Chapter 9: Laughlin

       "I need a favor," Grayson said as he sat down beside me. I was in the lobby with Aaron while Elliot was in the village with Elizabeth. 

       "What?" I asked.

       "You know that annoying Sebastian guy?" Grayson asked.

       "The one you keep complaining about?" I asked. "Yes, I'm familiar with him."

       "Good," Grayson said. "I need you to challenge him to a fight."

       I raised my eyebrow. "One, why? And two, you're the one who has something against him. You should challenge him."

       "No way," Grayson said. "I may be arrogant but I'm not an idiot. I figured you would be able to challenge and beat him because you're a boxer."

       "Again, why?"

       "I don't like him," Grayson said. "He's so annoying and arrogant and...."

       "Like another version of you?"

       Grayson snorted. "No way. The only other version of me is my baby clone."

       Ryder was nearby and huffed. "Don't call me your baby clone."

       "Aww, but you are my baby clone," Grayson said. "Anyway, I can't fight Sebastian because he's a black belt and I'm not an idiot. I'd like to think that I can beat him, but even I'm not that arrogant. So, I was thinking Miami's best boxer can."

       I sighed. "Grayson, I'm not going to fight him for your pleasure. If you're disagreeing about something, then talk it out like grown men, which I'm pretty sure you both are."

       "Dad? A grown man?" Ryder asked. "You're hilarious."

       "I can ground you," Grayson said.

       "Come on, you would never ground your baby clone," Ryder said. "That's a lame name, by the way."

       Grayson shrugged and looked back at me. "So, what do you say?"

       "No," I said.

       "I get it," Grayson said. "You're too afraid to fight a black belt. He probably has been training longer than you anyway."

       "I'm not....He's not....You know what? I'm going to do it to prove you otherwise."

       Grayson smiled. "That's the spirit."

       I sighed and got up from the couch before walking to where Sebastian was. "So, Sebastian," I said. "Grayson wanted me to come fight you."

       Sebastian sighed. "He's so childish. Tell him he could fight me himself."

       "I tried telling him that, but he knows he can't win," I said. "Apparently, you're a black belt. I'm a boxer."

       "Two different fighting styles," Sebastian said. "That would be interesting...."

       "Yeah, just think of it as sparring," I said. "It's not like we're purposefully going to injure each other."

       "True," Sebastian said. "Sure, why not?"

       We decided to go outside --into the snow, need I remind you. Since we were both from Miami, fighting in the cold would make things even more challenging.

       I wasn't sure how the fight was going to go, but I was not displease with the outcome. I ended up losing, but I wasn't a sore loser. We did have different styles and Sebastian was a lot more familiar with moves other than punching and blocking.

       We went back inside and Grayson walked over. "So, Sebastian, you lost, right?" he asked.

       "Nope," I said. "He won."

       "He what?" Grayson asked. "Laughlin, you are officially a disappointment."

       I raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, how about you try fighting someone who knows a lot more than just punching and blocking when you're trained as a boxer."

       "I am just undefeated," Sebastian said.

       Grayson narrowed his eyes towards Sebastian. "You may think all that, but you're not."

       "Oh, that's really mature," Sebastian said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And I least I know how to apologize once I accidentally hit someone with a beach ball."

       "Yeah, that's really mature, bringing that up yet again," Grayson said. "Grow up."

       "You grow up," Sebastian said.

       I chuckled and walked away, letting the two overly-grown babies to argue over the smallest things.

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Lol, short chapter, but this is supposed to be a short story anyway. cx

I'm so happy it's finally snowing here, but I have a feeling it won't last. It never does....Like, come on, I live in Canada. I'm supposed to be living in igloos, geez.