Kevin Maia

June 18th, 2015

"12 Gauge" Kris Vanzant, I like to think of her as the reason I keep training. Kris always believed that one day I could be a world champion even when everyone else thought I was way over my own head. Its that kind of attitude that made her one of my best friends. I met her only a few weeks after my father died at this gym in my hometown. The gym used to be a ballet school until MMA started taking over Richmond and it was quickly converted into a full on training gym. The people who bought it out were none other than Stitch and Winston Crawford. Most of the girls left obviously but there were a good handful who stayed to train. One of them was none other than Kris Vanzant. Her last name used to be Sletton but that's kind of a long story. You see Kris was a virgin but according to our high school she slept with half of the baseball team. It was all bullshit of course but that didn't stop everyone at our school from calling her Slutton instead of Sletton. It's like the old saying goes "Misery likes company". I guess that's why fate put us together because we met each other at our lowest. I had just lost my father and she had just become the most ragged on girl in our school. Crawford's Gym was our only place of escape, in fact it was for a lot of people. Coming from a ballet school it was no surprise that most of the people training there were actually women. The crazy thing was besides Winston and I there were only a few other guys who trained there. Apparently the thought of training with only women turned off a lot of people. But for Winston and I we knew what these women were capable of. Winston actually ended up marrying one of them, she was a karate girl named Suri Waterson. They called her "The Karate Hottie" and by "they" I mean just Winston. It was the nickname he gave her when they first sparred together. Now today they have a little girl named Michelle who's turning two in a few days. It's weird thinking how fast time flies but it was just life I guess. Today was Saturday so like every other Saturday I started with a jog around my neighborhood to wake myself up. After that I got my gear and walked down to Crawford's gym which was just a few blocks from my house. When I walked in the front door to find just a few people inside. It was normal since most people take the weekend off but if your anything like Kris and I you know there's no such thing as days off. To be fair it wasn't just us like it usually was there was this other girl who started coming here only a few weeks ago with her dad. I never really got the chance to ever talk to her mostly because I was too busy training with Kris. As for her I looked around and found her sitting down on the steps of the boxing ring taping up her hands.

"You looking to spar today Twelve?" I asked.

"That would make sense considering I'm taping up my wrists." She said smiling at me.

"Ok its just....."I said dropping my bag.

"Just what?" She asked.

"Do you remember what happened last time we sparred?" I asked getting my gear out from my bag.

"Your point?" She asked.

"I don't wanna hurt you again." I said.

"You should be worrying about how I'm gonna get you back." She said winking at me.

"Ok ok just don't go complaining about your head hurting again." I said taping up my wrists and hands.

"Shit I just noticed we don't have anyone to keep time." She said taking off her shoes.

"Yeah where the hell is Suri she's usually here on Saturdays?" I asked looking around.

"Apparently Michelle is sick and needed to go to the doctor." She said.

"Oh shit really? Damn that sucks it had to happen a few days before her birthday." I said taking off my shoes.

"Right, I just hope it ain't nothing serious." Kris said putting on her shin pads.

"Probably just a little hiccup." I said putting on my shin pads.

"But who the hell is gonna keep time?" She asked.

"I will." I said.

"Hell no you get to into sparring and lose track of time." She said.

"Well fine then, what about new girl over there?" I asked looking over at the girl I mentioned earlier who was now hitting the heavy bag.

"Perfect now go ask her." Kris said putting on her head gear.

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because I'm busy." She said putting on her sparring gloves.

"Fine." I said walking over to the girl.

"Can I help you?" She asked in an Australian accent.

"You mind keeping time for my friend and I over there." I said pointing at Kris.

"Sorry but I'm a little busy right now." She said before starting to hit the heavy bag again.

"Oh...sorry to bother you then." I said turning to walk away.

"Wait.....your Billy's kid right?" She asked.

"Yeah, how....did you know my father?" I asked.

"Not that much but my dad did, they were good friends. I'm sorry for your loss." She said.

"Oh its fine, it was a while ago." I said.

"You know what? I can finish this later, still need someone to keep time?" She asked.

"Yeah just come over when your ready." I said.

"Names Erin by the way." She said holding out her hand.

"Kevin." I said shaking her hand.

"I know." She said.

"Of course you did." I said walking back over to Kris who was struggling trying to close the velcro straps on her gloves with her teeth.

"Here lemme help you with that." I said closing them for her.

"So did she say yes?" Kris asked.

"Yep, you ready to get your ass kicked?" I asked putting on my headgear.

"You wish you could kick my ass Maia." She said smiling.

"Open." I said holding out her mouth piece.

"You open." She said sarcastically.

