Bittersweet

"I'm going to the gym in a little you wanna join?" Kel asks as I eat a big bowl of cereal.

"Are you trying to call me fat? Because there's nothing wrong with-"

"Why do you always assume I'm saying the worst? I just remember you used to always play volleyball and thought you would want to get active again."

I did used to be a lot more in shape, I guess I could try to get back to that.

I get dressed in a navy blue sports bra with a matching pair of leggings with mesh going down the sides. As I lace up my black shoes, I think over my conversation with Celeste. Her ability to see different perspectives surpasses mine by a landslide.

It's been two days and I still don't know the best way to apologize. I don't want to text it but I don't want to meet up with him just for that. I'm definitely never asking Makel for help with Roman and I don't feel close enough to Celeste to ask for help so I'm fresh out of ideas.

I pull my hair into a tight bun and fill up a water bottle before going downstairs to meet back with Kel.

"I've been meaning to ask," he starts when we're pulling out of the driveway, "are you okay?"

"I- What?" That caught me completely off guard. He never asks stuff like that.

"You were better at putting up with ma's shit so when you called... I don't know, I was a little scared that she had did something to push you over the edge. Did she?"

I take a deep breath before answering. Our mom is not always a light topic.

"Her bad days started outweighing the good ones and I tried everything I could to help but she made it impossible. But thats not the only reason I had to leave, everything there was holding me back."

"Are you happier living with me? I'm sure I wasnt your first choice." He tries to pass his statement as a joke.

"Actually you were." He glances over to me and I smile. "And I love living with you again but if your friend cooks like that all the time, I might just move in with him."

"Ha ha, very funny." He fake laughs but I see through his facade, I know he's genuinely happy right now.

It takes about 15 minutes until we pull into the parking lot of some place called Guardian Gym. It looks to be 2 stories tall and a pretty modern place with a glass front showcasing a reception desk and a lot of posters from sponsors.

We enter and the reception lady smiles at us.

"Morning, Anna. This is my sister, Makenzie. Do you think we can sign her up as a member?"

Kel must come here a lot. The lady, Anna, definitely falls under Kel's imaginary charm. The second she'd seen him, her whole mood perked up and she's currently arching her back so far she looks like a dolphin.

"I'm assuming she gets the family discount as well?" She asks and Kel nods. Family discount? Who in our family works at a gym?

After filling out a little paper work, I get the membership card and we walk to the main part of the gym.

Equipment seems to be everywhere and yet the gym feels so organized and spacious. There's not that many people here but I get the feeling it isn't always like that. This place seems to be too nice of a gym to ever be empty.

"Oh, before I forget, how do we have 'family discounts?' What family do we have that works in a gym?"

"My friends are like my brothers and it comes with perks."