for, liar

Chapter 57

Ten minutes into one of Maddy's high intensity interval training exercises, I get the picture of just how exactly out of shape I actually am. As she spends the next thirty seconds doing whatever the hell a burpee is, I'm on the dirty-ass gym floor laying in my own sweat. Or is it tears?

"Bree! Get up! We still have five minutes for this HIIT! You can take a break later!" She yells over the loudspeakers.

There's no way I'm getting off this floor any time soon. I hit my limit. I've sunken into it and made myself a comfy space against the cold, hard flooring. This is where I belong now.

"Breanna. Get up off your ass! If I have to stop moving to pick you up, it won't be pretty."

I'm not even sure what kind of exercise Maddy is doing at this point. It started off fine with a few crunches and then it took a turn for the worst when she tried to show me what the fuck plank jacks were. I'm not looking forward to the pain I'm going to feel tomorrow.

"Can we just do the floor exercises like them?" I whine and point over to the couple sitting in the corner snickering and lifting up small dumbbells.

"Bitch, they're literally 70."

"And they're making it work! That's commitment." I argue.

She pauses the timer on her watch and kneels down next to me. "It's either 15 minutes with HIIT workouts or you're running a 5k on the treadmill. Your choice."

She's deadass serious. It's kind of intimidating but I must admit that I'm quite proud of her. She's persistent and I need that sometimes if I want results.

"You wouldn't dare."

She crosses her arms and stares at me. Two girls step off the treadmills, both drenched in sweat. They rush over to the water fountain and one almost falls over before she even makes it. I take that as a sign to buck up and finish the damn exercise.

Maddy manages to make it less horrific as we continue on. She shows me a few low impact exercises that I can do until I build up enough strength to match her.

I've always been jealous of how tone Maddy is. She has tried on multiple occasions to get me to join her at the gym but I always come up with some lame excuse of why I can't. I'm not against exercise, I just enjoy other things more. Literally any other thing.

She takes a sip from her water bottle. "See, that wasn't so bad was it?"

How is she only taking small sips? My bottle is almost empty again and I'm pretty sure I just filled it up.

"If I agree with you will you let me never do this again?" I ask.

"Definitely not. It's good for you."

I feel like I get plenty of exercise when I'm at work. I'm always so drained and exhausted by the time I get off that I never make time to exercise because I can barely stand anymore after those long shifts, let alone run. My feet endure enough torture.

"I admire you for being a fitness queen but it's not my thing."

We walk to the locker rooms to change back into our regular clothes. My legs were literally shaking from how much strain I just put them through. I'm still waiting for the "it'll feel good once you're done" part that Maddy swore would happen.

I pull my sweatshirt over my sports bra and change into my lounge shorts. Maddy keeps her leggings on but changes out of her sweaty tank top to a midriff t-shirt. If I had abs like hers I would show them off too.

"So I was thinking we can grab lunch before you head to work? You have to work today right?" she asks.

I groan, dreading the thought of working a six hour shift at Scream Beans. I don't feel like yelling at anyone today. It's a lot harder to do when I'm actually happy. Working out may have been a pain, but I had an amazing weekend so it won't be easy ruining my mood.

"Yeah, I work at four and I close tonight so I won't be home until late."

"I was going to make spaghetti or something for dinner. I could leave you some leftovers for when you get off. I know how much you love cold spaghetti."

I laugh and sling my bag over my shoulder. She knows me so well.

"I do love cold spaghetti. That would be amazing."

I love it when it's like this. No tension or anger. Both of us act like we've sort of gotten our shit together even though deep down, we're still trainwrecks.

We walk down the street to Tropical Smoothie and wait in line for a few minutes before we get to order. They were unusually crowded for a Monday that I would assume they were having some rewards special or a new menu item. I guess everyone just decided they wanted a smoothie today.

Maddy gets handed her food and looks around for an open table. Most of them are taken.

"Where should we sit?"

I glance around, hoping for a table away from people. I hate when it's overcrowded anywhere, especially restaurants. It makes me feel suffocated.

"We could always eat outside. The weather isn't too bad and it's not supposed to rain until later."

She shoots me a thumbs up and heads out the door to the patio area. I wait a couple of minutes for my flatbread and grab a few napkins on the way out because I know my clumsy ass is going to spill something.

Maddy pulls out the chair for me and I thank as I'm sitting down. I actually haven't had their food in awhile so I'm really freakin' excited to devour this flatbread.

"Okay, I think it's a good time to tell you something." Maddy begins as I take my first bite.

"Oh God, what? You're not pregnant are you?"

She laughs but I'm being completely serious. That couldn't be worse timing.

"No, dummy. I have a job interview."

That wasn't at all what I was expecting. I didn't even know she was currently applying anywhere. Maybe I would've known if we weren't fighting so much recently.

"Really? Where?"

"It's a graphic design gig right down the road. They pay pretty well up front if I can get my foot in the door." She says, sucking up a literal inch of smoothie.

"I thought you loved the art studio. When did you even get into graphic design?"

Maddy has never been the one to choose graphics over drawing and painting. I never expected her to even have an interest in pursuing such a thing.

"I talked to Daphne and she said I can still work at the studio part time if I wanted to. I could teach a few classes here and there and then work as a graphic designer for the rest of my time. More money on the table! Isn't that exciting?"

It is exciting but it just makes me even more disappointed in myself for not attempting to find a job in my field. I'm starting to feel like those graduates who get out of school and realize they hate what they majored in before they even get a shot at doing it.

"That's really amazing, Maddy. I'm so proud of you. I hope you get it."

She squeals and waves her fists in the air. "Me too! I'm going to go to the store and buy the best interview outfit ever so that they can't say no."

I hate to break it to her but an outfit wouldn't be the deciding factor here. Well, I guess it depends on who she's interviewing with. In that case, I shouldn't try to stop her.

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