With her class over, Sarah threw her towel over her shoulder and grabbed her exercise bag, still full of cans of Xpect. The nausea had been feeling was muddled with the relative exhaustion of the workout, so she was in a small haze of good emotion. Sarah's personality made it pretty easy for her to snap into a happy mood and the surge of post-exercise serotonin helped that along. At every opportunity to talk about exercise, Sarah was always talking about the "happy chemicals" that the brain releases afterwards. Whether it was actually serotonin, or true at all, was not something she double-checked.
Now that she had her task for the day complete, Sarah thought now would be the best time to plug the drink and see if she could get in good with the boss. Sarah put away her headset and continued toweling off as she walked through the main exercise room. There were treadmills and ellipticals, all kinds of weight machines, and abundant room for exercise mats and wall mirrors. Other gym goers passed a considerable number of glances at her as she walked by. Sara had a great body and her sweaty session made certain special parts of her upper figure glisten.
"The only reason I come here at this time," one middle aged guy with thinning hair on an exercise bike smiled to his buddy on the bike next to him.
"I hear that," his pal responded. "Although today she looks a little green around the gills."
"Yeah, shame."
In the main lobby, Sarah joined her fellow MegaGym employees in the break room. They were chatting casually about their days' workouts and the upcoming competition, taking long sips from their water bottles. Sarah came in with a smile, glad so many people were there.
"Hey everybody!" she beamed. "Listen, I just came across this great new health drink that you've all got to try. It's made with so much protein and quinoa and blueberries and-"
Terry, the crossfit trainer, held up one hand. "Wait a sec, Sarah. No offense, but I'm not into those kinds of fad supplements. They're usually snake oil. I just exercise and eat right." Terry was a pretty tall, typical gym instructor. Short blond hair, muscular, and facial hair a few tones lighter than a 5 'o' clock shadow.
"Well, you won't say so after you've tried this," Sarah said, already rummaging through her bags to get out Xpect cans. "It's done wonders for me."
"Yeah? How long have you been taking it?" Lori, the swimming and water aerobics instructor, asked. Lori was much shorter, a bit above five feet, with long almond hair and tan skin.
"A few hours," Sarah said, handing out cans as the other employees looked up at her perplexed.
"A few...Sarah, you're a great trainer, but some time you can be so gullible about things like this," Jim, the yoga teacher, said. Jim was mid-height with a solid core of muscle. His black hair was naturally a little spiky.
"No, really, it's great," Sarah said. "It cleans your body out almost immediately to start preparing it. I just gave some to Rebecca and my whole Femme-Fit class."
"What's all this?" said Emily, MegaGym's owner. Emily was around the same age as the rest of the instructors but had the look of an 80s aerobics instructor. Her hair was black and curly and hung down to her shoulder blades. She had penetrating blue eyes, so much so that it nearly looked like she had eye shadow. Even in her office, Emily had been wearing a full body exercise leotard. You'd think she missed the casting call for an Olivia Newton John video.
"Emily, great!" Sarah smiled, handing Emily a can as well. "I actually wanted to try and get MegaGym to partner up with Xpect Energy Drink. We don't have much sponsorship and getting ahead of something like this, especially with the big competition coming up, could really benefit the gym."
Emily took the can in her hand and looked it over, as did the rest of the room. "I don't know, I've tried to steer us away from partnering with things like this. Terry put it the right way: these things are usually crap."
"Just try it out and you'll like it," Sarah said, smacking her tongue around in her mouth, feeling the barfy taste coming back.
"It can't hurt to just try," Lori said, popping the tab and taking a sip. Terry, Jim, and Emily all shrugged and did the same. Immediately, Jim dropped his arm back down, cheeks puffed out in disgust as he swallowed, wincing.
"Sarah, oh my god," he choked out, running for the bathroom.
"Namaste!" Sarah called out as Lori and Terry held their hands over their mouth.
"I'm really...really going to...hrrng," Lori said, burping a little as she and Terry left the room. Sarah, still with a blissful smile on her face, turned to Emily.
"So?" Sarah said in a chipper voice.
Emily held her head back, finishing the whole can in one drink. "Hoo...well Sarah, I can see what you meant about the 'cleaning out.' I'll...I'll get back to you about this. Excuse me." Emily closed her office door, the sound of vomiting quietly emanating from behind."
The familiar smell and sound of nausea dug up similar feelings in Sarah, so she headed out the room. No need to get all the toxins out here, she thought. As Sarah tried to find somewhere else to talk to coworkers, she came across one in the main exercise room.
"Hey Nina!" Sarah smiled. Nina was Sarah's best friend of all her coworkers at MegaGym. Nina was about eight months pregnant. Or at least Sarah thought she might be. Her friend insisted in telling her in weeks and Sarah didn't keep track of it all that well. She was big, it was sufficient to say. She also had a red pixie cut and pale skin with lots of birth marks peppering the front of her belly.
"Hi Sarah," Nina said, a little sadly. "A bunch of people just ran out of the employee room. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine," Sarah said. "What's up with you?"
Nina sighed and shrugged. "I'm still not getting anyone to sign up for the pregnant exercise class. I can't teach any regular classes and this is the only way to keep working until the baby comes."
"Even if you have to take a break, it'll be okay," Sarah smiled. "And you'll get more people, I'm sure. Hey, you'll definitely get more people after all the attention the gym's going to get after the fitness contest."
"Good point," Nina said. Like Sarah, she was a bit spacey and could get cheered up very easily. Sarah also had a naturally bright and sunny personality that could bring someone out of the dumps.
"Oh! That reminds me! I'm trying to get a tie-in with MegaGym, the contest, and this great new exercise drink," Sarah said, getting out a can of Xpect. "Here, try it! It's amazing." Nina didn't even hesitate before taking a long drink. "What do you think?"
"Hmm, it tastes pretty bad, but most of these things usually do. It makes me feel almost like I want to throw up, but I get that every now and then, thanks to this little guy," Nina said, running her hand over her belly. "Or this little gal. We want it to be a surprise."
Sarah nodded. "That's part of the healthy effects! Let me know how you like it."
"I will," Nina said, finishing off the can and tossing it inside the recycling. The magic in the can, resonating with some kind of strange power from eons and dimensions past, squirmed with excitement. Even it didn't know what would happen next with what just took place.
Happy with her work spreading the good word about Xpect around MegaGym for the day, Sarah-
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