by Cassie Cole
Muffled by the water of the pool, I heard him say, “Excuse me? Ma’am? Can you grab that for me?”
The old woman laughed. “Sorry, honey. If you want your swim trunks, you’re going to have to give Nana a show.”
Brody spent a solid five minutes trying to coax her into helping him. Then he tried to wait her out, but she insisted she could out-last him, especially if it meant she got to see his, “cute little tushy.” Eventually, Brody got sick of waiting and jumped out of the pool. The old woman squealed with happiness as he ran to the door, grabbed his Speedo, and then leaped back into the pool.
I was roaring with laughter by then, so I had to stop swimming in order to avoid drowning.
“Worth the wait,” the old woman said, finally exiting the pool. “Thanks, dear.”
I flashed her a thumbs up as I tried to control my laughter.
I started feeling fatigued after ninety minutes in the pool. I pushed myself to two hours, then climbed out of the pool. My score was just a few points behind Brody’s, so I cringed at having to stop my activity, but I knew I needed to pace myself.
Brody paused long enough to say, “Enjoy second place!” to me before continuing his laps.
Finn was waiting for me in the lobby as soon as I changed out of my swimsuit. “Let’s go work on those muscles,” he said.
I resisted the urge to jump right on a treadmill, and followed him upstairs instead. He stretched me out in the massage room… In a completely platonic way. Absolutely zero hanky-panky, even though we were behind a closed door.
I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful that he was focused on helping me win, or disappointed.
“What’s your game plan?” he asked while rubbing the heel of his palm into my shoulder.
“One of the machines,” I replied. “Treadmill, elliptical, or exercise bike. Thoughts?”
Finn scrunched up his face in thought. “Points-wise, the treadmill is your best bang for your buck. But it’s also the most strenuous, and you just swam for two hours. I vote for some easy spinning. Keep the blood flowing, rack up some points, and keep some energy left in the tank for later.”
After my massage, Finn gave me a smack on the ass. “Go get ‘em, Kat.”
While we were still alone, I kissed him. “Thanks for the support.”
On my way from the Rejuvenation Lounge to the spin room, I passed Brody getting some food at the Nutrition Bar. “You look tired,” I said.
He smiled weakly. “Never better. I’m just getting started.”
I grabbed a sports drink from the fridge and scanned it at the check-out register. “Feel free to take a nap.”
“I could take a nap and still be fifty points ahead of you in the standings,” he shot back.
I gave him a feral smile. “Kiss my ass.”
“After the competition, maybe I will,” he replied playfully.
Now there’s an image I’ll have in my head for the rest of the day.
According to the schedule outside the door, there was supposed to be an easy recovery class going on in the spin room. But I found the room empty except for Max, sitting on the bike in the front row.
I frowned. “No class?”
“Canceled,” Max replied. “I’m giving a private lesson instead.”
“Shit. Okay. I guess I’ll hop on one of the machines downstairs…”
Max shook his head and made a tsk tsk noise. “I was talking about you, Kat. Finn told me to reserve the room for you. Come on. Stop standing there in a daze and hop on this bike. I already adjusted the seat to your height.”
I was too shocked to say anything, so I did as I was told.
“Have you eaten anything since swimming this morning?” he asked as I began pedaling.
“No, but I grabbed this Gatorade.”
“Good. Then today’s lesson is going to be about fuel. It’s one of the most important aspects of endurance sports, like running a marathon or completing a triathlon.”
“I’m not doing either of those things,” I said.
“No, but you’re going to be exercising all day. Right? That’s basically the same thing. You need to properly fuel up so you don’t bonk.” He pulled out a small packet. “This is a gel pack. It’s got two-hundred easily-absorbed calories, plus some caffeine. It’ll keep you going for a while.”
I tore off the end and gave it a sniff. “What’s it taste like?”
“Don’t think about that,” he warned. “Just suck it down.”
I smirked. “Not the first time you’ve told me to do that.”
“And it won’t be the last,” he replied with a grin. “But seriously. Eat it.”
I put my lips to the open end of the packet and began squeezing it into my mouth. The consistency was thick and grainy, like toothpaste. And the taste was vaguely fruity, as if I was eating the saliva of someone who had eaten strawberries five minutes ago.
It was disgusting. I practically gagged on it, but somehow managed to get it all down.
“That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done at the gym,” I said.
“Including my dick?” Max asked.
“Hah! Harder than that. Although unlike your dick, I’m glad this gel pack is over.”
Max grimaced. “Yeah… About that. You’re going to be eating these every forty-five minutes.”
“What!”
“Do you want to win the contest?” Max asked bluntly. “Then you’ll do what I say.”
I loved the way he took charge, just like he did in the bedroom. And just like in the bedroom, I was eager to please him.
“If you say so, coach.”
We biked at an easy pace for an hour and half, took a bathroom break, then biked some more. I sucked down three of those gels over the course of the ride. It didn’t get any easier with practice.
Max chatted with me while we spun, which helped keep my mind off my legs. Even though we were spinning at an easy pace, my quads were starting to get fatigued.
