Ain't Shady Baby, I'm Hot

52

"Oh, come on. What happened to, Love?" I rolled my eyes as I walked out of Murphy's office finding Rafe waiting outside with a brown paper back and two large cups. "But, yes I have your sandwich."

I grinned walking up to him and holding out my hands.

"Uh-uh, what do you say?" I rose an eyebrow.

"I'll take my food?" He frowned.

"Really?"

"Please? Thank you?" I made a grabbing motion towards the bag but he pulled it away tutting.

"Thank you..... what?" I deadpanned as I blinked.

"Thank you, Rafe." He hummed pursing his lips before shaking his head no.

I crossed my arms staring at the occupants around us. No one was really paying attention to us and Murphy just sat down to do payroll.

"No. Nope. I'll take my sandwich now, please, Cameron." He hissed clinching his heart with the paper bag.

"I'm wounded." He sighed feigning dramatics, "how might I go on without my Darling to call my name?" I blinked once, then twice, then again.

"Give me my food before I jump you for it." He rose his eyebrows, I huffed "Rafe, I am not calling you Love." I grumbled not happy he was using food against me.

"We can work on that. Come to the staff room. Murphy said you had a fifteen minute break to eat."

"More like fifteen minutes to beat your ass." I grumbled as I followed after him. Not shocked at how well he knew the layout of the gym, especially the back corridor.

He pushed open the door and found no one, this being a good sign as Rafe relaxed. He gently set down the paper bag and the two cups, disbelief settling over me as I saw what was inside them.

"How did you even get those here?" I asked as we each moved to sit down at a small table.

"Backpack has two water bottle compartment. Went slow enough so I wouldn't launch them. I got strawberry and peach mango, I wasn't sure which you would want." I was already reaching towards the bright orange smoothie casually as he explained, I wrapped my hand around the container before looking at him.

"You willing to drink Strawberry?" I asked already sliding the peach mango towards me.

"I'd drink whichever one you didn't want. Tauti's is the best." My jaw dropped.

"This is from Tauti's?" Rafe cocked his head and nodded.

"Where else would I go for a smoothie? The Cafe?"

A laugh bubbled out of my lips. The Cafe did have smoothies on their menu but they were nowhere near as good as Tauti's. But Tauti's was a small hole-in-the-wall shop closer to the Cut, I guess I assumed Rafe wouldn't go near it.

"Is something wrong?" He genuinely seemed concerned.

"Not at all, Rafe. You did good." I pulled the straw free of the paper and sipped the smoothie. A sigh escaping my nose as I leaned back in my chair.

He rolled his eyes giving a soft laugh as he watched me relax. He pulled open the bag and grabbed out the two sandwiches, keeping one for himself and passing the other to me.

"Oven Roasted Chicken, no tomatoes, add avocado spread." I unwrapped the paper around the sandwich and grinned.

"Thank you, Rafe." I set the sandwich down and looked at the blond. "Seriously. Normally I just go eat after my shift. No one has actually made me eat or brought me food to eat. So, I guess you get some secret brownie points somewhere." A smile slowly peeled over his lips.

"You're welcome, Xena." His smile turned to a smirk as he added on, "Have you ever considered packing a lunch box?" I snorted grabbing my sandwich.

"Too much effort. There's a reason I nearly had cafeteria lunch everyday." He rolled his eyes as we started to eat. Silence surrounding the room as we finished our food.

Drinking the last sip of the smoothie I frowned. Peering in to see if there was maybe a small bit left, but there was none. I checked my watch, eyes widening as I saw we had gone ten minutes over the fifteen minute break.

"Oh shit. Okay, I have to get back to work, I'm done in two hours we can go back to the house or you can do whatever you want. The house is open if you want to spend another night." I spoke as I cleaned up, not looking at Rafe as I started out the door.

"Xena." I stopped in the middle of the door frame looking back at Rafe. His expression soft making me cock my head, "thank you." A gentle smile wormed its way onto my face.

"You're welcome, Rafe."

I left him in the staff room as I ran back out on the floor, the smile growing on my face as I jogged up to Murphy.

"Your one o'clock is warming up on the speed ladder." He voiced as a stood beside him. "You eat?"

"I'm full. Thank you for giving me the break."

"You can thank your new friend for it. I told him you didn't normally take breaks but he insisted."

"I am not sure about friends. Honestly, I don't think there's a label for us."

"You know what, your right. You kids confuse me these days, nothings every simple and to the point. Looks like Eric is almost finished so I'll leave you to it." I laughed at his grumbling.

"Hey, if Rafe is just hanging around, you could see if he wants to help with your two private weight training sessions? He doesn't have a cert but if he shadows you... it legally should be fine, right?" Murphy paused for a moment looking back at me.

"I'll look into it." I grinned giving him a salute before walking over to Eric.

"You can go faster than that." He jumped as I snuck up behind him. His hand covering his heart as he turned.

"I'm fourteen, I do not need heart attacks this early!" I laughed patting him on the shoulder.

"You looked good, drama queen. But I'm serious, you can go faster." Eric nodded realizing I was in coach mode as he finished up his warm up.

________•*•*•*•________

"Quit overthinking." I spoke up as Eric went through combos. His actions had been sloppy and hesitant the entire time we've been working. I frowned. "Stop. We're gonna do something different."

I tossed the hitting pads to the side, my hands motioning for him to come and stand next to me.

"What are we doing?" Eric asked as he reluctantly came beside me.

"You and I are going to shadow." He rose his eyebrow. "You're gonna act like my shadow for five minutes. I don't know what's going on but you're too clogged up. You need to clear space for your brain to react. You're thinking too hard, this isn't chess. Now, I'm no Mr. Miyagi so we are gonna do this my way."

"And how is me acting like your shadow going to help." I grinned.

"When was the last time you had a little fun?"