Apolonia

“How do I turn this off?”

“You don’t,” Benji said. “You just go with it.”

“I don’t want to go with it. I want to walk.”

“Cardio is good. You never know when you’ll have to run for your life.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a weird f**king thing to say.”

“Weird but true,” he said, facing forward and pushing his own run-faster button.

I hopped off the treadmill, letting it roll on without me. The water fountain was just a few feet away, so I walked over as slowly as I could without looking crazy to take a drink.

“You must be lost,” Ellie said behind me.

I stood up, tense, and then turned around, forcing my shoulders to relax.

“Decided to get a gym membership, did you?”

“No. Just visiting.”

Ellie made a face. “What on earth for?”

“I’m here with a friend.”

Ellie laughed once. “Now I know you’re lying. You don’t have any friends.” She patted her neck with a towel. Her perky D-cup br**sts perfectly filled out a purple racerback top, as did her ass in the matching capri yoga pants. It was almost as if the gods had made a point to sculpt the perfect body and then were too tired to provide a decent personality.

Benji passed Ellie and stood next to me. “Want to try the weight machines?”

Ellie was incensed and crossed her arms.

Benji noticed her then and nodded. “Hey, Ellie.”

“You brought her here?”

I looked at Benji, completely confused.

“So?” he said. He wasn’t being rude, but that didn’t stop Ellie’s cheeks from turning red with anger.

“Seriously? You’re trying to make me jealous? With…that?” Ellie said, laughing once without humor.

I instantly felt sick, and I craned my neck at Benji, who looked genuinely bewildered.

“No,” Benji said, shaking his head at me. “No way.” He held up his hands.

“Did you…” I couldn’t finish. Couldn’t even say the words.

Benji shook his head again. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see the beginnings of a grin on Ellie’s face. Was she really so horrible that she would pretend to have dated Benji to ruin one of the only friendships I had?

I grabbed Benji’s cheeks and planted my lips on his. Benji’s entire body tensed, and then he relaxed, pulling my body against his. His mouth parted, and what was supposed to be a quick, hard peck turned into a long, deep kiss with a lot of tongue and a lot of pressure from Benji’s fingertips into my skin.

I pulled away and we looked at each other. “I bet she’s jealous now,” I said, stealing a side-glance at Ellie.

“Who cares?” Benji said, unable to look away from me. Although he hadn’t been breathing hard on the treadmill, he was certainly breathing hard now.

Ellie’s mouth fell open, and then she walked away, tossing her hair as she turned.

Once she was gone, I nodded to the weight machine. “That one?”

Benji nodded and led me to the contraption, looking a bit bewildered.

I sat on the seat, pulled the metal pin out of the bottom hole, and put it into the top hole. It was my first time in almost three years lifting weights or even exercising. Thirty-five pounds seemed like a good starting point.

I pulled on the bar above my head until it touched the back of my neck and then slowly let it pull away. One rep after another, Benji watched me without saying a word.

“Am I even doing this right?” I said, peering up at the bar as I pulled on it.

“You do everything right,” Benji said without hesitation.

I let the bar slip out of my hands, and the weights crashed down.

After a short pause, I sighed. “I was just being a bitch to Ellie. That’s all.”

“It didn’t feel that way,” Benji said with a glimmer of hope in his sweet brown eyes.

“You’re right,” I said, trying to change the subject. “This working out thing does help blow off steam. Maybe I could come here on Saturday mornings. We didn’t get that much studying done.”

Benji watched me for a moment, and then he looked down and laughed. “Yeah, I can do Saturdays.” When his eyes met mine, the disappointment in them stung.

“I’d better get to the lab,” I said, pointing behind me with my thumb.

Just then, I felt a searing pain in my backside accompanied by a loud slapping noise that echoed throughout The Gym.

A guy almost a head taller than Benji passed me, smirking. “It’s about time you brought a piece of ass,” he said.

Benji immediately grabbed him and slammed him to the floor. Benji’s elbow stretched back, high into the air, and his hand was balled into a shaking tight fist. Before he threw the punch, Benji pushed away from the guy and stood up.

“I was just kidding, man! Damn!” he said.

“Don’t ever touch her like that again,” Benji said, a dozen emotions moving across his face. He reached out and helped the guy up. Then, he grabbed my hand, leading me from The Gym to his car.

We didn’t speak during the fifteen-minute ride to the Fitz. I picked at the chipped black polish on my nails and stared out the window. The Mustang slowed to a stop at the curb, and my door unlocked with a click.

“I’m sorry, Rory,” he said, sighing. “I don’t know what happened.” He didn’t look at me when he spoke. He just stared straight ahead.

“It’s fine,” I said, shaking my head.

I’d seen a completely different side of him. Before, I was struggling with returning the affections of a semi-annoying nerd. Suddenly, he was a badass. I’d wanted to kiss him again the second we stopped. Now, I was building up the nerve to do it again. He looked at me, and he knew exactly what I was thinking. Benji’s line of sight fell to my lips, and his hand reached across the front of the center console and rested on my knee. We leaned toward each other. Holy shit, I’m actually going to do this.

His phone buzzed, and the display lit up. Both of our bodies relaxed, and I looked down. The name above the number made my stomach turn. In bold white letters, it read, ELLIE. My eyes snapped back up to Benji’s. His expression immediately turned desperate.

“I can explain—”

“Liar,” I hissed, grabbing my backpack and slamming the door behind me.

I ran up the stairs, through the glass double doors of the Fitz, and turned to the right before running down another set of stairs to the basement.