Why was he disappointed? And why would a few days with Lucy make him feel relieved? Owen looked at the girl intently, trying to organize his thoughts, caught by surprise with his own spontaneous feelings.
Lucy must've misunderstood, her eyes gave her away. She was worried from the start that Owen would be upset. While he is really upset, the reason couldn't be farther than what she had in mind.
She decided to speak. "I'm sorry."
Owen was taken out of his trance by the sudden apology. He was confused as the conversation's quick shift was too far from where his focus was.
"No." Owen softened his gaze. "I'm sorry if I overstepped. Let's go to the gym." It was too complicated to think about early in the morning. He stood up and gestured for Lucy to follow. Maybe he just needed to blow off some steam on the ring.
Lucy, fully dressed for work followed Owen out the door, to the elevator, out the building's front entrance. "Wait Owen, I think I should take the bus from here."
Owen understood the intention and the practicality of the request but he's starting to get irritated by getting reminded that they should part ways.
He gave an indifferent nod and took the keys from the attending valet. He got inside the vehicle and watched as Lucy walked on the curbside. He waited until the woman took a turn before starting the engine and was debating whether to follow at least until she got on the bus.
His intrusive thoughts won and he slowly revved up to a slow pace, making sure the woman did not get out of his sight without getting too near. He puts the hazard lights on and crawls the road taking several stops to let Lucy take a few more steps ahead before accelerating again.
Lucy, oblivious to the protective gestures made by a certain MMA fighter, was walking naturally toward her destination. She arrived at the waiting area just as a bus came to a stop. She smiled inwardly at the great timing and hopped right on. Her feet were still aching from the early morning event with Owen and she felt thankful for the early trip, at least she didn't have to stand the whole way to work.
Arriving at the gym, Lucy looked for Owen instinctively, wanting to make sure he got there safely too. He was in his area, banging a poor punching bag. She wondered if that particular punching bag was exclusively for Owen, she only ever saw him there.
Lucy got into the habit of making small talk with some of the club members since she has been going to the place regularly now. It started as simply an acknowledgment of each other's presence and developed into random chats.
Everyone was surprisingly friendly and well-mannered when you got to know them. Lucy was not one to judge but everyone's image was so far from what you would think of MMA fighters. Owen was not an exception.
"Hey, Lu!" She heard a booming but low tone from behind. Some also fell into the habit of shortening her name, which she doesn't find a reason to reject.
"Hey, Al." She put her hands up to do a small wave and smiled.
"You okay?" The bearded man casually asked while tilting his head and going on ahead.
"Yeah, why?" Lucy was surprised by the sudden question.
"You look down." Al shrugged his shoulders and casually picked up a weight plate from the floor.
"Just tired." She tried to brush it off. She jolted at the thought that the weight of the recent events was showing on her face but she didn't want to bother anyone else with her problems. Owen had enough of that. "Oh, by the way." She started without an actual thing to talk about but wanted to change the topic quickly. "Can you teach me self-defense?"
She managed to pull off a whole sentence with something she actually had in mind for a while. She couldn't shake off the helplessness she felt during the thug incident and thought maybe she needed to learn how to protect herself in case she encountered them again. She's already at a gym full of brawlers so she might as well take up a few lessons.
Unbeknownst to them, there's an attentive ear eavesdropping on the conversation, timing his punches to get enough quiet to make up the words that are exchanged. Hearing that Lucy was asking for self-defense lessons from another person is like a silent jab to Owen's stomach. Has he not made himself available enough to be asked this favor? Not that I would. He tried to backtrack himself at the sudden want to jump into Lucy's needs — any of her needs.
He tried reasoning to himself that a match would be set for him in 3 months and he had to focus on his own routine to prepare for that so it's good that Lucy asked someone else. He already did enough for the girl, there's no need to dwell on this so much.
Owen was starting to calm down but his lips involuntarily twitched hearing Al answer Lucy's request enthusiastically.
"Oh, sure. We can go up the cage so I can show you some moves. Do you have spare clothes?" Al puts down the weight after pumping it against his chest for the last time, grunting lightly.
"Yes." Lucy always brings a change of clothes and she also has a spare set in her assigned locker. She's already on her sneakers, anyway so changing into some sweats and a a shirt would do.
"Girl, you came in prepared." Al just had to sneak in a playful smirk. "What time is Owen's treatment?" The man is looking at the clock to emphasize his question.
"I have him at 9, we have at least an hour. But aren't you busy?"
"No, that's alright I already warmed up and have nothing in particular today. You can change and then I'll meet you up there.", nodding towards the metal cage.
"Alright." Lucy went to the gym's female locker area to get changed. For the few times she had to use the room, she always had it for herself. The gym doesn't have female members, or they do but she hasn't seen them. She took her uniform and changed to more comfortable workout clothes. She takes one glance at the mirror to make sure everything's in place before heading out.
Owen removed his gloves as soon as Lucy headed for the lockers. He picked up his shaker bottle and lifted it towards his mouth, drinking without his lips touching the flask's mouth. He's panting heavily from the punching workout and has to take deep breaths to even out his breathing.
Owen had a brief internal struggle before finally giving in and walking up to Al.
"What are you doing?"