Chapter Three

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"You're up," Nick signaled as he adjusted the plates on one side of the barbell. Julien moved to match the weight on the other side. When each end equaled, Julien positioned herself with the bar resting on her shoulders, feet a shoulder's length apart. It was leg day, Julien's least favorite. They had saved squats for last, much to her chagrin. On most exercises, they took turns in between sets, but Nick's ability to squat an insane amount of weight compared to Julien made it very inconvenient for them to constantly be switching the weight around.

The gym was quiet and filled with a few other regulars. It was the calm before the storm. In the coming weeks, the building would be full of hopeful new members attempting to stay true to their New Year's resolutions. Of course, Nick and Julien had been around long enough to know that the size of the crowd would greatly decrease throughout the year. They had definitely been taking advantage of the tranquility of the environment over the last few weeks.

"Push it out, only five more. You got it." Usually, words of encouragement only managed to piss Julien off when she was straining herself physically, (that may even be why Nick did it) but over time, she found herself being motivated by his support. Not that she would ever tell him that. She robustly finished her last few reps and placed the bar back on the rack in front of her. After unloading the weight plates, they picked up their duffel bags and made their way passed free weights and an impressive selection of cardio machines, to the front of the gym.

The feeling of cloth snapping lightly against her arm made Julien turn to see Nick as he lowered the towel in his hand.

"You impressed me today. I think you've gotten stronger this month," Nick complimented with a grin.

"You say that at the end of every month." Julien rolled her eyes at him.

"Well yea, because you get a little stronger every month." He held his arms up and flexed his biceps while flashing a conceited smile.

"Just wait, one of these days I'll be able to lift more than you." Julien playfully bumped her shoulder into his.

Nick pretended to look off to the side. "Doubtful," he muttered loud enough for her to hear him.

The brisk air that met them as they walked outside sent goosebumps up Julien's exposed arms. She shivered and mentally reprimanded herself for forgetting to bring a jacket. The rush of blood and adrenaline from the pre-workout she took earlier had kept her warm before they arrived.

"So, I noticed you didn't look so pleased the other night when Hannah left with cowboy dude. You wanna talk about it?" Now was as good a time as any to bring up the question that Julien had been longing to ask her friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nick looked down at his feet as they walked toward his car.

"Ok, but if you want to talk about it. You know I'm here." The attempt at consolation yielded a contemplative look from Nick. Julien knew the only way to get him to open up was to be passive and let him do it at his own pace.

As they reached the car, Nick's usual demeanor of stoicism and confidence shifted to hesitance and insecurity. He started up the engine as he entered the driver's seat and immediately turned the volume down on the stereo system before it could continue blasting the alternative rock they had been screaming along to on the way there to hype themselves up.

He looked down and started fumbling with a piece of string that was unraveling from his sweatpants. "I just don't know how to tell her. She deserves the world, but I'm worried that I wouldn't be able to give it to her. Or that she wouldn't even want me to begin with. How do you appeal to someone who could have literally anyone that they wanted?" Nick looked up at her with despondence written all over his face. It broke Julien's heart to see him like this.

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