Page 4 of The Breaking Pointe

olives

NOELLE

“Elle, you couldn’t have made us any more late?!”

Lauren yells over the obnoxiously loud chanting throughout the arena as I follow closely behind her.

We both shuffle between people and the seats in front of us, slowly nearing our assigned spots.

“Excuse me, it’s not like I’m dying to come here in the first place, Lauren!”

I clamor above the noise.

Our shuffling comes to a halt as Tony leads us to our seats and we all plop down, facing the ring. Already, Daniel is causing a commotion by yelling profanities, hyping the crowd with absurd sounds and over-masculine movements.

“I get it. You know we don’t have to stay, though, okay?”

she says, looking at me.

My eyes stay on the ring, peering at the two rows in front of us, noticing how close he got our seats. Probably so he could watch me.

“I know. I’m just gonna see how it starts. I want to be gone before it’s over so he can’t find me after,”

I say, looking back at Daniel again.

“Deal,”

Lauren says.

I never understood the anger he built up before fighting—or how. He has an unwarranted anger that’s different from your normal, regulated person.

As interesting as his outbursts are to watch, I’ve been more interested in seeing who the competition is, since I’m here to cheer for them, anyway. I hadn’t bothered to do much research on anything, so I know nothing about the importance of this fight for either side. All I know is that whoever Daniel’s opponent is, is who I’m siding with, even if that guy doesn’t have a single supporter in this place. I’m in favor of anything that’s not in favor of Daniel’s rotten agenda.

My eyes follow the white of the floor in the ring, all the way to the other man, standing in the opposite corner to Daniel. Stopping at his legs, I study his body up until I get to his face. His gaze is glued to the floor, listening to his team talk to him. I’m lucky. My limited view of him is already allowing me to get a boxing match and a show in the form of an olive-toned, possibly Jewish man. His curly, thick locks on his head and heavily shadowed facial hair is a nice touch, too. A view I don’t mind staring at for the next thirty minutes, at minimum. He’s an unfamiliar face, but it’s exceptionally handsome.

“Everything okay, Elle? You’re completely out of it. Popcorn or not?”

Tony asks, holding a bucket of popcorn in my direction, shimmying it to offer me some.

I look at him, watching his lips move, but not registering anything. Only one thing could come out of my mouth.

Nothing about popcorn, either.

“Olives?”

I ask blindly, quickly shutting my eyes in embar- rassment.

“What?”

Tony asks, looking at Lauren.

“Do you want popcorn or are you too busy staring at men’s bodies?”

she asks, looking at me as she shoves a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

“I wasn’t staring,”

I defend, keeping a straight face as I pick a few buttery pieces out of the bucket.

“He’s cute, right? The other guy.”

She smiles, eating more”

Right in front of me, huh?”

Tony chuckles, tossing a piece

at her.

“What? She’s almost drooling.”

She laughs”

I’m…admiring the set up,”

I say, keeping my chin up.

I watch her continue to find my embarrassment comedic, slowly peering back at the ring again. So maybe I’m swooning over this mystery guy—but big deal. It isn’t hard to do when his posture is that impeccable, and he looks like he knows exactly what needs to be done. If I were any other man in here, I’d be cowering. He has a thing about him that makes him look like he’s in charge. From the way he walks and bumps his gloves together, to the way his chest hair is perfectly placed on his body, trailing all the way down his stomach to his pant line.

“What’s his name?”

I ask Lauren, leaning closer to her”

Who?”

she quickly responds.

“The guy down there? I didn’t look at the flier,”

I say, trying not to point.

She smirks, looking at me”

His name is Colton Kennedy. He’s relatively new to this size of matches, but I would take that with a grain of salt. Tony told me that he’s only lost one fight this rookie season, which would make him one of the top fighters in his league.”

I nod slowly, as if it makes her words come out a lot slower—or makes a difference in my opinion.

“Guess this will be one hell of a fight then…”

I say, looking back at the big white square.

Colton is on his way back to his corner, taking in any last- minute refreshments he can. Approaching the big red ropes, he kneels down, saying something to the same man he has been speaking with this entire time, this time smiling. I never physically met someone whose smile was visually as contagious as his. It’s a smile that couldn’t be any more alluring, weening you in and begging you to stare at it. It didn’t have to beg me at all, though. He has my full attention.

He stands from his squatting stance, looking in my direction with an unpleasant smug glance towards the crowd, scrolling his eyes down every aisle. I could tell the examination was coming for us, and I couldn’t be any more unprepared. I’m having a great time admiring, so much so that I almost forgot that people can stare back. I’ll bet any amount of money that I look like an enormous freak, watching him like I am.

And I’m right. As soon as his eyes reach mine, he takes a prolonged look at me.

