Flirting with the bad boy: A love at the Gym Novel

by Sparling, Amy

  Lanie and I are having our first real date. I’m picking her up and taking her out to dinner at Campionis, an upscale Italian restaurant that I made reservations for because she’s the kind of girl you make reservations for. She’s the kind of girl you do anything for.

  And that’s why I’m nervous.

  I check my hair again. She once told me she likes how it’s messy and not gelled down and kept in place. I ruffle it up a bit. Then I roll the sleeves of my black button up shirt to mid-way up my forearms. I guess I look good. I’ve been working out all week to make my arms and chest strong.

  This time I drive my truck to her house because a romantic date takes place in a real car, not a motorcycle. Now we’ll be able to talk on the way to the restaurant. I’ll be able to hold open the door for her and be the gentleman she deserves.

  I pull into her driveway and turn off my engine. Her car is the only one in the driveway, which means I probably won’t meet her parents tonight. That’s okay. We’re taking things slow, and we don’t need to hit all of those relationship markers at once.

  I walk up to the door, but before I reach the front porch, I hear my name yelled from the house next door.

  “You can just turn around and leave right now.” It’s Jack. Or James. I’m bad at telling the twins apart.

  I ignore him and walk up to the door, ringing the doorbell. Jack or James storms across the front lawn, the other twin right on his heels.

  “I’m serious, man. You’ve hurt her enough. Get out of here.”

  “I’m not hurting her,” I say, straightening to my full height. I have no desire to fight Lanie’s brothers, but I wouldn’t back down if they started it.

  “You’re a cheater and a scumbag and I won’t allow you to date my sister,” James says. I can tell it’s him because he has a small scar on his upper lip from when he got into a fight on the playground in elementary school.

  Lanie answers her front door and the smile on her face disappears the second she sees her brothers. “Go away!” she yells, her eyes widening. “Guys, just go. Seriously.”

  “You are not dating him,” Jack says. “We refuse to allow it.”

  She steps out onto the porch. “I don’t need your permission.”

  “You clearly need some logic,” James says. “You can’t date this guy. He cheated on you.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “We have photographic proof,” her brother snarls. “I’m not letting you make this mistake twice.”

  “I did make a mistake,” Lanie says. Her eyes flit toward mine, and I realize for the first time since she opened her front door, exactly how beautiful she looks tonight. She’s wearing a black dress that shows off her long legs, and heels that make her somehow more confident. Her purple hair is styled in loose curls that are pinned up away from her face. She is stunning in every sense of the word. She reaches out a hand and grabs mine.

  “The mistake was lying to you both,” she says to her brothers. “I asked Kris to be my fake boyfriend just to annoy you.”

  Her brothers have identical confused expressions, which is kind of comical seeing as how they have identical faces in general. “What does that mean?” James says.

  She glances at me and I give her a smile. If she wants to tell them the truth, she can.

  “I’m tired of you being so overprotective of me. I’m tired of you making comments about my outfits or the guys I date, or don’t date.”

  “You should seriously call Lance,” Jack says. “He’s a great guy.”

  She curls her lip in disgust and I’m wondering who the heck Lance is and if I should be worried. “Ew,” Lanie says. “No, Lance was so boring and awful.”

  Okay, guess I’m not worried about him anymore.

  She shakes her head. “You guys have to let me live my life.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jack says. “You asked this guy to be your fake boyfriend?”

  She nods. “I told him to act like a jerk and do everything wrong because I knew it would rile you guys up and make you so mad.”

  James blows out a huff of air. “That’s for sure.”

  “He didn’t cheat on me with that girl from Instagram because we weren’t actually dating. It was all fake.”

  “So then what is this?” James says, motioning to our hands which are still clasped together.

  She grins up at me and I can’t help but grin back. “Well…” She shrugs. “I like him. We’re going on a real date now.”

  “That’s why I brought the truck,” I say, holding up my truck keys. “I know how to treat a girl right. And I’ll treat your sister the way she deserves to be treated.”

