Taking care of your own business is always pain in the ass, even if it is something as small as a gym in a basement of a rundown old apartment building. Take it from me -- you won't hit a jackpot owning something like that and it will not bring you a lot of money. You just end up with huge pile of paperwork, ton of maintenance, dealing with cranky people and a whole lot of problems you did not expect to ever encounter. You just have to do these things because it's your hobby and hope that in time, you will find some people that enjoy similar things and maybe have some fun with them. Luckily, I have met few that fitted this description and I made them core crew of my gym. Bunch of guys that were serious about their workouts and we could talk, compare our exercises and maybe even go for an occasional drink or two.
But lately something felt off and the vibes in gym just weren't right. Bunch of guys switched their routine times and last time we all met for a big workout together was weeks ago. Mark was here only in the mornings and then left for work, always apologizing that his department had dumped a ton of additional tasks on him and he needed to step up his game. He was still a relative newbie, so I did not miss him that much, but then again, when he started going to my gym, I was impressed with his dedication. He had relatively small frame and no fitness history whatsoever, so I thought he was just one of those New Years resolution guys, but he persevered and started to finally build some muscle before all this work stuff, so I had some expectations for him and even gave him his own set of spare keys -- benefit of premium membership.
But I was mostly upset about the rest of my guys -- Nathan, Randy and John were all coming in late and staying after hours, which was of course their privilege, but I wasn't used for it to be so regular. That option was to be used mostly in worst case scenario situations. If they kept doing it all the time, even more customers might get some stupid ideas and I really did not want to extend my opening hours. I spent way too much time here already, or at least that's what my girlfriend always used to say about my job.
As it was nearing the end of my shift, the guys started trickling in late as it became customary lately and for some reason the new girl arrived even later than usual. It was my rule to be polite to everyone who went to my gym and I tried to help every newbie with their exercises, but the way she took for granted everything she was offered here made me little uncomfortable. I knew she stayed here few times to work out after hours and while some of my guys always kept eye on her, it felt weird for her to enjoy perks that others needed to work months for. Maybe I was a little too friendly to her in the beginning and she took advantage of it.
"Hiya, Tom, do you mind if I put my music on?" she fiddled with her phone already getting ready to put something on. Well, that was another example where she made herself at home almost too easily.
"Sure, Cathy. But don't you think that you came a little late today?" I frowned at her across my table.
"I did, didn't I?" she pouted as her hand moved over her phone and suddenly the music in the gym changed to a more rhythmic beat. "But that isn't a really big problem, right?"
"Well, it's not a big problem," I nodded in agreement. "Just that the guys need to lock up after you," I shrugged because my irritation was slowly fading away for some reason.
"Oh, I am sorry, they didn't look like they minded, but you can also stay if you want to keep eye on me," this time she shrugged.
"Keep eye on you?" I was unsure what she meant by that.
"Sure, you don't know me, so if you want to check up that I don't steal anything from here or damage things. I understand you want to protect your property. There is nothing weird about you wanting to stay longer just to be sure everything is okay here."
"I wasn't planning on that," I started but her words kind of made sense. "But sure, I'll be around to make sure everything is in order."
"Yeah, it's normal that the owner stays here last, before all his customers leave," she nodded approvingly.
"Of course it is normal," I agreed with her and felt weird for stating the obvious.
"Ok, better watch me then," she winked and went to locker room.
Something about that exchange felt off, but I had way too much work to worry about stuff like that. Since I decided to stay late, I could at least catch up with my paperwork and maybe for once even get ahead. I noticed another slight change of music when she emerged again still playing around with her phone. It was weird -- every time she switched songs, it distracted me for a few seconds, but I quickly got accustomed to new melody and it was like the music never changed. I lingered on her for a few seconds as she moved through the gym and gave me thumbs up. She had bright yellow tank top with matching gym shorts on. Both of those were making her stand out, but the worst thing were yellow sandals on her feet. I pondered about stopping this safety hazard and approaching her about it, but one look at her pink toenails stopped me. I was pretty sure my speech would end up in failure and decided my time would be better spent doing something productive instead.
My head was buried in the papers for most of the time, but it wasn't a thing I could focus on during my best days and it was even harder after long afternoon spent in the basement with machines and dumbbells clanking all around me. There were only few people still around, but pumping iron can be pretty loud even when you do it with minimal grunting, screaming and throwing stuff. I looked up from time to time and my sight almost always brushed against Cathy, because it was hard to miss her in that bright outfit and almost every time she was doing something that was bound to make her hurt. Even after weeks spent here, she was failing at the most basic exercises and I wondered why that was. Luckily my guys were there to take care of her, so I did not need to worry about injury and lawsuit that would surely follow, but it was still so unsettling sight and I might've just gone home if I did not decide that I would be staying till everyone else left.
Randy left first, exchanging only few words with me and looking bummed for some reason. I didn't pry because I knew whatever was bothering him, he probably didn't want to share it anyway. Which left only John and Cathy and I already had to lock the gym up a while ago. I noticed Cathy fiddling with her phone again as the music slowed down and I felt wave of dizziness hitting me like a hammer. I knew it was late, but it was almost like the entire days' workload piled up on me at once.
"I am finished for today, Tom," said John as he went for showers and his face showed the same fatigue I felt.
He got out only few minutes later and looked even worse than before. He gave me an unenthusiastic high five and locked the door behind himself which left me alone with Cathy. I suddenly felt uneasy about it because it was just earlier this evening when I was unhappy with her staying here after hours, but now I was forced to wait for her. Well, not forced, I corrected myself -- I chose to stay late because I was the owner. I dragged myself to my feet and did some cleaning, but I wasn't really feeling it because my energy was pretty low. I was surprised Cathy lasted this long but when I looked at her, she was playing with her phone again and not exercising at all.
"It looks like you have finished with your workout," I noted loudly as I got closer to her.
"Not yet, I am just taking a short break, I'll be back at it in a minute," she shrugged.
"Seems like you have been taking a lot of breaks this evening," I frowned.
