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[b][u]Location:[/u][/b] The Lame Beach Party -----> Andrews Gym
[b][u]Time:[/u][/b] Irrelevant
[b][u]Interacting With:[/u][/b] Each Other ([@Universorum] [@Dirty Pretty Lies])[/center][hr]

From the moment she’d stepped foot in the sands of Rhett Aspen’s beach party, Audrey Huntsberg had been wanting to leave. Of course, Alyssa had run off to take care of some Queen-related issues, which left Audrey and Eve awkwardly standing besides the drinks table. This was paradise in Eve’s eyes, but given Audrey’s current relationship with alcohol and how just the smell of it made her sick the brunette bombshell was not pleased. After a few attempts of trying to suppress her gag reflex, Audrey decided she couldn’t take the stench anymore, and thus she excused herself with Eve to go and take some much needed fresh air. 

The young woman decided that a stroll along the shoreline would be the perfect way to clear her head, so she took of her flats and began her walk, feeling her feet sinking under the cold, wet sand. The beach was always one of Audrey’s favorite places in the world: it was like her therapy when she was feeling overwhelmed, upset, sad or just plain stress. The sound of the waves comforted her, helped calm down any negative feeling and brought her peace. This time, however, not even the beach could prevent her thoughts to continue to spiral in the same direction: Troy Blake. And since her mind was so insistent on her having this one guy even after trying every possible way to banish him from her thoughts, Audrey decided it was best to get things over with once and for all. So she rummaged through her bag until her hand found what she was looking for, and she took her phone out. After taking a deep breath with closed eyes, Audrey began to type a text message.

[center][quote=Audrey]To: Troy
[color=deeppink][i]I can't stop thinking about you or that night. Let's make it happen again. Meet me up?[/i][/color][/quote][/center]

With slightly trembling fingers she pressed the send key, and bit her lip in anticipation. She didn’t have to wait too long for a response back.

[center][quote]From: Troy
[color=3545c4][i]No. I’m busy. Bother somebody else.[/i][/color][/quote][/center]

Audrey’s eyes narrowed to slits, and her fingers went white where they held her phone. After all the teasing he’d been doing throughout the week, after she had swallowed her pride and [i]made the damn first of texting him[/i] (which was a MAJOR no-no in The Unholy Trinity’s book), he told her to ‘go bother somebody else’ because he was ‘busy’. Did he really think he could just up and reject her like that?!

Audrey Huntsberg had a hidden talent that came in handy to her friends: she was a master cyber-stalker. Not in the whole hacker way of course, but the simpler type (the ones who not only look for the social media of the person being looked for, but also visit the ones of their close relatives, etc.). With just a few clicks of her keyboard, she could find out as much information as she could about a person’s social life, and have a fair idea of the person’s interests, frequently visited places, family members, etc. As soon as she’d found out the full name of ‘Camaro Guy’, she immediately took to the social networks she knew so well to start her investigation. But much to her chagrin, dear ole’ Troy Blake wasn’t a fan of social media, because looking him up in any of them failed to produce any results. That didn’t mean she gave up, of course. Yes, it made her purpose a little more difficult, but she wouldn’t stop until she found out [i]something[/i]. So, Audrey took to search engines, where her searches were more fruitful: a few pictures and sports news articles about him winning what seemed like boxing tournaments, and a very interesting one who announced he was now the owner of a gym in the area. But what was the name of the gym again? Another quick search gave Audrey the answer to that question: Andrews Gym. 

Well, it looked like it was time to pay Troy Blake a visit.

Without wasting any more time, Audrey summoned an Uber to her location and gave them the directions to the gym, and in no time they had arrived at the huge but dark building.Still furious at having her offer declined, Audrey stepped out of the Uber and stomped her way to the gym’s nearest door. She didn’t care that the place seemed empty, or that with how dark the parking lot was she could easily get raped or mugged. All she cared about at the moment was getting an explanation from Troy Blake about why was it that he denied her his company so bluntly. When she had reached one of the metal doors on the side of the gym, Audrey began to persistently bang her fist against the metal door. No one came to open it. She knew he was in there: the sole light coming from the office window was the tell-tale sign. So she would have to try harder.

[color=deeppink]“TROY!”[/color] Audrey shouted angrily in the direction of the window. [color=deeppink]“I know you’re in there! You better open up this door right now, because I’m not going anywhere until you do!”[/color] As if to prove her point, Audrey banged her fists even harder against the metal door. Her fists were getting tired, though, so if he took too long she would have to take a step further and begin to kick. [color=deeppink]“You [i]will[/i] listen to what I have to say!”[/color]

Only death could save him from this suffering. Or, another beer. Yeah, that sounded good. Doing his best to mentally block out the girl [i]hitting his doors[/i], Troy stood up from his chair and headed back toward the fridge, grabbing another cold one and popping the cap off, flicking it at the empty bottle on his desk, before flopping down at the desk.Upon seeing that Troy was not responding, Audrey began to kick at the doors.

