Wrestling Against Myself (51 page)

“You okay,” Tony said as he checked in on his passenger.

Courtney looked up at her friend with tear filled eyes and nodded yes. Her hands and knees shook uncontrollably. 

“Let's get you home,” Tony said as he fired up the car. “We'll talk more about things tomorrow.”

Courtney didn't respond, just sank into her seat and tried to vanish from the world.

The ride to the girl's house was made in silence. Antonio didn't even bother to turn on the radio and John didn't add any commentary as they drove the short distance to her home.

“I'll see you tomorrow. Remember, you're heading to my house after school, so pack accordingly.”

Courtney nodded and then shuffled her feet to her front door.

Tony watched as the girl made her way in and then backed out of her driveway.

“Tiny got a date,” John Sharp said in a sing song tone.

“Zip it,” Tony said flatly and, to his surprise, John did what he was told.

Antonio got his weight certified and dropped off his friends at their homes. He was off of workout probation and could lift or run until his heart was content, but everything was not okay. He could have gone home and started his homework, but his mind was elsewhere.

“Lord,” he said as he drove aimlessly down County Road One, “I hope she's okay.”

All he could envision was the scared small girl trapped inside the hot car, sweat pouring off her brow as she kept the windows rolled up and the passenger door locked. Her assailants didn't
realize the driver's side was open when they accosted her.

As if on automatic pilot, the Firebird pulled into the driveway. Antonio was home; even though he was unaware that was where he was heading. He looked towards his door and wondered why he was there when he wanted to be someplace else.

“How do I fix this, God,” Tony asked out loud as he turned off the car.

An answer didn't come. There was no way to get Peter to back off from bothering Courtney and he was starting to get bold. “Can you believe he wanted to fight me,” Tony muttered to himself as he walked into his house. Even in the confines of his own home he wasn't immune to the anger he felt. “Peter has never wanted to fight anyone remotely able to fight back. Why is he starting now?”

Tony made his way to his bedroom, but didn't know what was controlling him. Everything he was doing was out of instinct. He didn't know why he was at home, or in his bedroom, where his heart wanted to be by the girl to make sure that she is okay.

“She's probably traumatized,” Tony said to himself as he made his way to his closet. “I would be if I was trapped in a car with people trying to roll it.”

The closet was another place where Antonio had no intention to going, but found himself anyway. The closet didn't hold anything of interest. There was a black suit jacket, a tan suit, and a handful of dress shirts. The rest of the contents were old wrestling trophies and medals that weren't important or impressive enough to display. Off in the back corner was a black bag with a handle that if it wasn't arranged so neatly, the teenager would have assumed it was discarded.

Tony grabbed the bag. It was light, but there was something inside. Tony pulled out the white teddy bear still wrapped in cellophane. “I almost forgot I had this.”

Tony realized his purpose in coming home, but quickly left with bear in hand. He jumped back into his car and prayed it would start right away, sometimes the Firebird got particular about turning over after it was shut down.

As luck would have it, the car started and though it wanted to stall, Antonio gave it enough gas to keep the engine happy as it sputtered to life. He backed out of the driveway and this time he knew exactly where he was heading.

Outside of battling early rush hour traffic on Alternate 19, the drive wasn't bad as Tony navigated the streets of Dunedin. He knew enough shortcuts to avoid traffic and made decent time getting to the Barnes' household.

Courtney's house was quiet when he got there and from the looks of things, Mr. Barnes had yet to make it home. Tony shut off his car and hoped there were people home, because it might take a while for the Firebird to run again. He made his way to the door, rang the bell and waited.

He waited longer than he thought it should take for someone to open the door, especially considering there was a young teenager living in the house. In his own home, most people knew that it was an open door policy and if it was before ten they could come right in. The athlete was unsure if such protocol existed at Courtney's house and wasn't going to intrude in case he was wrong.

Tony was about to retreat when the door opened. “Tiny,” Mrs. Barnes said solemnly. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“Good evening ma'am,” Tony said politely. “I was hoping to see how Courtney was doing.”

Mrs. Barnes took a deep breath and let out a sigh while shaking her head. “Not so good, Tiny. As you can imagine, she's quite worked up over what happened.”

“I'm not surprised,” the boy said. “I know it would knock me for a loop if I was in that car. I would have stayed with her when I dropped her off, but I had obligations I couldn't get out of and had other people with me that needed to get somewhere.”

“Oh yes, your weight check thing,” Mrs. Barnes said as she stood in the doorway. “How did that go?”

“It went fine. I got certified to still be a heavyweight and I'm allowed to work out again.”

“That's good. Would you like to come in before the mosquitoes eat you alive?”

“That would be preferable,” Tony said and as soon as Mrs. Barnes stepped aside, he entered the house.

“Courtney,” Mrs. Barnes called out as soon as she closed the door behind her. “You got company.”

