Page 51 of Punchline
“What?” His grin was toothy. He kept typing. “Will… be there… after… Ethan… ” He paused. “Stupid autocorrect. Come on. Will be there after Ethan… puts… on… his… pants.”
I rolled my eyes and kept driving. In seconds, Jake’s phone pinged with a reply, and he howled with laughter.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
CHAPTER 16
JAKE
“I hate you.”
“No you don’t.”
I turned to glare at Carson. “I really do. How I let you talk me into doing a tournament… ”
“It’s just a little IBJJF tournament,” Carson said in that irritatingly cheerful way he had. “And admit it, you were tired of watching on the sidelines while everyone else competed.”
I looked back at the mat to keep from admitting that he might, maybe, kind of, have a point there. Beth’s school wasn’t super competition-focused, but there was a contingent of students who regularly competed in the local scene. Carson had talked me into going with him to a tournament last month, because of course he had, and it had been… surprisingly fun. It was the first tournament I’d gone to since Abu Dhabi, but the atmosphere couldn’t have been more different.
A local IBJJF tournament, even in Vegas, was more for fun than anything serious. There were a lot of people, a lot of matches, but very little of the ego that tended to runrampant at the higher levels. Most of the competitors were kids out to have a good time and learn something under pressure, and most of the local coaches were great. Honestly, the worst people in the crowd were by far the parents, one of whom stormed a mat and tried to punch a ref when his seven-year-old son was arm-barred by a cute girl in a Pokemon-themed gi. Needless to say, that asshole was banished from the rest of that event and every other one, but for the most part…
It was fun. It wasexcitingto watch our students test themselves against other players and see how they applied their lessons in real-time. Beth competed as well, dominating the women’s division so thoroughly they made her go up against women who had fifty pounds on her and shestillbeat them with time to spare. Carson didn’t compete, but he was there cheering everyone on, and me… well.
Maybe it was a side effect of having a boyfriend who played professional sports for a living, maybe it was because I finally had my shit together enough not to have a panic attack at the thought, but I was able to look at the idea of competing as something other than a penance. The only downside of it was that the tournament was on a Saturday after a Friday away game for Ethan. We weren’t sure he was going to get here in time to see any of my matches, but Carson had promised to film the whole thing for him.
No pressure.
So yeah, I was going out on the mat today, but it wasn’t going to be a big deal. I was going to ease myself back into the swing of things, have a few friendly bouts, and not get too hung up over it.
That resolve lasted long enough for Beth to get to the women’s finals, at which point the other grappler’s coach yelled out, “Choke that fucking dyke out, Becky!” when his student tried to take Beth’s back.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t succeed. It didn’t matter that Beth ended the match with a twister that had the other woman slapping the mat like she was trying to resuscitate it. It didn’t matter that Beth probably took it in stride and Carson barely seemed to notice, becauseInoticed it. For the first time, in my sport, I noticed a guy being both an asshole and homophobic when describing another grappler. I noticed it because, even though as far as I knew Beth was straight,Iwasn’t, and noticing that word felt like having cat claws raked down the inside of my skull. It made me angry, mostly at that piece of work but also at myself, because I should have noticed this shit sooner. Noticed it and said or done something about it.
However, it seemed like today was my lucky day.
“Hey.” I tapped Carson’s elbow. “That guy with the purple stripe on his gi, is he competing?”
He glanced where I was pointing. “Oh, Waylon? Yeah, he’s in the men’s super-heavyweight. He won the last two tournaments in his division, I think.”
Ah. He was one weight class up. “I’m going to re-register in his class.”
“You’re going to—” Carson’s confusion cleared almost immediately. “Dude, you don’t have to do that. Jackasses are everywhere. And Beth doesn’t need a knight in shining armor, even if he’s as shiny as you. Right?” he said to Beth as she joined us, looking annoyed.
“Waylon is a piece of shit,” she snapped.
“Um.” Carson seemed taken aback. “Okay, but?—”
“Becky Ramirez is his best student,” she continued, “andshe’s a lesbian. How do you think he makes her feel when he says things like that?”
“Why stick with him, then?” I asked.
Beth rolled her eyes. “Her whole family goes to that gym. I invite her over to ours every time I see her, but she doesn’t feel like she can switch without upsetting the apple cart. It’s bullshit, that’s what it is.”
I glanced over at Becky, who was being dressed down something fierce by her coach. She was crying and trying not to show it, and all of a sudden I felt beyond motivated.
I was going to grapple this guy, and I was going to beat him.
Withflare.
