Life and Fighting (True Grave and LustLove)

RE: Life and Fighting

"I'm sure I have something." Samantha said as she continued searching. She looked through as the boxes and cans of foods, checking the labels for the nutrients it would give to determine whether it was okay for him to have. "What's an MMA fighter?" She questioned, hoping to distract him from the questions she was asking so she could search through the her food with him worrying whether or not she would find something for him to eat.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake smiled.
"MMA stands for Mixed-Martial Arts. An MMA fighter is a warrior who uses two or three styles in a fight. This is in contrast to amateur wrestling, which is all grappling, and boxing, which is all striking."
He felt bad even coming over right now. He knew he was intruding, and he wasn't sure whether it would be worse for him to stay or go right now.

RE: Life and Fighting

so that's how he was able to easily defend her and himself from the man who had attacked her. She was grateful that he actually knew how to fight and hadn't tried to be noble and end up getting himself hurt in the process. "Oh, that's cool." She said, her head withing the cabinet. "My little brother used to take karate lessons but I guess that wouldn't be the same." She shrugged as she closed all her cabinets back and placed her food back in the correct places.

"Jacob, I'm so sorry but there isn't much in here for you to eat. I searched almost every food item and it's either to high in calories or ready to expire." She took a seat down at the table and rested her chin on top of her hand. "Can you eat some healthy take-out?" She asked, not wanting him to go with eating as long as he was her guest.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake nodded at her statement.
"Actually, one of the most well-known MMA fighters, Lyoto Machida, is a Karate master, and his martial art has seen him claim many victories in the cage."
"Call me Jake, please. Sure, I could go for some healthy take-out, but I insist on buying my own."
He didn't want her to spend her own money on him.
"Why do I get the feeling that this whole food thing has more to do than me actually eating?"

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha gave her a false look of confusion when he suggested she was doing more than just simply eating out with him. A smile crept to her lips though and she stood up from the chair as she went to a drawer that contained some menus. She grabbed them laid them on the table in front of him as she took a seat again. "These are just a few restaurants but if you don't find anything that you like, we can always walk to a restaurant." She told him.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake noticed that she ignored his question. He looked over the menus and decided on a vegan restaurant.
"Go ahead and call it in."
He took some money out of his wallet and put it on the table.
"This is for my meal. I went as cheap as I could."

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha took the menu from him and started looking over it for herself. There wasn't much that she liked, but she chose something that sounded somewhat decent. She then dialed the number for the restaurant, ordering the food she wanted and the food that Jake wanted along with her address. After being told the total and when the food would arrive, she hung up then turned back to Jake.

"The food should be here in 30 minutes." She informed him as she stood from the chair and placed the menus back in their designated drawer. She then went to a jar, hidden behind some decorative plates and counted enough money to cover the meals.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake went over to where Samantha as.
"It's not very intelligent to go to your stash of money when I'm still in the room."
He took some of the money and put it back in the jar.
"I must insist that you let me pay for my own meal. You all ready gave me a drink on the house at your bar. You don't owe me anything else, and you didn't even owe me that."

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha turned to him before reaching her hand back into the jar. "I trust that you won't try to steal from me." She replied as she fished the money out again. "And I owed you more than a free drink. If you hadn't came at the right moment, that man would have done god knows what to me. I'd probably still be in the alleyway at this moment from shock or from the pain. I owe you much more."

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake sighed a bit under his breath.
"Of course I wouldn't steal from you."
She told him that she owed him much more, and he shook his head.
"You've got it all wrong. You act like I'm some kind of hero because I stopped a man from sexually assaulting you. The sad thing is that that's only considered heroic because so many people have forgotten what it means to do the right thing."

He turned and sat down at the table.
"I'm torn, honestly. A big part of me feels like a mooch for being treated so well because of my "heroic" action. The other part of me feels like it's wrong to try to stifle your gratitude."
He shrugged.
"I've never been a hero before, so I don't know what the proper way to handle adulation is."

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha followed him back over to the table and took a seat. She turned to him and sighed softly as she collected her racing thoughts. "It may have been the right thing to do but no many people would have had the courage to, but you did. You could have just as easily went to inform someone else but you stepped in at the right time and prevented me from being assaulted. Which will always make you a hero in my eyes." She told him softly with a hint of a smile.

