Chapter 1 - Getting Started

 Jennifer needed a pick-me-up. Her last relationship having just come to a sharp, premature stop, she needed something to focus on to keep her mind off the new emptiness that the loss of Peter had left in her. Breakups were always nasty, but they only got worse with age, each coming with that extra little sting. 'What if that was it?' One tends to think. 'What if that was my last shot at happiness, and I blew it?' 

 Now approaching her 29th birthday, Jen was really starting to feel it, and no girl's night out with her friends or helpful shoulder to cry on would fix it this time. No, this time she was going to be proactive! She was going to make sure she had another shot at love, even if it meant losing her evenings for weeks and weeks! 

 Jen was going to get in shape.

 She had never been terribly unhealthy. Sport back in her school days and a mind to keep an eye on what she ate had been enough to keep her slim and trim, and some good genetics did their part to keep her in decent shape even as the rigors of adult life cut into the time she probably should have spent stretching and jogging. Still, a long term relationship had it's way of softening things, and a little unwanted flesh had crept it's way onto her hips, and softened the definition of her belly. She had been assured by friends and old lovers that it was nothing, just age starting to get it's hooks into her, that it was minor stuff not to worry about, and this had been enough to keep her happy during the good times with Pete.

 Now? Now she wanted it gone, and Jen was willing to work for it!

 The gym was a new one, a private little place on the edge of town where suburb met highrise, and from what she had heard it was doing gangbusters. Happy, healthy people always going in and out of the place in ones and twos, skin shining with well earned moisture, cheeks red from work and hair mussed. This wasn't like some of those other places, the glorified spas with pretty little machines for backdrop. No, this was a real gym, just a nice one, a fine place for her to get back to her old self. Sure, it had cost a pretty penny for her membership, but the perks sounded fantastic. Trainers roaming the floor to keep an eye on things, only the newest and highest quality equipment, and even their own scientifically optimized workout routine designed individually to fit each and every new member... Whatever that meant. Still, it had looked good on the website.

-

 The woman who strode through the inviting glass doors of the gym on that first afternoon of her new routine was of pleasantly average height and depressingly average build, her skin tan and hair an almost matching shade of blonde, or brown, depending on how the light caught it. She had always been cute, rather than beautiful, with sharp jaw and adorably upturned little nose. Peter had liked her hair long, so it had soon been cut down to a more comfortable, if somewhat spiteful pixie cut that she thought better framed the shape of her face.  Cute, and made more so by that hint of softness about her hips and belly, that simply refused to instead focus it's efforts on her chest instead where it would have been more welcome. 

 That first afternoon was a tough one, of course. Under the calm and reassuring guidance of the perky young woman who took care of the new members (What was she called again? Mindy?) Jen did a little of everything, testing her breaking point on the treadmill, the rowing machine, even with the barbells, though she hoped she wouldn't be spending too much time working on her upper body. Between all this was the stretching, the endless, rigorous, oddly ritualistic stretching. She was given headphones and a little gym-branded MP3 player, with instructions to line up her movements to the beat being played into her ears, a steady little one-two rhythm that reminded her of a heartbeat, but jauntier. With that softly thrumming in her ears she stretched and pulled and worked at those muscles not getting much from the machines, the trainer grinning down and giving pointers when needed. It was hard work, but even after that first session she could feel the wonderful ache of a good workout, her muscles complaining all the way home to a nice, hot bath. 

 Day two, two evenings later was much the same. Her poor, out of practice body needed that extra time to repair itself before the next go, and even for the dedicated enthusiast, it's important to let things wait and cool down between heavy workout days. More time on the treadmill, more time on the rowing machine, another round with the barbells, this time with the attention and guidance of a larger guy called Josh, a wide shouldered trainer every bit as helpful and peppy as the last had been. This time the stretching was a little easier, her body just slipping back into the beat playing into her ears. Some kind of memory aid, was it? Like a mnemonic device, something to make the routine of leg stretches and arm movements more automatic, harder to mess up. Clever!

 One more session over the weekend finished her off for her first week, this time with Mindy(Yeah, that was her name) again. More of the same routine of stretching on the mat and working the machines. Next week, apparently, she would be amping this up a little, running a little faster, rowing harder, lifting more, part of a slow but steady advance from weakness to strength that would ease her back into her youthful health. She was tired, she was sore, but damn, she felt GOOD! Maybe it was just having something to take her mind off things, or that infusion of post-exertion endorphins, but Jen felt happy, and it had been weeks since she had been able to say that, even to herself. 

 Oh, woops. She was still wearing her headphones from her session! Oh well. She could return them next week, couldn't she? Funny how easily she could ignore that peppy little beat. It just...Slid in to the back of her mind and sat there, helping her keep a calf-strengthening bounce in her step as she made her way home.

-

 Week two was a little harder, but the beat helped, as did the ever present attention of Josh and Mindy, the pair of trainers who took care of her during her sessions. One week she would see Mindy twice and Josh once, and the next it would be reversed, but between that and the steady build in weight and distance she had to deal with, little changed. The rhythm of her workout was a welcome relief from the chaotic, ever changing pace of the world outside, and before long Jen found she was looking forward to her sessions at the gym as much as she was looking forward to reaping the benefits. Those had started to show themselves already, a little meat trimmed from her hips, a little extra energy in her when she woke, muscles strengthening and making even her daily grind that much easier. 

 At the end of week two, Josh gave Jen her first protein shake, the gym specialty made right on site. It was probably the thirst and hunger she had worked up speaking, but at the end of her workout it tasted like mana from heaven, the thick shake gliding down her throat and sitting heavy, but pleasantly in her already slimming gut. Vanilla milkshake with a little something extra, a subtle aftertaste lingering on her tongue all the way home. 

 She was still wearing the headphones. Mindy told her she could keep them! 

 That night, her legs still aching wonderfully, shoulders newly loosened by a nice, hot shower, Jen stood before the mirror in her bedroom, long enough to get a good look at her body all at once. Naked, still a little moist, and with her still short hair mussed up and drying, she examined her reward for all that hard work. It was subtle, after so little time at the gym, but she could feel it, and even see just a little of the tightening of her body, and glow of health in her cheeks the website had promised. 

 Even her sex looked good, shaved again for the first time since Peter had left, though she wasn't expecting anyone to see it just yet. There was something else she hadn't done for weeks now, hadn't even thought about... But now? Looking at herself in the mirror, she felt the stirring, and couldn't help but do more than simply trace her fingers over the smooth skin about her lower lips. Eyes roaming over her reflection, cheeks growing darker and darker, Jen explored herself, as if for the first time, fingers slick and quivering. 

 She came whimpering in pleasure as she sank to her knees, staring into her own eyes in the mirror while the sensation ebbed, before finally rising on shaking knees for bed. 

 That night, she slept with her headphones in, and dreamed of treadmills and protein shakes. 