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Chapter Ten

“Thanks for meeting me.”

“It was either that or a restraining order.”

“Hahahaha.”

Gina barely recognized her own startled, high-pitched laugh.

Yes, she had been persistent. But as soon as she’d seen the photo of the former local high school wrestling star, Gina had known Lucy Janek was the KAWWL’s last, best hope. Ms. Janek had gone on to wrestle in college, leading the Central women’s team to the conference finals her sophomore year. And now, according to LoopedIn, she was back home looking for a job.

Convincing Rex to take on the extra expense had been a simple matter of showing him pictures of Lucy in her green-and-gold Central wrestling singlet. Lucy was a platinum blonde with shoulder-length hair, icy blue eyes, and a pretty, open face. In her skin-tight uniform she looked like a superheroine in a graphic novel. In every picture her confident smile conveyed the same message: I’m going to pin you to the mat, and I’m going to enjoy doing it.

But a few seconds into their meeting at Delilah’s Coffee ‘N Things, Gina’s optimism was fading. The former elite athlete wore a bulky, way-too-early Christmas sweater. There was a penumbra of excess flesh around her cheeks and chin. Despite the pre-dinner hour, she had ordered a coffee confection that was mostly whipped cream and chocolate syrup. The blue eyes that had radiated intensity in her photos were wary and evasive.

The café was deserted in the late afternoon. Lucy chose a table in a nook by the front window.

“What’s this about again?”

“You were one of the best female wrestlers in the state a few years ago,” Gina began.

“I know that.” Lucy’s face scrunched into an impatient frown. “What do you want?”

“To offer you an opportunity. We’re putting on a women’s wrestling show…”

“At Brazos. That bar out on 71st.”

“That’s right.”

“And you think I’m going to wrestle in baby oil or something?”

Lucy’s solar flare of anger caused Gina to recoil.
“No!” Gina protested. “We’re trying to put on a show that’s true to what’s great about the sport.”

“What is great about the sport?” Lucy asked, frowning.

Gina braced her elbows on the table and took a breath.

“Until a few weeks ago, I had never wrestled in my life…”

“Wait, you’re one of the wrestlers?!”

“Yes.”

“You work at Brazos or something?”

“I’m a senior at Sedgwick,” Gina said. “I got caught up in this helping a friend. And I needed to make some money. But over the past few weeks, I’ve come to see wrestling as…”

Gina rarely had trouble finding the right word, but her mind was spinning like a roulette wheel.   She surprised herself when the ball landed.

“Beautiful.”

“Beautiful?” Lucy snorted, collapsing back in her chair. “Being sore and bruised all the time? Covered in ten layers of dried sweat? The smelly gym? The dirty mats? The lukewarm showers? The injuries you have to power through? The coaches yelling? The long bus rides?”

“Is that why you quit after your sophomore year at Central?”

Despite her exceptional research skills, Gina could find no reference to Lucy wrestling for Central as a junior or senior, though she had graduated on time. There were also no articles referring to a career-ending injury, though given the lack of focus on women’s sports, that would not have been a surprise.

Lucy waved a hand in front of her, as if a dormant wasp had come out of hiding to investigate her coffee sundae.

“Yeah,” she muttered toward the table. “Mostly that stuff.”

Gina started again.

“A couple of weeks ago I had my first really intense match. It was against this super aggressive woman. We’d never wrestled before, and I was intimidated. I felt like she wanted a fight more than a friendly contest.

“We got locked up together down on the mat. There wasn’t a lot of skill, but we both really wanted to win. At that moment, winning mattered so much that it was a little scary.

“I’ve thought about it a lot since then,” Gina said. “And all my other wrestling experiences, not that I have that many. Sometimes it’s hard to think about anything else.

“One weird thing I realized is that because Tanya wanted to win just as much as I did, we shared something. We created a kind of energy together. A totally unique experience that will never be repeated.

“I’ve also been thinking about how the intensity of the experience came not so much from fighting against Tanya, but from looking for something inside myself. Trying to find some inner strength I wasn’t sure I had.

“There was this sense of freedom, too. Which is ironic, because we had our arms wrapped around each other and our bodies pressed together so tight we could barely move.

“The freedom came from how lost I was in that moment. It was like the two of us were the only people on the planet. And one of us had to win. Nothing else mattered.”

Lucy sat back impassively. Gina took a sip of coffee and continued.

