Racing Hearts

Summer vacation was flying by. It had already been a few of weeks since we'd gotten back to the City from our LA vacation.

Kadie and Adam were just a few glitches away from launching their new company while I was successfully working on my tan.

These last few weeks had been too good to be true. I was the happiest that I'd been in a long time. I want to say it was because I'd gotten rid of all reminders of the guys in my life, but it was actually because I joined a new fitness group that met every other day in Central Park. Yes, I, Lynn Lee, joined a fitness group.

It was Kadie's suggestion (of course). She thought it would be a great way for us (me) to keep busy by avoiding falling back into old habits and adding structure to our schedules.

I could barely make it through a session at first, which is about 45 minutes, but in a short amount of time I was quickly building up my stamina. Our group trainer was constantly changing the menu. One day we were sprinting the hills of Central Park, and the next we were sitting by a quite pond and finding our inner Chakras.

The funny thing is Kadie had stopped showing up after the third session. She always had an excuse. “Me and Adam need to go over some paper work if we want to make this deadline!”, “Is that today? I can't believe I double booked! I'm sorry Lynn, but I have to meet with a client today” Something was telling me she was doing this on purpose.

It was a good thing though, otherwise I would've never been forced to talk to the other people in my group. It consisted of 5 girls, 4 guys, and our trainer Jeff, or as we liked to call him, “Jeff the Fitness Nazi”.

There was one girl that I seemed to click with. Her name was Kylie. She was around the same age as me and a nurse at the Presbyterian Hospital. She had an average build with brunette hair and light colored eyes that sparkled.

Kylie and I had the same kind of relationship most people have with their co-workers. We were the best of friends during work outs, but once our session was done for the day, so were we. Of course we always planned to go out for drinks or a quick bite to eat, but we knew with our (her) schedule, it was never going to happen.

_-_-_

I packed a bathing suit in my bag and headed over to Central Park. It was Friday morning, our last session of the week, and I was planning on spending the rest of my afternoon poolside at Kadie's apartment.

“Hey!” Kylie called out for me as I approached her in the park. She was sitting on the grassy field stretching her legs.“Fitness Nazi's going to be a little late this morning. He told us to run a couple laps before he gets here.”

I grunted as I sat down next to her and began stretching. “Hey, if you're not busy after this we should go to Kadie's pool to lay out” I invited Kylie to join me in my afternoon plans.

She groaned as she reached forward. “I've got a shift after this.” She pulled her body back. “I'm off tomorrow, maybe we can go then? God knows I need a tan!” She stared down at her arms while she twisted them around as evidence.

“Yeah, sure” She jumped up to her feet and held out her hand to lift me up. “Just let me know when”

We were getting ready to start our laps around the park when we saw Jeff in the distance. There was someone walking next to him, but they were both too far to make out who it was.

“Who is that?” Kylie asked as she shielded her eyes from the sun.

“Fuck” I whispered to myself as the figure became clear.

Kylie turned her head towards me. “Do you know him?” she looked back to see if she could get a better look. “He's hot!” She nudged my shoulder. I nervously laughed. “Wait a second. Isn't that, that guy from Late Night? What's his name? Jonah....Jonah...”

“Cohen” I gulped as they finally reached us. “Yeah, that's him."

“Kylie, Lynn, why am I not seeing you two running? Do you want that beach bod or not?” Jeff pulled off his sunglasses and rested them on his head.

“Who's your friend, Jeff?” Kylie fluttered her eyelashes as she waited for Jonah to introduce himself. He was too busy having the same reaction as me.

“This is Jonah, he's joining our group for the summer.” Jeff put the clipboard that was in his hand, under his arm, and looked down at his watch.

“I'm Kylie” She spoke an octave higher and held out her hand for him to shake.

He shook it quickly and diverted his attention back to me. “Lynn”

“Why, Jonah?” I folded my arms across my chest and shook my head at him.

Jeff, who was completely oblivious to what was going on, finally looked up from his watch.“Alright Jo, give me 2 good laps before we start. You too ladies! Chop chop!”

I rolled my eyes and turned around to start running. Kylie came chasing after me.

“Lynn! Wait up!” She yelled. “What was that?” She spoke effortlessly as she ran.

“Nothing” I huffed. “Nothing important.” I kept my eyes forward but could still see Kylie looking over at me.

I heard Jonah calling out my name as he quickly approached us. “I'm sorry, Kylie was it? Can you give us a minute?” Her eyes gleamed at the sound of his voice saying her name. With a smile she sped up her pace to out run us.

“Lynn. I didn't know you'd be here. I mean honestly I never expected you to be here”

I shot him a deadly side eye glace (But really I was agreeing with him in my head).

“Are you calling me fat?”

“Obese would be a better term” He said while trying to hide a smile.

“Fuck you!” I pushed him away from me causing him to slow down his pace.

He laughed out loud and sped up his pace so we were shoulder to shoulder again. “Come on, you know you're perfect! Why are you even here?” It didn't seem to bother him that he was running and talking at the same time.

I tried to respond, but couldn't. “Damnit!” I yelled as I came to a stop. “This really isn't helping my case.” I leaned over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath. “I don't understand how you weirdos run and talk at the same time.” Jonah stopped running and waited for me. I rested my hands on my hips as I walked forward. “Why are you here?”

“Let's just get something clear. I had no idea you would be here.” He held up both his hands accusingly. “My manager suggested I get into a regular fitness routine before the show starts. His friend is a friend of Jeff's and I thought I would try it out to break away from my normal gym routine.”

We stood in silence as we stared at each other.

“If you want me to leave, I'll leave.”

I continued to stare at him. He was growing anxious with every second that passed. I needed time to think. I had been having such a great summer and I didn't want Jonah coming back into my life to ruin it. I knew I had to adjust myself for change. Either I could fall back into old habits, or embrace it.

“No, It's fine” I said, monotone, as I walked past him.

“Seriously?” He asked, jogging forward.

“Yup” I smiled and sped up my pace, leaving Jonah behind me.