The Very Best of Friends

"I think you're probably strategically editing what they said quite a bit," she laughed. "Did they send you here to talk me into doing the boot camp after all?"

"They don't know I'm here," he admitted. "I think they are planning on ambushing you tonight before Melanie calls to find out how you went." He paused as she seemed surprised by this. "They seem to be concerned about her reaction to you walking out this morning."

"Mel wanted to do the same day as me for this initial fitness test," she smiled. "She had to do Monday though, and so did Tricia because of her shift work. I could come any day, and it was only for the initial session. So it wasn't a big deal to me. Mel and I could go together once or twice a week after that depending on the days we chose."

"So she'll probably be disappointed you didn't do the baseline and won't have a program like the rest of them?" Matt nudged her slightly towards the goal he was wanting.

"I doubt it," she lied and looked away from him. He seemed like a genuinely nice young man, but she didn't want him handling her body, measuring all her bits and pieces and writing it down for everyone to see. "Kylie will probably be pissed that I won't be there but more because she wanted to do the diet side and hound me about my food choices and comfort eating," she admitted.

"You can eat what you want as far as I am concerned as long as you are doing enough exercise to wear off the kilojoules," he said. "What Kylie does is important in its way, particularly if people have allergies or specific medical needs, but everything in moderation is the best way to go. If you starve yourself of the things you love you will just end up binging in the end," he chuckled. "I once sat down and ate a whole bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken just because I had been resisting the temptation for so long, when if I had have had one piece now and then I probably wouldn't have craved it as much." He chuckled, "The thing is I don't even particularly like it as fast food, so it was even more stupid."

"I wonder if that excuse would work for wine. I could tell people that I just have one now and then so I don't end up binge drinking, like when we came up with this terrible idea," she laughed making him smile. She had a nice laugh, and her whole face lit up like a light had suddenly been turned on behind her eyes and smile.

"I could write you a trainer's note prescribing it if you decide to work with me after this morning," he grinned grabbing the opening he saw in her words. "I could come over to your place after you've finished work and get the baseline data we started this morning. That way you could have a program ready to go with your friends next week," he hung the offer out there unsure if she would take it or not. "It might stop them all hounding you about it if you do it on your terms."

"I guess you're right. About the nagging anyway," she agreed. "I know I will probably just give in eventually it may as well be on my terms as you say." She sighed and looked at him.

"Great so if you give me your address and a time to be there I promise not to make any further jokes or make you feel uncomfortable in any way," he said earnestly.

"I am sorry about this morning, I think I was just feeling bullied into doing it in the first place and when you joked about the reason it just felt like they had been talking about poor frumpy Joanna the way they always seem to," she admitted. "Thank you for coming and clearing that up for me," she said meaning it. She gave him her address and agreed on five thirty as a good time for him to arrive. He had walked her back to work before leaving, and she had gone back to the pile of receipts on her desk feeling less miserable than she had when she arrived that day.

"Joanna that guy who was in earlier," Brittney asked about an hour later. "Do you know what gym he goes to? He looks familiar."

"I don't think he belongs to a gym," Joanna looked up from her work. "I can ask him when I see him tonight though if you like." She added teasing the young girl and waiting for the accusation.

"Shit, Joanna! I never took you for a cougar," Brittney said aghast.

"I'm not," Joanna laughed, "I can see how you would think that because who wouldn't want all this sexiness," she shimmied her shoulders. "But no, there's nothing going on. We're just working on a project together with some old school friends of mine."

"Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking," Brittney nodded. "He's way too hot to be chasing grannies," she said without meaning it to sound the way it did. Joanna didn't take offense but realised that she'd made the right decision letting Matt come and do the baseline with her. She needed a makeover in a big way if people were starting to refer to her as a granny so maybe it was time for some changes.

She watched the young woman walked out of her office and wondered what sort of people Brittney dated. She never spoke about a boyfriend, but there had to be one the girl was cute and very attractive. If Joanna had have been a man, she would have been falling over herself to spend time with the lovely young woman.

