The Fighter's Block (18 page)

“You can say as many French phrases to me as you want—as long as they’re dirty.”

She laughed and slightly nudged him with her hip. “And as long as I translate. Yes, I know the rules.”

“Well it’s no fun if I don’t know what you’re complimenting me on.”

She laughed again. “And you assume my translations are honest?”

He gasped
as she dried her hands on a towel. Dani loved his “wounded” ploy, but they had guests over and she cou
ldn’t exactly carry on with their normal routine.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?” Paul quietly asked his wife at the table. “You’re being a bitch.”

“I know,” she hissed, giving him a nasty scowl. “I just apologized for it.”

“No you didn’t;
you made up some lame ass excuse.”

“Lame ass excuse? Why can’t I have a fucking bad day? Don’t you sit there and tell me I c
a
n’t. I’ve had to listen to your
moanin
’
plenty of days.”

“My—?” He glanced back at Dani and Van in the kitchen,
both
enjoying the
passion and excitement of a young relationship. He was envious, and even though he could be realistic and tell himself that
those two
c
ould soon enough be in the same boat he and Marnie
were
in, for some reason it didn’t seem likely.

He returned his attention to the woman in front of him and said, “I don’t wanna argue here. Just eat your dessert.”

“Just eat my dessert? Just shut up and eat, huh? Well I don’t feel like it,” she said, standing up so abruptly that she knocked over the chair. Dani and Van turned around in the kitchen to see what was going on just as Marnie told them, “I’m really sorry.” She looked at Paul and said, “You hear that? I said
sorry
.”

“Well that’s a first,” he retorted.

She gave him a pair of middle fingers as she hea
ded for the door and then left.

The apartment was quiet for several seconds until Paul sighed and stood
to set the chair upright
.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “She’s just been…a crazy psycho bitch lately.”

Van left the kitchen and joined
h
is friend by the couch. Dani remained in the kitchen, hoping she was giving them the privacy to talk, even though she could still hear them.

“What do you think it is?” Van asked.

“I don’t know,” Paul replied, plopping down on the couch. “I thought maybe it was her new job, and then I thought maybe she was pregnant—God help us all if she really
had been
—but…”

Dani glanced into the other room just as Paul was trying to discreetly glance at her. He knew he’d just opened up a can of worms
when she caught the implication
, and when Van glanced back at Dani
too,
she set the pan down and left the kitchen.

“She’s mad at me for some reason?” she asked. “I mean I could feel it all night, but I really don’t know what I did.”

Paul felt a little embarrassed because he wasn’t sure how to
talk about it
, or even if he should.

“I don’t understand,” Dani said. “Please, Paul. Just tell me what I did wrong. Did I say something to offend her? If so, tell me what so I can go apologize—”

“You didn’t do or say anything, Dani,” he sighed. “It’s just something really juvenile, and I feel dumb even saying anything.”

“It doesn’t matter if you think it’s juvenile or not. I think I should make things right.”

He chuckled
because she was so sincere
,
but
Dani didn’t understand it. Van even got a little ruffled by his friend’s sarcastic response and he was about to say something about it.

“She saw your pictures, okay?” Paul finally said, even if it was just to keep Van from
getting upset with him
.

“My pictures? What pictures?”

“Your modeling stuff. You know, the magazines and
shit
. She saw some of ‘em, and ever since she’s
just been kind of… I don’t know.
I think you intimidate her. You make her feel self-conscious.”

Dani didn’t know what to say. Somehow Marnie must have seen some of her previous work—she understood that much of it—but that’s what made her so abrasive toward her?

She sat down on the couch and no one said anything at first. Van didn’t even know what the hell was going on because he didn’t know anything about any magazines. But he decided to just listen to the other two when Paul restarted the conversation.

“I told you it was dumb,” he said. “She’s acting like she’s in high school and you beat her out for prom queen or something.”

“I make her feel self-conscious?” Dani replied softly. She didn’t like having that kind of effect on people, but most importantly, she and Marnie used t
o be friends. Now, because of an
air
brushed photo, they couldn’t be friends anymore?

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “But ever since she saw those pictures she’s been talking down about herself constantly.”

“Which ad?”
Dani
asked.

“The perfume one.”

She paused briefly as she decided what to say. “Well,
could you just tell her that those photos are totally airbrushed? And I had to wear a miracle bra just to give me a pair of boobs?”

Both guys chuckled at that, even though Van knew she
was beautiful just the way she was
. Maybe Dani was just saying that to make Marnie feel better.

“If I tell her that then she’ll know I told you,” Paul said. “But whatever. I’ll be sleeping on Cody’s couch anyways,” he said as he stood. “I’d better go see if he’s home.”

“My
couch is always open
,” Van told him.

Paul shook his head with a smile. “Nah, I don’t want to be anywhere near this love nest.”

Chapter Nine

Dani returned to Van’s apartment with a “no such luck” frown on her face. She shut the door behind her and joined
him
on the couch, lying next to him and snuggling close. He knew she was really disheartened about Marnie’s recent outburst, but he wished that she wasn’t. Marnie was just that way, and although he
cared about
his friend
, he really didn’t think she deserved Dani’s friendship at the moment.

