I glanced around the room, Jessica exiting through the doors now the training session had finished.
I did as promised and I didn't force myself into any sparring matches, even if they would have been fun. Although I'm sure if I'd tried to put myself forward, Quentin would have said something, never mind Lucas.
Rummaging a hand to the side of me into my bag, I pulled out my phone. Heart sinking even further when I see multiple missed calls and text messages from Jake. I quickly bypass them, refusing to read them because I already knew what he would be saying. He and June are too similar.
I quickly throw my phone back into the bag, standing up and grabbing my bag from the ground.
I take my time switching out of my workout gear once I'm in the changing room, hoping that by the time I'm done that everyone else will have left. So I wasn't expecting to see Gale loitering outside when I exited, his head snapping up the minute I opened the door.
"You're still here?" I hope I come off more surprised than just plain rude, biting my lip, trying to stop the grimace appearing on my lips. He briefly nodded, stepping ever so closer to me.
"I never got an answer before, I mean, the offer still stands." Eyebrows raised, I quickly tried to think of as many excuses as possible.
I'm not sure when in society we changed our tactics, was there a point in time when it was more socially acceptable to just say 'Nope, not for me.'
It would certainly be less confusing, wouldn't it? You'd know where you stand.
Life would be so much simpler if we just didn't feel as much as we did because it's guilt or being afraid to make him feel bad that makes me try to form an excuse rather than just being honest.
"I would love to, it's just. I'm supposed to be helping Lucas tonight with stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Gym things?" I clarify, he looks behind me for a moment and I can see he doesn't really believe me. Or maybe he does, I'm not great at reading people enough as it is.
"He works here, you don't." A half laugh behind his words when he looks back at me, stepping a small step towards me. "I'm sure he could let you have the night off, you could do with a break."
"I don't need a break Gale, honestly, I'm good. I said I'd help him," He raises his hands as if you stop me saying anything more and cuts me off.
"Fine. That's fine." He says, stepping back and throwing his hands into his jacket pockets. "Another time."
He smiles at me, and I had to admit, even though he was a little forward, he had a nice smile.
"Yeah, yeah, sure." I almost kick myself, knowing I only said those words because I was urging him to leave and maybe because he had the kind of face that you could never quite just turn down.
Either way, I can't help myself groaning in annoyance the minute he exits out of the door after giving me a quick glance back.
Why am I so stupid?
Maybe he'll forget about it, no ones ever interested in me. This is a fleeting moment and he'll forget it because he could have anyone and clearly, he's just bored if he's asking me.
"You? Helping me? That would be a first." I rolled my eyes as I heard his voice.
"Can you not be a smartass?" I turned around to face Lucas with a raised eyebrow. He only shrugged before walking back into the room holding the door open for me.
"Nah, it's hardwired now."
"I assumed so." I send a small smile up at him walking through, quickly moving to set out some equipment for the next session. I was laying out the ladder on the floor when I heard Lucas shout from the other side of the room.
"What's with using me as an excuse anyway?"
"Erm, I needed an excuse." I said bluntly, twisting my head to look back at him with a smirk.
He rolls his eyes at me, "Yeah, I got that Ells. But why?"
I shrug, "He asked me out." I can see in the corner of my eye that he pauses, standing up straight from whatever thing he was setting up.
He laughs suddenly, "He what?"
I feel like I'm about to be offended right now.
"Gale, asked you out?" He says it with such surprise that I stand up straight and look at him, crossing my arms.
"What is so surprising about that? I'm not a troll." I scoff.
"No, you're a swamp dweller but that's beside the point." I roll my eyes, always the charmer. "I'm just surprised because I thought,"
"Thought what?" I said when he falters, raising my own eyebrow with narrowed eyes at him.
"I didn't think he was interested, just thought he was a massive flirt. I didn't think he would actually go ahead with asking you out."
"I say asked me out, he technically asked me over." He pauses again in whatever he's doing.
"Please tell me it's not what I'm thinking." His face curling up into a look of distaste, but I continue on anyway because I love the way he quips back.
"His house, and I quote 'to chill'." I straighten out the ladder slightly, hearing a quiet few curse words from Lucas across the room.
"Are you serious?"
"Deadly." It stayed quiet for some time between us, Quentin walks through asking if we're nearly done but quickly walks back out once Lucas tells him we are.
"He's a prick." He grunts out, and I can't help the snort that bypasses my nose.
"Confident. Maybe he's just confident." I'm not sure why I'm defending him, it seems to annoy Lucas.
