Alan and Christine were side by side on their gurneys as they rode in the ambulance to the hospital. Since neither was seriously injured, their going to the hospital was largely a precaution. Therefore they were left alone in the back of the ambulance, giving them an opportunity to chat in private.
Alan's head was swirling while his heart was racing. While he felt exhausted after the excitement of the fight, his body still coursed with adrenaline.
They were silent for a minute or two as the ambulance moved quietly through the city streets. (Since there was no emergency, they were moving at the speed of other vehicles, without use of a siren.) Alan had turned his head and was watching her from just a foot or two away.
"Christine, I don't even remember if I've had a chance to say this, since things have been crazy since before the fight. But... thanks."
She just smiled and made a little shrug, like it was no big deal. She was being very modest.
But Alan wasn't having that. "No, really! You practically saved my life back there! I mean, if you hadn't been acting as my bodyguard and protecting me, I would have been toast!"
She thought, I DID almost save your life back there. Those guys were out to seriously hurt you and cause real damage. But she again modestly and nonverbally deflected his praise.
He started to review the fight in his mind. "Dang! Now that I think about it, you really stopped them all single-handedly while I was getting beat up by Rock." He looked down at his wounds. "How did you do that? I mean, no offense, but all those guys were a lot bigger and stronger than you. Especially that one gigantic guy."
She noted, "Aaron. I caught his name afterwards."
"Yeah, Aaron. How did you handle him?! I mean, he's gotta be the biggest high-school guy I've ever seen!"
She explained, "You gotta understand, size and strength has less importance than you'd think. In a normal street fight, maybe, but not when you throw serious martial arts training into the mix. Someone who really knows their stuff, well, it's like using an Uzi against sticks and stones. In a battle with those weapons, who's gonna win?"
"The one with the Uzi, obviously," Alan replied. "But, I mean, come on. He was HUGE! And there were four of them and only two of us! That's more like a machine gunner versus Godzilla. Even with a machine gun, Godzilla is gonna keep coming. I mean, he was, like, a giant!"
Christine nodded. "True. But someone's strength can be used against them, if you've been properly trained. Most of what I did was Aikido, which uses leverage against an attacker's mind instead of just their body."
"Like Jiu-jitsu?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. For some reason, people have heard about how Jiu-jitsu and Judo use leverage, but those are basic martial arts concepts; Aikido just takes them further than the others. In Jiu-jitsu you still have to throw the other guy; in Aikido you get them to throw themselves. Size doesn't matter much; with a big but poorly trained brute like Aaron, his size can actually become a liability. Basically, you lead their mind and their body follows."
Alan eagerly asked, "Is that how you took him down early in the fight? I kinda missed what happened there."
She said, "Uh, sorta, but only partially. What I did to him was largely aggressive defensive martial arts. Aikido is mostly purely defensive, like what I used on Ryan and Ivan and Rock. With them I just stayed centered and took advantage of their lack of knowledge about serious fighting. For example, whenever any of them decided to do something to me, I was able to use that decision against them because it made their moves more predictable. Sometimes I targeted specific nerves, like how I stopped Ryan and Rock at the end. Most of that's almost impossible to resist unless you know the right counter-moves."
Alan persisted. "But how did you take out that big guy? One moment he was running RIGHT AT me and then suddenly he was flat on his back. How did you do that?"
She said "I pinned his rear leg to the ground just when he needed to raise it to take his next step, which made him twist and fall. But his being knocked out was mostly luck." She was too embarrassed to admit that she had set up the knockout by using her boobs to grab and hold the giant's attention until the outcome was inevitable. That actually had been Aikido mind-leading: by inducing his gaze and eyes and head and neck to track her enormous rack as she came up alongside him to his right, she had caused him to initiate the clockwise spiral twist and reduced vestibular inner-ear sense of balance that contributed to his fall.
