A Winning Combination

Two days before the match, after school let out, he went to see Charlie in his office, a ten by ten cubicle of a room with cinderblock walls, painted a dull green. A balding Charlie sat at his battleship-grey metal desk wearing what he typiclly wore, gray slacks and a white, short-sleeve sports shirt, with GLENELG inscribed in black letters in the upper left corner.

Evan stood in front of the open door, his backpack slung over his shoulder. "Hey coach, can I see you a sec?"

Charlie waved him in. "Sure, what's up?"

Evan sat on a chair in front of the desk, then swung the backpack onto his lap. "Well, I'm not sure about the match on Friday. I pulled some muscles in my back doing deadlifts and it's very painful." He grabbed his lower back and winced.

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Deadlifts? Why in the world would you be doing them? Deadlifts aren't on our weight training regimen."

"Right, I know. I just thought I'd try them and I guess because I'm not used to them, this happened. Dumb move, I know."

"Too painful to wrestle? It should be a fairly easy match. You're going up against that Douglas girl again. You whipped her last time."

"Right. But I'm sure that Colin can handle her, aren't you?"

Charlie frowned. "Frankly, I'm not sure. From what I've seen, she's pretty tough. Cute gal, too." He winked, then leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his neck. "You know, in my day, girls wrestling boys was unthinkable. Girls didn't wrestle at all, period. If I had to wrestle a pretty girl like Miss Douglas, I'm not sure I could do it. I'd be thinking of other things. Know what I mean?" He winked again.

Evan knew all too well what he meant, and could barely keep a straight face. "Sure, coach, I get it."

Charlie sat up and placed his thick forearms on the desk. "Now, don't get me wrong. I don't condone forfeiting. But I can see why you almost forfeited your match and why other boys forfeit rather than wrestle a girl. Just my two cents.

"Anyway, I was counting on you to give us a sure win in the overall standings against Upperco. With Colin in there, well, I'd say it's a tossup. But, if you're hurting that bad, then Colin's our guy."

Evan thanked him and walked out, feeling both relieved and terrible at the same time. He stood in the hall, debating the pros and cons of going back in. He didn't like lying. Maybe he should have told coach the real reason. He might have been sympathetic in light of his feelings about girls wrestling boys. Then again, he might laugh at him, then tell him that romance is a ridiculous excuse and insist he had to wrestle her anyway. If he refused, the reason might leak out, and he'd be teased unmercifully. It's not like he was forfeiting the match, thereby giving Upperco an unearned win. Besides, it was one match in one weight class, and one match in one weight class a whole season did not make. Feeling a little better about his decision, he left the building.

*****

This time, the match was held at Glenelg. "Home field" was an advantage in pro football but not so much in high school wrestling, where the visiting team had almost equal spectator support. Evan had suited up in his warm-ups to lend his own support. He and Mackenzie traded furtive looks across the mat. Her mom was in the bleachers, he noticed. He and Francis nodded to each other.

Colin Taylor, wearing his red singlet, was warming up, shaking his long legs. In minutes, he'd be on the mat with Mackenzie. Looking at Evan, a few feet away, he said, "I'm gonna pin this chick in the first period, Corday. You did it in the third if I recall, right?"

Evan wanted to body slam this dick in a worst way. Still, he kept his cool. "Think you're gonna pin her in the first period? You shouldn't be so confident. She's stronger than she looks and she's got her technique down."

Colin laughed it off while jumping in place and moving his head from side to side. "Yeah? We'll see. I've got this."

The ref, a thirty-something white guy who taught at Glenelg, brought them together. After shaking hands, the match was on.

"Take him down, Kenzie, take him down," Evan said under his breath.

Less than a minute into it, Mackenzie faked a tie-up, then shot for Colin's legs as if she was tackling a runner on the gridiron. Colin went down, then quickly turned and pancaked on his stomach, while Mackenzie hopped on his back. She grabbed an ankle, pulled it against his butt, then sat on it. When he tried to rise, she grabbed a wrist, pulled his arm back and then slammed him back to the mat. Reaching between his legs, she tried to turn him. But he offered enough stubborn resistance long enough to where the ref blew his whistle to break.

