Love Never Felt So Good

Sidney dropped his keys on the entryway table with a sigh, tight shoulders and a lingering migraine had bothered him the whole flight home from Vancouver, and since Bailey didn’t come to pick him up at the airport, he had to hitch a ride home with Paul, who liked to listen to his country music at full volume.

However, even with all of that, he talked Paul into stopping at the deli near Bailey’s apartment complex, picking up her favorite Chinese chicken salad as some fresh pita bread for a late lunch. He also snagged the last mini bag of her favorite kettle chips.

“Bails?” He called out, kicking off his shoes and walking into the kitchen, setting the grocery bags on the countertop before walking down the hallway to the bedroom, passing the empty family room. Pushing the door open to the bedroom, he expected to see Bailey, but was greeted with a happy pug, wagging her curly-cue of a tail upon seeing Sidney. He gave her a scratch behind the ears. “Where’s your mom, huh?” He asked. Looking over to her nightstand, he saw a little note on top of the book she had been reading at night.

Went to the gym, be home around three. Sidney shrugged, changing out of his suit and into a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt before tucking his feet into his yellow Crocs.

While he was starving, he decided to wait for Bailey to get back to break into the lunch he brought home. Three o’clock came and went and soon it was four. He grabbed his house key, hopping in the elevator to the third floor gym. Doing a quick scan of the room, he found her running on the treadmill in a pair of spandex Nike Pro shorts and a tie-dye pink sports bra, absolutely covered in sweat. He walked up to her treadmill, leaning on the front, happy to watch her running in front of him.

“Hi Babe.” She panted, looking worse for wear.

“I brought home lunch, come up to the apartment.” He insisted.

“Gimme another half hour.” She replied. Sidney took a look down at her control panel; she had run for over an hour and had burned nearly 800 calories.

“You’re going to exhaust yourself.” He said, frowning.

“I’m fine, I’ll meet you upstairs.” She insisted, her ponytail flicking back and forth behind her shoulders. Sidney fought the urge to roll his eyes, even their prospect rookies knew when to keep from killing their bodies. He wandered around the gym, standing in front of the TV and watching for a few minutes, leaning against the weight racks and flicking through the channels. He looked over to Bailey fifteen minutes later to see her struggling, not keeping up well with the pace of the machine. “Bails.” He called, walking over to her. “Get off of that machine” He frowned, “you’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Sidney, I’m fine, go away.” She panted, bringing her forearm across her forehead. She stepped on the side panels of the machine, turning it off and wiping her face off with the towel she had draped across her control panel. He watched her knees shake as she stepped off of the treadmill, wiping down the machine as she stretched out her calves. He followed her to the elevator, keeping a keen eye on her as she pressed the button for floor twenty-three.

“Whoa there.” He grabbed at her waist as her right knee buckled.

“I’m fine! I’m fine, I’m just tired.” She said, stepping away from him. Sidney had enough of her attitude, taking her out at her midsection and looping her over his shoulder. “Sidney! Put me down!” She wiggled.

“You’ve completely tired yourself out, that’s not the point of exercise. You’re supposed to stop before you can’t walk anymore.” He said. Sidney was a health professional, exercise was half of his job, and he wasn’t going to watch her treat her body like that.

“I know what I’m doing, Sid.” She growled, punching him in the ass.

“Ouch, woman.” He frowned. “What have you eaten today?” He asked.

“Enough.” She replied with a huff as the elevator finally stopped at her floor.

“What did you eat?” He asked.

“I’ve had some coffee and a banana.” She said haughtily as he opened the front door, bringing her into the master bathroom. Bailey didn’t want to admit that she was a little dizzy when he set her down on her feet.

“Strip.” He commanded.

“Excuse me! I am more than capable – ”

“Clothes off, now.” Sidney said with finality. She gave him the stink eye as she peeled off her sweat-soaked exercise gear, stepping into the shower he started.

“Scrub down, get dressed, the come eat.” He listed off, giving her no wiggle room as she slid the shower door shut.

“Dick.” She mumbled, sticking her face under the water.

“I heard that!” He called. She fought the urge to stomp her foot. After cleaning up, she dressed in a pair of Penguins sweatpants, a black sports bra and a tank, toweling her hair off and padding into the kitchen where Sidney had plated up her favorite cold salad and pita bread along with a fruit smoothie and a side of chips. “Eat up.” He pointed down to the plate.

“Yes, Mr. Crosby.” She sighed, taking a sip of her smoothie.

“What’s your goal?” He asked, then taking a bite of his lunch.

“What do you mean?” She asked, struggling a bit to cross her legs.

“You obviously are working toward something if you’re going to exercise like a maniac.” He added, this time, making her roll her eyes.

“I wasn’t exercising like a maniac.” She insisted.

“Would you ever tell your students to do that? Not eat all day and run until they can’t walk?” He asked, frustrated at the mistreatment of her body and the fact that she obviously thought what she was doing was healthy.

“No.” She mumbled.

“So then what’s your goal?” He repeated himself.

“I need to lose ten pounds.” She admitted. “I’ve gotten fat since we started dating, all we do is make out and eat pizza.”

Sidney racked his brain for a minute, wondering if she was right. They did spend a lot of time in the theater eating Junior Mints and Swedish Fish. That, and the Thai restaurant down the street knew them by name – and not for celebrity reasons.

“Babe, if you want to lose weight, we’ll do it the right way.” He said. “I can make a work out plan, we can cook more meals at home, we’ll do it the right way.” He said. Bailey was quiet, eating her chicken salad as she weighed her options.

“I need to lose ten pounds in four weeks.” She spoke up.

“Unrealistic, especially at your weight.” He shook his head, making her frown. “You’re already tiny, it’s much harder to lose weight quickly when you’re already thin.” Sidney explained.

