Shape Up To Love

1 The scent of sweat and the heady cadence of dancehall music pumping through the speakers filled her senses. Melissa Michelson swung her head to the beat and her long, curly hair slapped the side of her cheek. Alright, I need to calm with the head bopping As the music played, she opened her eyes and swept her gaze across the room full of students. The women and men wore comfortable exercise clothes and exhausted expressions. Each had labored to accomplish the salsa moves she’d incorporated into the lesson. Melissa had been working them hard today. She decided to do one more step and end the class early. Someone in the crowd waved and she waved back, an answering smile climbing her face when she spotted her best friend. Ida Simpson, soon to be Ida Park, shook her thang in the front row. The girl was not an inch over five foot two, but she danced like a beast. Several of the guys in the back were checking her out. Parker, Ida’s fiancé, would have a fit. “Alright!” Melissa shook her hands out. The class did the same. “Ready for the pump?” The answering roar of approval rushed on top of the music. Melissa laughed and positioned her hands in front of her chest. She demonstrated the first pump by arching her back and bending her knees. “To the music, guys!” The students obediently fisted their fingers and pumped to the rhythm. Melissa walked down the rows. The Rump Shaking classes weren’t as technical as the other classes offered at her gym, but she didn’t want anyone hurting themselves by holding an incorrect position. Everyone was doing well and she returned to the front of the class without too much trouble. “Now…” Melissa yelled when the song reached its climax, “freestyle!” The class went crazy. The bass and drums in the music fed energy to tired limbs. People hopped up and down and rocked their fists in the air. Melissa joined the frenzy. She clapped, swung her hips and spread her arms wide. The Rump Shaking classes were always her favorite. If her gym hadn’t needed money to keep its doors open, she would offer the course for free. Sadly, every buck counted right now. “Whoo!” she joined the applause when the music ended. “Good job, everyone. See you on Thursday!” The guys and girls filed out of the class. Ida joined her at the front. Both women faced the mirrors as they wiped the sweat from their brow. In the past, Ida would have automatically compared their reflections. Melissa had light brown skin, long, curly hair, and expressive brown eyes. Her friend used to point out her own insecurities and often bemoaned how unfair it was that Melissa had been “blessed with beauty”. Today, Ida slung her arm around Melissa’s neck and beamed at the women in the glass. “Girl, we look foine!” Since Melissa’s return from her trip to Kenya, Ida had been brimming over with self-confidence. Her best friend was a little too sweet to be called ‘arrogant’, but Ida was definitely toeing the line. Melissa loved it. Ida had been through a lot. For the past two years, her best friend had embraced herself the way Melissa had all along. “We do look pretty good.” Melissa struck a pose. Ida joined her. Both girls laughed. Melissa was thirty going on eighteen. She had a great best friend, a wonderful grandmother and a job she loved. If she could only keep up with the bills the gym racked up like a squirrel shoring nuts, she’d be fine. “What are you and the boys doing tonight?” Melissa asked as they began to lock up the classroom. Ida and her foster children, Mateo and Santiago Hernandez, were nearly inseparable. Melissa loved coming over and watching them interact. To be fair, Ida’s little family hadn’t always been so harmonious. Mateo and Ida had had a rough start. Well, they’d had a horrible start with Mateo stealing Ida’s phone and Ida indirectly pushing the kid into traffic. After a tragic kidnapping, Mateo and Ida bonded and the teenager doted on her in a surprisingly tender fashion. Ida shrugged. “What we always do on Tuesdays… homework. Mateo has a new tutor to help him with chemistry. He’s limping along in his major and I told him if he wants to go to university, he has to shape up.” The seventeen-year-old was entering his second semester at the junior college with the hopes of becoming a doctor like his soon-to-be foster father. “Don’t be too hard on him. He’s already come so far.” “I know.” Ida smiled. “But that’s exactly why I’m hard on him. He’s going to leave me for college in a year and I want him fully prepared.” “Aw. You sound like such a mom.” “What can I say? I am.” “I don’t know how you do it all.” Melissa locked the door and walked down the hallway to the front desk. “You’re taking classes to get your Masters, you’re working, you’re parenting, you’re planning a wedding, you’re taking Rump Shaking classes…” Ida laughed as Melissa paused for breath. “You’re running around doing everything and I can’t even pay the rent on time!” “The gym will make it. You turned this place around since you took over.” “Yeah, but not by much. I’m serious, Ida. If I get one more ‘notice’ from the bank, I’m going to scream. Don’t they know I’d pay them if I had the money?” Ida opened her mouth to respond when her phone rang. She looked at the screen and a huge grin split her face. Melissa knew without a doubt that the caller was Ida’s fiancé. Ida and Parker were two people she never would have paired together. Thankfully, Melissa wasn’t in charge of who fell in love. It was a good thing too or Ida would have missed out on the love of a lifetime. She had yet to see a more devoted couple. “What?” Melissa froze in the middle of the brightly lit hallway and stared at her best friend. “We’ll be right there.” “What? What’s going on?” Ida started moving and Melissa ran after her. “You remember Nick, Parker’s doctor friend from the hospital?” “The fat guy?” Ida nodded. “He just collapsed and he’s refusing to be admitted.” Melissa locked up the gym and hailed the security guard as Ida dragged her to her car and climbed in. “I can just take a taxi,” Melissa said as her friend spun out of the parking lot. Ida did not reply. She drove through traffic and stopped in front of a pharmacy. The woman hopped out before Melissa could ask any questions. Five minutes later, Ida jumped back into the car, shoved a plastic bag at Melissa and slammed the vehicle into drive. “Um,” Melissa asked quietly when it seemed that Ida wasn’t slowing down for anything, “if he’s a doctor, why isn’t he going to the hospital?” “I don’t know.” Ida shook her head. “But Parker asked me to bring those so that’s what I’ll do.” Two minutes later, Ida parked the car in front of a two story building. The bottom half had a large grey shutter where an Asian grocery store used to be. “Why are we here?” “This is Parker’s place,” her friend said. Without further explanation, Ida hopped out of the car and stormed up the stairs. Seeing no other choice, Melissa followed her. As soon as they knocked on the door, it swung wide open. Parker, dressed in a black T-shirt and long jeans, pulled Ida in. “Did you bring it?” “I have it here!” Ida handed him the plastic bag. Melissa quietly entered the house and locked the door behind her while the couple sailed into the back room. While Ida and Parker did...whatever they were doing, she sat down and observed Parker’s living room. It was a small space with white washed walls and brown sofas. A flat screen television bracketed on the wall was the only decoration. Melissa twiddled her thumbs for nearly an hour before Ida and Parker emerged. “I’m sorry about that, Melissa,” the handsome man said, offering her his hand to shake. She grasped his palm and waved away his concern. “I’m fine. Is your friend okay?” Ida came and sat beside her man. The two exchanged pained glances. Melissa arched her eyebrow. What were they up to? “Is something wrong?” Parker nudged Ida in the shoulder and sank back into the sofa. Ida threw him a glare and then smiled at Melissa. “We have a favor to ask.” “What is it?” “Let me just say that this was not my idea.” Parker crossed his arms. “What is it?” The words spilled out of her best friend in a jumbled plea. “WewantyoutomoveinwithNickandhelphimloseweight!” Melissa scooted to the edge of her seat and stared. “What?”