Page 13 of Gym Bros
A few seconds go by before he responds with:
Unknown
Hey
Me
He told me. Can you meet Tuesday at six? I work at Essential Fitness in the Haight.
Unknown
Yeah, perfect.Thanks!
Me
See you then
Unknown
How do you spell your name?
I laugh.
Me
Calyx. Just ask for me when you get there.
Unknown
Cool. Thanks again. Do you want me to bring a note from my doctor or anything?
That seems like the professional thing to want, so I say yes.
Unknown
Will do. See you Tuesday at six.
I thumbs up the message and save his contact information. But I’m sorry—Saber?Really? I can’t remember his name—I was barely awake when Marcus was telling me all the things, but I’m pretty sure I would have remembered if he called himSaber.
Instead, I save him as Marcus’s Baby Boy and get up to take a long shower.
That night, I have dinner with Rachel and Priya, which is great because I’ve been online all afternoon looking up hamstring injuries—what causes them, how best to rehabilitate them, how to prevent future injuries, and wouldn’t you fucking know it—yoga and Pilates are basically the answer to everything. Yoga to loosen them up—Pilates to balance the core and quad strength.
I’m loving this, and I want to talk about it. But my girlfriends get stuck on the MMA fighter of it all. I should have predicted this.
Rachel tries to look up “Saber MMA,” but comes up empty, which is just as well. I don’t want to have any more prejudgments than I already do. I don’t technically have permission from the gym to offer personal training services, but the owner and manager like me—the manager likes me a little too much probably—so if it’s just the one person on a trial basis, I’m hoping he’ll be cool with me and “my client” taking up some space for an hour a few times a week.
“I’m assuming he’s straight,” Priya’s saying.
Rachel laughs. “With a name like Saber? I’m not sure it’s safe to assume.”
Priya cracks up, and I join in. It’s too ridiculous. “He’s a baby,” I remind them. “He graduated high school like twenty minutes ago.”
“Have you ever been with someone not fifteen years older than you?” Pri asks.
“Define ‘been with.’”
“Fucked more than once.”