  Jack and James glare at me, then they exchange a look that I’m guessing only twin brothers would be able to interpret.

  “I don’t like this,” James says.

  “No offense, but I don’t really care,” Lanie says.

  “You sure you’ll treat her right?” Jack says.

  I nod once. “I swear it.”

  The brothers exchange another look. “We just want what’s best for you,” James tells Lanie.

  “What’s best for me is letting me live my own life and make my own choices,” she says. It’s really sexy when this girl stands up for herself and says what she wants. I look forward to seeing this side of her as our relationship continues.

  After a tense moment that feels like a standoff of sorts, her brothers relent. They give me a few stern warnings about how they’ll be watching my every move, but eventually they walk back to their house next door and let us go on our date.

  At my truck, I open the passenger door for Lanie, which feels like I’m finally doing things the way I’ve wanted to from the start. Taking her own car and making her open her own door was the worst part of fake dating her.

  “What a gentleman,” she says, peering up at me with this gorgeous smile. “I like this side of you so much better than the fake boyfriend side.”

  “It’s way more fun being myself.”

  Her bottom lip slides under her teeth. “Is this really the real you?”

  “Of course,” I say, reaching up and touching her arm. “This is the real me. I’ll never do anything to hurt you.”

  “Is that so?” she says with a coy smirk. “Because you’re hurting me right now.”

  “What? How?”

  She grins up at me. “You’re standing too far away. I don’t like it.”

  I step forward and wrap my arms around her hips, pulling her toward me. “How’s this?” I whisper as my lips press to her forehead.

  “Hmm,” she murmurs. “It’s better.”

  22

  Lanie

  Everything is different now. Kris is driving and we’re going to dinner and I’m dressed up nice. But it’s all different. He’s driving his own truck, and we’re going to a nice restaurant, and I dressed up nice for him, not to annoy my brothers. I’ve spent many nights with Kris on fake dates, but this is our first real date. It’s surreal how different it all feels.

  It’s hopeful. Exciting. New.

  I glance over at him as he drives out of my neighborhood. He glances back. “Is this station okay?”

  I hadn’t even noticed the radio is playing softly in the background. It’s on a top hits channel and Taylor Swift is on.

  “Do you like Taylor Swift?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “If you like her, I like her.”

  I grin. “She’s okay.”

  “You look really beautiful tonight.”

  “You do, too.”

  Kris reaches over and squeezes my hand for just a second and then he puts his hand back on the steering wheel. “I hope this isn’t awkward. I’ve wanted a real date with you for so long and now I’m terrified I’ll mess it up.”

  “Me too,” I say, hearing the nervousness in my voice. “I don’t want it to be awkward but… I’m a little scared.”

  “Don’t be scared. Let’s just be us.”

  A warm, fluttery feeling goes through my whole body. “O
kay.”

  This time when he reaches over and wraps his fingers around mine, he doesn’t let go.

  I ask him some questions about work and his motorcycle, just to make sure no awkward silence sets in. I really like this guy and I don’t want us to be nervous or weird around each other. And now that I know he likes me too, I feel like I can just be myself and see what happens between us.

  I love the way his eyes light up when he talks about his grandfather’s old Harley and how he’s getting more work done on it. It’s cute that he’s so passionate about fixing up that old motorcycle. Everything he does is cute. And now that I’m finally allowed to feel this way about him, he’s somehow even cuter.

  When we arrive at the restaurant, Kris wraps his arm around my waist while we walk. I lean into him slightly, inhaling his cologne, and then I feel him loosen his grip and his arm falls away.

  “I’m sorry,” he says, running a hand down his face. “I guess I shouldn’t do that.”

  My heart stops and a blinding fear crashes into me, erasing all of that happy good feeling I had just seconds ago. “You don’t want to put your arm around me?” My voice is weak, betraying exactly how hurt I feel.

