Members Only

The wind was starting to pick up as Lexi made her way across the parking lot. It blew her hair into her eyes, and she brushed it away impatiently. Almost to the door, the temperature had to have dropped to around thirty degrees. She knew the concrete was cold, and as she picked up the clip in her step, she had to remember not to trip and fall. Not here. Too many eyes and too much judgement. November had never been a beautiful month or a happy one. The light at the end of November was Thanksgiving, and she was very much looking forward to a few days off from work and the quality time spent with family.

Reaching the double glass doors to the entrance of the gym, she caught the reflection of herself and cringed. It was what she referred to as a ”fat” reflection. She hated that kind of shock to the system, and could not determine if it was the bend in the glass, or if that was how she really looked today. She did know that it was part exhaustion. Mental and physical. Every year had brought on 3-5 more pounds. And compounding, she was up about 25 total since 2018. She had always been active and had participated in sports all of her life. But, a social life and work had oftentimes been the excuse to skip. With the upcoming holidays, she had made a commitment to herself to try harder and make fitness a part of her normal routine versus forcing herself to tack it on at the end of a busy workday.

The early twenty something boy at the front desk barely looked up, yet greeted with a half- bored smile as he scanned her phone to register the visit and verify membership. “Have a good workout,” he mumbled as she passed. She tried to smile at him, but he had already turned his gaze downward again to refocus on some sporting event on his phone. Taking in the environment, Lexi could smell the sweet scent of tropical flowers in the air, obviously trying to mask the stench of dirty, overcleaned carpet runners, cracked pleather furniture, and the aroma of re-heated food coming from the café. This club was part of a chain that had become tiered over the years. Different members paying different rates, with access to only certain levels, classes and activities. In essence, the more you paid, the better the access and it was members only. For this location, it was considered upper tier. Lexi had decided long ago to pay the most in order to have access to variety and even entry into certain clubs when traveling. This club was special in a different way too. Her dad had taken her here in her youth for tennis lessons and there was a comfortable familiarity to it all.

Recently, a trip to this gym was part of a one to three time weekly occurence. Cardio – always cardio. She had avoided the weight room like the plague since she was 15 years old. Afraid to get “BIG” and look way more masculine than she wanted.

Lexi had a pretty face. She was always told from a young age that she was attractive, even exceptionally beautiful. Occasionally, she was even confronted by total strangers asking if she had ever been told that she looked like certain celebrities. Few and far between, but she would take the compliments. Deep down, she believed she was attractive, but she had never been fond of her body. She spent childhood pining over super models. Tall, lean, with legs for miles. Thin arms and washboard stomachs. Standing 5’9” to 5’11” with waists thin enough to squeeze into size 0 jeans. Hair to their mid torsos, they were her epitome of a beautiful woman. She would have killed to have been just two inches taller. 5’7” wasn’t such a bad gig, but high heels made Lexi feel like a million bucks.

Not today though. Today was going to be the start of getting ahead of the holidays. The month of November seemed like as good a time as any to get back to this place on a regular basis. She needed a schedule, and she needed discipline.

Lexi took the flight of stairs down into the women’s locker room and was hit with the visual of a muted, golden light supported by cherry wood lockers flanking all sides of every wall on the left. To her right, she passed more mirrors and amenities free to use like Qtips, cottonballs, hairspray and lotion. Straight ahead was the scale, and she wanted to avoid that like the plague. Taking a sharp left, she ventured to the last row and chose her favorite locker on the bottom – 589. Discarding her jacket into the cubby, and depositing her gym bag on the marble bench, she extracted her shoes (worn only inside the gym) and began to remove her boots one at a time. She caught another glance in the mirror and noticed that her back fat was bulging at the bra line. “Ewww…” she thought to herself. But, it was what she was here for.

Sliding the black rubber binder off of her wrist, and grabbing her hair with the left hand, she reached for her brush inside her purse and smoothed her stands into a perfect ponytail. Grabbing her airpods and popping them into each ear, she glanced in the mirror again to make sure they looked even. Who would really care? Someone might, and she definitely did.

Lexi picked up her iPhone and scrolled to the music app. She chose songs and the shuffle option to make things a bit exciting, and hit play. “Stargazing” by the Neighbourhood started pumping out, and made her smile. Something sexy, and something fun to motivate her. She made sure everything was secure in the locker as she set the code to 3377, and double checked to make sure it was locked. Whipping around with determination, she exited the locker room and made the climb up to the main floor. Stopping at the towel shelf to grab one, she thought about all of the other sweaty faces, necks and shoulders it had wiped.

Past the row of Stairmasters, she moved to the treadmill row and chose one by the wall to start her warmup. Placing her water bottle in the holder and the towel across the righthand top of the screen, she pushed the buttons to start the belt. There weren’t many people here for a Saturday afternoon. Lexi panned the room and saw a few people in rows ahead of her on ellipticals, staring up at the television screens all depicting various sporting events. She let her mind drift and took in song after song of music she had curated, loved, and never got sick of. It was bliss for her to zone out in a pressure-less environment. About five minutes into her walking moderately on a low incline, she glanced over to motion on her right.

There he was.