"Congratulations on your new Gym Membership!" Aaron's eyes zeroed in in a smooth purple font that reminded him of one of the trendy fitness centers he had seen on commercials guaranteeing results. Great, maybe they were mocking him like his wife and Eugene, fuckin' Eugene... He rolled his eyes and continued reading, if he was paying for a service, may as well as see if they gave any free t-shirts on the bank account before Mallory pinched pennies from the inevitable breakdown they'd have. "We understand how focused you are on fitness, and we are absolutely excited to have such a successful athlete working in our gym! We have enclosed your complimentary ID card and cannot wait for your exclusive orientation with our eager staff, where you will receive a tour of our state of the art facility, heavy duty spa and rejuvenation center, among others! Please do not hesitate to drop by whenever you feel this week, we are a 24/7 fitness center and are here to serve YOU!"
Aaron sighed, picking out the colorful ID card that had seemingly spelled his name "Aaron Sullivan" as "Aaron Sullison", he would indeed have to get this fixed, but considering the day was young and he needed an outlet to vent out his stress, why not hit the gym today? Shaking his pudgy middle, Aaron nodded to himself as he retreated and planned on doing some laundry for the sake of not looking like a total slob at the gym for his "orientation" as he settled in on his decision for the day. Pulling out a plain white T shirt and a pair of blue shorts that he hadn't seen since his last "fitness" stint with Mallory in a couple's track day (and attempting to ignore the memories that may incite painful understandings of the present) Aaron was ready for the gym. He took one last look into the mirror and scanned his features, patting his balding head somewhat restlessly and attempting to try his looks with and without glasses, before adjusting them and deciding to make the most of it. Mallory didn't rule his life, not anymore, anyway. Today he was a new man, he was a new Aaron. Looking back down to the misspelled ID card, Aaron laughed a little, a laugh he hadn't heard in a long time. Today, he was "Aaron Sullison" and he was going to be the gym fanatic these weird obsessive gym goers would fawn over every sweat slicked second, even if it killed him.
The thought died down as he pulled himself out the house and began to feel slightly self conscious as he jogged to the gym's location. It wouldn't be too far, claimed it was a little closer to the city side, but nothing a good brisk run wouldn't beat, he needed the cardio as he huffed in stride. A neighbor waved overhead nearby, yelling out to him that he dug his fashion sense. Aaron blushed, attempting to hide his anxiety, but tried to take the compliment in stride, another neighbor, an older woman that had seemed kindly greeted him in kind, with a bold "Keep it up, big boy! Momma loves a man with some sweat!" To which Aaron caught himself from stumbling, quickly stopping at the end of the block breathing hard as he felt himself seize up as he gave himself the once over. He didn't feel so out of shape as before, but the comments, it wasn't exactly expected for a man at 47, not that he really minded but he was a married-
Aaron took a deep breath.
It was fine. Needed, even. He was a new man. He was "Sullison". This was totally expected! But try as he might, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off and quickly set aside his feelings, opting to take his phone out of his shorts and check his steps. 1,589 steps and counting, the gym not being too far away as the locale had changed from the modest homes to the more modernized suburban neighborhoods and gentrified restaurants. If he continued his pace, he would find the gym in no time!
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Aaron found the gym after nearly another fifteen minutes, though, he would have found the facility sooner had he not been plagued by his anxiety continually hammering away at him as he felt eyes gawk at his form, nipples probably protruding from the white shirt, or even worse, pit stains glaring from his out of shape body heaving from a faulty concentration of breathing and strenuous pacing. As Aaron attempted to clear his head once more, feeling cold sweat drip from his upper back he glanced up to see the large and seemingly imposing "Fit Better" Gym complete with a smiling poster of a handsome man's face atop an impeccably large muscular body that seemed almost impossible naturally. With a pearly smile, the gigantic man flexed a mighty bicep, the other arm pointed to a large print that read,
"Feeling out of shape? Not your best? Fit Better today! We're eager to get you fitting into the sides of you you never thought possible!"
Aaron grimaced, at least a little nervous at the stereotype of largely musclebound men pumping their muscles even bigger and pushing him out of the way or chasing off non-muscled dude bro's out of the vicinity, but as he took his tactful steps into the facility, he was met with a bright, cheerful almost, receptionist desk of lavender and gold colors abound. A young man, bearded and tanned, sat looking about his paperwork, bored out of his mind before noticing Aaron's visage. Eyes almost twinkling, immediately called Aaron over and shook his hand as he looked him over.
"Hello! You're uh... Sullison, right? Sullivan? Crap, sorry if we got the name wrong there, bro, happens with new customers all the time." He chuckled, muscular arms crossed over his chest in a well fitted purple shirt with gold lettering and an emblazoned logo of a bodybuilder flexing a lat flare in a white circle.
Aaron nodded, smiling at seeing a friendly face after his stint with anxious nerves and sighed, explaining his "desire" to get into shape and wondered on the letter he received from the mail.
"Oh, that, huh! Well lucky you! Apparently only the real cream of the crop get memberships here, trust me, I've seen enough gussied up guys in here asking me the difference between your bicep and your tricep." He laughed, flexing a humbly sized arm for emphasis. Aaron's ears perked,
"By chance, any dude named uh..."
"Policy says I can't reveal but, lemme tell you man, this one guy came in all swaggered and high in confidence, said he was banging some cutie that he knew was with someone, and the next thing you know he couldn't even raise the bar higher than two inches after stacking it higher than he could handle. Posers, huh?" White hot rage nearly consumed Aaron, but he relented, for now anyway. It had to be Eugene, from his almost despicably perfect smile to the bravado, he was just happy enough to hear he wasn't all that to begin with. The employee gestured his head to the left as another man, this one younger than Aaron by a good 20 or so years strutting his stuff in nothing but a pair of trunks up and down the "ramp" to the main gym, headphones clogging his ears and his body slick with oil.
"We get people of all walks of life, but guys like that? They're a special kind of hot, amiright big guy?" He laughed, dark hair being brushed to the side as if to make light of Aaron's blush. Sure, he wasn't gay-gay, but he could admit a man looked good when he did, more than he did, anyway. "Ah, where's my manners? Name's Kris, pleasure to meet ya. Aaron, yeah? I know we got it good talking and all, but let's get you all filled out with the paperwork while I show you the tour, lemme know which you wanna hit while I get the papers, eh?"
Aaron nodded, belted out a curt "Thanks," And twiddled his meaty fingers as Kris printed out files and placed them in a purple clipboard complete with a pen for him to work on. He filled information as he listened to Kris explain gym jargon and basic housekeeping rules, his eye twitching as he explained how annoying it was to have a jock eagerly workout shirtless and in jeans and then fail to clean up the machines after he was done.
"Anyway, here are the facilities..."