I didn’t want to give Alex any reason to not like me –not any more reasons, at least. I showed up half an hour early and did a bit of cleaning and reviewed the beginner’s self-defense course I came up with that I will be teaching this afternoon. Becky, the secretary, showed up after me and helped me get a sign-up sheet printed out. “If enough ladies sign up for the beginner’s course, Alex wants you to start doing regular self-defense training courses here,” Becky informed me as we were hanging up the sign- up sheet near the entrance.

I notice near the entrance a large case full of trophies and medals. “What are those from?” I ask.

“A lot of them were Alex’s, but most are from the women fighters who come here. Alex lets them show off their awards here –so they’re kind of borrowed for the display case,” Becky says, “feel free to have a look around. Alex won’t be here for another twenty minutes.”

I check out the display case and then go and get a feel for the rest of the gym. There is so much to work with here; it kind of puts Damion’s gym to shame. By the time I have had a good look around, Alex is showing up to get the place up and running for the day. She tells me she wants me working as a personal trainer for the boxers, and I cringe slightly at the thought. “You have a lot of experience. The amateur girls especially will probably be willing to hear you out,” she assures me and tells me most of them show up around seven.

I watch the clock anxiously, and sure enough, a group of incredibly rowdy women comes swarming in from the back of the gym and out of the locker rooms –evidently the professionals have their own keycard entrance closer to the locker rooms. These are the professionals; I can tell from simply how the women hold themselves. They ignore me despite the fact that I’m standing right next to the ring; a couple of the women hop right into the ring. They’re not really much different from the guys back at Damion’s gym with the way they give each other hell about their form or whatever else.

One woman, a tall brunette with freckles, stares me down as Alex is passing by. “Hey, Alex, are you for real with this shit?” she shouts as the gym owner comes within earshot.

Alex shakes her head. “What? I’ve hired male trainers before, Britany” she says, playing coy –knowing damn well that it’s not the fact I’m a guy the woman has a problem with. She knows just who I am.

“Don’t be a cunt, Alex,” the brunette, whose name is evidently Britany, says.

“Play nice,” Alex warns, “he might actually be able to teach you something.” She trots off, leaving me alone with the group of hostiles.

Britany stares at me. “You sure have fallen off of your pedestal, pretty boy.” The other women laugh.

“I’m just here to work,” I say as nicely as possible.

“Well go work somewhere else,” one of the women inside the ring says. She then looks up, spotting someone coming in from the back. “Hey, Laurel, you’re late!”

I start to leave –clearly, these women have no interest in me helping them –when I see the woman the other boxer called Laurel. Holy shit. It’s the bitch I picked up at the bar who threw me out of her apartment. She spots me immediately, and her eyes grow twice their size. “Hey,” I say, taking a step towards her and away from the other women. Now that we’re both sober, I am hoping for an explanation.

Before I can say much more, she grabs me by my shirt collar, “Say one word about it, and I’ll fucking castrate you,” and with that, she lets go of me and heads towards the ring. “Sorry I’m late,” I can hear her saying as she leaves me in the dust.

Before too long the professional fighters wind up kicking me out of the boxing ring, and I wind up working with the amateur boxers in a back room where a smaller ring is set up as well as some additional boxing gear. These women are not fans of mine either, but they are not so proud –so they are more willing to listen to someone who has some experience despite my notorious comments. It actually winds up going pretty well, and I think I win a few of them over as the day goes by.

The self-defense course goes really well too. I only had five women sign up, but they have nothing but good things to say about the class. Two of them even go to Alex to let her know that they want to take more courses with me and that they would bring friends. By the end of the day, fifteen women sign up to take future courses with me. Basically, Alex is impressed.

The day draws to a close, and I would call my first day a success overall with the exception of the heat that I got from most of the professional athletes –boxers especially. I’m hoping that I can win them over eventually, but right now I’m not exactly the favorite employee at the gym.

At the end of the day, Alex charges me with clean-up and sanitizer duty. Basically, she has me sanitizing all the equipment before I can head home, and she tells me I can hang out as long as I like so long as I lock up. Either way, I can’t leave until the last of the late-stayers are gone. Laurel is among them; she and two other women are still in the ring. I watch from afar, not wanting to piss them off by being nosey. Laurel keeps eyeing me, though, so I do my best not to stare. That night at her apartment had been really fun and exciting before she had tossed me out so abruptly –although I could probably figure out why now. She had realized who I was, and she clearly was not a fan.

Soon the women are leaving, and Laurel lags behind in the locker room. I wait outside of the locker room, hoping that when she comes out, I can get a word with her. She exits, and she is not pleased to see me standing there. “Ugh,” she grumbles when she sees that I had waited for her.

“Thought I’d walk you out,” I say.

“No thanks,” she says and storms past me, but I follow her towards the back exit anyways.

“Look, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot-” I start to say, and she spins around to face me.

“Fuck off,” she warns.

“Hey, I’m trying to be nice,” I say, “what’s with the attitude?”

She rolls her eyes. “Really? Do you want to know why I have an attitude with you? Let’s see… let’s start with your sexist shit you said about female boxers, for one. Then that video of you fighting in the locker room where you knocked your wife to the ground. And then you are getting busted for trying to hire a hooker. You’re a misogynistic prick; that’s why I have an attitude. Oh, and I almost forgot about how you got your trainer’s assistant killed driving like a jackass-”

“Shut the fuck up!” I snap at her. “You don’t know shit about me!”

“I see I found your soft spot, huh?” she grunts. “Sorry, my bad. But that doesn’t change shit. Stay the hell away from me, and I swear, don’t you ever tell anyone about what almost happened between us because, I swear, I’ll-”

“What’s the matter?” I quip, “Afraid everyone will find out what a skank you are?”

She practically screams her reply, “No, I just don’t want them to find out I’ve fucking touched you!” She spins around and storms out the back.

I have already finished locking up, so all I have to do is lock up the back entrance. Unfortunately, that means I have to follow her out. I do my best not to look at her as I load up into my car. I hear her laughing from the other side of the parking lot. “Nice car, you little bitch!” she shouts.

I slam on the gas and peel out of the parking lot.