Dana joins Randy at the gym, where he teaches her about strength training—and the two of them take advantage of the shower to get some much-needed exercise of a different sort. Sadly that's most of the sex Dana gets during finals. Near the end of Christmas break, Dana arrives in Arlington to visit Zoe's family. Not a lot of sex in this one, folks—but there's plenty next time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-
Dana woke to Randy prodding her—and not in a good way. "Wakey, wakey."
The room—Randy's room, she remembered -- was blindingly bright. Dana peered through one slitted eye, the other screwed tightly shut. "What's wrong with you?" she demanded. Or intended to. Her voice came out slurred with sleep.
"Time to go to the gym," Randy chirped, obscenely cheerful for so early in the morning.
"Don't wanna," Dana replied, closing her eye, and fading fast.
"Yes, you do," Randy said. "You told me so."
Yes, she had. But that was last night, when the prospect of rising at dawn to go work out was still far enough away to be safely theoretical. Now it felt like volunteering for her own execution.
Randy stripped away the nest of warm bedclothes, leaving her face down in only her skin. "Cruel!" Dana muttered.
She felt Randy fondle her ass. "You're the one who said she wanted a nice round ass you could bounce quarters off of."
Dana sighed theatrically. Yes, again, she'd said that. "I did."
"So?"
Dana sighed again. "Fine."
She pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the bed, yawning behind the back of one hand. The room seemed marginally less blindingly bright. Randy was dressed, alert -- and chuckling. "What's so funny?" she demanded crossly.
"You look like Popeye when you squint like that."
Dana scowled, which only made him laugh harder. She wished she could argue, but she couldn't. She'd always been sensitive to glare, and her parents had photos of her as a two year-old with the same one-eyed squint. He wasn't wrong.
She settled for a huff of displeasure and shuffled into the bathroom with her backpack. She had just finished brushing her teeth when she realized she'd left the jersey behind. She shrugged, too sleepy still to worry. Anyone who might see her naked had already shared her bed. Screw it.
Dana felt more awake—and more human—after a quick shower. Randy stood by the window, fingers tapping impatiently against his thigh as he stared out the window. She dressed under his watchful eye, pleased by his attention.
"Got your gym clothes?" Randy asked when she was done.
"Yeah." Dana lifted her backpack.
"Okay," Randy said, picking up a gym bag. "Let's go."
Dana followed him out of the building and across campus. It was a bright, cold day and she shivered inside her coat. She'd bring a sweater next time.
"Do you always work out so early?" Dana asked, breaking the silence.
"It's not that early, really," Randy said, "but yeah."
Dana checked her phone. It was a few minutes past eight. Later than she'd thought, but still way early for someone used to sleeping in until eleven on Sundays. Plus, she hadn't gotten to sleep until late. Dana smiled at the memories.
They crossed the campus and continued walking. "How far is it?" Dana asked.
"We're here," Randy said, pointing out a small commercial building on the corner.
The gym wasn't anything like Dana had expected. It wasn't a huge, sprawling glass and chrome temple to fitness. No big commercial facility. It was clearly a repurposed storefront. Large tinted windows let sunlight in while shielding the interior from prying eyes. Randy used a key card to unlock the door.
Randy turned on the lights, then signed in on a clipboard that rested on a counter top by the door. The counter had a glass-front display area filled with work-out gear and big jars of what the labels said was protein powder. A line of treadmills ran the length of one wall, as well as a second row of bicycle and rowing machines. The middle of the floor was fairly open, with large mats and some ropes hanging from the ceiling overhead. The far wall was lined with racks of weights, from tiny dumbbells up to barbells and huge metal plates. Several metal frames stood nearby, their purpose unknown to her.
"Are we alone?" Dana asked.
Randy glanced around. "There might be someone in the office back there," he said, leading her toward the area, "but for the moment, yeah."
"Back there" was a corridor Dana hadn't noticed. A bank of small lockers and a coat rack lined one wall. There were several doors, one leading to an office. The others looked like closets, but were two small changing rooms and two showers, each only large enough for one person—or two, in their case.
Changed into shorts and a t-shirt, Dana followed Randy over to the wall of weights. "You're sure I'm not gonna get big, bulging muscles?" Dana asked, only half kidding.
Randy smiled. "Not from a single workout, no," he said. "You have to work long and hard to develop a bodybuilder's physique, and that's not what we're doing."
"You said it would be hard work."
Randy placed a barbell inside one of the metal frameworks, then paused to look at her. "It is. Strength training isn't complicated, but it's hard work. And it's not bodybuilding, either. We're not looking to develop 'big, bulging muscles' here. Just strength."
