End of speech.
Close with a fake smile.
My story was met with an unexpected look from Hudson. Normally, people looked happy at my heartwarming recollection. But for some reason, not Hudson.
Before I could ask why, he said, "Last set, let's go," and I was back down on the bench lifting a hundred pounds, which all of a sudden, felt like the heaviest hundred pounds in the universe.
When I finished the ten torturous movements, I grabbed the water bottle myself and gulped it down until it was almost empty.
Hudson stared at me like he wasn't quite sure what to make of me. His light green eyes darted around my face and I suddenly felt like I was under the glaring heat of the studio lights.
"What is it?" I finally asked. It came out a little snappier than I had wanted, and for a second, Hudson looked taken aback. He quickly recovered and then he sat down on the bench next to me.
"When you talked before, about how you started in meteorology…" I smiled at his correction. "I couldn't help but notice that you spoke about it in the past tense. You adored it. It was the best thing you ever did. Do you not feel that way anymore?"
Holy shit. Who was this man?
It was my turn to be taken aback. My mouth felt dry again and I had no idea how to respond. I wasn't used to people listening to me so intently.
I stood up and did the only thing I could possibly do.
"So, what's the next exercise, then?" I said, although it sounded more like a croak.
Hudson narrowed his eyes at me for a moment, but then he stood up as well. I was just under six feet, and yet the man positively towered over me. And for some reason, I really liked that.
“Squats?” he said, although it came out as more of a question, like the man’s brain was still stuck on what he had asked me. The question I had ignored.
“No,” I said forcefully. “No squats.”
My ass was already big enough as it was. I didn’t want to do anything that made it even larger. No, the whole point of me joining the gym was to make the rest of my body catch up to my ass, so that I looked more proportional and then maybe, just maybe, I’d be less known for my ass and more for the thing that I actually did: tell the weather.
“Why not?” Hudson seemed puzzled by my strong reaction.
“Look, Hudson,” I said, and I swear I could have heard him take in a sharp inhale as I moved in closer to him. “I came to the gym for one reason and one reason only. I want to...proportionize.”
He definitely hadn't been expecting me to say that if the smile on his face was anything to go by.
“Proportionize?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Damn it. I was hoping that would be a gym term, like barbell or sets.
I cleared my throat. I had to ask the man a question, but before I asked, I needed to pre-qualify the question I wanted to ask with two other questions.
“Are you gay?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said without the slightest hesitation.
Good. One down, two to go.
“Are you single?” I asked.
This time, he paused and hesitated.
Shit, maybe I’d just broken a golden tenet of the trainer/client relationship. My breath hitched in my throat as I waited for his anwer.
“Yes,” he finally said. His voice was firm, neutral.
Good. That was the clearance I needed to ask the question I had wanted to ask him.
“Have you seen my ass?” I said, turning around and to my side, basically waving my ass into his line of sight so that if he’d somehow been living under a rock for the past few years and missed it, he would definitely see it now.
To my surprise—and horror—Hudson grimaced and looked away.
What was happening here?
He was a single gay man and the sight of my ass made him squirm like he’d just been asked to eat raw chicken. He was a key demo group, too. It made no sense. Oh god, and now I sounded like Parker...
I turned back around to face him straight on. He lifted his gaze to meet mine.
“I have seen your ass, yes,” he said quietly.
At least that was something. I placed a hand on my hip.
“Well, good,” I said indignantly. “You know, I’m known for this ass. And there’s a rumor that I’m a shoo-in for Daylesford’s Hottest Derriere. A shoo-in.”
“That’s great,” he said with literally zero conviction.
“Do you have a problem with my ass?” I asked, stepping toward him.
Hey, I might not have liked all the attention my ass got me, but as I was discovering, I also didn’t like it when my ass didn’t get any attention.
Especially from this man.
“I don’t, it’s just…” His cheeks were positively on fire by this point.
“Just what?” I said with another step closer to him.
I could smell the whiff of his citrusy deodorant. Or was he more of a body spray guy? I shook my head, it didn’t matter right now.
“It’s just, well, I mean...” Just when I thought the man was incapable of producing an intelligible sentence, he looked up at me and spoke.
“It’s just that your ass is like, I don’t know, my eighteenth favorite thing about you. I think there’s more to you than just...your ass.”
No, seriously, who was this man?
Just as I looked up at him, I saw Hudson and the other trainer I had seen last night looking at each other. The guy was clearly egging him on with his eyes, because when he saw me looking at them, he instantly looked away.
Hudson turned to me and cleared his throat.
"Hey, does tagging mean anything to you?"
"You mean like on social media?" I asked, and Hudson nodded uncomfortably.
"Uh, yeah, do you think you could maybe…"
"Tag the gym and help get you some more publicity?" I said flatly.
Right, so that’s what he wanted, why he was acting as if he were kinda sorta maybe interested in me. For publicity.
"I'm sorry, Liam. I shouldn't have asked. It wasn't even my idea, but Zander thought it would help with…"
"Hudson, it's okay," I said as I grabbed his forearm. Both of us looked down at my fingers on his heavily inked forearm.
Then we looked up and our eyes met. A fire tore through me and the only way I could put it out was to stop touching the man. So why didn't I want to do that?
Finally, I did. I grabbed my cell phone for a selfie.
"You ready?" I asked. I wasn't sure if I was asking him or myself.
"Yep," he sounded like he was gulping down a bottle full of water.
I snapped a few selfies and then looked at them. Sure, I could tag the gym. It was no big deal for me, and if it helped Hudson attract more customers, I was more than happy to do the guy a small favor.
As I scrolled through the pictures, I was struck by how photogenic he was. Like, really photogenic.
And despite our completely different appearances, we looked good together. Like, really good together.
"Oh, Hudson," I said as I looked up at him and put on my best smile. If I was doing the man a favor, surely he could do a small favor for me in return...or for Mrs. Langley, to be more precise? "Would you like to be my fake date for a thing I'm going to next week? It's just one night. We'll only have to pose for a few photos. There's a free open bar. Whaddya say?"