MISSING DATES

THE WORKOUT

I’d always considered myself cool under pressure. But that was before I had a cute girl coming over to my house and I had no idea what to say to her.

“Hi, Lisa, welcome to my home!” No, she’d been there before, that didn't make any sense.

“Hi, Lisa, are you ready to work out?” Of course she was, that was why she was there. There was no use stating the obvious. But what if she wasn’t ready? Maybe she’d changed her mind about our work-out date. A quick glance at my phone showed no missed texts or phone calls. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that a work-out date wasn’t the best idea anyway. There was nothing romantic about watching someone lift weights or run on a treadmill. Especially when one person hated exercising as much as Lisa Manoban did.

Things may have started out a little rocky with Lisa. It really wasn’t my fault that the girl could not take a hint, but after throwing myself at her a few times, she’d finally figured out that I liked her. It had taken months to build up the confidence to approach her, but after first contact was made, it had become surprisingly easy to insert myself into her life. Not in a weird “I want to steal your identity” way, but more of a “You’re really pretty, can I smell your hair?” way. Which actually sounded worse, but sometimes the truth was ugly.

So there I was, at my house waiting for Lisa to come over for our rescheduled workout. I was nervous. A girl who had the potential to be my girlfriend, and not just a summer fling like the other girls I’d dated in the past, was coming over to my house. My empty house, because I had managed to get my parents out of the way for a few hours.

There was no need for a replay of the first time Lisa had come over to our house. It had been mortifying trying to eat dinner at the same table with Lisa while my parents, who were usually perfectly polite, if not a little reserved around new people, gushed about all things gay. My house had looked like a rainbow had thrown up in it.

I could tell Lisa was uncomfortable with the over-the-top reaction of my parents to my coming out, but she hadn’t made a big deal of it. She’d even kept her cool when my dad made a cringe-worthy joke.

There was no way I wanted a repeat of that disastrous night. I tried to set my parents straight on a few things. Most importantly, I emphasized that I was biual, not gay. There was a difference that I wanted them to be aware of. But I said they could keep the “I support my gay daughter” shirts; there was no use wasting good money already spent.

They were also not to put up any decorations, flags, stickers, or items of any kind with rainbows. Even Lucky Charms had been banned.

Once I got them out of the house, I made sure everything was set. I had on my cutest work-out outfit, yoga pants that made my look awesome (I really liked Lisa a lot, so I had to use every advantage I had) and a tank top that showed off my arms. They were less awesome than my , but still not too shabby.

My parents had left a note that said snacks and sports drinks were in the refrigerator for later. I put the note in my pocket and promised myself that I would order as a thank you that DVD on engineering during ancient times that they had mentioned wanting to see.

I was still practicing my greeting when the doorbell rang. It was time. One last pull on my ponytail and a breath check and I opened the door.

“Hi, Lisa!” I thought that was a good opening, but by the look of surprise on Lisa’s face, I was wrong.

She recovered fast. “Hi, Jennie,” she responded with a wave. We stood there at the door for a few seconds before I realized that I should invite her in. Not the best beginning, honestly.

“Come in!” I practically shouted at her. I felt myself wincing at my stupid mouth. It didn’t want to cooperate when I was around Lisa. “Thanks,” she said in a more normal tone than I used. I saw her glance around nervously as she made her way further into the house.

“Are you hungry? There’s some stuff in the fridge if you want a snack. There are also some drinks if you’d prefer that. Because we shouldn’t really eat very much if we’re going to get on the treadmill or lift some weights. Are those okay, or would you rather use an exercise bike, because we have one of those downstairs too. Or if you changed your mind about working out, we could just hang out instead.” I ended my word vomit with a weak chuckle.

What possessed me to spew all that out? I became increasingly mystified why Lisa would bother with me.

But then her look of confusion softened into something more fond. A warmth spread throughout my belly, and not just because she was y as hell, either. If she wasn’t bothered by my spastic behavior, then I wouldn’t be either. Or I would wait until she left to yell at myself.

“I'll leave the exercise stuff to you,” she said with a smile. “That’s why I’m here, right? I’m totally clueless and you’re going to whip me into shape. I’m still not sure you’ll be able to reverse a lifetime of my bad habits, but if anyone can, you can,” she encouraged.

A challenge. Poor Lisa had no idea about my competitive side. “Right, let’s get started then,” I said in my cheer captain voice. It let the rest of the squad know that the fun was over and that it was time for hard work. Lisa must’ve gotten the same message, because she looked decidedly less relaxed than a moment before. Before she could change her mind and back out, I marched over to the fridge and grabbed two sport drinks. “Lime or orange?” I asked her as I held one in each hand.

Hesitantly she replied. “Orange?” It was more of a question than a statement, but I just rolled with it. With one of each flavor, I shut the refrigerator door and made my way back over to my new work-out partner. I was in my super-focused zone. The blinders came up and any distractions would be ignored until I reached my goal. I had been told that the super-focused zone could also be called the super scary-zone, but that was a matter of opinion.

The walk down to the basement was short and silent except when I warned Lisa to watch herself on a particularly tricky step about halfway down. When I flipped the switch for the main lights, I was glad to see that everything was set up just as I had left it the day before. All the equipment was newly cleaned, with fresh towels in a pile on a side table.

I turned to Lisa with the intention of asking her what she thought of the space. Instead I caught Lisa checking me out while I was inspecting the machinery. It was quick, but there was no way I could have mistaken the quick shifting of her eyes up to my face after I turned to face her. Thank you, favorite yoga pants.

I decided to politely ignore Lisa’s small indiscretion, but I couldn’t help myself from having a bit of fun at her expense. “Like what you see?” I asked her, with maybe more than a little sass. At her slightly flustered look, I decided to be merciful. I turned back to the gym equipment.

“I know it's not the newest or t