Page 59 of Butterfly Effect

Me

You like him so much, why don’t you date him?

Mel

Hilarious. You’re hilarious.

Mel

And I would, but he’s taken ;)

Barf.

I stop myself from typing anything else.

As if the Devil knew he was summoned, Wade’s text appears.

Pretty Boy

Heyyyyy girlfriend, wyd??

Me

None of your business.

Pretty Boy

Tell me anyway, Freckles

Me

I'm at the gym, if you must know. Do you need something?

Pretty Boy

Running!!

Me

That was earlier. I’m about to lift.

When there’s no reply, I give myself a smug nod. Good riddance.

My trainer, Justin, touches his toes in a corner of free space on the right side from the free weights area and waves me over. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb mode and slip it into the deep leggings pocket on my thigh.

“Morning!” He pulls me into a hug.

I’m always skeptical of people who are chipper before having coffee and a workout. Like, how? Have they taken some sort of supplement that alters their brain chemistry? I’ve been waking up before dawn since high school, but the serotonin never hits until after I break into a sweat.

“We’ll start with calisthenics, then head to the floor and do deadlifts.”

“Sounds good.”

I get on my hands and knees to stretch out my wrists, then hop to my feet, rotating my shoulders while Justin finds an open rack.

“You think you can do sets of ten today?”

I shake my arms and eye the pull-up bar above me, adjusting the strap of my sports bra. These itty bitties won’t escape anyway, but it’s a habit. “I did eight last week…”

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