device, swiping my thumb across the screen so I could view the text.

From: Eric

Hey, you coming to the fight tomorrow? I got news that Marcus is gonna be in town to kick Adam's ass. 11:30 at the Ring.

No fucking way. I'll be there. I smirked and slid my phone in my back pocket, then rolled off my bed and popped my head around my doorjamb,

"KAAAAATTTTTT! I HAVE NEWS BITCH."