"Hey Roxanne, good to see you back here?" The gym owner, Eric, waves at me. He's in his early thirties, single and a bodybuilding champion.

"Hi Eric. Yeah, I'm back."

"Did you find a job now?"

I put down the dumbbells, and remove my headphones. "Nope, still looking."

"You can work here part time, while you're looking."

"Thanks. I'll think about it."

When I'm alone again, I continue my workout. I stay on the other side of the gym, as far as I can from Julia and Grayson's crew. I have my headphones on, listening to loud music and focusing on my program.

Knowing that Grayson is here, I became very conscious. That I haven't explained to him about that nude photo I sent him, made things between us so awkward. I should have confronted him a long time ago, and told him it was an accident.

I wonder what he thinks of me. He's hard to read, one won't know what's going on inside his head. He hides his emotions well, and often with a smile.

I turn to them, looking at their progress. Instead, I meet Gray's eyes. My instantly leaps, beating so fast.

Was he seriously staring at me?

A big sweat runs down my back. Now, he makes me nervous.

Later, I joined them for lunch in a Mexican restaurant. Of course at Gray's expense. We had Tacos with beef steak and chorizo, green salad with avocado and refreshing drinks of fresh pineapple juice.

"This taco is so delicious." I whisper at Julia, who's sipping her pineapple juice. "Aren't they going to eat?"

I look at Grayson and his crew, eating at another table.

"Your brother is pretty serious on YouTube."

"Yeah, he's passionate about anything that he does. I'm very confident that he'll make it big someday."

"Definitely. He's also very smart." I agree with her.

Julia takes a small bite of her taco, "and consistent. I believe in him, that's why I'm supporting him to achieve his dreams."

"That's cool. You'll be successful too once he does."

"Yeah, that's what he said." She wipes the side of her mouth with a table napkin, "Eventually, I'll get many sponsorships. I'll earn money by endorsing products on different social media platforms."

"Wow, that's what you really love to do for a living, right? Wearing makeup all the time, dressing up, collecting clothes, and taking care of your body."

She nods, "yeah, and of course, the money. I'm tired of being poor. I want to eat in a fancy restaurant, stay in a five-star hotel, drink the finest champagne and ride a plane. Imagine, I'll be 24 soon and still haven't ridden a plane."

"I haven't either. So that makes the two of us."

We both giggle, and sip our pineapple juice.

"If I make it big, you'll still be with me. I'll include you in this. We're sisters, right?"

"Yeah, we are. But please don't include me. It's not my thing. I don't enjoy dressing up like a Barbie doll, and I hate wearing a lot of makeups. I'm happy with my gym clothes, loose sweaters and rubber shoes."

"You have a beautiful body and you're hiding it with this old huge thing." She pulls the side of my sweater, "It's good to dress up like a woman sometimes. People might get the wrong idea."

My eyebrows raise, "What do you mean?"

"That you're a tomboy."

"I am NOT!." My lips curve nastily, "I just like to wear comfortable clothes."

"Of course, you're a hundred percent woman. But some people assume because they know you want to be an FBI agent. You're also athletic, you play soccer and volleyball in high school, instead of joining me in the cheerleading squad."

"No one can make me wear that tiny pink skirt and hold pom-poms. It's not my thing."

"I know. But it's good to be daring sometimes and shock people. Let's see how they will react if they see you in miniskirt, high heels and total makeover." Julia chuckles.

"Just count me out." I say, and we both laugh aloud.

"I heard this crazy thing from my dumbass dad the other night. He drops Brooke's vlogging table. Do you know what he said to Grayson? That we're dating."

"You're right, your dad is getting so weird."

"That's the effect of too much alcohol and cocaine at an early age."

"And Grayson buys that?"

"I don't think so." Julia shrugs her shoulders, "Dad also said, we don't have boyfriends because we're lovers. He saw us kissing in the basement."

"Seriously? Your dad is good at making up stories."

"Exactly. He needs to be confined in the mental hospital soon."

We chuckle so loud that all the diners look at us.

We finished eating, and Grayson came to our table. I was conscious of him sitting beside me.

"Are you done eating? We need to take a few shots of you talking."

"You mean, actual talking?" Julia asks, and Gray nods. "About what?"

"About your friendship. How you guys met and became friends."

"Is that necessary?" Julia complains, then looks at me.

"I'm sure the viewers are curious. Just a few details. You don't have to tell everything." Gray says.

Julia and I talked in front of the camera, reminiscing our friendship.

"Our friendship started when we were 13." Julia talks first, then she turns to me to continue.

"My dad just died and our family transferred to a smaller house near Julia's. I also transferred to a new school in the area."

"We were classmates, then one day, our most hated teacher, which was our music teacher, assigned us to sing in front of the classroom."

I chuckle as I continue the story, "Yeah, I can still picture his wicked face until now. That bastard made us sing, my penalty for always being absent in the classes and Julia, for always being late. We picked the song by Dionne Warwick, right?"

"That's What Friends Are For, that's the title of the song. We want to make it so good, we don't want to be embarrassed. So we practiced every day at Rox's house."

"That's how our friendship started. We opened up our stories... her sadness of having divorced parents, and mine having lost my dad."

Grayson told us to stop, "that's enough for now. Let's save the others for future vlogs."

Grayson offered to pay for my appearance in his vlog, but I declined.

"No worries, the lunch was more than enough, it was so delicious." I assured him, then Julia and I left and hung out in my house the rest of the afternoon.

We were in my room watching a Netflix series Sex/Life when Julia and I talked about boys.

"There are few options during lockdown. It sucks that when I want to date, it has to be someone in the area." Julia clicks her tongue.

"We know everyone here." I grab popcorn and eat.

"Exactly, and many of them are fucking idiots. We should not date this pandemic because men are just bored. They won't take us seriously. They just want a good fuck then discard us right away."

"It's hard to find a good man nowadays. Many men nowadays just want to get ripped in the gym, drink too much alcohol and fucked a hot chick."

"Just like my exes." Julia laughs, then rolls on my bed. "I'm glad my brother is not like them."

The mention of Grayson, makes my heart jump. What the heck is wrong with me? Why can't I forget the way he looked at me earlier in the gym?

"Grayson is a very nice guy. Any girl would be lucky to have him as a boyfriend." I believe he really is.

"Absolutely. He's very polite, not judgemental, very caring, smart, resilient and family-oriented. It's Sasha's loss that she let him go away." Her eyes grow big as she feeds me more details, "do you know they broke up for a while already? It's been four months. Gray told Brooke, and she told me."

"You're saying that he's somewhat recovered now?"

"Most probably." She sighs, then looks at me. "The weird thing is... he asked about you."

I choke on my water, that I'm coughing. "What about?"

"He's curious if you have a boyfriend."

"Oh. What did you say?"

"The truth, that you've been single for two years and have taken some time off from dating. That's what you want, right?"

"Of course. I have to prioritize myself and my family first."

"As I've said, this pandemic bores men. You're a beautiful woman, Rox, and I saw a lot of men going crazy looking at you in the gym. I'm afraid my brother could be one of them."

"That will never happen. I'm not his type."

"How sure are you? With this pandemic, there are limited options. I said this before and I'll say it again now. Don't get involved with my brother. Getting into a relationship with him could ruin our friendship. Things will be awkward once you break up with him."

"Don't worry, that's the last thing that I ever wanted to happen." We made a pinky promise. "Best friends forever."