Chapter 8
DENNY
You,
who opened suns in my heart.
― Alfonsina Storni, The Siren
Bringing Eris to the gym had been a mistake.
Denny had been a client of the Steel Cage since the ripe age of fifteen and knew every single person who worked there. It was a family-owned business and she’d picked it specifically because it was marketed as a friendly queer hub.
Denny and her parents had a ten-year-old family membership bundle at the Steel Cage, but had only ever used three out of the four spots it included. They’d had it for such a long time that Denny had completely forgotten about it until a couple of days ago. And maybe it should’ve stayed forgotten.
Eris was sitting at the leg press, her headphones on, blissfully unaware that half of the gym between staff and members had stopped what they were doing to gawk at her.
“Where did you find that powerhouse again?” asked Malik. Being the owner’s cousin, he’d started working at the gym in his teens and had later become a personal trainer. His combo of brawny nerd air and puppy black eyes claimed victims left, right, and centre.
“Picked her up from the street.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I literally did.”
Malik tsked. “You don’t have the game for that.”
“I’m all game!”
“I’m sorry to inform you that being fit doesn’t automatically grant you game.”
“So you’ve finally grown out of your terrible taste in women?
” Gina, another of the staff, interjected.
She had the same strong build as Eris, but without Eris’ softness.
Denny had developed an inevitable crush on her in her early years at the gym, but Gina was happily married and had only ever seen Denny as a child to take care of.
“We’re just friends,” Denny stressed, with much more conviction than necessary.
Malik’s full attention was still dreamily trained on Eris, who was now at the dumbbell rack with the owner, Joe.
He was showing her how to use the equipment without compromising the healing of her ribs.
The ponytail exposed the undercut and the abundance of piercings in her ears.
The strained tendons in the white neck were giving Denny some kind of Stendhal Syndrome.
“She taken?”
Gina chortled. “He’s asking if he has a chance.”
“I don’t, do I?” mourned Malik. “She looks like she plays for the other team.”
Denny just wanted everyone to go back to their workouts so that she could go back to hers and end all this thirsty gossip. A jacked girl couldn’t go to the gym in peace these days.
“Not taken.” Or so she presumed. Having no one who could look after you kind of implied you didn’t have a partner, didn’t it? “I still don’t know much about her. She doesn’t speak.”
“She’s mute?”
“No.”
Denny told them about the hell that Eris had been through. It was of paramount importance that everyone at the gym understood her withdrawn personality and respected her personal space.
After learning about the aggression, Malik’s lustful expression mellowed. “Damn. That explains all those bruises. Poor doll.”
“I would’ve bet she was an MMA fighter.” Malik’s twin brother Noah materialised between Malik and Gina. He jutted his head out to ask Denny: “Does she like dick?”
“You don’t have one,” his brother pointed out.
“That’s why I asked.”
“Bro, look at her: she’s so gay.”
“I don’t judge people by their looks.” Noah made a pause. “She’s not gay, right?”
“No idea. Never asked.”
“Fuck’s sake, Denise! Where are your manners?”
“That’s not my name.”
“Basic social etiquette: name, pronouns, sexual orientation!” Noah punctuated each option with a tap on his fingers. “My money’s on straight. Bet on the underdog, right?” He elbowed Denny. “Think she’d give me the time of day?”
“She’s not very social in general.”
“Fuck, I’m in love already.”
“Back off, I saw her first!” Malik must have voiced his objection a bit too loudly, because both Eris and Joe looked questioningly in their direction. “Oh my god, those eyes…”
“For heaven’s sake!” Gina slapped the twins behind their necks. “Go back to your clients, both of you! And leave that poor girl alone!”
Denny could finally relax and get back to her squats. Thank you, G. I love you so much.
As she settled back on the bench, her gaze sought Eris: she was at the squat rack, deeply concentrated in counting her reps. She looked up and around as if someone had called her; when she met Denny’s eyes, a small smile surfaced on her lips.
Denny smiled back with a funny weakness in her knees.
* * *
Straight up asking if Eris was gay was out of the question. It’d have been inappropriate.
This didn’t mean Denny wasn’t dying to.