******

"You know you're in better shape than most of your friends?" Matt asked as he put his measuring tape away and made a note in his book. "Sometimes people who have been naturally slim all their lives gain weight but still don't appear unfit. Because of their lack of muscle tone they have less fitness than someone like yourself who has more muscle density," he tried to give her the information in terms she could understand so that she wouldn't scoff at him and accuse him of pandering to her.

"Are you up to doing a little bit of flexibility assessment?" He asked cautiously knowing that this was confronting for her. She's blushed and made excuses all the way through the measurement part of the baseline assessment even though he hadn't said a word. The truth was if she didn't wear such oversized, baggy clothes that she would look half the size she did on a daily basis. She had quite a good figure underneath all those layers of material.

"I guess I've come this far, we may as well get it all done," she agreed. Having gotten to know him a little over lunch and then again this afternoon had put her at ease, and she didn't feel so embarrassed about her size and level of fitness with him as she had this morning. She followed his lead through a series of stretches and lunges. She surprised herself by not finding any of them too difficult and laughed with him as he showed her that he couldn't touch his toes and that it was a poor test of flexibility.

Although he had found Joanna and talked her into doing this baseline assessment with him because he wanted the business, she and her friends would give him; he found himself warming to Joanna. He was genuinely enjoying the time they spent together tonight and found himself appreciating her warm and open personality. She wasn't the pushover her friends thought she was despite her insecurities about being compared to them. She also had a wicked sense of humour and a dry sarcasm that often took him by surprise.

"Tell me about your son," Matt encouraged as they continued to move from basic stretches through some of the more complicated yoga poses that tested her sense of balance as well. "Do you only have one child?"

"Yes, Justin was an only child. We called him our baby bear. He was a great kid, studied hard and played in the first fifteen at school. He made it into University, and as he started living his life, he moved further and further away. Of course, he had to, he's a marine biologist," she smiled.

"Does he work on the reef?" Matt asked.

"He did his final thesis on Sharks and stingrays and spent most of his time with a research crew out in the bay which was nice and handy, but he moved up north to the reef when a job offer came up a few years ago. He met his finance up there, and I think I knew he wouldn't ever come home again," she said wistfully. "He lives on an island now, off the grid, he calls it. No phone or internet so I have to wait until he calls me or checks his mail at work to contact him, which is less than ideal," she gave a sad smile. "I miss him a lot."

"You still have your husband right?" He'd been told she was divorced but felt like he owed it to her to tell her own story.

"I'm sure Carla at least told you I was divorced now," she turned to look at him, and she saw her walls starting to go back up.

"I realise that your friends didn't give me the full story about you, so I'd rather hear about you from the source," he said easily berating himself for the small lie she had caught him out on.

"We grew apart, bickered a lot especially when Justin moved out, and we were stuck together with no buffer. He was our common ground in the end and without him, we had nothing to hold us together," she shrugged. "Usual story I guess, he left, and I didn't have anyone to cook and clean for anymore, and I needed money, so I went out, did a course to get some better skills and got a job through a friend of a friend."

"Sounds like you are doing pretty well then. A lot of people I know couldn't have picked themselves up and started a new career. You don't even sound bitter about the divorce like so many of the people I know. So why are you hiding?" he asked trying to make the question light.

"I'm not hiding," she said defensively brushing her hair back from her face.

"I only met you today, so it was just an observation. I didn't mean anything by it. I just mean that you have a great figure but you hide it behind baggy clothes even at work. They make you look bigger than you actually are," he explained.

"I guess I'm at an age where comfort wins over style," she tried not to take his words personally.

"Try some yoga pants for the boot camp next week. You will be surprised at how comfortable they are, probably more comfortable than your sweats even," he suggested still stretching into yet another pose.

"I'm not sure anyone wants to see me in yoga pants," she laughed.

"Why not? You have a good figure. You just hide it. I guarantee you'll look and feel better in yoga pants than some of your friends," he shrugged. "You'll be more comfortable if nothing else," he chuckled watching her hitch up her over-sized shirt as it restricted her from the movement they were doing.

