Eyesore

Sounding like the surprising noise of sea spit coming from the waves off in the distance, Joe released a small sigh through his parting lips, before jogging around in a tiny three-step circle and beaming with pride.

"I win." Boldly, he stated, puffing out his chest further than it already was as he tried to steady his breathing.

Minnie only fed his ego by lifting her brows and fixing them in an unimpressed manner on him, then she returned to bending over and holding onto her limber knees while she concentrated on catching her breath. She could run like the wind, but her bones were snapping like pecan brittle, so dry and overworked.

"So, are you on a long distance team or something?" Slowly moving his feet along the pavement they’d just stampeded down, Joe continued to walk further down the lane, Minnie still panting behind him. "You’re pretty fast." He prided himself on his health and fitness, Nick could hardly keep up with him when they would run on the treadmills at the gym, so the fact that Minnie was ahead of him during their race, sometimes, impressed Joe.

"No," She sniffled, finally lifting her chest and chin upward and stretching out her legs like a baby deer learning how to walk on it’s own for the first time. "I just started running, like, a month or so ago."

"Wanted to get in shape?"

"Basically, yeah. I just want to get healthy." She lied. Minnie wanted to lose weight fast and however she could, and the idea of gaining muscle disgusted her because it made her feel heavy and like a bulk bag of potatoes. "I just joined a gym and stuff." She kept talking, noticing that it was the first time Joe was fully listening to what she was saying and even seemed semi-interested.

"What gym?" Joe turned them left onto another strip, a busier and more public area, hoping to find a gas station or convenient store where he could buy them some bottled water.

"The Good Life. It’s on Mallor and Stafford."

"Yeah, yeah, that’s my gym." Joe told her with a friendly smile, treading on new civil territory for the two of them. "I mean, I probably work out more in hotel gyms and on the bus, but when I’m in town, I got to The Good Life."

"Cool." Mechanically, she nodded and then pushed both of her lips together like a duck beak while they returned to their safe silence.

"So, are you going to come back to set? I mean, we really put your dad in his place." Playfully, he slapped her arm as they approached a small vending machine by a dirty glass bus shack. "You saw his face when you sat by the director, right?"

"It was something else." Minnie had never planned to seek out any kind of emotional revenge on her dad before, she just avoided him and kept her distaste for him to herself, but it did feel good to have the upper hand over someone so powerful.

Joe found his wallet in the pocket of his pants and unfolded two dollar bills, then fed them to the machine, retrieving them both a bottle of Aquafina.

"Don’t worry, I have the forty bucks I owe you." Joe didn’t like to be in debt to anyone. He tucked his uncapped bottle of water under one arm pit, stained from sweat, and opened his wallet up again in one hand.

"It’s fine, forget about it." Minnie held out one hand and pushed his wallet away from her and then swallowed a long first refreshing gulp of water. "My dad’s face made up for it." She assured him, nicely, and for the first time, Joe saw her with a smile on her face and he couldn’t look away. He felt like he had really earned it and for that reason, it meant something to him and it was much prettier than he would’ve thought it was had she worn it twenty-four seven.

They paced themselves on the way back to the lot, taking their time while Joe talked on and on about a good technique for toning your stomach and Minnie listened diligently. She liked getting to talk to somebody about fitness without them screaming at her to eat and she respected Joe, slightly, for taking pride in his body.

"Oh, shit." Joe looked down into his pocket where his phone was vibrating from receiving a text message and noticed the time. "I’m totally late." He had a tendency for losing track of time, especially when with girls, but he never expected to get caught up in the moment with Minnie Savard, of all people.

She was a brat, she wasn’t famous, and most importantly, she wouldn’t put out. If Joe had a black book, he’d have written her name in thick black ink under the "not worth the time" section, but he was pleasantly surprised by what a good and normal time he was having with her. For a second, he forgot all about his scheme.

Fr: Nick
Gaston’s pissed.
Where r u?

Leave it to Nick to text like an uneducated child, but it brought Joe crashing back into reality. He knew that saying ‘Gaston’s pissed’ was a major understatement. Their boss was probably smashing his shaking fist into walls and calling Joe a ‘cunt’ over and over again.

"Should we run?" Already picking up her feet off the concrete sidewalk, Minnie actually giggled. She tossed her empty water bottle into the nearby waste bin and once Joe took another sip of his, they took off running again, laughing the entire time and trying to beat the clock. It was okay if Joe was half an hour a late, but anything past that would’ve been deadly.

They dodged in and out the pylons that gated off the set and once Joe made his back to his wardrobe trailer, they parted ways with neighborly waves in one another’s directions. Minnie was going to happily sit back in her director’s chair and enjoy the perks of watching her dad sweat from the front row.

"Oh, hey, Minnie." Joe knew that because of his tardiness they would have to stay on set longer and he probably wouldn’t get a chance to parade Minnie around the media or in front Gaston until the tomorrow. He watched her spin around, her face red and her thin torso puffing underneath the material of her thermal. They both smiled once they knew they were in the center of each other’s attention and, for a second, Joe didn’t want to speak and ruin the friendly moment. "I have to be on set by noon tomorrow, but do you want to meet at the gym in the morning? I could show you those intervals I was talking about." He actually sounded nervous to do something he’d done effortlessly and carelessly a hundred times before: ask a girl out.

"Sure." Innocently, she nodded, thrilled to have a gym partner.

"Okay, I’ll meet you there around seven?"

"I’ll be there."

He didn’t say it out loud, but Joe couldn’t wait. Instead, he just headed inside his trailer and watched her from the window, head inside the building. She was even walking happier than usual, not just dragging her feet or hanging her head low.