I knew I needed to clear my head though – a shot of endorphins in some form or another would do wonders in clearing my head to help me figure out my predicament.
I crossed the room to my dresser and opened the top drawer. I stared at my lonely hitachi. It wasn’t fair. Kim was out and that usually meant play time. I felt a wave of disappointment and frustration wash over me as I pushed my vibrator to the side of the drawer and reached for my workout clothes. My brain was on board with the plan but the rest of my body wasn’t. I knew myself though. I knew that if took that “me time” now I was likely to make an afternoon of it and before I knew it, it would be time for chapter meeting. Then I wouldn’t get around to studying until pretty late. No. I just needed to go to the gym and get my endorphin hit. After that I could head to the library until chapter at 7:00, and then if I’ve made progress I could have my “me time.” I would need to be quiet but it wasn’t like I hadn’t done it while Kim was in the room before. After that though? it would be straight back to the books.
I picked out a cute little outfit for the gym – white Nike Pro shorts and a pink sports bra that gave me as much cleavage as my little chest could muster. It showed off my midriff, but not too much. I pulled my hair back into a tight pony tail and touched up my makeup. I snapped a quick photo in the mirror for good measure, gathered up my lanyard and headed for the gym.
It was significantly quieter there than I was used to. I typically tried to go in the evenings when I was more likely to run into the guys from Fiji or D-Chi, but today I was pretty happy to just put in my work and get on with my day. I started with a mile on the treadmill for a warmup, and then figured I would do some core work to make sure lunch didn’t stick to my sides. I was on my third set of obliques when a solution to all of my problems presented itself. As I turned my shoulders to a perfect 45 degree angle I caught a familiar face for a brief moment through two mirrors. Over by the smith machine, the mousey boy from class – Jeff’s roommate – made brief eye contact with me. My abs were burning enough that I probably wouldn’t have noticed except that he looked away as quickly as it happened.
I’m not naive. I’m fully aware that guys check me out at the gym. I wasn’t born yesterday and I most times I actually like the attention. Getting caught seemed to really rattle the poor kid though. He immediately tried to make himself look busy loading and unloading the same plate repeatedly on his machine.
I continued with my workout but I made sure to glance over at him occasionally. It stuck out how obviously he was trying to not look at me (or at the very least make it look like he was not looking at me). It was kind of endearing in a shy, impish way. I guess I’m I’m not really used to guys being bashful around me. Usually when I’m at the at the gym and a guy makes eye contact with me he’ll take it as an invitation to come over and strike up a conversation; typically that bordered on annoying or at the very least inconvenient depending on how attractive the guy was. Obviously it was annoying if the guy was unattractive, but I didn’t always want to be chatting up a cute guy when I was really getting a sweat on.
The roommate certainly wasn’t attractive but his feigned lack of attention fascinated me. Every time I looked over at him he was so obviously not looking at me that it was obvious he was making a drastic effort not to. I finished my obliques and decided to modify my workout and have a little fun. He was still messing around with lightweight guided squats (having abandoned the plate that he was worrying with earlier) on the smith machine so I made my way over to the adductor machine that was positioned just behind the rack so that he would have a good view in the mirror. I always thought it was kind of a worthless workout but any time I wanted to get a guys attention it was foolproof conversation starter. I couldn’t imagine why.
I loaded the machine a little on the heavy side. I was having fun sure, but I still wanted to get a burn in. As I bent over to put the pin in the weight stack I caught him make a quick glance out of the side of his eye as he raised out of a squat. I knew at I had him. I adjusted my posture on the bench and placed my knees on the pads. I gripped the handles and pressed down on the release allowing the machine to engage the weight. The machine gave me a good stretch as it forced my legs open into a seated split.
I started my set – close, open, close, open. I guess I had set the weight a little heavier than I was capable of sustaining because after three reps my inner thighs were absolutely on fire. I strained to push my thighs closed for one more rep and relaxed as I let the machine push me back open to its full extent. I looked down at my body. I was perfectly on display. My back was arched pushing my tits out. My legs spread wide open and I was barely covered by my tiny white shorts. As I caught my breath and let my thighs cool off, i realized how spun up I was. I probably should have gone ahead and taken advantage of the alone time in my room earlier.
I raised my eyes ready continue my set but the boy was nowhere to be seen. Panic set in. He was going to be my ticket to preparing for my midterm and we hadn’t even yet broken the ice!
I glanced around the rec and didn’t see him hiding among the weights. He wasn’t on the treadmills or the bikes either. Resigned to finding another way to solve my problem I slumped back into my machine and looked at myself in the mirror.
Through the mirror and out of the window on the opposite wall I saw him making his way towards the crosswalk that led back to dormitory row. I didn’t hesitate. I dismounted the machine, gathered my water bottle and lanyard and bolted for the door. He was out of sight when I left the rec, but I started jogging towards Jeff’s dorm.
He was still a solid 15 yards ahead of me when I called out to him, “hey!” But I got no response. He didn’t even raise his head. He was staring at his feet as he walked, clumping along the sidewalk with clunking purposeful steps.
I jogged closer and closed the gap. I called out another “Hey! Wait!” But he refused to hear me despite the two of us being the only ones around.
Finally I was close enough to reach out and touch him. I slowed to a walk and tapped him on the shoulder. He stopped walking, but when he turned and saw my face he looked nothing short of terrified.
“Hey!” I said again, trying to open up any sort of line of communication.
His mouth opened but no sound came out. He just gaped at me. I was starting to question my own sanity in the face of this wall he was putting up.
“I’m not crazy right? We’re in a class together?
He looked at me like I had two heads. I couldn’t tell if his nervous silence was from getting caught checking me out in the Rec, if he remembered me from that night last semester or if he was just so stunned to have a girl like me talking to a guy like him.
“Uh yeah. I think so.” He finally managed. “Professor Woodson’s class, right?”
“Yeah that’s the one! CompSci!” I turned on the bubbles. “Are you ready for the midterm on Wednesday?”
“Oh. Yeah.” He responded. “It won’t be too bad.”
“You’re kidding me. I’m in total panic mode.”
He squinted at me as if he were trying to work out if I were joking.
“Seriously! You’re not worried at all!” I pressed. I was desperate for him to pick up on my hint. Most guys at this point would already be falling all over themselves to “help me study” but this kid just wasn’t taking the bait. He looked as though he was on the verge of a panic attack, like he was going to break into a run at any second.
He just shook his head. I realized was getting nowhere. I was going to have to take the lead and drive this where I wanted it to go. “I’m Ashley, by the way.” I extended my hand to shake his. He looked at it like it was going to bite him.
“Uh.. Luke.” He finally managed while engaging me in one of the softest wettest handshakes I have ever experienced. I did my absolute best to not react, but my face must have betrayed me. I was just surprised by just how flimsy and damp he was.
I could see he was trying to find an exit. He recoiled away from me and quickly wiped his hand on his shorts. His face was turning red and he looked like he had stepped on a slug. “Anyway, it was good to meet you.” He stammered out and began to turn to walk away. I didn’t really understand why he was so insistent on ending our conversation, but I had to stop him.
“Wait. Luke.” I walked after him. “I’m just going to level with you, I’m in a real bind.”
Luke didn’t say anything, he just continued his walk avoiding eye contact.
“I’m totally unprepared for the midterm. I need help.” Silence in response. “Look, I’m not asking for you to tutor me or anything, I really just need some direction on what to cram!”
Luke stopped in his tracks looked at me and started to speak, “Look I don’t~” but I stopped him.
“I know we just met, but I would owe you so big!” I gave the cutest most concerned wide-eyes look I could muster. “My graduation is tied to this class.”
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