"Any other sage advice, oh wise one?" she asked.

"You have an awesome smile that lights up your whole face, but you seem always to put your head down, so people don't get to see it. Maybe try looking at people when you smile. Who knows they may smile back," he grinned at her.

"I don't do that," she smiled but immediately lowered her head.

"No?" he questioned meaningfully. Deciding not to say anything else unless he pushed him.

"So you don't like my clothes or the way I smile," she said ignoring the question in his voice. "Anything else?"

"I never said I didn't like your clothes, and I just told you that you had an amazing smile," he laughed at her immediate assumption that he was criticising because he didn't like it. "You asked why I think you hide, and I was explaining that you hide your figure behind ill-fitting clothes, you hide your smile by lowering her head and letting your hair fall forward around your face." He stood up and looked at her. "I wasn't criticising, I was just asking a question, and suggesting some yoga pants which will be easier to work out in."

"Oh, well I'm not hiding, I'm just comfortable rather than stylish," she smiled and willed herself not to lower her head.

"Okay, but think about the yoga pants for me. Maybe a shirt too, you almost fell once or twice while fixing that big shirt you're wearing tonight. Safety first," he said easily. "Feeling loose and relaxed after those stretches?"

"I am," she said slightly surprised by the question. She twisted her neck from side to side and feeling looser across the shoulders and upper back than she had in a long time. "My neck and shoulders feel really good," she added.

"Too much time at your desk and on the computer with a bad chair and posture probably. I can help with that if you like," he offered. He picked up his book to make a few final notes.

"I didn't realise, I just thought it was part of getting older," she frowned. "Are we done for tonight?"

"Yeah, you can relax now. I'll just pack up my stuff and let you enjoy the rest of your evening," he said closing the book he wrote in. "I'll email you all your training plans and a schedule of when and where I am available. Joanna is keen to have one or two morning sessions at her house by the river which is good for me. It's a nice to be on the water sometimes."

"Would you like a drink or anything?" she offered.

"No I should take off before your friends arrive to ambush you," he winked finding that he was regretting not taking the invitation but trying to remain professional with these women.

"Having them find you here would save me having to explain," Joanna said.

"True but then you may have to explain other things like why and even how you kept a handsome young guy like me locked up here until they arrived," he winked at her again and she burst out laughing.

"You don't think they would believe I have become a cougar?" She continued to laugh.

"We could make them wonder about it I guess," he laughed. "I'll stay and hurry out as if caught with my hand in the cookie jar if you go shopping tomorrow for something better to work out in," he said holding out his hand as if making a deal.

She looked at his hand dubiously before taking it, "Something better not necessarily yoga pants," she negotiated making him laugh.

"Okay I would love a drink, what have you got?" he asked.

She had light beer in the fridge as always in case she had guests and poured herself a glass of wine. They sat in her small living room and chatted more about her lives. Matt talked about his friend Steve who had suggested he make this a career rather than slogging it out in construction. They'd been talking for some time before Joanna realised Steve was an older man rather than someone Matt's age.

Carla and Joanna arrived about fifteen minutes later, and Matt stood leaving his empty bottle on the coffee table and pretended to look guilty, explaining that he had given Joanna personal service in getting her baseline measurements, and he would email them all a schedule for next week. Then he grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

He stopped before getting to the door as if remembering something and turned back to where the two startled women stood with Joanna. He dropped his bag and slid an arm around her waist pulling her to him and kissed her. It wasn't a deep or passionate kiss, but he turned their bodies away from her friends so they couldn't see anything but the fact that he had grabbed her and kissed her. He winked at her and grinned as he let her go, then he picked up his bag and left the house chuckling to himself about the look on all three of the women's faces.

It hadn't been in his plan to do that, but the casual dismissal of him being there alone with her as anything other than business had bothered him. She was a smart, sassy, attractive woman, why wouldn't he be interested in her if she had tried to seduce him. He suddenly worried about what her reaction would be but hoped that she realised he was just playing along with her game and meant nothing by it.

