Chapter 11: We Own It
"Immense
power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were
born to control affairs." - Andrew
Carnegie
Danielle
had to work all weekend at the Italian Restaurant so she had time to make sure
her eyes weren’t puffy from crying the next time she stepped into the fitness
center. She checked her makeup and
lipstick one final time in the locker room before bouncing up the steps to the
Zumba class. Right before she stepped
her foot in the door she noticed that Anton was there. What?
She thought he was doing Zumba just to please her. Maybe he wasn’t lying when he said he enjoyed
dancing. Danielle had to think
quick. She looked like a deer caught in
the headlights and she had to think fast before Anton saw her. As quick as she had bounded up the stairs,
she turned with a flip of her brunette curls and darted back down the
stairs. She went back into the locker
room. She did not want Anton to see
her…not yet…not until she had a new man.
She grabbed her iPod, plugged in her ear buds, and strutted off to the
weight room.
She
passed Jamarcus behind the front counter and he nodded his head her way. Danielle felt giddy that he had smiled at
her…that meant he does notice me she mused.
She was so full of herself at that moment that she walked head first
into a column. Jamarcus tried to stifle
his laugh and then returned his eyes to the computer screen shaking his head. Danielle looked around to make sure Jamarcus
was the only one who had witnessed her ungraceful attempt at walking. What the heck was going on with her? It was like her moxie had been taken along
with Anton’s breakup. She smoothed out
her red spandex workout shirt, took a deep breath and continued over to the
free weights. She started her normal
workout routine and it wasn’t long till Caleb showed up.
When
Caleb got close enough to make eye contact, Danielle paused her music and
pulled one earbud out. Everyone knows
that a person working out with ear buds in does not want to be disturbed, but
if you pull out an earbud, you are ready to engage in conversation…or flirting
in Danielle’s case. The music on the
speakers was playing the theme song “We Own It” by 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa from one
of her favorite action movies, Fast and Furious.
“One
shot, everything rides on tonight
Even if I've got three strikes
I'mma go for it
This moment, we own it!”
Even if I've got three strikes
I'mma go for it
This moment, we own it!”
Caleb was
lost in his workout so Danielle was able to survey her prey and she loved what
she saw. Caleb was definitely closer to
her age than her last conquest so that was a plus. Danielle figured he was probably a few years
older than she was. That would make him
almost thirty. Yeah, perfect. She was mesmerized by how large his muscles
were. She could see his six pack right
through his black Under Armour shirt. His
right bicep had a tattoo of barbed wire wrapping all the way around and his
calf had some sort of military insignia tattooed on it. Danielle wasn’t fond of tattoos but this guy
was so ripped, he could put a Looney Tunes cartoon on his body and it would
look amazing. How much was this guy
benching anyway? The more she watched Caleb
move through his workout, the more excited for the chase she became. She sipped the water from her water bottle and
wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead as her head bopped to the pulsing
music blaring through the whole fitness center.
“One shot”, she thought to herself, “I’m gonna go for it… This moment, we own it.”
Caleb
exhaled as he let the weights drop to the floor. He grabbed his water bottle and took a
swig. His perfect brown hair flipped
just perfectly as his eyes locked onto Danielle’s. “Hey, I was wondering if you could help me
adjust this machine.” Caleb was happy to
help Danielle and was oblivious to the fact that she was trying to hit on
him. He went back to his workout…abs
this time. Danielle caught herself
staring at him in between her own reps.
“Hello, Channing Tatum,” she thought to herself. Danielle had always known Caleb was good
looking but now that he was her next victim, she was noticing just how ripped
he actually was. He headed over to the
peg board and she watched him “America Ninja Warrior” his way up the side of
the wall of the fitness center. She had
never seen such upper body strength in all her life. She could tell by all his Under Armour
workout gear, that financially he was probably pretty well off. She also knew he drove a brand new Chevy
Silverado, so yeah…he would be a perfect match while she was at home the next
couple of months saving up for college.
One
thing Danielle knew about flirting was that it was an art form with certain
rules. The first rule was not to appear
desperate. That rule was probably
already blown out of the water by now with all her gawking but maybe Caleb
hadn’t noticed. Rule number two was to
draw him in. Danielle knew no better way
to attract a guy’s attention than to do some core training exercises. Guys were never impressed with a girl lifting
weights, but a girl who could plank…well, that was a totally different
story. Danielle grabbed a workout mat
and set it right in Caleb’s line of sight.