“And there’s a feminist angle, too. Title IX is great, and so is the fact that you got to wrestle in high school and college. But there are still norms about how we use our bodies, and for 99.9% of us, wrestling another woman isn’t one of them.

“I know the audience for the show will mostly be men. But Tanya and I were still wrestling because we chose to.”

Gina bit her lip and stared at her reflection in the glass separating them from the early evening darkness.

“Women are just as competitive as men, but we compete in these unhealthy ways. And crappy programs like Instashot have made it all so much worse! But when you’re out on the mat you aren’t being catty. You aren’t trying to hurt your opponent or put her down or make her feel bad. It isn’t personal. It’s this pure, distilled form of competition. It makes all the stupid stuff go away, at least for a while.

“Maybe every young woman should have the chance to wrestle. Maybe we’d feel more grounded and less insecure. Maybe wrestling would be a way to build a kind of sisterhood.”

Gina’s words spilled out in a halting yet urgent stream. She was so focused on conveying her thoughts that she almost forgot about Lucy.

“I must sound crazy,” she said.

When Gina looked up, the blonde was frowning at her across the table, slumped with her arms folded across her chest.

“That was the longest sermon I ever heard outside of church.”

“Sorry,” Gina said, her cheeks flushing.

Lucy leaned forward and put her elbows on the table, staring down in silence for what felt like the better part of a minute.

“I could never put the words together, like what you said,” Lucy offered. “But that’s exactly how I always felt about wrestling. Even on my worst day.”

*

“Wait, that’s her?” Rex asked.

Gina nodded. Rex shook his head.

“She looks like a giant piece of Easter candy,” Rex said, gesturing toward Lucy in her billowing, pastel-pink sweatsuit.

“She’s not at her fighting weight,” Gina conceded.

“She’s fat,” Rex said under his breath as they walked toward the KAWWL’s newest hire.

Lucy was standing next to the mat, staring impassively at a tangled lump at her feet made up of Shazia and Meg.

Gina introduced them. Rex exuded his usual boyish charm. Gina assumed he had a hard time turning it off.

“You twist my ankle like that again, I’ll sit on your head,” Meg said.

“If you wedge your leg between mine in such a way, how can I avoid it?” Shazia asked, her reply muffled by the fact that Meg was, in fact, straddling her neck facing backwards.

“Okaaay!” Rex said, clapping his hands together briskly. “I’ll leave this to the experts.”

Gina had texted the group to be on their best behavior for Lucy. She had even sent them a link to one of Lucy’s collegiate matches, which she’d found archived on the Central website. But if the KAWWL competitors connected the lithe, sinewy wrestler in the video with the pink couch potato – or connected either to what they were supposed to be doing – there was no sign of it. They had offered only blank looks when Gina had introduced Lucy at the beginning of practice.

For her part, Lucy had wandered silently among the shoving, bickering, gossiping, occasionally entangled pairs, as if she had no idea what they were doing. Gina had ended practice early, fearing that Lucy might duck out while was stuck underneath one of her sparring partners.

“You can see we’ve got a good group,” Gina said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “Athletic. Fit. Willing to work.”

Lucy nodded.

“Not much wrestling skill yet.”

Lucy nodded again.

“So can you help us?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“What they’re doing…” Lucy waved a dismissive hand at the empty mat. “It’s not wrestling. It’s like a pillow fight without pillows.”

“That’s exactly why…”

“I wouldn’t know where to start.” Lucy looked down and shuffled her feet. “Plus that guy, the owner?”

“Sponsor,” Gina corrected. “Rex.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Lucy mumbled. “I got a vibe like he wanted to fuck me.”

I’m pretty sure he doesn’t, Gina thought. But she couldn’t say it without sounding like she was either defending Rex or, perhaps worse, implying there was no way he’d be interested.

“Actually, he’s ff…I mean, we’re kind of together. As a couple. Rex. And me.”

“You are full of surprises,” Lucy said, raising an eyebrow.

“But I gotta go.”

A bolt of panic shot through Gina’s body. She had a deep intuitive sense that if Lucy walked out the door, the whole KAWWL would unravel. The money would dry up. Rex would drift away to his next conquest. Gina would once again be merely a college student and a waitress.

And she’d never wrestle again in her life.

Her mind raced, grasping for cards to play.