Standing once again, they moved and probed, locking hands, then letting go. Mackenzie didn't want to repeat the mistake she made in her match with Evan—go for another takedown when her opponent expected it. Let him make the mistake, she thought. She had a two-point lead and wanted to keep it. He started to shoot for a takedown himself, then backed off. Both of them kept probing and circling, which prompted the ref to give them a pasivity warning. Moments later, the buzzer sounded to end the first period.

Winning the coin toss, Colin chose the bottom position and wasted no time in trying to escape, executing a sit-out, which Mackenzie countered by scooting behind him. She grabbed his elbow, clamped her other arm against his chest and tried to pull him backward. He managed to twist out of it, came around to face her, then grabbed one of her ankles, knocking her off balance long enough to jump on top. She was now on her back, the last place a wrestler wants to be. She tried to turn but his weight, plus one of his legs, thwarted her effort. Her focus now was trying to avoid a pin. By rocking hard from shoulder to shoulder, plus bridging, she managed to keep both shoulders off the mat at the same time, long enough to where he tired enough to allow her to turn onto her stomach. She avoided a pin, but Colin now had three points, one for escape, two for a near fall. Moments later, the ref called a break.

She was behind on points, yet she still felt confident, if for no other reason than she sensed that Colin was tiring, and they were still in the second period. Evan had been right; Colin had lousy stamina. Per Evan's advice, Mackenzie had ramped up her roadwork, even running up hills, and she could feel it paying off. 'You pooped out in the third period with me, Evan had said. 'Don't let that happen with Colin.'

Colin once again took bottom, and this time he attempted to escape by standing up. Mackenzie, standing behind him with her arms clamped tightly around his waist, lifted him a couple inches off the mat, then threw him back down. She then grabbed an ankle to prevent him from once again trying to stand, and rode him out of bounds, just as the period ended.

Still trailing by a point, she took bottom, hoping for an escape to at least pull even. She could hear Colin breathing heavily as he crouched over her—music to her ears—while her own gas tank was nowhere near depleted. At the ref's signal, Colin chopped Mackenzie's right elbow in an effort to break her down. Lucky for her, it was a move that Evan had warned her about, while showing her the best way to counter. Per her training, she raised her left leg and then pushed her foot against his left calve, which set him down on his butt. She then drove her hips into him, sliding him back a couple inches, and then spun around. Colin was now on his back, with Mackenzie in position for a possible pin. But then he rolled to his stomach, spoiling that possibility, at least for the moment. Even so, she got one point for the escape and two for the near fall, giving her a two-point lead.

Breathing even heavier now, Colin tried to escape by standing up, but Mackenzie threw him back down again. He was now on his stomach, holding tight to the mat, presumably to take a breather. Not so Mackenzie, who went right to work in an effort to turn him. Grabbing his left wrist, she pulled his arm under his chest, clamped on a half-nelson with her right arm and then, with her powerful legs, began to drive him over. Now on top, her body roughly perpendicular to his, she went for the pin, bearing down on his chest, while he struggled to keep his shoulders off the mat. Rocking back and forth, he managed to turn onto his stomach. Mackenzie smiled to herself as she held him there, knowing the near fall had upped her lead another two points.

The ref broke them and stood them up with less than a minute left. Colin was the picture of desperation. Down seven points to three and still breathing heavily, he knew he needed a pin to win. First, though, he needed to take her down, something that Mackenzie was keen on stopping. She played defense, parried and countered his probes and thrusts right up to the sound of the buzzer.

Evan should have hidden his glee but he didn't. Instead, he ran onto the mat, threw his arms around Mackenzie and kissed her. "You were fucking awesome!"

They stood there grinning , their faces touching, their arms wrapped around each other. "Evan, I hope you don't get in trouble," she said. "You're supposed to have a sore back and feel sorry for your teammate."

He nodded, backed off and then turned to see his team and Coach Puckett glaring at him, slack-jawed. "Look, we'll celebrate later. I better go."

A disgusted and humiliated Colin Taylor confronted Evan. "What the fuck, dude? Whose side are you on?"

Evan wasn't in the mood for pretense or empathy toward Colin Taylor. "What the fuck yourself, CT. What happened to that first period pin you bragged about?"

