Page 81 of Side By Side
“Nothing much. Skating takes up all my time, so just that and, well, more of that.” She giggled away her discomfort and looked around the gym.
She’d been so happy she was alone a minute ago. Now, she wished someone was in the corner on the elliptical or something. She knew Griffin from skating circles, but not well. He was in his mid-thirties, had started out skating himself, hadn’t accomplished much, and had moved on to coaching. Her sister had thought he was cute for a while and had considered dating the guy, but nothing had come of it. Now, he was standing there, completely staring at her boobs, and Chandler wished she’d chosen not to wear her tank top over a sports bra with leggings.
“Nothing but skating? That sounds boring,” he said.
“Not for me.” She looked around the room again. “I was just wrapping up in here, actually. Need to get some rest before tomorrow night.”
“I thought I just saw you walk in,” he said.
“Uh… I did, but I just needed a minute to work out a muscle.”
Why had she said that? She closed her eyes briefly and waited.
“You know, if you need any help with that, I can–”
“Hey, what are you doing in here? I thought we were meeting,” Belle said, walking through the door and straight toward them.
“Oh, hi,” Chandler said. “Right. I forgot about that meeting.”
“You forgot we have video to watch?” Belle asked. Then, she glared over at Griffin. “Hi. Belle,” she said and held out her hand.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, looking like he meant nothing of the sort. “Griffin.”
“Yeah. Do you two know each other?” Belle asked, dropping his hand.
“Griffin is a coach.”
“Yeah, we go way back,” he said to Belle. “I’ve known Chandler, here, for years. Maybe a decade or so.” He looked at Chandler with a smile.
“So, since she was a kid, then?” Belle said.
“No, that’s not–”
“You ready?” Belle asked, interrupting him on purpose and placing a territorial hand on the small of Chandler’s back, making Chandler smile.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” she replied. “It was nice seeing you again, Griffin.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow night. Emily’s skating, remember? I’ll be there. Maybe we could grab a drink after.”
“I can’t. But thanks for the invitation.” Chandler got off the treadmill and grabbed her things from the attached cup holder.
“I’ll be in town for a few days. Keep this between us, but I’m interviewing here. They liked what I was able to do with Tamara, and Emily’s on track to make the team, like I said, so I’m up for a full-time slot here, and I’ll probably get it. It’s a final interview. Just checking to make sure we’re all good, so I’ll be relocating. Maybe we could catch up over coffee sometime. I’d need to buy something here, so you could show me around after.”
“Good luck in the interview, Griffin,” Chandler said, trying to be polite as she turned to go.
“So, coffee?”
“Dude, take the hint,” Belle told him.
“Sorry?” he asked.
Belle shook her head.
“Griffin, it was nice seeing you again. Good luck with the job,” Chandler added and took Belle’s hand. “We have to go watch the video of our performance tonight and get some sleep. So, good luck to Emily tomorrow night, too.”
“Together?”
“What?” she asked him.