She explained in detail what she'd done. "At first I was going to destroy his knee so he couldn't hurt anyone else. But that would have injured him permanently, probably ending any chance for a sports career. So at the last moment I changed my target slightly, instead kicking down hard above his knee, jamming his lower leg into the ground just as his foot needed to come up during his sprint."
"His other foot was already in the air, about to come down for his next step, with his hips rotating with his stride. That momentum made his body rotate around the pinned leg so much that he couldn't get traction with his other foot, which by that time was coming down sideways. He was already leaning so far forward in his sprint that he smacked into the ground almost instantly."
"After that, the same body rotation flipped him onto his back. I knew that taking him down like that would make him rethink his priorities: he wouldn't dare attack you again until he'd dealt with me. You saw that when he came back - his first concern was to take me out."
She concluded, "A concussion like he got often causes memory loss of events just beforehand, so he might not even know exactly what I did to stop him."
Alan was wide-eyed, hanging on every word. "Wow! But what made you decide to attack him? How could you pin his leg? How did you manage to not get hurt yourself? I mean, he was so big and-"
She explained, "Whoa! Too many questions at once. Let's take them one at a time. I took him down to stop him from hurting you, because I saw he was going to smash you. I wasn't going to let that happen! I'd promised to protect you."
He looked at the determination on her face; for some reason it really aroused him. He realized it was because she was showing how much she cared about him.
She explained in more detail how she'd timed her leap and surprised the giant with her martial arts kiai shriek, which delayed his response until he had no time to save himself. She again avoided mentioning the critical extra distraction provided by her remarkable rack.
She finished by saying, "I'm really glad I changed my mind and didn't break his knee. If I'd kicked directly into it as I originally intended, a lot like breaking a board, he'd be crippled with a shattered knee. He'd be the one in this ambulance and I'd be feeling even more guilty than I am already."
She turned away and stared at the vehicle roof above her head, looking very sad.
Alan asked, "But why are you feeling guilty? He attacked us; we didn't attack him. You were simply protecting me."
"I know," she said. "I've trained all my life to defend people, yet when the time came my first response was to destroy my opponent. If I hadn't changed my attack at the last moment I would have damaged him for life. I let my emotions overrule my training. That's how I failed."
"Whoa! What?! Failed? You kicked ass! Now you stop this second guessing. You saved me! Don't beat yourself up because, in hindsight, you think you could have done better. You did what you thought was needed at the time, to stop his surprise attack."
Christine suddenly realized that her impulse to inflict such a major injury had occurred because she'd been reacting to her first impression, that the giant had been raping a girl. She responded as she'd been taught to do during a sexual assault, to give the attacker such a big immediate problem that he would forget all about his intended victim. She tried to explain, "Yes, but-"
Alan interrupted, "No 'buts'. Don't 'should' on yourself. You've gotta eliminate those three bad words - should-a, could-a, would-a - from your vocabulary. You're so great; I think you're totally amazing."
Christine blushed; she didn't know what to say at first. However, she was still feeling bad, so she complained, "No, I failed. In fact, I even failed at failing. I've spent YEARS learning martial arts, not to hurt people but to stop violence, in self-defense. Aikido is all about harmony; that's what the word means. My starting point should have been eliminating him as a threat, not crippling him permanently. But the very first time I was in a real fight, I forgot all that and turned into some kind of vengeful beast. I was going to ruin him for life! Luckily, I had a moment of sanity just before I leaped, so I was able to change my target. If I hadn't... I don't even want to think about it!"
She looked so despondent that Alan thought she was going to cry.
He reached over and took her hand. "Hey! Don't beat yourself up. As far as I'm concerned, you're my hero! Sure, maybe your initial reaction was a little harsh, but that was your first real combat situation. Nobody's perfect their first time. And you got your 'vengeful' impulse under control in time, didn't you? You didn't break his knee and cripple him. I saw how you looked afterwards; you were all calm and collected, ready for whatever was coming next, while I was pretty much having a heart attack."
