My Story 43
By Corbin
How life tests the endurance, patience, and sometimes faith of one young woman.

**********

"90% of everything is crap." 
-Someone's Law? 

**********

Sometimes I can't believe my eyes. I'm reading this article about how to help 
women break their men of bad habits. The list includes:

1.) Leaving the toilet seat up.
2.) Drooling over the Victoria's Secret catalog.
3.) Driving like a maniac.
4.) His inability to focus on anything else (i.e., you) when a game is on.
5.) Burping the alphabet (and other bad manners).
6.) His insistence on wearing his favorite ratty T-shirt to any and all social 
events.
7.) Leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen sink (and other cleaning issues).

Okay, first of all, you have to break the man, not the habit. Once he's put in 
his place, the habits will also disappear. Dealing with the habit itself is a 
waste of time. But maybe the bigger problem is that if you're a woman who dates 
one of these fools, then not only is he a LOSER, but so are YOU! 
Thus I suppose you deserve each other.

I then tossed the magazine in the trash.

**********

Being in the right place at the right time has its benefits. This is 
particularly true when I get a first row seat to observe that game of 'one-
upmanship' that goes between you guys. 
 
This particular incident took place about a year ago, I was standing chatting  
with friends at an outdoor event that takes place every Friday night around 
here. Some of the local restaurants pull together and you have Bands, booze and 
plenty of socializing. Overall, a good time had by all. 

Normally, I would just enjoy the opportunity to ease drop, but I had a little 
too much firewater in me, which in turn got my mouth running. 
 
So anyway, it was spring of 2004 and like I said, I was standing talking with 
some friends. My eyes had periodically kept tabs on this guy, Mr. Wanna-be-
Alpha-Male, he has the cap on backwards and is being very animated. Now he's 
close enough that I can ease drop without being noticed (You see, when your in a 
crowd that's elbow to elbow, you can get away with doing that rather easily). So 
now he's telling about his recent trip down to New Orleans for Mardi- 
Gras. He's got his little audience going, telling his fellow counterparts things 
like: 
 
"Man! I saw shit down there I've never seen before!" 
 
"It was wild, crazy!" 
 
And on and on he went. It was nauseating; I mean really now how can you guys 
stand around and make such boorish small talk with one another? I realize not 
all of you do that or act that way, yet I have to ask, when are the honorable 
men out there going to rise up and smite these Neanderthals? (And I mean that 
term 'Neanderthals' in the offensive sense: someone displaying the lack of 
Intellect, lack of sensitivity, and boorishness traditionally associated with 
cave dwellers.)

Obviously I have to take matters into my own hands until that day comes. SHIT!
  
It must have looked odd to my compadres as I was standing there, listening one 
second, then all of the sudden I am turning around...taking a couple of steps 
to wedge my way into the circle of guys behind me. Now suddenly I'm the center 
of attention and not because I am perceived as some great intellectual speaker. 
Initially I lost my train of thought and almost heaved my cup of beer at his 
face, remember I'm a bit tipsy. However, I restrained myself and attempted go 
for something a little more creative... 
 
"Oh man! Tell me about the wild shit you saw down at Mardi!" I blurted out, more
probably slurred out, while slumping and rolling my shoulders a little to take 
on that male, *down with it* attitude. I might have even gone so far as to make 
a mock reference to grabbing at my crotch. (Another rant for another time.) 
 
"Let me guess, you saw some naked boobies! Or maybe some live girl on girl 
action! Oh shit, that must have been da' bomb!" 
 
Well, suddenly he was the center of attention all right, more like the center of 
humiliation once everyone caught on that I was mocking him. 
 
"Did it turn you *on*? Did all that wild crazy SHIT give you an erection?" I was 
really in rare form and was he ever getting pissed. Or maybe the reddening of 
his face was the quickest sunburn I'd ever seen take place. 

"Yeah you drunk bitch, I did get a hard on, you wanna go somewhere to see it?"
He started walking towards me, trying to be intimidating.

"Actually, why don't you just whip it out right here in front of everyone." I 
waved my hand in his direction.

"Only if you promise to suck it." He snapped.

I have no idea what was getting ready to come out of my mouth next because I 
was making this up as I went along, but no matter, my friends had already 
stepped in and pulled me out of there and to the other side of the event. I 
could still hear him barking insults in our direction, but I didn't respond, I 
just departed with a smile on my face. All I wanted to do was disrupt his 
evening if nothing else, something I think I accomplished.

