Update - 5
“Like free sessions if we don’t reach a goal we set together or free coupons to our WitFithealthy eating seminars.” He sits down with one leg lazily resting on top of the other and raises his eyebrow in warning. “But there are consequences for you, too, if you get slack.”
“Like what?” I echo myself. I mustn’t sound so clever now. Pay attention.
“What’s your favourite treat?” He asks.
“Cadbury popcorn covered in chocolate,” I answer automatically, sounding dumber and fatter by the minute. He smiles kindly at me.
“Stay motivated, work hard, take what I teach you and apply it to your life, and you can keep all your favourite treats. But if you don’t hold up your end of the partnership then you’ll have to give them up. You can cheat and I’m sure I’ll never know – but you’ll be cheating yourself and your money,” he says seriously.
“I won’t cheat,” I say, resolute. Not because I’m all that afraid of not eating chocolate covered popcorn but because I’ve had enough of my gluttony in general. I can no longer use it as an excuse to distract me from the pains and aches in my life. I want to feel energised in the mornings. I want to shop in regular girly stores. I want to get an A in PE, and have the strength to climb the mountain a few blocks down from my house. I want to feel confident and sexy and take control of my life.
I want change.
“Good. Do everything we agree on today and the chocolate-covered-popcorn stays.”
We spend the next half hour making an exercise and eating plan, which he even makes me sign like a contract. I try not to be nervous about my decision to come here today. It’s just a gym, I tell myself. And he’s just a boy.
“What’s your favourite vice?” I ask out of the blue, needing something personal to humanise the guy taking over my life.
He looks surprised momentarily but eventually grins. “That’s my secret.”
“Hey! I told you mine. How am I supposed to trust you with my health nuisances if I can’t relate yours?” I ask with a poke of his hard bicep. He laughs and I’m surprised that the sound is not at all strained by my sad attempt to flirt – not the usual male reaction I’m used to.
“I’ve never thought of it like that,” he says, considering. “Okay. I like eucalyptus drops. I can finish a whole bag of them in one sitting. And I'm not just talking about the kid-sized packet, I'm talking about the monster one kilogram family pack that they sell for twenty dollars at Costco. I keep having to tell my mother that the half empty packet in my room is the same packet I bought back in May, when really it's, like, the fifteenth packet I've bought since the original. It's kind of an addiction, actually. Talking about it is making the top of my mouth itchy. You should feel bad about bringing it up.”
It is my turn to laugh and I do so loudly. The sound disrupts the quiet in the small space, like the sound of a packet of chips opening in a cinema. I should be embarrassed but his story is just too funny and, luckily, he is one of those rare people that can laugh at themselves, and he does so. He has the makings of a potential friend.
“Eucalyptus? That is your favourite vice? It’s the same as munching on Panadol.”
“Don’t attack eucalyptus or you’ll be cussing sooner than later,” he says with a smiling frown. I can tell he’s not entirely joking but this excites me. If I am cussing it means that I am working hard. If I’m working hard that means I’m eliciting change. I sit up straighter.
“Speaking of... when do we start?” I don't even bother to ask how much the personal sessions and membership will cost. My pride and joy – my latest manuscript – is in the throes of publication and distribution in three countries already. I can now afford Noah’s services, and then some.
He checks his watch and I swallow nervously when he peers under his lashes evilly and says, “Right now.”
Leon
For the past hour I have watched Noah training the Tubby, Sarah They laugh sporadically and I want to punch Noah’s big nose every time I am interrupted by his pestering chuckle. How can he think everything she says is funny? No girl is that funny, if at all. A deceitful part of me wants to steal Ayah as a client just to prove that I am the better trainer – but I’m too lazy. All I want to know is who the better trainer is between us and there is another way of finding that out.
I walk over to the girl who governs the gym’s front desk as if she is the boss, but she is only the receptionist. “Hey Celine, you are looking so damn beautiful today. I could lick your teeth,” I say to her and lean over the barrier to better expose my muscled arms. Lines that ridiculous would get any other male slapped across the face, but of course I’m the exception. I always am when girls are involved.
“What do you want, Leon?” She asks in a bored voice.
I offer her a dazzling smile, the kind that drops panties faster than a bursting bladder. “That chubby girl over there,” I say while pointing to Sarah. “I saw you pointing.”
dear for the new story