He considered whether he had meant nothing by it. He'd certainly wanted to kiss her although until that moment it hadn't crossed his mind. He liked her and found her easy to talk to, and while she wasn't his usual type after spending quite a bit of time talking to her today, he found himself liking her more and more.

He was used to women who approached him. He couldn't remember the last time he had to work to get attention from a woman he was interested in. "Was he interested in Joanna?" he asked himself. It didn't matter if he was, he told himself. This was business, and it needed to stay that way regardless of the fact that remembering her smile and laugh tonight made him grin like a goofy teenager.

*****

Joanna sat at her desk the next day smiling to herself. It didn't matter how many times she had protested her innocence the night before, her friends who seemed so ready to dismiss Matt's presence in her house when they first arrived, wouldn't believe it was nothing more than a joke that Matt had played on all of them after he had kissed her.

She knew it was a joke, and she wasn't so much of a prude that she was concerned that it meant more than it did. She'd asked him to stay as a way to explain to her friends that they didn't have to worry about her quitting the boot camp. She hadn't even considered kissing him. Now she couldn't stop thinking about it.

She considered her end of the bargain though and hated the thought of shopping for exercise wear. She had agreed, though, so during her lunch break, she walked down to the local shopping mall. She wasn't even sure where to start with something like this so we walked into one of the big sports stores and hoped she could find a sales assistant.

"Excuse me?" Joanna approached a tall, athletic woman wearing one of the store name tags.

"How can I help?" the woman turned and asked surveying the woman in front of her.

"I've just starting going to a boot camp and the instructor says I will be more comfortable in yoga pants?" she made it sound like a question hoping that the woman would suggest an alternative.

"Good for you," the woman's face changed realising the woman was not here for sports equipment for her children as she had assumed. "We have a large range over here," she said leading the way across the large shop floor to the far wall.

"You'd be a medium, so have a look at this rack here or if you want something with extra padding you can look at this rack over here," she pointed out two areas.

"I think I'm more of a large," Joanna corrected the woman. "Also could you tell me why I might want to pad my yoga pants?"

"People who do a lot of cycling like it, triathletes or if you are doing a spin class," the woman answered. Then she looked Joanna up and down once again and shook her head. "You'd be a medium or even a small in some brands. Here try these on they are a popular brand and should give you a good idea of the sizing," she led Joanna to a dressing a dressing room picking up several other items on the way. "With a bust like yours I would also suggest a good sports bra, or you could hurt yourself if it's a tough workout or if you're planning on skipping or doing Zumba. We have some shirts with bra's built into them, but I wouldn't recommend them for you. Try the pants on and I will find a few other things that might suit your body shape."

Joana slipped her skirt off and pulled the tight lycra pants up her thighs and nestled them over her hips. She lifted her blouse and looked at herself. She may as well be wearing just her underwear as they were tight enough to show off every lump and bump along with her underwear beneath the pants.

"How are we going?" the sales assistant opened the curtain to her change room without warning. "Definitely a medium, a large would bunch and become uncomfortable, but you'll have to give up wearing those granny panties and get something a bit more suitable, like a thong or G-string." She handed Joanna a few sports bras and activewear shirts. "It was a bit hard to judge your size because your shirt is far too big for your body, it hangs oddly off your shoulders." The woman reached in and tugged at the shirt smoothing it over her shoulders and down her sides pulling it in at the waist to get a better idea for sizing. "Try these to start with," she instructed.

Joanna looked in the mirror as the curtain closed again and frowned. She liked her loose, comfortable wardrobe. She couldn't understand why all these fit, beautiful people were trying to tell her she was wearing the wrong size. The shirt fit her. It was a little large across the shoulders but not so much that it was all that noticeable. She reasoned with her reflection that two people were not all people, but she was suddenly conscious of it. The way the assistant had touched her in such a familiar way had made her feel awkward if it had been a male assistant she would have almost felt violated.