I heard thru the rumor mill weeks later that this guy had started asking around 
about me. Oddly enough it was also rumored that after his anger subsided, his 
emotional interest took a turn to one of affection...as in a 'crush'. This isn't 
an unusual occurrence, allot of guys become attracted to women that have a 
streak of aggression in them. I think I'm a bit of an oddball, I have extreme 
swings of wanting to be soft and feminine, enjoying it when a boyfriend takes 
charge, other times I have the urge to stomp the shit out of something (or 
someone) when I get mad.  
 
**********
 
About this time Mike (Owner/Operator of the gym-franchise I go to) was asking 
for a  quick meeting, about which he did not specifically say. But I already 
knew what he wanted, well sort of, with Mike he was always scheming up 
something, after all he is a businessman so he's always in that mode of 
thinking. Not that all business men are schemers in the bad sense, I think you 
get my drift, and if you don't get my drift then your dense and I don't want you 
reading this so GET LOST! 
 
Anyway, I had no intention of getting into a competition, that's just not MY  
thing, not bodybuilding or fitness I should say because I have done the jiu-
jitsu competitions. But of course I'm fully covered in a gi. Still, I wanted to 
hear him out because you never know, I might be wrong. 
 
So there I sat in his office while he made boring small talk, the whole time I  
mentally tried to snare the little butterflies that were swirling around  
in my stomach. Butterflies not due to anything he had to say, but the fact that  
Jenna, a girl I only knew casually had also been invited. She had some Asian  
influence to her looks and was in damn great shape and was a bit intimidating  
to be around because she looked like she could talk-the-talk/walk-the-walk. One  
of the *few* other women at my gym that took exercise seriously, she did very  
little goofing off in the gym and had a very focused mentality. Also the way she  
carried herself, and posture.  
 
"So, you decided to come!" Mike's gaze was off me now and past my right  
shoulder, my head turned to automatically follow his eyes, only to see this  
beautiful girl standing in the doorway, it was Jenna. Normally I would be  
including some wise-ass cracks at this point but I kind of respected Jenna,  
I was hoping that she had the same serious attitude about exercise  
that I did, at least everything up until now had led me to that promising  
conclusion. 
 
I watch her give the faintest of smiles out of the corner of her lips, she was  
totally ignoring Mike as she walked straight up to me so as to stick her hand  
out in greeting. Like I said, we had briefly said our hellos in the gym with 
small chit-chat that never amounted to anything, this was our first formal  
introduction, sounds silly huh? 
  
She was so direct and focused that it took me a second to collect myself and  
stand up. Mike simply eased back in his chair, the little shit was enjoying  
this, I'm sure he was also sporting a boner with just the two of us in his 
office.  Ironically we both wore short skirts and sleeveless shirts, so the 
comparisons started immediately. I know Mike was sizing us up while we sized 
each other up. Our toned, muscular legs seemed equal, and she had a nice pair of 
boobs, a good c-cup, just a little smaller then mine. I could have been 
outstretching my arm towards a mirror as our forearms and biceps tensed with 
definition. The only advantage I seemed to have was my height, about two inches 
almost. 
 
"I'm Jenna, looks like the gangs all here." She said quickly glancing over at  
Mike, but her stare quickly returned to me as our palms pressed.  
 
"Corbin." I said simply. That's when I could feel it, we both began exerting a 
slow steady pressure at the same time. She was strong! It was all so quick; The 
way my body stiffened as I found that I had voluntarily allowed myself to press 
back. We strained in our silent test of strength, our lips never losing their 
faint smiles as we quickly sized up one another. I allowed my eyes to watch 
Jenna's forearms as we flexed in effort, her bicep showed too, swelling 
upward. Again, all of this happened in a few seconds and it appeared we were 
deadlocked. I don't normally enjoy this type of stuff, but I did this time. With 
a quick grin Jenna suddenly released her grip and stepped back. 
  
"This should be allot of fun." she said. 
  
I smiled at her cocky attitude and returned to my seat, folding my legs. I was  
glad I didn't back down from the handshake, although I was impressed as Jenna  
had meet me, grip for grip, without the slightest inclination she was straining. 
We never made eye contact again during the rest of the entire meeting, although  
I got 'that feeling' as her dark eyes studied me with brief glances. By the time 
Mike had finished the meeting Jenna had already confirmed her intentions to 
compete. I basically just shook my head and emphatically said "No" when Mike 
started to prod me. I was a little concerned though, Jenna had not complained 
once during the meeting, she in fact was acting almost 'too' agreeable. We 
chatted about other stuff, but I've probably bored you tears already. 
 
