Page 41 of She Used to Be Nice
Avery held up her hand. “It’s okay.” And it was. “No drama. I promise.”
The following week, Avery’s phone buzzed with a text from Morgan that included a link to two Groupon vouchers for a yoga class in the Lower East Side.Come with? I know you hate working out, but yoga is an excellent stress reliever.
Avery didn’t answer right away. She’d never done yoga before, nor had she ever meditated or used aromatherapy or done any of that woo-woo shit to alleviate her anxiety. She didn’t fit in with the chill, alternative culture of yogis and hippies; she was too brash and basic and thought those colorful elephant pants were ugly. She failed to see how she could relax enough for any of their relaxation methods to work. And she had horrible allergies. A drop of lavender oil on her temples or whatever would only make her sneeze.
Her phone buzzed again.And if you don’t wanna do it for yourself, do it for me. My dad is on my ass about me not inviting my creepy Uncle Ted to my wedding and I swear if I’m not face up in happy baby within the next hour I will kill myself.
Avery sighed. She supposed she could try yoga. Morgan wasn’t exactly relaxed at her natural state either; when the weather was warmer, the yoga classes she took on Saturday mornings in Central Park seemed to transform her into a different, more serene person. By agreeing to go to this class, Avery would not only be doing something healthy for herself, but she’d be doing something forMorgan. And that was what great maids of honor did. And that was what she’d vowed to be.
She stopped by the sales rack at Lululemon on her way to the class to pick up some leggings and a sports bra. She only had one of each, and they were collecting dust in the back of a drawer somewhere in her parents’ house. At the studio, she was greeted by a woman named Greer, who’d be leading the class. Greer had long gray hair and wore a baggy T-shirt covered in peace signs, and introduced herself to everyone with not only her name, but also how she thought she’d be reincarnated after she died.
“As a sunflower,” she cooed.
Her voice was squeaky and drawn out, like a balloon releasing helium.
Avery went to exchange a judgmental glance with Morgan, but Morgan was enraptured by Greer’s discussion of healing crystals.
Be open-minded,Avery thought.You could use some centering.
Inside the studio, a faded tapestry hung from the ceiling and covered the wall in the front of the room. A massive Buddha sculpture stood tall on the mantle behind Greer’s yoga mat, and dozens of other multicolored mats were laid out on the rest of the floor in front of hers. The spicy incense burning from a stick perched on the small table next to Greer started giving Avery a headache.
“Welcome to our practice,” Greer said. She stood on her mat and folded her hands together. “Please choose a mat, and let’s start in Baddha Ko?asana.”
Morgan and Avery snagged two mats next to each other. Avery’s eyes flicked to Morgan in her attempt to figure out what to do next, and she watched as Morgan sat down, pressed the soles of her feet together, and held them in place with her hands. Avery attempted the same, albeit much less gracefully.
Greer closed her eyes. “Let’s bring our attention to this room. Feel the soles of your feet as they press against one another. Elongate your spine and feel it stretch toward the sky. What is your intention for today’s practice?”
Avery’s intention was to do yoga. Was that wrong?
“Breathe in,” Greer said.
Everyone in the room inhaled. Avery did the same.
“And out.”
Someone made the most obnoxious flapping sound from their mouth, like their lips were the wings propelling them into outer space.
“Breathe in.”
Avery breathed in again.
“And out.”
Greer repeated these instructions five more times, and by the end Avery could barely keep up. She inhaled when she should’ve exhaled and exhaled when she should’ve inhaled, practically hyperventilating in her attempt to match Greer’s pace. Christ. Yoga was stressful.
Soon the breathing instructions stopped, and the class was instructed to begin a flow that Greer called a “heart-opening sequence,” which involved a bunch of movements Avery couldn’t for the life of her keep up with. The flow ended in cobra pose, which felt … good. Avery stretched out her spine and opened her upper body, imagining the tightness in her chest bursting through her ribcage, her skin, her sports bra, and dissolving into thin air. Her breathing miraculously started matching Greer’s, too, and then Greer concluded the class with ten minutes of corpse pose, which was essentially ten minutes of sleeping.ThisAvery could get behind.
“So, how do you feel?” Morgan asked afterward. They were outside the studio, on their way to grab some postexercise bubble tea. “Zen as hell?”
Avery smiled as she realized she’d gone the whole hour without thinking about Noah. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the yoga class, her resolve to be there for Morgan no matter what, or both, but she felt as good as she’d felt in a while.
“Totally,” she said.
She looped her arm through Morgan’s and they headed into the tea shop.
13
“THE NAPKINS MY MOMwants me to use are theugliestbubblegum pink. I get that they’re cheaper, but my wedding is not going to be sponsored by Pepto-Bismol.”
