fandomhighdorms | The Gym; Sunday Afternoon [ 09/12 ].

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The Gym; Sunday Afternoon [ 09/12 ].

It was Sunday, so, of course, Cal made sure that he didn't just stay in bed all day, tied back his hair, and went down to the gym. It didn't take much convincing that afternoon, though. Not because he'd already gotten back into the routine, but simply because he was eager to submit himself to the mindless repetition of his weight training. It might put a little bit of order into his consciousness, still whirling and spinning and feeling ready to topple over the edge after the last few days...

Like jumping into the deep end without a life preserver, but, hopefully, just setting to the sweaty task and letting adrenaline move him for a while would at least get his toes to brush the bottom.

[[ open gym is open! ]]

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Helen was restless and just running in the morning didn't seem to be helping enough. So she decided to stop by the gym to see if she could get a better workout that would let her actually sleep well tonight.

She nodded when she saw who else was there. "Cal."

Cal had paused his set of lifts briefly when Helen came in, but picked it back up as soon as he'd confirmed who it was. Steadily, he continued through to the end before stopped, letting out a breath from the effort and nodding back.

"Helen." He reached for a towel to wipe his forehead. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," she said. "Just felt I needed a bit more activity to help me sleep."

"Having some insomnia?" Cal asked, his head tilting.

She shrugged a little uncomfortably. "Just not sleeping very well," she admitted.

Usually being the one to suffer from little uncomfortable gestures himself, Cal noticed the nature of Helen's shrug and wondered, briefly, on it. But, also knowing his own reasons for such things, he definitely not about to push.

"Well, here's to hoping you exhaust yourself and pass out instead of the other way around. Workouts get endorphins going and make you hyper."

"I usually sleep better if I've been more active during the day," she admitted. "I hope this will do well. And you? How are you today?"

"Today?" Cal asked, actually needing a moment to think about it, but he nodded. "Good. Really good. It's been quiet. Sometimes you just...need that."

She nodded again. "Yes, I agree. It's nice just to not have to worry about anything."

"Especially when you've had too much to think about," Cal said, running the slight risk of having that followed up on, but he thought maybe Helen might just not care enough to bother, which would be comforting. "The mindless repetition of the weights is good for clearing your head, I think."

"You have a lot on your mind as well?" she asked, not wanting to pry, but feeling it should at least be acknowledged. "I thought the weights might be useful myself."

"Did you want to use this one?" Cal asked. "I can be done..."

Of course, pointing that out made it pretty easy for him to avoid saying much else about things being on his mind.

Helen shook her head. "No, it's okay. I should stretch out first. And if you have things you're trying to not think about, I shouldn't interrupt."

Cal grinned a little. "Appreciate it," he said, nodding, and settling back so that at least he could use it while they talked and didn't just simply keep usurping the machine just sitting there.

"I..." she hesitated. "I should ask if there's anything you'd like to talk about."

There was a bit of a pause.

"You...should?"

"Well, I'm not very good at any of this," she said a bit sharply, then bit her lip. "But you were very nice to me the other day and, well... if you wanted to talk, I'd listen."

She honestly wasn't sure if she wanted him to take her up on it or not.

Cal still blinked a little.

He...hadn't even tried and he seemed to have another girl opening up to him, or something. Or what he classified as opening up. Willing to listen to him, anyway. He wasn't used to this.

Fandom girls.

He shook his head slightly. "No, I'm good. Trust me. I'm...not a talker. Thank you, though?"

"You're welcome," she said, looking slightly relieved. "I probably would have messed things up anyway."

Cal laughed a little, in part because he'd dodged that bullet, and it looked like Helen felt like she'd done the same. "Mess up listening?"

She waved her hands in the air. "Say the wrong thing or whatever."

"Nothing you can't get over," Cal offered. "I say the wrong thing all the time."

"I sometimes just avoid people so I don't mess things up," Helen admitted quietly.

"See, now there's your problem," Cal said; though his tone was pointed, his eyes looked sympathetic. "I just go ahead and mess things up, and I've still survived."

There was a pause, followed by a faint smile.

"Or maybe that's my problem. I get that messed up sometimes."

She smiled at him a little shyly. "Messing things up does seem to be something I'm good at."

"You haven't messed up this conversation yet," Cal pointed out with a small laugh. "But now watch, I just cursed us."

Helen laughed. "You mean if I mess up now, we can say it was really all your fault for cursing us?"

"Exactly!" Cal said, willing to shoulder the blame because he just went well with curses, anyway. "So you're scott-free, no worries."

She smiled at him. "Good to know."

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The Gym; Sunday Afternoon [ 09/12 ].

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