The trailblazer

Rolling over in my bed and looked at the time on my cell phone. It was 9:30

p.m. and my twenty-minute power nap had turned into a two-hour snooze. Oops.

I glanced out my bedroom window to check the weather conditions. It was

completely dark with a lot of wind. Not ideal jogging conditions, but it

would have to do. I needed to get in a workout or Danny was going to kill me for slacking off. My best friend, Danny, often got on my case, which was ironic, because the guy was always getting into trouble himself.

I threw off my blankets and pushed myself out of bed. I gave one good yawn with a long stretch then plopped back on my bed. I knew if I didn't run at this very moment, there was no way I'd run at any other point in the night. It was now or never.

I am a professional mixed martial arts fighter, and training to be the best has

many drawbacks. The worst one, by far, is working out when my body is dead tired. The last thing I wanted to do tonight was exercise, but I knew I had to push past my desire to be lazy.

There was a knock at my bedroom door. "Come in," I called out.

"You decent?" It was Danny, and he was just outside my door. Not only was the guy my best friend, and he was also my housemate.

"Would I say 'Come in' if I wasn't decent?" I laughed.

The door swung open slowly, and there stood Danny, wearing nothing more than a tiny towel, showing off his perfectly chiseled body. He motioned to his abs and said, "Maybe because you are secretly in love with this." He flexed his stomach muscles and popped a sexy pose.

Damn, he was a clown.

"Save it for your girl groupies, bro. What do you want, Danny?"

"I want to borrow some cologne. Is that cool with you?"

"Go ahead. They're on top of the dresser."

He clapped his hands and strode into my room over to my dresser where I had a collection of cologne. I had everything from Old Spice to high-end brands that cost plenty of penny in the nicer stores.

I watched as Danny looked for his favorite. He was like a kid in a grocery

store, trying to pick out a favorite cereal.

"So, what's with the cologne?" I asked.

"I got a date with that box girl at the supermarket, and I want to smell real

nice, if you know what I'm saying."

"You finally got the nerve to ask her out?"

"It had nothing to do with nerve, brother. I finally wanted to ask her out.

She's been eyeballing me for years."

I rolled my eyes and started to get dressed for my run. "So, it took you two years to want to ask her out? That's the story you're going to stick with?"

"You know me, Ben. I like to take things slow before I go in for the kill."

"That sounds very romantic," I said.

"Kid, when are you going to realize that romance only gets you hurt in the

end?" he replied. "I'm done trying to Don Juan my way around girls. I'm taking a cue from the wild animal kingdom."

"You're just going to jump on top of women and not even say hello?" I

laughed.

"No. I'm just not going to waste unnecessary time making beds in a burning house."

"Okay, that analogy makes no sense. Which is the burning house? The

women or the romance?"

Danny thought about it and then laughed. "It made a lot more sense in my head than it did out loud."

"I bet it did. Where are you taking her?"

"I'm taking her to the latest eatery down the street."

"Wow, classy." That place is such a cool hangout for you guys. It

had it all: ambiance, location, and got female clientele. "You sure you're not

trying to romance this girl? I only take a girl there if she earned it."

"She will," Danny replied.

"All I'm saying is you better keep your eyes on your date and not the waitresses."

Danny picked the cologne he wanted from the top dresser. Of course, the

guy picked my favorite cologne, Drakkar Noir. He sprayed his upper body and both his legs and even lifted his towel to do a meticulous squirt inside the towel.

"That's enough. You wear the cologne. Don't let the cologne wear you." I

walked over and grabbed the bottle from Danny's hand. "As I said, you're all class." I pushed Danny out of my room. "Now get out, so I can get ready for my run."

Danny stopped himself and turned around. He looked at me seriously, which he rarely did. "Don't run too far tonight. I've got a weird feeling."

"You do?" I asked, legitimately concerned. Danny's feelings were eerie. I shrugged. "Okay, I'll be careful. I'll run to the college and back."

"Get back in an hour and you'll be fine." Danny thought for a second and

then added, "Yeah, an hour will be fine. One more thing, Ben, the

The commission is going to let us know tomorrow who we'll fight next month."

Danny was also a professional fighter, and good enough to be a contender

for the title.

"I hope the Commission will give me a real fight this time, I said. "Maybe I'll have a shot to move up in the rankings." The Commission

tended to think I was still a cherry, and they were taking me along a lot slower than I wanted.

"Maybe if you didn't wait till 10:00 a.m. to get in a workout, you would be ready to have better fights."

I sighed. Danny always brought up my workout regimen. Danny and I

couldn't be more different when it came to our workout routines. Danny's workouts were epic. They made pro boxers' workouts look tame. I, on the hand, have always gotten by on pure talent. I have an insane ability to fight and my instincts are off the charts. I got away with hardly working out, and finally, it

caught up with me.

"You know you and I will never agree on how I should be working out,

Danny. You should be pleased that I want to run tonight." I paused, and then I asked, "What kind of fight are you looking for with the Commission?"

"I just need a tune-up before my title fight. I need to work out some kinks."

Danny was fighting for the title in four months.

"You'd better hope the Commission gives you just a tune-up fight and

nothing more. The last thing you need is to get hurt before your title bout."

"I'm not going to get hurt; I'm 18-0! Remember that." Here Danny went

again with his undefeated record. He wears his record like a badge of honor, even as a braggart. It was quite amusing, especially when he brought it up in bars and tried to impress girls. Usually, they had never even heard of mixed martial arts. Danny seemed to forget I was undefeated, too, even though I didn't work out nearly as hard as him. "You aren't the only one who is undefeated," I reminded him.

He stood at my doorway. "Yup, you sure are. Your little 4-0 record is very

cute, Ben."

"I only have four wins because the Commission takes forever to give me a fight, unlike you, who they throw on the card every month."

"What can I say? I'm an excellent draw. Chicks dig themselves some of the 'Dan Man.'" Danny was now starting to get full of himself, and that was my cue to kick him out of my room. Again.

"For the love of God, Danny, just go on your date!" I shut the door in his

face.

"Not cool, Ben."

"And neither is wasting all my favorite cologne."