More often than not, stepping out of your comfort zone was nothing but beneficial. I'm happy to admit that that's exactly what I found with attending the Pilates class. Not only did I get a sudden boost of energy, but me and Imani had some serious bonding time whilst meeting new people and having fun. Honestly, I regret underestimating it the same way I underestimate everything.
"That was so much fun." I stumbled out of the room, arm-in-arm with my bestfriend since forever, giggling uncontrollably.
"Deadass son." We both fell into fits of laughter at how off-putting she sounded when trying to use my slang. It got to a point where, because one of her laces was untied, she tripped and literally rolled on the floor laughing hysterically, triggering me to double-over with tears of laughter as well. The receptionist eyed us baffled but still put a warm smile on his face as it was a rule in the imaginary handbook of being an employee. I should know. "Whatever", I shook the thought of my workplace out of my head, fiercely wiping the tears from my eyes with the back of my hand and offering her a hand to lift her up off the floor. "People here think we're crazy."
Judging by the looks that not only the staff, but the old people and gym-rats who were still in here at this late hour were giving us, she was right. "Well maybe we are. Noth'n wrong with having fun." Imani was still holding my hand by the time she got up, and carried on as we made our way to the lockers near the gym exit. "I never thought I'd hear you say that." A look of happiness swept on her face, and I returned it. Today felt like the first time I'd had a genuinely good day in ages, and I'd truly missed how it felt.
"Wiiiffeeeeeeyyy!" Dejounte's voice swooned behind us as Imani was spun around and dipped in a classic Waltz motion. He planted a wet kiss that even I could hear despite putting my earphones in seconds before, causing me to cringe to myself as I took my purple Nike duffel bag out of my locker. "This song just isn't doing it for me", I pondered, flipping through my Drake playlist on Spotify, diverting from Controlla to For Free all whilst completely ignoring all the PDA going on behind my back. I consciously bobbed my head to the beat and mimed the lyrics, fiddling with the locker key. "You knew what it was when you signed up", I continued to mime along with the song.
"Where do I sign up?" A voice breathed on my ears that I could just about hear over the song, startling me and making me drop the key. The owner of the voice flicked the earphones out of my ear. Okay, now I was pissed off.
"The fuck do you want?" I spun on my toes, facing them.
"Your attention," Ben grinned cheesily, all teeth on display. "Of course it's him," I sighed to myself. I'd never seen him pull a smile that didn't look fake before, but he looked truly happy. I didn't like it. "What are you doing at my gym?" Hah. His gym?
"First the court is yours, now the entire gym is yours. What next?" I folded my arms over my chest and crossed my legs when I became aware that I was wearing only a sports bra and shorts. The last thing I wanted was Ben to see me in minimal clothing but I guess that was the case right now, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.
"You could be mine too, but you rejected me the other day." He snickered, positioning a toned arm just to the left above my head and using it to lean on the locker behind me. My eyes wandered off to the side of him and stared intently at Dejounte and Imani who were still in their own little world, trying my hardest to appear as bored of Ben's presence as possible. "Don't act like you weren't joking. All your friends laughed when you asked, and I even heard Cisco say 'how many girls are you going to say that to before you realize that they all know what you're like'." I recited word-for-word, slightly hurt that Ben thought he could get away with playing me. Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it playing; it would be playing if I cared, which I didn't. Not in the slightest.
