Who: Rose and Furiosa What: Random meeting at the gym When: recent Where: a gym Status: complete Rating: PG
Rose had tried to put off the necessity of the gym, but she couldn’t make excuses any more. She had the day off and she found herself waking up earlier than normal, as if her body were trying to tell her something. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she groaned and rolled out of bed, knowing it was time she did a bit of a work out. There was a local gym close to her she had gotten a membership to when she first arrived...and had never actually gone to. She picked up the card from the table and stuffed it in her back pocket before heading out.
As soon as she stepped into the gym, she immediately regretted her decision. It was a bit oppressive in there and she glanced around at all the other people on treadmills, others lifting weights. Well, may as well join the club. She decided it would be best to start out with some stretches as she couldn’t remember how long it had been since she had last had a work out. She didn’t want to make a scene of cramping up in pain because she looked like a newb at all this.
There was a woman stretching. Her head was shaved closely and she had a hard look to her eyes. Her left arm was missing below the elbow. Furiosa had brought her (modern) prosthetic but it had proven to be a little awkward with exercise. She wish she’d just gone to the shooting range instead, but that wasn’t exactly the right kind of exercise.
As Rose glanced around, she couldn’t help looking at Furiosa. Her appearance definitely stood out and she felt guilty for staring so openly. She tried to look away but she kept coming back to the woman so close to her. “Excerise, am I right?” Rose addressed her with a smile and realized it wasn’t really a way to break the ice. She cleared her throat and changed her stretching position.
“I’d rather be eating some chips, but...well, ya know.” Right, conversation seemed to be coming hard to Rose tonight.
“I can think of better things to do with my time,” Furiosa admitted, straightening and stretching out her back. “Keeping in shape is important but sometimes it feels really frivolous.”
Rose nodded her head vigorously in agreement. “I walk to work every day, but I’m told I need to do more. Exercising outside would be better, but I always feel so self conscious, you know?” Rose didn’t know why, but the word ‘frivolous’ coming from the gal speaking to her seemed a bit strange.
“Do you work out often?”
Furiosa nodded. “I used to drive big rigs cross country. It started out as a routine to wake me up and keep me limber, habit never really died, but I think a lot of people take it way too far.” She nodded towards a man who wasn’t so much lifting weights as trying to show off. “Like fucking peacocks.”
She glanced towards the direction Furiosa had motioned to and couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. “Yeah, I guess it’s a good place to show off and show what you can do. It seems a lot of people use this place as a pick up actually.” She glanced around, noticing more people standing around and talking than actual exercise. “Wow, why do we come here? Maybe we should start our own outdoor sort of work out. I’m not too good at it, but maybe we can help push each other?” It was a rather forward offer, especially since they had just started talking. But the more she spent time in the gym, the more Rose was beginning to see how utterly ridiculous it was. She sat on the ground, stretching her legs as her eyes roamed again.
“Do they have a juice bar here?” Hadn’t even started and she was already looking for a reward.
“Can’t say I’ve ever tried to pick someone up in this place. I think I like that idea.” It sounded like a good idea, and much more to Furiosa’s temperament. The weather here was usually pleasant, and depending on where they were Furiosa thought it could be a better workout. “The only thing you couldn’t do is weights and I can think of a few alternatives to that.”
Rose laughed and shook her head. “It’s because you have more sense than to pick someone up here. Plus, I have a feeling you’re not like these shallow people who pick people up at the gym because they want to make sure they’re dating someone who’s as beautiful as they are.” She may have said that a bit too loud as someone looked over at her and scowled. Rose gave an embarrassed and apologetic look before focusing on another stretch.
She thought about it for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, but then you’d cut your time here in half. That’d be for the better.” After a good amount of stretches, she stood, hands on her back as she looked around. “Speaking of...can I interest you in helping spot me? I’d be happy to do the same for you. And then maybe we could get outta here? Go for a run on the beach?”
“There were times I didn’t have much sense. Or maybe the people I picked up were the ones without sense.” It took a brave soul to hook up with a random trucker, though Furiosa had more often than not picked up someone in need of help, not a good time.
“I can spot you,” Furiosa agreed, a little pleased at the suggestion.
“Cheers.” She walked over to the weights, adjusting the weight limit so it would better suit her. She wasn’t lifting a lot, but she was trying to build up her tolerance to get a little arm definition. Really, she didn’t know why she was bothering as sweater weather was just around the corner.
“Sometimes you can’t help it,” she said with a shrug, thinking they were still talking about picking up people in a date. “You see someone cute and you think ‘why not?’” She made a ‘why not?’ face, putting the last weight in place. “I should warn you, I’m rubbish at this so I may need more help then usual people.”
Furiosa smiled a little wryly, stepping up to the weights. “Don’t worry, I’m so good at this I could do it with one hand tied behind my back.”
Rose grinned and laid down on the bench, rubbing her hands together to create a bit of friction. She wasn’t so into working out that she had gloves to help with lifting, but she wasn’t planning on doing this for very long either. She took a couple deep breathes before moving to start the weight lifting.
It was not her favorite activity to do. Half the time she only thought she knew what she was doing, but never did more to strain herself too much. She did a few lifts, the last ones a little shaky before putting the weight back on its stand.
“Is it time to get that smoothie yet?”
If one asked Rose the question ‘do you even lift bro’ Furiosa was sure the answer would be ‘no she does not.’ She grinned down at her and leaned on the weight. “A smoothie sounds fabulous.”
Rose smiled up at her, happy that she wasn’t making fun of her weight lifting ability...at least not out loud. “Brilliant!” She sprang up from the bench, cracking her neck from side to side and stretching her arms in front of her. It would have looked like she was getting ready for a fight rather than get a delicious smoothie.
“Or…” Rose glanced at Furiosa. “Do you want me to spot you?” She gave her a skeptical, I-don’t-know-if-you-should-trust-me look.
“Lets go for that smoothie.” Furiosa grinned at her, and added. “No offense, but a smoothie sounds a lot better than dropping a weight on my face.”
Rose blinked and laughed at her response. How could she know that much about her already? Well, she was sure it was a bit obvious by how she had lifted the weights. “Smart choice mate. We’ve only just met and I wouldn’t wanna hurt you already!” She gave her a wink before heading towards the bar area.