"Prick." He says with finality. Pulling out a bag of skipping ropes from one of the large cupboards that line the walls of the room.
He drops the bag onto the floor, I look around the room at the different stations set up, hoping to move the conversation on from the awkward atmosphere.
"They're going to hate you."
"Hey. They come here for exercise, that's what they're going to get. Circuit training is great." He says defensively.
I know the minute they walk in and see the stations through the window, at least one will walk straight back out. No one likes circuit training, and certainly not the way Lucas does it.
He's a slave driver, a sick twisted slave driver who enjoys making people suffer through cardio.
"You should join in."
"Definitely not but I have an excuse," I cut in when he tries to berate me for being lazy, which is far from the truth. "I have some schoolwork to get through. But I'll watch you cause suffering in whoever actually sticks around." I move over to my bag at the side of the room.
"Don't you have a home you can do that in? I'm paid to be here... why are you still here?"
I shrug in response. "We always hang out."
"Not here though, it's at my place or yours." I glance up at him with a sly smile though.
"What, to chill?"
He drops his face into disgust. "Gross, ells. Don't compare a thing Gale says with me." I snicker to myself, enjoying annoying him in any way possible.
It's too easy.
I slide down the wall, grabbing my notes from my bag and dropping them into my lap. Flicking to an empty page of my notepad, searching back into my bag for a pen when I see Lucas walk over to sit beside me as I pull the pen out.
"Ella." I consider not telling him for a minute, if I really pushed not to answer, he'd give up eventually.
But I also wanted to tell him, just to blurt it out to someone whose opinion I actually cared about.
"I messed up" I mumble, hearing him sigh next to me now that he's settled on the ground beside me.
"What this time?"
"You say that as if this is a common occurrence." He smirks at me when I look up.
"It is." I try to be offended but he cuts in before I can reiterate back either way. "What happened this time?"
"I said something dumb again, to Thomas, and now June's mad at me."
"Ah."
"Yep, and now she doesn't want me coming home too early and upsetting him further. Which is the right decision because clearly I'm a train wreck."
"You don't intend to hurt anyone though."
"But I did and I do." I can't look at him, fumbling with the worksheet so it sits neatly on the ground beside me. "I should just keep my mouth shut."
"I say dumb stuff all the time, everyone does. You can't beat yourself up about it everytime you do." His arm nudging into my shoulder.
"You don't say anything dumb Lucas." I said rolling my eyes, everyone liked Lucas. He was popular in school, in life. That's just who he was, kind and had the sort of energy that people just naturally got on with.
The energy I give off has people switching tables to get away from me, that's how it's always been. If it hadn't been for boxing, I'd have no friends. Lucas would never have noticed me at school and Jessica goes to a different school entirely.
"You give me too much credit, I'm one hundred percent an idiot. I just hide it better then you." He grins down at me, and I roll my eyes at him again.
I can see one or two people through the small window at the entrance to the room, chatting to each other as they wait the few more minutes before they decide to enter.
"You can come over to mine, we could order pizza. Play some play station?"
"Sounds great to me." He pats me on the knee, my eyes flicking down momentarily before looking back up at him.
It's as he's getting up that I remember, "Are you going to help me then?"
"Help you with what?" He says as he stretches out his back, looking down at me.
"The competition."
He shakes his head at me, "You don't need my help."
"Yeah I do, I could do with your crazy vigilant sergeant act for training." I say, only partly joking because in all fairness that analogy wasn't far off from reality.
"You don't need my help because you're not doing it." He says with a frown.
"I'm entering, you're not stopping me. So you can either help me or not."
"You broke your nose last time and you got a concussion."
"That was last time, I was younger." I still play it light hearted even though I was growing annoyed.
I wasn't sure why everyone insisted they knew better for me then I did, I've made it this far so I think I'm somewhat capable of keeping myself alive and well.
"Not that much younger and you think your opponents will be any less capable of knocking you unconscious?"
"What? You think I'm not good enough?"
"I'm not saying that. I just don't want you to get hurt again." He says with frustration, I stay quiet looking back at him. "June would kill me, never mind Jake."
"I'm going to enter either way, if you help me, there's less of a chance that I'll lose a couple of brain cells."
I knew how to break Lucas and so I just wait. I can see him fidget even now, my smile growing waiting for him to break.
"Fine." I grin, there it is.
It didn't take long at all, he's such a sucker.
"But we do it my way or you have to pull the entry, if I'm training you then you don't do anything unless I tell you to."
