This Lock is Your Lock, This Lock is My Lock

After having 5 back to back clients tonight I headed up for my own workout at a different location. Nothing out of the ordinary - that's how my Wednesdays always go. I've been stuck on this new location for a few weeks now and the whole experience is pretty surreal. The gym is never crowded, the locker room is nearly always empty, and since there is no steam room, and no showers facing each other there is little or no cruising going down.

It's the sort of place a lot of people imagine gyms to be like but it's the sort of place that I have found to be a complete an utter anomaly. Couple that with it's location (in the heart of gay mecca blocks away from the birthplace of the gay movement) and it's baffling . I guess if you take away the chance to see some hot guy getting soapy or steamy most guys won't come.

So tonight I expected the same thing. I thought for sure I would see some of the regulars, including the kid who is obsessed with his love handles but I was wrong. It was a pretty new batch of folks. There was one guy who was moderately distracting. He wasn't distracting in the "my ipod has to be loud enough that everybody can hear it over their own ipod" or the more popular "I have to throw these weights down and watch them bounce into your space because I'm an asshole and have a small penis and need to overcompensate by lifting weight I can't control" way. Instead, he was distracting in a good, motivating way. I found the need to study his arms and the perfect vein running up and over his bicep to the pure white v-neck shirt that was pulledtaut across his chest.

I'm sure you want the story to turn out involving some hot times on the weight bench but after my first 3 sets of shoulder press I forgot about this guy - I was on a mission and the workout was in high gear.

It was one of those extra euphoric times at the gym. About a quarter of the way through I was pumping away and my heart was beating itself silly. By the end I was nice and sweaty through and through. Nothing beats these moments after a workout, your abs still burning, walking a little funny and everything a little pumped up.

I sauntered into the ghost town of the lockerroom all Western style, my Nike Shox serving as my hi-tech cowboy boots. I went to my locker and tried opening my lock. One try, no luck. Hmm, maybe I'm going in the wrong direction, a second try, no luck, a third, fourth - I forgot my combination?

I looked to my left and realized that I was trying the wrong locker. As I moved to the locker next to the one it seemed I was trying to break into I noticed a pair of sneakers that weren't my own down by my feet. I turned to the right and a guy quietly said, "excuse me," as he started to open the lock that had my fingerprints all over it.

Crap.

I didn't hear this guy come up behind me. Did he see me trying to open his lock? Did he think I was trying to steal his jeans? He didn't say a word about it. In this whole entire huge empty lockerroom he and I had to occupy the same tiny corner sharing the same awkward silence.

The silence was killing me. In any other club there would be some conversation going on, a shower running, steam room a steamin' away - but here I was - presumed guilty of breaking and entering by this guy who was clearly too shy to do anything about it. I wanted to laugh it off and say something like, "geez all these locks look the same" but figured that since my lock had a black face and his had a blue face - he would probably see that as a cover up for my fantastic scheme to break into his locker. In my defense, my lock prior to this one did have a blue face.

So I head to the shower, he's still at the locker. During the whole time that I got naked and toweled, he hadn't even removed a sneaker. He just rummaged through his things. I'm telling you it was an awkward moment all around.

I'm getting nice and wet in the shower when the shower curtain right next to me opens, the water turns on. What the hell is going on here? There are at least 7 showers in a row and he picks the one right next to me?

Was this flirting? Did he take my attempt to break into his locker as an attempt to break into his heart?

Back at my locker I dried off quickly. I moved my crap out of his way and pulled on my jeans pretending not to notice him. I got dressed quickly in awkward silence. The entire time he was still standing at his locker in his towel just digging around in his bag. I headed away from my locker, and as I am about to turn the corner, the same voice I heard before says "Hey . . ."
I cringe slightly and turn my head.
"you forgot your lock."