The Stand In

Chapter 4

Against my better judgement, three days later I am stood in the gym, watching Ed, watch his ex, who is watching her new Beau. It felt like some new type of gym voyeurism so I kept trying to engage with Ed, who was still very much hung up on Gemma the Gym bunny.

There was other people milling about the gym, so it didn't look too weird that Ed's eyes kept drifting over there. I think..

"I'm gonna get a bottle of water." I tell Ed, leaving before he could reply. The fact he doesn't throw a reply, says a lot about how this second date fiasco is going.

I got to give it to him though, Gemma was a hot chick and the stretches she pulled distracted me sometimes. I think she might have been doing them for a reaction, and she definitely got one from me, a jaw slackened gawp.

But her over affection for her new boyfriend was a little cringe for me. The constant fluffing and petting made my eyes roll. I liked a strong woman, a confident, self assure woman. Not one who mopped her boyfriends brow as he lifted weights far to heavy, making a vein pop out of his head.

Pushing out the gym, I came into the corridor and allowed the door to close behind me, quietening the music that pumped through the workout area.

With a quick pull on my workout pants, I found the secret pocket designed for a locker key and unzipped it, fishing out the note I had folded up in there. Feeding it into the machine, I pressed the buttons and waited. And waited. And waited.

The corkscrew levers turned, the bottle tilted and with a plink, fell against the glass, halting it in its path of falling to the tray at the bottom.

"Are you kidding me?" I whisper harshly, stabbing my finger against the buttons before hitting glass. When that failed, I took a quick look up and down the corridor before shoving the machine with all my might.

It moved. Slightly. I think..

I tried it a few times before going to the side and shoving the machine with my butt, hoping to make the bottle roll. But when I didn't hear the bottle in the tray. I did it a few more times with force.

"What--"

I gasp at the sudden voice and turn to see a familiar face, frowning in confusion.

"What are you doing?" Zak asks.

What was I doing? Yes Elle, explain to the gentleman why you were essentially bumming the machine. Using all that junk in your trunk...

My face was getting redder by the second and Zak was still very much in front of me, waiting for a reply.

"Water." I tell him.

My voice comes out pathetically child like and when he turns his eyes to the tilted water bottle, I subtly stamp on my own foot for sounding feeble.

"So you were trying to get the bottle out?"

"Yeah, what else was I doing?" I ask.

"With you? I never know. Go ask reception to open it, instead of trying to vandalise the machine."

"Okay dad." I huff folding my arms and pushing off the machine in direction of reception.

"Or..." Zak says making me turn. "I could get a bottle of water too."

It takes me a couple seconds to work out what he is saying so I walk back and watch as he pushes his money into the machine and then pokes in the code.

"You been here working out?" He asks looking over at me whilst the machine tries to decide what to do. "You look a little pale. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, something like that and I'm fine, thank you." I reply.