Requiem for a Rec Council President

His eyes bore into hers. "Yeah, it's been a while for me, too."

She picked up on the bitter edge to his tone but chose to ignore it because she empathized with his feelings. "So, what body part do you train first?"

"Abs." He pointed to the sit-up board and the ab cruncher machine lined next to each other against one of the cinderblock walls. "Not my favorite body part to train, so I like to get them out of the way."

She watched him bang out twenty-five sit-ups holding a 25-pound weight on his chest, then super-set it with twenty reps on the cruncher machine. Minus the weight, Janine did the same number of sit-ups, but waited a bit longer before going to the ab cruncher. "Geeze, no wonder you have such great abs," she said. "I'm feeling it after only one super-set."

Legs followed abs, as the two traded sets on the leg press. Mark was in the middle of his third set of fifteen reps, when they both heard something—and that something was the sound of double doors opening. Those doors were outside the weight room and down a short hallway, just feet from the Riverside Rec offices. Someone had come in from the outside.

Dave completed his set and stood up. "Oh, no, not again," he moaned. "You said Dave's working late had been a fluke."

Janine then heard the door to the rec office open. "It might not be Dave. Remember Gilda Parrott? She works in there too."

He did remember Gilda from the rec meetings and socials. She was a little younger than Janine, short and pudgy, pasty complexion. Sourpuss was his nickname for her, because that's the way she always looked, sad and pissed off about something. He never saw her smile, much less laugh, even at the socials. "Not my favorite person in Riverside Rec," he said.

"Nor mine," Janine admitted. "Cold and humorless, but a dedicated rec person. The woman's got issues."

It then occurred to Janine that she should have left the lights off when they came in, even though it was past daylight savings time and the sky had grown dark. She was about to trot across the room to cut the lights, when she saw Gilda come back out into the hall and then freeze in her tracks. The gym door that opened to the hall contained a long rectangular pane of glass big enough for Gilda to see into the weight room. In seconds, Gilda was at the door, peering at Janine and Mark through the window. She opened it, then stood there wearing a blue pants suit and a surgical mask around her neck. She shook her head in confusion. "Hi Janine. Um, isn't this room off limits?" She then glanced at Mark. "Mark Melbourne...I haven't seen you in ages."

"We're just getting in a little workout, Gilda," Janine said. "Wanna join us?" Janine knew that short, tubby Gilda didn't exercise much, if at all. She was merely trying to humor her. "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. We can keep our distance."

Janine and Mark traded grins.

"Well, I don't think so," Gilda said, brushing back her short, dirty-blond, poker-straight hair. She glanced around the room, eyeing the machines and benches, the stacks of Olympic plates and bars, the Smith machine, power rack and the black steel racks secured against a far wall holding multiple pairs of dumbbells. Then, turning back to Janine: "So, shall I assume that the weight room is now open? I mean, you didn't say anything at our last virtual rec meeting."

"We better do our last set before our muscles get cold," Mark cut in.

Gilda watched as Janine took off two of the 45-pound plates, and then did her set. Mark then slapped them back on and did his set.

"Okay, to answer your question," Janine said, her breathing slightly elevated, "no, this room is still officially closed until further notice. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but being president of the Riverside Rec Council grants certain liberties and working out here is one of them. No harm done."

Nodding slowly, Gilda stood with her small mouth half-open, trying to process. "Does that include guests also? Because Mark hasn't been in the rec council for years. And does Dave Baker know?"

Mark cut in again. "Time for leg curls."

"Right," Janine said.

Mark stepped toward the leg curl machine, while Janine stayed put.

"No, Gilda, Dave doesn't know, nor does he have to." She could see that Gilda was far from placated. "Look, I gave Mark special permission to train here. All right? Just him. No one else. Like I said, no harm done. So, your silence to the board will be much appreciated."

Gilda scratched at an itch on her double chin. "Not to be nosy, but why him?"

"Because she likes me," Mark cried out. He was on his belly on the leg curl, preparing to do his first set.

Janine looked back, slapped her hand over her mouth and giggled. She then turned back to Gilda. "Mark and I have remained good friends. He can't get a complete workout in his basement, so I granted him permission to train here. There's nothing more to it than that."

Gilda closed her mouth, wearing her usual dour expression, the one that prompted Mark to dub her sourpuss. "I see. Well, I just came in to pick something up that I forgot yesterday. See you at the next virtual meeting."

