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Akali was re-racking foam rolls when the bell at the front jingled lightly. The glass door opened. It was a night of private sessions and she was the only one on shift this evening so the one-room gym she worked at, with nothing more than a front desk, a mat spanning the entire length of the floor, and a single bathroom at the back, was empty.
“Be with you in a second,” she called over her shoulder.
“Take your time, darling. There’s no rush,” the customer called back, sultry and smooth.
Akali nearly missed. Her fingers went numb. “Evelynn?”
“Akali,” she purred, leaning against the front desk in form-fitting gym wear, “You didn’t forget about our private lesson, did you?”
She was at a loss for what to say. “N-no. I just wasn’t expecting you.” She rushed behind the counter. In all fairness, she hadn’t checked the exact names of the customers she had for tonight when Shen showed them. Thankfully, he isn’t here to lecture her about safety and all so that no randos just come in.
Evelynn leaned over the counter to look at the clipboard with her. Akali, noticing this, pulled the clipboard back. Her name really was on there. Damn.
“Uh, yeah, I guess you really are scheduled for a private self-defense lesson, huh,” she mumbled.
“Shall we get started?” Eve asked, doing a poor job of hiding her shit-eating grin.
Akali couldn’t beat around the bush any longer. “How did you know I work here?” she asked, staring coldly at her name written in the current timeslot.
Evelynn raised her eyebrows in faux surprise. “Akali,” she gasped, “Why wouldn’t I want to support a dear member of the band? Ahri always says we need to support each other in whatever way we can.”
Akali glared at her without lifting her chin.
“Oh, don’t worry,” she said, striding past her onto the mat, “I’ll make sure to leave a good tip.”
“Shoes off.”
“Hmm?” Evelynn turned around, looking over her shoulder.
“No shoes on the mat.”
Eve glanced down at her athletic sneakers. They were fresh, it seemed. “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine just one time.”
Akali sighed, placing a hand on her hip. “Ma’am,” she scolded, and she took her sweet time with her words, giving her the whole spiel, “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to ask you again to please respect company rules or I will have to cancel our lesson.”
Evelynn furrowed her brows. If they were at practice right now, Akali would be intimidated. That usually meant she fucked something up, or it didn’t meet Eve’s standards. Not that there was much of a difference to Eve. A fuck-up was a fuck-up. Instead, she was amused. Getting under Evelynn’s skin was actually kind of fun.
“Fine,” she conceded, slipping off her sneakers with her thumb and going over to place them on top of the kids’ cubby, as there was no other place.
“And socks,” Akali called as she shed her jacket and entered the mat.
Evelynn grumbled a reluctant agreement, and probably something about the sweaty public floor, and stuffed her socks into her sneakers before meeting Akali on the mat.
“Right, well, are you warmed up already?” Akali asked, “Like stretches and stuff?”
“Of course,” Evelynn replied and wandered off into her own speech stating her intentions. She was a professional dancer after all, and with how popular she was, it wasn’t a surprise that she was interested in self-defense lessons.
But here of all places? Akali wondered, she could’ve gotten herself a private world-class tutor, not a part-timer. The hell?
Maybe she just wants to rub it in that she doesn’t need a part-time job to support her music career. I mean, I’m the only one in the band who does. I’m literally just a kid off the streets. I got no reputation.
“Let’s get to it, shall we?”
Akali snapped out of her thoughts. “Oh. Right. Is this your first time doing self-defense?”
“I already know a thing or two.”
“Really? I mean, uh, good. What do you want to work on then?”
“Grappling,” she said simply.
Akali folded her arms. “Grappling?”
A hint of mischief glinted in Evelynn’s eyes. “Yes, on the ground, like Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it?”
“No, I’m familiar with it. I just thought you’d want to work on something more basic, like unarming a knife attack from a crazed fan or whatever.”
Evelynn laughed, lips closed, all smug and holier than thou. “No, I’m fairly certain that I am...more than competent in hand to hand.”
“...Okay then.” Akali widened her stance. “Well, uh, why don’t you just show me what you got?”
“Of course.”
Show her she did.
She might’ve underestimated Evelynn a little. Nah, fuck that noise. She completely underestimated her. Akali was not only fit, this was also her job. She knew how to adjust fighting for people of different height and weight. But in about three swift movements, Evelynn had grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and kicked out her legs from under her, knocking her to the ground and forcing the breath out of her lungs. Her vision went white for a moment and when she could see again, Evelynn was the first thing she saw.
She said something, but Akali couldn’t tell what. She should’ve, but the swiftness of the handling, the sudden impact, Evelynn’s knee pressing into her inner thigh — it was all too much.
“Understand?”
“I... what? ” Her voice came out like a wheeze. It was honestly pathetic.
Evelynn smirked, lips so tantalizingly close to her face . “What’s the matter, dear? Cat got your tongue?” She dug her knee a little deeper, pushing Akali’s legs wider. At this point, Akali couldn’t tell if she was going to bite her, or kiss her for that matter. “I just can’t have someone without a dollar to her name come show me up at rehearsals , you understand? People like me have a reputation to uphold. And what do you have?”
Akali licked her lips, trying to think of a way to respond, but her mouth seemed to stay dry no matter what. It was almost like she could feel Evelynn’s breath dance on her own lips. Her eyes seemed to glisten with unreadable intent, but the pride of a predator with prey in its grasp was definitely there.
“I think I can take that as a mutual agreement,” Evelynn sighed after a moment of silence. As fast as she came, Akali felt, Evelynn stood up, claimed her shoes, and left the mat. “I think that’s all for today. I’ll let you know if I need anything else soon,” she said on her way out.
Akali watched her leave from the floor, still frozen in the same position Evelynn pinned her in. She didn’t remember to close her legs until the bell rang a second time.
It didn’t hit her until after she left that Evelynn was threatening her. She was glad it was swift and then she left without lingering.
And yet at the same time, she wanted her to come back for another private lesson.