“I get it,” Gina said loudly, just as Lucy reached the door. “Getting back on the mat with a bunch of younger, more athletic women is intimidating.”

Lucy came to a stop, but didn’t turn around.

“To risk losing to a really fit, strong woman with no formal training, that would be tough.”

“Wait,” Lucy said, spinning around. “Are you calling me out?”

Gina shrugged.

“You don’t even know how to wrestle,” Lucy exclaimed. “You said so yourself!”

“But I’m really strong,” Gina said. “I go to the gym every day. I’ve been sparring for weeks. And I’m incredibly determined.”

It was a transparent ploy. Gina knew it. Lucy knew it. And Gina knew that Lucy knew it. It was the kind of psychological manipulation even a toddler would see through.

What Gina was counting on was the infinitesimal chance that Lucy might suddenly discover that an idea or an impulse she’d buried for the past five years might not be dead after all – that wrestling again might be fun.

The seconds ticked. Lucy glanced at Gina, sizing her up as a potential opponent in one sweeping look. She turned her gaze to the huge, empty, slick blue surface shimmering under the lights. It was the kind of space where Lucy had experienced her greatest triumphs. The mat was the canvas on which she’d painted so many small masterpieces with her mind and body and will.

Gina noticed a softening around Lucy’s eyes. She felt a flicker of hope. She played her last card.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

As Lucy’s face turned back to Gina, her pink cheeks swelled.

It was the first time Gina had seen her smile.

*

“Gina, do we have a blender now?”

At least May had the courtesy to knock, though she didn’t wait for a response before barging into the bathroom. She had to yell for Gina to hear her over the rush of the shower.

“No, that’s Lucy’s. She brought her own.”

A pause.
“Why did Lucy bring her own blender?”

“Because we don’t have one, and she needs to make her kale protein shakes.”

Gina wrapped herself in a towel and stepped out from behind the curtain.

“Gina, remind me who Lucy is.”

“I told you, she’s the new coach for the KAWWL.”

“Since when?”

“Since last week.”

“And she’s here because?”

“We were practicing in the living room, and I asked her if she wanted to stay for dinner.”

“You know you’re only supposed to wrestle in your own room!”

“I know, but she was showing me some flips and takedown moves, and my room wasn’t big enough. Didn’t we put all the furniture back in the right place?”

“No,” May said. “Look Gina, finals are coming up. I can’t have you and Wrestler Barbie body slamming each other through the coffee table and running the blender all the time. You’ll probably tag in Chrissie next!”

“I’ve already asked her. The two of us are going to switch off against Lucy.”

“I swear to God, Gina…”

*

Gina had never been a fan of nature documentaries. She was more inclined toward the humanities than the sciences. In her literary-infused imagination, the eyes of a predator would glitter with malign intelligence. But as Gina faced off against what appeared to be a fluffy pink cloud, Gina realized she’d been wrong.

Lucy’s eyes were dull. Vacant. Unfeeling.

Terrifying.

They moved slowly at first, stepping forward and retreating, thrusting out an arm to probe the other’s defenses, neither willing to commit.

The dance continued and Gina settled on evasion. Stay on your feet as long as you can, she told herself. Lucy was out of shape. Maybe by the time they went down to the mat, she’d be running out of steam.

But Lucy intuited Gina’s strategy and conserved her energy. She circled, feinted, and watched.

She’s patient, Gina thought, sidestepping and retreating. But I’m not going to give her an opening. She could already see a drop of sweat on Lucy’s forehead.

“Achh!”

Gina cried out in surprise as Lucy came in hard and low, moving faster than she’d thought possible. She pushed down against Lucy’s shoulders to deflect the attack, dancing backward and barely pulling her ankle free before Lucy’s grip could close on it.

Lucy scrambled back up, pressing her advantage with Gina off balance. She lunged at Gina’s torso and was able to wrap an arm around her waist. Spinning upward and into her opponent, Lucy hooked an arm under Gina’s shoulder. Before Gina could respond, she lowered her center of gravity and brought Gina tumbling over her hip and onto her back.

There was something so smooth about the throw, compared to the clumsy trips and artless collapses in her other sparring, that the sensation was a little thrilling, almost fun!

But things got serious again in less than a second, as the pink cloud descended heavily onto Gina’s prone form. She absorbed the impact and then arched her back in response, thrusting her body up into Lucy’s and rolling them onto their sides.

