Syrtis

VIII.

May 1st, 2018
Wednesday, 6:02am

Jessica felt the cold air on her upper thighs and reached for her favorite grey blanket with a groan but instead met resistance that was set up on either side of her. They felt like arms but she didn’t bother to open her eyes to find out. “Movveeee.”

“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Amin laughed from his place above her and planted a series of kisses all over her face. “I need you up, open your eyes c’mon.”

“Not now, I’m really tired. If it’s to say goodbye, bye. I’ll call you later on.” She turned over in a much undignified fashion and put her face in her pillow. “Please let me sleep.”

“That would really defeat my purpose of waking you up, babe. Remember when you promised to go to the gym with me?” He laid beside her and pulled her on top of him, ignoring her moans of protest.

“Amin, please. Not this morning. Please, I beg you. I have a long day ahead of me.” Resigning to her fate, she curled up in her position on him and sighed in contentment. She’d sleep there every night but unfortunately, he stayed up for most of them typing away at the machine that she hated more than anything: his laptop.

“Starting your morning with some exercises is a really good source of energy.” She didn’t answer, he could feel that her breathing was beginning to slow. She was falling asleep again. “Babe? Please, I need you to go with me. Please?”

She sighed in defeat when he squeezed her shoulder in an attempt to wake her and got off the bed in silence. The next few precious minutes of her time were spent brushing her teeth and wearing appropriate gym clothing that she’d gotten just in case he ever decided to pull a stunt like this. He didn’t try to talk to her either, which she was grateful for. Waking up at such an early hour was not a part of her daily routine and it pissed her off a little bit. After making sure she looked decent enough to be seen in public, she grabbed his already packed gym bag and headed out of the room.

“Amin.”

“Right here,” he emerged from the kitchen with two bottles of water and a huge smile on his face. “Wow, I could get used to this view.”

“Don’t,” she rolled her eyes and took the bottle from his outstretched hand. Her grey sweatpants and white under blouse, and a grey jacket above it. She didn’t look the way she did every day and he really liked the fit look that she had going on.

“Aw, don’t tell me you’re still mad. It’ll be fun, I promise.” He hugged her to him and kissed her forehead. “I’m glad you’re doing this with me.”

“Yeah, sure,” she said in a bored tone but she smiled against him. It had been a hot minute since she saw the inside of a gym even though it was a few minutes away. And it was a treat to see him working out, so for her it was a win-win situation. They pulled away and left the apartment with a slight sense of urgency. He had to be at work in two hours and time was going against them.

Fifteen minutes later.

“Are you supposed to be this close to me? Or is it a part of the training?” she huffed and tried not to pay attention to the strain on her legs or his hand that was beneath her thigh. It was a really big distraction.

The floor to ceiling mirror in front of them caught his grin behind her as he helped her into the right stretching position of the exercise that she wanted to try. “It’s necessary. There you go, can you stay like this?”

“I think so,” she grimaced but maintained her stance. She had one knee on the carpeted floor and the other stretched out on the side of her body, and she was bending as far as she could go. The jacket was off, her hair almost tumbling off the top of her head but yet staying intact, her brown skin was a hosting ground for the beads of sweat that made their way out of her skin happily and settled down, despite the cold air that came out of the air conditioners.