The Gym; Late Sunday Afternoon [ 09/06 ].

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

The fact that Cal had made it down to the gym as early as he had (even though it was pretty well into the day) made him feel proud. The summer had been filled with plenty of lazy days, especially once he'd returned to Michigan, so he felt it was a good thing that he was waking up in the afternoons at all.

Hair tied back and in his loose, comfy work-out clothes, he stretched out a little by the machines before getting back into the habit of using them. They should be a cinch, too, after building churches for two months.


[[ open gym is open, though I may be a little slow ]]

Comments

[living_endless]

It was a reasonable question what the girl in black and denim was doing in the gym. She had a basketball, but she wasn't putting much effort into doing more than bouncing it lazily; mostly, Didi was observing.

Cal got a small but cheerful wave. "Hi."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"...Hi." Cal, just about to settle in behind the weights of a machine, had the chance to wave back a little and contemplate the denim. "Ready for a rigorous workout, I see."

[living_endless]

"Not really," Didi admitted. "I was exploring."

Exploring bouncing a ball in a gym, yes. Didi ended up in odd places sometimes.

"Do you come here a lot?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Good thing she had a basketball already handy, then. Cal's head tilted, finding himself intrigued, but he wasn't sure why, and he decided to hold off his next set a little, choosing instead to lean forward, elbows on his thighs, hands drooping between his knees, to talk to her better.

"Used to," he said. "Trying to get back into the habit. Are you new?"

[living_endless]

"New here?" Didi asked. "Yeah. It's Didi. I'm still figuring out where everything is here. So ... now I found the gym."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Welcome to the gym, then," he grinned a little. "I'm Cal. And that's the punching bag." He nodded that way. "That's probably what gets the most use in here."

[living_endless]

Didi went over, patted the bag, and solemnly said, "Hi, punching bag."

Then she turned back to Cal. "So do you like to hit things when you're stressed, too?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I," Cal said with a small smile to avoid just how poignant the first part of his comment truly was, "am an anomaly. I leave the angry psychological beating to other people."

He was much more of a moper, really.

[living_endless]

Didi bounced her ball closer, giving Cal an intent look. "Yeah, you strike me as more the emo-in-your-room type. My brother's like that."

[Night!]

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal was immediately intrigued by the look, but, just as quickly, that intrigue left with the words.

"Oh, I am not," he insisted. "You base everything you think on just what you see?"

[living_endless]

"I'm not wrong that often," Didi said. She didn't think she was this time, either, but she'd let it go. "Sorry. My mistake. What should I base what I think on?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Definitely not by what you saw, of that Cal was completely convinced. He felt himself the perfect example of that, after all.

"By getting to know the person," he said with a shrug. "People can be surprising."

Even now, he was surprising himself. He actually wanted to stop saying things that could one day be interpreted as cryptic or curious, but they just kept coming.

[living_endless]

"Maybe once in a while," Didi had to allow, albeit smugly. "So. We're talking. What should I ask to get to know you?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"That's not a bad question to start with," Cal said with complimentary evasiveness. "Although you're the newer kid; I should be asking you."

[living_endless]

Didi tilted her head to the side and watched him for a long second, as if trying to make her mind up about something. "Hmmmm."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Yeah, like that wasn't something to make a person a little self-conscious. This was especially true from someone who was in a constant state of self-consciousness. Cal shifted a little, trying to make it look like he hadn't shifted at all.

"What?"

[living_endless]

"I'm trying to figure out if you ever say what you think, or if you keep things cryptic to be interesting."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Okay, so that response wasn't as bad as it could have been. In fact, Cal really couldn't help grinning a little at it.

"I do say what I think," he said. "Sometimes."