Royals

Chapter 14

"Where were you last week?" Ashlynn asked when I returned to school the following Monday.

"I was in Chicago," I admitted. "My friend passed away."

"Oh my gosh," Ashlynn gushed. "I'm so sorry, that wasn't the answer I was expecting." I could see sympathy accumulating in her eyes, but I didn't have the heart to continue the conversation.

To put it simply: school was horrendous. After missing a week of lessons and homework, I felt like I was learning in Swedish.

I even skipped out on going to the cotillion, which deemed helpful because I finally caught up on all of my school work on Wednesday night.

After being cramped up in my house for three days, I decided to take a walk downtown to get my mind off of things.

After about a block, Lillia called me. I heavily debated ignoring it before I decided that she could keep me company as I walked.

"Hello?" I squeaked.

"I HAVE GREAT NEWS FOR US!" Lillia screamed, nearly disfiguring my eardrum.

"What is it? And, for the sake of my hearing, please drop the volume a few notches."

She giggled before continuing, "Jake told me that he was going to ask you to be his girlfriend on Friday night while you two were on a date!"

I let out an excited squeal, "REALLY?"

Despite only talking over the phone, I knew my best friend was nodding as she continued, "Which means that Joey's probably going to ask me to be his girlfriend soon, too!"

We both did a little happy dance through the phone before discussing the details. When we finally hung up the phone, I had the biggest grin plastered on my face.

After walking about a mile down the road and reaching the edge of downtown, I realized that I had to use the restroom. A black building that looked fairly new caught my attention. I somehow never noticed it before, so I walked toward the entrance.

I entered through the main double-doors into the lobby of a gym. I asked the employee behind the front desk if I could use their bathrooms, and she directed me to a door in the back corner of the gym.

When I was finished, I took in my surroundings. There were a few different areas, each designated to a certain set of muscles like arms, legs, core, etc. Then there were a few rooms, which, I assumed, were for classes.

Before I turned around, I recognized a guy with a tanned, defined body and chocolate brown, quiffed hair training alone in one of the rooms. As much as I wanted to turn around and walk out of the gym, my legs started walking in the direction of the room.

I stood beside a rack of weights and watched from outside the door. I paid attention to every detail of his tired body: the way his face was red with determination and hard work; the way his arm muscles flexed every time he moved; the way each ab in his eight pack prominently jutted out from his body; the way his body was covered in a thin layer of sweat; the way his eyes were blazing into mine--

Wait...what?

I did a double take and noticed that Joey was staring right into my eyes. Heat rose to my cheeks when I realized that he saw me practically ogling over him.

The ends of his mouth curled upward as he gestured for me to come in. And, despite my promise to Jake, I walked through the door.

He dragged a rag across his sparkling forehead and chest before pulling me into his arms. Despite the fact that his sweat was clinging to my clothes, I stayed there and allowed him to hug me a bit longer than usual.