Page 30 of Allure

"Well, then you came to the right place! All of our equipment is state of the art, and we have more than just the cardio machines here. There are free weights, benches, and other weightlifting apparatuses to your left. We also have a ton of classes available that are included in your monthly membership price."

“Is there a startup fee?” I ask.

“No,” she says brightly, “but there is a cancelation fee, but you’ll love it here and never want to leave! We do have showers as well, and you can rent out a locker. We have too many members—which is awesome!—but we don’t have enough lockers for there to be one per member, for everyone to have an assigned one.”

“If there’s a cancelation fee, I take it that we would have to sign a long-term commitment.”

"Okay, so the cancelation fee only comes into play if you want to cancel before your time is up and don't want to renew. If you keep on the same plan, it'll just be auto-renewed, and you won't have to worry about a thing! And there are options. You can choose from monthly, six months, or yearly. Obviously, the yearly price is the best bang for your buck, but a lot of people like to test us out with the monthly, fall in love with Fearless Fitness, and bump it up to yearly before that month is half over!"

“How many people opt for yearly?” Dawn asks.

Oh, great question. That’ll show how capable they are at keeping people long-term.

“I would say at least three-quarters of our members are on the yearly plan,” she says.

“That’s decent,” I murmur.

“Here. Let me give you…” Pamela crosses over to the reception desk. She grabs two badges that read ‘Potential New Members.’ “Put these on,” she says, handing them to us. “Just don’t be surprised if some of the old hats try to talk to you and recruit you. But for the next hour or so—I won’t time it so if it’s longer, no big deal, take your time—you can test out the equipment or stand in the back of a class and observe. You can’t take part in a class until you’re a paying member, unfortunately. Liability issues.”

Yet we can use the equipment without signing anything…

Nope. Good thing I didn’t say that because she hands us clipboards.

"This is just a release of liability of any injuries sustained during this trial period," she says, sounding apologetic. "Sign these, and you can be on your way! There's no one else here today to help cover the desk, so I can't walk you two around, unfortunately. I'm sorry!"

“No worries,” I assure her. “If we have any questions—”

“Come right back to me, and I’ll be more than happy to help!” She beams.

I turn toward Dawn. She’s been eyeing the cardio machines, so we start to walk that way.

“She’s like a Barbie doll!” Dawn whispers.

“She really is. I bet she could sell cars like no one’s business. She definitely has the personality of a salesman.”

"Not an oily, slick cars salesman either," Dawn agrees, "which means she would sell a boatload of cars!"

We giggle.

A woman on a treadmill glances over at us. She’s not going very fast, but the incline is steep.

“What are you two laughing at?” she snaps.

“Pamela. She seems really genuine,” I explain.

The woman blinks a few times, and her face instantly changes from fury to relaxed. She presses a few buttons, and the treadmill lowers and then shuts down. She climbs off and eyes us.

“Pamela is great,” the woman says, “but if you two plan on coming here and acting like it’s girl bonding time and are going to be laughing all the while, this isn’t the gym for you. This is for people who are serious about their fitness goals—”

“We’re serious about ours,” I say flatly. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to judge.”

The woman narrows her eyes, and I wonder if she’s going to exchange more harsh, judgmental words, but she surprises me.

“Sorry. I think I’m still a bit insecure yet. When I first started here, I was afraid everyone was staring at me, judging me… I had to lose sixty pounds so I could donate a kidney to my sister.” She holds out her arms. “I’m down seventy pounds, and my sister is as healthy as a horse now, and so am I. Her needing the transplant probably saved both of our lives.”

“You look incredible!” Dawn gasps. “What did you do? Just treadmill?”

“Exercise is only part of it. Diet has to come into play too. Let me wipe this down quick. You can hop on then, and we can talk. How does that sound?”

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