I text him back a row of smiley face emojis before I remember it's the middle of the night. I debate on sending him another text, but I don't want to risk actually waking him up if the first one didn't. I put my phone down and head to the tiny kitchen. I grab a bottle of water and down half of it before opening the cabinet door to rummage for something to snack on.
I settle for a sleeve of saltine crackers and move to the couch. I don't have a TV, so I just stare at the wall and eat the crackers. I'm still half asleep and the cold air is giving me goosebumps all over my body. I hear my phone ding, knowing it’s Garrett. I’m going to feel bad if I woke him up.
His text is as expected.
Garrett
Is everything OK? Why are you awake?
I text him back quickly to dispel any worry. Although I'm not sure why he'd be worried about me. I crawl back into the bed and wait for a response from him. I wait for a full two minutes, munching on a cracker that I will definitely have to clean off the sheets later, before clicking my phone off and assuming that he's gone back to sleep.
Just as I'm about to do the same, my phone rings. An incoming call.
"Hello?" I put the phone to my ear and sit back up. I probably won't fall asleep anytime soon now.
"Do you want to go to the gym with me?" Garrett asks without an answering hello.
"Um, did you miss the part where it's two in the morning?"
"I did not," Garrett says matter-of-factly. I can't help but smile and roll my eyes. "I was actually already considering going. I haven't been able to sleep and then you texted."
"Why can't you sleep?" I ask. I stand and brush the crumbs off my bed and then fix the blanket.
"My sleep schedule on the weekends is pretty non-existent. So, what do you say?"
"I mean… If I'm honest, I haven't been in a gym since high school. I can go for moral support."
"Seriously?" Garrett seems actually surprised about that tidbit of information.
"Yes, seriously. What do you even wear to the gym? Is sweats a thing? I've seen some po- Uh, photos, of people in the gym."
"Terrible save," Garrett says. "Sweats are fine. And I can show you some things to do. I'll text you when I'm outside."
We end the call and I stand there, staring at my phone. Why did I just agree to go out in the middle of the night with this guy I barely know? A guy that is fifteen years older than me, no less. Of course, he isn't a stranger, but I'm more guarded than this. I don't agree on dates or let people pay for me. I've been on my own for years, so why am I quickly giving up all the independence I've built up?
I settle on a pair of black sweats and a plain tee, with my only pair of tennis shoes. My stomach rumbles while I'm waiting and I down the rest of the water I grabbed in hopes it'll trick my stomach. I don't have a lot of food left here, at least until the next paycheck in a week. I grab a second bottle of water and my hoodie when Garrett texts that he's pulling up now.
I don't ever go outside at night in this apartment complex. The only lights come from the small ones between every other door down the balcony. I feel like someone is watching me as I'm going down the stairs, but if horror movies taught me anything, it's to not stop and look.
I give a sigh of relief when Garret comes into view. I hop in quickly and shut the door a little more forcefully than I meant to. He tilts his head. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," I say. The car is warm and it smells like his cologne. I take a deep breath and look over at Garrett. He's in much the same outfit, but with gray sweats that hug his thighs with the way he's sitting. "Just don't like how dark it is here at night. I don't really leave the apartment at night."
"Don't they have street lights or something?"
"That would require the landlord to care," I mumble. Garrett pulls away from the curb and heads down the street. The streets are almost fully deserted, which feels weird. We aren't any major city in the country or anything, but it's a solid area with tall buildings and a nice downtown area. There are two major hospitals on either end of the city and everything else a person could need between. Seeing most of the shops closed down at this time feels odd.
"We're here," Garrett says and makes a turn into a parking lot. The building is a tall one and definitely doesn't look like a gym. Garrett pulls out a little remote-like device and punches in a code. I watch as a door to an underground garage opens up and we drive through. "This is a rec center of sorts. The gym is on the twelfth floor. It's a nice view when the sun is coming up."
"At least I'll have something nice to look at," I say jokingly. Garrett scoffs, which makes me laugh in turn. I follow him to an elevator and he scans a card over the sensor before pressing the floor number.
The elevator opens to a hallway with only a couple of doors on each side. Garrett opens one and lets me go in first. The lights are off, so I don't go far until he flips a switch behind me. When I see everything, I know my jaw has dropped. This gym has to take up over half of the floor. There is a whole row of treadmills, a floor-to-ceiling mirror against the farthest wall, floor-to-ceiling windows to the right. There are a couple of Stair Climber machines, weight racks, rowing machines, and something that looks like a torture machine but I know it's where you sit on the bench and pull the cable down toward you.
"So, I usually do some lifting and then I'll end with a bit of cardio for a workout when I can't sleep. Nothing too crazy."
"By all means, show the way."
I follow behind him across the room. There is no one else in here, thankfully, and I take a second to watch how the sweats still hug his body. It wasn't just the way he was sitting in the car. He sets his gym bag on the floor. We're standing on a mat next to a rack of free weights, right by the mirrors.
