Working Out

A couple of months ago, my wife convinced me to join a fitness club because I needed to get rid of my middle aged spread. I wasn't in bad shape to be honest, since I've never been fat. But I'd had a slight gut since before my wife and I even met. A couple years back, she and I had started working out together at the base, and bringing our son with us. But when our son got old enough to get bored there, she stopped going to stay home with him. And, since no one likes doing those things alone, I dropped out soon after. Besides, since there aren't any professional trainers there, the exercises I'd been doing didn't have any effect on my one problem area.

We bought a treadmill, so we could exercise at home, and my wife uses it while my son is in school. But I can't use it because as soon as I get home, my son is all over me until his bed time. And after that, it's really too late for me to be interested in doing it anymore. So, when my best friend, who I could only go out with about once a month, said he was thinking about joining a fitness club, my wife thought it was the perfect solution. My friend and I would get to spend more time together, and I wouldn't have to exercise alone. And, the fitness club had a full staff of trainers, so I'd do the right exercises to get in the shape I wanted. Not to mention that the club was cheap, costing less than $50 a month for me to go there three nights a week.

This is a sex story, so I won't go into too many details of the exercise routines themselves. I'll just say that the trainers push you pretty hard without overdoing it, and you're sore for the first few days. The place is mostly full of people like me, men and women who are out of shape. We sweat and we slave over our routines, and usually look half dead by the end of the night. Then, there are the posers, people who are already in shape, and spend all their time showing off, or looking at themselves in the mirror. Most of them are men of course, but some of them are women. And the women are the fun ones to watch, not just because they have nice bodies. It's because they come in, use a machine a couple of times, walk around for half an hour, and then use another machine. It's so obvious that they are trying to attract attention that's its comical to watch them in action.

But, this isn't about the people like me, and it isn't about the posers, this is about the trainers. These are the people with the best bodies, because they are the ones who have to motivate the customers. The four male trainers have the bodies all us men want as a result of our exercises. And the four women, with the exception of one which I'll get to later, have the kinds of bodies us men would like to attract. They don't flaunt their bodies like the posers do; they just go from person to person giving advice and showing how to do each exercise. Or, they lead the group exercises like step aerobics and Pilates. But, even though they don't flaunt their bodies, just about everyone watches them. Whether it's for motivation, or because they are nice to look at doesn't matter, people still watch them.

My story starts with the exception that I mentioned earlier, the one of the four female trainers who wasn't in perfect shape. As a matter of fact, she was downright pudgy when I first met her. And that made her stick out because how could someone in that bad of shape expect people to listen when she told them how to exercise. Don't get me wrong, she was a nice girl, with a pleasant personality and a cute face. But her body didn't match with her being a fitness trainer. I didn't doubt her credentials; she wouldn't be a trainer if she wasn't certified. So I just figured she'd just had a baby or something, and was coming back to work after maternity leave.

As a matter of fact, I pretty much said that to her one day. There's an advertising poster for the club that shows a girl I thought was her when she was in shape. And, I mentioned it to her, saying I liked her picture in the ad. Like I said, she had a pleasant personality, and had asked how I was doing several times. So, saying something like that conversationally was kind of my way of returning that friendliness. She told me that it wasn't her in the picture, but that she used to be in the same shape. That's when I mentioned how difficult it must be to get back in shape after her baby. Well, she didn't yell at me, but she told me in no uncertain terms that she didn't have kids. She was only 20 and way too young to even think about marriage yet. Obviously, I'd stepped in it with both feet when I made my baby remark. And I figured that I'd just alienated the only female trainer who'd bothered to talk to me.

Sure enough, she didn't look at me or say anything to me the next time I came there, and that bothered me. Not because I had any romantic interest in her. I mean I'm 30 years older than her and married on top of it. No, it was because I'd hurt her feelings with my stupid remark, when she'd been so friendly to me. But, the session after that, not only was she no longer mad at me, she was even friendlier than she had been before. The only reason I could see was that she finally figured out that I hadn't been trying to insult her. And maybe after thinking about it, she considered it a compliment in an offhand way. Whatever the reason, she gave me a huge double hand wave as she was passing behind where I was on the treadmill. And, my friend thought it was so much like flirting with me that he gave me a fist bump for it. I didn't think it was, I just thought it was her way of saying all is forgiven. But my friend seemed to think I had a new fan among the staff.

Anyway, whatever it was, we were back on friendly terms, with her stopping by at least once a session to see how I was doing. A couple of weeks went by, and while my progress was slow, I could see a noticeable difference in her figure. Then again, she was leading at least three step aerobic classes a day, six days a week. So of course her progress would be a lot quicker than mine. But rather than just give her a plain compliment, I said something really off the wall again. Half the reason is probably because I'm married and giving direct compliments to women feels too much like I'm trying to pick them up. But, I'm also a natural smart ass, so maybe I just think I'm being funny when I do that. I honestly don't know why one way or the other, I'm just guessing the reason I do it that way. In this case though, I know it was more the smart ass part, because she gave me an opening I couldn't resist.

