Chapter 3 Noah and Elsa

• What the fvck was Elsa Quinn doing in a gym?
• He paused, glancing around the room, and then back at the girl from his own high school.
• She didn’t look back at him, nor did she appear to care who was in the room. She wore one of the largest, ugliest shirts he’d ever seen.
• He saw the signs of perspiration under her armpits. Her thighs were also swallowed up.
• She had interrupted his place of peace.
• Was this the girl who Sarah was talking about? No, she was going to have to go.
• This was his place, his gym.
• Moving toward the running machine closest to her, he started at a steady walk.
• “What the fvck are you doing here?” he asked.
• She tripped, and caught herself by holding onto either side of the machine, turning to look at him.
• Her eyes were so dark as she stared at him. Noah forced himself to look right back at her.
• There was always something … inviting about her eyes.
• During high school, he’d noticed how dark they were, and how they stared at something, trying to figure it out.
• They were beautiful eyes.
• “What the fvck are you doing here?” she asked back
• “I’ve been coming to this gym for the past year. What is your reason?” he replied with scrutiny.
• “You don’t own the gym. You can’t stop people from coming here.” she retorted
• “Are you here with a gang of girls? Did they put you up to this?” Noah looked around, wondering if at any moment one of his ex-conquests was suddenly going to pop out and make an appearance.
• “I can’t believe your ego. I don’t have to take this. There are other rooms.” She pressed several buttons, and left the room.
• His peace had been ruined because he didn’t trust her.
• Turning off his machine, he followed her, finding her standing in the weight room. She looked like a fish out of water, exactly as Sarah had described her.
• “Do you have a clue what you’re doing?”
• “God, do you own this room as well?” She walked back into the main hall, and there were several people walking toward them.
• Grabbing her hand, he pushed her into one of the private sauna rooms.
• “What the fvck are you doing?”
• “You don’t have a clue what you’re doing here, so tell me who put you up to this.”
• “No one?”
• “You just happened to be at Bruce’s gym out of pure coincidence.” he asked suspiciously
• “No, and I don’t have to tell you.”
• “I’ll make your life hell at school!” he threatened
• She glared. “I dare you, and I’ll make sure every single girl knows you’re here on a Saturday.”
• They both stared at each other, neither of them showing signs of winning.
• Noan knew it would be bad for him if the girls knew about this.
• “I’m here because it’s the only place where I can get peace and quiet. You must have heard what Jessica did?”
• “I heard about the scene. Who hasn’t?”
• “Exactly. I come here so I can work out and be left alone. Now, I’ve told you why, you tell me?”
• He was now calm, knowing she had him at a critical point.
• She sighed. “I just want to point out that you interrupted my training time, not the other way around. You could have run anywhere else, and I wouldn’t care.”
• “Fine, just tell me.” he almost pleaded.
• “I’m doing it as a surprise to my mom.”
• “I don’t get it.” he said with a confused look on his face.
• “Look at me. I know you all call me fat, cow, whale, chubby. I embarrass my mom, so here I am, trying to make her proud.” she replied quickly and looked away
• He’d heard all the names she’d been called, and he’d laughed at a couple of them.
• But really he didn’t see a problem with her weight. So she was a couple of pounds heavier than people would like, so what?
• He happened to like her tits. There were many times during gym at school where he’d stared as her tits bounced.
• Out of all of the girls in high school, she had the biggest rack.
• Damn.
• Now his gaze landed on her breasts.
• “Seriously? My eyes are up here, you creep.” She fired and he looked up immediately.
• “You don’t have a clue what you’re doing.” Noah argued
• “So? I’ll figure it out, and come college, there will be a dazzling new me, and there will be no sobbing in sight.”
• “What you’re trying to do is lose weight. Where is your trainer? What are your starting points? What about your diet? There’s a lot more to losing weight than just getting on a treadmill, and hoping for the best. You want to be the best that you can be, then you need some help.” he persisted
• “I don’t want to make this complicated, okay? This was just about doing something in private with no one knowing, and now you know.”
• “Believe it or not, I won’t blab.” he said with a solemn expression
• “Sure you won’t.”
• Her sarcasm was grating on his nerves.
• This couldn’t be happening. Her perfectly ordered plan of losing weight without anyone knowing was about to be completely ruined.
• Elsa forced back the tears as she stared back at the star of her high school.
• This sucked.
• “I won’t. I’m not a fvcking liar.” he swore
• “Don’t swear at me.”
• They had never spoken more than a handful of words at each other during their time in high school.
• “How do I know you’re not going to tell everyone?” he queried
• “You keep my appearance here quiet, and I won’t tell.”
• “Fine. I can do that.”
• “Good. Can I go now, or are you going to lecture me about something else?” she asked.
• “No, you can go.” He released her arm,
• and she made her way back toward the treadmill.
• The buzz she was getting had disappeared.
• The entire encounter with Noah had ruined what she wanted to achieve.
• She had done an hour, and that was better than nothing.
• Leaving the treadmill, she made her way into the changing room. Instead of sticking around to change, she grabbed her stuff, and headed out into the parking lot.
• Sarah was chipper, asking how she got on.
• Elsa did her best to smile, and say thank you, but all she wanted to do was escape. Maybe get a large tub of ice cream on the way back.
• “Elsa, wait.”
• She tensed up, glancing behind her to see Noah rushing toward her. This was the last thing she needed.
• “What is it?” she asked, turning to look at him.
• He ran up to her, and she refused to be drawn to his rock hard body. This was not her. She wanted something more than a pretty face to look at.
• “You’re serious about losing weight? This wasn’t some joke to find out where I was?”
• He queried.
• “How can you even walk with an ego that size? Yes, this was about me, and what I wanted to do for my mother. It wasn’t about you.” she replied, now getting irritated
• “I’ll help you.”
• Elsa jerked back. “What?”