Creampuffs

Chapter Nine

Justin wasn't openly laughing at her but that was presumably only out of professional courtesy. The memory overwrite back-fired.

The rounds finished and she closed the app, unhooking her phone from the speakers while the attendees gathered together their belongings for the walk, and Dolores settled down, patting her forehead, to mind the front desk.

Michelle refused to give in to the urge to check over her shoulder to see if he was still there. Of course he is still there, silently judging. "Okay! Everyone who's here for the walk, come follow me!"

Justin waved goodbye to Dolores, who waved back before doing a hideously over-the-top wink at Michelle as soon as his back was turned. One of the anime fans saw the wink and giggled, bumping shoulders to tell her friends.

Maybe that if Michelle left now and made a run for it, she'd have enough of a head-start to disappear. Possibly forever.

"Come on, toots," Marietta barked from the sidewalk. "Cheer up. You can explain this Japanimation stuff to me while we walk."

"Yeah." Michelle took a deep breath and squared her shoulders; she had a job to do. She was too old to act like an awkward lovesick teenager. She was a professional. A professional... gym owner. And her clients needed her. To explain anime to them. "Coming, Marietta."

Lucy and her more boisterous friend Allie joined forces to explain anime as a concept to Marietta, listing their own favourite shows, all of which were past Michelle's time. Allie's interest was encyclopedic and she answered the older woman's increasingly baffled questions with a cavalcade of details and enthusiasm. Michelle let the trio gently drift away from her.

"Hi." Justin came to join her as the group ambled on. He was dressed in his usual attire of jeans and a graphic t-shirt; the day's selection was a heathered grey with a vinyl logo of what appeared to be someone else's coffee shop.

"Hi." Michelle intended to follow up with pleasant chit-chat but instead pointed at his chest, frowning. "Why are you wearing someone else's cafe logo?"

"Huh?" Justin pulled the shirt away from himself, as though he couldn't remember what he wore. "Oh, this. It's a game company my friend owns."

"Oh. It looks like a coffee shop."

"Yeah, it's a joke between him and his partner, because, like, they don't have an office, they just work out of their neighbourhood Starbucks a lot." He gave a little shrug. "I thought it was cool design. Plus, you have to buy your friend's merch. At least just the one. You know?"

Michelle wondered if he referred to her giving the Java Jones shirt back. She'd debated with herself what to do, figuring if he had wanted her to keep it he would have handed the bag back. But maybe she'd read that situation wrong?

"Michelle! Is it this parking lot...?" called someone from the front of the group.

"Next one!" She gestured to the right. Justin tilted his head in silent question. "Oh, our route takes us through a parking lot." Michelle paused. "And under a couple of fences."

He smiled. "This is the weirdest gym I've ever heard of. But I kinda like it."

She smiled back. "Wait until you see what's after the fence."

"So I thought you didn't need to join the gym." Michelle hopped over one of the abandoned railway ties that lurched haphazardly out of the gravel. The train tracks themselves were long-gone, no doubt sold or recycled, but the wooden ties weren't worth the effort and now weeds grew between them. Most of the group walked off to the side, on level ground; Michelle liked the obstacle course feel of walking along the ties. Allie, ahead, skipped from plank to plank.