Page 5 of Mr. Green
“Hey, Sunshine,” Grant states, too cheerful for me. “Funny bumping into you here. Glad to see you got out of jail.”
Did he just insinuate I was in jail?
“Jail?” I furrow my eyebrows. “I didn’t go to jail.” I make eye contact with Noah at the cash register who is being way too nosey for his own good. “Don’t listen to him.”
Grant turns to the kid. “Drunk and disorderly. Shouting at everyone. The cops had to pull her away before she started taking off her clothes.”
I’m bright red, I’m sure of it. Heat is probably smoking from my ears. I’m not letting him get away with that.
“Actually, he was hoping I’d take off my clothes. He can’t tell the difference between reality and his dream states. He’s always dreaming about me.” Grant smirks back at me. “I’d make sure you’re close to the phone. You know, in case he starts pestering other women.”
I roll my eyes, yet again this morning and walk out. The nerve of that guy. Making up shit that didn’t happen in front of people. Who the hell does that?
“Nice to see you again!” he shouts after me.
I don’t turn around. He needs his head examined.
Why the hell is he still here?
~
I walk into the gym, thankful to see the bamboo floors and light gray paint open to the modern desk. When we took over, the gym had carpets and was painted a dark green. The first change we made was painting.
I’m barely able to put one foot in front of the other. The sandwich made me tired, and now I’m feeling zero motivation to workout. I made the commitment though, so here I am, ready to meet with Jason.
He’s walking up to the front desk with his back straight and a perfect smile.
“Hey, Lana! You ready to get that butt sexier than it’s ever been?”
“So ready. What are we starting with?”
“Let’s get your weight and measurements just so you can see your progress. Weightlifting helps you gain strength and lose inches, so it’ll be nice when you can look back on where you were. We’re going to help you achieve your goal to run as far as you want! Sound good?”
“Are we working out today?”
“Oh, yeah girl.” He smiles as if working out is the best thing in the world. “You’ve never done the intake with Paige or Scarlett?”
We start walking to the room where you get measured. It’s a small space, but we didn’t feel there needed to be too much room for a scale, table, and piece of measuring tape. We updated it by painting it white, added one large rectangular mirror, and carried in the bamboo flooring.
Then there are the posters. The posters that say things like, “There are mountains waiting to be moved.” It has people standing and staring at the thing like they’ll actually move it. I scoff in my head, thinking of the idiots trying to move a mountain.Yeah, right.I tried to get those tossed, but Scarlett and Paige won that round.
“I’ve never done the actual process before.” I shrug. “I used to follow Paige or Scarlett with whatever workout they had planned for the day. Weights always make me feel like I’m going to become Miss Bulky.”
He laughs. “You mean when they’d drag you in here to get you out of your house?”
I glare back at him.
He clears his throat. “Okay, let’s take your weight.”
“Okay.” I know my weight has gone up, so I’m not expecting the number to be low.
“One hundred eighty-two pounds,” Jason says without a hint of judgement. “Let’s get your height.” I put my back against the wall as he measures. “Five foot, three inches.Okay, let’s take a few measurements. This is where a lot of progress happens. We really just need an arm, leg, and waist.”
I nod and then hand over my arm first. Once he has all my measurements, he turns to me. “Do you have an active lifestyle?”
“Not anymore,” I say, fighting the tears building up. “Uhmm. I work from home and I’ve been sleeping a lot.” The tears melt down my face despite my lack of trying to hold them in.
“Oh, La La! I hate to see you like this!” He embraces me in a half hug. “You must know you’re beautiful. Working out is amazing becauseyoustart seeing the beauty. You need to focus on the things that make you feel good. Guess what?”