It would have been one hell of a fight had coach Puckett and a few of his wrestlers not moved in after Evan and Colin started to rumble. Colin started it, though Evan couldn't blame him after Evan pushed his buttons. He didn't blame coach either when Puckett said, "Evan, I think you better leave. We've got more matches to go and you're bad for morale. See me in my office tomorrow morning."

On his way out of the gym, he looked up to see Mackenzie and her mom in the bleachers, all smiles. He waved, they waved, and then he was gone, thinking about that office visit with coach Puckett.

*****

Coach got in early. A good thing, Evan thought, because he wouldn't be late for class. Wearing jeans, flannel shirt and carrying his coat and backpack, Evan once again sat before Charlie after being waived in. Charlie didn't mince words of sarcasm. "How's that bad back of yours? All better?"

Evan, his head down, looked up. "I lied and I'm sorry. There was no bad back, just a big conflict of interest that I didn't know how to resolve."

Charlie let out a bitter laugh. "I'll say. You might have got away with it had you not got all lovey dovey with Miss Douglas in front of the whole gym. It's bad enough we were on our own turf. I'm sure the Upperco fans loved it." Charlie, his blue eyes glaring, paused to let that sink in. Then: "So why didn't you tell me the truth? Colin would have still wrestled, perhaps with the same outcome, but without the humiliation of watching you rub it in."

Evan shook his head. "What more can I say? I handled it badly." He still thought Colin was a dick but dared not say it.

"Huh huh. How long have you been involved with this girl?"

"A few weeks. We began seeing each other after our match."

Charlie shook his head. "How sweet. Evan, your love life isn't normally any of my business, except in this case it sort of is because what you did has affected the morale of our team. Most of the guys are pretty pissed off and I can't blame them."

Evan nodded. "I get it, I don't blame them either."

Charlie paused to gather his thoughts. Then: "Well, we've got two more matches left in the season and I'm seriously considering suspending you from the squad. Nothing against you personally, but a coach has got to do what he thinks is best for the team, not one individual. Wrestling might be an individual sport, but you still need a cohesive unit to be successful."

Evan couldn't argue with any of that. "Look, coach Puckett, you don't have to think it over. You're absolutely right. The fight should be on the mat with our opponents, not ourselves. The season's almost over and I graduate in a few months. So, I'm taking myself out of the lineup. No hard feelings."

Evan and Charlie stood up at the same time and shook hands. "No hard feelings on my end either, Evan. Good luck to you. And good luck with Mackenzie. I can see why you're smitten with her. She's quite a looker as well as a good wrestler. A gal like that can make a guy do crazy things."

*****

Mackenzie had felt terrible when Evan called with the news. He told her not to blame herself, for it was his decision "all the way" to do what he did at the match and then quit the team. "This time next year, I hope to be wrestling in college," he had said. "Just where, I'm not sure, but I've got prospects."

That made her feel better. And now, in the dim light in the basement of Mackenzie's house, he was making her feel even better. This time, she had chosen Brahms' fourth symphony for their romance music. And this time, over a week after she went on the pill, she was protected. She snuggled naked with him on the sofa, huddled under a blanket, just after they had made love for the first time.

"So tell me, Evan," she said, "are you now okay with girls wrestling boys?" He began to smirk, where upon, in a mock dare kind of look, she said, "Be careful how you answer."

"Only if the girl is as tough a wrestler as you. Oh, and just as beautiful. How's that?"

She grinned in that cute, adorable, little girl way she did, that brought out her dimples. Then she kissed him. "That will do for now."

He took her hand and guided it between his legs. "I hope this will, too. Are we up for a second period?"

"Wow, I can see that you are. Okay, dude, let's wrestle." Keeping the blanket over her, she climbed on his lap, slipped him inside her and began to move. "Oh my, you feel so good inside me."

He kissed her lips, then her breasts while running his hands over her smooth, firm thighs. "Baby, I think we've got a winning combination."

"Evan, in hindsight," she said, with her eyes half-closed and her body bouncing, "you were my winning combination the moment you pinned me. And I've been pinned to that metaphorical mat ever since."