She turned to leave, stepped into the hall, then returned. Janine was at the leg curl when Gilda continued. "Look, it's none of my business, I know, but I think that you guys are more than just good friends. Just saying." With a lame wave of her hand, she said, "Too-da-loo."

Janine shook her head and gritted her teeth. "What a pathetic busybody."

"I hope you don't get in trouble with the board," Mark said. "Think she'll keep her mouth shut?"

"Let's hope so," Janine said, then hopped on the leg curl.

*****

Janine learned the next day that Gilda Parrott had squealed when she got a call from Teresa Valenti, a Riverside rec leader and board member who ran the indoor girls' basketball program. Moreover, one of those players happened to be her teen daughter. Teresa still attended the virtual meetings, though she had had no program to run since Covid hit. "Our policy is that all indoor activities are closed until further notice. So what were you and Mark Melbourne, a long-gone rec leader, doing in the weight room?"

"It was just the two of us, Teresa. Nothing to stress over."

"Come on, Janine, you were the one who said there'd be no exceptions. I mean, fair is fair."

"Does the rest of the board know about this?"

"Not yet, but they will. I never thought you'd be the type who plays favorites. Gilda thinks that you and Mark might be involved romantically. Not that I care. But if true, that doesn't give you license to break the rules, president or not." Pause. "ARE you and Mark involved? The guy was hot from what I remember."

Janine felt her face flush with anger. At this moment, she wanted to beat Gilda with a 50-pound dumbbell. "Teresa, my personal life is none of anyone's business but my own. That said, I can see why you're upset. But use some common sense. Ten girls on a basketball court is a lot riskier than two people in a big weight room."

"That's not the point."

"It is the point."

"Okay, then maybe you'll allow my daughter and a couple of her friends to shoot baskets in the school gym. You see where this is going?"

Janine knew she was in a bind. She and Mark were getting more deeply involved, and she was loath to bar him once again from the weight room. In fact, she wanted to start training there on a regular basis herself. Yes, she knew damn well where 'this was going.' She could feel the wrath of the rec board breathing down her neck. "Teresa, I'll get back to you," she said, and then hung up.

Oh, if Gilda and Teresa only knew what happened after Janine and Mark had completed their workout. It started when Janine cut the lights on the switch located on the wall beside the side entrance to the gym, the one where Mark, Jeff and Dan had gained access. Neither Janine or Mark had planned the impulsive, spontaneous shindig that followed. After a few minutes of passionate smooching and dry humping, Mark asked, "Ever make love on a sit-up board?" Janine hadn't but she was willing.

The sit-up board sat just a few steps away from that side door. In moments, her spandex tights and his shorts were tossed aside, and her back lay flat against the soft red vinyl of the board. Oh, my, she could still feel Mark's tongue stabbing through her wet pussy, his hard cock thrusting inside her. She could still hear the board creaking under their weight and his tender words of endearment. She could still see Mark's handsome visage though the darkness. And she could still sense the naughty excitement of possibly getting caught.

Twenty-four hours later, she was getting wet with thoughts of an encore. But there wouldn't be one, at least in the weight room, until or unless the board voted to resume indoor rec activities. And that wouldn't happen until the virus was under control, which could take another year at least. The Riverside Rec board was now on to her. That meant no more gym sex but, more important, no more workouts. Not unless they snuck in, just like Mark and his two cohorts had done. She laughed at the hypocritical absurdity of that, breaking her own rule.

In the ensuing days, she took more phone calls and emails from incensed board members. "You're right, it will never happen again," was her contrite mantra. But perhaps, as Mark had suggested, it was time for her to step down as president. Her six-year-plus tenure was the longest that any Riverside Rec president had served. She was tired of the virtual meetings, tired of running a program that, thanks to Covid-19, was just a shadow of its pre-Covid self.

So, the Monday after Thanksgiving, through email, she tendered her resignation effective the first of December. The board could vote on a new president at the next virtual meeting. No rush, there were no sports programs running during that dark, Covid-filled December anyway. The ball fields and indoor facilities remained empty, waiting for better days ahead.

Well, with the exception of the Riverside Rec weight room. Still unbeknown to Janine, Dan Cheever still trained there in early morning. Then, a few times a week, in the early evening hours, Mark and Janine came in. Gilda Parrott and Dave Baker took off the month of December, so there was no chance of being caught by them. Still, they closed the shades on the windows that lined two walls and dimmed the lights. There was much more to their workout than just lifting weights.