Dance in the Rain

At least Bobby had been able to keep drinking water to rehydrate while we talked to the police, but I felt awful about the disruption to his routine.

"I'm sorry," I couldn't keep myself from repeating my apology to Bobby as we walked into the arena later.

Bobby stopped and looked at me, putting his arms around me.

"Honey, I'm not sorry. You told me you recently ended your engagement. I knew your ex was an asshole. We agreed to let this thing between us grow, to not wait for the storm to pass. I think we've been having an amazing dance, and I don't regret a little rain."

"Why are you so perfect?" I said, feeling emotions far too large for how short a time I'd known this man.

Bobby laughed, "I'm not perfect. Haven't you noticed?"

"No." I said honestly.

"How about when I drove you around all day and didn't feed you lunch?" Bobby asked.

"Hmm? That was fine." I protested. I could have said if I was hungry. But, anyway, he hadn't eaten at all, so what right did I have to complain.

"Oh honey. Someday you're going to be mad at me if I don't feed you, and I'm going to love it when you tell me I need to treat you better." Bobby promised.

"I don't want to be mad at you," I protested, not understanding at all why he'd want that.

Bobby just smirked and kissed me on the head.

"Bobby, where have you been?" Tad exploded as soon as he saw us.

"It's my fault," I said, before Bobby could speak.

"It's not her fault." Bobby denied. "Her ex made an appearance and we had to talk to the police about it."

I looked down, embarrassed to have such an asshole for an ex-fiancé. If I had made better decisions, I would have never let it get so far with my ex, and he wouldn't be causing trouble for the people around me.

"The police? Did you hurt him?" Tad asked, looking Bobby over for any signs of damage.

"No, Irena wouldn't let me." Bobby said mournfully.

"Good, good. Well, have you been hydrating?"

Bobby held up his water bottle, "constantly." He replied.

After checking over Bobby thoroughly and giving some instructions on how he should warm up, the coach came over to me.

"So, why did Bobby want to hurt your ex? He's never been jealous that I know of."

"He wasn't jealous. He wanted to protect me." I said.

"Oh. Are you alright?" Tad asked, scanning me for signs of damage now.

"Yes, I'm fine!" I assured him.

"Well, Bobby seems unusually cheerful. Maybe all this drama will actually help, who fucking knows!" Tad threw up his hands in frustration. "I hate fucking surprises."

"I'm sorry," I repeated, again.

"Bobby says it isn't your fault. So, I'll give you a pass for now. But if he loses this fight today don't talk to me for a month, ok?"

"Ok." I agreed.

Bobby had not been exaggerating about it being a boring day. As the fight got closer, he got moodier too. So, I just sat quietly and waited with him.

Eventually he had to go backstage where I wasn't allowed. Before heading back, he took me out to the arena. We walked to an area with a bunch of other muscular guys and a couple women were sitting.

"You!" Bobby snapped at one of the guys, "watch over my girl, OK? Her crazy ex is in town today. I don't want anything to happen to her while I'm not around, OK? Talk to her, but don't fucking flirt. Please?"

The guy laughed, "Sure, man. But you owe me."

Bobby relaxed a little, "yea, I owe you. I want to be able to see her when I get in the ring, next to you."

"No problem, man."

Bobby turned to me and kissed me, "Darren is alright. He'll make sure you're safe while I'm busy."

I nodded. I wanted to tell him good luck, but what if that was considered bad luck to say? "I'll see you soon." I said instead.

Bobby nodded, glared meaningfully at Darren, and left.

"Do you think he'll win?" I asked Darren.

He shrugged, "no idea, can't wait to find out."

It was not reassuring.

The arena seating was full. Our seats were not great, but they were pretty close, just at an awkward angle. I figured that the best seats were for paying customers, and staff and family got the leftovers.

Bobby's fight was actually after the main event, which meant it would still be a while. I was nervous, so I couldn't imagine how Bobby was feeling, wherever he was.

"Hey, girl." Darren said, looking at his phone.

"Yes?"

"Bobby says I should make sure you eat. One of these jokers will get you whatever you want, and we'll hit Bobby up for the cash later."

"I have a credit card." I said.

"No dice, girl. Bobby explicitly texts that you are not to be allowed to pay." Darren grinned at me.

"Um, ok. I don't care what I eat. Anything is fine." I said

"Hold on," Darren typed something into his phone.

"Bobby says you gotta choose. He says that if you don't, I should buy you the most expensive food there is. Haha... This is golden shit, girl. What'd you do to him?"

"Nothing," I blushed. "Um, can I get a water and a hot dog?"

"A water and a hot dog for the girl!" He told another guy, who flipped him off before getting up. "And a beer for me!" He called at the guy's back.

Darren shook his head and grinned as he texted a bit more, with Bobby, I assumed. It shocked me to realize that I didn't have Bobby's number. We'd pretty much just been together since we met and hadn't needed to exchange numbers. Well, after the fight I could correct that.

Ten minutes later, the other guy returned with a water and hot dog for me.

"Where's my beer jackass?" Darren asked him.

The only response was another middle finger.

It only occurred to me after I opened my mouth to eat my hot dog, and noticed Darren staring at me with a grin, that I should have ordered something else. Something that wouldn't look like a metaphor for the reason Bobby was so solicitous of me.

Embarrassed, I bit of the end off of my hot dog abruptly.

