Page 70 of Bewitch

“What’s so funny?” she asks suspiciously.

“I was just thinking about roleplaying and how you could ask your boyfriend if you could paint his skin blue.”

Pamela claps her hands and bursts out laughing. “And maybe he could wear horns too!”

“Horns?”

“Not all aliens have them, but some do, and I might have just bought a monster romance to read.”

“A monster romance?” I blink a few times.

“Yeah… I have a feeling some of those are going to be freaky, but why not give them a shot?” She smiles.

“I can’t blame you for that in the least. Let me know if any of the monster romances are any good, and I’ll check out those alien authors.”

“Your turn. What do you do when you aren’t working out?

“Well, earlier today, I did some baking.” I bend down and open my bag. Inside, I stuffed a small container of the protein balls, and I hold out the container toward her. “Try one.”

She takes a bite. “This is delicious!”

“And it’s healthy too,” I say. “Heavy on the protein as well.”

“Really?” She finishes it. “I really love that.”

“Great.”

“You should get to working out before I hog up all of your time. We can always talk after you’re done.”

I wave to her and head to the locker room to put my bag away. Then, I hit the gym hard. It feels good to stretch deep, and I don’t feel the pressure I put on myself to rush through the stretches like I do when Lucas is breathing down my neck. I think it’s more that I don’t want to waste the hour we have together than him wanting me to hurry up and be done than him actually doing anything wrong.

Then, I lift weights, opting to focus on my abs more than anything else. Saturdays are supposed to be for total body, but I don’t want to lift heavy without Lucas there to spot my form and make sure I’m not going to hurt myself.

I’m on all fours, lifting a leg straight up, bringing my knee to my elbow, my leg out to the side like a dog, and then bringing the leg back and lifting it as high as it will go before bringing it back down to the ground and switching legs. Combo moves are my favorite, even if they are a killer.

A girl I haven’t seen before comes over. “That looks so…”

“Weird?” I ask, looking up at her.

“It’s has to majorly work your abs.”

“I feel it in my ass too,” I say. “The back of my thighs, my lower back too. But, yes, my abs too.”

She rubs the insides of her thighs. “Do you have any idea what will work this? Or the outside of my thighs? I hate how big they are.”

I blink a few times. She’s asking me for advice?

“Well, it’s hard to really spot reduce,” I say, repeating something Lucas told me early on into our workouts. “But any leg moves should help. One that is kinda silly looking but that will work is this. I forget what it’s called, but…”

I stand and bend my knees, leaning forward slightly and step a few times to the left and then to the right, back and forth.

She mimics me. “I can feel it already,” she groans.

“I know. Not the most comfortable feeling, right? There are a lot of other moves too. Lunges, of course. Sumo squats. Lateral—”

“Sumo squat? How is that different from a normal squat?”

So I show her the difference and various lunges, including the curtsey lunge. She’s sweating in no time.

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