"You're already bossy." I snicker, shaking my head and flicking the pen in my hand against the notebook in my lap.
"And you asked for that, don't you forget it." I nod along to him, smiling and seeing him nod at the people coming in.
I focus back on my work in front of me, hearing him talking to the other group walking in and laughing at their groans of frustration when they see the set up.
As expected, I see one women open the door and see the set up too. Her face screwing up into a look of distaste and I swear I see her say 'not today' before shutting the door and leaving the room.
I'll be sure to tell Lucas after, just to prove that his intense circuit training is less than appreciated by most of the people who come to this class. I'm surprised Quentin keeps letting him do it, if they weren't friendly he'd have probably stopped him from terrorising his clients by now.
They begin the session and I zone out, ignoring my phone flashing in the corner of my eye, knowing who it was and knowing that there was no way on earth I was responding.
Multiple curse words can be heard in the room throughout the class, distracting me partly from the work in my lap but at least it's amusing. Occasionally I look up to see Lucas in his prime, shouting at the poor people sweating out of every single pore on their body.
It's funny, particularly when you're on the outside looking in. I find it even more funny looking at the people around the room away from Lucas, at the pain on their face and the sheer murderous glances they send towards Lucas as he shouts at them again.
I know I said he was popular but right now is one of the few times he is not.
As much as I was enjoying pretending to focus on my work because in all honesty I was watching the class for at least 80% of it, it came to a finish and I smiled at them as they bypassed me out of the room.
I caught Lucas starting to move some of the stuff away so I packed my stuff away to help, grabbing the nearest piece of equipment from the floor.
"What do you need for the next session?" I called to Lucas; he didn't even glance up as he answered.
I nodded along and helped him set up the next.
The conversation switching to how we should work out our training schedule, I could just imagine the itemised calendar he is forming in his head right now.
"Any chance you could get me some water Ells?" He was just finishing up as he glanced up at me with some wet strands of hair falling into his face. I smiled nodding at him, before grabbing his and my water bottle, heading out of the room.
I was onto filling my own bottle when I heard the front door to the gym open and close behind me. I looked up to see Jake's looming figure at the door.
Shit, what was he doing here?
He was wearing the same worn brown puffer coat he always did with his hoodie and jeans underneath. He had an annoyed expression on his face as he held his phone up, staring pointedly at me. Oh. I was not looking forward to this lecture.
"Is your phone working?" I dropped my eyes back down to the bottle, finishing filling it up before screwing the lid back on. I suddenly had a case of dry throat but if I took a sip then Jake would know he had me.
"Erm... Yes."
His eyebrow rises, "So you're ignoring me?"
"No?"
He raised an eyebrow even further somehow, stalking towards me as he clicked his phone on moving through his messages.
"Funny... Because I have 10 failed calls and 15 unanswered messages that tell me you're lying." I didn't say anything as he showed it to me before he shoved it into his pocket.
"Ella, when I call you. You need to pick it up, you got it?" I gripped the water bottle tighter in my hand, the slow pulsating anger heating my veins.
"I don't need to do anything." He rolled his eyes at me, sucking in a breath.
"Someone needs to take their bitchy pills jesus... Ella, I need to talk to you and when you don't answer that makes it very difficult. Do you get me?"
I turned around grabbing Lucas' water, mockingly muttering his words under my breath.
"Ella... I've had a long day at work. Can you please just cooperate with me? We can go get some food and talk about this morning." I was staring at him now, knowing he wasn't going to let up. He drove all the way out here so there was no way he was leaving without me in the car.
"Fine... Let me just get my stuff." My shoulders sagged as I gave in, twisting around and heading into the room.
"What took you so long?" Lucas looked at me with a slightly tilted head, like a inquisitive puppy. His bright green eyes watching me carefully before the sound of the door opening made his eyes turn away from me to the door. They instantly hardened, his jaw ticking discretely.
"Can we hang out tomorrow?" I spoke as I tried to hand back his water.
He continued to stare, shoulders raising. Jesus, it was like a freaking ape display.
I shoved the water into his hand forcing him to break eye contact and centre back on mine.
His whole body relaxed slightly nodding along with whatever he thought he heard from me because there was no way he was listening.
"See you tomorrow?" I reiterated, he nodded as I turned around, grabbing my bag.
Jake was at the door, holding it open for me as I turned to give Lucas a wave. His eyes met mine briefly, giving me a short wave of the hand before turning away heading towards the punching bags lining the far end of the room.
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