She thought back, then grinned a little bit. "Yeah, I guess I recovered pretty quickly." Her expression turned sour. "But I never should have tried to cripple him in the first place. That's unforgivable. It's just that I thought he was abusing some poor girl... and... he was going to hurt you. That wasn't going to happen!"
Her face hardened in a mask of fierce resolve. It looked downright frightening, even though she was staring at the ambulance roof again and not right at Alan.
He squeezed her hand, causing her to look his way. "Hey. It's cool. If it means anything, you're forgiven. As I said, I think you were a hero back there. And I'm touched that you got so emotional in your concern for my safety that you lost your poise. That means you really care, don't you?"
She looked at him, again not knowing what to say. Then she frowned and reacted again. "Of course I care, you idiot! Sheesh!"
He laughed with glee, because he knew she had trouble expressing her emotions, and that was a way of acknowledging her feelings without getting syrupy about it. He scooted closer, so his face was over her gurney. "Cool. Like I said, you're my hero. Or, I should say, my heroine. And I think you deserve a big thank-you kiss."
Before she could decide if that's what she wanted, his lips were on hers.
He had meant to just plant a quick kiss on her face. But his mouth had a mind of its own and went for her mouth instead of her cheek or nose, and once they made lip-to-lip contact their passion ignited. Before they knew what was happening, they were necking.
Alan wound up lying nearly on top of her as they French kissed passionately for a minute or two.
He thought, Dammit, should I be doing this? I can't get involved with her, but one thank-you kiss... That's allowed, isn't it? Dang! It just feels too good to stop! At least he had the self-control not to fondle her boobs, although the way they pressed into his chest felt heavenly.
Eventually, the ambulance hit a pothole, causing them to remember where they were. Alan pulled back a bit so that he was mostly on his own gurney instead of hers, but their faces remained only inches apart and they stared deeply into each other's eyes.
They both sensed that they had crossed a line. The pretense that they were only "practice dating" was falling away by the second.
Christine whispered with awe, "That was, uh... quite a thank you!" Her heart pounded wildly. She wanted to roll on top of him and glue her body to his, but she remembered that they were in an ambulance with other people up front.
He grinned widely. "Because you're quite a girl! Geez, you're brainiac smart, you've got a body and a face that stops traffic, you're fun to be with, and now I'm finding out you've got a big heart too. I mean, you really put yourself at great risk for me. You're so awesome that it blows my mind!"
She turned away in embarrassment because she didn't know how to handle such great praise. But inside, her heart soared. She was so happy she felt like jumping for joy.
After she recovered a little bit, she growled gruffly, "Not hardly. I'm not all that."
He grabbed her shoulders and turned her body back his way so they were making eye contact again. He stared at her hard. "Hey! You ARE all that! Why do you think I've been into you so much these past couple of years? Is it your incredible body? Your remarkable, well, curves?" He couldn't help but glance at her huge rack. "Your heart-stopping face?"
He continued with even more passion, "Hell yeah! That's part of it, sure. But there's so much MORE to you! I love so many things about you. I love your personality. I love that you're a fundamentally good, moral person. That means a lot to me. I'm not at all surprised that you went all-out to protect me, because that's the kind of person you are. There are some other real stunners in our school, like Heather. In fact, I have to say that most of my friends, that's all they can talk about: Heather, Heather, Heather. But I was never keen on her because I could tell even from afar that she had a black heart. But you have a heart of gold."
Christine's face turned sour, despite all his compliments, which she knew were sincere. She asked jealously, "Well then, why are you, well... getting it on with her?! Everyone knows you are! That's what this fight was about."
He thought, Shit, shit, shit! Why did I have to mention Heather of all people?!
He couldn't help but sigh as he struggled to explain. "Well, it's complicated. I never asked to get involved with her. She came onto me in a big way. Kind of like a tidal wave, in fact. She's like an unstoppable force of nature when it comes to getting what she wants."
Christine grunted in acknowledgment. She had to admit to herself that that much was true.
