Mary knew that she should be absolutely thrilled to be in Washington. And yet here she was, wishing she was somewhere else. She had had a restless night and was almost nauseous from exhaustion.
She had woken up about three hours ago, around 2.30 AM, and hadn’t been able to go back to sleep. Images of the day before had kept flashing by. The busy hall at the train station. Lex sniffing her coffee. The people in the hotel lobby.
The scene she kept replaying the most was the weird exchange with the hotel clerk. Several things about it bothered Mary. For one, she didn’t know if she should be charmed or insulted by Lex’s actions.
Why had Lex insisted on getting a room that was obviously below her usual standards? What point had she been trying to make? Had she done it because she wanted Mary to know they were equals? Or because she pitied her?
But things had gotten even more confusing when the hotel staffer had announced they were in adjoining rooms. It was the man’s conspiratorial grin that had triggered the thoughts that had kept Mary awake at night.
“Does he think we’re lovers?!” This notion had made Mary’s cheeks flush, but the little voice in her head hadn’t kept quiet after that. Oh, no.
“Nah, no way Lex is into women,” it had said, “And if she was, it’s not like she would give *you* a second glance.”
The idea was so outrageous, Mary had instantly gone into a complete shutdown. All she had wanted was to hide in her room and be alone. She had been restless all evening and night.
Since when did she feel like she wasn’t enough? Since when was she this insecure? And why had she allowed someone to make her feel this way? She was simply too old for this shit.
Mary felt her chest tighten with anxiety again. She groaned and hid her face under the covers. Her eyes were burning and pressure was building just above them. A headache was on its way, she feared.
“I cannot have a headache today,” she thought and threw the sheets off of her.
Mary dragged herself out of bed. Her bottle of painkillers was in her toiletries bag. She was glad she had remembered to pack them. She popped a tablet into her mouth and swallowed it down with water from the bottle on the desk.
She looked around as she took another gulp. It sure was a lovely room. The bed was gigantic and there was no shortage of fluffy pillows. The small sitting area in the corner was cute and cozy.
The door that led to the room adjoining hers was right next to the desk. It was locked, of course, and she intended to keep it that way. The walls were thick and well-insulated. Mary hadn’t heard Lex moving around at all.
It was still strange to know that Lex was sleeping just a few feet away from her. For a brief moment, Mary pictured the scene. Lex’s short hair tousled, her dark eyebrows relaxed. Her bare chest going up and down.
She almost spat out the water. “Woah, where did that come from,” she thought. The heat in her stomach was nearly instant. She put down the bottle and stepped away from the desk and the door.
“Fuck no,” she cursed out loud. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”
Mary had to get out of here before she completely lost her mind, she decided. She rummaged through the clothes in her suitcase. She should have put them in the wardrobe last night, but she hadn’t had the patience.
Mary grabbed her yoga pants and a hoodie. She slipped into them quickly and picked the first pairs of socks she found. She hastily stepped into her Chucks and tied her laces.
“A nice walk will clear my mind,” she thought as she grabbed her keycard.
It was quiet on their floor. Mary took the stairs instead of the elevator. The sound of her footsteps thundered around her as she made her way downstairs. She figured she might as well check out the breakfast room.
Once in the large lobby, where the staff was cleaning the shiny floor diligently, Mary looked for any signs that would direct her to the breakfast buffet. She found an arrow pointing at the gym instead.
Mary was always a little impulsive when tired. She stuck her hands in the pocket of her hoodie and headed in that direction.
****
The gym was very spacious and Mary was surprised by the amount of equipment in it. On the left, she saw dozens of resistance machines. On the right, she located the cardio area.
Treadmills, elliptical machines, indoor bikes and those godawful steps were all present. Mary wrinkled her nose. Her gaze fell on a figure in the far right corner of the room.
A woman in black tights, a thin shirt and a cap was running on one of the treadmills. A hotel towel hung around her neck. Mary couldn’t help but appreciate the view.
