Stay

03

The room was small with black rubber flooring, mirrors on three of the four walls. Off to the corner of the room there was metal shelves accompanied by half sized lockers. The lockers got filled up quite quickly so I put my phone and water bottle down on the shelves.

After everyone was settled in the class the woman who let us in here spoke up again, "your regular instructor has gone into labor, so she will no longer be teaching this class."

Just as the words left her mouth he walked in the room, the beautiful stranger from the bar whom I just saw punching his way to victory. "this is Harry. He's going to be instructing this class from now on." and with that she said her goodbye and exited the room.

He seemed even taller now that I was standing closer to him, though I know that's not true. His dark brown curls were pushed back from his forehead with what seemed to be a ripped piece of cloth. Black shorts clung to his hips in the most delicious way. He spoke slowly, almost being accidentally seductive, as he looked around the room at the women in front of him. My eyes followed his and scanned the crowd of girls that stood before him, simply staring in awe at their new teacher.

"like you just heard, my name is Harry." his hand came up in a small wave as he slowly walked around the perimeter of the room. "i'm not going to be starting a lesson today, mostly because i didn't plan on teaching this class. So you can stay in the room and use it or you can leave, whatever you choose"

immediately a good portion of the women in the room swarmed to him as he leaned against the wall. They all introduced themselves, seemingly wanting to get his attention with their beauty and barely there work out attire. Chests pushed out as they got closer to him, stomachs sucked in in an unnatural  way.  He politely shook each of their hands, not really saying anything except murmuring a small hello.

Glancing over at the clock I realized it was only 4:45 which meant I still had a decent amount of time to work out before I absolutely had to go. I came all this way here, lied to be in this room, I'm not leaving without breaking some kind of sweat. I glanced around and noticed there wasn't much i could use to assist my work out. So I laid on the floor and began with sit ups. I wasn't the only person in the room who decided to workout instead of leave.

My eyes were closed in concentration. Taking deep breaths and focusing on lifting my body and squeezing my abdomen. I heard the room get very quiet so I figured everyone had left, not really bothered enough by the lack of sound to open my eyes and check.  After deciding on moving to a different exercise , I stood up. This was when I noticed Harry had not left the room. He stood still in the same spot as before, leaned against the wall farthest from me. 

I spoke up, "oh i'm so sorry, i didn't realize anyone was still here"

The tips of  my ears burned with embarrassment. He pushed himself off the wall and made his way over to me. He just stood in front of me. Not saying anything and making no other movements. His eyes looked all over my face, down my neck and torso. His tongue clicked inside mouth as he exhaled in a huff. "you were at the bar no?"

I nodded my head, not being able to find a voice to confirm his memories of me ogling him. He spoke up again, this time walking away from me and going to his previous position against the wall.

"how's that husband of yours? seemed a bit out of it last night yeah?"

"i'm not married" I'm not sure why these were the only words that came out of my mouth. I usually have no problem denying any sort of funny business people suspect.

"i see" he spoke very cooly, as though we were having a conversation about the weather. "don't think it rude of me to ask, but why are you here?"

"excuse me?"

His eyes tracing over my face and body were making me self conscious. I took a few steps closer to him but made sure I was still at an appropriate distance.

"why are you taking this class?" instead of waiting for me to answer he continued, "i mean i practically live here and yet i've never seen you before"

"i just want to be prepared if i'm on my own for some reason, it's just good practice really." I'm not sure why I was trying to convince him of anything. I mean we just met properly and besides he has no business being in my personal life. "and for your information, i've been here a few times before"

He chuckled lightly at my tone, clearly sensing he was agitating me. "if you really want to know to protect yourself, take private lessons."

"i couldn't afford a personal trainer" My thoughts travelled to how over protective Jackson can be sometimes. He used to always look at my bank statements when they came in the mail but he hasn't recently. Whether he's forgetting about them or simply stopped caring about them is a mystery to me.

"not a personal trainer, private lessons. And I don't charge too much" he lips curled into a cocky grin.

"you?" i questioned.

"yeah, i mean it's just good practice considering i do this kind of thing professionally" At some point he had taken a few steps closer me. His smile shone brighter now, using my words from before against me, and mine resembled his.

I'm not sure why I agreed to the whole ordeal. Maybe it was because I felt oddly comfortable talking to him. Like he was a friend I ran into after 10 years. Or maybe this was simply my hormones taking over, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to him. He was incredibly good looking, maybe in a different life he'd be a model. Green eyes that were such a pure, breathtaking colour. Dark brown curls pushed back to reveal chiseled features and smooth skin.

My whole car ride back home was spent mentally planning the next time i'd come to the gym.

note: was this weird?