Just as suspected.

You woke up to your alarm going off. It was time to log in and see what was going on at work. You were one of two IT staff for a small start up. You mostly dealt with network issues and a little programming, but you also helped with any issues your users had. Today looked to be another easy day, and you settled into your desk at home to watch some TV while you worked on a little bug that was popping up in one of the scripts from a certain tasks the users used a lot. Surprisingly the owner of the business had some IT background and knew the importance of his IT team. A truly rare thing you'd learned from other IT people you'd talked with. As such he didn't spare any expense on all the stuff either of you needed. Which fortunately included good pay, as he explained it he wanted to keep us both there so he didn't lose our IT knowledge or the knowledge we had of the business' systems.

By the end of the day you'd helped several users navigate some issues they were running into, and you'd finished dealing with the bug in that script. You weren't quite sure why the bug was happening as the previous code should have worked just fine, but by just tweaking the code a little to make it return the same result in a different way apparently was enough to fix the bug. There was something super satisfying about programming, but also incredibly annoying when you fixed an issue and you couldn't figured out why the new way worked while the old way didn't. Ultimately though it was a good thing. It just meant you usually had multiple ways of solving something, and being able to not focus on just one solution was always a good thing when it came to IT.

It was now 5pm and it was time to head to the gym. Today at a minimum you were looking to get her name and a brief introduction so she'd at least be friendly with you moving forward. When you got to the gym you were a little worried that you might not be able to get near her. It was much more busy than normal today and most of the machines had someone waiting on them. As luck would have it you got onto a machine and found her waiting next in line for it.

"Did you want to use this machine while I rest between sets, might save you a little time" you offered her.

"Oh...um...sure" she replied. You finished your set and waved her in. She adjusted the weight and started her set.

"So I've seen you around a lot. My name is Davin" you offered.

"Maria" she offered between weight lifts with her legs.

"Nice to meet you Maria. It's always nice to meet another junkie" you chuckled.

"Junkie" she asked confused and with a look of almost annoyance.

"Oh..sorry, I just meant someone who works out a lot. It's kind of an addiction so I just figure we're all a bunch of workout junkies" you offered. Maria finished her set and you sat back down to do your set.

"Ahh ok, I wasn't sure what you meant exactly, but I know what you mean when you refer to it as an addiction. I always feel so good after working out and some days all I'm thinking about is coming here to work out" she giggled. It was nice to see a smile on her face. Time for the compliment.

"Yah, it's always easy to spot a fellow junkie. You've made really great progress on your own it looks like so I'd be feeling good if I were you too" you say without trying to sound like you're giving her a compliment.

"Oh...you've noticed my progress" she smirks. You finish your set and she sets up for her own set.

"Oh...well yah. I don't mean it to sound creepy, but you've always kind of stood out here. I know most of the regulars here anyways, so it is always kind of interesting to watch how everyone works out and see how they progress over time" you say wiping off your face with your towel.

"I stand out" she asks you with that same smirk.

"Um...well yah. I mean...I don't know how else to put it, but you were always gorgeous, and when you combine that with taking care of yourself it's kind of hard not to notice you" you reply letting yourself blush a little.

"Plus, it's always good to see someone work on their entire body versus some of the ones you see working on just one part of themselves all the time. I'm sure you've seen them taking a selfie in front of the mirror before. Are you working with a trainer or something" you ask her before she could respond to the compliment. She finishes her set and you start on your last set.

"No...my husband doesn't want me to work with a trainer. He doesn't think it's worth the extra cost" she pouts a little bit. "You know...you stand out quite a bit too you know" she quickly adds with a smirk. The compliment she interjected into the conversation wasn't lost on you as you finished your last set.

"Ha, well thanks, but I'm nothing special" you downplay yourself as she sits down for her last set.

"Oh come off it...you have all my girlfriends drooling over you" she chuckles.

"Oh really, I had no idea. All of them? Because I'm pretty sure I've seen some rings on their fingers" you smirk back.

"Rings on fingers don't mean we don't notice someone" she smirks back as she finishes her set and grabs a towel to wipe off her sweat.

"Ahh, well, however you ladies see me I'm sure your husband is having to keep on his toes to keep you all to himself" you chuckle. Maria suddenly got very quiet and looked almost sad.

"Oh geez...I have a big mouth. That's none of my business, I didn't mean to" you start to apologize hoping you didn't jump the shark.

"No...it's ok really...I just...he...today's our anniversary and not only has he not said a single thing, but he made plans for a poker night tonight with his online friends" she said almost holding back tears. Jackpot you thought to yourself. Holy crap what an idiot, he's literally throwing her away.

"Oh wow...well I'm sure he's just maybe waiting to surprise you at home or something" you offer trying to be sympathetic.

"No...I asked if he'd be ok with me going out with my friends tonight, you know, to see if he actually had plans. He just said that it would work out perfect that way. Now I have to figure what to do with myself until later tonight" she replied as a tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away with her towel.

"Oh man...I don't want to see you cry. Tell you what. Why don't I take you out to dinner or something and then we can figure out something to do after that. Just two new friends celebrating the first day of their friendship. Kind of our own little anniversary yah" you ask her. She chuckles but still looks a little dejected.

"No...I appreciate the offer, but you don't have to waste your evening trying to cheer me up" she replies wiping her other eye.

"Pfffffft...I don't know what opinion you have of me, but all I have planned is to go home and veg out in front of my TV. Having a fun night with a new friend sounds way better if you ask me" you respond.

"Are you sure, I might be a bit gloomy tonight" she asks.

"Of course, I'm not going to let you be gloomy tonight anyways. Besides I know the perfect Italian restaurant we can go to. Chicken parmesan to die for" you chuckle.

"Oh I don't know...my mom makes a really good chicken parm. Alright...fuck it, let's go have some fun...after we finish our workout" she says smiling.

"Smiling already, I like it. Alright, I only have some arm stuff left. We can shower here and head to the restaurant" you smile back. You both go off in separate directions to finish up your workout, and after showering you both link up to walk to the restaurant since it is pretty close. Holy hell this was going way better than you could have hoped. What a schmuck her husband was. Smart phones have built in calendars to remind you about important dates. Dude just has no excuse for what's coming.