A pang shot through Elsie. To deny herself of John, completely, is too much to bear. She’s not giving up the classes, she can’t. Just being close to him like that will have to be enough.
“Yeah, I’m good, no worries. Hell, I’ve already taken one guy down, I could use a few more tricks. And the eye candy is not something to complain about either. You still driving with Marco?” Elsie asks before taking a huge bite of her messy swiss and mushroom burger.
“Yeah, he figures he can kill two birds with one stone, get in a workout and not lose any time with me. And to be honest,” she whispers, “I kinda like watching him get all Neanderthal, fighting with another guy. I don’t know what it is.”
“I hear ya girl, me freakin’ too! Exactly why I’m not giving up the classes, that shit is hot! Me and Janie are driving together, she’s gonna pick me up, we might stop at Fuzzy Peach and get some frozen yogurt first, then head to Testosterone Land. It’s like Chippendale Warriors in that place, and we have seats, front and center.”
“Are you two going to tape them so you can enjoy them in privacy?”
“Now that is so not a bad idea!”
“Elsie!”
“What? You thought of it!” Elsie laughs at her.
“Yeah, but I was just kidding, you can’t tape them,” Elizabeth reprimands her laughing.
“They don’t have to know,” Elsie jokes wiggling her eyebrows.
“You are so bad,” Elizabeth shakes her head as she stuffs three French fries into her mouth.
If that is all that I can get of John, I just might have to take it, girlfriend, Elsie thinks to herself, taking another huge bite as the juice drips down her chin.
CHAPTER 3 “In a minute you can realize you lost it all. In a second you were always there to break my fall. ‘Til you came an saved my life, in the lonely hour…” Lyrics “Hold Me Up”, by Conrad Sewell
At 5:00 P.M. Elsie’s phone rings. She’s racing around her apartment, trying to get ready. She was working and the time ran away from her. She happened to notice the room was getting darker, so she checked her watch for the time. Now she’s running around like a mad woman, pulling off her shoes and clothes, and yanking things out of her drawers while trying to find her yoga pants and a decent t-shirt, without any stains or holes. There is no way she would go to the gym looking less than her best. She planned to fix her makeup in the car.
“Hello?” she answers her phone slightly out of breath.
“Hey, girl, I’m downstairs. Are you about ready or do you want me to come up?”
It’s Janie. Janie is, well was, Elizabeth’s friend. She’s Elsie’s friend now, too. Elizabeth was out with Janie the night she met Marco. That night not only brought Marco and Elizabeth together, it is how we all found out about Evolutions, which is the gym that Marco goes to. Marco had met John and Brian through the gym, they do their MMA training there, and now they all spar together. John and Brian had really helped Marco and Elizabeth out when Elizabeth’s ex-husband showed up at her apartment one day. There was an altercation and her ex choked her and she passed out. When she came to, she found Brian and John were holding her ex down. That’s how Elizabeth unofficially met Brian and John.
After the altercation, Marco suggested the gym when Elizabeth asked him about the place he goes to. When Elizabeth went to the gym to check it out, she found the place was filled with, quite possibly, all of the hottest men in Wilmington, she called Janie and Elsie and asked if they wanted to take the classes with her. Janie and Elsie met on the first night of classes, and they had become fast friends.
“No, it’s fine, I’ll be right down, just hang out there.”
Elsie finally finds her best t-shirt and slams the drawer shut. Turning around she gasps at the mountain of clothes strewn all over her room.
“Fuck!”
“What is it?” Janie asks.
“Nothing,” Elsie forgot for a moment that she was on the phone. “I’m coming, be right there.”
“K, no rush, we’ve got time,” Janie chuckles, she can tell Elsie’s frazzled and she can’t hide the amusement in her voice.
“I know, bye,” she laughs at Janie and herself.
I just can’t wait to see him again.
Pulling the t-shirt over her head Elsie runs into the bathroom and grabs her makeup bag, how ridiculous is she, putting on makeup to go to the gym, then she snatches up her sneakers and finds her pocketbook. Her keys are hanging on their rack by the entry table, so she grabs them on her way out the door, locking up behind herself. When she gets to the elevator she sees it’s on the top floor. Ugh! she sighs. Elsie considers taking the stairs but quickly pushes that thought from her mind. She’d be a blotchy-faced sweaty mess by the time she got to the gym if she ran down the six flights to the lobby. Forget that!
Finally, the ancient elevator creaks to a stop at her floor. As the doors slowly slide open, Elsie stands with sneakers in hand, hair a mess and a jacket hanging from her clenched fist. Frustration builds as she spots the blonde Beach Barbie inside the elevator, perfectly dressed, not a single long hair out of place.
Barbie quirks an eyebrow at Elsie as her eyes begin their perusal, from Elsie’s neon-striped socks, up her body, finally stopping at her face. A raging blush moves up Elsie’s chest, neck, face and finally to her scalp, spreading in unison with the bitches scrutinizing gaze.
For far too long, Elsie had been the brunt of cruel jokes and mocking looks from girls just like this one. In elementary school, it was the Brownie troop leader’s daughter who was