We left Mike in the office, he said he needed to work late (probably needed to  
jerk off) and we walked thru the gym to the exit, which for the most part was  
deserted seeing how it was almost closing time, we had barely taken a few steps  
when Jenna spun around abruptly to face me. I just about stumbled back as I was  
daydreaming not paying attention. Jenna's lush lips parted and her teeth  
sparkled in what seemed like a friendly smile, once again I felt those eyes 
sweep over me, but more in judgment even though she was still smiling, 
"Let's you and I get something straight," She continued to swagger towards me, 
forcing me to take another step back or else have her bump into me! "Now that 
you've made your intentions to NOT compete known, there's no need for you to be 
around me or involved in any of this. WHY Mike keeps throwing you prime 
opportunities only to have you kick them back in his face is beyond me,  
obviously he's got a hard-on for you." Her head was cocked off to the right as  
her look seemed to challenge me into defying her assessment of the situation.  
 
I was a little stunned, but shrugged, "Yeah, sure." and casually stepped around  
the girl, walking to collect my stuff from the locker room. Jenna just stood  
there with a perplexed look on her face and then I got a glimpse of her shaking 
her head in what appeared to be frustration.  I mean what's the point in 
arguing? Yes, I was very disappointed in this sudden about face she just 
performed, but am I really surprised she was shifting into such a competitive 
mode? I guess not. But I wasn't even competing, I guess she wanted to make sure 
it stayed that way. 
 
Funny though, I have found the more humble I try to be the more I seem to 
prosper, while those who cross me out of spite or jealousy are dealt humbling 
blows by fate...karma...whatever.  
 
Want an example? Here you go... 
 
A few nights later Jenna was on her last rep as she lay back on the bench,  
pushing the bar upward, but I noticed her arms trembling with effort. No big  
deal, except the retard didn't have a spot, I suppose she was trying to prove  
something since it was really just the two of us in the room at the time. She 
must have had a moment of personal determination or maybe arrogance as she went 
beyond her normal number of reps and now found herself in a particularly 
embarrassing and dangerous position on the bench press. I quickly walked over to 
the bench and helped to lift the bar onto its resting position. For her part, 
Jenna was unable to hide her exhaustion and both of her arms quickly came off 
the bar and fell, her knuckles scrapped the matt as they hung limp, but only for 
a split second this happened. For in the next moment she was sitting...then 
standing, and then in my face!  

"What the hell are you doing!" She knotted up her brow, bringing her right arm  
up as her sweaty bicep swelled (damn she has some great definition, attitude 
aside), her fingers running thru her dripping short, black hair. 
 
"Helping you get the bar up is all." I said in a very casual manner. But 
personally I was getting a little fed up with Jenna's bullying attitude when I 
had done nothing to provoke it.  
 
"You what?" Jenna flashed a smile that bespoke shock. "You're kidding right?"  
her hand fell from her head and dropped to her side in an exaggerated motion. 
 
"You heard me, unless English is your second or maybe third language?" I snapped  
right back, catching Jenna by surprise. Oops, I might have been a little harsh  
with that last comment. So now this Asian chick was looking over at the bench  
and her left hand came up and tossed down the small white towel she was  
clutching, it landed with a slap on the bench. 
 
"Yeah, I fucking heard you." Jenna placed her hands on her hips and looked back 
into my eyes. It's odd, the whole time she was working up a big-ass attitude I 
was thinking about what truly polar opposites we were; From how we carried 
ourselves, personalities, my long flowing blonde hair to Jenna's cropped, black 
hairdo. 
 
I felt pretty mouthy so I said to her, "Oh yeah, then do another rep." pointing  
to the bench. 
 
"Fuck you!" Jenna's eyebrows knotted together in anger as her left hand came to 
put a jabbing finger into my right shoulder. I just smirked and walked off to 
retrieve my bag from the locker room. 
 
"Where are you going?" Jenna called out. 
 
You know, I would have an easier time if this was some guy mouthing off, I would  
enjoy knocking around some mouthy punk male. But I don't really get any joy out  
of confronting/fighting other women.  
 
But things didn't end there... 
 
The next time our paths crossed was about two weeks later and I was really  
depressed because Jenna had so disappointed me with her attitude.  
 
"Let's try something different, you and I." She stated, the way her eyes stayed 
transfixed and the seriousness of her expression and voice left me wondering 
what was going on, but my naive mind went ahead and assumed she didn't mean 
anything out of the ordinary. 
 
"Different? Like what?" I shrugged. I watched with a perplexed expression as 
Jenna kneeled down at the side of one of the workout benches, her right hand 
came up and softly padded the top of the bench. She then pointed to the opposite 
side of the bench with a faint smile. At this point let me just say that Jenna 
and I had the run of gym, we could come and go as we pleased, Mike had given us 
free reign so to speak. On this particular night we were alone. 
 