[i]Did she ever shut up?[/i] Listen to what she had to say? He [i]didn’t want to[/i]. ‘Go bother someone else.’ Was that so hard to do? Troy slammed the rest of the drink and stood up, rolling his eyes for a second. [i]Women.[/i] He stomped out of the office, flicking on the lights in the rest of the gym as he headed to the door. This was a terrible idea. Couldn’t he just brood in peace? Honestly.

The deadbolt on the door clicked, and then the knob turned as he opened the door, suddenly staring down a crazy Italian-Latina bitch. Here we go.

Audrey only stopped kicking the doors when she heard the deadbolt on the other side of the door click open. Angry and red-faced, Audrey probably looked like some sort of deranged animal. [color=deeppink]“Excuse me, just who the hell do you think you are?! Do you seriously think you can reject [i]me[/i]?! I went as far as to text you first, which goes against everything I believe in, and all you can say is to [i]‘go bother someone else’[/i]?! The [i]nerve[/i] of you, Troy Markus Blake!”[/color] 

[color=3545c4] “First things first. [i]Shut. The. Hell. Up.[/i]”[/color]

[color=deeppink]“That’s not what you told me when you were banging my brains out in the car and the motel room that night.”[/color] she spat back, crossing her arms across her chest, scowl still in place.[color=deeppink]“So don’t you go telling me to shut up! You don’t get to boss me around!”[/color]

[color=3545c4]“Do you know where you are? Shut up. I’m gonna boss you around, because I can, and you’ll listen because frankly, you want the dick. Or you wouldn’t be here right now. Choice to be made: Shut up, come inside, or I shut and lock the door and I go to sleep. What’s it gonna be?”[/color]

At that, Audrey finally sobered up, albeit her face was still red with anger. As much as she painted herself to be this unreachable, unapproachable young woman who was too good for any man, there was something about Troy Blake that she just could not resist. Had it been any guy talking to her like that, he would’ve gotten a good slap and more than a few choice words. But since Troy was in the right here -that all she really wanted was to sleep with him again, and she was in [i]his[/i] turf- and it was best to keep him happy so he wouldn’t go around telling everyone about their business, Audrey did as she was told. 

Still shooting daggers in his direction, Audrey took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and snobbishly walked inside the gym. The place looked to be equipped to the core and in pristine condition, though the cobwebs in some of the machines and weight sets revealed that they haven’t been used for a while. It seemed the rumors were true then: ever since the gym had passed on to Troy’s ownership, he had closed it down for personal use. [color=deeppink][i]‘How selfish of him…’[/i][/color] Audrey thought in dismay, mentally shaking her head. Oh, well. Maybe he had a good enough reason for it to be this way.

Once inside the gym, Audrey turned to look at Troy. [color=deeppink]“Okay, I’m inside. What now?”[/color] she asked him with a scowl, hands on her hips.

[color=3545c4]”Well, there are weights in the gym, and there are beers. Since you probably don’t like lifting, I guess we’ll have a beer.”[/color] Troy said simply, staring at her as if he couldn’t wait to [i]get her out of his zone.[/i] The very fact that she was in [i]his building[/i] put him at rage levels that he didn’t know were physically possible. Actually, now that he thought about it, it wasn’t even real [i]rage[/i]. It was petty annoyance. That was [i]even worse[/i]. Troy scowled to himself as he shut the door behind Audrey, flicking the locks back shut. [color=3545c4]“Thanks for, uh, showing up. At my gym. In the dead of the night. And, y’know, pounding on the door like it owed you rent. And then, [i]bitching more[/i] when I let you in. Is there anything else? Did I forget anything? Oh, yeah, SCREAMING. At the [i]top of your lungs.[/i] You realize we are in an area with curfews right? Get your head in the game, princess.”[/color] Troy said as he walked past her, toward the office.

