Brooke sighed long and loud, her shoulders tightening and relaxing as the elevator door closed shut. As much as it pained her to say it, as much as she really, truly loved her friends...it felt good to get away from them.
Leaving her apartment and stepping into the elevator felt like escaping quicksand. If you weren’t careful, you’d get your foot caught in its deceptively benign surface, and before you knew it, you’d be waist-deep in beer and snack cakes, trapped under the crushing weight of your own overindulgence and lethargy…
…though even that didn’t properly illustrate it; after all, mere proximity to a sand trap doesn’t drag you down. No, Cheyenne and Avery were more akin to black holes; it seemed any amount of time in their presence threatened a dramatic backslide as Brooke had to fight from being dragged in by their collective suction power. They were her oldest, closest friends, but intentional or not, sometimes…they could be the absolute worst.
She’d watched first-hand as Cheyenne had dropped two hundred pounds despite Avery’s commitment to being less than helpful. At least Brooke had tried to support Cheye in her own fitness journey, but Avery just had to go and…
Brooke closed her eyes and centered herself as the elevator descended, gripping her gym bag tight. Stop it, save that kind of thinking for later. No, right now, there’d be no talk of whose fault it was, or even what it was, or if there even was anything to be at fault for, or…
Shush. There’s no point in stewing on this here; let’s just get to the gym, and put some of this pent-up frustration to good use.
-
When Brooke had set out on her own weight-loss journey, the first step had been finding the right gym. Planet Fitness was tempting; it wasn’t that long of a drive from the apartment, and Cheyenne had almost nothing negative to say about it.
Almost.
Riley was a great trainer. That was hard to argue with, seeing as how she’d successfully guided Cheye out of fatness and into fitness. But Brooke was all too aware of how their trainer-trainee relationship had ended, and even though she’d never actually met Riley face-to-face, she really didn’t want to run into her and make the whole thing awkward. So it was best for all parties involved if she just found somewhere else to work up a sweat.
Anyway, Fitness Edge was just as short a drive (shorter if she hit all the green lights). Despite the comparative lack of corporate oversight, this place was just as good as Planet Fitness, even if it wasn’t quite as polished. The biggest difference had been the big, upfront financial commitment she’d signed to gain access to the year-long membership plan. It seemed like a great deal, and she’d be saving a buttload by going with the annual instead of the monthly or weekly. Plus, the personal trainer add-on was the same regardless, and she wasn’t quite ready to commit to anything like that.
Of course, not twenty minutes after the ink had dried and a mere five into her inaugural workout, she’d overheard a brunette getting loudly chewed out by her manager, who clearly referred to her as “Riley".
And, of course, there were no refunds.
Brooke was stuck, and she wasn’t made of money, so she just had to grit her teeth and bear with it. Thankfully, since that less-than-ideal welcome, the months had passed without incident. Riley occasionally smiled or waved as she passed by, tossing out the occasional “Keep it up!” (no doubt a requirement handed down by management), but there was no sign that she'd somehow recognized Brooke or pieced together who she was.
Brooke was content to let this charade continue for a while. She’d occasionally catch a glimpse of Riley with one of her clients on the treadmill or elliptical, but eventually she just sort of faded into the background as she focused on her own problems.
Back when she’d first started out, Brooke had been wildly self-conscious starting out on the lowest settings of each machine, sure that all eyes were on her, judging her, laughing at how pathetic she looked. Now, forty pounds lighter and not nearly as jiggly (especially now that she’d found an outfit that properly contained her), she’d grown more comfortable every day as she slowly progressed, losing pounds and inches as she steadily grew stronger and occasionally was able to add those extra five pounds to the machines.
She used to be the resident fat girl of the gym. Now…well, she was still the resident fat girl of the gym, but at least she was slimming down.
Fueling her reps were the thoughts she’d buried back at the elevator. Her frustration over her best friends and how little they appreciated her, how Avery had dragged Cheye down into a pit of obesity just to satisfy her own needs, how happy they both seemed just to pig out and veg out all day, every day…
She’s spent so long making sure Cheye and Avery didn’t fight that her own feelings had somehow gotten lost in the shuffle.
