The Billionaire And The Waitress (gxg)

51 - a slice

MUSE sat on a bench, legs dangling from the seat, and waited for Adrien to finish her workout. She didn't know much about the gym, but she had made the intelligent observation that it had to be something along the lines of back and biceps today. Adrien's arms glistened with a sheen of sweat in the light, a vein in her bicep prominent under the smooth skin.

     After ordering room service last night, they'd fallen asleep on opposite ends of the bed. They hadn't woken up cuddling like last time. Muse had tried to ignore the pang in her chest at that. She had asked for this. More than that, it was necessary.

     Adrien had told Muse she wanted to get a workout in before breakfast and the tour. Muse hadn't wanted to be left alone in the room. She'd offered to come with Adrien.

     "You're going to workout with me?" Adrien had asked hopefully.

     "Yeah, sure, I'll copy you," Muse had said. 

     It had taken approximately one half-assed set of bicep curls with ten pound weights for Muse to set them back on the rack and declare she was done. Since then, she'd sat on various machines and watched Adrien, her back muscles rippling in her wife beater, and sprouted encouragements like a personal trainer.

     "Push, push!" Muse yelled at Adrien now, on a set of hammer curls.

     The gym was empty this early in the morning. Adrien's biceps strained, dark eyes narrowed in concentration. 

     Muse didn't know why it had gotten so hot in here. She wasn't even working out. 

     "Thanks so much," Adrien said with a grunt, setting the forty-pound weights down. "I don't know what I'd do with you."

     Muse watched her pleated white minidress flutter around her thighs as she kicked her legs out back and forth. "Oh, you'd probably shrivel and die."

     "I don't doubt it," Adrien said, almost seriously. Then she grinned. "Are you going to start up a fitness program when we're back in New York?"

     Muse almost said, I don't have the funds for that, before she remembered the amount of money Adrien had deposited in her bank account.

     She could do anything she wanted with the money she had. She could pursue anything, any career she had ever desired. Hell, she never had to work again if she wanted.

     The freedom was almost paralyzing. She had spent so long in survival mode, making every pay check stretch so she could pay for heating and water and food. She had barely bought any new clothes in the past five years. She hadn't used her money for anything that wasn't essential to living. What was she supposed to do when she was back in New York? 

     "Yeah, maybe," Muse said. "A fitness program. Where I yell at people during their workouts. Could be cathartic."

     "You know so much about fitness, right?"

      "Yeah, a ton." She had to stop and think there for a moment. She had never exactly not cared for the gym. It was just that working for so many hours and then coming home and paying bills had exhausted her to the bone. She had never thought about the privilege it required to actually have the time to workout, or eat enough protein to see a difference. The gym was expensive. A high-protein diet was also expensive. 

     Now that she had time and money, she could try whatever hobbies she wanted. She could figure out who she was, when she wasn't tired and stressed trying to make ends meet every night.

    Adrien started and finished another set of hammer curls while Muse kept thinking. 

    "Hey, what, no words of affirmation this time?" Adrien said.