1: Red undies guy
“Damn!” Lilly swooned. “What?” Aria answered as her weight made a loud ‘clank’ sound. “Not what...whom!” Lilly tilted her head towards the free weights, and Aria rolled her eyes. She scanned the room anyway. “Fine then, which one?” She’d learnt it best to humour Lilly. “Blue wife beater, white shorts, lots of muscles.” She’s always been a sucker for pecs. Aria located her friend's latest turn-on, and they both giggled. “I can see through his shorts Lilly, look he has red undies on.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “I know, look at that ass.” A towel swatted her and Lilly jumped “Whore bag!” Aria teased “Librarian!” Lilly retorted and they both laughed.
Red undies guy turned and both of them swallowed their sound. He shot a suspicious look in their direction then carried on lifting impossibly big weights. “Holy shit!” Lilly whispered.“Yeah, holy shit!” Aria couldn’t think why but she felt she’d been busted and needed to turn her head as far in the other direction as possible. “Let’s go do weights.” Lilly collected towels, bags and water bottles. "Are you mad?”
Lilly clutched Aria’s arm and dragged her along. “Oh please, Lincoln isn’t going to dump you for looking at another guy, trust me. Are you guys even still together?" After ceremoniously dumping all their paraphernalia she hauled a set of weights off the stand and positioned herself. Aria slid up to the wall, under the pretence of changing her music, and prayed that red undies guy would finish his set and leave before Lilly closed in on him.
She adored her friend but would never understand the need to flirt. She herself was not, and had never been, a tease. She perfectly comprehended the premise of it all, having had 4 older brothers’ experiences as well as her own. Her brother’s friends had tried their luck and flirted with her for years, but it just seemed so...pointless. Why put in all that effort, feel all that excitement, and ultimately all the disappointment when nothing more than fun will ever come of it?
She’d simply never met anyone she wanted or saw a long-term future with. Of course, Lilly had a boyfriend, Lilly always had at least a boyfriend, but that didn’t stop her from stealing a kiss here and there. She said it assured her she was alive and beautiful. Aria thought she was a silly, crazy girl as she watched her orchestrate her accidental meeting with red undies guy.
Lilly turned and waved her over. “Oh God, really?” Aria slipped the oath out under her smile. “Aria this is Kit Forrester. Kit, this is Arialena Villante.” Lilly purred. Kit shook Aria’s hand until she laughed. “What’s so funny?” She tipped her head back to look him in the eyes. Her oldest brother, Stravos, had once told her that it petrified guys when you looked them dead in the eyes. She’d used the trick often on his mates. “Glad my brother taught me how to give a firm handshake is all.” She smiled timidly while Kit squirmed. He looked down and realized his hand was still crushing hers.
“Shit sorry. You have beautiful hands.” He released her soft fingers quickly and watched her rub them. Her smile grew slowly, and Kit cursed himself to idiot hell. What had he just said? All the while, Aria stole glances at him. Big hands, great mouth, yip Kit Forrester was all male, and she almost snorted out aloud when she realised she had actually been flirting, in her own strange way. That was hilarious and went to confirm that she and Lincoln were a stupid idea. She excused herself and moved to the mats, letting Lilly play out her shpiel.
“So it turns out that Kit will be here for the Sunday morning kickboxing class we’ve been talking about trying out.” Lilly’s eyes warned her not to disagree. She was simply too much Aria thought, but she actually really did want to try the class out, so she folded. “Yip, I found out, Sunday at 8 am.” She narrowed her eyes at Lilly, then shot a sympathetic smile at Kit. He smiled back, and Aria noticed how it softened him. He was gorgeous!
She was an absolute eye-slash-smile junkie; as long as the guy had one of those she’d usually consider a second look. This guy had both plus perfect teeth and a killer body, and man was he tall....Aria was still in her head when Lilly squealed. “So it’s on then, we’ll meet here.” She purred. “Well, I have to be here regardless, so see you Sunday?” Lilly didn’t miss the fact that Kit said it almost directly to Aria, and that was new; usually, she had the guys drooling.
They watched Kit sling his bag over his shoulder and throw a last grin in their (Aria’s) direction. “Damn he is pretty.” Lilly sighed. “Pretty enough to get you here on Sunday morning at 8...am?" Lilly bit her lip and rolled her eyes as bubbles of half-suppressed laughter escaped her.
“Shit, why did you let me do that? Oh, who cares? He was cute, and it was fun flirting with him." Aria shook her head. “Yes, but what is the point if nothing will come of it?” “For the thrill of the Adrenalin rush, because it’s fun. Remember fun Arialena, F.U.N?” Lilly rubbed her friend.“We’ll talk F.U.N on Sunday at 8 am.” Aria sang sarcastically.
When Aria started helping out at her parent’s hair and beauty distributors, it was a small back-of-the-house business, and she was still in high school. Their business had always enthralled her; it was so complex and completely foreign to her. Her mother never bothered much with hair or make-up, and her brothers and father had always been the more ruggedly handsome type of fella’s. 0ver the years she’d gotten more involved, helping her parents with two company expansions and into a modern delivery system.
As soon as she was a certified CA she’d started muscling in on her parent’s bookkeeper. Turned out the old dandy had been asked to chair a theatre group. He'd been toying with the idea of an early retirement, so with the help of a few well-placed hints, he was out, and she took over. She reigned in any excess that the company may have been bleeding. Her parents argued with her constantly about going to work at a fancy firm.
“This place isn’t going anywhere, Aria. You should be out enjoying your life, don’t you want to travel? Go home to Greece or Lake Como. Go find a husband to marry and have babies with." Her father argued. “Daddy please, I am here because this is my life, almost my entire immediate family work here. I love this company, I’m proud to work here and I have so many ideas. I will travel daddy and I’ll meet a guy and I’ll fall in love I promise, one day” Her father could do nothing but kiss her head and grin.
Aria did a speed walk across the parking lot and into the gym. Shit 8:05, she was late. She’d tried Lilly, repeatedly, but gotten voicemail, repeatedly. She prayed it was because Lillian was pouting at yesterday’s cutie, the red undies guy. She wondered what he’d wear today, and as she slunk into the class, he closed the door behind her. Nice, she thought, green t-shirt with black shorts (undies unknown)
“Beautiful Ari!” Kit nodded at her with a grin. “Kit!” She nodded back, stifling a snort and scanned the room. It was too late. The feeling had begun to seep through her already; she’d dragged herself out for nothing. If Lilly wasn’t present, she wouldn’t be arriving any time soon. She’d strangle her later; she needed to focus right then because Kit had just taken the podium.
“Morning people, welcome to week 5, I’m expecting 100% from you for the next 60 minutes. New bodies try to keep up.” Kit winked at Aria, and she felt her skin heat all over. Great, just awesome, she growled internally. His class - this was HIS class!
She got stuck in while plotting Lillian Ford’s untimely demise. Kit watched the girl move like a panther and forced himself to look away. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t seem to stop going back to her, though.
