Page 15 of Count Down

He takes a seat in one of the chairs and starts to write. I feel too awkward standing there while he fills it out, so I tell him, “When you finish, just put it back on the desk. The changing room is through there,” I say, gesturing toward the retail area where we have a small section of clothes and home workout gear. I’m just going to finish setting up.” Luca looks up from the clipboard and gives me a nod.

I head back to the reformer I was preparing. I don’t really have anything more I have to do, so I make it look like I’m checking or adjusting some springs and straps.

When I hear Luca go into the changing room, I head back to the desk and review his paperwork. His last name isBarone. He’s written his occupation as “consultant”. I wonder what that means. His birthday is January 1stand he’s 39 years old.That’s 18 years older than me!I feel silly not having realized that before.

He’s listed quite a few previous injuries. He’s broken almost every major bone in his body. I’m curious if it was all at once or lots of different injuries. It says he’s not seeking any specific focus. Just “general exercise,” as he wrote.

Luca comes out of the changing room. He’s changed out of his button up shirt, slacks, and dress shoes into gym shorts, a tank top, and sneakers.

The first thing I notice are his shoulders. The muscles on his shoulders are cut round and look solid. His body looks somewhere between the lean strength of a dancer and the showy muscles of a body builder.

I set his paperwork back on the desk. “You can leave your bag under the bench over there. And your shoes too. You’ll want to be barefoot or just wear socks for this, ” I say, gesturing to my own bare feet. As he sets his bag down, I check out his legs. They’re well defined and muscular. I remember sunbathing in the park with Lexi one day last summer. A couple of muscle-bound meatheads were circling around. We could tell they wanted to come talk to us. But Lexi and I couldn’t get over how skinny their legs were. We’re too used to the men we dance with who have strong, muscular legs for jumping. It seemed like these guys had focused all their workouts just to make their arms and chests look good and then were left with little toothpicks to move around on.

I’m glad to see that Luca’s body is more balanced.

I lead him toward the equipment I’ve prepared. “Have you ever taken pilates before?”

“Nope. First time.”

“Ok. You’ve listed a lot of former injuries here. Are any of them still bothering you?”

“Not really.”

“Ok, then we’ll just start with the basics of pilates, and that will give us a good idea where to go from there.”

He nods, so I show him how the Reformer moves and talk him through the first set of exercises, teaching him the breath patterns and the underlying focus of the movement. He responds well to my instruction. I’m glad to see he’s taking this seriously. He has decent coordination and flexibility. Not like a dancer, but better than I’d expect even from an athlete 15 years younger than him. Actually, the more I watch him move, the more impressed I am. I think he’s up for a challenge. This is going to be fun.

Between exercises he starts up a conversation that continues throughout the hour.

“Have you thought anymore about becoming a choreographer?” He asks.

“You mean choreographing my own life?” I grin. “Try not to tense your neck as you start to pull the straps back.”

He smiles as he remembers that I’ve said that a few times already.

“I’ve definitely been thinking about it.” I tell him. I realize that not only is Luca the only person I’ve really talked to about this, but I’ve been looking forward to talking to him about it again. “I’ve been thinking of moving out of my parents’ house, too. It’s definitely time. I’m going to talk to my friend Lexi about getting an apartment together. I know she was looking for a new place. It might be a stretch, but I think I can afford it if I pick up some more hours here and get some regular private clients.”

I let Luca take a short rest before I show him the next exercise.

He wipes the sweat from his forehead and looks at me. “How do you feel about that?”

“It might take some time to build up enough work to support myself. But I think it’s better than what my father wants me to do.”

I set up the next exercise and get Luca going with it before I continue our conversation. “He wants me to go to college and become a lawyer. He’s the Philadelphia District Attorney and his father was a judge. So, he’s decided that’s the path I should take, too.”

Luca raises his eyebrows but continues focusing on his exercise. I give him some slight adjustments.

“I’d much rather be a starving artist than a rich lawyer,” I say.

Luca laughs.

“Hey, focus on your breathing,” I joke with him.

We keep talking through the rest of the session. He listens and occasionally asks questions. He’s surprisingly easy be with.

He’s also very easy to look at. As a dancer, I see fit, handsome men all the time, but this is different. His body looks good in stillness and in movement, but I like seeing how he responds to the different exercises I give him. Something about the way it all comes together is intoxicating. I never imagined that I would be physically attracted to someone so much older than me. It’s quite distracting, and I find myself constantly having to refocus my attention to what I’m supposed to be doing.

Before I know it, our session is already over.

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