Red

Chapter Two

Edited*

'And again!' My legs worked hard, moving on the soft sand propelling me forwards. My calves felt as if they were on fire, burning more and more with every step I took. My lungs were tight, my asthma starting to occur. I was sprinting as fast as I could up to the running cone.

'Come on Lani.' I pumped myself up in my mind. 'Only twenty minutes to go. Better than and hour and forty minutes.' As soon as my foot came in line with the cone, I dodged and pushed back the way I had just came from.

'Let's go! Push!' Tanner was yelling at me glancing down at his stop watch every few seconds to see how I was going. 'Go, Go, Go!' He shouted, his encouraging words pushing me on. My last few steps were completed and I bend over and my waist and panted. My chest was tight and I didn't seem to be getting enough oxygen no matter how quickly I breathed.

'No new record, but that's fine. We can work on it in the next couple of weeks.' I wasn't sure of he was talking to himself or to me, but either way I didn't care. 'Here you go. We start again in 16 seconds.' Tanner explained while throwing me a drink bottle.

'Joy,' I muttered sarcastically to myself. The next thing I know, Tanner reached across and swatted my head with his hand.

'Stop complaining missy.' He scolded in a playful tone but meaning what he said.

'Yes sir.' I mock saluted him, my arms a bit floppy while doing so from all the exhaustion my body was going through.

'Are you mocking me? Do you want to do more sprints?' He asked with an evil glint in his eye.

'No, no, I was um, I was, treating you with respect?' I questioned, unsure if my answer was enough to save myself extra 300 meter sprints on the soft sand.

'You respect somebody? Bullshit, I'll never see the day.' He teases me. I glare at him, then he smiles innocently at me. '20 burpies, go!' He demanded with all playfulness gone and his training face on.

I groaned and dropped down into a push up position then jumped to my feet then jumped once more into the air, only to repeat the process all over again.

'19 to go.' Tanner said with a smile on his face. '18 to go.17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, and 10. Good job Lani, half way there. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, last one. Good job.' His constant commentary was agitating me slightly but I know it's for the best, then slapped my shoulder making me wince.

'Oww' I stated the obvious to him. The hit itself wasn't that hard but every inch of my body was in pain.

'Suck it up Lani, now. SPRINT!' He yelled like the personal trainer he is. Groaning, I placed one foot in front of the other and ran as fast as I could to the waiting cone in the sand.

***

'You love seeing me in pain don't you?' I muttered to him as I hobbled up to our cars with him happily walking beside me.

'No. Well yes, but it's also fun yelling at people.' He shrugged with an innocent look on his face.

'No wonder why you're a personal trainer.' I said with a laugh.

'Yeah, and you want to know the best thing is about my job?' He asked me. I stared at him expectantly waiting for him to expand. 'You pay me to do it.' I couldn't help but laugh at this. Not being bothered to hit him, I bumped into his side causing him to slightly loose his balance. He chuckled at this and slung and arm over my shoulder calling me a 'tiny tot'.

It's like he has a death wish.

***

'The delivery truck couldn't get all the way to our shop.' Sally my boss informed me as I walked into the shop the next morning. 'The bridge on the usual route is under construction and the truck is to bloody tall to get under the detour.' She fussed clearly worked up about the truck. 'Do you reckon you can pick up the products for me in the van? We had orders supposed to be delivered to us today for clients to come pick up this evening.' Sally asked me with her attempt of puppy dog eyes that failed miserably.