I don't think these trainer jobs pay much, maybe barely minimum wage. That's because the membership fees are low, and unemployment here is high. So, these trainers are lucky to have such an easy job even if it doesn't pay much. I say that because this girl had a jacket that was obviously from when she'd been in good shape. It was really tight on her now, and since it was a puffy winter coat, it looked funny. So, as an offhand compliment, I told her she should get a new jacket because she looked better and didn't need to hide her body under that old thing anymore. Again, a borderline insult, and I even told my friend that she probably wouldn't talk to me for a while after that. But, unlike my last offhand comment, she didn't get mad at all this time. Maybe because it was more of a compliment than saying I thought she'd just had a baby had been.

Another couple of weeks went by, and even my wife was starting to see a difference in how I looked. And when I joked that more women were looking at me now, she said that was why she'd wanted me to join the fitness club. She didn't want other women to touch me, but she definitely wanted them to like looking at me. But while there was a visible difference in my body, the trainer's progress was even more dramatic. By the way, I've since learned her name is Defne, so I guess we should use that. Anyway, Defne was actually starting to look pretty good, and I thought I owed her a compliment on that. This time though, I chose my words carefully to keep any smart ass comments out of it. Instead, I told her I was jealous because she'd lost weight a lot faster than I had. When she asked if it was that obvious, I knew she was fishing for a better compliment. So I said everyone there could see the difference in her, but no one saw any in me. She returned it by saying she could see a difference in me, so I shouldn't get discouraged, which I took as her just trying to be nice.

At about the same time, the head trainer changed my friend's exercise program. He was now taking part in one of the group exercises that concentrated on tightening your stomach muscles. Since I have a hernia, I wasn't allowed to join him, and after seeing him at the end of his first session I was kind of glad. That's because he looked like someone had run him through a wringer and hung him up while still wet. When I asked what had happened, he said the she devil trainer had tried to kill him. And when I asked him which one, he showed me the most petite trainer in the place. Considering that my friend is over 6 foot, I almost fell on the floor laughing my ass off.

The she devil, Aysegul, happens to have the hottest body of all the female trainers. But, she also has a deadly serious look on her face all the time, which keeps her from being pretty in my eyes. Then again, maybe that facial expression could be there to keep the wolves away, since it seems to work. Anyway, I decided to mess with my friend by telling her what he'd said, while he was standing right next to me. And I learned that she's one of those girls with a magic smile, because the whole room lit up when she started laughing. Then, still smiling, she said my friend was just a little baby, because he hadn't finished half the exercises. She knew she could say that, because while my friend is big, it's obvious to everyone he's a teddy bear. And when she said that, he got that embarrassed school boy look on his face that he gets all the time. After that, every time she'd walk past, he'd call her Satan and she'd call him little baby. So, I thought there was a chance that there might be something brewing there.

She also invited me to join their sessions, but I told her I had a doctor's note excusing me from the torture chamber. And when she said I was being a bigger baby than my friend, I showed her the notation on the back of my exercise plan. She admitted that her routines weren't suitable for me, since they put a lot of stress on the area my hernia was. But after that, she'd stop by and check up on me the way Defne did. As for my friend, while I thought there might be interest, he told me there definitely wasn't. He preferred larger breasted women, like Defne for example, and the fact that her face looked so serious was a total turn off for him. As for me, there was interest, especially after seeing how she looked when she smiled. But, while my friend was single, I wore a wedding ring, which meant I could only look.

So now I had two nice looking trainers that would come and check up on me at least once during an exercise session. And I would check them out too, since Defne was getting a better body all the time, and Aysegul already had a hot one. But as I just said, they were limited to visual entertainment while I was exercising, and nothing more. Besides, even if I wasn't married, I was older than the two of them put together. Add to that the fact that while I was improving, I was still no higher than the middle of the pack of the guys that came there. So, I'll say it a third time, I could and would look at them both, but forget ever being able to touch them.

While watching them, I noticed that they seemed to be on different shifts. Defne would usually leave when I was half way through my routines, while Aysegul would stay until the last female customer left. We didn't stay there late enough to close the place down ourselves; there were always some guys still there when we left. But there were times when Aysegul was heading out almost the same time we were. One of those nights, she was actually walking with us, so I asked her if there were any special sessions I would be able to participate in. She told me Defne's sessions would be fine for me, since step aerobics wouldn't tear up my stomach muscles. But, my friend and I came too late for that, and because of work, I couldn't get there early enough. She did give me a couple of options, such as joining one of the other trainer's sessions and just skipping some of the routines. But, since all her stuff would hurt me, there was no way I could join her sessions. And, for some strange reason, she seemed sad about that fact, which I put off as being disappointed that she wouldn't get to torture me too.

After that, it seemed that Aysegul walked with us two out of the three days we worked out each week. If there were still women there when we left, of course she'd have to stay behind. But the women usually left before we did, and Aysegul would coincidentally be waiting upstairs talking to the receptionist when we were ready to go. Not that either of us minded her walking with us, since it gave us someone else to talk to while we walked. And it gave us someone to talk about when she left us halfway through our long walk back to my friend's house. I need to explain that part, about why we walked to his house instead of driving straight to the fitness club. The biggest reason was that the club was in the busiest section of town and finding a parking place would be near impossible. And, by using his assigned parking space in front of his house, since he didn't have a car, I avoided paying the outrageous parking fees. The other reason was that the walking was good for us to both warm up before and cool down after our work outs.

