Page 16 of It's All Sun and Games

‘No, I’m ready to try more,’ I say. ‘If you don’t try, you don’t know, right? As long as you’ll help me, of course.’

I’m going for flirtatious, but not obvious. Like, I’m flirting with the idea of flirting, in a way that he might notice, but not in a way that comes on too strong.

‘Sure,’ he replies as he adds more weight.

I have realised that even if it might seem more impressive lifting weights on my own, I stand more of a chance of sparks flying between me and James if he has his hands on me. Well, a girl can dream, but it’s worth a shot.

I assume the position – with James close behind me – as I mentally prepare myself to lift another weight – a heavier one this time.

However (and this won’t come as a surprise to absolutely anyone) as I attempt to lift the heavier weight, this time nothing happens at all. My muscles strain against the resistance, but the bar remains stubbornly unmoved. It’s as if my body refuses to cooperate, and for a moment, it feels like my physical body stays attached to the metal but my soul leaves my body, standing upright, instead.

James pats me on the back and offers me a sympathetic smile, clearly impressed by my determination at least.

‘Hard luck, Robin,’ he tells me. ‘But we can work on that.’

‘Yeah, hard luck, Robin,’ Liz echoes as I stand down. ‘I guess it was just too much for you. I could lift that though, easily, without breaking a sweat, watch.’

I roll my eyes, not even trying to disguise it (although luckily no one notices it) because she is just too much.

With a smug smile and determined expression, Liz grabs hold of the weight and begins to lift, her entire body trembling as she just about gets it off the ground.

As she struggles to lift the heavy bar, her face contorts into something that doesn’t even look like her, her skin turning an alarming shade of purple.

‘Okay, Liz, you need to stop, you’re going to pass out,’ Priya says as she approaches her cautiously.

But Liz is – stupidly – determined to prove herself and, with one final, desperate effort, she manages to lift the weight to chest height. However, her victory is short lived because she just can’t take another second of it and so the weight slips from her grasp. And where does it land? Right on Priya’s foot with a sickening thud.

A sharp scream echoes around the gym, drawing the attention of everyone around us.

As Priya cries in pain, clutching her injured foot, I drop down beside her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder to comfort her.

‘I’ll get help,’ James says, springing into action.

‘You’re going to be okay, Priya,’ I say, trying to reassure her. I have no idea what’s going on inside her trainer but I can’t imagine it’s anything good.

A stressed-out-looking gym employee rushes over to assess the situation – and it doesn’t take him more than a few seconds to work out what needs doing.

‘You need to take her to the hospital,’ he says. He’s trying to mask the urgency in his voice but it is undoubtedly there.

‘I can drive her,’ James tells the man, stepping up to help.

I nod, grateful for his offer.

‘And I’ll come with you,’ I reassure Priya. ‘It’s going to be okay, I promise you, just try to breathe and, soon enough, they will pump you so full of drugs you’re not going to care.’

Priya – despite her agony – manages to laugh a little. You can tell that she’s freaked out, trying to keep cool.

‘I’ll come too,’ Liz says.

‘That’s okay,’ I tell her.

‘No, I want to help,’ Liz adds. ‘I’ll make sure you’re okay, Priya, don’t worry.’

This is just classic Liz, to actually cause the problem but then, rather than take responsibility and apologise, to make it all about her. I swear, she’s even competing with me now, to see who can be the best friend to Priya in her time of need. I mean, not only am I so clearly a better friend to Priya generally, but even if the competition were tough, I’m not the one who just dropped a fucking weight on her fucking foot while I was being a fucking arsehole.

James goes to get his car from the office car park, to get it as close to the entrance as possible, while I help Priya slowly (but excruciatingly) hop in the right direction. Liz just saunters behind us.

As we head back past the Mr Universe man, he notices that Priya is hurt – she is screaming, understandably, so you can’t miss her – so he puts down his weight and hurries over.

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