A chance to further humiliate himself

Alex got to the mall early, a few hours before his shift was due to start. He thought he could work out a little and then get some food. He parked his car and then had a moment of realised when he remembered he was in pretty much the same spot from the other day when he had exposed himself to the cleaner. Still, it had also been when he had his second encounter with Chloe.

He shook his head as if that was all required to forget about those events. He grabbed his gym back, which contained his security uniform and his workout clothes and ventured into the mall. The Sunshine gym was near to The Grand, which was the mall's cinema. Despite the name, it was fairly small and only had two screens. He saw there was a new standee, and it was advertising the next entry in one of his favourite series. Pirate's Gold IV : Edward's Revenge. Edward had died at the end of the last film, so he was curious about how that would work. He also saw that the film starred Dave Bautista and appeared to be playing some sort of Viking warrior. He knew he would end up watching it and shut his brain off for a few hours. He might even bring his daughter to watch it. She had loved the first two when she was younger.

Alex continued on to the gym. The gym was fairly small, and a lot of the equipment had seen better days. There were a few people here exercising already, he couldn't help but be distracted by the sight of some younger women in Lycra outfits. He stopped staring and went to get changed. He put his clothes in a locker and switched to his gym gear. A white vest, shorts and some trainers. Having recovered from straining his leg a few days ago, Alex decided he would risk it, plus you never skip leg day.

He got on the leg press and was giving himself a good workout. He reached for his water and a towel, as he was starting to develop a sweat and getting thirsty. Alex had not realised there was someone next to him working out on one of the other machines. It was a woman, she was looked like she was in her twenties or thirties. She was wearing a sports bra and Lycra shorts. Her face was mostly covered by her long black hair. After a moment, she ended up shifting position, and Alex recoiled in slight horror. Of course it would be that woman working out next to him was the Filipino cleaner. Thankfully, she did not appear to have recognised him just yet.

He decided it was probably a wiser idea to not make a swift exit as it might rouse her suspicion. He continued working out without trying to catch her attention. He was focused on his leg exercises before he realised she was talking to him.

“Its the pervert.” She said.

Alex turned and saw she was staring at him with a frosty look in her eyes. He took a deep breath before trying to think of an excuse.

“Look, that was a wardrobe malfunction. I had a cramp in my leg, and I was trying to calm that down, and my pants sort of came loose.” Alex replied.

“A wardrobe malfunction? What are you, Janet Jackson?” She started laughing at him.

“Look. I'm sorry, okay. I wasn't trying to expose myself to you. It really was an accident.” Alex explained he left out the part about his pants being undone, as he had just fucked a teenager in his vehicle.

“You're being serious, aren't you?” She asked.

“You know sometimes these things happen. A series of events that led to you completely fucking embarrassing yourself.” Alex said, a mixture of honesty and annoyance.

“I know I saw how big it was that was embarrassing.” She shot back.

Alex decided not to further humiliate himself and ignored her.

“Sorry I'm being cruel. I'm Corazón.” She said, introducing herself.

“I'm Alex. It's nice to meet you, Corazón.”

Alex hoped the situation between the pair of them was now resolved. He decided to throw caution to the wind.

“You want to get some lunch? I was going to get something before I started work anyway.” Alex asked her

Corazón took a moment to reply and looked like she was weighing up if going for lunch with a man who had accidentally flashed her was a terrible idea. She smiled at him.

“Why not? I can't be any worse than what I saw in the parking lot.”

They finished their respective workouts, showered and headed to the food court. Corazón had changed into her cleaning uniform. Alex had got dressed in his security outfit. Alex got a burrito from a Mexican place he had tried a few days ago, and Corazón got fish and chips from an English-style place that had only opened recently.

“So how long have you worked here?” Alex asked her while she was eating some of her chips.

“A few years. I was in college, but I had to drop out to take care of my Mom. I pick up shifts when I can but I'm also kind of her carer.” Corazón explained.

“I'm sorry to hear that. How bad is she?”

“She has early on set dementia. She has her good days and bad days. Some days she doesn't recognise me at all. There are nights when I've had to stay with friends as she doesn't know her own daughter.”

“That must be really hard.”

“What about you?”

“I was in finance until the crash. Almost lost everything. Car got repossessed. Almost lost the house. Still got the wife. Wouldn't have minded if they had taken her too.”

Corazón laughed. “You're married then?”

“Wife and a teenage daughter. Both ignore me and act like I'm not there.”

Alex heard his phone chime. He saw it was a message from John.

Corazón saw the annoyed look on his face. “Something up?

“Nothing bad. John's asking me to cover nights for the rest of the week.”

“Well, hopefully the most you have to deal with is some teens trespassing.”

“Any excitement to break up the monotony.”

Alex looked at his phone. His shift was starting in twenty.

“I have to get going. It was nice to meet you under better circumstances.”

“You're a nice guy, Alex. We should maybe do this again sometime.”

Was Corazón really suggesting another lunch date? He realised he would kind of like that, this was nice, and it was fun talking to someone closer to his own age. Torrid sex with a teenager was nice and all.

Alex was relieved that his shift passed without incident. At most, there were a couple of rowdy teenagers and a fight he almost had to break up. Not having to chase down shoplifters for once was kind of nice. He got home and got some rest in preparation for his upcoming night shifts.