I knew you would understand

“Hand over the planning to our mothers? Are you crazy?” Derek slumped onto the couch cushion beside Zarina, a small smirk playing on his lips. “ You can’t even imagine the …. frill that would ensue. We’d probably both be dressed to the nines, the elevens even, in whatever the most despicable shade of pink is. Maybe pepto bismol ? ” With a matching sigh, he slid down to rest his head on her lap. “ You always look ravishing, babe. Even in pepto bismol. Frankly, my mother has been more concerned about my presentation this morning than pestering me with anything else. Hey, how do you feel about takeout? Or even better, delivery. ”

“Spend the day judging bridal fashion all while lightly buzzed on some bubbly? Sounds like the perfect day to me,” Darcy beamed back, moving to link arms with Zarina. “Have you thought about which dress silhouette you’re loving the most? Obviously we need to try them all on, but are you feeling more of a mermaid, a-line, ballgown– talk to me, Z.”

“Listen, being brave enough to give it a shot is better than most people.” Even when she bought the machine, most people who saw it weren’t exactly the biggest fans of it. “You did pretty well for your first hit. Your form was a bit off, but you could improve it.” Ellie was honest with her statement, giving a shrug of her shoulders. “It is. I bought it off a game vendor in Russia. Saw it during a carnival there, wanted one of my own.” 

“Good to know,” Zarina nodded. “I just recently got back into working out and boxing, at least I know I’m not totally rusty now.” She listened and admired the game in question, nodding her approval. “You have a gym, right? I’d love to join it, knowing a badass woman runs it and all. I’m Zarina.”

“So you think you can beat it?” She asked the person standing in front of her booth. “I’d to let you know that this isn’t the usual punching machine you see, but let’s see how well you do. You might even win a prize.” She offered to bring out her special machine as a game at the barbeque, knowing it would be a good chance to get word out about her business. 

“Well I don’t know about that, but what’s the fun it not giving it a shot?” Zarina smirked and tilted her head. She readied herself before throwing her hardest punch at the machine, and held her breath as the result showed. Good, but not great. “Aw well, you can’t win them all,” she chuckled. “This is really cool, is it yours?”

Work felt like it wasn’t getting any easier, but it didn’t discourage the girl. she was already used to hard-work when it came to her step-family. it was just the fact that she worked and also did errands for them that made it harder each day. nonetheless, the girl was still confident that this wasn’t going to last forever. letting out a heavy sigh, she scratched the back of her head before turning to the other person. “How has your day been so far? anything exciting lately going on around town?”

Zarina loved nothing more than when people sparked a conversation with her. It was how she learned most things, and she found people as fascinating as science. “Pretty good, so far anyways. Honestly I’m a bit too wrapped up in my own upcoming events to focus on what’s going on in town, but I hear the weather’s been holding off enough for people to have a great summer so far. So what’s your excuse for being out of the loop?”

“Alright, I like the confidence.” He replied, laughing a little as he spoke. It was kind of nice to see people who were actually excited for their training sessions, especially since most didn’t have the right motivation. “Nice to meet you Zarina! I’m Henryk.” He introduced himself, keeping the smile on his face. “So, I figure we’ll alternate between legs and arms on different days. So today we’ll start with arms and then go from there, sound good?” 

“Henryk, fancy, I like it,” Zarina nodded and smiled. “Sounds perfect. Show me the way, boss,” she laughed. “I want to be able to physically pick up my mother and get her out of my business,” she joked as she took a drink of water and set her bottle aside. “Are we using a machine?” 

“Nah! No worries, I’ll be good.” He replied, waving off the idea with his hand. Moving to stand up, his arms crossed over his chest as he listened to her and nodded his head. “Sounds easy enough! We’ll focus more on doing weights and building your strength, but some of the circuits we’ll add in will have some cardio in them as well. Kind of helps us get an all around kind of feel.” Henryk explained. “Are you ready to start?” 

Zarina cracked her neck from side to side and smirked. “I’m so ready, give me everything you’ve got.” She was pretty excited, and it showed. She knew she was better off now than for that period in her life when she turned away from her family and lived a rougher lifestyle, but she did miss being fit like she was then. “Sorry, forgot to catch your name. I’m Zarina.” 

“You sure- cause I could replace that. I can be such a clutz at times, I mean don’t get me wrong I like to think I have all the grace of a swan, but really I’m just an elephant on roller-blades.” Sally snorted slightly, waving the other off as she mentioned her being busy. “Just business, clearly I can’t step out for two minutes without being needed.”

“No no, it’s totally fine, don’t worry about it,” Zarina laughed and shook her head. “Damn, that sounds like a circus act gone terribly wrong,” she chuckled. “What kind of work do you do? Must be important for them to rely on you like that. Actually that sounds kind of nice, that’s how you know you’re the best at what you do.” 

“Oh this?” He said, pointing to the brace on his knee. “Don’t worry about it! Just a little twist on my knee. Brace is more a precaution than anything. Shouldn’t stop me at all!” Henryk spoke to the person, a smile on his face as he spoke. “So, what were you looking to do today?” 

“Are you sure? Cause I can come back another day if your knee’s not up for it,” Zarina suggested, concern in her voice. “I’m just looking to build up my strength. Nothing too crazy, but I’m spending most of my free time in a lab lately so I miss doing the more physical stuff,” she shrugged. “That and I want to look as good as humanly possible in my wedding dress,” she laughed.

“- look, just send them some complimentary muffins and some extra pillows and I’ll deal with the rest when I get back, okay? Bye.” Sally ended the call, but as she was putting her phone back into her pocket her elbow knocked over her coffee cup sending liquid everywhere. “Shit. Fuck. I mean… fudge- I’m sorry.” She apologised to the person standing beside her, “Did I catch you?”

Zarina was never too rushed in her mornings, so that morning she decided to actually get a coffee and relax before working on any experiments. She was reading a book on alchemy when her coffee was spilled. “Oh no, I’m fine,” she shrugged, not too bothered. “Really, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. You sound busy,” she noted.