Brody took a much longer break at the Nutrition Bar than I expected. By the time I finished cycling, not only had I passed him, but I had built up a commanding lead:
25-29 AGE GROUP
KATHERINE D: 20,190
BRODY F:_____20,012
We went straight to the Rejuvenation Lounge. Max put the cryogenic boots on me, which felt like I was wearing a child’s bounce house on my legs instead of pants. But they sent freezing-cold pulses into my legs, and soon I began to relax.
“We’re going to get lunch after this,” Max said.
I nodded. “I was thinking about that. Should I be drinking my lunch smoothie now, while I recover? To save time?”
“A smoothie isn’t going to cut it today,” he replied. “We need to get some real calories in your body. And we can’t do that here at RMF.”
“Then where are we going?”
“We’re taking you to that burger place down the street. Pretend like today is your cheat day. We want you to eat a cheeseburger, fries, and a milkshake. Trust me—you’ll burn it off today.”
“It’s not every day your coach tells you to stuff your face,” I said with a laugh. “Wait. You said we are going to the burger place?”
“Right,” Max said while unstrapping the boots from my legs. “You, me, and Finn. That way we can all talk about everything that’s going on.”
30
Max
Katherine definitely needed to get some solid food in her body. As I took the boots off her legs, she was starting to look as pale as a ghost.
“The three of us, getting lunch together,” she repeated. “Yeah. Okay.”
We met Finn down in the lobby. “Brody’s on the elliptical right now,” he reported. “Your lead should hold until we get back. We’ll just have to eat fast.”
“Stuff my face,” she replied. “Got it.”
There was a strange tension in the air as we walked down the street. Katherine was tense, like something was wrong. Then we passed Pacifica Vinyl, and I realized that was probably the rea
son for her anxiety. Today she was trying to focus on her workouts, and we brought her by the one place that had been distracting her for the past three months.
“Fuck that place,” Finn said. “My arson offer is still on the table.”
“Arson?” I asked.
Katherine laughed nervously. “Finn’s joking. Right, Finn? Please announce to anyone who might have overheard you that you’re joking.”
“I’m just saying. It sucks that a big corporation can come in and put a local store out of business.”
“At least she’s fighting back,” I said. “Hopefully the counter-sale takes attention away from their grand opening.”
“It was my idea!” Finn announced happily.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah, dude. I told Kat that she couldn’t just take it like a speed bag. She needed to fight back.”
“He did put the idea in my head,” Katherine said. Then she quickly changed the subject. “Here’s the burger place. Are you sure you want me to get the milkshake combo?”
We ordered food and sat at a table to wait for our order. Katherine glanced at us, then stared at the table. There was definitely an awkward feeling in the air. Was she just tired, or was there something more I was missing?
“So…” she said. “What did you guys want to talk to me about?”
Finn jabbed a finger in her direction. “Your plan for the rest of the day.”
It was nearly imperceptible, but the muscles in her shoulders loosened.
“Max and I have been crunching the numbers in the database algorithm,” Finn explained. “The one that determines which exercises award what points.”
“Weight-lifting gives a disproportional amount of points to women,” I chimed in. “This is partly because RMF wants to encourage more women to lift weights, since they are usually under-represented.”
“And because weight-lifting fucking rocks,” Finn said. “So, I want to do a bunch of that with you this afternoon.”
Katherine blinked back and forth between us. “But we lifted weights yesterday. I thought you said we need a day of rest between lifting days, for recovery.”
“That advice is for the noobs I train. We’re going to switch things up a bit.” Finn held out his tablet. “I’ve worked up a routine that focuses on a high number of reps at a lower weight. Like, sixty percent of your max. We’ll do each one until your arms can barely move.”
She frowned at the screen. “Bench press, pendlay rows, power cleans, curls, bent-over flies… This is a lot! Both push and pull exercises.”
Finn leaned back and crossed his arms. “We’re going all out, Kat. Leaving nothing in the tank. Yeah, you might not be able to get out of bed tomorrow, but it’ll be worth it.”
“Now you know why we’re stuffing you full of burgers and fries,” I said with a smile.
“Stuffing me. Um. Yeah.” Katherine bobbed her head. “Okay. If you think this is a good plan, then I trust you.”
“Finn’s the best trainer we have,” I said. “Excluding the cycling and swimming instructors, of course. Then it’s no contest.”
“Of course,” Finn replied without missing a beat. “Carey is an awesome spin instructor. I can’t compete with her.”
Katherine laughed harder than I expected at that, which made Finn beam.
Our food arrived, and we wasted no time chowing down. Katherine kept glancing from Finn to me with a curious look on her face. I wondered what that was about.
We went back to the gym and got to work. Katherine spent twenty minutes on the elliptical to get warmed up at an easy pace, and to allow her food to digest a little bit. Then she and Finn got to work in the weight-lifting room.
I had to spend the afternoon leading spin classes. I went through the motions with the other cyclists, but I was only half-assing it. My main attention was on the scoreboard above the door. Brody had caught up to her while we were at lunch, and he was showing no sign of slowing down. But the weight-lifting points were helping Katherine pull away from Brody again.
