Page 20 of Up All Night

I arrived early to Fitness First, hoping to get on a bike in the back and get acquainted with the equipment.

Walking into the spin room, I was surprised to see it was already full. The room was mostly filled with women, with a handful of men. Everyone was talking, and I hurried to grab one of the last bikes along the back wall, hoping to avoid sticking out as a newbie.

I adjusted the seat and checked out the different buttons. It didn’t look too complicated, and I relaxed, feeling more confident in my ability to make it through this workout unscathed.

Since no one else was on their bike yet, I hopped off. A few women kept looking my way and I tried to not feel self-conscious while they whispered about me, their eyes curious and maybe even a little hungry.

Halle walked into the room, looking amazing, making me forget about the women who were staring at me. My eyes trailed over her and I loved her look, the high ponytail with workout clothes.

“Good morning, everyone,” she welcomed. “Are we all ready to get our sweat on?” she yelled.

The room erupted in ‘yeah’ and ‘let’s do this’ before everyone climbing onto their bikes. I followed and got settled on my seat.

Halle looked out over the class. “Let’s start at a slow and steady pace to get our legs warmed up before we turn up the speed.”

Her eyes zeroed in on me, and I hoped the mischievous glint I saw there was all in my head.

“Looks like we have a newcomer with us today,” she said into her headset. “The guy in the back there in the navy shirt.”

Eyes turned to look at me, and I gave a half-hearted wave. Of course she had to go and point me out.

“Now, I could have sworn it was you I heard say that spin classes were a breeze, a piece of cake. Wasn’t that you?”

“I’d definitely not say that about your class,” I answered and then added, “Obviously.”

“Obviously.” A wicked grin stretched across her lips. “Either way, we’ll be sure to make this a memorable one for you. Right, everyone?”

“Yeah!” Everyone yelled back in excitement.

“Okay, we’ve been enjoying this flat road, but I see a hill coming up, so let’s crank up that speed and resistance,” she said, and I hurried to follow along.

I was determined to prove to her and everyone in this class that I could handle this workout. I wasn’t a beginner when it came to working out and considered myself to be in great shape.

At least I had thought I was in good shape until halfway through the spin class. And then the only thing I could think about was how Halle was trying to kill me.

With each push on the pedals the wordsI’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dyingkept going through my head on repeat. This bike was some kind of torture device, and Halle was its master.

I was going to have to talk to Ben when he got back. Was he even doing anything for me? I’d thought I was getting in some intense workouts, but I hadn’t understood the meaning of the word intense until now. Even the leg workout Halle had given me on Monday wasn’t as bad as this torturous spin class.

Sweat dripped off me, and I had to keep using my shirt to wipe my face. My sweat-matted hair and matching sweat-drenched shirt, now stuck to my body, were probably not my best look.

When the longest forty-five minutes of my life was finally over, I had to take deep breaths to lower my heart rate and pray I wouldn’t throw up. Everyone else in the room looked tired but invigorated—like they hadn’t almost died.

I grabbed my water bottle and took several long drags from it before Halle came up beside me.

“So, how was it?” she asked, a giddy look on her face.

How did she still look so good after a workout like that? I felt like I had walked through a car wash, and here she was looking like she’d just finished filming a workout video. The sheen of sweat on her skin was even accentuating certain parts of her body that had me reminding myself to look her in the eyes.

I assumed she was eager to hear me say how difficult it had been for me, but I was going to downplay it as much as I possibly could.

“It was great,” I lied through my still heavy breathing.

She smiled at me like she could see through my lie. “I’m glad you were able to still enjoy it even though it was a struggle for you.”

“It wasn’t a struggle,” I said adamantly.

“Right, of course not,” she scoffed but hurried to cover up her slight with that fake smile I was getting so used to. “Next time will hopefully be better for you.”

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