I was a bit confused, or just plain clueless, but slowly, reluctantly I made my 
way over and knelt down opposite the girl, with the bench now between us. 
Jenna slowly brought her right arm up and rested her elbow on top of the bench, 
her fingers open and waiting. 
 
"Wait, you want to arm wrestle?" I suddenly caught on and leaned back a little 
shocked. Jenna simply smiled and nodded 'yes'. 

"I don't think so." I mean what is this, Elementary School?
 
"You scared?" Jenna quickly countered. 
 
"I'm not into this sort of stuff." My heart pounded faster in my chest as I was 
actually getting nervous all of the sudden. Jenna was trying to get me into some 
contest, to out-and-out beat me, show me up. I wouldn't call this an attempt at 
humiliation as we had no audience, maybe she had some of her own doubts and 
didn't want to risk loosing in front of anyone.

"Not into what sort of stuff? Were just messing around, you mean you're not the 
slightest bit curious?" She was now asking, continuing with her unwavering 
stare. "This is nice and private, at least you won't have to deal with anyone 
seeing you loose." Jenna continued to taunt me and extended her left arm under 
the bench, "Take my wrist." 

"This doesn't prove anything." I sighed.

"Whatever you say." She said in a soft tone that had a more unnerving effect 
then if she had yelled it at me. Anyway, I reached under with my left hand and 
we firmly gripped the others wrists, I assume to keep the other honest? My right 
arm was now up and planted on the bench.   
 
"Fair warning, your poor arm is going to feel like a limp dishrag after I'm  
done wringing it out." Jenna smirked. I had hoped that was just some 
lighthearted banter, but I knew better then to drop my guard...just yet. But I 
still managed to smile, amazed at this woman's cockiness, 'We'll see' was all I 
could think. Our hands hovered close together for a few seconds as I took a deep  
breath and then we gripped tightly. I was just mimicking her efforts, but it 
soon became apparent that there wasn't to be any official signal as we slowly 
began increasing the pressure. Jenna looked across the bench at me and our eyes 
locked onto one another as we continued. It wasn't long before our arms were  
trembling, muscles straining as we each tried to force the other's hand down. 
I had never engaged in anything of this magnitude, with anyone, in fact the last 
arm wrestling I did was with a girlfriend back in College, I won easily and that 
was all in good fun. The outcome of this match seemed to have more dire 
consequences as the seconds ticked away. 
 
"You're pretty strong." I managed to say, although it took a great amount of 
effort for it not to sound like a grunt or a gasp. 
 
"You're no slouch yourself." Jenna retorted, but that was the last of the 
talking. I watched Jenna's head tilt down as she strained, and my eyes were 
gazing off past where Jenna kneeled while I concentrated. For many long seconds 
we remained deadlocked. After a few minutes I think I was only focusing on my 
bulging, straining arm as if my whole body was trying to work as one unit, my 
eyes had become two narrow slits, a bead of irritating sweat stopped on my left 
eyelash and hung. Now my eyes were watching Jenna's bulging bicep quiver and 
ripple from the strain, both of our arms were bathed in sweat. 
 
There was another significant quiver that passed between our hands and arms - 
then another one, and suddenly I was forcing Jenna's arm down. I knew she was 
tapping into her reserves, telltale signs like she no longer cared how loud her 
grunts were becoming, or how pained an expression masked her face. And just like 
that it was over, ending with the sound of a wet slap as I slammed down the back 
of her sweat-covered hand. I must admit, things felt even there for awhile, but 
taking stock of the situation I noticed that she was breathing hard and looked 
pretty tired whereas I was still feeling kind of fresh so maybe it wasn't as 
even as I remember. Drenched in sweat, Jenna went to stand and I untangled my 
hand from hers. I took a deep breath, blinked the sweat from my eyes and began 
to flex my fingers.

"Satisfied now?" was all I could think to say.  
 
Jenna just huffed as her head came around, her face was flustered and it was 
clear she was disappointed, "What the hell does that mean?" 
 
"You wanted this, you had some point to prove." I replied. 
 
Now Jenna was infuriated, "It was damn close, so don't act as if you just had 
some easy win!" 

Is she kidding? Was she even in the same room when the whole thing transpired? 

"Wanna go again? Or maybe better luck with your left?" I smiled and propped my 
left elbow on top of the bench challengingly, a little out of character for me. 

"Next time, when we're both fresh." 
 
I shrugged and slowly pulled my left hand away and pushed off from the bench to 
stand up. I kind of decided I wasn't going to accept any more challenges from 
this girl, and most likely I would modify my workout schedule so the two of us 
wouldn't be in the gym at the same time.

Sounds like a good plan huh? Never seems to workout that way though.




  
My_Story_43