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“That’s great news!” She exclaimed and danced around me and the punching bag as I took it down. I chuckled at her, rolling my eyes as she leaped into the air with ease and landed in the perfect ballerina pose. Honestly, I forgot what it was called, and she had already told me about 12 times so I wasn’t going to ask her again.
I set the bag at my feet, letting it lean into my legs, and clapped, laughing as she took a bow.
“Bravo!” I said then hauled the bag up by the straps and pulled it over my shoulder.
Stella had trained to become a professional ballerina. She was very good at it too, but when her male partner dropped her and she snapped her leg, weakened from malnutrition, she spent a lot of time thinking about her future while she was healing. An injury like that meant she would never make it into the big leagues and she never wanted to be just mediocre at her passion, so she went about finding her new passion. When she was in physical therapy she found yoga and the rest was history.
“You’re just saying that.” She giggled and grabbed the other punching bag I had already cleaned and set along the wall. Shepulled it along by the straps and followed me into the back room where we kept all our equipment.
Stella and I shared the space with one more instructor, though I had never met him. All I knew was that he taught some form of martial arts and that he kept all his equipment neat and tidy. I think he only held classes on the weekends when Stella and I weren't here, which was perfectly fine with us.
All of his equipment fit in the cabinets by the door while I had most of the empty space in the opposite corner. Stella had her extra yoga mats and blocks hanging from the hooks along the far wall and on the top shelves where she could store anything else she might need, though half the time, her students brought their equipment.
We stashed the bags in my section then went out to get the other 4 that were leaning against the wall with the full-length mirror.
“So did you hear back from Christian?” I asked, lifting the next bag up and over my shoulder. Stella let out a loud sigh that carried all the drama with it.
“No. I still don’t know why he hasn’t called. Or texted. I mean, we had such a lovely time! He kissed me at the end of the night and everything. I even thought about inviting him in for a cup of coffee or something afterward…”
“Orsomething.” I snickered and she rolled her eyes at me.
“Well… yes. Or something. But I didn’t and now I’m glad because that was, what, a week ago? And he still hasn’t called me!”
“Men.” I spat and she nodded, following me back into the storage room.
“Exactly! Why can’t I be attracted to you? It would be so much easier if I was a lesbian.”
I snorted.
“It would only be easier if I were a lesbian too and, sorry lovely, you’re gorgeous, but I prefer my partners to have a sword, not a sheath if you catch my drift.”
Stella giggled again and we went out to get the last round of bags before we set up for the yoga class that would be coming in in about 15 minutes. However when we left the storage room, there was a figure standing outside the wall of glass in front of us that showed us the parking lot.
Whoever it was was wearing dark clothing with a dark hoodie. It was darker outside than I had expected seeing as it was only 6 pm, but it was getting darker a lot earlier now, I always forget things like that. Because of that, I couldn’t see his face, but he was facing the glass watching us. I assumed it was male because of the wideness of the shoulders and the height; he had to be about 6’6” maybe 6’7”.
I paused, looking from the guy to Stella, then back to the figure outside the window. Stella stared at him too, then shook her head.
“Maybe he’s a possible client of yours?” Stella suggested. “I can’t imagine a male of that size wanting to do yoga. Maybe he wants to book a lesson, but he’s shy?”
“Maybe…” I hesitated, but maybe she was right. Plenty of people have issues asking for help. Maybe he was hoping to see a class before joining in and thinks we are setting up for the classes.
That thought made me feel so much better that I smiled and waved at the figure outside. He didn’t react, but maybe that didn’t mean anything. I couldn’t see his face with his hood over it the way it was so I just assumed he didn’t see it.
“I’ll go see what he wants.” I said and crossed the floor to the door by the booking desk. I opened the door and stepped out into the cool air, turning in the direction where he had been standing and startled. He wasn’t there. None of the cars in theparking lot had their lights on, no engine rumbled… where did he go? Had he walked? Maybe he decided he didn’t want to join after all and decided to leave?
I waited a few moments, then shrugged and went back inside.
Stella came out of the storage room carrying two yoga mats, hers and mine, after having gotten rid of the last bags for me.
“Where did he go? Did he sign up for classes?” She wondered and I shrugged.
“No, he was gone by the time I opened the door.”
“That’s strange.” She said, rolling out her mat in front of the mirror wall so that she and her class could check their form as they stretched. I reached for mine and set mine up so that I could face her as she taught the class.
“Yeah… maybe he was just shy… or maybe he had the wrong location.” I suggested.
The bell to the door rang soon after and Stella’s class walked in carrying their mats and smiles on their faces. Stella slipped into teaching mode easily and began running us through the motions, but I was still bothered by the dark stranger. What did he want? How long had he been standing there?