"Ow." Darren grimaced.

I tried to ignore him. I was just finishing my food as the main fight of the night was announced. The fight was over very quickly when one of them was knocked out in the first round. The crowd was really excited about it. But, after they calmed down, most people started leaving. Probably half the audience cleared out.

"Come on, let's get some better seats!" Darren told me.

We moved into a group of seats much closer to the ring. Three fights later, they introduced Bobby.

"And all the way from Wyoming, a newcomer to Bellator, here comes Robert Good! Robert's record is 5 wins - 4 by submission, 1 draw, and 0 losses. At 26 years old he stands 5'11" tall and weighs in at 170 lbs."

Bobby walked in and immediately was scanning the crowd. I stood up and waved.

"Bobby!" Darren shouted loudly.

Bobby's head snapped in our direction, and he waved at me. I grinned. My heart felt full seeing him. I felt like I hadn't seen him in forever, waiting forever. It had only been a couple hours, but it had felt much longer.

Bobby looked confident, calm, and after spotting me, focused. He strolled into the ring and faced off against his opponent who'd entered first. Bobby settled into a comfortable fighting stance with one fist by his cheek and one in front of him.

Talon attacked first, stepping close and throwing a few punches before darting back. None of the hits connected as Bobby bounced lightly out of the way. As soon as Talon backed off, Bobby went after him and managed to land a kick.

They went back and forth for a while, beating at each other. Then, they went to the mat and wrestled and grappled. I noticed that Bobby did seem to not be having problems escaping Talon's holds. But I had no idea who was winning.

"Who's winning?" I asked Darren.

"It's pretty even so far. The only sure way to win is by submission or knock out. It's never a good idea to leave it up to the judges."

"Oh."

The round ended with both fighters still in good shape. Tad talked to Bobby as he drank some water. Then, the next round started. As far as I could tell, it looked the same as the first. But when the round ended, it seemed to me that Talon looked more tired.

"That 'Talon' guy looks tired, right? Bobby doesn't. That's good, isn't it?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah, looks like maybe he cut too much weight. Bobby has a great opportunity to make a decisive win in this last round."

"All right." I leaned forward in my seat as the third round started.

"See how Talon keeps trying to get Bobby on the ground? He knows he's not going to get a knockout, and he can't afford to let this round get scored against him, so he's trying for a submission - his specialty. But Bobby is too good to get caught in a hold. Unfortunately, Bobby's not having a lot of luck getting a submission hold himself.

"Oh, look, Bobby's avoiding the ground game. Is he going to go for a knockout? He is! Ha! Look at that beating Bobby's laying down. And there Talon goes, it's game over."

I jumped up and cheered. Bobby looked up and grinned at me.

"He'll have to go get checked by a doctor, then I'm sure he'll come get you." Darren commented.

"Ok. He looks ok right?" I asked anxiously.

"Yeah, looks fine. He'll be sore tomorrow though." Darren laughed. "Anyway, his was the last fight. I'll hang out with you until he's done."

"I have to pee," I admitted.

So, Darren walked me to the restrooms and waited while I peed. When I came out, Darren wasn't there, but my ex was.

"Irena, I found you!" He said. "I'm so sorry about how I acted earlier. I was hurt, I overreacted. You were right to be angry."

He grabbed my arm and began pulling me away from the bathrooms.

"Why are you here? What are you doing?" I tried to get my arm out of his grip, but I couldn't. I dug my heels in and sat down on the floor.

"Now, baby. Don't be like that." My ex said, then he picked me up and started carrying me away.

"Help! Put me down!" I screamed, panicking.

Where was Darren? I hadn't actually expected my ex to show up, let alone to try and kidnap me. I beat against my ex's back and tried to kick him. But even though my ex wasn't nearly as strong as Bobby, he was still much stronger than me.

All of a sudden, my ex fell and dropped me. I crawled and scuttled away, then ran.

"Irena!" Someone called, and it took me several seconds to realize it was Bobby's voice. I stopped and turned.

Bobby was running after me. Behind him, I could see Darren holding down my ex. I just stood there, shocked, and waited for Bobby to come to me.

He wrapped me in a hug, gently.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yes," I nodded shakily.

Bobby stood with me until the arena security team came and handcuffed my ex. I couldn't think of anything to say, and Bobby let me be quiet. About when the police showed up, I finally felt like I could talk.

"Thank you. I'd like to tell Darren thank you too. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Why would he do that? Why would he, he... He tried to kidnap me!"

And there, that was the truth of what had just happened. My ex-fiancé had tried to kidnap me. I started crying, huge ugly tears accompanied by a deep sob from my chest.

Bobby held me and stroked my hair, "shhh... It's alright now. You're safe. I got you. This isn't your fault, honey. Shhh..."

And then, strangely, Bobby started dancing. He started slow, swaying back and forth with me in his arms. Then, he started turning, picking up the pace a little. It was so odd, it distracted me from my crying.

"What are you doing?" I asked, sniffling.

"I'm dancing in the rain with you." Bobby said gently.

It was the sweetest, silliest thing I could imagine. I smiled up at him, and he smiled down at me. And then I couldn't help it, I laughed at the absurdity.

"I always want to dance in the rain," I said.

I almost added with you, but I held that back. No matter what happened with Bobby, I would always hold this gift he had given me, the gift of dancing in the rain.