  Kris stops just outside of the restaurant. The door swings open anyway, and a well-dressed waiter smiles at us. I look away from him and up and Kris as another couple walks by us, saying hello to the waiter greeting them at the door.

  “It’s just…” His lips slide to the side of his mouth. “I want to touch you, but this is technically our first date. I wouldn’t be all touchy to a woman I liked on the first date. I’d be more respectful and all, but… it’s weird because you and I have already been touchy, just in a fake way.”

  My fear melts away. I grin up at him. “We’ve already kissed, Kris. I want you to put your arm around me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I can’t help but giggle. Here I am standing in front of this tall, dark haired bad boy, with his lean muscles and sharp jaw line that’s always set in this firm expression like he’s angry with the world. On the outside, he looks intimidating. Maybe even mean.

  But on the inside, he’s trying not to cross any boundaries with putting his arm around me too soon in the relationship. I could just melt into a puddle of happiness right here on the concrete. I reach out and wrap my hand around his arm instead.

  “This isn’t a traditional first date.”

  “That’s for sure,” he says with a chuckle. “Usually on first dates, I haven’t already fallen for the person.”

  * * *

  Suzy scrunches up her face while she carefully applies a pink sparkly nail polish to her index finger. Then she caps the polish and looks up at me, her eyes wide and just as sparkly as her nail polish. “Tell me all the details again.”

  I laugh. “There’s nothing else to tell! I’ve recounted the entire night to you like five times.”

  She breathes in deeply and lets it out in this dramatic, eye-fluttering way as if she’s a Disney princess and her prince just walked in the room. “But it’s soooo sweet.”

  I roll my eyes, but I can feel the pink deepening in my cheeks. It is sweet. Kris is amazing. We’d had the most romantic dinner date last night, and then we took a walk around the park that’s behind the restaurant. We held hands the entire time and then it happened. The most romantic thing ever.

  “You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?” Suzy says.

  I realize I must have been showing my emotions all over my face just now, because she’s right. I was thinking about it. My blush gets even hotter on my cheeks. I nod, unable to hide my goofy grin.

  “I can’t stop thinking about it!” I grab a pillow off my bed and press it to my face. “It was so, freaking, romantic.”

  She laughs. “Tell me again!”

  I lower the pillow and gnaw on the inside of my lip. “We are way too old to be gushing over boys like some kind of dorks.”

  Suzy shakes her head. “No way. You’re never too old to gush over boys. Tell me the story again. I need to live vicariously through you because my love life sucks.”

  I briefly close my eyes, then sit up straighter as if I’m preparing to give a TED talk or something. “Okay… so, we were holding hands and walking along the path at the park. It’s this little concrete sidewalk thing that weaves in and out of the park, and it was dark outside but the lampposts light the way. They’re shaped like those antique lamp posts, like the one in Narnia, so they give off this romantic glow…”

  “You’re so good at setting the scene,” Suzy says. She blows on her wet nail polish. “Keep going…”

  I grin. “So we’re walking, and we’re talking about random simple things. Nothing too serious or whatever, and we’re holding hands… and after about ten minutes, he just stops. Just right there on the sidewalk, under the glow of a Narnia lamp post, he just stops.”

  Suzy leans forward, her eyes wide and excited. She’s already heard me tell this story, but it’s a pretty good story and it’s fun to tell again.

  I take a deep breath. “So he stops… and he turns so that we’re facing each other, and he takes my other hand so now we’re holding both of our hands together and looking into each other’s eyes and…” I pause for dramatic effect. My whole body warms every time I think of that perfect moment I had with Kris. I’m not sure anything will ever top it. “And… Kris smiles at me and he says, ‘You are the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met. I don’t know how something that started off fake became so real, but I do know that I’m never letting you go.’”

  Suzy puts her hands to her chest, keeping her nails lifted up a bit so they don’t get smudged. “Girl, this is the most romantic thing ever. You’re giving me hope.”