“Tell them to go away.” Courtney's voice cracked and it was evident she was still emotional. “Nobody's home but us chickens.”

“It's Tiny,” Mrs. Barnes said pointedly.

There was a moment of silence that seemed to drag on for an eternity. “Okay,” the girl finally called from her room. “He can stay.”

Mrs. Barnes gave an apologetic smile. “Maybe you can help,” she told Antonio. “I'm at my wits end and I can't blame her for being so upset.”

“I'll do my best.”

Tony started on his way to the girl's bedroom. Even though he only was in the house one other time, the layout was simple and nothing was hard to find.

“Remember to keep your bedroom door open,” Mrs. Barnes called out from behind him.

Tony walked into the girl's room. It still wasn't as pink as he thought it should be. Courtney was sitting on her bed. Her eyes were red and puffy as she hugged a pillow, holding onto it for dear life.

“Hey,” Tiny said, unsure of what he could say to make things better.

Courtney watched as he made his way to the office chair in front of her computer. “Sorry I almost got your car obliterated,” she said as she ran a Kleenex over her eyes.

“Wasn't your fault. Luckily I don't own an SUV,” Tony said, trying to make light of the situation for the lack of anything better to do.

“Why?” Courtney said, unaware of what difference it would make if she were in a different kind of vehicle. “A big old SUV would have been better, it's bigger.”

“That's true,” Antonio said as he spun around in the chair. “But they tip over easier. Cars don't run so good if they aren't on their wheels.”

Courtney shrugged, she had no clue if what Antonio said was true or not, nor did she care. SUV or sports car, it didn't matter to her. Either way, she wasn't in a tank and figured that would have been the only vehicle that would have made her felt safe.

“Are you okay,” Tony asked as he propelled his chair over to the bed with his feet.

“I'll be okay,” the girl said as she tried to gain her composure.

“I got you something.”

“I don't deserve a gift; I almost got you into a fight.”

“Nonsense. Peter wasn't going to fight me; he never fights anyone who can defend themselves.”

“Then he must want to fight me. My dad says I couldn't punch my way out of a wet paper bag.”

“Some of those wet paper bags are quite tough.”

Even in her poor mood, Courtney cracked a smile. “Even though I wouldn't mind seeing you pop him on the nose just once, I don't want to see you get into a fight. You'd probably get into a lot of trouble and the school would really hate me if you got suspended and couldn't wrestle all because of me.”

“Me and Peter weren't going to fight, it's not his style.”

“It looked like he wanted to fight with you.”

“That was him saving face in front of a group. He knew I would never throw the first punch, so he could talk as big as he wanted to. But, I didn't come over here to talk about Peter. He's not my type and I figured he wasn't your type either.”

“Eww, ick!” Courtney made a sickly face. “He's definitely not my taste.”

Antonio snorted out a laugh. “Good, because that's one wedding I rather not attend.”

“Gross!”

“Anyway, I brought you something that I thought might make you  happy.”

“Aw,” Courtney gushed. “That's so sweet.”

Tony picked up the black plastic bag off the floor and handed it to the girl.

“What is it?” she asked eagerly.

“Open the bag.”

Courtney pulled out the clear cellophane package from the plastic bag. “It's a bear in a blue swimsuit.”

Tony did his best not to roll his eyes. “He's wearing a singlet,” he corrected. “It's a wrestling bear.”

The girl wrapped her arms around the plush toy, making the cellophane crinkle. “It's the best bear in the world, Antonio. I need to name him.”

“You can name the bear Tiny, since I don't let you call me that.”

“Cool. I got a Tiny bear.” Courtney said.

“I'm glad you like it.”

The girl started crying again, taking Tony off guard. She sobbed as she held the wrestling teddy bear tightly.

“New rule,” Tony said as he moved from the chair to the bed next to the girl. “No hugging Tiny the bear when you can hug the real wrestler.”

Courtney placed the bear by the headboard, among the other stuffed animals she picked for the week and soon found herself engulfed by Antonio's massive arms. Though she didn't want to cry in front of him, the tears fell freely as she buried her head into his chest. “I was so scared, Antonio,” she said through her sobs. “So, so scared. I thought they wanted to kill me. And all they kept yelling was prove it. Over and over and over. I still hear it in my head.”

“You're safe now.” Tony wrapped his arms around the girl and held her tight. “They can't get you here, and we'll figure out a way to deal with them at school.”

“I hope so.” The girl settled into Tony's embrace. “I don't know how much more of it I can take.”

“You're doing fine. Do you know what they meant by prove it?”

“It was that jerk Peter. He came up to me as I was heading to your car. He said if I was a girl all I had to do was prove it.”

Tony didn't like the sound of what she was saying. “What did he mean by that?”

I think he wanted to see me down there; he tried to lift up my dress.

Hearing that made Tony angrier, but he didn't want to give into his rage while holding onto the girl.