"And you should let me pay for your meal. If I'm offering, it's not mooching but a way a returning my generosity and showing you how truly grateful I am for what you did. So please, no more protesting about the food I'm about to pay for." Samantha pleaded.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake looked into her eyes and saw that this meant a lot to her. He gently took her hands in his and smiled.
"Okay, Samantha. You win."
As he looked into her eyes, something drew him to her like a magnet. Before he knew it, his lips had made contact with hers in a brief, but intimate, kiss.

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha looked back at Jake from the kiss and started to grin while she blushed as well. She hadn't expected him to kiss her and although it was a surprise, it was pleasant. He certainly wasn't like the man who had attacked her and she already felt a strong connection with him. She leaned closer to him again, hoping he would take the hint, and have their lips meet in another intimate kiss.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake was scared that he had crossed he line, gotten caught up in the moment and made a wrong move. But, rather than recoil and slap him, she had held on in the kiss, only breaking it when he did. Even more surprising, she seemed to want another. Jake smiled and leaned back in, giving her a better kiss than before. His hand rested on her waist, and his lips gently moved with hers. He had just started to get an erection when there was a knock on the door, causing him to pull away in surprise.

When he recovered, there was a slight blush on his face.
"That's our food. You should probably get that."
His hand let go of her waist and hung at his side. This night was going better than he had thought. He wondered if there would be any more romance before the night was over.

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha sighed, clearly disappointed that their kiss was interrupted by the delivery person. She grabbed her money and made her way to the front door. She took the food from him gave him the gave, offering a nice tip and retreating back into the kitchen once she closed the door. After setting the food onto the table, she grabbed some plates and silverware for them to eat from. She set them on the table as well then dug through the contents of the bag.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake got his food out and began to eat it. When he had eaten about half of his meal, he looked at her.
"So, you live here alone? Must get lonely sometimes."
He then ate some more as he waited for an answer. It had been a few weeks since he had eaten with another person, particularly a female.

RE: Life and Fighting

"Not entirely." Samantha told him as she took a break from eating. "I like being by myself sometimes. It helps me concentrate and calms my nerves." She picked up her fork and put it halfway into her mouth before pulling it back. "After working for long hours in an extremely noisy bar, I would like to be able to come home to peace and quiet." She added before taking several bites from her food.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake nodded.
"I understand what you mean."
His eyes went wistful for a second.
"But, in my business, the noise is a good thing. It lets me know that the crowd is entertained, getting their money's worth. Even since ancient times, people have always wanted to see two warriors fight in the ring."

He finished his meal, filling full and satisfied.
"Thank you for the meal. It was delicious."
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.
"I guess I should go. Unless...you had other ways that you wanted to show your gratitude to me."

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha stared up at him, still not finished with her own food. She raised a brow at his question. She had thought about asking him to stay but only so they could talk more. His remark sounded suggestive and the last thing she wanted, was to come off as being too easy especially with the events that happened earlier tonight. "No, I think you understand how much I appreciated your help. You can leave if you want to." She told him.

RE: Life and Fighting

Jake nodded. He had wanted to maybe romance her a bit more, but he didn't want to come off too strong either.
"You're right. I didn't mean to push. Good night, Samantha."
He got his bag and headed out the door.

It was not that long of a walk to his house. When he got there, he threw his clothes in the wash and changed into some more relaxing clothes. After doing some laundry, he went upstairs and got into bed. He had a big day tomorrow, so it was important to get some sleep. After setting the alarm, he pulled the covers up to his stomach and let his arms drape over it. He was soon asleep.

RE: Life and Fighting

"Goodnight Jake." Samantha said to him then walked to her door to watch him leave. She almost wished she had told him to stay a little longer but she knew if she had done that, she would regret it later. Jake seemed like the type of guy she could easily see herself become seriously involved with and she couldn't bare to have one of his first impressions of her being easy and needy. She closed the door after a few moments and stepped back into the apartment.

She placed their dishes in the sink and washed them briefly, drying them and putting them away once she was done. She then threw the rest of their mess in the trash and soon headed up the stairs. Tired and weary from a long day, she climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly.

RE: Life and Fighting

The next morning at about ten AM, Jake got out of bed. He turned and saw the sun on the horizon, thinking that it looked very beautiful. He changed into some clothes and put on some deodorant. Jake then left the house and began jogging to the Civic Center. When he arrived, he was escorted into a car. The limo took him across town to Dana White's office building.

