The next morning he got up early to go to the gym. He went almost every day to keep his body in shape, mainly because it would look good on camera. Despite the reason why he’d come to enjoy going, it was a way for him to forget about everything and just sweat it out. No one around him to worry if that didn’t look good, no one around him who kept applying make up, no one around him who kept tugging at his clothes, he was alone and he could focus his energy on something else for a change and blow off some steam. It always made him feel better.

“Hey” someone greeted beside him. Justin turned towards the voice, meeting gorgeous blue eyes and a bright smile.

“Hi” Justin responded, his smile just as bright.

“I was um… wondering if you could help me for a second”

“Oh sure with what?”

“This is my first time here and I don’t know how to start this thing” the man told him, gesturing towards the step machine on his left he’d been fighting with to get going, as a slight blush crept over his cheeks.

“Oh it’s real simple, here I’ll show you” Justin told him stepping up to the touch screen.

“You press this button, then you choose the weight of the step here and press start” Justin explained with a smile.

“Thanks” the man thanked him honestly, still a bit embarrassed.

“You’re welcome” Justin said, his smile still in place as he eyed him.

“I’m Justin” Justin introduced himself, he couldn’t help it this man was beyond cute.

“Josh” the man responded, taking the offered hand, a shy smile covering his face.

“Nice to meet you” Justin told him.

“You too”

“Well… you better hop on there before it notices there’s no one there” Justin told him with a smile.

“Yeah right” Josh nodded before he slowly turned and got ready to step up on the machine. Justin smiled again before walking back to his own machine he’d abandoned to help Josh.

“Hey” Josh called after him. Justin turned back towards him.

“I’m almost done here, would you um… like to get a drink or something?” he asked him, finally building up enough courage to just do it.

Justin smiled fully this time. “Yeah I’d like that”

Josh mimicked the smile. “Alright”

“So you come here a lot?” Justin asked Josh as they were situated at the bar of the gym having a drink before going home.

“Haven’t seen you before” he noted.

“No,” Josh answered after swallowing his water. “I just moved here”

“Oh really? Where from?”

“Bowie” Josh answered.

“Maryland” he added.

“Oh, what brought you here?” Justin wondered, although Bowie wasn’t a long way from New York.

“Got a job offer I just couldn’t resist” Josh told him.

“I didn’t really want to move, I was fine in Maryland but… oh well the change was nice, also gave me the opportunity to go back to school”

“Oh you study too?” Justin asked interested.

Josh nodded, “Yes, architecture”

“Cool” Justin said sincerely impressed.

“Yeah it has always interested me”

“So you have a job in architecture?”

“No” Josh smiled.

“Actually I’m a lawyer” Justin seemed surprised. Josh shrugged.

“Parents wanted me to become a lawyer” Justin smiled a little.

“It’s alright but architecture always appealed to me so I just thought why not?” Justin smiled.

“That’s cool, I’ve always been interested in history, never studied it unfortunately. I moved here from Tennessee a couple of years ago” he informed him.

“Wanted to go the big city” he added with a smile.

“And you like it so far?”

“Yeah it’s cool, don’t always like the crowds but the city never sleeps so that’s a plus” Justin smiled again and Josh smiled with him.

“Oh” Justin exclaimed as he glanced at the clock.

“I’m sorry but I really should get going if I don’t want to be late for work”

“Oh sure” Josh nodded slightly taken aback but recovering quickly. Justin got up but didn’t walk away.

“Can I call you sometime?” he asked him, genuinely interested in the man not to mention attracted. He was damn cute. Josh gave him a full smile.

“Sure” he agreed, taking a napkin and scribbling down his cell phone number before handing it to Justin.

“It was nice to meet you Josh and I’ll give you a call soon” he promised.

“It was nice to meet you too and I’m looking forward to it”

“Alright, bye!” Justin told him, passing another smile in Josh’s direction before he stuck up his hand and walked towards the exit, carefully tucking away the napkin.