A Walk In The Park

6 - Impressed

Who the hell stresses over what to wear to a gym? Me, that's who. I've tried on three potential outfits and I end up choosing the very first one I tried.

"Calum's not gonna give a shit what I wear, Harley. What the fuck is wrong with me?"

Harley tilts his head and whines questioningly when he hears his name, then goes back to chewing on his tennis ball when I don't acknowledge him further. A couple of minutes later he forgets all about the ball when he notices me grab his leash. He gets excited and dances in circles by the door as he always does when he knows we're going for a walk.

It only takes ten minutes to walk to the gym. I've walked at a leisurely pace all this way, but my heart rate is accelerated. It could be a symptom of anxiety, being out of shape, or a combination of both. I stall before going inside, having second thoughts about this whole situation. I really do want to start exercising again. But what if Calum figures out how I feel about him? Or even worse, what if he turns out to be an asshole? I'd be crushed. There's only one way to find out. It's time to suck it up and go in because I see Calum through the window waving at me and it's too late to turn back now.

"Hey! You made it. Hi there, Harley." Calum squats down and Harley trots to him, pulling me behind. Harley slathers his face in wet kisses. Calum clearly loves it, and it makes me smile. "C'mon boy, let me show you your new playground," he address Harley and holds out his hand, non-verbally asking me for the leash, which I hand over.

I follow them out a rear door and I see that Calum was right. There's a nice fenced-in yard that's bigger than my townhouse. And there are a few pieces of toddler playground equipment.

"I offer free child care services to clients while they're using the gym, as long as I know ahead of time. My sister volunteers to watch them whenever I need her. She's great. And single. You should meet her sometime," he explains, and emphasizes his not-so-subtle hint with a wink. Ugh.

It's clear now that Calum doesn't know that I prefer men to women. And if he's trying to set me up with his sister, then he's clearly not interested in me. Damn. At least I know for sure now. There's no need for me to hit him with the "I'm gay" revelation just yet, so I just smile in response to his suggestion. But I guess it's comforting knowing that he already likes me well enough to suggest that I hook up with his sister. Thanks, but no thanks, Cal.

"Wait. I don't even know if you're already dating someone. My bad."

"No worries. I'm not dating anyone, though."

Luckily, he doesn't say anything else about it.

We watch Harley explore his new surroundings for a minute, then head inside. I realize that there's no one else here.

"Um, is it always this quiet?" I ask.

"No. But this is usually the slowest time of day. People are just getting off work. In about 30 minutes it'll be a madhouse."

"Oh. That makes sense. So does anyone else help you run this place, besides your sister?"

"Yeah, this college kid named Luke covers the weekends. And my roommate, Ashton, works a lot in the evenings, when he's not on a shoot. I let him have today off since I was going to be here. He only does it for fun anyway. He's not exactly hurting for money."

I look at him, not knowing exactly what he's talking about. He notices my confusion.

"He's a model. He goes out of town a lot for work, mostly to LA or New York. You've probably seen him in some ads or commercials. He does pretty well for himself. Well enough to not charge me rent to live with him." Calum laughs a little awkwardly. He probably said more than he intended to. But hell, I'd live with someone for free if given the opportunity. "We live just up the road in Greenwood Estates."