“She’s really stubborn, D
,” he finally told her. “Whenever she gets overemotional about something we usually just ride it out. That’s why Paul went straight to Cody’s. He knew there was no point even trying.”

“Why would she be mad at me because of a stupid picture?” she basically asked herself for the fifth time. “She wouldn’t even talk to me at the door,” she mumbled, re-adjusting herself against Van.

She slid her hand up his shirt, not even realizing it as she softly touched his skin.

“If she knew how crazy my life was back then, she probably wouldn’t be so envious.
I didn’t even lead my own life. My parents had me going from one thing to the next since I was too little to even remember. They didn’t even want me to go to college, so when I got so sick from trying to stay in a size
two
, I decided it just wasn’t the life for me. I wasn’t happy trying to be someone else, so I got healthy, enrolled myself in school, and aimed for a better life. That kind of world that my parents thrive in isn’t something Marnie should be envious of. I mean I understand what it all looks like, but for me it wasn’t exactly that glamorous. Sure the clothes were, and the people, but I’m happier now without all of that. That has to say something, right?”

Van was listening to every word, and he was very sensitive to all that Dani felt, but at the same time he couldn’t help but smile at how friendly she was getting with him. She sometimes did that—became very touchy-feely when she was experiencing some kind of
emotional issue
. She was very
affectionate
.

Van didn’t even need to offer any condolences or support—she obviously wasn’t expecting it when her hand slid
in
to his
shorts
. She smiled as she kissed him, first on the lips and then his chest and stomach
.

“Is this the love nest that Paul was afraid of?”
she asked him softly
.

Van only smiled as she removed her shirt and then returned to kiss him. He pulled her close, becoming more and more familiar with her movements and
the
way they worked together so well. It wasn’t the first time he imagined himself married to this beautiful girl, and as he enjoyed his time with her yet again, his need to have her permanently in his life became even clearer to him. 

He actually understood what Marnie meant about Dani’s intimidating presence. He himself had felt that when he first met her, and had things not worked out the way they had, he didn’t believe she would have given him the time of day. He wasn’t the greatest at hitting on girls in the first place, but this particular one was definitely out of his league and he’d sensed it right away.

But what is it that makes a guy feel like he has a chance with someone li
ke Dani? His pride? Arrogance?
A sheer desire to have
someone like her
in his life
?
Or was there another factor that had given him the little bit of false courage that he needed at the time? They just seemed to work out the first night they met
.

He’d worried that she would change her mind, b
ut lo and beho
ld, she fell in love with him. And t
here was just enough
balance to both of th
eir lives to make a perfect fit
. Now Van really believed in true love, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt their lives would be intertwined for good.

“I’m going to ask Marnie to be mean to you more often,” Van joked when Dani lay beside him
on the floor
.

She lightly laughed. “
You’re
my motivation.
I think I can express every emo
tion with you
. But that’s the key. With
you
.”

He cherished that thought as he remembered their first night together. It was passionate and hungry, but they went about it slowly and very tenderly. He wanted her to trust him, but there was
a lot
more emotion to it than he was expecting.

“
Whatcha
thinking about
, handsome
?” she smiled, propping herself up on his chest.

He touched her hair with his hand and replied, “Our first time together.”

She smiled again but with surprise. “Me too.”

“Oh yeah? And what thoughts were going through your mind about that glorious night?”

She chuckled. “Well, for one I still can’t believe I was such a slut.”

He laughed. “Yeah, me neither.”

She scoffed and pretended to slap his face.

“I was talking about myself,” he added, taking her hand and kissing it.

“Oh,” she smiled.

“And for another? What else were you thinking?”

She studied him for a few seconds, feeling emotion in her chest from how she felt about him. “I was thinking that I’ll never forget that night—how I felt with you and the connection w
e had. I never wanted it to end
and I knew that I found a pretty amazing guy.”

“And then you left
me
.”

“I was scared.”

“I know.”

They were both quiet for a few seconds, Dani still remembering that night and the reasons that she did end up leaving in the morning
, and Van was silently considering a step he’d been thinking about more and more lately.

“If you—” “Dani, I—” they both began at once.

They smiled at each other and Van said, “You first.”

“No, you first.” He seemed pretty serious, and Dani was very interested in what he had to say.

“Uh, I was just gonna head for the shower…”

“Oh,” she replied, moving so she wasn’t stopping him.

He was
hesitant,
knowing full well that a shower hadn’t been his intention, but he decided it was just as well. It wasn’t exactly the most romantic moment lying there half-naked on the floor.

Van was determined to give Dani everything she deserved, and a half-assed, spur-of-the-moment proposal wasn’t what he had in mind. While he was in the shower he did think about his future with her, but he had no idea what he even had to offer her. Sure she was content living in his one-bedroom apartment temporarily, but is that really what she would be happy with? And what about the other factors in his life—his convict father, his drug dealing brother, and a sister he
couldn’t
track down? What if he decided to fight again like he wanted to? Would she be accepting of that?