Fate Interrupted

6 - Caught

Gio

"Hi, Gio!" Kymberli calls. "The Personal Trainer position is still open. Are you sure you don't want to apply? It's pretty fu-un," she sings. 

 Presenting my gym card for her to scan, my nose wrinkles. "I don't know."

"Come on. You're here every day anyway. You'll get to work out for free and get paid while you're at it." Her eyes, flanked by spider-like clumped mascara, bat like tiny wings above her million-dollar smile.

That would be a good perk. The Gym membership here at Gym Hero is not cheap, but it's clean and doesn't reek like The Power Gym—that place is full of roid monkeys and creeps. It has a calm vibe here. It's kinda my place to get away, be alone and center myself, and making it my workplace would fuck all that up. I mean, Kym's such a cougar to me as it is; it would be awful to have her as my boss.

"Nah, no thanks," I reply.

She pumps some lotion onto her hands and rubs it into her fake and bake arms as I walk away. "Think about it, sweetheart!" Then, she turns her attention to someone just walking in the door. "Welcome to Gym Hero! How can I help you today."

"I'm interested in signing up for dance classes," an attractive-sounding female voice replies.

"Okay, great! Have you been a member here before?" 

"Nope."

See. Just the potential member Kym would die to make more money on upselling selling a personal trainer.

As I start my reps, my mind wanders. I've been really struggling this week after seeing Ren again. I thought I'd finally forgotten about her, healed from the spiral I went into after she left, and come to terms with being single for the rest of my life. But even seeing her only briefly brought all these conflicting emotions rushing right back from the depths I guess they've been lurking in.

It sucks that she's so close now—in a building I have to go into every week. It's such a motherfucking temptation to try to see her. But I'm scared that if I give in, even just the littlest bit, that'll be like base jumping off a cliff—exhilarating, yes, but dangerous as hell. No, my life is finally stable now, and Ren is off-limits. I don't need to screw up my life for the umpteenth time. 

Yesterday's session helped, but Mr Thompson wants me to start up my mood diary again—I fucking hate recording that shit. But it's probably smart—better than having to up my meds.

After the free weight exercises, I move to the pec deck machine and sit down, adjusting the weight to 225lbs. There's a dance class going on as usual on Saturday mornings, and the hyper and incessant pop music that seeps out of there tends to drive me partially insane. So usually, I bring my MP3 player with me, but I forgot it today, so I'm stuck listening to this repetitive Lady Gaga crap.

Pressing my back flat against the vertical backrest, I start my reps, bringing my arms in to close in front of me and back out again. My eyes flick up to the dancers in the class, and this one right in front of me at the back of the class immediately catches my attention. 

She bends forward at the waist to touch her outstretched foot, showing off her beautifully toned ass-ets. Damn. I don't want to be a creep, but how can I not look a little, right? 

The class turns to the right, and I can see the profiles of most, but not this girl. Her head is turned back toward the instructor. She must be the new chick. Hmm, if she's cute, maybe I'll go talk to her after class.

Focus Gio. Stop staring. I squeeze my pecks to close the heavy weights in front of me and slowly open them again. 

Shit! The entire class has turned to face me, including my mystery girl, and suddenly, my once eager eyes are assaulted by the one girl I can't seem to get away from. Fuck. My body jerks in surprise, and the stack of weights plummet down their cord with a bang.