He continued, "Ironically, it was the very fact that I WASN'T into her that made her interested in me. Everyone else sort of falls all over themselves to please her, or at least they're just slack-jawed and stupid around her because of her looks. Heck, I'm sure you know exactly what I mean, because I see guys acting like that around you all the time too."
Christine stayed silent because she couldn't deny that. However, with her it was more a case of being admired from afar, since most guys were too intimidated by her to talk to her up close.
He went on, "I used to be like that too. I wasn't all fawning, but I didn't have the confidence to even say 'boo' to her. I'm sure she didn't even know my name. Then, a couple months ago, I started to get some sexual experience, and that gave me more and more confidence. It helped that I'd spent so much time around you, and my sister, and my mom, and Amy and others. I mean, let's face it: I've been surrounded by beautiful women all my life, so they don't intimidate me so much. Then I ran into Heather a few times and talked to her some, and I made clear that I really couldn't care less about her and her beauty. I wasn't faking; she didn't interest me at all."
He sighed. "But what I didn't know was that was like throwing raw meat in front of a hungry lion, er, lioness. She'd never been treated like that, ever, I'm pretty sure. She took it as a challenge and seduced me with all the subtlety of a flying mallet. I have to say, I was weak and I didn't put up much resistance when she threw herself at me. And then, that's when things got weird. Because I still didn't care. I mean, geez! I'm a horny teen guy. If some bombshell babe wants to have sex with me, I don't have the willpower to say 'No.' But I knew she was still a bitch, and I made clear that I didn't like her and didn't even really care to have sex with her again."
He sighed with even more exasperation. "Little did I know, but that was like throwing even MORE raw meat to an even hungrier lioness! The more resistant to her charms I was, the more determined she was to get me to fall for her. I kept trying to push her away, and that kept backfiring. By the time I understood the dynamic, well, things got even weirder. It's complicated, to say the least, and I hate to say this, but I need to be honest with you. The fact that she and I kind of hate each other, well, it results in some really hot sex. And every time, afterwards, I want to say 'never again,' and then it happens again. What can I say? I'm weak."
Now it was his turn to look away in embarrassment.
Christine thought about that. Her blood was boiling with jealousy, especially when he mentioned the hot sex, so it took her a minute until she could get her emotions under control enough to respond. "I... see... And I do see. That makes sense, in a twisted sort of way." Still, she clenched her fists. She was almost physically ill from thinking of Alan having sex with Heather.
He turned back to make eye contact. "I know I'm a cad. I get involved with all these women, and I can't help myself. And yet I still carry a torch for you. Every time I'm near you or even look at you, I get too horny!"
She looked down at his crotch and saw a pronounced tenting there. She said wryly, with a sly grin, "I can see that."
Abashed, he quickly adjusted himself to hide his bulge. "Um. Yeah. See what I mean? But really, you do something special to me, in my heart as well as, uh... lower down. Every time I see you I get butterflies, because I know what a great person you are, inside and out. And when you risked everything to save me today, God! It just makes me want you that much more. Just being near you, it's so hard holding back from kissing you!"
She thought about the "thank-you kiss" they'd just shared, and her heart pounded so hard it practically leapt from her chest. She wasn't a natural seductress, but she gave him a devastating "come hither" look because she really meant it. She said in a husky, sexy voice, "Then why hold back?"
Their faces drew together slowly, increasing the sexual tension.
As their lips came close, he thought, Oh man! What am I doing? I can't bring her into my crazy world. I have to resist!
But his resistance was low, and there was no resistance on her part. Their lips met again and they kissed with just as much passion as before.
However, the kiss didn't last long, because the ambulance arrived at the hospital a minute or two later. Fortunately they felt the ambulance coming to a stop, which gave them a chance to break their tongue dueling before someone opened the back door.
They broke the kiss with barely a moment to spare, since they'd been so into each other that they'd almost missed the fact that they'd arrived at the hospital. As it was, the ambulance driver who opened the back door was all smirks and grins, since Alan and Christine looked so obviously lusty and busted.