Gina assumed that she was stronger than Lucy – this version of Lucy, at least. What she’d said about going to the gym every day may have been an exaggeration, but she knew her body was leaner and more muscular than it had ever been.

As they grappled and twisted and slid on the mat, Gina noticed the contrasting and disorienting softness of her opponent, of fabric going one way and flesh another. There were more of both than Gina was used to in her wrestling workouts with the other KAWWL women.

With relief, Gina realized that the raw physical drive behind Lucy’s bulk was not overwhelming. She was convinced that if she could square up her body on Lucy’s, have a chance to assert all the sinewy power she’d cultivated in her glutes and core and shoulders, she’d be able to drive her blonde opponent onto her back and contain her.

The only problem with that theory was that Lucy had a physical answer for every assertion of strength. She avoided Gina’s grasp, ducked her holds or quickly twisted out of them, and always angled her body in a way that kept Gina off balance and her in the top position. Her attacks were targeted and resulted in putting Gina on her back over and over again, until she was able to get the pin.

“One. Two. Three.”

Lucy counted slowly and methodically, then rolled clear, laboring up to her feet.

Gina had set the timer on her phone to 15 minutes. She’d bet Lucy that the blonde could not pin her three times before the alarm trilled. No breaks.

If Gina won, Lucy would coach the KAWWL (and get paid) for the next month. If Lucy won, Gina would not bother her anymore and she’d pay Lucy double her hourly rate for the “lesson.”

Make it five times, Lucy had countered.

Gina rose slowly, aware that the clock was running. How long had it taken Lucy to pin her? Two minutes? At this rate…

Her focus snapped back. Lucy was already on the attack. She worked in quickly, extending an arm through Gina’s defenses and spinning her down into a headlock, blinding her with billowing pink fabric. Gina managed to pull her head free, but Lucy whirled in the opposite direction and pulled her into another headlock with the other arm. Gina felt the sudden downward pressure on her upper torso as her thighs collided with Lucy’s hip. Once again – bam – onto her back.

Gina struggled against Lucy’s pillowy form with determination bordering on desperation. But Lucy was precise and relentless – more dangerous, Gina realized, down on the ground than on her feet, even with all the flips and throws she’d mastered. It took less than a minute of tight, rolling struggle for Lucy to entwine Gina’s legs in her own and use the weight of her upper torso to pin Gina’s shoulders.

Rising quickly, Gina was relieved to see that her opponent was winded. Lucy rose to one knee before clambering to her feet. A whisp of white-gold hair had come loose from her ponytail and clung to the side of her face.

Play keepaway, Gina thought. It was her only chance.

Lucy pressed the attack as Gina circled and dodged. She retreated to the edge of the huge mat and was pushed off as Lucy tried to lock up with her, forcing a reset in the center.

The blonde was gulping air now, the rise and fall of her breasts noticeable even under the loose tent of fabric. But her spirit was willing, even if her flesh was weak.

It took several minutes for Lucy to drag, rather than flip, Gina down to the mat. Gina once again unleashed a furious if artless resistance. The sweat-slick mat was lava and if Gina’s back touched it, it was game over. Lucy had to reposition again and again (and again) before she finally brought Gina under control with a full nelson. She lay along her back, panting heavily into Gina’s right ear, waiting to catch her breath.

They both knew what was coming, and then it did. Lucy withdrew one arm and levered Gina to her back with the other, throwing her body across Gina’s chest in the same motion. Lucy puffed out the count for the pin.

Had she burned enough time, Gina wondered? It felt like they’d been battling for an hour. She felt a sliver of hope as Lucy swayed unsteadily to her feet and stumbled toward Gina in the center of the mat. Lucy raised her arms and brought both down on Gina’s shoulders, ready to pull her into a tight clinch before she’d…

“Ting!”

Lucy dropped her arms, let out a groan, and sank to the mat. There was a collar of dark fabric around her neck. After every few breaths she gulped for air.

“Fuck,” Lucy said quietly to herself. “You are strong.”

“You should have stuck with three,” Gina said, feeling a little surge of pride but not wanting to gloat.

“I was going to do it anyway,” Lucy said. “You knew that all along.”

“I didn’t,” Gina protested.

“You did,” Lucy grinned. “You’re smart. You’d even be a smart wrestler. If you knew how to wrestle.”

“You’ll teach us.”

