64 – Growth Needed
Dave was enjoying a relaxed morning gulping down the delicious breakfast Jackie had prepared them. He had been eating a lot more than he used to, likely to make up for the amount of calories he burned these days it was craving a lot more than before.
He sighed. Deep down he knew he had only a handful of weeks at most until his father wasn't distracted by working hard for an upcoming match.
He had gotten lucky last time they had gotten into a fight. If his father hadn't hit his still recovering head things would have likely ended very differently. He couldn't count on getting that lucky again. Between his father getting concussed in his match and hitting it again in their fight he was sure he had already consumed what little luck he may have had.
The only thing he could do was hope that by that time with him growing in strength and his father weakening that the difference in strength would be on his side by enough to counter his father's experience. Almost two decades of experience would be hard to overcome even with his new ability to learn faster unless he outclassed his father physically.
All he could do was do his best to continue training, improving his physique, and hopefully find some place to refresh and improve his rusty fighting skills. Going to his father's gym like he used to was naturally off the table so he would need to find some other place.
He whipped out his cellphone and started doing a search for local martial arts gyms to see what was available.
Jackie frowned slightly. "Aren't you enjoying what I made?" She asked.
He looked up at her from his phone smiling at her softly, but shook his head. "Of course I'm enjoying it. Just thinking it might be good to find a martial arts gym to brush up some on my fighting moves," he said.
She looked at him closely, her gaze softening. She blushed. "Ok... I'll forgive you then," she said.
He smirked. "And what would you do if you didn't forgive me?" He asked.
Her blush deepened. "I don't know. Maybe I would have to think of some things," she said.
"Maybe you should. Let me know if you think of anything later," he said.
She nodded quietly, a smile playing on her lips as she thought about it.
He continued navigating his phone saving some locations and phone numbers to check out later.
He left Jackie home with a deep kiss and called a few of the locations during his jog to school to inquire about the services and facilities they offered. Although he had more time now that the personal trainer classes had finished he still had to participate in the apprenticeship along with his school hours making his schedule quite restrictive.
Shortly after getting to school he felt a persistent penetrative gaze as if he was being watched closely no matter what he did. He looked around a few times only spotting Mara after a few attempts. She seemed to be staying at a distance, but watching him closely.
He wasn't entirely surprised. After all he had changed too much in the past few weeks. Not just the most obvious physical changes, but his behavioural change had been quite noticeable too. Getting into fights. Doing better in class. Stealing someone's girlfriend.
If he had to guess he would guess Mara was very frustrated she was only good at reading people's feelings and not actual mind reading so she could dissect what was going on inside his head. He had never realised this when they were friends due to her skills at manipulation from a young age, but after seeing her ability and going over all of her prior actions with that knowledge he was convinced she was a pretty serious control freak. If that was indeed the case him breaking away from her expectations must be driving her absolutely bonkers.
He shook his head. 'Just let her stew in it some more. Just count it as some interest paid on the revenge you still owed me, but that's something for down the line. Revenge is nice, but improving my own life takes priority,' he thought.
By the time class started he had already finished calling all the gyms whittling down the list of possibilities to just a few that he would like to visit to take a closer look in person and judge which would be best.
Kate waved him over with a wide smile the moment he walked into the classroom. She didn't even try to hide that there was more going on between them anymore. It wasn't like virtually the entire school hadn't been made aware of it by now. Even those that hadn't been in the cafeteria at the time had long heard it from the grapevine. Trying to be secretive about it any longer was just a waste of effort.
The school day went by rather uneventfully though he did feel Mara paying more attention to him. It was amusing that despite everything between her and Jeffrey who he had beaten up and given a dose of humiliation she was actually the one that seemed most bothered by everything he did. He just continued to ignore it though focusing on improving his image and flirting with Kate.
Before going to the sports gym for his apprenticeship he rushed and dropped by one of the martial arts gyms that wasn't too far off his route for a quick look.
Arriving at the sports gym he was noticed by Vanessa. "Oh you're running late. That's new," she said.
He raised his brow. "Oh you're not ignoring me anymore?" He asked calling her out.
She blushed. "What are you talking about? So why are you in such a rush?" She responded quickly.
He rolled his eyes, but decided to let it go. "I checked out a martial arts gym on the way. That's why," he said.
She looked him up and down. "Trying to learn some self defence?" She asked.
He shrugged. "Sort of," he said.
She held up her fist in a challenging way. "I could introduce you to where I train," she said.
"What kind of martial arts do they train?" He asked out of curiosity.
"Uhm... self defence?" She said unsurely.
He chuckled. "No that's ok. I'm not just looking for basic self defence techniques, but actual martial arts," he said.
He noticed she almost pouted. "Whatever," she said.