Page 72 of Bewitch

Pamela beams at him as he walks away, and she turns back to me, her smile somehow turning a bit smug. “You don’t need Lucas, huh?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I say.

She nods slowly. “You don’t need him, but…”

I blush. She’s right. I might not need Lucas so much because I have the drive and the knowledge to continue my fitness journey alone.

But while I might not need him, I want him.

I want to make him pay.

I want to make him realize he shouldn’t bully people.

And I just flat out want him. Period. End of story.

“Am I that obvious?” I mutter.

“No, but I can read people, and let’s just say that hookups can and do happen at the gym.” She smiles at me. “And sometimes, it might turn into forever.”

I snort. Not in this instance.

Still, I mutter, “Can you imagine him in blue paint?”

“He’s my cousin!”

I laugh. “He does have the horns, though. He’s a devil, not an angel.”

“That’s for sure!”

We giggle, and I wave and head on out.

Yes, Lucas is a devil, but he has me bewitched.

Not for long, though. I’m going to make my move soon. I need to.

Before I lose my nerve.

CHAPTER21

When I wake up on Sunday, I feel like I’m on cloud nine, same as I’ve felt since I helped out Alison. Is that what it’s like to be a trainer? I’m sure there are some people who aren’t nearly as motivated as she was. I wonder if she’ll want a trainer of her own. Not everyone who goes to the gym has one. Some go by themselves, and others come with friends or gym buddies or maybe make friends at the gym and start to train together. Either way, it’s definitely a community of sorts, and if Alison is any indication, I’m starting to become one of them.

And I love that.

When you’re the overweight one of your friends, you tend to always feel like the odd man out. The ugly duckling. It’s the worst feeling in the world. I do have some friends from high school, though, who always stuck with me through it all, but when I picked which college to attend, I decided to come here, where my mom had affiliations, even though it meant I would be going alone, without any of my friends. So far, I made friends easily enough, thankfully, but I had been worried, especially the month leading up to the start of school.

That summer, and definitely that month in particular, had been not easy for me. I attended a lot of going away parties for my friends, and while I hadn’t drunk at those parties either, I ate and ate and ate. The last two weeks right before college, I tried to curb my eating, only allowing myself two meals a day, hoping to lose some weight before the semester started. It didn’t really happen, though. When you go into a day knowing you only plan to eat two meals, you run the risk of overeating, and I’m sure I did that more times than not.

Today, I don’t have many plans. I do call my mom so that I can learn where and when Carl Fetto works. I’m undecided if I want to talk to him directly or just observe him with other girls.

I’m not sure what I want to do, but while I’m waiting for the whole janitor angle, I decide to head back to the gym. Somehow, it’s become a sort of safe haven for me. Also, I don’t usually eat much of anything while I’m there, so that helps too because for whatever reason, I feel like my happiness is fading, leaving me a bit dark and depressed. I’m not entirely sure why I feel this way. I just now that I do. Is it because of Lucas? Why should his thoughts matter?

But they do. There’s something there between us. Neither of us is willing to do anything about it, at least not yet. And as much as I want to teach him a lesson, in the back of my mind, I’m afraid I’ll be the one to get hurt.

Pamela’s thrilled to see me. “It’s a miracle! Dawn is here on a Sunday! What is the reason behind this wonderful turn of events?”

I laugh. “I thought I would do some yoga today.”

“You’re just in luck. A yoga class is about to start in eight minutes. Or are you going to do some moves by yourself?”

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