Too Personal Trainer

Fourteen

Marlow was more nervous than she would care to admit for tonight. For such a reason so small it seemed stupid to be worrying. If she were his 'plus one' perhaps her stomach wouldn't be in such a tight knot , yet she were going as his date and that word made her feel sick.

She had been on dates before. Many, in fact. It was normal to feel nervous before dates, especially if you liked the man. But Marlow didn't like Jax in that way, so why on earth couldn't she untie the knot in her gut?

There was just under 30 minutes left until Jax would be knocking on the door. He had purposely gone out so he could arrive, as if a real date, and pick her up; this fact held a large sum of the butterflies. And flowers. He had mentioned something about flowers. Dancing, too. Marlow looked down at her feet, knowing there was no way in hell she was going to be dancing. They were not high, the heel was in fact thick and sturdy, but she knew with his hands around her waist, hers around his neck, music playing in the background as he guided her around the dance floor, they would turn into 10 inch heels and she'd be a wobbly mess.

“Don't look so nervous,” Kira said. She sat on the arm of the sofa, curling her hair. “You've known him since secondary school.”

Ah, she would never escape the reminders.

“Exactly,” Marlow muttered. “I was a shy book worm back then with the confidence of a snail.”

Kira snorted. “But you're not shy now.”

“With him, I am,” Marlow admitted.

“Well, then, I suggest a glass of wine before he picks you up.”

She shook her head. “I don't need wine to, you know, make me relax.” But there was a part of her that doubted it. Maybe a few sips would stop the constant worry. It would definitely untie that knot in her stomach. “No,” she remained firm. “I'll just have to fake it.”

Kira laughed, loud. “You won't be faking it when he's kissing you.”

“There will be no kissing,” she blushed. “I especially don't need wine to tell you that.”

“Not even a kiss goodnight? What if he leans in for one?”

Marlow drifted into thought and her stomach jumped along at the detailed imagination that her mind drew. But it was false, the scene in her head. She was certain Jax was not going to kiss her. For one, he had just split with Natalie, his heart not yet mended enough to go around kissing someone else. And two, there was no telling he was even attracted to her. What evidence did she have to go on? Sure, he'd pushed 'plus one' out of the way, strung on 'date', but out of friendship, surely.

“I'll say no thank you.”

“You don't say no thank you to a kiss.”

Marlow bit her lip. “Then I will tell him I'm not interested. In a nice way, of course. I wouldn't say it blunt like that. But, I would tell him. And give him a reminder.”

“Of?”

“Natalie. His ex.”

Kira groaned, frustrated. “You're not meant to give him a reminder, Marlow, you are meant to give him a reason to forget.”

She swallowed at that, the imagery of what she could do to him, with him, or even for him, to make him forget, made her grow hot. “No, that's not my job at all. I'm supposed to support him. As a friend, I should be there for him.”

“For him, under him. Same thing.”

Marlow blushed despite the words she had just spoken. “Your definitions need correcting.”