Gym Time

Mike woke up early the next morning and begrudgingly started his morning routine. Rolling out of bed he threw on some baggy sweatpants and a hoodie to help him work up a sweat before a light breakfast before jogging twenty minutes to the gym. It was very small 'hole-in-the-wall' gym, never crowded and there is only one of each machine because of that. By the time he arrived he had already worked up a sweat and was ready to lift.

Today was leg day and Mike smiled to himself. No one but him enjoyed leg day so he always got to have the squat rack to himself. Yet, as Mike turned the corner he was surprised to find the rack already in use by a girl he had never seen before who appeared to be in the middle of her set. Looking her up and down Mike was impressed with what he saw. She had on leggings that hugged her skin perfectly, and up top she only had on a sports bra which covered her small but very fit chest while her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Mike realized that he was staring and walked up to her before she noticed him watching. When she racked the bar Mike walked up to her and introduced himself; asking if they could alternate sets on the rack since it was the only one in the gym. She smiled and introduced herself as Cassandra and stated that would be fine with her. They talked for a few minutes longer to get to know each other and it turned out that Cassandra had just moved into town after graduating high school and was getting ready to start college nearby. With the pleasantries out of the way it was Mikes turn to use the rack so he raised the bar to his height and threw two more plates on either side for a total of 225 pounds. He could hear Cassandra scoff behind him as he did and turned around to look at her.

She had an annoyed look on her face and gruffly said to him "Look, I get that you're trying to impress me but that is a lot of weight to do, especially with no warm up. So if you're done wasting my time, can I just keep going?"

Mike just sighed and politely said, "While you do seem nice, I'm doing this for my warm-up and not for you."

Cassandra gave him another scoff and said, "Whatever, if you get hurt it's not my problem."

Mike just rolled his eyes, which Cassandra caught and became even more annoyed but didn't say anything. Mike stepped under the bar and calmly did rep after rep to get his body warmed up and acclimated to the weight. When he re-racked the weights he stretched and turned around to see a very surprised Cassandra trying to mumble an apology.

"Think nothing of it." Mike replied, waving away the tension and stepped back under the bar for his next set. From there, they took turns lifting without much conversation in-between which Mike didn't mind because it allowed him relax and focus.

They finished their workouts at the same time and Mike was getting ready to leave when Cassandra came up to him looking like she was struggling to say something. Mike turned to her and waited.

"Sorry for what I said earlier. It's just that guys always try to impress me by trying to show off and it gets old really quick." she eventually managed to say, softly.

Mike just laughed it off and told her, "It was no problem. Actually, it was nice having someone to work out with. It was a nice change of pace." Cassandra's eyes lit up as he said that and she asked him if he would be interested in becoming workout partners since she was new to the city and didn't know anyone. Mike agreed and passed her his number so that they could figure out what times that worked for them both. They then said their goodbyes to each other and he started his jog home; not sure what to think of his new workout partner.