I don't know how this all happened. Of course I remember
how
it all happened, but I have no idea at what point along the way I lost my moral backbone. I always thought of myself as a bastion of loyalty, but that got lost along the way.
I was not looking forward to leg day. Call me a typical "gym-bro" if you want but leg day was the worst day of the week for me when it came to working out at the gym. I would've considered skipping it if my friend Jeremy hadn't promised me a free core-power protein shake for hitting legs with him. Dammit that vanilla shake had a hold on my heart.
I put on my gym clothes. I gave my girlfriend a short peck on her lips. I tried for a deeper kiss, but she pushed me away. I slouched towards the garage, defeated but ready to leave for the gym. I looked back and saw her staring at her phone, completely content with some time without me. She hadn't been giving me the usual puppy dog eyes when I left the house lately. Familiarity breeding contempt, I supposed.
I turned the wheel of my white sedan into a parking spot at exactly 8PM. I shut my car off and checked my phone. One message from Jeremy, simply stating "Here" 2 minutes prior. I audibly groaned as I opened the door to my car and trudged inside the gym. Jeremy, who had been waiting, scanned in at the front desk and then turned back to face me. He greeted me with a sardonic grin, seemingly basking in my disdain for leg day.
5x5 squats. Heavy. Again this week. Jeremy had to be trying to kill me. He tried to cheer me up while I was huffing after my third set. He slapped his admittedly muscular thigh and called himself "quadzilla". I chuckled politely and then desperately focused on resetting my breathing and getting ready for the next set of squats. It was just then that I turned my head and saw her.
Two power-racks away was a girl bent over setting up weight for a set of deadlifts. She had long, glossy brown hair which had been tucked into a ponytail. She was wearing a baggy off-white t-shirt which was tucked into light blue leggings which showed off her round ass perfectly. She finished putting on a second 45 pound plate on one side of the bar and stood up, facing towards me. Our eyes caught each other for what felt like a moment too long.
Shit, that's embarrassing, she caught me staring.
Suddenly Jeremy's voice cut off my internal monologue.
"Dude I know you hate squats but you're not gonna get out of them until you're Quadzilla too!" He said jovially. "Seriously though, time to get back under the bar so this doesn't take forever." It was the perfect excuse to stop myself from sneaking another peak. After all, I did have a girlfriend waiting at home. If I kept staring would it still be innocent peeking, or could it turn into a more corrupting type of lust? It was innocent, wasn't it? I was always loyal but I had... struggled... from time to time. No time to worry now. Back under the bar.
Thank god for squats... that's the first and last time thinking that,
I had joked to myself silently
.
A bit later we had finished squats and Jeremy had left to refill his water. I went to sneak another peek at tonight's guilty pleasure but was surprised when I found that she had already been looking at me. We made eye contact and, even more astoundingly, she began to walk up to me. She gave me a friendly smile but her eyes looked at me intensely. She continued to walk up to me with an exaggerated and sexy sway of her hips. She stopped just inside what I would consider my personal space.
"Hey there, I haven't seen you around and wanted to say 'Hey'. My name's Abby!" She cooed sweetly at a volume that made me lean in slightly to hear her over the gym's music.
A light coating of perspiration glistened across her head and made her glow. Her eyes were a beautiful deep, blue.
Shit I should probably say something back instead of just standing here slack-jawed.
"Yeah my buddy and I usually show up to workout a few hours earlier but we're switching to working out a bit later to miss the crowds." I explained.
"Miss the crowd, or become the crowd for people like me?" She remarked in a mock accusation and tapped me on the shoulder with a closed fist.
I laughed and tried to ignore the fact that I could feel my skin warming and turning red just from the friendly tap she gave me.
"Don't worry, I'm only joking." She consoled me. "Nice to meet you! I better get back to my workout!" She beamed at me one last time and then walked away once again.
Jeremy seemed to appear by my side as soon as she walked away. "Damn, who was that dime you approached?" He said, a tad of jealousy slightly apparent from his tone.
"Actually she approached me." I blurted out defensively. I did not want there to be any way my girl thought I was chatting up chicks at the gym. I knew Jeremy wouldn't say anything even if I was, but he had a habit of telling tall tales to his own girlfriend. These tales always eventually came around and bit me in the ass when my girl ended up on the receiving end of a devastating game of telephone. "Try not to drool, you're still staring at her!" I teased him. I shifted my focus back to our workout. Oh right, I was miserable and exhausted. I had forgotten.
______________________________________________________________________________
"Upper body day. Let's fucking go." That's what I texted Jeremy the next day. Okay, I guess I can't blame anyone for calling me a stereotypical gym-bro.
I once again pulled into the gym at 8PM and greeted Jeremy, already waiting inside.
"You seem excited today," He remarked.
I was. I always lifted more than Jeremy on bench press and we loved to be competitive. All in good fun of course. I was coming into the gym after a stressful day and was ready to blow off some steam. My girlfriend had given me a cold send-off once again. I tried not to let it bother me.
I looked past Jeremy and found that another smiling face greeted me from across the gym. Abby was there and did a bit more than steal a glance at me. I tried to hide my excitement and play it cool.
Why the fuck do I care so much? My girl is at home. I better straighten up and act right.
After a few sets of bench Jeremy said he needed to get more water before walking away. That man always drank water like an orca inhales krill.
Abby walked up to me once again and went ever-so-slightly deeper inside my personal space. I found myself not caring all-too-much. Today she was wearing a tighter T-shift which showed off her tits. They were a bit on the smaller side but looked perky from what I could see. The T-shift had writing at chest level which boldly proclaimed "PRINCESS". Normally I would find a shirt with writing like that obnoxious and corny but on her it was sexy.
"Hey! I saw you here again and, I can't lie, I got excited to come talk to you!" She said while brushing my arm. The hairs on my arm stood erect and I could feel my body heating up.
NICE. SHE'S INTO ME. Wait. I mean. Maybe I should shut this down.
I was enjoying the ego boost but was starting to feel guilty and anxious.
This is getting
to be
a bit much and Jeremy loves to blabber.
I snuck a glance behind me and saw that he was preoccupied with the water fountain which seemed to be having a malfunction.
Perfect.
I decided it was time to reciprocate her attention a bit, just to not shut her down too harshly.
"Good to see you too princess!" I let out a little too quickly.
