Falling For Mr. Sundae | ✔

07. Jerky

"Want to go again?"

I lifted my head from my mat with the little strength I had left to shot my mom an 'are you kidding me?' look. She appeared to completely serious as she dabbed sweat from her forehead with the towel that hung around her neck. Three dabs. That's all it took to rid her face of sweat. Meanwhile a puddle was forming on the mat as sweat dripped from me.

"I thought pregnant people weren't supposed to have any energy."

"That was a thirty minute workout," she said, taking a swig from her water bottle. "It was nothing. I barely worked up a sweat."

Nothing? I could feel my pulse thumping like bass of a rap song through every inch of my body. I couldn't feel my arms or my legs and my side was cramping.

"I'm dying," I whined, dropping my head back onto the mat. "I'm dead."

"Wuss," she snorted.

That wasn't fair. As a personal trainer she had the advantage. She's does two hour workouts in one go, of course a thirty minute workout was nothing to her. I, on the other hand, only do squats to look through the window of the oven so I can watch my pizza cook.

My mom restarted the work out video. Ignoring my achy, limp body on the floor as she went in for round two. I pushed myself up from the floor with arms I barley had any strength in and went upstairs to hop in the shower.

As I rummaged through my drawers for a change of clothes my eyes kept wondering over to the grey hoodie that was draped over the back of my desk chair.

I'd accidentally stolen Julian's hoodie. Forgetting I had it on when we departed last night. If it weren't for Nova sniffing around the pockets I wouldn't have even noticed. Apparently Julian had a thing for beef jerky and left a half-eaten one in the pocket, which Nova got a hold of. I had to quickly rip the wrapper off before she ate that too.

Returning the hoodie was going to be difficult since I didn't have a way of contacting him and I had no idea where to find him since work was cancelled. Pushing the dilemma aside I grabbed a pair of short, a shirt, some under garments and got into the shower.

Two hours later I was sitting in a comfy chair as a woman coated my fingers in lilac polish and watching Kells Instagram stories of her trip. Snorkeling, lounging on boats, dancing with cute guys--she was really out there living her best life. And she's only been there for like a day.

My eyes tore away from the videos when someone tapped my shoulder. It's Ariel, her arm linked with a another girls. I pulled my earphones out, smiling up at them.

"Hey," Ariel grinned. "I didn't know you came here."

"It's my first time actually," I told her. Brittney usually did my nails, using me as guinea pig for her creations. Since she was an ocean away I had to find a replacement.

"Oh, this is Melanie, by the way," Ariel introduced. Melanie was short, with brown skin a couple shade lighter than mine and wore her natural hair in a messy bun.

"Hi." The girl waved, smiling shyly. She then pointed to my nails. "That's a cute color. What's it called?"

"Soft Lilac," I told her.

Melanie excused herself before walking over to rack of nail polishes.

"Last night was fun," Ariel said and I nodded in agreement. "I completely forgot to get your number though, because we're not done discussing Jane The Virgin."

"Did you finish watching the last season?" I asked, handing my phone over to her.

"Oh my god," she gasped as she entered her number. "Yes! I stayed up all night. And just--how? Why? I have too many emotions about that finale right now."