Perfect. She rose up in a pushup
position with only her forearms on the ground and toes perfectly supporting her
petite frame. She squeezed her glutes
and tightened her abdominals while keeping her neck and spine in a neutral
position. She created a straight, strong
line from head to toe and held it for a full minute. Right as she was about to release the pose,
sure enough…here came Caleb.
“Hey,
Danielle, right?”
“Yeah, and
you are?”
“Caleb.”
“Oh hey Caleb,”
Danielle said coyly.
“I couldn’t
help but notice your plank form. You
were hardly even shaking. How long were
you holding that for?”
“Oh, not too
long but long enough,” she playfully giggled.
“Do you
mind if I correct your form so you get more benefit from the workout?”
“Sure.”
Caleb asked her to get in her plank pose
again. He lightly touched her elbow and
said, “See, your elbows should be directly under your shoulders instead of out
to your sides like you were doing.”
Danielle
had not expected this hunk to touch her and she started shaking
involuntarily. She steadied her
concentration and her pose once more. To
her delight, Caleb smiled and said, “There you go girl. Have fun planking.” Caleb left Danielle to do a kettlebell
workout. As soon as he was out of her
line of sight, she collapsed on the mat breathing heavily. She had never held a plank position for over one
minute before but she had been trying to impress him. She wondered if it had worked. The chase was on, she thought to herself as
she put her ear buds back in and pumped the tunes.
The next
couple of months living back home went quickly and she found herself excited to
work out. Little by little she was
getting Caleb to notice her. Small talk
about various exercises soon lead to more meaningful conversations. Danielle found that this Caleb guy and she had
quite a bit in common but there was still so much she didn’t know about
him. She knew he loved hiking. She knew he had been injured serving in the
army over in Afghanistan and was still part of the Reserves. His rigorous workouts helped him rehab an
injury sustained by an incident involving an IED, as well as kept him fit for
his monthly weekend stints as an Army Reservist. Caleb enjoyed Danielle’s company and soon
they were workout buddies. Caleb kept
Danielle motivated and he pushed her to her limit each workout. Then finally one day, Caleb offered to get
Danielle a Power Smoothie at the Snack Bar.
Danielle was thrilled. She knew
it would take time to get Caleb to like her but things were going just as
planned.
As they sat
sipping on their smoothies that Caleb said she had worked crazy hard for, he
mentioned that he wanted to go up to Boomerang Falls this weekend. Boomerang Falls had become a tourist
destination and Danielle had been there at least a hundred times. She indicated that she would love to tag along
with him. Caleb seemed genuinely
surprised but equally excited to have Danielle go to the Falls with him. They exchanged phone numbers and he said he
would pick her up at 9 am on Saturday morning.
“Hey, that will be awesome to take you to the Falls. My girlfriend Alicia has to work that day so
I would love to have some company. You
seem like you are fit enough to handle it.”
Girlfriend? Danielle
thought, did I just hear him say girlfriend?
“Umm, I’m sorry, did you say girlfriend?
Like girlfriend, girlfriend?”
“Yeah, that’s not a problem
is it? I mean we’re just going to the
Falls right?”
“Sure, yeah. Ummm, no problem at all,” Danielle thought sinkingly to herself.
“Oh, here she comes right now.
Hey Babe! How was spin class?” A woman that looked like Megan Foxx walked
over to us and gave Caleb a kiss right on the lips. He smacked her tight butt and said, “Oh,
Alicia, this is Danielle…my workout buddy.”
Workout buddy? No! This was not how this was supposed to play
out at all! Workout buddy? Caleb has a girlfriend? Of course a guy that looked like him would be
taken… Danielle mustered a smile and
stuck out her hand to shake Alicia’s hand.
“Why so formal? Pound it!”
Danielle quickly texted the word “pinky toe” to Brittney. To her chagrin she only got back a default
text back that said, “Being held by terrorists, call back later.” That meant Brittney was not in the mood to
bail Danielle out once again. Danielle
hopped off the barstool and said a quick goodbye.
“See ya Danielle!” Caleb
called out.
What the heck had just happened?
Danielle’s eyes were burning as she headed to the locker room.
“Hey, everything ok Danielle?” Jamarcus caught her at the water
fountain. “You aren’t your cheerful,
bubbly self right now. Looks like you
just saw a ghost or somethin’.”
“Oh, I’m fine…really,” she managed to sniff as she rounded into
the locker room and got ready to detox in the sauna.
Nobody can see me cry in there, she reasoned. As the steam filled the room and the door
filled with condensation, Danielle realized that the situation she thought she
was “owning” was now owning her. The
steam made her whole body wet which was fine with her so that her tears could
get lost in the mist as well.
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