“Whatever man,” he says. “Don’t tell me what your deal is, but just know you’re acting like a tool.”
“So that’s it then?” I ask. “I’m just supposed to wait for a call?”
“If they decide you’re the best we’ve got in your weight class,” he says. “The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s not nice to get someone’s hopes up like that.”
“You’re a real inspiration, you know that?” I ask.
For the next little bit, I do my best to act like the tournament’s not such a huge deal; but when my phone starts ringing, I can’t get it to my ear fast enough. It might have been helpful to accept the call first.
“Dude, calm down,” Logan says as I answer the phone.
“Hello?” I speak.
“Hey.” It’s Ash. “Are we still going to that boxing match tonight?”
“MMA, actually,” I tell her. “But yeah. Doors open at eleven and it’ll probably go until one or two in the morning.”
She sighs. “All right,” she says. “I told you I’
d give it a chance.”
Ash has been sharing some of her concerns about what I do. I think if she just goes to a match, she’ll see how much time and training these guys put in. She’ll see that we’re not just a bunch of thugs trying to beat each other senseless.
We are that, too, I guess, but that’s not all we are.
“You won’t regret it,” I tell her.
“I wish I had your confidence,” she says. “Are you still picking me up?”
“Yeah,” I tell her, “but we’re going to want to go there on foot. Too many cars around an abandoned building and a fight’s going to stick out like a broken nose. Worse still, if the place gets raided, you’re never going to be able to get to your car without being arrested and if you abandon it, they’ll just run the plates and track you down.”
She’s quiet.
“That almost never happens, though,” I tell her. “We’re careful about where we set up and who we tell about it.”
“Okay,” she says. “I’ll see you a little before eleven, then.”
She doesn’t sound very excited.
* * *
Ash seems nervous as we approach the building where tonight’s matches are to be held, but she’s still putting one foot in front of the other.
“I don’t get why you guys don’t just join a league or something,” she says. “It seems like that would be a safer approach.”
“You’ll have a hard time finding someone that doesn’t want to join up with UFC or Pride or any of the others,” I tell her. “That said, there are probably about as many people who come here in the course of a year as there are active professionals in MMA. Not everyone shows up on the same night, but you get the idea.”
We get to the door and a tall man in a black suit holds up his hand.
“What’s up, Big D?" I ask him.
“Private party,” he says.
“Snooker,” I tell him.
He nods and moves out of the way so we can enter the building.
As we pass D, Ash mutters, “I’m still skeptical about all this, but I have to admit it’s pretty cool you guys have your own password-enabled guard at the door.”