Nobody cared about Brooke’s feelings!
They never tossed her so much as “Good job” after a workout, they just treated her like an outcast.
Just because she was trying to slim down, didn’t mean they had to be so mean!
These thoughts sufficiently fueled her just enough to get her through her routine, right up to her post-workout stretch. Finishing up her stretching (acutely aware of the shameless ogling her still-prominent bust was attracting), Brooke wiped the sweat from her brow with a white towel and headed to the locker room to clean up and change into something more comfortable.
Having showered off all her sweat and changed into street clothes (wearing a low-cut top that attempted to steal attention away from her still chubby tummy), Brooke strode out of the locker room, still drying her matted brown hair with the gym-provided towel, momentarily blinding herself as she crossed the threshold into the hallway.
“AHH! I'm so s-sorry!” Brooke pulled the towel out of her vision, apologizing profusely before realizing she’d run smack-dab into the one person she was actually trying to avoid…
“Oh, that's fine! Here, let me get that for you…” Riley had her own towel draped over her shoulder, her skin still sticky with sweat. She bent down to pick up the gym bag Brooke had dropped in the collision, and stopped when she’d noticed something attached.
“'Brooke'?” Riley stood back up, holding up the name tag, looking up at Brooke quizzically. “Wait…aren’t you…?”
“Oh, I’m…nobody…” Brooke smiled nervously, reaching out and taking the black bag from Riley. “Thank yo-“
“Wait." A beat, as Brooke hoped beyond hope that this recognition would pass. "You’re…” Riley thought for a second, before her face brightened up. “You’re Brooke!”
“Y-yeah…?”
“No, I mean…you’re Brooke! Er, Cheye’s friend!” It wasn’t really a question, it was a statement of fact.
“Cheye? Oh, well…” Brooke had never been good at lying, and knew the jig was up, but tried one last Hail Mary. “…yeah, I’m friends with a Cheye?”
"Yeah, Cheyenne! She's tagged you on Facebook!"
Welp. Oh well, worth a shot.
“I’m Riley,” The sweaty trainer gestured to her name tag. “I don’t know if she ever told you about me, though I’d be surprised if she hadn’t…” Riley fidgeted in place, waiting for Brooke to respond.
“Oh-OHHH!” Brooke feigned sudden recognition, hoping she was pulling it off somewhat convincingly. “Yeah, she…I think she’s mentioned you once or twice…”
“H-how is Cheye?” Riley asked. “I haven’t seen her in a hot minute.”
“Well…” Brooke bit her lip. How was Cheyenne? Well, she was a giant butterball who hardly ever left the comfort of their couch and routinely ate her weight in mini pies. “…she’s fine, I guess.”
Riley didn’t seem convinced. “Really? I mean, I saw her out with Avery some time ago, and seemed…I mean, I guess she seemed fine.” In reality, the last time she’d seen Cheye, she’d been huge. That had been months ago, at the Crepe Factory, where Riley had taken Mona out for a date, and as well as that date had gone, Cheyenne's appearance had been by far the most memorable part of that night.
“Oh, right, well…” Brooke was coming this close to just blurting everything she was holding back. Before she could, though, Riley cut in.
“You wanna grab a coffee and talk about it? I’m off the clock, just need to shower up and change, but I can meet you next door? Bean Machine’s right there, just get yourself something and I’ll be there in like, ten, fifteen-ish?”
-
Brooke sat, idly swirling her iced coffee with her straw. She was still kicking herself for saying “yes”, but it had come out of panic rather than an actual desire to get better acquainted with her friend’s ex-trainer. Besides, it might be nice to talk to somebody other than her roommates for once…
Ever since Riley had walked through the door, placed her order and sat down across from Brooke, the busty brunette had felt tense, like she was holding something back inside. It felt weird being here, but…well, here she was, and here was Riley, looking at her expectantly. Brooke had a lot to get off her big chest, but was Riley actually somebody she could open up to?
Stuck between wanting to let everything out and being afraid to socialize, Brooke opted to say nothing for now, continuing to play with her drink. What was she supposed to do?
“So…” Riley cut the awkward silence between them, palming her own cup of coffee. “…how is Cheyenne?”
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