Out of the Blue (Part II)

The Flirtation
As you’ve probably surmised, Gabrielle was also a gymnast, and due to the aforementioned convenient lil' arrangement we had, the men and women actually worked out in the same gym, which made seeing her easy — not that she was easy to miss, mind you. As a matter of fact, she was usually the object of the vast majority of male focus at any given time she was in the room.

I hate to say it, but as a gymnast she was mediocre at best. Her goals were more directed towards the activity and exercise than the competition. She didn’t have that classic female gymnast’s pixie-like body either. She was much more on the voluptuous end of the scale, which made her all the more bewitching. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes and a disarming smile.

She was a type of girl that most guys have encountered at sometime in their lives. A girl who you think may be a little out of your league — meh...maybe a LOT out of your league — but of whom you still think, "if I can just get close enough to her, maybe I might have a shot."

Well, unfortunately I didn't consider myself "most guys." Gabrielle was a fantasy. I had no shot with this girl! C'mon! I'd probably do well to get close enough to learn her last name, but that's about as far as it'd go. So as the days passed, I would say hello and try to make eye contact with her as often as I could. She was always nice, and always returned my smiles. In other words, she drove me FRIGGIN' NUTS.

I didn't mention it before, but my event in gymnastics was the rings. I was a one-event specialist, and rings was my one event. Now the way the rings were set up in the workout gym, they directly overlooked the Women's area. So when I was up on the rings I had a pretty good view. And while I had to concentrate on what I was doing up there, I could just about always see peripherally, whether people in the room were doing their own thing, or stopping to watch. I began to notice that Gabrielle watched me — often.

That was my first clue.

Sometime later (I don't remember exactly how it all progressed, or how much time it took to get to this next point) we began talking more and more often during workouts and I felt good about the fact that she was just being nice to me.

One day she was working out on some equipment that was set up near the door that opened out into the hallway, leading to the locker rooms. It was late in the afternoon and near the time some would begin to finish up their workouts. I was on my way out the door to grab a quick sip of water from the drinking fountain in the hall. This was a long-standing habit of mine between trips up on the rings. It was so routine that I would do it almost unconsciously. So as I was walking out, I didn't make any effort to acknowledge her — I mean, I'd be gone for all of about 10 seconds. Well apparently Gabrielle thought I was leaving without saying goodbye.

And here's an instance where I sort of wish I could use my real name to describe how she called out after me. It absolutely sent chills up my spine. It doesn't work quite as well, but using my blog name, it sounded something like, "AaayyJaaaayyyyyyyy..." (with the ending kind of tailing off in a higher pitch, so as to inquire, "heyyy, where ya goin'?")

I immediately recognized what she was thinking, and turned to reassure her that I wasn't going anywhere but to wet my whistle. I thought right then and there, "MAN! I have GOT to ask this girl out!"

Next: The Concert