cereal box, I found that pretty captivating too.” He cranks up the pace but I’m already out of breath, so I turn it back down so I can keep up with our conversation.
“Tell you what,” he says. “Since you’re so nosy, pull yourself up on that bar”—he points his chin at the pull-up bar beside us—“and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“If I can do a pull up, you have to go out for a drink with me and tell me anything I want to know.”
He crosses his arms and seems to think it over. “Deal.”
Rio and I stand beneath the pull up bar and stare up at it. This is something he’s been pushing me try forever, but I’ve always refused because I know I can’t do it. Plus it brings back traumatic memories of a particularly humiliating physical fitness test I failed in grade school.
I remember dangling from the pull up bar with my chubby stomach popping out the bottom of my hot pink sweatshirt, futilely straining to pull my body up while my bored-looking gym teacher chomped her gum and kept time on a stop watch. Just then, Justin Bigos came running by and pantsed me in front of the whole gym class, including the kid I liked. The only saving grace was that my underwear remained in place, but the chorus of laughter echoing through the gymnasium has haunted my nightmares ever since.
“Come on December, you only have to do one,” Rio says.
“One, one million—it’s all the same. I’m telling you, I’m just not ready yet,” I get up on the step and reach for the metal bar. “I don’t know why I agreed to this.”
“Just give it a try, you might surprise yourself.”
I hold on tight, tuck my legs up and pull. I pull as hard as I can and the strangest thing happens—I feel myself ascending through the air. Holy shit , I think as my chin reaches the bar.
“Keep going! Keep going!” Rio yells, clapping his hands. “Do it again!”
I lower myself and try for a second pull up. This time it’s much harder and my arms are shaking, but I slowly manage to bring my chin up past the bar one more time. Then my arms give out and I let go, crashing right into Rio.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe I just did that!” I yell as he puts his hands around my waist to steady me. “I did not just one, but two — two pull ups.”
He puts his arm around my shoulder and squeezes me against him. “What did I tell you, huh? It’s all the weights you’ve been lifting. It’s given you upper body strength. These arms don’t just look good. They’re functional too.”
I babble on excitedly about my pull up, even telling him about Justin Bigos pantsing me in gym class and how it made my two pull ups an even bigger personal victory. Rio keeps his arm around me as I talk, but not in a flirty way. It’s as if he doesn’t even notice it’s there.
“Now,” I say as I lean into him. “Where are we going for that drink? I’ve got a few questions for you.”
Chapter 15
“Justice”
Around the corner from the gym is a little Mexican restaurant that doesn’t look like much, but they have a spacious outdoor patio and their loaded nachos are out of the world, though given my new lifestyle, I’ll probably never taste them again.
I order a margarita and Rio gets a club soda, which annoys me. We were supposed to go out for a drink and club soda shouldn’t count, but I let it slide.
Brian and I used to come here all the time so when Rio suggested it, my first instinct was to think of an excuse to go somewhere else. But having grown up in this town, there aren’t many places that Brian and I haven’t gone to together, and I can’t avoid them forever. I need to start taking my life back and making new memories on top of the old ones.
Rio and I are sitting on the patio at the same corner table that Brian and I have shared many times, and I find myself wishing that Brian and his new girlfriend would walk in and see me looking hotter and
“Tell you what,” he says. “Since you’re so nosy, pull yourself up on that bar”—he points his chin at the pull-up bar beside us—“and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“If I can do a pull up, you have to go out for a drink with me and tell me anything I want to know.”
He crosses his arms and seems to think it over. “Deal.”
Rio and I stand beneath the pull up bar and stare up at it. This is something he’s been pushing me try forever, but I’ve always refused because I know I can’t do it. Plus it brings back traumatic memories of a particularly humiliating physical fitness test I failed in grade school.
I remember dangling from the pull up bar with my chubby stomach popping out the bottom of my hot pink sweatshirt, futilely straining to pull my body up while my bored-looking gym teacher chomped her gum and kept time on a stop watch. Just then, Justin Bigos came running by and pantsed me in front of the whole gym class, including the kid I liked. The only saving grace was that my underwear remained in place, but the chorus of laughter echoing through the gymnasium has haunted my nightmares ever since.
“Come on December, you only have to do one,” Rio says.
“One, one million—it’s all the same. I’m telling you, I’m just not ready yet,” I get up on the step and reach for the metal bar. “I don’t know why I agreed to this.”
“Just give it a try, you might surprise yourself.”
I hold on tight, tuck my legs up and pull. I pull as hard as I can and the strangest thing happens—I feel myself ascending through the air. Holy shit , I think as my chin reaches the bar.
“Keep going! Keep going!” Rio yells, clapping his hands. “Do it again!”
I lower myself and try for a second pull up. This time it’s much harder and my arms are shaking, but I slowly manage to bring my chin up past the bar one more time. Then my arms give out and I let go, crashing right into Rio.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe I just did that!” I yell as he puts his hands around my waist to steady me. “I did not just one, but two — two pull ups.”
He puts his arm around my shoulder and squeezes me against him. “What did I tell you, huh? It’s all the weights you’ve been lifting. It’s given you upper body strength. These arms don’t just look good. They’re functional too.”
I babble on excitedly about my pull up, even telling him about Justin Bigos pantsing me in gym class and how it made my two pull ups an even bigger personal victory. Rio keeps his arm around me as I talk, but not in a flirty way. It’s as if he doesn’t even notice it’s there.
“Now,” I say as I lean into him. “Where are we going for that drink? I’ve got a few questions for you.”
Chapter 15
“Justice”
Around the corner from the gym is a little Mexican restaurant that doesn’t look like much, but they have a spacious outdoor patio and their loaded nachos are out of the world, though given my new lifestyle, I’ll probably never taste them again.
I order a margarita and Rio gets a club soda, which annoys me. We were supposed to go out for a drink and club soda shouldn’t count, but I let it slide.
Brian and I used to come here all the time so when Rio suggested it, my first instinct was to think of an excuse to go somewhere else. But having grown up in this town, there aren’t many places that Brian and I haven’t gone to together, and I can’t avoid them forever. I need to start taking my life back and making new memories on top of the old ones.
Rio and I are sitting on the patio at the same corner table that Brian and I have shared many times, and I find myself wishing that Brian and his new girlfriend would walk in and see me looking hotter and
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