Victory Over The Sun

Chapter 4- Better Than That

Locke darted into their living room and glanced quickly around, looking for anything out of place. They had a training session today, so they wanted their house to look somewhat presentable for their trainer and manager to see. Georgia had seen their house in a much worse state over the years they had worked together, but that didn't mean that the effort wasn't required. Their gaze landed on a stray sock left beneath an armchair.

"That's where the damned thing went," said Locke under their breath as they picked it. They dashed to their room to find its partner, so they could go to their rightful position in their drawer.

They then went into the spare bedroom which doubled as their home gym when the weather was too dreary and British to go outside. Today was such a day as rain battered the windows, distorting the view of the world outside. Inside this room everything that would be used in today's training session was laid out, except for the equipment that Georgia would bring herself. There was a bench, an anchor for sit-ups and a selection of weight plates and bars.

Just as Locke was doing the final check that everything that was required was arranged on the floor, they heard their doorbell ring. They dashed down the hallway to the front door and opened it up to reveal Georgia, who was looking rather dishevelled from the torrential rain. Her dark, curly hair was straightened by the weight of the water, straggling across her face.

"Jesus Christ, Georgia!" cried Locke. "Come in quickly. I'll grab a towel for you." They ran off down the corridor to the airing cupboard, leaving Georgia to close the door after herself. When Locke came back with a soft, warm towel, Georgia had sat down on one of the stools in the kitchen and had left her bag on the floor next to her.

"Thanks," said Georgia, taking the towel and swiftly rubbing it over her head to dry her hair off. She took her hair between the towel and wrung it out, causing a bit of water to drip onto the floor. She then peeled off her waterproof coat, revealing a fluorescent pink t-shirt underneath. "I parked my car in the driveway, but the rain was so hard I still got soaked." The baby hairs beneath her ears were curled into ringlets as they began to dry off in the warmth of the house.

"I hadn't realised it was raining that much," said Locke.

Georgia looked at her confused before asking: "Did you not look out the window this morning?"

"No," laughed Locke. "I knew it was raining but I didn't realise the extent because I haven't been outside in it."

"Right," responded Georgia. "Anyway, enough sitting around. Shall we get onto training?" Locke groaned in pretend reluctance, despite the fact they actually enjoyed training. They loved the feeling of bettering themselves and forgetting the unfair criticism they often received.

The pair wandered through to the next room where Georgia surveyed the equipment that Locke had prepared for the session. Once she'd given it a look over she shook her head and went to rummage in the storage cupboard in the corner of the room.

"What did I forget?" asked Locke, racking their brain for what it might be. They had tried to be as prepared as possible in order to make the most of their time, but something always slipped their mind.

"Resistance bands. You'll be needing those for some of the neck exercises we're going to do," responded Georgia, as she pulled them out of the cupboard and closed the door behind her.

Locke began doing some stretching as a gentle warm up. They began with cross-arm stretches to warm up their shoulders and then held their ankle behind them to stretch their hamstrings. By the time they had done this, Georgia had taken some of the equipment she had brought out of her bag and laid it amongst that which had been previously prepared.