“I can’t face them,” Lucy said despondently. “Not while I’m like this.”

What had happened to her, Gina wondered again?

“Are you kidding? You’re incredible! I was never even close to pinning you, and you…”

Lucy shook her head.

“I used to run five miles and barely break a sweat. Sophomore year I could’ve bench-pressed you.”

“You don’t have to be who you were five years ago. Not to…”

“Look, I’ve got to go,” Lucy said, grabbing her backpack. “I want to hit the gym before it closes. And I have to check if my membership has expired.”

*

“This is incredible. You cooked all this just now?”

After a quick shower, Lucy sat at the wobbly kitchen table with her pitcher of what looked like liquified grass clippings.

“One of the cooks at Alessandro’s showed me. It only took about five minutes.”

Lucy would only accept a small portion of pasta with chili flakes, parsley, and parmigiano. May was helping herself to a huge scoop.

“I just don’t know how she does it,” May exclaimed in a mocking tone. “Chef. Waitress. Lover. Businesswoman. Wrestler. Alleged college student.”

“I really appreciate you inviting me,” Lucy said, twisting another bite around her fork. Something about her enthusiasm made Gina suspect she hadn’t had a home-cooked meal in a long time.

“Is that any good?” May asked, gesturing to Lucy’s pitcher.

“It’s healthy,” Lucy said. “Want to try?” She poured some in a coffee cup May handed her from the counter.

“God that’s disgusting! And I eat stuff my grandmother buries in the back yard.”

Lucy shot Gina a disturbed look.

“She just means kimchi,” Gina explained.

“Gina tells me you were a real wrestler. Like, in college,” May said to Lucy. “You’re okay with this circus?”

“I missed wrestling. Even like this,” Lucy said with a shrug. “And I need money. Student loans and all.”

“In a month I’ll be known as the brilliant Sedgwick premedical student whose two best friends wrestle at a bar in front of drunk men.”

“Don’t forget the lesbians,” Gina added helpfully.

“You’re not cool with it?” Lucy asked.

“Not really, no.”

“Aaron is,” Gina teased.

“No, he isn’t,” May said. “I haven’t told him yet that he isn’t, but he isn’t.”

““What does that mean?” Gina asked.

“I let him have a little fun when it was just Chrissie and her kiddie pool of Crisco. But I’m not letting him hang around Brazos,” May said. “I’m shaping him up for the long haul. Husband, father, future chief of surgery at a good teaching hospital. I don’t want him to think I’m okay with him slipping off to some sleazy club when he’s at a conference.”

“Jesus, May,” Gina spat. “He’s not a cocker spaniel!”

“Not yet,” May said. “But don’t judge my exceedingly prudent choices. I don’t judge you for using an intellectually challenged, emotionally stunted carwash owner as a sex toy.”

“It kind of sounds like you do!”

“Ummm.” Lucy squirmed in her chair, casting a glance toward the front door.

“You know I love you, Geen. But yes, I am concerned about some of your recent choices.”

“Wait a second,” Gina said, “This is about Thursday night, isn’t it?”

“No, it is not,” May said emphatically, before adding, “Though it was actually Thursday night and Friday morning.”

“I told you I was sorry. I thought you were at Aaron’s!”

“What about Chrissie?”

“She can sleep through anything.”

“Not something that performative! You sounded exactly like Karen Hu when she found out she got into Columbia med school last year.”

“You’re jealous.”

“Of Karen? Damn right I am!” May said. “But not you. Aaron gives me everything I need.”

“Right. Biochem lecture notes!”

Lucy sat frozen, her fork in mid-air, her eyes darting from Gina to May as she assessed the impact of each verbal blow. The two roommates glared at each other in silence.

“You two are friends, right?” Lucy asked. “Because this is a little…”

“Best friends,” May interrupted, still glaring at Gina.

“Best friends,” Gina affirmed.

Smiles crept slowly across their faces. Lucy let out an audible sigh of relief and took another sip of her smoothie.

“It’s been like this since the first week of freshman year,” Gina said.

“Anyway, apology accepted," May said. "And I’m thrilled you had such a good time.”

May leaned across the table and artfully pincered another helping of pasta.

“So Lucy, when you wrestled in college you wore those painted-on Spandex uniforms, right?” May asked. “Gina says Rex wants to competitors to wrestle in bikinis. What do you think?”