A different kind of workout.

Chapter 4 – Finally Making some Progress. (continued)

When they arrived, Jason decided he might as well sign up for his own membership instead of coming as Heather or Kate’s guest. And by the time he was finished filling out the paperwork – having been convinced to sign up for a six month membership in order to get a month free – Heather had already emerged from the locker room wearing a tight crop top and running shorts combo that left very little to the imagination.

“I’m going to start with some stretches and jogging, meet you at the track?” She suggested when Jason approached.

“Sounds good to me. I already know where that is, since Kate and I did some running there on Monday.”

“Alright, don’t keep me waiting.” She said as she went off. Jason was certain he only imagined an extra sway in her hips before he turned to the locker rooms.

Five minutes later he’d changed into his sweats and was in the track room looking for Heather, spotting her after a moment moving at a light jog around the main track.

Jason performed his regular stretches, before moving to the track himself, and unlike the previous time he’d been here, he got himself moving at a moderate pace, not worried about speed, but wanting to work on his stamina. He focused on his breathing and his legs moved rhythmically. His tennis shoes slapped lightly on the firm but subtly springy surface of the indoor running track. He spotted Heather up ahead of him with her ponytail bobbing back and forth as she jogged, and after another minute, he passed her, offering her a smile but didn’t stop or pause to chat.

He kept going, trying to maintain his pace for ten minutes, then twenty, then by the time he’d been jogging for a half an hour he was just starting to feel a burn in his lungs. So he let himself slow down, cooling off bit by bit until he came to a stop, and did some additional stretches.

By that point, Heather had moved on to other parts of the gym. He’d already spent some time in the weight room on Monday, and didn’t want to strain himself, so he looked around a bit, sipping at his water, until he found a group doing some general aerobics, and after watching for a few minutes, he joined in.

He stuck with that for another forty minutes, working up a sweat again, before he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Heather standing there, her skin damp from her own exertions.

“Hey d… big guy. You almost done?” She asked.

“I can be done now. Did you need to get going?” Jason replied, stepping away from the other group.

“Yeah, I don’t want to be out too late. It’s a school night afterall. Kinda surprised you didn’t follow me around and work out with me, to be honest.”

Jason shrugged, “You seemed like you had your own thing going, and it’s not like we’ll always want to focus on the same thing. But if you want to stick together more next time, we can sort something out.”

“Well, we can talk about that later. Grab your shit, and let’s get going.” She turned towards the locker rooms.

“Are we showering here or at home?” He asked her.

“Ew, home.” She made a face. “You got time to rinse off if you need to, but don’t make a long ass thing of it.”

Jason chuckled. “I’ll see you in a few.”

They walked together back towards the lobby, and split up to go into the locker rooms. Jason hopped in the shower long enough to rinse off the sweat but didn’t wash his hair, then got dressed and went back out with his gym bag. He didn’t see Heather in the lobby, so turned back towards the girls locker room just a few seconds before she appeared there, back in her casual clothes. “You ready?” She asked.

“Lead the way.” Jason gestured for her to go ahead of him.

“Just so long as you’re not staring at my ass.” She admonished with a chuckle as she walked towards the exit.

But rather than follow behind her, he fell into step beside her. “It’s a great ass, though. Worthy of some staring.” He pointed out, then didn’t try to dodge when she slapped his arm.

“You get that one for free.” She muttered.

“Free? You just hit me.”

Heather shrugged, “I didn’t hit you that hard.”

“Does that matter?”

“Maybe not. I probably shouldn’t hit you either way.” Heather looked sheepish.

They arrived at Heather’s car and Jason dropped his duffle bag in the back seat again.

“Seems like you’re doing a lot of self improvement the last few days. I hope you stick with it, and don’t give up when it gets too annoying.” Jason said once he was in the passenger seat.

“It’s already annoying.” She growled as she started the engine. “But I’m trying to stick with it anyways. You’re not exactly making it easy. Maybe you could try not pushing my fucking buttons so much?”

“If that’s what you really want. I can try to do that.” Jason offered. “But I feel like finding a balance with our banter and just not taking it too seriously is a better way to move forward as friends.”

Heather worried her lip between her teeth, and didn’t look at him, but also didn’t answer him right away. Jason waited, letting her think about it for a bit, and eventually she parked the car and turned to face him. “I hate to admit this, but I think you’re right. It’s just a big change, I’ve been… hostile to you for a long time. It’s not easy to just change that overnight.”

“No one expects you to change overnight.” Jason assured her. “We’re both going to make mistakes, but the important part is that we recognize them, and try to do better in the future, and hopefully we’ll get better at not making those same mistakes as we go.”

“Yeah, that’s the goal.” Heather agreed, “But it’s not always so goddamn easy as you make it sound. But I promise I’ll continue making the effort. Is that alright with you, Dick-Head?”

Jason smiled, and chuckled, “Yeah, that’s enough for now, Brat.”

Heather surprised him by leaning across the gap between their seats to give him a light hug. “There are parts of trying to be nice to you that I am enjoying.” She admitted before releasing him and getting out of the car.

Jason retrieved his bag, and followed Heather into their apartment.