An Unexpected Girl

chapter four

Iris started work at her college gym center halfway through the following week. She had worked there the previous semester, so was pretty used to it.

Still, it didn't change how boring the job was. Time seemed to crawl incredibly slow during Iris's shift. But Iris needed the money, and for the most part, she didn't have to speak to anyone. As far as she was concerned, it was a win some, lose some situation.

Iris walked around the gym with her earbuds plugged in, concealed by her braids. Technically, she wasn't allowed to listen to music on the job. But she figured that what her manager didn't know wouldn't kill him.

Iris's job was pretty straightforward: walk around and ensure that people were making use of the gym equipment properly. But honestly, it was bold of her manager to assume that she knew how to use gym equipment properly. Honestly, Iris couldn't blame him for thinking that, after all, she was the one that had lied on her job application. Luckily for Iris, people seemed to stay away from gym equipment if they didn't know how to use it, so it spared her embarrassment and awkward interactions.

It was approaching evening, and this was when the gym usually got busier. Iris hated taking shifts at this time, due to how many people were around. She knew that morning shifts were the best, hardly anyone around and you could just laze about without having the manager up your ass. But Iris could never bring herself to wake up early in the mornings.

In fact, Iris had to withdraw from her 8 am class in the first semester of her freshman year at college because she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed that early. Back in high school, this was something she had done quite easily, but college was a whole different ball game.

With Harry Styles's Fine Line album playing in her ears, Iris headed for the weights room in the gym.

This was where she usually hid away when the gym was overwhelmingly busy, as fewer people tended to work out here.

It was still early in the new semester, which was why the gym was so packed. Everyone always vowed to "workout more" at the start of the new school semester. But Iris knew she just had to wait it out a couple more weeks. Once schoolwork started to pile up, and people's wills to live began to decline, the gym would be back to only the regulars. Iris could deal with that.

As expected, even though it was busier than usual, the weight room was scarce compared to the other sections of the gym. Iris headed inside and stood towards the back of the room pretending to be doing her job. In reality, she had since zoned out and was making up fake scenarios in her head.

Iris was so lost in her head that it took her embarrassingly long to spot the girl that was motioning her over a little distance away.

"Hey, my bad, didn't notice you there," Iris said, once she had jogged over to where the girl was standing in the room. "What do you need?"

"You work here, right?" The girl asked.

It wasn't the girl's voice that stuck out to Iris. Sure, she had a nice voice and Iris thought so, but ‌it was the obvious question. Of course, she worked here. Iris was literally wearing her work shirt with the word STAFF on it, written in large white print.

"Yeah," Iris said instead, keeping her thoughts inside.

"Cool, could you help me?"

The girl didn't wait for a reply, but began walking away. Iris knew that she expected her to follow ‌her, so she did. It was only then that she realized ‌it was the same girl she had seen while sitting outside the week before.

The girl stopped abruptly. Iris stopped behind her. It was then that she noticed the girl's right arm, covered in a sleeve of tattoos.

"I just need you to be my spotter," the girl said, not looking at Iris.