Almost a week had passed since Gabriel had the very memorable sauna session with Jessica. Unfortunately, she had been working every day when he had gone to the gym since.
She had been openly flirty with other guys at the gym but Gabriel didn't mind. He knew that it helped make her job easier but also, he didn't like double standards. The two weren't dating and he had no claim to her. He realized, relieved, that it was as a casual thing for her as it was for him.
Or at least he hoped.
"Gabriel! It's good to see you."
He sat up from the bench he was laying on saw Claudia smiling at him.
"Hey! Where have you been? Is everything alright?" He asked with a concerned look.
"Honestly I was just feeling a bit weird. Life has been hectic and I just took a few days to myself."
"Well I'm glad you're back." Gabriel said.
"Oh ya, why is that?" She teased him.
Gabriel wasn't sure what to say. He could hardly tell her he was ridiculously attracted to her.
"You carry happiness around with you." He said and laughed.
She didn't. Her smile faded for an instant but then was back so quickly that Gabriel could almost believe it was nothing. But he was good at spotting micro expressions. Unfortunately knowing what they meant was another matter. He made a mental note of it.
"Thanks, Gabriel. That's sweet of you. I'm going to warm up. Catch you later." With that she was off.
Gabriel laid back down and continued his work out, albeit distracted. Had he said something wrong? Figuring that a girl like Claudia was out of his league anyways he put it out of his mind.
A while later he decided to call it a day. He took a shower and realizing he forgot his jeans at home he threw on a clean spare pair of basketball shorts.
As he walked through the gym he didn't see Claudia. He did spotted Jessica and gave her a wave goodbye. She winked back at him causing him to grin. He stepped outside and stood there watching the mass of men in dark suits. It was like a gray mono-colored ocean of humans. It was the end of the workday. Just as he was about to start walking he heard somebody call his name. He turned around and saw an out of breath Claudia.
Her long dark brown hair was in a single pony tail resting over her shoulder on her chest. She was wearing a cute schoolgirl style skirt and a gray hoodie. Her skirt almost reached her knees. He liked that she didn't feel the need to wear something revealing like many girls seemed to. He was attracted to modesty.
"Hey, you." He greeted her, wondering why she was so out of breath.
She did a poor job of normalizing her breath, "What a coincidence! I just finished my work out too." She half panted.
He watched as she breathed hard through her nose, barely getting enough oxygen.
"I was just thinking of my bad timing. Rush hour." He said as he pointed over his shoulder at the wall of gray and black. People shuffled tiredly. They were ready for home.
"Oh crap, you're right. Well why don't we do something until rush hour ends. The trains are a nightmare at this hour." She offered. She breathed deeply and seemed to have caught her breath.
"Sure, you hungry?"
"Ramen!" She exclaimed excitedly. Then embarrassed at her sudden outburst said, "Sorry."
"If I knew you liked ramen as much as I do then I'd have befriended you way sooner." Gabriel joked.
Claudia beamed at him. God, she was cute.
"Ramen it is."
Together the two walked away from the busy street to find a quieter setting to eat at. They came across a shop right next to a park. They ducked under the welcome flags that hung over the entrance of every ramen shop and found a place to sit.
For the next hour or so Gabriel learned that Claudia was even more interesting than she was pretty. Which was saying a lot.
Reading, writing, cooking, freediving, a history buff.. She wasn't the typical gym rat.
"Tell me, what do you write?" He asked her as they slurped away at their ramen. Initially he had worried that eating ramen might have been awkward with someone you barely know but Claudia was not only easy to talk to but there was a sense of familiarity he rarely got with others.
