"You haven't wanted to come to the gym with me for the past two weeks, come on. It's been ages since we worked out together." 

He could practically feel her hesitating over the phone, then he heard reluctant agreement and someone else mumble something. He smiled. 

"Alright. I'll pick you up in ten minutes." 

Henry knew how quickly she got dressed, so when he got there and Krystal opened the door for him instead of Amber, he was a bit shocked. 

"Um...where's Amber?" 

Krystal smirked and lead him back to Amber's bedroom where she was in the process of pulling on a tight, light blue workout top. The fact that she was getting dressed wasn't surprising, but the nature of the clothing was. 

Henry's eyes bulged in his skull as he watched Amber tug on the thin fabric, twisting back and forth. The muscles in her arms and stomach flexing. 

Amber's head jerked up when she heard him gasp and she grabbed the first thing within her reach and chucked it at him. It didn't help matters that it was a sports bra. 

He fumbled with it as he stumbled out of the room chased by Krystal's giggles. The door slammed shut behind him. He heard Amber cursing at Krystal, then the both of them whispering together. He pressed his ear to the door and almost fell through when it was jerked open again. Amber narrowed her eyes at him, but had her backpack on, and was still inexplicably wearing the tight leggings and practically painted on top. He couldn't help but stare at her very small, but suddenly very noticeable chest. 

She didn't seem to notice as she fiddled with her short blonde hair and looked at her caps before just putting on a black headband instead and carefully making sure a piece of hair fell over it. Henry's mouth flopped open when she pulled a little tube from her backpack and smeared on some tinted gloss. 

"Am..." 

She went to her kitchen, got a bottle of water, slipped it into a holder on the side of her bag, and then tossed him one. He was still so stunned about what he'd seen in the past five minutes of being in Amber's home that he didn't raise his hands so the bottle smacked against his chest. 

"Would you stop staring at me?!" Amber snapped, her face completely red as she shoved her feet into a pair of blue Nikes and pushed her way out the door. 

Henry hurried after her, watching her get into his car like he was seeing a stranger. They drove to the gym in relative silence, Amber constantly tugging on her clothes, color rushing to her cheeks every few minutes. Henry pressed his lips together to keep from asking what was going on, wondering if Amber had lost some kind of bet to Krystal in the past few days. 

They signed into the gym, got their usual lockers, then headed toward the machines. Henry saw Amber's head swiveling from left to right out of the corner of his eye and wondered who she could possibly be looking for. They started in on one of their usual routines, stretching first, then cardio, a little weight lifting, some more cardio, then stretching. During the stretching section, Henry couldn't help but notice how long and fit Amber's legs looked as she spread them into a split quite easily, the black material of the leggings like a second skin. 

He blew out a breath and jerked his eyes away from her. In all the time he'd known Amber, he didn't think he'd ever spent any time caught up on her body. And it wasn't a bad one, especially if you were a leg man. And he definitely was a leg man. 

They made their way to the treadmills, inputting their favorite training program and popping in their music. Henry couldn't name a single track that played, but he could quickly tell anyone who asked how many times sweat rolled into Amber's eyes or she opened to breathe when he body started to tire. He'd never noticed how pink and tempting her lips looked before. 

He shook his head. Maybe there was something in that new outfit Amber was wearing because he wasn't really feeling like himself.  

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Amber couldn't help feeling self-conscious in her outfit every time she caught someone staring at her. She always wondered what they were thinking. Trying to figure out if she were a boy or girl maybe? If she was an underdeveloped female in the chest region or an overdeveloped male...

She shook her head and took a sip of water, knowing that Krystal would rag her endlessly if she didn't actually speak to the guy she'd made such fuss about for the past few days. She gritted her teeth and looked to the bench press where she'd noticed him start working at ten minutes ago. She bit her lip and put on her best game face, reapplying some of the tinted balm she kept in the band of her phone holder. She checked her hair in one of the gym mirrors, sighed inwardly when she noticed it had gone limp with sweat, but kept moving. 

Amber waited until he finished his set, then said boldly, "Hey!" She made sure to throw in a smile for good measure. She'd had a boyfriend before, but that was an awkward high school thing that she barely remembered. This was the first time she made a move on someone in ages. Not counting the sad, sloppy drunken kiss at that party she'd like to forget. 

"Umm..." 

"I'm Amber." 

"Okay...?" The man wiped sweat from his neck, waiting to see what the person in front of him wanted. 

"I noticed you've got some killer arms and wondered if you'd want to go kayaking sometime." 

The man's brow's shifted together. "Um, why?" 

Amber brightened her smile to the best of her ability and crinkled her eyes. "A date." 

The built man's eyebrows shifted up to his hairline. "Oh!" He looked the person over again. The legs looked good, but everything else was confusing. Girl? Guy? It would be awkward to be seen with him...her... "Um, I'm usually pretty busy so I probably won't have the time anytime soon. Thanks for the invite though." 

Amber nodded. "Yeah, sure." She turned to leave, then turned back again. "If you ever just want to hang sometime though, I'm good enough at pool to give you a challenge. See you around the gym." 

She was glad that she'd at least asked, but had seen the way he looked at her. Everyone really was just trying to figure out what they were looking at. 

She returned to Henry's side to finish some weight reps, then their usual stretches. No amount of clothes was gonna make a guy suddenly attracted to her. She'd just have to focus on making her smile a little better, she guessed. 

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"What was that about?" Henry asked, guesturing to the muscle-bound man still working on his arms on his third machine. He'd seen Amber grinning at him and pushing out her chest. Flirting? The concept was foreign to him. Amber? Flirting? 

"Nothing, just asking him how he got his arms so huge. Mine still look so scrawny, I need all the help I can get," she said without looking at him. "Let's head out. Buy me Boba." 

"Why would I do that?" He asked with mock annoyance, leading her out of the building. 

She smiled at him, one of those that arched her eyes into nothing but lashes and made those cute little parentheses appear on each side of . "Cause you love me." 

He gave her shoulder a little push. "You better be glad I do. I almost couldn't afford my electric bill last month because of you. You drink boba like most people breathe air."