As much as I’d like to look away, I can’t help myself. His lips curl into a warm side smile, and his chin chucks up as he gives me the gentlest of nods. My chin falls to my chest once I realize my cheeks are almost as bright as my hair. At this point, I have tuned out any excess noise. My thoughts are so loud, they drown out any other sound. The bell goes off, and suddenly I’m reminded that I’m watching two men fight, not a one-man show.

Fists go flying immediately. You would’ve thought they were waiting for this for years.

Daniel is throwing most of the punches, but Colton isn’t having any complications dodging them.

Daniel moves fast, but Colton seems to be seconds ahead of his every move, and it’s making everything all the more tense.

For minutes, it’s only that, and neither one of them is making any good connections.

Some jabs hit bellies, while others are a complete failure.

It’s cooking up an uncomfortable silence in the arena, up until one connection is finally made—and it isn’t one I’m rooting for.

Daniel ultimately got the hit he wanted, right in the face.

Resilient, and confident, Colton comes back to consciousness with no problems, shaking his head like it’s nothing.

Daniel spits in his direction, smiling enough to show a few of his gold teeth.

“No…”

I whisper, grasping the armrests of my seat.

The following silence is burning me. Colton pretty much ate the hit like it’s light work, and if it’s possible, that’s all it took to make him ten times more attractive.

He continues circling the ring with Daniel, deadpanning his full attention to him.

Danny isn’t feeling emasculated by it, not one bit.

The circles proceed while Daniel yaps on, until Colton seems to finally have enough.

He stops suddenly, and lunges forward with a fist like steel, smashing it into Daniel’s face, accompanied by a second one and then one more right after.

One of his arms flies back like he’s got more in the chamber, but before anything can happen, the referee blows a storm into his whistle.

Daniel is already on his way into a trance, and Colton’s team jumps into the ring, pronto, grabbing him like it’s do or die.

“Oh my God. He obliterated him,”

Lauren says in awe, letting out a short bud of laughter.

“Yep. It’s downhill from here,”

Tony adds to her statement.

I didn’t have any words to add to their shock. If my brain was a DVD player, or a video of some sort, I’d be rewinding it over and over until I couldn’t anymore.

In a matter of seconds, each of them is getting dragged to their corners—Daniel trying to gather himself and Colton getting a hefty pep talk that, based on his expression, I doubt he is registering.

My eyes are scanning back and forth at both of their faces, watching the blood trickle down both Colton’s bottom lip and Daniel’s nose.

Tony is right; it doesn’t look like Daniel stands a chance. I wish I could thank this man that I’ve never even met for completely destroying this narcissist’s ego in a matter of seconds—right before my eyes.

He has no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that for so long.

As quickly as the break had begun, it ended, sending each of them back into fighting mode. This time, Daniel comes out swinging, getting Colton a few times in his side seconds after the bell rings.

I’m convinced this Colton guy stopped seeing Daniel as a human right after he flashed his ugly grill.

And I just know that Daniel’s still talking shit.

I’m dying to know what he’s saying, but Daniel’s talking low enough for only Colton could hear.

Whatever he’s saying, you can tell that it is making Colton see red.

He looks like he wants to hold back, but there isn’t any self-control after taking those first three hits.

And his team aren’t the only ones looking worried; you can hear the crowd becoming just as concerned.

“Get him…”

I hiss under my breath, clenching my fists.

Colton, leaving all bets off the table, sends his arms swinging at full speed.

Each fist connects with some part of Daniel’s face, sending his head cocking back and forth like a rag doll.

Colton was going to be able to say he beat the living shit out of Daniel in nearly less than fifteen minutes, and we were just a few moments away.

I’ve been to a ton of quick fights with Daniel, but never was it because he was losing.

Now, with pride, I can watch his ego get crushed in front of a crowd.

Daniel began taking hits like a champ, but as the hit count increases, his stamina falls lower and lower. As I watch him, he slowly gets closer to the floor of the ring—until he is down for good.

“Yes!”

I scream, rising from my seat.

Lauren rises, along with almost everyone in the arena, but instead of screaming, she looks at me with a confused smile.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you with this much enthusiasm! You were looking like you wanted to die about fifteen minutes ago!”

she yells over the cheers around us.

“I changed my mind! You were right about the Kennedy guy, okay?! He’s good, and I should’ve listened!”

My yelling shifts into laughter.

“Anything to hear you cheer for someone other than Aguado!”

She grabs my arm, squeezing it.

“Negative! He’s just an ex, now! We don’t cheer on exes!”

I grab her back and she grins.

“Club?! I need a drink before it gets crowded!”

she exclaims”

I’m right behind you!”

I nod eagerly as she turns around,

relaying a message to Tony.

A drink and some daydreaming about this extremely fine, olive-toned, Kennedy man is just what I need.