The afternoon dragged by, then the evening. I led two recovery classes, then an advanced hill-specific ride with high resistance. Then two more beginner classes.
By the time all my scheduled classes were over, Katherine had a sizable lead.
25-29 AGE GROUP
KATHERINE D: 20,310
BRODY F:_____20,261
I jogged downstairs to find her, but it wasn’t difficult. A crowd had formed around the treadmills where Brody and Katherine were jogging side-by-side. She looked graceful as she moved along the belt at an easy pace, while Brody raced along next to her, clearly trying to close the gap in points.
I watched her with pride. Two months ago she looked out of place on the treadmill and uncomfortable with her body. Now she glided along like she was born to run. It helped that she had a background in cross-country running, but she had still come a long way in her time at RMF.
Finn stepped up next to me. “She’s something, isn’t she?”
I sighed. “Yeah. She really is.” And then, a moment later, I blurted out, “I think I’m falling for her.”
Finn’s head whipped around. “What? You barely know her.”
I smiled at my buddy. After keeping our relationship a secret, it felt good to finally tell someone. “Actually, Kat and I have been seeing each other since February.”
Finn’s eyes almost popped out of his head. “Kat and I have been seeing each other!”
“What! You said it wasn’t Kat!”
“I lied! Of course it’s Kat!”
We stared each other down, at an impasse.
“We can’t both be dating her at the same time,” I said carefully.
“Bro, it looks like we are.”
I searched my memory, replaying every conversation she and I had. “Kat and I never established any boundaries. We sort of agreed to keep it casual.”
By the looks of things, Finn was doing the same thing. “We never talked about it either. I kind of told her that it couldn’t be serious because of my job, but that I wasn’t going to let that stop me from at least being with her.”
“You never used the term boyfriend, or girlfriend?” I asked.
“Naw. Not even once.” Finn grimaced. “I may have even told her that we weren’t exclusive. I don’t remember. But it’s not like she did anything wrong.”
I gazed at Katherine on the treadmill. She was beautiful, hair flowing behind her as she jogged along the moving belt, skin glistening with sweat. She looked tired, but there was a determined expression on her face. She was driven. It was sexy seeing a woman pushing so hard toward her goals.
“I’m not going to stop seeing her,” I said, mirroring her determination.
Finn grunted. “Fuck no. Neither am I.”
“Then what are we going to do?”
We gazed at the woman running on the treadmill, who was quickly stealing both of our hearts.
31
Katherine
Over to the side of the crowd that had formed, Max and Finn had their arms crossed over their chests and were watching me with pride. I smiled back at them as I jogged on the treadmill. It warmed my heart to have them both on my side, working together to push me toward victory.
Which was good, because I needed it. My lead over Brody was dwindling with every minute. On the treadmill next to me, he was flying along easily, running seven-minute miles. Meanwhile, I was barely able to keep up an easy eleven-minute pace. My legs felt okay, but it was my joints that were killing me. My knees were sore, and the balls of my feet were tender. The sides of my hips were starting to act up—not painfully, but with an awkward sensation that meant something was a little off.
I didn’t know how much more of this I could handle.
“I could do this all night,” Brody announced. A few people in the crowd laughed. He wasn’t even breathing hard, whereas I didn’t think I could get out a full sentence in response. My lungs burned, and I was developing a headache from the bright ligh
ts in the room.
Max pushed his way through the crowd until he was at my side. “You’re looking great, Kat. Do you need anything? Gatorade?”
“I’ve got. A sports drink. In my water bottle,” I said in between breaths. “Thanks.”
“If you change your mind, I’m right here.”
Then Finn appeared next to him. “What hurts? Anything?”
“Joints. Achy.”
He grimaced. “No surprise. You’ve been at it almost all day. Don’t be afraid to take a break to ice your joints. Or to get a recovery massage.”
“She needs calories,” Max said. “A massage isn’t going to help this late in the game.”
“It might,” Finn argued. “There’s a lot of time left.”
“Time she should be spending fueling up.”
I frowned down at them. They were acting weird. Almost competitive.
And in a flash of insight, I realized: they had figured it out.
They knew I was seeing both of them.
Shit.
A stitch formed in my side. I tapped the treadmill speed button and slowed to a walk. The crowd groaned as I pressed my fingers into my side.
Finn and Max fell over themselves trying to offer me help, but I waved a hand at them dismissively. “I’m fine. Just need a second.”
After a minute of resting, I sped back up to a steady jog. I kept that up for three minutes, then the stitch in my side became so bad that I had to walk again. I alternated running and walking like that a few times, trying to move forward. To keep my points increasing to stay ahead of Brody.
But it was proving hopeless.
25-29 AGE GROUP
KATHERINE D: 20,326
BRODY F:_____20,318
He was right behind me. There was still over an hour until midnight—plenty of time for him to pass me. It was a matter of when, not if.
My chest felt tight as I tried to catch my breath. Brody didn’t taunt me or look at me, but I could see him smiling. On the other side of me, Finn and Max were frowning. I could see the defeat and disappointment in their faces.