It was 5pm, and Alice was making dinner while her 18 year old daughter Riley sat on the living room couch texting one of her friends. Her husband was due from work in about an hour, and Alice had just set everything up to cook, allowing her to walk away. She came into the living room and sat down next to Riley, smiling at her.
“So…do you wanna tell me about the fight?” She asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at her daughter. Riley’s eyes popped wide open as she looked at her mom in surprise. She didn’t deny it. Only sighed and sat her phone down.
“What gave me away this time?” She asked with a little nervous laugh. Alice gave her a reassuring smile.
“Well, you rushed into the house twenty minutes late, went straight to your room and changed clothes. Then came back out with a fresh coat of makeup on. I can see you tried to cover up a bruise on your jaw, and I’m willing to bet those clothes you took off are covered in dirt and grass.” She said, though there was no reprimand in her voice. “So who was it this time?” She asked as she sat down a cup of hot coffee for both of them.
Riley sighed again. “It was Madison.” She shrugged.
“Madison?!” Alice raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Aren’t you two best friends? What on earth happened?”
“Well….Um…nothing really. We just….we were talking about a fight she had gotten in, and I claimed I could’ve done better. We just….decided to see how it would go if we fought each other I guess.” Riley blushed deep red at this, embarrassed at revealing this to her own mother. Alice simply laughed.
“Don’t you get in enough fights without having to get into them for the fun of it?” She asked, and Riley was surprised to hear that she didn’t sound angry.
“I don’t know mom I just….I like to fight. It’s fun, you know? To get into it with someone and not know how it’s going to turn out I guess..” Riley shrugged. “You aren’t going to tell dad are you?”
Alice shook her head. “No honey, I won’t tell him. And I’m not mad at you. Just curious. I used to love to mix it up when I was your age too.” She said with a wave of her hand as if dismissing any trouble or tension between them.
“Really?” Asked Riley.
“Absolutely.” Alice replied. “Hell your aunt Ashley and I used to throw down out of sheer boredom. You obviously got it from me.” She laughed, and Riley breathed a sigh of relief. “Just be careful. Don’t go fighting anyone for the fun of it unless you’re somewhere private. Where did you and Madison fight?”
“In the park.” Riley said simply. “Out in the old baseball field they don’t use anymore.
“Oh honey, no. Next time just bring her over here. When your father isn’t home of course. I’ll let you two go out behind the garage and you won’t be seen or have the cops called on you that way, god forbid.”
“Uh…okay. Um…thanks mom. That’s really cool of you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Alice winked. “Our secret.”
The two of them lapsed into silence for a few minutes, watching television together while dinner was cooking in the other room. After a while, Riley looked at Alice and smiled.
“So…were you good? At fighting I mean.” She asked. Alice looked at her and considered the question for a moment.
“Yeah. I was pretty good.” She smiled, thinking back on old times. “I mean…I won some and lost some. But I definitely won more often. Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering.” Riley laughed. “I win more often too. I was just curious if I had the better record.”
And with that, the two of them fell into reminiscing about some of their fights. They told stories back and forth about different bouts they had been in. Some for grudges, or over boys, and others they had gotten into just for the fun of it. They found themselves eating each other’s stories up. Alice and her husband had had their daughter at a young age. She was only 35 now, and she found that the old days really didn’t seem that far back. In fact, her most recent fight had been only a year ago, though she wasn’t about to tell Riley that. She was grateful for the fact that she was still young enough to relate to her daughter so well, and that Riley felt comfortable enough to come clean when confronted.
“Probably a good thing we didn’t grow up together or you and I might’ve gotten into it a time or two.” Riley laughed, giving Alice pause for just a moment. She was about to answer when the front door opened and James, Alice’s husband, walked in, smiling at the two of them. Needless to say, the conversation on this topic came to a screeching halt for the rest of the night.
The rest of that night, as well as the rest of the week passed as normally as it ever did. Riley was on summer vacation, having just graduated high school, and would be off to college soon, so the three of them spent as much of their time together as they could. James was never told about Riley’s fight with Madison, and the subject didn’t arise again between her and her mother, even when he wasn’t home. It seemed that for now, the subject had been dropped.
The next Monday morning, James had to leave for a business trip, and wouldn’t be returning home until late Friday night. Riley and Alice were sad to see him go of course as he hugged them both goodbye, though they promised each other a great girl’s week which they had been looking forward to quite a bit.
The same day that James left, the two of them went shopping, buying themselves an arm full of clothes and trinkets for themselves, then capped off the evening with a bottle of wine. The two didn’t get drunk, but did manage to reach a point of delightful giggly ecstasy. Once the two had exhausted most topics of conversation they could come up with, Riley spoke up with another change of subject.
“Hey mom, if I ask you a question, do you promise not to laugh or judge me for asking it?” She said delightedly, a mischievous smile on her face.
“Well of course sweetie, you know I’m always open to what you have to say.” Alice smiled back at her, putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“Okay, so, say you like…weren’t my mom you know….who do you think would win in a fight?” Riley asked with a slight shrug. “Just curious.”
