Palor

Alfie Meets Gily

"1, 2, 3, 4, ... Come on. You can do it. Lift those knees. Come on. Let's go!" Said the fitness robot. The class was maybe twenty people of all kinds and sizes. Alfie was one of them. Huffing and puffing as he went.

"...I'm... trying... <pant>... lady... ok...? Jeez... <pant>..." Michael Jackson's tune "Beat It" was playing at a fast pace. This went on for fifteen minutes, then there was a break. Alfie stooped down, sweating like a piglet, and trying to breathe. He looked around; others were chatting away as if they had just taken a leisurely stroll through one of those moving sculpture parks. There was one girl looking at him smiling, not a malicious smile, but a sincere one, or so it seemed to him. Why is she be smiling at me? He thought. Hey girl, there's other vatos more to your liking around. He looked down at himself when she wasn't looking. He was disheveled and wet as an after-bath dog. Nothing he could do.

"Ok, one more song. How's M's Moon Two Night? The robot yelled. Everyone cheered. Who the hell is M? Alfie thought. M was a Martian pop star of the time. He started jogging to the song, not as fast as the previous one. Thank god.

"Slide to the left... slide to the right... about face... repeat... let's go..." Alfie felt more at ease. He looked around at the other females. He found the one who was smiling at him. She wasn't wearing the usual trendy sportswear. She had a loose-fitting top, worn graphene sneakers, and a pair of tights. She don't need this class. Why is she here? The next tune was the time-to-relax song. He landed on the floor before everyone else with a loud thud. Everyone looked at him. The smiling girl too.At the end of the class, he picked up his towel and went to the cubbies to get his personal effects and started to leave. The girl was ahead of him, and she turned around and waved. Oh man, what do I say? He started to say something, but she was just saying bye to a gym friend behind him. He felt awkward. He said 'hi' to some stranger behind her to avoid embarrassment. The stranger looked behind him.

"Oh, hi." She said. "...You, menso."

"Oh... hi."

"You were doing pretty good in there."

"Ha...! I was just trying to keep up." He said.

"You were doing fine... don't let the others get to you. You know most of them are just here to find someone for the night... especially the vatos." They walked outside.

"I didn't know that..." He said.

"You're not here to find..."

"Me? No... are you kidding...?"

"I'm Guillermina." She said.

"I'm Cuauhtémoc... that's the name of the..."

"I know who he was..." She said. "I'm getting an autodrive to go home..."

"Oh, ok... maybe I'll see you around...?"

"Yeah... I've missed the last month or so. My mother's not feeling too well."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I hope she..."

"Just some aches now. She fell in the kitchen... oh... see ya." She hopped on the autodrive that pulled up alongside her. She waved at him. He waved back with a big smile. He couldn't believe she was talking to him. Don't worry, I will be here next week.That's how Gily and Alfie met. They would see each other week after week. Soon they would be going for coffee after class, meeting each other during other nights, seeing each other during the day, and then they would become a couple to the chagrin of a lot of guys drooling after her.

The nerd got the swan.