The Siren

You had told Mom this morning to meet you at The Siren instead of meeting up and home and getting a lift there alongside her. It did make it a little bit more inconvenient for you when you had to walk that extra distance as well as having to carry around the extra workout clothes, just in case you got involved with the exercise while you still hadn’t received an employee uniform but you still thought it was better than the alternative.

Heading home first was likely to make Mom wait around and worry while you were on your way home and you were sure she would have done that plenty while you had been at school. Giving her the extra chance to try and bargain her way out of going was likely to lead to a punishment that you would happily give but still end up costing you when you both turned up late.

Giving her the chance to take initiative and head to the gym herself was exactly the kind of behaviour you should now be reinforcing into her to get her out of her old habits. Even if it meant a little less action for you, her own growth was way more important in your opinion. The long-term rewards outweighed the short but you still felt yourself growing tired as you finally made it to the gym, the cardio taking more energy out of you than you would have imagined.

You hadn’t given Mom any specifics on where to meet you but the anxious figure that stood outside the main set of doors was hard to miss. Mom looked hesitant to walk inside and while you considered waiting to see if she would work up the courage or even calling Grace to let a friendly face invite her inside, it felt like your duty to be the one to be her guide.

You walked closer and it was clear she was already wearing the outfit she planned on exercising in, no doubt not wanting to change in front of strangers if she couldn’t help it. She wore what you would call conservative gym wear if it had been on any other women but with her figure it still came across as provocative, wearing a plain white short-sleeved t-shirt and some tracksuit bottoms that hugged her curves more than she likely realised.

“I didn’t keep you waiting long did I” you greeted, Mom snapping her head in your direction as soon as she heard your voice.

The look of relief that appeared on her face when she saw you made her look like a lost puppy finding its owner and it seemed it took all her effort not to rush towards you when she was the one nearest to the door. You didn’t keep her waiting long and while you wanted to say your greetings, doing it inside where the women-only privacy of the gym could protect her sounded more appealing in your eyes.

Without giving her much time to reply, you took her by the arm and headed to the main glass doors, feeling her tense up at having to go in but she wasn’t stubborn enough to resist your pulling.

“I won’t look out of place will I?” Mom whispered as she stuck close to you, the door shutting behind the both of you on its own as if to mark the threshold that she had now crossed.

“You look perfect. Now, I’m gonna have to go and use my ID card so let me go and clock in. Grace is gonna be around here somewhere so I expect you won’t be on your own for…” You replied, trying to explain to her about your job and it seemed the mere mention of Grace was enough to summon her into the room, seeing her emerge from her office upstairs where you pointed her out to Mom.

Happy to see another friendly face, You felt Mom relax at the side of you and while she still hadn’t realised she was holding your hand, you could tell her initial anxiety was fading pretty quickly. It took a moment for Grace to join you as she came down the stairs but once she did, she all but pounced on Mom as she embraced her in a hug, forcing you to let go of Mom’s hand at the risk of getting squished.

You happily waited while they got re-acquainted and only after the hug ended did Grace direct you to the front desk where you could clock yourself in. You knew Mom would be in capable hands so you moved further into the lobby and went about your business, going through the system Grace had taught you on your first day and removing the no-staff desk sign before you went to drop off your bag in one of the lockers upstairs.

Grace had shown you the employee changing room last time but you hadn’t had to use it before, making you realise the room was definitely catered to women over men. You’d have to get into the habit of checking inside before you entered just in case you were sharing a shift with someone but at the moment it seemed like you and Grace were the only ones around, not having checked the studios to see if any classes were running at the moment.

You were just about to get changed into your workout when you heard a knock from outside, making sure you were decent before you opened the door. Grace was smiling as she looked through the gap in the door and you let her inside now that you knew who it was, your eyes being drawn to the large box she had picked up since you had last seen her.

“Oh good, you haven't changed yet. These finally arrived last night so now you’ll get to look the part! I think I got the right size for you anyway” Grace said, placing the box down and lifting out a uniform that matched what you had seen some of the trainers wearing yesterday, the colour scheme staying the same but it appeared more unisex than what they had been wearing.

“Cool, might as well check the size now” you replied, starting to strip off before Grace could say anything further.

You could tell she had expected you to change privately but you had made sure she lost the chance to leave, carrying on the conversation before she tried to excuse herself.

“You didn’t suddenly run off and leave Mom bewildered did you?” you joked, stripping down to your underwear before putting any new clothes on first.

“...N-no I let her go through some of the documents for signing up. She won’t need to pay considering I own the place or even that you have your family and friends pass but you know what she’s like with getting free handouts. Maybe she’ll accept your pass though.” Grace answered, starting off hesitant while trying to keep her glances in your direction to a minimum.

“Yeah, I get what you mean, I’ll try and mention it to her later. You never know, I think she’s still a bit nervous at the moment so she might just accept whatever you say. She looked pretty relieved to see me when she was standing outside” you replied.

You were about to go over how you had first spotted her when Grace gave you a smirk that made you stop and wait to hear what she said.