I get up and begin to look for my gym clothes. I just wish I had the chance to tell him what I think of him.
* * *
Two hours later, I walk toward the gym with a sense of dread hanging over me. I don’t know why, but every time I walk into a new gym it’s like the first time I’ve ever been in one.
This one took a little while to find. It’s not the cheapest membership or anything but it’s over some shops near my work. I thought this would be good because when I move into my apartment, I’ll always be in this area each day because of my job.
I walk through the red door on the ground floor and I take the stairs. I get to the top and walk in through the big glass double doors, and I look around. Wow, I’m pleasantly surprised. It’s airy and bright with big glass windows down one side. It has six rows of cardio machines and a large boxing ring. To the left are all the weight machines. Huge plasma screens hang everywhere with music videos playing.
I smile. This place is pretty cool, actually. I walk to the reception where a girl is tidying up some things on the floor on her knees.
“Hello.”
She looks up, surprised to see me. “Hi. Sorry, I didn’t see you.” She’s English and has a wonderful Geordie accent. She has dark hair and olive skin. I assumed she was Italian.
“That’s okay.” I smile. “I imagine not many people come to the gym at 2:00 p.m. on a Sunday.”
“Right.” She laughs as she climbs to her feet. “I’m Anna.” She holds her hand out to shake mine.
“I’m Olivia. Nice to meet you.”
“You want to look around?” She gestures over to the cardio machines.
“Yes, please. I’ve just moved here.”
“You’re a kiwi?”
“No, Australian.”
“Ahh, how are you finding it?” She smiles. “Milan, I mean.”
“Good.” I shrug. “I find the language barrier a little harder than I thought it would.”
“Yeah, I found it really hard to settle in at first. Took me a good six months to feel at home. I moved here three years ago. My fiancé is Italian. We met on a Contiki tour in Germany.”
“Oh.” I smile. “That’s lovely.”
“Not really. He’s an ass.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m off him today. He crawled in at four this morning. He’s lucky he didn’t wake up with a plastic bag over his head. Stupid twat.”
I giggle. I like this girl.
“You’ll like this gym, it’s very multicultural. It’s owned by an English couple. It seems to have a lot of foreign members as well as Italian. It’s not intentional, I think it’s just the central location.”
“Sounds great.”
“The first session is a free trial. Do you want to work out today, and then I can show you the rates and memberships at the end?”
“Yes, please.”
She gestures to the treadmill, and I hop on. She hits the buttons and it starts up.
“Not too fast,” I warn her. “I’m likely to die of a heart attack, I’m so unfit.”
“At least you don’t work here.” She huffs. “I have no bloody excuse.”
* * *
A head pops around my office door. “Olivia, would you have time to go and pick something up for me?” Tara from the design team asks. “You can take my company car. It’s just on the other side of town. I’m just really swamped, and we need this sample for a meeting at four.”