“I’m finishing up here,” she said. “Just gotta stretch.” And as she leaned forward to loosen up her hamstrings, I imagined licking the sweat that glistened between her breasts.
This is too goddamn easy. “Yeah, me too. Two more sets here, and I’m done.” I rushed through the rest of my reps and extended a hand as I finished my second set. “I’m Max, by the way.”
“Max,” she said with a playful smile as she took my hand in hers, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.” But I wasn’t prepared for the next words out of her mouth, and as she said them, her warm hand felt like ice against my skin. “I’m Lily.”
Oh, you’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.
***
Needless to say, I got the hell out of there as quickly as possible. I wasted no time wiping off my machine, grabbing my water bottle, and bolting to my car without so much as a goodbye. As I sped home, I wondered what the fuck had happened to me. A name shouldn’t matter. Half the time I didn’t remember their names anyway.
But she shared a name I couldn’t forget. And there was no way I was taking Lily back to my house and into my bed. Well, let me rephrase that. There was no way I was taking that Lily back to my house and into my bed.
But the other Lily—the real Lily—she was another story. She could come in my bed anytime she wanted to. Literally. And I’d pictured that plenty of times: her under me, on top of me, in front of me screaming my fucking name as I made her shake with pleasure. But that was all I had of her: old memories and stale visions that I feared would begin to disintegrate with time.
I had gone months without speaking to her, and then when I’d finally heard from her last week I'd been a complete asshole. Fuck, why had I been so rude? I’d blown her off, and I was sure she’d heard Stephanie or Sophie or whatever the fuck her name was in the background. To make matters worse, Lily had texted me over the weekend to say she’d only been trying to help and she was sorry if she’d upset me. There was no denying I’d been a complete dick. But I didn’t need her help or her fucking sympathy, and I’d gotten defensive.
Finally home, I turned on the shower and stepped out of my boxers, allowing the cool air from the vent to brush against my body for a moment. When I slid open the shower door and stepped under the steaming water, I knew I needed to wash more than just the sweat from myself. I needed to wash away the guilt I felt for how I’d treated her.
***
I was surprised when Lily picked up on the second ring because I half expected her to let it go to voicemail. “Hello,” she said quietly. Maybe she didn’t look to see who it was before picking up.
“Uh . . . hey, Lily. It’s Max.”
“I know. Your name came up on my phone.”
Fucking idiot. “Oh, right. Listen, about the other day . . .” I let my voice trail off in the hopes that she’d pick up where I left off and relieve me of my embarrassment. She didn’t. When silence lingered between us, I forced myself to speak again. “I shouldn’t have hung up. I mean, I should’ve let you talk. You can talk now.” I knew as soon as I said that last sentence, it had come out wrong.
“Really, can I? Thanks.”
Damn. I knew I deserved every bit of sarcasm that she delivered, but that didn’t stop the sting. Not knowing what the hell to say to change the direction of the conversation, I stayed quiet and hoped she’d fill the silence this time.
“Look, we don’t need to make this conversation any longer than it has to be. I just wanted to tell you there’s an opportunity for you to be a guest analyst on TV. Did your agent tell you that? It could turn into something big. Something permanent. Don’t be stupid, Max.”
“Too late,” was all I managed to force out. God, I really had a way with words today. “Listen, I’ll think about it. Things have been . . . uh, crazy lately.”
“Crazy? How crazy can things be? You’re not working. What have you been doing?” Her voice was accusatory.
I had to rein in my defensiveness. Her tone pissed me off, but I knew that if I snapped at her again, I'd regret it forever. “Um, listen, Lily. I know that I was rude last week, and I'd like to get together. Maybe explain some things. Clear the air. Can I buy you a drink?" The way I saw it, this was the best of both worlds. We could say what we each needed to say, and I could avoid doing it sober. “How ‘bout Dino’s? They have a beer garden there. We’ll grab some pizza, a few beers, and talk.”
“Okay, when?”
The quickness of her response surprised me. I needed a little time to collect my thoughts. Plus, I didn’t wanna seem to eager to see her. A week and a half seemed like a good amount of time to let things cool down a bit. “Uh, how ‘bout Saturday, the twenty-first? Late afternoon?”
“Um, let me see.” She got quiet for a few moments, probably to look at the calendar on her phone—which made me think about how I had absolutely nothing going on. Ever. “That should be fine. I’ll see you then, I guess.”