Cigarettes and Skittles

Chapter 6 (Ruth's POV contd.)

I stared dumbfounded at Abel as people all around me started cheering and shouting. He looked very….um...different. I mean he has a fit body and with all the sweat and that determined look. Dare I say he looked hot. And as I stared at him a little more, I felt my face getting red when someone tapped me on the shoulders. Please don’t talk about my moment of weakness.

“You’re drooling,” Kai said, giving me a tissue. 

“No I’m not and where would you even get that” I replied in a high-pitched defending tone to hide my embarrassment but accepted the tissue nonetheless.

He gave me a look and sat down next to me without saying anything else. Max was sitting next to Kai with a sulking face, I think he got in trouble for bringing me here.

Just then people started to holler cheers again as I looked at the ring to see a large man enter. He was nearly twice the size of Abel and was more on a bulky side while Abel is more of a leaner muscle type. Also he was really tall. Like 6”5-6”6’ tall. He also seems much older than Abel, like 20s or 30s. 

“Isn’t he much older than him and they are in different weight classes, why are they even fighting together?” I asked quietly as the ruckus simmered down.

“Because that makes more bets. I mean it’s not like this is a professional setting or something” Kai muttered typing away on his phone. How is he so calm and collected always? Daniel had already left his seat for wherever. Max comes to sit in his place.

“Don’t worry candy-G he’ll be alright. Our Abbie is really good at this” Max gives his input.

“Just call me Ruth” I said, cringing at his nickname. We all go back to see the fight which has already begun.

As both of them rounded each other, the big man struck the first punch. Abel ducked in time and rounded around and was the one to let go of a punch this time, big-guy ducked just in time and came up to punch Abel in the shoulder from behind. Oof. A roar of people waved around us as people went nuts. Abel staggered a bit forward but turned around just in time to avoid another punch to the same shoulder by a hair's width. As they rounded each other one more time, Abel swinged a punch this time, hard enough to wipe the smug look of the giant’s face. For some reason, he is pissing me off a little bit, he just doesn’t seem like a good person especially when he is fighting a teen being that big. Another punch in his gut, made the big guy oof and as they rounded each other again he went for the Abel’s knee pit but since he just got punched I think his punch went a little off and though momentarily losing his balance; Abel managed to deliver a solid punch straight to his jaw making the guy hit the floor. The crowd went ballistic as the bell went off indicating the end of the fight. Did he really just punch a guy that big to the floor? I was still in awe of that last punch when someone tugged on my jacket. I looked up to see Max motioning towards somewhere. I got up and followed behind him to the back area where Kai was already talking to a middle aged man while Abel was sitting on a bench wiping his sweat with a towel.

“That was a really good punch” I babbled, barely holding on to my excitement. He looked up to see me standing there behind Max with a slight look of surprise on his face.

“We found her outside. She lost her way, so we took her here” Max explained. I was still fangirling and smiling.

“Not us just you” Kai came after his talk with that man. Max shrugged like expecting Kai to come say something like this. Even I expected him to say something like this and I knew him for like 15 minutes. Kai and Abel talked about the fight and Abel thanked him for the last punch which apparently they practiced. 

“Why don’t you take her home, it's getting late and Daniel’s next so we have to stay” Kai asked Abel and I looked at my phone to see it’s near 9. Geez, it’s already like two hours since I left the nursing home. 

“Yeah I’ll go, let me change” I nodded and stood there awkwardly waiting to be escorted home.

“Candy-G you didn’t bring no sweets this time” Max called me that horrible nickname again, why can’t he just call me by my name.

“Actually I had cupcakes before- s**t” I looked around to see I lost the tupperware somewhere. Mom is definitely going to kill me. 

“Let’s go” Abel came back in jeans, t-shirt and black leather jacket and started walking the other way from where we come from. I had to jog to catch up with him. Can’t he just walk a little slower. 

Eventually we came out of the place into the dark night. It was a huge contrast from the blinding lights inside the arena. I kept on following Abel silently till we reached a motorbike. Please don’t say we are riding this. He put his keys in the bike and I groaned inwardly. As he lifted his hand to give me a helmet, he hissed a bit. I took it out of his hand and immediately put it on, double checking for safety reasons.

“Is your shoulder alright?” I asked sitting behind him holding the bike seat tightly near my thighs. 

“It’ll be alright by tomorrow.” he replied monotonously, backing out into the road as I strengthened my hold onto the seat. As he picked up the speed, I closed my eyes praying to reach back to the safety of my home.

As the bike came to a halt, I opened my eyes to see we were in front of my house. I looked at my watch to see it was just 20 minutes but that felt like such a long ride. My heart rate came down as I got off the bike. 

“Thanks for the ride” giving him a polite smile, I turned back to go inside the house.

“Listen” he called so I turned around to look at him,

“You forgot something” he said pointing to my head where the helmet was still fastened.

“Oh my god! Sorry.” mortified, I hastily unfastened it from my head and handed it back to him. Stupid stupid Ruth.

“Good night” he smirked at my stupidity a bit and took off. Stupid Abel laughing at me. Still embarrassed, I walked inside to see my mother standing there with a grin probably peeping on me through the window. Oh yeah I’ll see that grin alright when she comes to know that I’ve lost her tupperware.