Her back ached, her arms were sore, and it even hurt to sit.
"Thanks for covering for me, Maria, you can get back to it," the pretty, light-skinned girl told her.
Maria wanted to groan, but this was her first day so she forced a polite smile. "Sure, any time," she said as she got up and grabbed her mop bucket.
"Oh, one more thing," the pretty one began hesitantly, "the, uh—well you might want to start in the lady's room."
Maria hunched forward. "How bad is it?" she asked sullenly.
"It's, er... Hey, we're almost closing soon, and when we're all locked up you're free to use any of the equipment you want. I know how much you wanted to get into fitness during our interview—at least I think that was you."
"Yeah, that was me," Maria confessed. "But, well, I didn't know I'd be so tired. Jennifer, I think I'll pass tonight."
Her boss frowned. "OK, well, just let me know." She made room for Maria to pass by, but just as her new employee got near she placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Just stick with it, we'll get you out of there in no time. And we need trainers too."
Maria perked up and spoke rapidly, "Really? But, well, I still have school during the day, and I can only work at night, and what about my accent?"
Jennifer wrinkled her forehead. "Accent?"
"Well maybe you wouldn't recognize it, but other people will."
Jennifer laughed. "I still have mine, believe me, but relax, seriously! Besides, it's your braces I'd be worried about."
"Really?" Maria said as she covered her mouth.
"Jesus, no! You have a little lisp, sure, but it's fine. Seriously don't even worry about it, nobody cares, trust me. And honestly, it's not very hard to be a trainer. Like if you get a fat guy, for instance, just tell him to stop eating cheeseburgers and he'll think you're a genius."
The dark-skinned, Latina girl tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it. She immediately felt pain and clutched at her sides. And when Jennifer offered a comforting rub on her neck, Maria grimaced.
Jennifer relaxed her grip. "Yikes, you really should probably go and ice yourself. No seriously, you've probably gotten more of a workout than my clients."
"No, that's OK, I don't want to be any trouble, and besides—" she held up her mop "—I'll probably be awhile. I've seen the bathroom."
"You haven't seen the men's room yet," Jennifer mumbled.
Maria turned and walked away.
Her chores she found were much easier while she listened to podcasts and instructional videos by personal trainers. She pressed the little earbuds into her ears and went to work. The podcasts were easier to listen to, but not very educational. They were mostly entertaining anecdotes about unique encounters with clients. She initially skipped these but ultimately concluded that the classroom videos needed to be watched on a screen.
By the time she had defeated the ladies' locker room and was back out on the floor with her broom, Maria's optimism grew. The day was almost done, and she'd finally found something interesting to listen to. In that sea of gruff, male voices she had somehow discovered what may have been the lone, woman trainer. The lady spoke softly and even sounded pretty. Maria pictured a young blonde woman in small tight shorts and a tank top that clung loosely to her chest. In Maria's mind the woman's butt was impressive, but so was every other part of her figure. Maria imagined very feminine, toned muscles on every part of her. Her arms and shoulders were covered in sweat, and her abs glistened. Maria shook her head.
She suddenly felt ridiculous in her mismatched, and completely inappropriate outfit. She'd been so excited to go to work that she completely forgot what her actual job was. So when she showed up in her blue yoga pants and sports bra, a very stunned Jennifer only smiled politely. Then of course she handed her the bucket.
Her bra was also not the most flattering thing. She'd checked herself in the mirror for over an hour the previous night, agonizing about her small chest. And to make it worse, Maria was also the only one in her Junior class with braces, and the only one who hadn't allowed herself to smile since she got them a month earlier. The only consolation, she felt, was her pants. Those at least fit well, and she was proud of the way they looked. She folded the tall, black waistband down, preferring to not cover her small waist. She didn't have any muscles like the girl on the podcast, but she was thin, and the skin on the lower part of her back almost seemed to shine before it disappeared into her pants. Her neck had gotten sore after straining so long in the mirror, but she couldn't help it, she liked her butt. She had even caught a few men peeking when they thought she wasn't looking.
"So that's why I stay away from men," the podcast lady announced.
Maria stopped abruptly. She wanted to rewind but thought better of it with her poor internet connection. It would just take way too long, so she resolved to pay more attention and try to piece it together later.
The woman went on, "Girls are easier. That's my first piece of advice, ladies. They're clean. They're safe. They're fun. And they're not afraid to try new things." She smacked her lips together and took a breath. Even that sounded sexy to Maria. "I actually love the shy ones, the young, inexperienced ones. Those are my favorites. I love how I can show them a whole new world and completely change their life. And just to see the look on their face like, 'Oh my God this exists?' Well, that just makes it worth it. Beginners and first-timers are much more willing to test their limits."
Maria suddenly felt lightheaded. She checked the podcast to make sure it was what she thought it was. She read the description two more times to make sure, then pressed play.
"There was this one girl who was my favorite. She was still in High School. Shh... Yeah, she was. She was even an athlete too, she played almost every sport. But even she didn't know what she was missing. I spent a heck of a lot of time with that one, and of course, it all started very slow, everything was gentle and paced. But over time as our relationship grew, we started to try new things, and her timid little steps got bolder, braver. I loved working with her, I loved stretching her out and showing her how things worked. And I loved seeing how her tight, little body responded. She just started to look so much more confident, like she finally realized she looked amazing. She even started dressing differently."
Maria looked around the room as if someone might have heard the woman talking, and that she might get in trouble.
The woman went on, "But she only started dressing differently around me, that's what she told me anyway. I thought it was cute that she was doing that for me. I mean, there's this stunning eighteen-year-old black girl who's looking up at me with her big saucer eyes, hanging on to every word I say, doing everything I tell her, and now she's going the extra mile to impress me.
