Slightly Flirty.

“Oh, this is actually the owner of Johnson’s Gym, Chris.” Lisa introduced him.

“G’day.” Chris smiled politely to the family.

“Hello.” The woman responded, returning a friendly smile.

“This lady here was thinking of signing up.” Lisa informed him.

“Yes, and my twins.” Isabella turned to look at her sons, and saw that the boys had begun to wrestle “Leo! Diego! Stop it!” She turned back embarrassed, “Sorry about that.”

Chris laughed “No worries. Well, would you like to take a tour Ms…?”

“Rivera. But Bella is fine.” She shook Chris’ hand as he smiled at her. “I’d love to take a tour.” She added.

“Well, follow me Bella.”

“Diego! Leo! Come on…” She said quietly, yet fiercely, as her sons were preoccupied with fighting. “I’m sorry about them.” She said again, looking slightly flushed.

“No, really it’s okay. They remind me of me and my best friend when we were that age.” Chris laughed, “Actually he works here, I don’t know if you saw him, he’s the massive bloke who took the yoga class.”

“Oh I think I did see him.” She said still watching her sons pushing and shoving, “You grew up together?”

“Yeah, me and Milo go way back, he’s sort of a brother to me.” Chris laughed.

The two boys eventually rejoined the group. “All right! Here we have the free weight section… pretty self explanatory… Feel free to have a look around.”

Diego and Leo peered through the weights while Bella stayed with him. “So what do you do for a living Bella?” Chris broke a slightly awkward silence.

“I am a teacher. Just the school a few streets over actually.” She answered, pointing in the direction of the school.

“Oh okay cool!” Chris nodded, he paused slightly before he worked up some courage. “What does your partner do?”

“Actually I’m single.” She said with a small blush. There was a slight pause before she asked, “How about you? Is that your… wife?” Bella pointed discretely to Lisa.

“Lisa? No, no we’re just mates. We’ve been friends forever… I’m single too.” He answered and their eyes locked for the briefest of moments.

Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, the boys returned looking highly impressed. Chris led the family on the rest of the tour, every now and then catching Bella’s deep brown eyes. They reached the downstairs area and once again the twins left to explore the saunas and spas while Bella stayed alongside Chris. Another slightly awkward silence was starting to approach, as neither knew what to say.

“That accent… it’s Australian? Right?” She asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah that’s it!” He beamed.

“When did you move here?” Bella smiled brightly, showing her brilliant white teeth.

“Only a month or so ago. This is our first gym outside of Australia and I wanted to be here to see it off the ground.”

“Oh so you have another ‘Johnson’s’ in Australia?”

“Yeah, we have forty-four gyms in Australia. This is our forty-fifth.” He gestured vaguely to their surroundings.

Bella’s eyes went wide, “Holy shit! Forty-five! And you’re the owner?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Chris grinned, proud of his company and glad this beautiful woman was impressed.

“So… what do you think?” Chris asked, as they arrived back at reception.

“It’s amazing!” Bella said, impressed. “How much is it a week?”

Lisa ran the family through the range of pricing options, and they eventually decided on the family option that allowed for them to use almost all of the facilities at a discounted price.

“Now, are Leo and Diego eighteen?” Chris asked Bella.

“Oh they turned eighteen last week, this is actually their birthday present.” She answered.

“Great, well there’s no need for parental consent forms and… you’re all set. Welcome to ‘Johnson’s Gym’ Rivera family!”

Chris and Lisa processed the remaining paperwork and set the family up with their card keys and their complimentary water bottles and towels.

“Now when you sign up you are also entitled to three personal training sessions with one of our trainers where we can also set you up with a program. As this is opening day, we are currently the only trainers free but we will have more very soon. Would any of you like to have yours now?”

The boys looked at each other and said in unison “Nah” before hurtling towards the weight section.

“How about you Mrs. Rivera?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, I’d love to.” She beamed.