Page 6 of Charming Crosschecks

“I’mswolelike the guys say.”

“Sure,” she said, holding his elbow and staring at it while her other arm was holding the small handle for the weight machine. “Now, without moving your arm and keeping the towel between your ribcage and your elbow, you rotate that ‘swole’arm inward toward your stomach. Remember – twenty pounds and I’ll leave you alone.”

“Pshaw… move back,” he commanded and saw her stern stance as her eyes glittered. Was she laughing at him? “Just swing this stupid thing inward, huh…”

“That’s it.”

“Twenty pounds.”

“Do you need it lower?” she asked innocently.

“No!” he barked, leaning forward, almost in her face. “I’m a man, and I don’t need it lower.”

“Twenty pounds.”

“Move it to fifty and get out of my face.”

“Twenty, Gerry.”

“C’mon man!” Boucher called out. “Quit flirting with her and show her what you got, bro!”

“I’ve got this…” Gerry muttered, feeling frustrated because he couldn’t figure out what kind of trick she was pulling.

“I believe you,” she murmured softly, holding his elbow still. “Keep this here. Use your scapula and the muscles in your shoulder, here…”

“Don’t touch me.”

“I’m not,” she replied quickly, looking a little alarmed. “I’mspottingyou to make sure you do it correctly, using the right muscles.”

“I’vegot this,” he muttered. “I’m gonna move this, and you’re gonna get out of my face.”

“Fine,” she said simply, looking at him. “Prove me wrong.”

Gerry flexed and tried to move his arm, and he couldn’t. He glanced at her, sucked in his breath, and put everything into rotating his arm in the small movement.

“…No, don’t lift your elbow,” she murmured quickly, holding his elbow and that towel fast. “Use your shoulder.”

“I am,” he grunted, glaring at his wrist, hand, and forearm, which weren’t cooperating.

“Are you going to move it today?” she said smugly in a quiet voice, almost gloating but it was a hushed whisper only to him.

His eyes met hers, their faces so close together, and he was trembling with the amount of effort he was putting into this simple movement that he couldn’t do. At that moment, he saw a flicker in her eyes as she released his elbow, allowing him to lift and move the weight – but they both knew what just happened.

He couldn’t move it.

She let him save face.

“Ooooh burnnn,Tiny Tot!” Coeur belted out enthusiastically, and Boucher was beside him on the other machine, laughing as the two high-fived each other. Batiste was looking at them skeptically while Giroux looked away. Lafreniere had no expression on his face as he picked up the kinesiology tape and gave Molly a nod.

She never said a word, simply leaving the towel between his elbow and ribs as she walked off to talk to Lafreniere. He stood there, staring at the two of them, and then adjusted the towel between his elbow and side once more, trying it again, testing to see if Molly had played some joke on him.

Nope.

He couldn’t move it, doing it in the way she instructed. He shifted the weight to ten pounds and still nothing. Moving it to five pounds, the same thing as a sack of potatoes, he was barely able to swing the machine’s handle.

Why? Was he that weak in his shoulders? – And why wouldn’t she prove to the others that she was right and he was wrong?

That afternoon, Gerry had enough.

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