Never On Your Own #2
“I don’t know—my lord.” She braced her hands on her knees and took in several deep breaths.
Grabbing the water from the floor, I handed it to her and rubbed small circles on her back.
I could see her legs shaking more now too.
“I don’t know why that set seemed so much harder.
By those last two, I didn’t think I would get back up.
” I smiled at her and pointed to the end of the bar.
She turned around, looking at the plates on both sides.
“Wait a second…” She snatched her phone from the ground and added up the numbers three times.
I walked up right behind her and leaned in. “And you said you couldn’t do it,” I whispered in her ear, causing a slight hitch to her already uneven breaths.
“195?” She said in disbelief.
“195. I’m so proud of you.”
“I can’t believe I did it. That’s the most I’ve done!” She was basically vibrating with excitement.
“I knew you could. You’re so much stronger than you think.” I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss since more people had started to pile into the gym.
“I should start paying better attention. I didn’t even look at the plates before going.
Alright, well, you gotta do the same weight now.
I’ve seen your legs. I know you’re not skipping leg day, so chop chop, pretty boy.
” Her gaze raked over me, lingering on my thighs.
I may or may not have flexed them slightly when I noticed.
“You think I’m pretty, huh?” I smirked and crossed my arms while I leaned against the rack.
“Pretty damn full of yourself.” She huffed and rolled her eyes, acting annoyed.
“Uh-huh, whatever you gotta tell yourself, but we both know you think I’m pretty.” I shot her a wink and got into position under the bar, and did a quick five reps.
“That’s not fair, you make it look so easy.” She crossed her arms and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout.
“This also isn’t the first time I’ve done that weight love, but it has been a minute since I have. It felt heavy for me.” I stretched my legs out while we talked.
“What got you into lifting anyway? Just a hobby or more for overall health?” Allie bent down and scooped the water bottle up from the ground, popping the straw and taking a long swig.
A small bead of water spilled from her lips and trailed down her chin to her sternum, mixing with the thin layer of sweat there.
“Well, I’m not really sure. I was always a stocky kid when I was young, and once I hit middle school, I gained a little more muscle.
Coaches wanted me to play football, but my parents wouldn’t do it.
Said it was a waste of money. They were too lazy to take me to practices or pick me up from games.
” I rolled my eyes, thinking back to all the time arguments we had over that.
I never got to do extracurricular activities, but my brothers could if they wanted.
Another item that drove the wedge between us further and further apart.
Sensing I needed a small break, she reached out and passed the cup to me, our fingers grazing slightly as I took it from her.
A small shiver ran down my spine at the touch.
I took a sip of the cold water, a faint taste of vanilla on the straw from her lip balm.
My throat worked as I swallowed the water down, licking the remnants of her lip balm off mine now before continuing.
“Once I hit high school, I was already staying at Carson’s house more and more to be away from mine.
He played baseball, so after school, I’d sometimes hang out at his practices, where they’d do lifting as part of it.
I think the coaches felt bad for me, so they'd let me work out as long as I wasn’t fooling around and was careful.
I kept my head down and worked hard to gain more muscle, so if my dad tried anything, I could stand a chance.
From there, it turned into a love of the gym, and well, now here we are. ”
Allie let out a low laugh and looked me up and down appreciatively. “You would’ve made one hell of a linebacker, I bet.” She shook her head and latched her burning gaze onto mine. “Your family really fucking sucks though.”
“Alright, let's go ahead and knock the rest of this workout out, and we’ll go anywhere you want the rest of the day.”
Since we decided to do the same lifts and share equipment, we were able to finish in a decent time. We headed back to her house and quickly showered and changed. Watching her dance around her room as she sang to Dolly and got ready warmed my heart. Hearing her sing brought a sense of peace over me.
Her voice wasn’t super high like a lot of female singers, but was lower and fuller.
There were times she’d sing, and I’d break out in goosebumps from her voice.
You think that people randomly breaking out in song only happened in movies, but that’s where you’d be wrong.
It was almost as if she had this constant radio on in her head that only she heard.
She’d shuffle through various genres, sometimes only singing a line or two, and move on to another.
It was just another thing I loved about her.
After we got ready, we decided to grab some lunch before going to the stores she needed to stop by.
Since the weather was starting to cool down and the leaves were changing, everyone was out in town.
It was impossible to get anywhere without adding an extra ten or more minutes to what it would normally be.
Landing on a drive-thru, we pulled into the store's parking lot to sit and eat so we didn’t have to fight the crowds in a restaurant.
While we sat and ate, I looked up apple orchards near us.
I figured that was a good first fall date for us since it was starting to feel like autumn.
I was able to find one that did pick your own apples, only about thirty minutes away from us. Perfect.
Once we finished, we gathered the trash up to throw it away on the way into the store. I grabbed us a buggy while she headed straight to the little section at the front. I hadn’t even made it to her, and she already had four random items in her arms.
“Look how cute this is! They have all their fall stuff out, and well, I need it.” She shrugged and deposited everything into the buggy.
“Uh-huh. You need it?” I raised my eyebrow at her while looking over the goods she managed to find.
“The store tells me what I need,” she deadpanned, and then turned around to continue to look. This woman.
After she looked through the first section, we made our way to the clothes so she could try to find a sweater for her trip.
I was starting to think she didn’t need anything from here with the way she was bouncing from one thing to the next, but it was endearing, so I followed her around.
We made it back to the electronics and book section when I noticed she was acting differently.
She was rubbing her thumbs against her other fingers and would ball them into a fist every few seconds.
Looking closer, I could see that her breathing was picking up and she had a light sheen of sweat across her forehead.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the empty back aisle behind the books.
She was either about to or was currently having a panic attack.
“Look at me, sweetheart.” I pinched her chin and forced her to look me in the eyes. Tears were starting to build there.
“I-I’m sorry, I don’t—” I cut her off.
“Hey, hey, do not apologize, it’s okay. Listen to me, okay? Tell me five things you see right now.” I wasn’t sure if this technique worked for her or not, but it was worth a shot. Her eyes darted around to what she could see.
“I see, um, I see a new book I’ve been wanting, some collectible items, a nook light.” She looked back at me. “I see your blue eyes and curly hair.”