"Twelve." I said tilting my head a little bit.

"I hate that nickname." She said opening her mouth so I could put her mouth piece in.

"I know." I said putting on my sparring gloves which were just 16 ounce boxing gloves.

"Need some help with that?" Erin asked walking over with her stuff.

"Yeah can you lace these up for me." I said holding out my gloves.

"Why don't you just use the velcro ones, much easier." She said lacing up my gloves.

"Because these are the only ones I got with me at the moment." I said.

"Do you want me to put your mouth piece in too?" She asked.

"Please, its in my bag right there." I said.

"No problem." She said grabbing it from my bag.

"Thanks." I said opening my mouth.

"Don't bite me now." She said putting my mouth piece in.

"Don't give me a reason too." I said smiling through my mouthpiece.

"That headgear looks funny on you." She said laughing.

"Not as funny as a concussion will look on him, are we sparring or not?" Kris asked holding her hands up.

"Yeah I'm coming jeez hold on." I said winking at Erin before getting into the boxing ring.

"Alright you two I'm starting the timer now." Erin said holding up her phone.

"What was it you said about a concussion?" I asked walking down Kris.

"No talking." Kris said firing a jab that hit me in the shoulder.

"Fair enough." I said slipping a few of her punches.

"Get your hands up Kevin." Erin said.

"Not my style." I said throwing a leg kick at Kris.

"I said no talking." Kris said hitting me with a front kick to the body.

"Hey no body shots I ain't got padding there." I said.

"Oops." Kris said throwing another kick to the body that I caught before pushing her over.

"Come on now twelve you gotta follow the rules." I said as Kris hopped back up to her feet.

"Shut up Maia." Kris said throwing a left hook that I ducked and countered with a hook of my own.

"Calm down you two this is sparring not fighting." Erin said.

"Bite me bitch." Kris said hitting me with a right hook combination.

"Hey seriously calm down Twelve." I said dodging a huge over hand that Kris threw.

"You calm down Maia." Kris said throwing a spinning back kick that I caught, this time kicking her leg from out under knocking her down.

"Hey Kris what's wrong?" I asked as she shot up throwing a huge left hook that hit me square on my chin.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Erin yelled hopping up on the ring apron.

"You wanna go Kris is that it?" I asked firing a shot back hitting her square in the face.

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!" Kris yelled ducking a hook from me and counter with a left uppercut.

"I don't wanna hurt you Twelve." I said.

"COME ON QUIT BEING A BITCH! HIT ME!" Kris yelled before throwing a fury of jabs and straight right hands.

"KRIS CALM DOWN!" Erin shouted.

"YOU SHUT UP BITCH! COME ON KEVIN HIT ME!" Kris yelled walking me down throwing another right hook that I ducked and counter with a left hand that wobbled her.

"YOU DONE?!" I asked.

Kris just looked at me and before I knew it she charged at me and took me down. She threw an elbow at my face that hurt like hell but I couldn't grab on to her because of my boxing gloves. I could see something in Kris's eyes that I've seen before, it was a mixture of rage and hurt all in one. She tried to throw more punches but Erin had stepped in and pulled her off of me. Kris had snapped though and immediately tried to swing on Erin who simply just ducked it and took her down. By the time I got up I saw Erin on top in full mount trying to hold Kris down. I looked over and saw Winston and Stitch running over to the boxing ring.

"HEY KNOCK IT OFF YOU TWO!" Winston yelled pulling Erin off of Kris.

"She fucking started it!" Erin said.

"Kris what the hell?" I asked trying to take my gloves off.

"Here I got you kid." Stitch said unlacing my gloves.

"Thanks Stitch." I said spitting out my mouthpiece.

"Kris what happened?" Winston asked.

"I'm sorry I just.....I put on the gloves and I just....I kept seeing his stupid fucking face....I just wanted to hurt someone so fucking bad I'm so sorry." Kris said breaking down in tears.

"Who's she talking about?" Erin asked looking at me.

"Her father is...abusive towards her. This place is the only way she gets away from him." I said.

"We've been trying to take care of her by showing her how to channel that anger but....she's still just a kid." Stitch said.

"I'M NOT A KID!" Kris yelled taking out her mouthpiece.

"You are a kid dammit! It was my fault I should've never had brought you into this gym. Give me your gloves." Stitch said holding out his hand.

"What?" Kris asked.

"You heard me you're done for today. Now give me your gloves." Stitch said.

"This is bullshit!" Kris said as Winston helped her take off her gloves.

"No Kris I'm sick of your bullshit! You refuse to learn from your mistakes and now you're starting to hurt the only people who care about you." Stitch said.