The woman was long and toned all over her body. She looked like a long-distance runner, Mary thought. She always felt a pang of envy while admiring someone who was extremely fit.
Not that Mary was overweight. Far from it. Her rigorous walking kept her weight at a healthy average. She had never had any issues with her body image. To Mary, everything was exactly how it was supposed to be.
It was the discipline these people had that made her envious. Mary was a hard worker and was persistent enough. But she had never found a way to work out every day. There was always an excuse not to.
She forced herself to stop staring at the woman and inspected one of the treadmills instead. It had a large, built-in screen. This piqued her interest.
“I wonder what they’re playing,” she thought. “And exercising gives you energy, right?”
She wasn’t wearing the right shoes to work out, but her yoga pants made her outfit acceptable for the occasion, she decided. Mary stepped onto the machine.
She hit the big green ‘Go’ button and the treadmill sprung to life.
The screen lit up and much to Mary’s delight, a long list of cable channels was offered. “Maybe I can watch a rerun of Super Soul Sunday,” she thought, a little giddy.
She adjusted the speed of the machine to something more than a crawl and started going through her entertainment options. She hadn’t brought earbuds, but found a closed captioning setting.
She got hooked by ‘Air crash investigation’ and increased her pace even further. On the screen, two pilots were starting to panic, but Mary felt her shoulders loosen The pressure in her head was lifting too.
When a commercial break came along, she allowed herself another peek at the lady in the corner. “A good workout with a beautiful view and onboard entertainment,” she thought and grinned.
The show started again, but the woman had taken her cap off and Mary couldn’t bring herself to look away. She was using the towel to dry her short, dark hair. She then lifted her sleeveless shirt for some air and Mary quirked an eyebrow.
At first, she was just entranced by the glimpse of skin, but then was jolted out of her reverie. She nearly tripped over her own feet and had to grab the sides of the treadmill to keep her balance.
“Fuck,” she cursed inwardly, both at being such a klutz and being so damned slow in her head. She had managed to place herself into the same room as Lex. Worse, a sweaty, tightly clad Lex.
Mary had to get out of here right now. If Lex spotted her, things would get incredibly awkward. How would Mary explain? “Hey, I saw you work out so I hopped on a treadmill and got a good look?”
She was about to hit the red stop button and make a quick exit, when Lex beat her to it and hopped off the treadmill. Mary looked down, mortified, and focused on the screen like never before.
Her heart was pounding in her ears and she felt every inch of skin prickle. She saw that the plane in the show had crashed in the sea, but couldn’t focus on the story any longer.
Mary increased the speed of the machine, assuming Lex would have seen her by now. “If she walks up and says hi, pretend you hadn’t seen her,” Mary told herself. Her ears picked up the sound of footsteps getting closer.
She held her breath despite her fast-paced walking. She tilted her head and frowned as if she was shocked by something on the screen. In the meantime, the sound of her own feet echoed around her. Thump thump thump.
Mary braced herself. But nothing happened. Mary didn’t dare look up and couldn’t hear any more footsteps because of the noise she was making.
But then she did pick up the click of the door closing. Mary immediately turned her head and saw that Lex was gone. She hit the stop button and clumsily stepped off, a bead of sweat rolling down her back.
The room was spinning around her. She grabbed the side of the machine for balance as she tried to catch her breath. Once she was sure she would no longer topple over, Mary looked at the door again.
Her heart sank. Lex had left without saying a word. That didn’t make sense. Surely Lex had recognized her? “It’s not like *you* said hi,” the voice in her head reminded her.
Mary groaned. This didn’t feel right. Were they back to ignoring each other as much as possible? She hadn’t intended that to happen even though her own actions were probably at the root of the problem now.
Mary fussed with a strand of hair that stuck to her cheek. She checked the time: it was almost 6.30. She had 90 minutes to get herself together.