"She had gotten so obsessed with trying to look good for me that one day she invited me to the mall so I could just pick something out for her. I never told her that she always looked great and that it didn't matter, but I was just having too much fun. And, she liked it. I mean of course she was nervous at first, that first time we were alone in a dressing room together. So she turned away from me and unzipped her jeans.
"It's my job to keep track of her progress with each of our sessions, and as much as I thought I knew about her body I still had no idea how much of an impact our training had had. When she pulled those pants down in front of me for the first time I was speechless. It almost looked like she hadn't been wearing any underwear the way her black thong melded into her dark skin. It wasn't a very substantial piece of cloth either, so my girl's butt just swallowed it up. And I could see little goosebumps popping up along her cheeks. Then, she bent forward and began tugging to rid herself of her tight jeans. But she didn't make a serious effort. Instead of watching her hands, she had her eyes fixed on the mirror and was looking at me. It's almost like she was stalling, waiting for me to get in close behind her."
Maria ripped the little speakers from her ears. She looked around and found the whole gym nearly deserted. She strained her ears and picked up on a faint sound in the distance. A quiet conversation drifted over from the far side, from the area reserved for yoga and stretching. She set the broom down and very stealthily made her way over. Maria peeked her head around a rack of weights.
Jennifer was on her knees, pressing down on a girl's calf. "Is this OK? How does it feel, think we can go a little more?"
The thick white girl flashed her teeth and grunted. "No, yeah, this is fine, but not too much further," she said.
But Maria thought she noticed something else. She couldn't be certain from where she was positioned, so once again she scanned her surroundings and then darted forward with her thick, black ponytail swishing behind her. She slipped in behind one of the large, freestanding pieces of equipment and poked her timid, brown face out.
"You're doing great, Alexis, just a little longer, and then we'll do the other one," Jennifer said in a soothing voice.
"Easy for you to say!" the blonde girl croaked while clutching at her skirt.
"You know, you really shouldn't have worn that."
"I didn't know we'd be doing this today!" Alexis shouted back, then in a lower voice added, "I don't know, I just thought, well, I kinda wanted to you know, feel good about myself. And besides, I've seen your other clients wear stuff like this."
"You've been spying on me?"
Alexis frantically shook her head from where she lay. "No! No! I mean, I've just, well, I thought it would be nice, to you know, look good."
Jennifer pressed a little harder. "For me?"
"I... I guess, I mean, maybe?"
"Is that right?" Jennifer said, smiling. "So you were just going to come in here and do what exactly? Did you forget how much jumping and squatting we do? Oh, maybe you wanted me to get a little peek underneath, huh?"
"Jennifer! No! It's just, well—ah never mind, forget it."
"Oh no! Now I'm interested, what is it—hey, let's do the other leg now," Jennifer said.
As soon as Alexis's other hip flexed, and her foot was pointed at the ceiling, her hands immediately returned to her skirt and held on. But even from where Maria knelt, she could still make out the matching white panties underneath.
"Where'd you get that anyway? It's cute," Jennifer asked.
"Oh, my skirt? I played tennis in High School, and, uh, I guess it still fits."
"You only graduated like what, two years ago, three?" Jennifer asked as she deepened the stretch.
Alexis grunted again. "Six, no wait, I don't know—oh my God, go slow!"
"That's probably why you're still in such great shape—oh for God's sake just let it go!"
"What! Here? In front of everyone?"
Jennifer cocked her head and then very deliberately pointed out the vast swaths of empty space. "Everyone? There's no one else here."
Alexis lifted her head to check for herself. And when it smacked back into the mat, she relaxed, and the white cloth slipped from her fingers. Alexis's skirt folded up onto her stomach.
Jennifer immediately shouted, "Oh my God I can see your panties!"
"What? Really! But you said..."
Jennifer laughed, shaking her head. Very gently she brought the girl's leg down to the mat. "Calm down, sheesh, I'm just messing with you, Alexis. Besides, I don't mind, and you actually have a nice, tight body. You should be proud."
"Oh, you're just saying that because you're on the clock," Alexis scoffed.
"Actually, your session ended ten minutes ago."
Alexis brought herself up to her elbows and squinted at the clock. Maria could see the disappointment on her face.
Jennifer waited a moment, then leaned forward and placed a hand on the girl's knee. "I can do a few more minutes, free of charge if you want. The new girl's cleaning the bathroom anyway."
"New girl? There's someone else here?"
"Trust me, she'll be awhile," Jennifer reassured her.
"Oh, OK. But... But what are you going to do?"
Jennifer scrunched her face as she considered. "Well, we could keep stretching, or..."
"Or what?"
"Or I could give you a nice massage. Would you like that? Is it OK if I touch you?"
The nervous blonde girl blinked her eyes and then took a deep breath. She flipped her short skirt back down to cover her panties. After a moment, Alexis nodded.
Jennifer was only a few years older than Maria but was light years ahead in confidence. She had to have been, Jennifer had been single-handedly running the business since her Senior year in High School. Maria didn't believe it at first, there was no way someone could be that well put together. But now, as her boss casually straddled Alexis's legs and took a seat, she was sure.
The poor white girl flashed her teeth, and her little nose twitched the moment those soft hands took hold of her thighs. Her jaw just sort of locked open and wouldn't close while her eyes fought to remain open to track her trainer's hands. Higher they went, brushing up her legs. Alexis only looked on, grimacing as Jennifer dug her fingers in and raked slowly up her thick thighs.