Weightless by Kandi Steiner

table without a word, pulling Mrs. Landers closer into him and moving the hair from her neck so he could whisper into it. She giggled and placed a hand on his stomach as he opened the door and ushered her out into the night.
    I was still staring at him open-mouthed when Willow snapped her fingers in front of my face and grabbed the hose from my hand.
    “Hello? You there, Nat?” She laughed, shaking her head. “What the hell was that? He acted like he didn’t even know you. And why is he with our anatomy teacher? Maybe she’s teaching him a thing or two. Or vice versa.” She giggled at her own joke and I finally closed my mouth, crossing my arms over my chest.
    “We should probably get going. Church in the morning.”
    “Ugh, don’t remind me,” she groaned, dropping the hose on the table after one last pull. “I love Jesus, but this town on a Sunday is something else.”
    I laughed a little, but my stomach was still in knots as we walked out to the Rover and drove across town to my place. Rhodes had straight up ignored me, which I guess wasn’t really any different than what he did when we trained together, but it still bothered me. Did he always have to have a stick up his ass? And why was he all cuddled up with Mrs. Landers?
    My brain ran wild with possibilities as I tossed and turned in bed that night. When I finally did fall asleep, I dreamed of shoplifting with Rhodes and getting arrested. But for some reason I didn’t cry or scream when they put the handcuffs on us and threw us into the back of the cop car. Instead I laughed, and for the first time, Rhodes laughed, too.
     

     
    I woke up angry on Sunday morning. I thought praying and singing in church would calm me down, but it didn’t. Instead, I found myself not listening to Pastor Mike and thinking about Rhodes and Mrs. Landers. I convinced myself that it wasn’t him with her that upset me, but rather that he didn’t even acknowledge my existence. Up until that point, I thought he just didn’t like to talk much, but acting like he didn’t know me in a public place gave me a new idea. It hit me then that maybe he was ashamed of me. He was my trainer — not my friend — and I knew that, but I wasn’t okay with him treating me like I didn’t matter. I may not have been as beautiful and fit as the other women he trained, but I still deserved to be treated like a paying client.
    He didn’t owe me anything. He didn’t have to be my friend. But I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he insisted on always being such a jerk. He dodged my questions when we trained, opting for silence, instead, and he ignored me the one and only time we bumped into each other outside of the gym. He didn’t want to be my friend? Fine. But I was his client, and he at least needed to be nice to me.
    After church, I changed quickly and ran out of the house to head to my training session. I was fuming in the car, going over all the things I would say when I finally got face-to-face with Rhodes. What’s your problem? Am I really that hideous that you can’t say hi to me? What the hell were you doing there with Mrs. Landers?
    Of course, as soon as I actually made it inside the training room and was met with those sharp green eyes, everything I’d planned to say flew out into space, leaving me with my arms crossed and foot tapping on the spongy gym floor like a moron.
    Rhodes cocked a brow, though his mouth remained a thin line. “You’re late. Get on the treadmill. Bump the incline up to four and the speed to five.”
    I glared at him, willing my mouth to open, wishing the words I’d recited would flow from my mouth like I imagined they would if we were in a movie. But I came up empty, and I couldn’t take the heat from his glare any longer so I huffed and climbed onto the treadmill, doing as he said.
    Rhodes didn’t take it easy on me that day. After forty-five minutes on the treadmill changing the incline and speed every three minutes, I was drenched and on