Chapter 6
ELLA
“Iknew you had an incredible body, but this is even more than I was expecting,” Matthew says, waggling his brows at me.
“Ditto, sir,” I say, nodding at him in his gym shorts and tight tank top as I link my arm through his.
We’re at his gym, on the lookout for women, and I’ve just come out of the dressing room.
The whole team left work two hours early so we could start this insane escapade and give ourselves as much time as possible.
We split into three groups, and I’m with Matthew and Craig.
Emily is with Mr. Langford and Daphne, and Josh, Michael, and Heather make up the last group.
The plan is to start with gyms until about six-thirty, then everyone is to go home and get ready as quickly as possible and meet at their first club at eight.
The gym is still a little slow since it’s only three-thirty.
We got here quickly because Matthew didn’t want to wait for me to go all the way back to my apartment to change, so he had a lower PA run to an athletic wear store and buy me an exercise outfit and shoes.
Craig, luckily, always works out after work, so he already had a gym bag with him.
“If you would have told me this morning that I would be on the prowl for women at my gym today, I would have laughed and wondered if I was high,” Matthew says, surveying the room.
I snort. “Yeah, me too.”
“What are you two laughing about?” Craig asks, walking up to us.
“Just the insanity of a gay man and a straight woman lurking in the gym and trying to pick up women together,” I say.
Craig laughs. “Where should we start? Weights? Treadmills?”
“Let’s start with weights, then treadmills, but our best option is the dance funk class at five,” I say.
“The what, what?” Craig asks.
“The dance funk class. Honestly, do men not notice that a good chunk of the women who enter the gym all end up in the classrooms? Lots of women like the classes, not the machines.”
“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” Matthew says, tugging me by our linked arms toward the weights section.
“Anything?” I ask Craig, as we meet up by the water fountain.
“No. There’s been some pretty women, but every time I try to get close, they end up moving away. I can’t get any of them to talk to me.” He cranes his head, looking at something. “Matthew doesn’t have that problem, though.”
“That’s because most women hate getting hit on at the gym, and once they start talking to Matthew, they know he isn’t hitting on them. Point out the women, I’ll go talk to them.”
He points out a woman on an elliptical and another over in the weights section with the subtlety of a rhino. I roll my eyes. God, no matter how many times Matthew and I have reminded him to tone things down, he doesn’t do it. No wonder the women won’t talk to him. He’s like a bull in a China shop.
“I’ll talk to the one on the elliptical,” I say, and I can’t fully hide the annoyance in my tone. “And send Matthew over to talk to the other one.”
Thank god there are other people on this team, I think as I make my way over to the ellipticals. If this project was all left up to Craig, it would fail in a heartbeat.
I let my annoyance with Craig go as I step onto the elliptical next to the woman he pointed out. It’s time to focus on the task at hand. But how do I even go about this? I’ve never tried to pick up a woman for someone before. This is so awkward.
“I love your top,” I say, loudly, so she can hear me over her ear buds.
“What?” she asks, giving me a weird look and taking one ear bud out.
Kill me now; I’m as bad at this as a man. “I like your top,” I repeat. “Where did you get it?”
“Oh, thanks. On , I think.”
“I’m Ella. I’m new in the area. Do you work out here a lot? I’m on the week trial for the gym, so I’m trying to decide if I like it.”
“I’m Aspen. Yeah, I usually come here every day.
It’s a nice gym, but it’s hella expensive and gets super crowded.
But,” she leans a little closer to me and lowers her voice, “there are some pretty hot and well-off men that come here since it’s close to some big company buildings, so that’s a perk. ”
“Ooh, I’d love to land me a hot, well-off businessman,” I joke.
“I know, right?” she says with a sly smile. “But I have a boyfriend, so I don’t look too hard. I just enjoy the sights.”
Damn.
“At least that makes for a funner workout.”
I stay on the elliptical for a few more minutes so I don’t look like an idiot, then I step off and hurry over to the classroom as it fills up. There are several cute girls, but it’s hard to find a way to talk to them, and once the class starts, it’s impossible.
An hour later, I meet Matthew and Craig at the water fountain.
I’m a sweaty mess from the dance funk class, and my spirits should be high after a fun workout like that, but they’re not.
None of us has had any luck. Craig couldn’t get women to speak more than a couple of sentences to him, no surprise there.
Matthew had much more success talking to women since he’s a delight, but like me, none of the women he talked to were available.
We give the gym one last look over to see if any other women are an option, but quickly give up. The gym is a bust.
Hopefully the clubs will be more fruitful.
“I can get behind you wearing my too short, too tight clothes in this case,” Zahra says, over video chat.
I’m back at her apartment, putting the final touches on getting ready to go out.
She’s on a break, so she’s giving me her thoughts as I finish up.
I don’t go clubbing often, and I’ve never gone with my coworkers, so I’m trying to find the balance between sexy enough to blend in while clubbing, but not too provocative since it’s a work field trip.
I glue natural-looking false lashes into place and take one last look at my hair and makeup. I think I got it right. My hair is still down and curled, but I added texturizing spray to give it a sexy, beachy feel. For my makeup, I did smoky eyes, but not too dramatic, and nude lipstick with gloss.
I hurry to Zahra’s closet. She has an amazing little black dress that I’m going to wear tonight. On her, it hangs just above her knees and hugs in all the right places. I cross my fingers that it looks as good on me as it does on her.
I slip into it and am immediately glad the fabric has some give.
If the fabric was stiff, it wouldn’t fit.
The dress is tight, definitely clinging to my curves, and short.
But I don’t really have any other options, so I’ve got to make this work.
I stand in front of her floor-length mirror and hold up the phone so she can see.
“Oh my god,” she squeals. “That is so hot on you!”
“It’s a little short,” I say.
“Mid-thigh is not too short for clubbing.”
“I’m clubbing for work.”
“Even still. And your boobs! Girl, your boobs look like they should have a monument built and named after them. If I was there, I would bow to them.”
I laugh. The chest of the strapless dress is definitely tighter on me than on her, so it’s pushing my breasts up, up, up and out.
“But is it too much?” I ask, slipping on a pair of heels I got with Matthew yesterday. “I don’t want to be too risqué around my coworkers.”
“No! Turn around, let me see the back.” I do, and she squeals again. “Oh, my gosh. Your ass looks amazing, too. And your legs. Be thankful for your dancer’s legs.”
I take another look in the mirror. With the heels and the short hemline of the dress, my legs look extra long.
And I must admit, it’s not a bad thing that I began dancing when I was three and danced all the way through college.
I used to dream of dancing professionally, but past injuries made that path not a very practical one.
I still dance occasionally, but I only take classes for fun now.
And even though it’s been years since college, I still have a body sculpted from a lifetime of dance.
That will work in my favor tonight since I’m stuck wearing a dress that’s a size too small.
“You look lickable!”
“Lickable?” I giggle.
“Lickable. You’re lucky I’m straight and have a boyfriend. You look so hot, it’s criminal.”
I snort again. Zahra is the ultimate hype girl. Which is why she’s on video chat with me, because without her, I don’t know that I’d have the courage to go out like this.
“Thank you, for the millionth time and for the millionth thing. You are literally the best, and I’d be nothing without you!”
“I got you! Now go out and do whatever the fuck it is you’re doing clubbing for work, and pray that all your male coworkers don’t fall in love with you!”
“Yeah right. But thank you! You’re the best! I hope you have an amazing shift, and we’ll probably get home at the same time tonight.”
“And I want all the details then!”
“You got it.”