  I bite my bottom lip. “And then we kissed,” I say, ending the story the same way I ended it the last time I told her. “It was the greatest, sweetest kiss ever. His hands are so soft when they touch my cheeks.”

  “Girl, I need you to find me a fake boyfriend so I can have the same thing you did.”

  I laugh. “I can try…”

  Suzy sighs. “Nah…I don’t think this kind of magic strikes twice in one lifetime. You got lucky, girl. I’m so happy for you.”

  “So why are you frowning?”

  Suzy shrugs. “I guess I just really want this kind of happiness for myself. I act like I’m fine being single, but I’m so not fine with it.”

  I touch her arm. “You’ll find someone. I promise.”

  “I hope so… but how?”

  “I’ll ask Kris if he has any hot single friends,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows.

  My best friend laughs. “Aren’t his friends the other gym owners? They both have girlfriends.”

  “I’ll ask all three of the guys if they have hot single friends. We’ll find you someone.”

  She rolls her eyes. “You say it like I’m a lost cause.”

  “No way. You’re amazing. And you deserve an amazing guy.”

  She stares down at her nail polish, then looks up into my vanity mirror that’s across the room. “I’m trying really hard to focus on my career and being a makeup artist and building my life but, it’s like deep down all I really want is a boyfriend. Sometimes it’s all I think about.”

  “You deserve an amazing guy,” I say, catching her gaze in the mirror’s reflection. “And I’ll find you one. I promise.”

  23

  Kris

  Flames light up the night sky, casting warm, fiery glows on all of my friends as we sit around the firepit on my back porch, enjoying this wonderful Sunday evening. It’s a rare event when all of us get together somewhere that’s not the gym. In fact, it hasn’t happened once since we started Roca Springs Fitness. The closest we came to being together was when we had a company picnic, but even then, the guys and I traded off shifts at the gym. This time, Mother Nature had something to do with it. This morning when Brent got to work, the floor was flooded with an inch of water. Turns out the entire building had a massive water pipe break and now
all five stores in the shopping center are flooded.

  For us, that means getting the one inch of water drained out and then wiping down the flooring and equipment. The owner of the shopping center will be replacing all the drywall that got wet per regulations, and that’s expected to take a few weeks. We have insurance to cover our lost income during this time, but the guys and I are already talking about possibility renting another space temporarily and setting up some gym equipment. We might not be a retail store, but we’re important for our clients. They have workout routines and we don’t want them to go somewhere else or stop working out altogether.

  But for now, it’s Sunday, and we’re all taking an unexpected, but welcome break.

  Lanie opens the sliding glass door that leads out onto my back porch. “Who wants guacamole?” she sing-songs as she carries a huge bowl of it, setting it down on the table next to me.

  “Me, me, me,” Dani says, making grabby hands. Dani is Brent’s long-time girlfriend and the love of his life. Their happiness used to annoy me, but now that I’m falling for a girl myself, I can understand it. In fact, I can appreciate how much they care about each other.

  Behind Lanie, her best friend Suzy holds out two unopened bags of tortilla chips. “I have more chips in the house, she says, handing one to Dani and the other to Noah.

  Lanie nods. “We also have queso warming up in the crock pot.”

  “You guys are the best,” Tasha says as she leans over Dani and grabs a handful of chips.

  “That’s for sure,” Dani says. “Kris, we’re so glad you finally got a girlfriend. She’s awesome.”

  Brent nods, then he opens his mouth, signaling for his girlfriend to put a chip in it. She does. “We approve of any girlfriend that feeds us,” he says, his mouth full.

  I roll my eyes. “Lanie, ignore them. They like you even if you don’t feed them.”

  She smiles and walks over to me. Her empty patio chair is right next to mine, but before she can sit down, I hook my arm around her hips and guide her onto my lap. “You look really beautiful,” I whisper against her hair. She tucks a strand of purple hair behind her ear.