Sugar Coated Pain [Boxer!Calum Hood AU] PUBLISHED -- SAMPLE ONLY

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"THERE ARE SO many other gyms in the city—why'd we have to come to this one?" Noelle grumbled as she stepped out of the Uber after thanking the driver.

Her best friend, Camille, rolled her blue eyes in mild exasperation. "Because it's the only one we have memberships to," was her response, and not for the first time did Noelle mentally curse Beverly for giving her the gym's membership card she had after overhearing Camille beg Noelle to come with her to the gym over FaceTime.

The gym that Ashton and Calum worked at.

She wouldn't mind seeing Ashton, sure, but the last time she saw Calum, which was two days ago, he was pretty ticked off at her. Noelle had the habit of staying away from people that she annoyed or vice versa.

Taking in the hesitation on her best friend's face, Camille sighed, "Come on, he might not even be working today," before grasping Noelle's arm and pulling her towards the front entrance.

Of course, Noelle had told Camille all about Calum—except for the fact that he, you know, dabbled in illegal fighting. All Noelle had told her was that he was a friend of Ashton's and she and Calum had gotten off on the wrong foot, so she didn't want to bother him anymore with her presence. Showing up at his place of work—again—was sure to do that. There was also a good chance Noelle was overthinking everything, that she was making her existence in Calum's life a far bigger deal than it was, but she couldn't help it. Driving herself crazy by overanalyzing everything was Noelle's biggest vice.

Using their cards to swipe in at the front desk, Noelle followed Camille towards the stairs that led up to where the weight room was as well as the area that had all of the treadmills, ellipticals, and cycles. Placing their bags in the available lockers, the girls headed towards the treadmills and Noelle placed her water bottle in the cupholder before starting the machine up, pulling her long hair back into a high ponytail as the machine lightly whirred and started moving.

Twenty minutes into their workout, Camille piped up, "You wanna go for drinks tonight? That one club in SoHo doesn't have queues outside so we won't have to wait or anything."

Noelle snorted, glancing at her friend as she felt her ponytail swing behind her. "What's the point of burning all these calories if we're gonna drink them back?"

"We drink to get drunk and we don't think about the calories," came Camille's instant response, earning a breathless laugh from Noelle due to the somewhat fast speed of her treadmill. "Besides, the store's closed tomorrow so you can't use work as an excuse."

"How about not wanting to fuck up my liver?"

"Tough."

♔♔♔♔♔

Unsurprisingly, it was hot inside the club as packed with people dancing to the EDM type music. Truthfully, it was too loud for Noelle to even make sense of it, only hearing the beats and bass. As soon as they had arrived, Noelle followed Camille, Beverly, and Camille's half-brother Benny towards the bar to down some drinks before hitting the dance floor. It was a pretty nice club, Noelle couldn't help but dazedly admire as they made their way to the center. She looked up at the giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling as well as the multiple oversized disco balls, the flashing neon lights that went with the beat of the songs the live DJ was playing up front reflecting off of the decorations.

As she danced with her friends, Noelle couldn't help but revel in the warm and fuzzy feeling she was experiencing; caused by both the alcohol she consumed and the hot atmosphere of the club due to the packed bodies. Her outfit of shorts with a lace bralette and a mesh crop top were cool enough, though she had half a mind to tie her hair up in a ponytail to prevent it from stick to the back of her neck because of sweat.