Chapter 26
STEPHANIE
“We have to get out of the apartment,” Tiana said. The credits started rolling on the movie we were watching. She turned off the TV, then put the remote down on the coffee table and uncurled her legs, stretching as she stood up.
My brows pulled together, rising in the center. “Yeah? Where do you want to go?”
“The gym,” she said. “You haven’t been for a while, and I can feel my muscles melting away from just sitting around.”
I rolled my eyes, smiling at my friend. “You’ve only been sitting for two movies.”
“And now I’m done with sitting. Besides, you haven’t made time for yourself with your new job. Watching movies and munching on popcorn isn’t making you feel better. You’re as mopey as you were this morning. Working up a good sweat will make you feel better. Stronger.”
I bounced my head from side to side, considering what she said. “You’re right. I haven’t made much time for myself.”
“Of course, I’m right.” She scoffed, her lips twitching upward as she held out her hand to me. “Come on. Up. Up. Up. Go get dressed and meet me back out here in ten.”
I swatted away her hand and rose to my feet. She shrugged and took off to her room. Sighing, I followed her lead.
As luck would have it, today happened to be Tiana’s day off. After our breakfast this morning, we spent the day talking about my predicament, pampering ourselves while she told me about the new sous chef at the restaurant she was working in, and watching B-rated action movies.
I had fun with her. It was good to catch up and relax, but she was right that it hadn’t taken my mind off everything that had happened. Talking things through with Tiana helped put into perspective how absurd it was that a woman had stormed into my boss’s office and basically attacked me, but I still didn’t know how I was going to handle the situation.
Or the situation involving said boss’s lips on mine and my hands all over his muscled body. I’d been in the middle of taking off his pants when Neil knocked on the door, for crying in a bucket. It’d hardly been an innocent peck on the lips.
Going to the gym sounded torturous to me right now. Changing out of my comfy sweats and T-shirt and swapping them for workout clothes, the rush in the subway, and the walk to the gym. It was all going to suck, but it was a surefire way of making me feel better.
In the wise words of Elle Woods, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy.” Since I could use a little happy, I dragged my lazy butt to my bedroom and started the process of forcing all my jiggly bits into my sports bra and gym clothes.
Tiana was waiting by the door when I walked out of my room, still adjusting my boobs and pulling up my socks. Her keys were hanging on her finger, and she stuffed a couple of bills into her shirt, telling me, “Just in case we need something.”
I nodded, reaching for my purse to do the same. Our gym bags hung on hooks just inside the front door. I shouldered mine and held hers out to her. “I’m ready to go when you are.”
“I’ve been ready for five minutes,” she shot back. She opened the door, motioning me through it. “Let’s get out of here before you change your mind.”
“I’m hardly going to change it now that I wrestled myself into this bra,” I said, pulling on one of the broad gray straps that crossed between my shoulder blades. “I seriously don’t understand how you think these things are comfortable.”
“They’re supportive.” She was rehashing an argument she’d made a million times. “Don’t focus on how tightly it holds onto you. Think of it like a hug.”
I raised my brows, grabbing the door to the staircase. “The people you hug need to up their game if you think this is what a hug feels like.”
She laughed and followed me down the stairs. Our sneakers squeaked on the concrete, and we jogged down side by side, our version of starting our warm-up routine even if we still had the commute ahead of us. When we moved in together, Tiana argued that going to the gym was useless if we took the elevator all the time.
I didn’t agree, but we compromised. We now took the stairs on the way out and depending on our workout, the elevator on the way back in.
“What’s on our schedule for the day?” I asked as we swiped our membership cards at the turnstiles leading into the gym. Dull digital beeps sounded and allowed us entrance. We pushed through the metal prongs and stepped into the après work crowd swarming around, sweating up a storm inside.
The air was filled with the encouraging shouts of personal trainers, grunts and chatter, metal hitting metal as the machines clunked from people completing circuits, splashing water from the Olympic-sized pool, and the faint laughs and cries of children in the play area.
It was bustling, alive. I didn’t necessarily like the gym, but I wouldn’t deny it made for an excellent distraction. Tiana shot me a look over her shoulder and weaved through people hurrying from area to area.
“We’re doing weight training today,” she said. “Strong and powerful. I think you need it. The exertion will help you feel like you can take on the world. Or, you know, like you don’t need to let yourself be stomped on by a threatening stranger. Take your pick.”
“I pick strong and powerful.” No doubt about it. When that woman cornered me, I didn’t have the first idea what to do. Weight training wasn’t self-defense classes, but maybe it would make me feel safer. Like if it came down to it, I’d be worth more in a standoff than ducking as the photo frame came flying at me. “It’s a good idea.”
Tiana smiled approvingly. “That’s what I thought.”
We walked to the corner of the gym floor where a neon sign lit up with the words “Weight Training” hung above mirrors that stretched from one side to the other. A metal rack against the mirror held weights off all different colors, shapes, and sizes.