Audrey watched as Troy shut and locked the doors, and she trailed after him on his way to the office. [color=deeppink]“I don’t care about curfews. They can sue me for all I care. I was not going to settle for anything else than what I want. And since you weren’t listening to me, how else was I supposed to get your attention besides what I did? So, if you get a visit from the cops because of the noise, just remember you were the one who brought it on yourself for not listening to me in the first place.”[/color] She stopped walking at the office’s doorway, and took to resting there on her left side with her arms crossed. [color=deeppink]“Um, where am I supposed to sleep? You don’t expect me to fall asleep on top of some disgusting workout mattress that has sweat from every guy who’s used it, right?”[/color]

[color=3545c4]“I don’t even have an actual bed here, and I’m pretty sure you’d find a way to pop my air mattress, out of [i]pure spite.[/i] So I don’t know where you’re gonna sleep. You’ll have to figure it out fast. Time’s a-wasting. And I only have so many beers. And now, we can’t drink them all.”[/color] He said, pulling the office door open and taking a seat at the desk, kicking his feet up. [color=3545c4]“Welcome to paradise. Population: Me, with one unwanted guest.”[/color]

Audrey decided to disregard the whole ‘unwanted guest’ thing and simply made a face at him as her only reply. Then she looked around the office in search of somewhere comfortable, but failed to find anything. [color=deeppink]“Don’t you have like a couch or something? I can manage with a fluffy couch.”[/color] Audrey told him, giving the room yet another quick look before officially deciding there was nothing.

Troy thought for a moment, staring at her as he considered it. There [i]was[/i] a couch in the break room, but it was his couch. ...but, if he banished to the break home, maybe he could go back to what he was doing before: wallowing in self-pity. Glorious, glorious self-pity. After a few more moments of contemplation, Troy nodded. [color=3545c4]”There’s a couch in the break room, c'mon. It’s old, though, and probably dusty.”[/color]

Audrey cringed heavily at the thought of sleeping in an old, dusty and probably moldy couch, and she began to second-guess herself. Had it really been a good idea to come here even when Troy clearly didn’t want her there? Wasn’t it better to leave the bitter young man alone and find someone else who would appreciate her? Or better yet, wasn’t it an even better idea to just leave, go home and get that much-needed [i]sleep[/i]? Nope, none of these options appealed to Audrey. She wanted Troy, dammit! She had wanted Troy for weeks now, and she sure as hell would get him. If having another chance to sleep with Troy meant she had to make a few sacrifices, she would do them, because at the end of the day the satisfaction she would get was worth it. Audrey finally nodded at Troy, stepping away from the doorway so he could come through. 

[color=deeppink]“It’s a better option than sleeping on the floor, for sure, and things could be easily solved with a few towels on top of the couch or something. Lead the way then, boss.”[/color]

Troy shook his head, wondering what exactly he was doing in this situation, and why he’d even [i]let her in[/i] in the first place. This entire night was shaping up to be one of bad decisions, and silently, Troy was wondering if he should just kick her out and go back to what he was doing: feeling sorry for himself. But, she was a girl. She was alone. It was dark. It wasn’t safe. And what kind of pseudo-hero would Troy be if he banished her to her fate at the mercy of the streets of LA.

A shitty pseudo hero, that’s what. [color=3545c4]“Come on, it’s over here.”[/color] He said, standing up and leading her out of the room and toward the old employee break room. Absently looking over his shoulder at the girl, Troy frowned. [color=3545c4]“The fuck do you really want, anyway?”[/color]

She waited until Troy exited the room and then followed suit, out of the office and into what appeared to be some sort of break room, before Troy finally asked what was it that she wanted. [color=deeppink]“Okay, the truth of the matter is that I was bored out of my mind at Rhett Aspen’s party because my two best friends abandoned me to talk to other people, and since I don’t really like anyone else who was at that party I decided to see if you wanted some company.”[/color] Audrey explained, shrugging before plopping herself onto the couch. It nearly swallowed her up, and the small cloud of dust that flew up as she sat down made her cough for a few seconds. She fanned the dust particles away from her face before looking up directly into Troy’s eyes again. [color=deeppink]“Look, I’m sorry I barged in here like I did, and made the scene I did. And let me just point out that it takes a lot for me to even consider apologizing to anyone, by the way, so take that as you will. But I don’t like to be rejected, especially when…”[/color] Audrey trailed off, looking down so the blush in her cheeks wouldn’t be as visible. [color=deeppink]“I just… I really wanted to see you again. I wanted to know if the chemistry we had that night was more than just alcohol and hormones in our system.”[/color]

Troy stared dumbly at her. She had [i]better be sorry[/i] for pounding on his door like that: this was a place of peaceful reflection, not one of crazy Latinas. [color=3545c4]”It’s not a good time for me.”[/color] He said bluntly.

Noticing the shift in his voice, Audrey went quiet for a few minutes. Her eyes scanned the area for some time until they fell on a particular framed photo that was hanging on the wall of the room they were in. Intrigued by the photo, the brunette stood up from the couch, walked to the wall and took a closer look at the photo. In the photo was Troy with [url=http://us.hellomagazine.com/imagenes/profiles/jeff-bridges/5406-jeff-bridges-profile.jpg]an older looking man[/url] who was standing with his arms wrapped around the younger version of Troy--aged around 12, maybe 13 at the time, holding onto a trophy he’d just won at a competition. There was a black bow glued to the top right corner of the frame, with curly, silver writing in the ribbon: [i]Rest in peace[/i]. 

