Second Chances

Chapter 37

"Well done today Pops, that was a good work out. Your stamina's really improved, keep it up." I wiped the tiny droplets of sweat that were congregating on my forehead with the back of my hand as I complimented Poppy, my newest recruit. She was a pretty, young thing. Her features were delicate and soft, giving her a very innocent demeanour. She had beautiful brown eyes that were slightly almond shaped, and her pale skin was decorated with fine freckles randomly splattered all over. Her hair was a naturally curly, flaming red that spiralled to below her shoulder blades.

She was bent over, leaning on her bent knees with her head tucked into her chest as she tried to catch her breath. She was unable to reply through lack of oxygen, so she gave me a thumbs up. A few more weeks and the work out we had done will be a walk in the park for her. It was remarkable how quickly her body was adapting, and I was proud of the progress she was making.

Once she had regained her composure, I ran over her fitness plan with her for her to do on the days that I wasn't with her, and assured her that if there were any questions she had then she shouldn't hesitate to give me a call or message. She seemed happy with the plan I had designed for her and she took it with a big excited grin on her face. Every week I made little adjustments to make her workouts a little harder and she loved the challenge. She loved to push herself beyond her limits, and that was both good and dangerous – I knew that all too well. I've had to reel her in a couple of times already before she injured herself. The plan I had created for her was tailored not only to her needs but also to her lifestyle. Routine and structure were important to Poppy, and whist it took her a week or so to get used to the change, she was loving the new routine and breakdown in her day. Together, we went through what her work times are and anything she did with her personal life so that we could schedule in her fitness, otherwise she wouldn't be able to juggle everything and make any sacrifices. It detailed times on when to start and finish and how long each set should take, followed by length of rest in between.

I gathered my belongings and said my goodbyes, then started heading to my own apartment. I was now done for the day and that meant that I could relax with ice cream and a new Netflix series. The early July sun was blistering hot today, and I could feel my shoulders tingle as they began to burn under the damaging UV rays. Thankfully, it wasn't much of a walk back to my place.

I wasn't able run or jog at the moment after spraining my ankle from my night out with Sam, which was a shame because this weather had me longing to take my batons to the nearest park and twirl off the dust. I hadn't thought I'd done that much damage to it when it gave way on me on my steps, but the x-ray I ended up having the next day suggested otherwise. It was a week and a half later and my ankle was feeling so much more better and stronger, and so I had started to use it a little bit more, with the support of some bandages. I'd had to take some days off to allow for some of the swelling to go down, and even when I was back on my feet, I was only able to use my arms and verbally direct my clients. It was frustrating because all I wanted to do was to move my foot.

I had woken up the next day with my head rested on the toilet with the hangover from hell. It was easily in my top three of worst hangovers ever. I'd tried to stand up, but I collapsed as soon as I was upright with Bambi legs and I had to yell for Sam to come pick me up off the bathroom floor. I laughed at the memory of him skidding to the door, almost slipping over as he sprinted to me with panic written all over his face.

Once the fog had cleared from my brain, I was able to recall the events of the night before and was horrified that I had almost kissed Sam. But it seemed either Sam didn't remember, or he was being thoughtful enough not to mention it, because he hadn't said a word and had been acting indifferently with me. Either way, I was grateful that things were good with us, and I relieved that I had stopped myself from kissing him. Because that would've only been just another mess that I would have on my plate, and I already had a mountain stacked on my apparently indestructible plate.