It had all started out so innocently. I had recently joined my local boxing club after moving back into the neighborhood. For the past five years I had been working for a mining company in the middle of nowhere, but the pay had been great and I had saved like crazy. Now I had enough to buy my own house, a nice car and still have enough to invest, plus I still had a good paying job with the company.
Saturday nights were still pretty quiet for me. I had only been back 3 weeks and I still hadn't caught up with many friends yet or made enough new ones at work, so I wasn't going out much. I did what I normally did and hit the Gym. A quick hour of weights, then into rope work and hand drills. Then I ended with the heavy bag. While most of the people in the club were pure boxers I was trained in kick boxing and had experience in MMA fighting as well, so I worked the bag with punches, kicks, knees and elbow strikes.
This Saturday there were only a few people working out and by the time I was finished that had been reduced to four. There was the Gym's title hope who was being trained by his personal trainer and manager in the ring. An older guy sweating through a weight set and a young woman working her own heavy bag and of course me. From the looks of things she was only a beginner as she was flailing away putting a lot of effort into it but not doing a lot of damage. I watched her for about two minutes before I couldn't take it any more.
Walking over I coughed politely when I was still several meters away so as not to startle her too much. She stopped and looked over and I finally had the chance to see her properly. Up close she was a real knock out. She was small at only 5 foot 4 but she obviously worked out besides here at the gym as her body was lean and well toned. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, almost like those shots you see of the oceans in the tropics. Her long Black hair was done in a simple braid and hung down her back but was all ready starting to become ragged because of her exertions. Her small but pert breasts looked perfect on her frame and I was mesmerized as a drop of sweat ran down her neck and ran down between her cleavage.
Shaking myself out of my daze I saw that she had a small knowing smile on her face as if she knew exactly where I had been looking but wasn't too offended. Encouraged I grinned back. "I'm assuming you haven't been doing this long Miss and that no one has really shown you how yet?"
Her grin faded, replaced by a grimace. "That obvious is it."
"Oh don't worry you aren't too bad, you just need a few pointers. For a start you should stop swinging your arms in an arc and hit straight from your shoulder."
For the next half hour I gave her a basic lesson in how to punch and by the end of it she was hitting the bag with a lot more force. We said goodbye and it wasn't until I got home that I realized that we hadn't even exchanged names.
Over the next few weeks I saw her a few more times and each time I gave her a few more tips. We finally introduced ourselves and I learnt her name was Melissa and she was just here to learn some basic self defense. She worked as a loans officer at a bank and lived alone. She learnt that I lived locally, worked as a mining agent and lived alone as well. Most of our time was spent teaching her how to box though.
After I was sure she had the basics down, I took her into the ring when it was free and worked her with the training pads. I got her to do some basic combos and got her used to ducking and weaving. Finally after 2 months I decided it was time she actually spared with someone. As we were the only ones who were normally in when we worked out I had no option but to do it myself. This was a problem as I was a whole foot taller than her and my reach was well past hers but I was experienced enough and would be able to adjust.
We got our headgear on and began our sparing session. Melissa had improved and although I kept my guard low she landed some good blows. Every now and then I would throw out a quick jab to keep her on her toes, but this was mostly for her so I kept most of them slow and she ducked and weaved and kept her guard up well. It was in the third round that what I had been worried about happened. Our size differences caught up. Melissa launched a curling body blow just as I was stepping forward and I just knew where it was going to connect. Sure enough it hit flush in my groin and I folded like a house of cards. I was seeing stars and having trouble breathing.
Melissa was standing over me worriedly as she didn't know what had happened but then realization suddenly dawned on her face and she grimaced in sympathy. Then she grinned and began to laugh. Putting both hands above her head she began to chant "KO, I am the greatest," over and over. As the pain subsided I could see the funny side and just seeing her happy brought a chuckle to my lips.
I struggled to my feet and Melissa helped me out of the ring and to take off the gear. I was limping pretty badly and she started to frown. "I'm sorry I laughed at you. That was a bad thing I did and here I was celebrating it. I know let me make you a late dinner to atone for it."
She looked pretty broken up about it so I agreed and after grabbing our stuff I jumped in my car and followed her home.
