“Hey,” she said.
She wore a baggy shirt, this one even baggier than the one she’d worn at school, and some cycling shorts, most of which were covered by the ugly ass shirt.
“Do you not own something that fits?”
“Why would I wear something fitting to the gym? People will see my rolls and lumps.”
Wow, talk about low self-esteem. His mother would have a field day with this girl. Yes, his mother was a model, but she was also petitioning to bring to light the eating disorders that occur within the industry.
“Never mind. Let’s go and get warmed up.”
They entered a room that had over thirty people. There was a lot of space, so he didn’t have to worry about helping her out.
“We need to stretch those muscles, get them warmed up so we don’t hurt ourselves while we exercise. We’ll do this now, then move onto some minor weights, treadmill, and we’ll cool down with more stretches.”
“Okay.”
Once again, she didn’t seem all that thrilled. Pushing forward on what he was about to do, he showed her each stretch, and she copied him with the pose.
“Go down as far as you can, touch the tip of your toes or in our case sneakers, draw your arms up, and stretch up to the sky.”
Elsa giggled. “I feel like I’m in gym class.”
“It’s not much different.”
“So we have to do this stretch as well?” She stepped forward, stretching out her hamstring, and lifted her hands up as if to push against something.
“Yes, yes, that’s right.”
She impressed him by showing off a few more exercises. Noah followed her, and when they were nice, warm, and ready, he took her toward the weight’s room.
“Am I going to end up looking like one of those body builders with huge muscles?”
“No.”
“Good, my mom wouldn’t go for that look either. She doesn’t like them.”
“What exactly does your mom like?” he asked. He sat her down on the edge of a bench, and gave her some female lightweight barbells. He grabbed the ones he was using to start off. “Now, rest your elbow on your knee, and lift up.” He showed her what he was doing, and she followed along with him. Together they pumped some weights, his by far heavier than hers.
“My mom just wants a blonde, size nothing doll that she can play dress up with. I’m not the perfect doll, so she tries to make me so.”
They changed hands, and he watched her work the barbells. She wasn’t getting out of breath, and he was able to see that she wasn’t overly unfit.
He increased the weights for her, and did the same for himself.
“Have you ever thought of talking to her about it?”
“I’ve tried. My dad has tried, when he’s not busy working on a case.”
“Your father’s a lawyer, right?”
“A kickass one.”
“Is that what you want to be?” he asked.
“Nah. You don’t want to be a plastic surgeon?”
“Nope. I can’t stand the thought of cutting someone open or changing them just because they don’t like it.”
“Really? I bet your father makes a fortune from all the tummy tucks, and people’s quest for perfection?”
“He does, but that doesn’t mean he loves it all the time.” Noah put down the barbell, and led her toward the machine that had her lying down on her back with her on either side of the bench. “Push this up.”
“Come on, spill about your dad.”
“He does work for burn victims, crime victims, and children born with defects that their parents want changing. He’s not some asshole.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. You know plastic surgeons have a bad rep.”
“I know. Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
Her body tensed, and the ugly ass shirt rode up her with each press.
Noah stared at her body, what she considered her imperfections, and he grew aroused. “Swap,” he said.
She pushed up and stood. He sat down, and started to push the weights up. “There was a time that my dad was stuck up. He did tit jobs as if they were going out of fashion, and was always talking about my mom having work done to help her career. He had porn stars on his books, celebrities.” He couldn’t argue with Elsa’s assessment. It was all true.
“What happened?” she asked.
“He was at a party, getting his name out. Mom was there, and she kept asking him to leave. She hated being with him when he was selling the perfect body. Everyone always assumed that she went under the knife to be so slender. You know liposuction?”
“Everyone knows about lipo.”
“Yeah, well, my mother didn’t have any of that shit. She’s a model who was happy with her faults.”
“She sounds like one hell of a woman, who doesn’t like to be crossed.”
He chuckled, swapping once again with Elsa. “She is.”
“So what happened?”
“Dad was determined to stay, and so we stayed. I was twelve at the time. At around one in the morning, we decided to leave. I sat in the backseat, and they were arguing. Mom called him a pretentious prick who didn’t care about anyone but himself. She accused him of having an affair, and everything. He shouted at her, told her she was nothing but a whore. Anyway, to cut a long story short as that is embarrassing as hell, Dad wasn’t paying attention, and he crashed into another driver. Mom’s face slammed up against the glass, and I was struck as well.” He turned, showing her the scar down the left side of his body where the metal of the car had somehow crushed, striking him in the side.