Wednesday morning

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{if pill_production = true}There is no doubt about it. The tingle is back and more intense than yesterday morning. Something is happening when I sleep. I think that huge white pill actually does what it says, as crazy as it sounds. {if Edge = 100} Judging by the sticky wet spot in my underwear, I think I am overproducing. {endif}{endif}

I get up early, get dressed for a workout, and pack my work clothes. When I’m ready to go, I send a text to Mindy.

Warren: I’m on my way. Excited for our first full workout?

Mindy: Yes! I’m ready!

Not long after, I arrive at her house. Mindy opened the door wearing sweatpants and a loose T-shirt. It is a far cry from Victoria’s expensive fashion, but Victoria doesn’t give me bright smiles and warm hugs. She leads me to the kitchen where we chat for a couple minutes with some coffee, then go into the new workout space.

The yoga mats are laying out in the middle of the room. “Today we should focus on form. It will make our workouts be more productive and help prevent injury. I’ll keep reminding you when your form is slipping; it is going to happen as you get tired. I’m not criticizing, or judging, just helping you to learn what good form feels like. You’ll need muscle memory to keep you on track, since we don’t have mirrors in here.”

“Thank goodness for that,” she says wryly.

“Let’s warm up with some planks.” I take the front plank position on one mat, and she imitates my pose on the other. Her ass is a little too high. I pause, uncertain of how to say it. Is it crass to say “ass” in front of her? Is “butt” better? “Tush”? “Buns”? Eh... I don’t have time to worry about how to talk about her sexy parts, and thinking too much about it is going to just make it more awkward. Just pick something, Warren! So I do. “Get your balls to the floor.”

Mindy looks confused for a second, then looks at me, then at the region of my balls, seeing how low my pelvis is. Then she bursts out laughing. She recovers, then adjusts herself. “My balls are to the floor.”

“Good. Timer is starting now.” I have a one-minute timer set. This is trivial for me, but could be quite challenging for Mindy. At forty seconds she is tiring. At fifty she is getting close to losing it. I count down five more seconds, then stop the timer. We rest for twenty seconds, then hit back and side planks. “Okay, rest! How did those feel?”

Mindy is sweating a little now. “Not bad at first, but halfway through it I want to die. If you weren’t here I wouldn’t make it past forty.” She gives an apologetic smile.

“Good thing I’m here then.” I smile back, “That kind of discomfort can be hard to endure. By next week, one minute will seem easy.” Mindy gets us some water bottles to refresh ourselves. “Okay, let’s move on to squats!” We do the squats, then some arm exercises with light dumbbells to talk about range of motion, then some burpees to work everything at once.

“That is all for today.” I give her a high-five. “You will be sore in a lot of weird places, but I went easy on you, so you should recover quickly.”

Mindy looked at me skeptically. “That was easy on me? I'll take your word for it." Her and cotton shirt clings to her in the wet areas uncomfortably. Her sweats look old and stretched out, especially around her ass, probably what she has worn for years when lounging on the couch eating chips. If we keep this up, some new clothes will be in order.

"Good work today. I'll shower up and head to work. Keep doing planks everyday, eat lots of veggies, and I'll see you on Friday."

"Okay! Thank you for doing this."

"My pleasure. And text or call if you ever need an extra push." I go to Tonya's bathroom and use the shower, change, and let myself out.