“Okay, well I need to look like I’ve lost ten pounds by Valentine’s Day.” She supplemented.

“Why, what’s going on Valentine’s Day?” He asked.

“The week after, I’m shooting a special with MTV and I need to look good.” Bailey replied, taking another bite of her salad.

“Well we can sit down this weekend and plan something out, but no more running like that, and you need to eat. Your body doesn’t work if you don’t eat.” He insisted.

“Trust me babe, I didn’t eat for like eight months once and my body still worked. It’s just not as fun.” She said, wiping her mouth and taking a sip of her smoothie. Her statement rubbed Sidney the wrong way entirely, was she telling him she’d been anorexic at one point?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He frowned.

“They don’t put dancers on TV if you’re five-six, a hundred and fifty-eight pounds.” She justified. Sidney dropped his napkin, walking around to the other side of the island and spinning her chair to look at him.

“I don’t want to see you doing any of that shit. You eat every day and eat whatever the hell makes you happy. If I find out you’re not eating, I will tie you to a chair and feed you myself, you hear me? You’re gorgeous now, or with fifty extra pounds, I don’t care.” He leaned forward to press his forehead against hers. She tilted her head up, pressing her lips to his softly.

“Where were you five years ago when I needed you?”

- - -

Bailey moved quickly around Sidney’s house, he was going to be home from his afternoon meetings at any moment and she had just a few things left to do. Just as she was checking on the salmon in the oven, she could ear the garage door opening. Belle waddled toward the garage door, equipped with a little black bowtie on her collar.

“Bails?” He called out, she giggled, always expecting to hear him call Honey, I’m home!

“In the kitchen!” She called, back, pumping up her cleavage once more as his heavy footfalls came down the hall. “Hello handsome.” She smiled, greeting him.

“Whoa, hello…” Sidney’s eyes wandered her body in the form-fitting black and white dress and her black oven mitts, capped off with black patent leather pumps. “What’s all this, huh?” He asked, stepping into the kitchen and giving her a sweet peck.

“Guess what today is?” She turned, bending over at the waist to take the salmon and potatoes out of the oven, knowing he was watching her figure in the new dress.

“What’s that?” He replied, smiling as she handed him a glass of Malbec.

“It’s National Penguin Awareness Day.” She giggled. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I am very aware of you.” Sidney laughed his awkward, gleeful giggle, making her smile in return as he swept her into a hug, swaying side to side.

“How did I get so lucky with you?” He asked.

“Pretty sure you can thank Missy for that.” She teased. “We have salmon, twice-baked potatoes and sautéed asparagus for dinner.” She began, “and Haagen-Dazs double chocolate for dessert.” She winked. Bailey perched herself in Sidney’s lap as they ate dinner, one of his big paws rubbing up and down her back comfortingly.

“Delicious, Bails.” He complimented. “I love when you cook dinner.” He admitted.

“It’s fun to do when I have time.” She nodded, “and when you do well at games, I take a little bit of credit for it.” She laughed.

“Marc and Vero want to know if we can watch Esetelle again coming up.” Sidney mentioned, “asked me about it today at practice.”

“Of course we will.” She insisted. “They know that.” She took another bite of her salmon. “Oh, I’m going to be out of town the first week of February for MTV, and the last week of the month for FOX.” She said.

“I knew about MTV, what’s going on with FOX?” Sidney asked, eating more of his potatoes.

“They want me to do a guest judge spot on So You Think You Can Dance.” She smiled, “it’s probably my favorite show to guest on, so I’m pretty excited. They have the nicest staff and production crew… and they pay me a shit ton of money to film two episodes.” She grinned.

“How much is a shit ton?” Sidney asked, curious.

“Sixty-K for two episodes.” She said, biting the tip off an asparagus spear.

“I always wanted a sugar mama.” Sidney replied, sending her into a fit of giggles.

“Babe, I’ve Googled you, I’m pretty sure you make that per-game.” She pointed out, waving her asparagus stalk in front of him.

“Yeah, but no one tries to murder you when you go to work.” He replied, biting the vegetable off of her fork.

“You win.” She laughed, “come on, I have more stuff planned.” She grinned, noticing that their plates were empty. The thing Bailey loved about Sidney’s sprawling mansion is that he had much more room and toys to play with. Sidney dutifully followed his girlfriend of almost eight months through the main floor of his home, passing a sleeping Belle on her bed in the family room to the back patio where there were several candles lit on the deck ledge surrounding the hot tub.

“Unzip me?” She asked innocently enough, turning her back to him and lifting her hair over her shoulder. Sidney took his sweet time, running his hands up her hips to her sides to her shoulders, watching as goose bumps broke out across her skin. He dragged the little silver zipper down her back and was surprised to find she was wearing nothing beneath it.

“How did I miss that?” He asked.

“I distracted you with yummy food and tantalizing conversation.” She laughed before darting out of the open glass door and into the hot tub, slowly sinking into the bubbling water. “Get out here, Crosby!” She called. Sidney laughed with a shake of his head, dropping his shorts and peeling his shirt over his head before stepping out of his Lulu Lemon boxer briefs.

“Jesus H.” He danced across the partially frozen deck, holding his junk in his hand as he hiked up the stairs to the tub after closing the patio door.

“I think your nips could cut glass right now.” Bailey laughed, “Have I ever mentioned how much I love how pale you are?” She asked. Sidney rolled his eyes, drawing her into his chest and reveling it the moment quietly as she nuzzled into his neck, legs hooked around his middle and arms around his chest. “Love you.” She kissed his neck quietly.

“Love you, too.” He replied. “God, getting out of this thing is going to suck.”