Bed-Locked

"Oh my God! Is that who I think it is?"

"It's her! She's here."

"Do you think she would let me take a quick selfie with her?"

"We can just record her secretly."

Her pink water bottle swinging gently from her hand and headphones around her ears, Ava visibly ignored all the comments from the people surrounding her but deep down, she wasn't surprised. It would have been weird if there was no buzz surrounding her now that she was in a new gym. She had picked this gym because it was high-class, expensive, and had great reviews. Yes, people still mulled about her and whispered because she was around. It irritated her a little but she also enjoyed the attention. It meant that her brand was speaking for itself. While she walked around the gym, trying to find a free bench to seat, someone walks up to her. The first thing she noticed was gray running shoes. She looked up to see a muscled man with thick blonde hair staring at her. She raised her eyebrows, ready to tell him off before her eyes caught the note of the name tag pinned to his tight black shit.

"You are the part-time trainer I hired," She said in a neutral tone. "Alex, yes?"

"The one and only," He replied. His voice was deep but it had a certain richness to it. She just knew that he was one of those types who would force you to do five more reps when you are past your breaking point because they wanted to 'motivate' you. But that didn't bother her too much. She loved staying in shape because that meant she got more influencing and modeling gigs, and her brand would continue to grow.

"It's lovely to meet you, Ava Devon," He said again and walked forward, asking her to follow him.

"You don't need to say my full name. Just call me Ava. Also, you pronounced it wrong."

"Oh. Can you teach me the correct pronunciation then?" Alex asked, moving his way swiftly through the gym until they stopped at the corner where the hippie girls were doing some yoga.

"No," was Ava's simple and final reply. Alex was surprised and he turned to look at her. Her headphones were still over her ears but obviously, she wasn't listening to anything. She met his eyes defiantly and took a small sip from her bottle. When she was tired of staring at him, her eyes moved to the girls stretching and contorting their bodies. She whipped out her phone and added yoga to her new plans for expanding her brand.

Currently, she focused a lot on fashion and wellness which was one of the reasons she also switched to this gym. The gym had a large following on all its social media account and any decent celebrity or influencer in this city attended Tripe gym. She had picked Alex Bash as her trainer because he had come heavily recommended and she wanted to find out what was so special about him. She could tell that he was good-looking. He had a sharp jawline and was much taller than Ava. But was being attractive enough to earn you such stunning recommendations? It was a theory she was willing to put to the test.

Alex was staring hard at the girl before him who was typing gently on her phone. Her nails were a soft baby blue shade and she was tall enough to barely reach his chest. He wasn't a fan of women who were too tall. They tended to overshadow him. Her hair was packed into a high ponytail. She was blonde just like he was but her blonde hair had streaks of blue running through it. When he stared hard enough, he noticed that the streaks of blue matched the blue on her nails and she immediately became more attractive to him. He could tell that she worked out regularly from her arms and stomach. Even her quads were well built without her seeming too masculine.

"I can feel you drilling a hole through my head with your eyes," Ava said without raising her head from her phone.

"Oh. Right. You are just so pretty. And you are my type, so I apologize for staring."

Ava resisted the urge to state the obvious fact that she was everyone's type and glanced at the yoga girls again, only to find out that they had stopped their routine and were staring in her direction. She was suddenly curious. She followed their line of vision and saw that they were staring straight at her trainer. That was unacceptable. How could they be drooling over him when she was right there? Did they not know who she was?

"You seem to have a bit of a fan base here," Ava said with a sarcastic edge to her voice.

"What?" Alex was confused but finally took his attention off Ava's body and noticed the yoga girls staring at him.

"Ohh them. They don't matter. Like I was saying, you are my type."

"Really? Well, I am not looking for a relationship. When does my training start?" Ava asked, effectively changing the topic. The way she quickly dismissed him stung Alex. He was not used to rejection because of every girl he had ever wanted to be had fallen for him at first sight. He never really had to woo a woman or chase her. His looks always did that for him. But it looked like he would have to turn up his charm to catch this fish in his net.

She walked to the low bench made for hip thrusts and started to load on the weight on the bar. He now understood why her ass looked so great and why her hips were that wide in proportion to her slim waist. She was doing all the right exercises to target specific parts of her body. He loved women who were fit and cared about their appearances.

She started to do her hip thrusts while he made minor corrections to her form and posture. She implemented his corrections but she did not once take off her headphones or speak to him again. After the hip thrusts, she moved to the bar for squatting. He was surprised by the weight she could squat and she was squatting quite deeply.

"You have a lot of body strength. That is impressive. Though I can easily bench twice that weight," He said offhandedly in a bid to impress Ava but she remained silent. The women in the gym often flocked around him when he was working out, complimenting his strength and muscles but here he was, being given the silent treatment by a girl he barely knew but was attracted to.

"Why don't you want a relationship?" Alex asked again, trying to get her to talk.

"I am too busy for one," was Ava's simple and bland reply. He was starting to get on her nerves. Were personal trainers meant to talk so much? She just wanted to finish up her routine and head home so she could get some work done on her page. She finished up her squats and walked towards a free treadmill.

"You end your routine with cardio? Fascinating," Alex remarked.

Gritting her teeth slightly, Ava ignored him and started a brisk walk on the machine. She finally turned up the music playing in her headphones so she could tune his annoying voice out. She was starting to reconsider attending this gym. If this Alex had come so highly recommended, was this how he spoke to all his clients? She doubted it. He was just trying to get on her nerves.

Once she was done, Alex handed her a clean towel to wipe her face with and she hesitated but took it eventually. He looked a little familiar now that she took the time to look at him but she had no idea where she had seen him before,

"Can I at least get your number?" He asked as she started to pack up her things and leave the gym.

"No." And with that concise response, she walked out, her ponytail swinging behind her after crushing Alex's ego.

Immediately Ava got home, she took a shower and made herself a protein-filled breakfast before opening up her system to work. She noticed an email from a strange name. It was Arabic. She quickly ran the name through a Google search and found that he was very wealthy. He was also a very influential producer. Once she had done enough digging on his background, she went back to the mail. In the email, he mentioned how he had stumbled on her Instagram page and that he wanted to center her in a reality show he was working on. Ava smiled to herself as she read the mail. She had always known that she was beautiful. But this was just another confirmation of it.

Reading further down the mail, he mentioned that he would be at a coffee shop on 22nd Street. She had never heard of the spot before but after asking a few acquaintances, she learned that it was somewhere really famous people went to when they wanted to hang out but not deal with the general public. She hurriedly changed into a cute two-piece outfit and some low-block heels. She curled her hair and applied only lipgloss. She wanted this Sheikh to be able to see her in her natural state.

At the coffee shop, the guards stopped her and tried to turn her away, but she scoffed at them and showed the Sheik's email.

"Even if he did not invite me, you should know who I am and that is more than enough reason to let me in," Ava said in an annoyed tone before walking through the doors the guards held wide open for her. The interior was nothing like she had expected and neither was the Sheikh too. He was sitting alone, facing the entrance so he was the first person she saw.