It was then when Audrey remembered a few key lines about a news article she had come across on her Troy research: [i]Owen Andrews, owner of Andrews Gym and builder of champions, has passed away this summer at the age of 75 due to a heart attack. His legacy and contributions to the boxing and MMA communities will never be forgotten. The future of his gym now rests in the hands of his protegeé Troy Markus Blake III, who has inherited the prestigious building and has kept it closed off to the public.[/i] And if she did the math right, this meant that Mr. Andrews had passed away about a week before their fiery encounter in the Nirvana tribute. The dust on the floor, the cobwebs in the equipment… No wonder the poor guy had been sulking since summer.

Audrey was now feeling incredibly bad for acting out the way she did. How could she have forgotten such a key piece of information! There he had been: mourning the death of a loved one, and an angry Audrey had barged into his sanctuary without a single care or second thought. Well, it wasn’t like she could do it all over again, but she could at least try to make him dislike her a little less than he probably did at the moment.

She turned to look at Troy with gentle eyes -an uncharacteristic thing in her-, and addressed him in a soft voice: [color=deeppink] “I bet you miss him, huh?”[/color]

[color=3545c4]”Yeah, I do. But it’s none of your concern.”[/color] Troy said simply, bending his knees at the end of the couch and lifting up. [color=3545c4]”You probably shouldn’t sleep in this room, though. It gets cold.”[/color]

Audrey wasn’t stung by his bluntness. Quite the contrary: she [i]understood[/i] where it came from. After all, she had gone through something similar a few years back. The young woman decided she would share her story with him, so that maybe, [i]just maybe[/i] she could make him feel a little better. But before she exposed her rare, barely-seen sympathetic side, Audrey walked to the opposite side of the couch and lifted it up as well,though she struggled a little with the weight. Together, the pair wobbled to the office and placed the couch in the wall opposite the desk. Sighing, Audrey plopped herself on the couch again. Her soft brown eyes once again went to Troy’s face, and she took a deep breath before beginning to talk.

[color=deeppink]“I know you probably don’t care, but I’ll share my story with you. The summer before my freshman year my grandfather passed away because of a heart attack. He’d been diagnosed with heart disease for some years now, but his passing was a sudden and unexpected one. When I found out, I was destroyed, as if a piece of my heart had died along with him. Besides my father, he was my protector, my guardian angel, and I was his little princess, whom he would spoil to death whenever he had the chance. Even though we lived in different countries we were still close, but it was precisely this distance what made everything worse for me.That summer, I became a shadow of my old self, going as far as to lose some of my interest in dancing. But after starting high school I realized that I couldn’t keep on acting the way I was; that my Papa wouldn’t have wanted to see me that way. It took me some time to go back to the swing of things, but I eventually did.”[/color] Audrey was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in before finishing. [color=deeppink]“I know you might not think it now, but trust me: it gets better with time.”[/color]

Troy closed his eyes briefly as she spoke, wondering why she even felt it a good idea to share this with him, listening to her speak and opening his eyes to… just stare at her. The silence hung in the air, lasting almost a minute as he bore a hole into her, barely even blinking, before finally, in a solemn voice, Troy spoke:

[color=3545c4]”No, it doesn’t. And it’s none of your concern. I said that once already.”[/color]

The fact that Audrey sympathized didn’t mean that she didn’t get fed up with people’s attitudes easily. It was enough that she was going so far as to share an intimate part of her life story with him, and she understood that he was in pain. But that still didn’t give him reason to treat her so briskly. Her eyebrows came together in a frown. [color=deeppink]“Whatever. You clearly don’t want me here, so I guess I’ll just leave you to whatever it was you were doing before.”[/color]

Troy could spend his evening alone, in the room, wallowing in his self-pity, but she’d already showed up. If he let her leave now, she’d take his show of weakness (however faint, however brief), and she [i]might[/i] rat him out to someone else, and that wouldn’t be good. It’d throw off the food chain--not the stupid social ladder--the food chain. The thing that mattered. Troy looked at her and shook his head, heading over to the fridge. He pulled it over and withdrew two beers, cracking the lids off of them, before holding one out to Audrey.

[color=3545c4]”Better plan. Drink. Then get naked.”[/color]

[color=deeppink]“And what happens after that?”[/color]

[color=3545c4]“You get what you want, then we go to sleep. Then we move on with our lives. Again.”[/color]

Smirking now, Audrey gestured to Troy to hold her beer for a second. In the blink of an eye, her clothes were sitting in a pile beside her, and she was taking back the beer bottle from Troy’s hands and taking a swig.

[color=deeppink]“Let’s get this party started, then. I hope you don’t mind I changed the rules.”[/color]