"Fuck you guys." Kris said trying to hold back more tears as she climbed out of the ring.

"Twelve wait." I said chasing after her but was stopped by Winston.

"Just let her go mate." Winston said as we all watched Kris grab her stuff and storm out of the gym.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We came in just to see how the place was going and we come into to see this, what happened?" Stitch asked.

"Kris wanted to spar and I fucking knew this would happen fuck. I should've never let her spar with me again." I said.

"Hey mate its not your fault. This ain't nothing new we all know about Kris's home life, the only thing we could do now is wait for her to cool down." Winston said walking away with Stitch.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Erin said.

"Don't be, Kris ain't got easy but she promised she wouldn't freak out like that again." I said.

"Lucky I was here she damn near tore your face up with those elbows." She said touching the bruise forming on my face.

"Yeah I was, hey that was a pretty good takedown you landed on her. You wrestle or something?" I asked.

"Ever since I could walk." She said laughing.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yeah my dad got me into combat sports at a very young age back in Brisbane. I've been training so long it just feels like the only thing I know sometimes." She said picking up my mouthpiece.

"I feel that way sometimes too, growing up as the son of a MMA fighter I never really had a choice but to get into it." I said taking off my headgear.

"It's a shame that headgear messes up your hair." She said running a hand through it.

"What are you talking about? My hair looks fine." I said smiling.

"You clearly need a mirror." She said handing me my mouth piece back.

"Hey is there any chance....we can spar together next time? Cause that's just gonna keep happening with Kris." I asked.

"I think the question is, do you really want to spar with me?" Erin asked.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked chuckling.

"I've been training my whole life, I don't want to hurt you Kevin." She said.

"Monday....2 PM....be here." I said.

"Don't forget this." She said pulling a pen out of her bag and writing something on my arm.

"You're number?" I asked.

"My address." She said as she finished writing.

"You want me to come over?" I asked.

"I like my sparring sessions private." She said.

"Is this a sparring session or a wrestling session?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"You'll just have to come and find out." She said grabbing her bag and walking out of the gym.

I shook my head and walked over to the heavy bag and started throwing combinations at it. I may have trained for another 30 minutes until I decided to go home. I grabbed my bag and walked home but when I showed up I saw Kris sitting on my porch. I walked over to her and I saw that she had came straight here after storming out of the gym. She was just staring at the ground but she knew I was there cause I was standing right in front of her.

"I'm sorry I freaked out and elbowed you." She said still staring at the ground.

"Well it's a good thing you don't hit hard or it would've actually hurt." I said kneeling down in front of her.

"I hit hard enough." She said cracking a smile.

"Hey....I know how it is at home but....Stitch is right....we always knew you fought emotionally but now your training emotionally. Now you're hurting the people who care about you." I said.

"I know it's just....I just get so fucking angry when I train...it's like all I can see is him. All I see is my fucking dad and I fucking hate it. I'm sorry I hurt you Kevin I'm sorry." She said throwing her arms around me.

"Do you wanna stay over?" I asked.

"Yeah...yeah I'd like that. You don't think the others are gonna be mad over what I said right?" She asked looking up at me.

"Look at you, how could anyone stay mad at that face?" I asked tucking a stray group of hairs behind her ear.

"Why can't all the other guys be like you Kevin?" She asked smiling.

"I don't know, I wasn't raised like most guys." I said.

"You got that right." She said.

"So should we head inside?" I asked.

"Nah I think I'll stand here like this for a little longer." She said still hugging me.

"Ok well its hot so-" I said before picking her up.

"Maia! Put me down!" She said laughing.

"Nope." I said opening my front door and walked inside with her.

"You know I hate being carried!" She said as I moved my hands to underneath her thighs for support.

"But you're so light." I said laughing while carrying her upstairs.

"You know one of this days I'm gonna pick your ass up and see how you like it." She said.

"You'll hear no complaints from me that day." I said carrying her into my room.

"Now will you put me DOWN!" She yelped as I threw her on to the bed.

"Oh you're so dead." She said as she bounced off the bed and tackled me to the floor.

We wrestled around for a bit switching positions until she ended up on top somehow. We were both out of breath and just stared at eachother smiling and laughing a bit. I saw the joy in Kris's eyes that I had grown accustomed to over the past year. But there was something else, something I couldn't really describe. It almost seemed like she was liking all of this a little too much. I then noticed that my hands somehow ended up on her waist and she was literally straddled to mine. I looked back into her eyes and noticed that her face was getting closer to mine. For a second and I mean a solid second I thought she was going in for a kiss. But actually she was just laying her head on my shoulder. I sighed a little bit in relief and just laid there with her....my little 12 Gauge.