Once inside, he sat down with the man himself.
"It's good to see you, Jake. I can't tell you how proud I am to be able to offer you this UFC contract for the year 2012. I just need you to read over it and sign it if you agree with everything on it. If you'd like to negotiate a point, just let me know and we'll handle it to the best of our ability."
Brandon took the contract and read over it.

For being awarded this contract, he would receive a twenty-five thousand dollar signing bonus. He read over every point, especially the small print. The biggest concern was how much of his profits the UFC would take a cut of. Their cut was fair, but he negotiated it down just a little bit. After everything was to his satisfaction, Jake signed the contract and handed it back to Dana.
"Welcome to the UFC, Jake," he said with a smile while extending his hand.

Jake shook the extended hand.
"So, who's my opponent for my debut fight?"
"We'll get to that in two weeks. For now, you need to get down to the Boot Camp gym and meet your trainer, William Schmidt. You'll be required to stay with Boot Camp for the duration of your first year, but after that, you can choose your own camp. After you've met with Schmidt, you'll meet with Joe Silva, out matchmaker, who will help you decide your first opponent."

Jake stood up.
"Thank you so much, Mr. White. I can't tell you how much this means to me."
"Hey, you earned it fair and square, kid. Now it's up to you to pull your weight."
Jake left the room and directed the driver to take him to the Boot Camp gym.

RE: Life and Fighting

Samantha awoke late the next morning since she wouldn't have to be at work until later in the afternoon. She rolled over in her bed and went downstairs to fix herself lunch that would also be her breakfast. She took a seat in her living room and started watching TV as she ate a bowl of cereal. After watching a program for some time, she realized how lonely she felt in that moment. She didn't know if it was because she had guest over or because she had always felt lonely but simply ignored the feeling.

She finished eating then soon then washed her dishes and headed upstairs afterwards. She picked out her usual attire for work then stepped into the shower to get ready. Spending no more than an hour of her time, she stepped from the shower and proceeded to get ready.
By the time she was done, it was late in the afternoon and she would have to be to work in about half an hour. She grabbed her things; keys, some money, and her cell phone before heading out of her apartment door and in the direction of her job.

When she clocked into work, she noticed that for the first time in a while, she wasn't dreading getting the day started. By this time, she already wanted her shift to be over but she was eager to start working. And it wasn't because of the friendly faces, the tips, the games being played along the TVs of the bar, or even the fact that she actually enjoyed her job because all of those were far from the truth. She felt herself smiling due to heer thoughts constantly drifting back to Jake. How her co-worker yelling for gin on her side of the bar and money being shoved in her face triggered the thoughts of him were beyond explanation, but it made her day go smoother.

She thought about him quite often and any little thing reminded her of him. It was after the continuous mentions of him in her mind that she realized letting him leave so soon the night before was a mistake. She should have suggested he stay longer instead of worrying about him thinking she was slutty. She wanted to invite him over again but unless he came walking through the front doors of the bar, she doubted it would be possible. She got back to work still thinking of him.

RE: Life and Fighting

The car pulled up to a rather nondescript gym with the words "Boot Camp" above the entrance double doors shaded in military fatigue. Jake exited the car and was instructed to go inside. As soon as he entered, he could smell sweat and hear the training of other fighters. A middle-aged man in a black shirt and shorts approached him.
"Are you Jake Young, my new fighter?"
"Yes, sir. You're William Schmidt?"
"None other."

"So, I'm supposed to talk with you about a workout plan?"
"That's right. Follow me."
Schmidt gave him a tour of the facility, telling him exactly what he would need to do to get in shape for his debut fight in the UFC. He was to call Joe Silva, the UFC matchmaker, later to find out who his opponent would be. He was soon able to leave the gym.

He had the driver drop him off in front of the sports bar where Samantha worked. He went inside and sat down.
"Hey, babe. How about a nice cold drink?"
He produced his wallet.
"I'll pay this time."

RE: Life and Fighting

Just when work was finally starting to dampen her seemingly good mood, Jake walked in and her attitude changed completely once again. She fixed a drink for another customer, taking their money then turned them away while she focused all of her attention on Jake. "Hey, big shot." Samantha greeted him as she got a glass ready. "I'm going to need to know what you're having." She said smiling at him.