Fighting for Her

It had been a few days since Tommy saw Riley. Her smile stayed imprinted in his mind. He threw on his hoodie and tucked his dog tags under his white shirt and started his morning run. After about thirty minutes, he passed the house where he had helped her load the dresser into her truck. He let his feet take him down the road and around the corner. He ran a little farther and ended up right in front of her shop. The sign out front read 'ReLovely' in a green script.

'Matches her eyes.' He thought. He paused before pulling the door open, getting a sudden feeling of cold feet. She never asked him to come back, Anna did. Before he could decide whether to leave or stay, a soft voice called out to him from behind.

"Tommy?" Riley asked happily, surprised to see him again. He turned and smiled. "What are you doing here?" She went in the shop and held the door open so he would follow.

"Coming to see the finished product." ...'and you' he thought. He took in the store, filled with different types of furniture. All shapes and sizes, colors and styles. "You did all these?" He was impressed. For a tiny girl, she was very hardworking and accomplished.

"Mostly, yes. Anna does some as well but we keep her stuff in the back." She laughed because it was true. Riley didn't know how she sold some of Anna's pieces, but art was art, she supposed. Against the wall stood the giant chest of drawers. It was stained a dark brown with tiny gold knobs. "I tried to keep it on the classic side, nothing crazy." She slid her hand across the top of the dresser, pleased with her work.

"It looks great. Way better than it did before." His attention kept switching from the dresser to Riley. She let out a tiny giggle.

"Its okay, I know you probably think this is really silly. Its just furniture." She looked down and ran her fingers through her thick hair.

"No, I'm really amazed that you've done all of these." He noticed the dried paint on her hands and wondered how many pieces of furniture she's painted with those dainty little hands.

"Hey Ri?" A loud voice came from the back room.

"Over here Stephen." Riley answered back, craning her neck to see one of her employees walking towards Tommy and her. "What's up?"

Stephen looked at Tommy with a tilted head as if he were trying to solve some sort of mystery. "Uh, Oh right. Mr. Lee's table is here." He spoke to Riley, but kept staring at Tommy. Feeling slightly as if he were in the way, Tommy took a couple steps back.

"I guess I'll let you get to work. It was good to see you again, Riley." He gave her a tiny smirk and nodded his head at Stephen. He raised his hood over his head and out the door he went.

"Huh..." Stephen took off to the back room, leaving Riley standing there, a little confused as to what just happened.

"Okay..." She shook her head and met Anna in the back.

"What's with Stephen? He just ran back here and kicked me out of the office?" She asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I don't know. Tommy was just here and left without me even saying bye." Riley laughed at the fact that she actually cared.

"Wait, Tommy was here?!" Anna perked up as her voice got higher. "Why didn't you say so?"

"He was literally her for like, five minutes. He came to see the dresser."

"Or he came to see you."

"Anna! Stop. I've known the guy for 30 seconds. Calm down." Riley busied herself by washing a couple brushes. "Have you seen the blue tape?"

"Don't change the subject Riley Brighton. He's totally hot and looks at you like he wants to rip your clothes off. You can't tell me you don't think he's attractive." Anna grabbed the tape from the bottom cabinet and held it out to her, only to pull it away leaving Riley at her disposal.

"Well of course I think he's attractive Anna, but what does that matter? I have a boyfriend, or lest you forget?" Riley snatched the roll of tape out of Anna's hands. 'Did he really look at me like that?' She thought.

"Yeah, one that's a complete douche. Sorry." Anna hated Ryan. He was a terrible match for Riley, super fake and just rubbed her the wrong way, but for some reason he had Ri wrapped around his slippery fingers.

"You're not sorry. And don't be so mean."

Anna opened her mouth to bring up another reason why she hated Ryan, but was interrupted by Stephen's shouting.

"I knew it! Come here guys!" The girls found Stephen standing in front of the computer. Unable to contain his excitement, he pulled Riley into the computer chair. "Sit, sit!" YouTube was opened and the video title read, 'Mad Dog Grimes KTFO!'

"What is this Stephen?" She adjusted herself in the seat as he leaned over and caused the video to restart.

"I knew I recognized him the minute I saw his face. I saw this video online the other day. Check it out."

"What? Recognized who?" Anna asked. Her eyes were fixed on the computer screen. Stephen pressed play and the video showed two guys fighting in a ring, one getting completely thrashed. He was thrown over the other mans shoulder and smashed onto the ground. The camera seemed to be moving a lot, and there were a lot of people in the frame, but as soon as his face came to view, Riley's green eyes grew wide. Stephen hit pause right before Tommy kneed the poor man in the head.

"Holy shit!" Anna brought her face closer to the screen. "That's insane! No wonder he lifted that damn dresser without even flinching."

Riley was still staring at his face. So fierce and unafraid. Very unlike the face she had just seen a couple minutes ago.

"Where is this?" Anna asked Stephen.

"Its at Colts Gym. About five blocks away from here. My brother goes there. They do a lot of MMA stuff."

"MMA? Mixed Martial Arts right?" Riley finally spoke.

"Yeah. Its pretty awesome. These guys don't fuck around."

"Clearly." Anna said, raising her eyebrows at Riley. "Let's go there."

"Um, and do what?" Riley laughed and got up. "I have to paint a table."

Anna followed her to the shop. "Just go see him. He came to see you today. You should go and return the favor."

"Anna. Stop." Riley put her headphones in her ears and turned the music up. Breaking Benjamin filled her head. That was Anna's cue to exit.

Dinner at their apartment was quiet. Riley looked preoccupied after getting a short phone call from Ryan and Anna was feeling bad for being so pushy. Finally Riley announced that she was going to bed and left Anna in the living room by herself. She hated fighting with her best friend but she knew there was something more to this Tommy guy and she wanted Riley to see that too.

After getting out of the shower, Riley sat in bed checking her email and updating the store's online inventory. There was a photo of the giant dresser that Tommy helped her move and the new table she had painted today that needed to be uploaded.

Anna knocked softly on her door, pushing it open.

"Ri, I'm sorry for pushing. I just think you deserve more than Ryan. That's all." Anna leaned against the wall of Riley's bedroom. The pair had been living together since they graduated college.

"Anna, I'm tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow?" Riley's eyes didn't leave the screen. She typed away, clicking the keys in the awkward silence.

After a few seconds of nothing but key clicking, Anna spoke. "Alrighty. See you in the a.m." She shut the door behind her.

Riley sighed out loud and rubbed her forehead. She didn't know why this was bothering Anna so much and she didn't know why she herself cared so much about it either. She looked up at the closed door. Clicking a new tab open in the browser, she typed in 'youtube.com'. Just for a second, she sat there staring at the empty search box. She cracked her fingers and swiftly typed in 'Mad Dog Grimes KTFO!' and hit enter.