She’d never really thought about it until today. Eris hadn’t batted an eyelid at the snooty bitch calling her a dyke, but, then again, Eris didn’t bat an eyelid at anything.
Noah was right: it wasn’t fair to assume her sexuality just by how she looked. Masc straight women existed. Anything was possible.
“So, first impressions of the gym?”
Eris eyed Denny over her breakfast. She hadn’t done anything particularly exerting, but Joe had been impressed by her.
When she had confirmed she had never set foot in a gym before, both he and Denny had puzzledly sized her up head to toe: no one achieved that kind of physique without proper training.
So Eris had typed an address into Maps and showed them the street view of a huge warehouse compound.
“That’s where you used to work?” Denny had asked, and Eris had nodded. An all-muscle job, low human interaction… It sounded just like her thing.
Eris had beamed like a child at Joe’s praise for her strength and Denny’s heart had done somersaults. She didn’t take any break of Eris’ impassive facade lightly, for better or for worse.
“I think the Jordan twins will be fighting over who gets to ask you out first.”
To her sore disappointment, Eris seemed intrigued.
Denny rolled a piece of pineapple around on her plate. “Do you fancy them?”
The shrug Eris gave her was a tad less indifferent than usual. A response like that ruled out the gay option, but with Eris it was always hard to tell for sure. Denny decided that for her own good she’d better stop investigating.
When they left the café, an icy wind was blowing.
They huddled against one another, snugging the collars of their jackets around their necks.
As they walked back home, gym bags dangling behind them, Eris pressed closer to Denny.
A fuzzy inebriation spilled into Denny’s heart as Eris’ arm sneaked around hers.
She had never been so happy to be stuck in a crowd of slow walkers.
It was a pity Eris wasn’t as happy.
It took a while for Denny to realise that she was sticking so close for comfort. That, if possible, moved her even more. Knowing that Eris hung on to her to cope with her anxiety puffed her chest up with pride.
They stopped at a zebra crossing. A glimpse of platinum hair and white leather on the other side froze the blood in her veins. She could almost smell the sickly vanilla tang of Burberry Goddess.
‘My sweet, sweet Denny…’
She stopped dead in her tracks, holding her breath as her pulse spiked.
Eris tugged at her arm with a concerned furrow in her brow.
“I’m fine, I just…” A bus sped by them. When Denny looked again, the mirage was gone. “Never mind.”
She was being paranoid. It’d been over for months, there was no reason to fret.
* * *
Eris took care of washing the gym stuff, then set off for her appointment with Aunika to check the progress of her ribs.
Denny would’ve accompanied her, but she and Rocco had a busy morning ahead: there was a big order to complete and deliver for a fancy quinceanera party that would be taking place that night.
The lab in the back was in shambles: over two grand worth of purple irises occupied every available surface.
Severed stems and leaves littered the floor.
Denny had been working nonstop for two days, pausing only to serve the most exigent customers when Rocco couldn’t manage on his own, a couple of which had been some of the worst WHYNSUA Denny had ever seen. Her brain was fried.
By lunchtime everything was finally ready. Denny had just finished loading the van with Rocco when she got two notifications for an online order and then two texts mere minutes apart.
Noah Gym
Yo Denny doll
Did you see my order?
Put together something real special will ya?
Something that will make Eris swoon
Know what I mean?
Malik Gym
Oi Denny, I sent you an order through the app
You know the Ice Queen, get her something pretty alright?
I’ll give you a big tip if she calls me back
Texts
Whatever
Cheers!
The nerve of those two.
There were indeed two order notifications on the shop’s mobile, tip for Rocco included.
It stung a little that Denny wasn’t sure flowers were the way to Eris’ heart. But work was work: if Eris wanted to date one of the twins—or both, for that matter—, it was none of Denny’s business.
‘No one will love you the way I do.’
The phone slipped out of her hands. The screen cracked.
‘So clumsy, but so pretty…’
Denny clutched the edge of the table to steady herself, caught by lightheadedness.
No, no, go away…
She counted backwards from one-hundred to contain the panic attack before it got out of hand. She couldn’t let that honeyed voice worm its way back into her head.
Around seventy, her breathing steadied. She went to the office to get a biscuit and some tea.
It was nothing. Just her fervid imagination playing tricks on her.