Anyway, back to the story. As I was saying, Aysegul was fun to talk to while we walked. Especially when the two of them would get into their Satan and little baby modes. And, she'd also talk to me about my routines, and things I might be able to do to get quicker results without hurting myself. In other words, it was mostly shop talk, meaning about fitness, although there was a certain level of good natured teasing going on. So, I was surprised when one night, completely out of the blue, she reached out to hold my hand as we were walking. Since she was between the two of us, I thought she might be holding both our hands. But when I looked, I saw that mine was the only hand she was holding. I was going to pull my hand away, gently if I could, when I heard a familiar voice calling out to us. That sort of interrupted my thoughts enough so that my hand stayed where it was for the moment.

The voice belonged to Defne who happened to be walking towards us, heading back into town. She'd obviously intended to say hi and maybe ask where we going. But then she got a strange look on her face, turned around, and headed back the way she'd come. My friend and I were confused, and it showed in our faces, but Aysegul had a devilish grin on hers that told me she wasn't. By this time we'd reached the place where we usually split from Aysegul, and she let go of my hand. Then she said goodnight as if nothing had happened, and walked across the street. After she left, my friend and I talked about Defne's strange behavior as we walked to his house. Although, I didn't mention Aysegul holding my hand, because I didn't think it had anything to do with it.

It wasn't until I was in my car, on the way home, that I started thinking differently. Aysegul hadn't grabbed my hand until a second before Defne called out to us. And Defne hadn't gotten that strange look on her face until she'd gotten close enough to see us holding hands. Had Aysegul held my hand just so Defne would see us doing that? I mean, there were no indications of interest before that, or even after that. There'd only been the sudden holding of my hand, then her acting as if it hadn't happened once Defne was out of sight. But the even bigger question was why Defne had reacted the way she did, and how Aysegul knew she would. Because I was totally convinced that the she devil had held my hand just to provoke such a reaction.

When we went to our next exercise session, Defne seemed to be a little upset with me over what had happened, because she didn't even return my greeting. And all through the evening, she'd look over at me, and then look away as soon as I saw her. It wasn't until right before she'd normally leave that she finally said something. She came over to the machine I was using, and looking me right in the eye, she said she'd thought I liked her. When I told her I did, she asked why I'd never asked her out then. I replied that I was married and couldn't ask anyone out, then held up my hand to show her my ring. She, of course, came back with the fact that my ring hadn't stopped me from holding hands with Aysegul, had it? I told her the truth, that Aysegul had grabbed my hand right before she walked up and that there was nothing going on between us. Her eyes narrowed for a second, meaning that she believed Aysegul had done it to piss her off. Then she told me to prove there was nothing going on between us.

When I asked her how I was supposed to do that, she said to get changed and leave with her, that was how. I reminded her again that I was married, and she asked what that had to do with it. She wasn't asking me to do anything with her; she just wanted me to leave the club with her. Although, it would be nice if I'd take her to Starbucks and buy her a cup of coffee. There wasn't any harm in a simple cup of coffee, was there? I was going to turn her down, but she had such a pleading look on her face that I just couldn't do it. Instead, I told her that if it really meant that much to her, fine. I went and told my friend I was leaving, and told him I'd explain later. Then, I went and changed my clothes and met Defne at the door. As I did, I noticed Aysegul watching us with the same strange expression Defne had had the other day. Something half way between daggers and a smile, similar to the one most people use when thinking about some kind of revenge. And I wondered what the hell I'd just gotten myself into.

Defne didn't try to hold my hand or anything like that, on the way to Starbucks. And, like with Aysegul, our conversation was light and mostly about exercising. There were no outward signs that this was anything more than something to make Aysegul jealous. And that was strange, considering Defne's reaction to Aysegul holding my hand that night. I mean, why would Defne have reacted that way, unless she was interested in me and was jealous of Aysegul. Yet, she wasn't showing any romantic interest in me now, and it didn't make sense. We were just sitting at an outside table drinking our coffees and talking about different ways to get faster results for me. In other words, the same exact things that we talked about with Aysegul. And, I was still trying to figure all this out when Defne reached across the table, grabbed the front of my jacket, and kissed me hard.

This was as totally out of the blue as Aysegul holding my hand had been, and I quickly found out it was for the same reason. That's because while Defne was holding my jacket too tight for me to get away without a fight, I could see Aysegul out of the corner of my eye, watching us. Then, like Defne had done, she turned around and headed in the other direction. When Aysegul was gone, Defne sat back with a totally satisfied grin on her face. Now, I had to ask just what the hell was going on, and why she'd kissed me. I have to give her credit for not trying to feed me a line about not being able to help herself, or even trying to tell me she was attracted to me. No, she just said she was giving Aysegul a taste of her own medicine. But, she refused to answer any other questions about that subject. So, I went home even more confused than before.