“Oh!” Alice exclaimed, a little shocked at the question. She thought for a minute how best to answer it, the wine making her brain slightly hazy. “That’s…a tough one to answer.” She said, trying to deflect the question as best she could without making it obvious that she was doing so. Riley raised an eyebrow.
“Well…I kinda wanna find out.” Riley answered, taking Alice completely by surprise. She sat bolt upright and her eyes widened as she sputtered on the sip of wine she had been about to take.
“What?” Alice asked, setting her glass down as she looked at her daughter. “You mean like you wanna wrestle with me or something?” She laughed, a tinge of nerves in her voice.
“No, I mean an actual fight mom.” Riley said. “I think I want to pick one more fight before I go to college. I’m going to have to fly the straight and narrow when I get there so why not get into one more before I have to call it quits? I want it to be you. You and me. I wanna fight it out.”
Alice wondered for a moment how long Riley had been preparing that speech for, then shoved the thought aside. “Honey, we’ve never even had an argument before.” Alice said with a little laugh.
“Exactly. We get along too well sometimes.” Riley laughed. “Think of all the times I came home late, or dated those boys I didn’t like. You were absolutely fuming! But you never said a word. Dad always took care of punishment. I think we should let off some steam.”
Alice was puzzled, wondering just where this was coming from. It was clear Riley wasn’t angry with her now, and that she had smiled the whole way through trying to convince her. She could see that Riley considered this fun, and nothing more. “But maybe you just got old.” Riley shrugged, winking. This caused Alice to open her mouth in mock indignation. Riley laughed at this reaction, then looked her mother in the eyes.
The frightening part to Alice was that this idea DID seem like fun. She didn’t know what depraved part of her mind found the idea of fighting her own daughter considered this, but she did. She was silent for a long time, and Riley said nothing more to try and convince her. Alice struggled with her answer, her brain whirling through the ramifications of how she answered this question at an insane speed. Finally, she landed on what she hoped, was the right answer.
“Okay. I’ll do it on one condition.” She said finally, feeling her hands tremble a little. Riley only nodded, never taking her eyes off of her mother. “We sleep on it. Tomorrow, at noon, if we still want to do this we’-”
She was cut off as Riley grinned and said “If WE want to do this?” Alice rolled her eyes and waved a hand.
“Yeah okay don’t rub it in.” She laughed. “If we still want to do this then, we’ll do it. I think we should sleep on it.” Alice sighed a little, satisfied with her idea.
“Deal.” Riley shrugged and stuck out her hand for her mom to shake. She did so. After a little more talk, and a lot more wine, the two went their separate ways to bed. Alice lay awake for a little while. A long while actually, thinking about the day that lay ahead now. It had to be the wine talking for Riley, and thinking for herself right? It had to be. There was no other explanation for this. Her phone buzzed then, and she picked it up. It was a text from Riley, who slept just in the other room.
“I know you’re asleep by now, but I wanted to tell you I’m not going to change my mind tomorrow. I love you but I want this. Might even need it. I don’t want you to tell me you don’t want to hurt me. If we do this I want you to. And no hard feelings after. See you in the morning.” The text read, ending with a winking emoji tacked on at the end. Alice took a deep breath and let it out. She sat her phone down and tried not to think too hard as she finally fell asleep.
The next morning, Alice woke first and came downstairs to the kitchen in her pajamas as usual. She looked at her phone for the time when she was halfway down. It was 10am. She had slept in, and so had Riley. She set to making a morning cup of coffee when she heard footsteps coming down. She saw her daughter bounce into the kitchen wearing a pair of tight and short yoga shorts, and her tight pink tank top. Alice could see that she was wearing a sports bra underneath. Workout clothes. She had either decided to go for a jog, or this was a sign that she really hadn’t changed her mind.
“Good morning!” Riley said cheerily as she sat down at the table. “Mind pouring me one of those?” And so, the two sat down with their morning coffee, and ignored the elephant in the room. They talked nonchalantly for about an hour over their coffee before Alice finally broke through the unspoken barrier.
“Alright. How are we going to do this?” She said, trying to sound exasperated, and failing. She couldn’t deny her own desire for what Riley had proposed anymore. She needed to go ahead and abandon the pretense now while they still had an hour to negotiate.
Riley smiled. “No holds barred. I want it to be rough. Fists, feet, hair, nails…all of it. Let’s just promise two things. We won’t permanently injure each other, and we won’t hold a grudge no matter who wins. Okay?”
Alice nodded. “Okay, but let’s promise one more thing. We can NEVER tell your father. I just hope we heal up before he gets home.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the mischief of it. Riley nodded enthusiastically at that point.
“Oh god no. He’d go ballistic.” She said. “So, do you still want to?” She followed up. Alice wanted to shake her head. To put the whole thing to bed right then and there, but instead, she felt her heart almost beat out of her chest as she nodded.
“No hard feelings right?” Alice asked. Riley shook her head, and Alice could see the sheer excitement in her eyes. “No need to wait for noon then I guess. I’ll go change, and I’ll meet you behind the garage in ten minutes.”
