18th
Actually, thinking about what happened I got to be rather shocked!
Having Sally do the bike thing was lovely because it showed she had feelings for me, but I realised as I kept thinking about it that it shouldn't have been that lovely and what was it doing making me squirm my hips, or try to anyway, when I thought about her pedalling away on the bike. I could understand thinking of her pedalling Ok, perfectly natural in the circs, but what I kept coming back to, with an extra powerful minispsm! was when the current got her and she gave one of those little yelps of hers... Always when that happened I sort of focussed in on her face as she jerked her head back, registering the hit, lips pulling apart slightly, eybrows bunching. It was that that was making me squirm!
I got about a nanosecond more with her since - but a nanosecond that she found a way of making last ... (I know that doesn't make sense but you will see if I explain.)
Gym yesterday - and her place for changing was at the back of mine - not exactly, one up, but still. I knew this was coming - had spent the night thinking of it of course - but couldn't think what to do. How on earth to make something big out of those few few seconds of (almost) being close?
You get to your place and then stand with your back to the bench, 'head up, arms at sides, thumbs to the front', until everyone is in position and you get the shout to 'change up'. Last but one, Sally had to file past me to get to her place round the end of the bench. You can imagine how I felt! It's called the 'Alert', this standing straight up etc, and you aren't supposed to look anywhere but straight ahead. So I shouldn't even look at her! I did of course - shot her a glance, desparate, imploring, worshipping. You can imagine how I longed to reach out and take her hand, or just touch her arm, or what she was wearing, something, anything!! But of course touching was absolutely verboten and the beady electronic eyes were there to pick up the slightest infingement.
But as I should have known a little thing like that didn't stop Sally! She caught my hand! Then bent to my ear:"Swap shorts?" her whisper asked.
What? Swap shorts? What did she mean? How could you 'swap shorts'?? Before I had got control of my legs, suddenly just jelly, the 'Change up!' came. Hand to belt on auto, rushing to get out of my mac as per. But then! - the rustle of the green shorts material being poked through the grill between the benches: Sally had whisked them out of her satchel double-quick and was pushing them through. I pulled and had acquired her shorts!
Knowing it was complete madness I snatched mine and pushed them through the grill in return.
The (normal!) double-quick change for gym involved a lot of movement and though Joelly was managing to look as always at us and the screens at the same time she couldn't tell exactly what was going on, just that something was. "The four of you at the end of bench 3," she called in her sugary friendly-deadly tones "I'm afraid the rule is get changed as quickly as possible which you are not really doing, are you, so I'm sorry I have to say 5 points each. Gillian?"
Gillian looked absolute daggers at me but shouted out her "Yes, Miss, sorry Miss" just the same.
"Sally?"
"Yes, Miss, sorry Miss, " called Sally, brightly as though butter wouldn't melt.
"Hayley?"
"Yes, Miss, sorry Miss" absolutely not brightly, caught in the cross fire and now with twenty points which would trigger payback.
And "Yes, Miss, sorry Miss" from me not knowing what on earth I was getting into, but thrilled, shuddering to the core at having Sally's shorts in my hands.
We had 3 minutes for the double-quick change. We were straight from Standing, so it was off with our navy macs, fully done up and buckled, of course, thigh straps included, without pulling any buttons etc off! On with the T, and then ... But absolutely no time to savour! Up with the shorts - Sally's shorts, Omygod, a flash of slippery cool up the legs and yanked up tight - Oh, Sally, Sally, that's just fantastic! - the cool staying a fraction while one sock, sneaker, other sock, sneaker, tie feverishly, have to start again, leap up and press with the others into the gym, deadly keen not to be last and get the points. Where was Sally? Note what came first! What kind of a friend was I? Avoid points first, look round for the light of my life second! Ugh!
I hadn't seen her, I was struggling in the danger zone as we fought to get through the door, but suddenly in the mayhem a whisper in my ear: 'I like your shorts,,,' - and a touch! perfectly gentle - intimate - touch, completely different from the all the shoving I was giving and getting. So Sally! She didn't care a fig for being last - you can't be nice and not come last! There were more important things than having to wear pps, or ride the bike, whatever.
Once inside with our handicap belts on and 'alert' in our positions Joelly's tiramisu voice sweetly confirmed: 'Sally, I'm afraid you were last and I'm having to give you 5 points.'
'Yes, Miss, Sorry, Miss,' Sally sang back, cheerfully unphased, as though she had won a prize.
Then we were off into the routines, more or less as exhausting for everybody because of the waist weights you had to wear, adjusted in the light of how good you were. I was a five, which was quite good, so my belt was really heavy.
As usual, absolutely dripping with sweat after five minutes, and 40 to go.
I always enjoyed gym, but on this occasion, for me, 40 quite glorious minutes!! She was quite near, behind me and one to the left, but the fantastic thing was it was the rustle of her shorts I was hearing as I pumped my knees up and down, and the wet cling all round my thighs was sort of hers in a way... And I imagined the rivulets trickling down from where the shorts ended were hers too, torrents they quickly were, and spraying, as we flung our legs wide and then together again, again and again, and did our squat jumps, 20 reps, press-ups, 40 reps, and the rest of it, pushing, pulling, rolling, twisting. Fantastic!!
Eventually off we trooped, pulled off our things and through the showers. Then as usual on with them again! I don't think they made us do this as any kind of punishment or anything, just one of their weird weird ideas up with which we had to put! Shy, confederate smile between us as Sally passed to get to her place. 'Thank you' she whispered. 'Now swap back?'
So when she got back - repeat rustle, rustle through the mesh and we had each got our shorts back - only soaking wet.
No time to wonder whether ugh or ahh! A lot of both, as it turned out - lots of ahh! perhaps actually because lots of ugh! In a sense the gym stuff doesn't actually get wet exactly itself - doesn't absorb anything - it just doesn't let anything through so the inside gets dripping wet. Like the rest of the things you have to wear really, only when you are doing gym in it the wet generated and staying around is total. You have to peel it off, which can be done, but putting it on again is - well, disgusting is the word!
Generally.
But today! Well! Really weird, I'll say that. Should have been dire, and would have been if it had been someone else wearing them. But knowing it had been Sally - I'm afraid I was somewhere else entirely as I slid them sloshily on. Sally, passing me as she filed out, smiled wickedly as she reached back and adjusted the lie of the ones I had 'prepared' for her...
That night I came top of the Os! - and Sally third. (Horrible girl called Petra got in between, vile thing. Don't know what she had to get so excited about, can't image there is anybody here who has the hots for her.)I thought I had four but the computer said five - and the computer never lies. (I wondered for ages how on earth they knew, thinking they must be watching all the time, but no, it's the stuff you wear, apparently, cyber-something or other. They can pick on proper dreams as well, or at least how many and how 'deep'. And everything else I guess! - all the gear is cyber-whatnot, explains why it's all so weird I guess. But abolutely everything 'monitored! Every move, every touch, every ... The mind boggles. And all of it passed to that wizz screen Joelly is always looking at ....Ugh!)
Previously on Penny's Blog
