Chapter 9: Maria and the Love Planned

Maria Kanellis was an adult. And adults had plans. So when Maria had left her house this morning and drove back to the Believers gym, she had a plan in mind.

Not being the most enthused of gym-goers, Maria had spent over an hour picking out her outfit that morning; finally deciding on a bright pink sports bra and a pair of black yoga pants, tying her hair up in a bun on the top of her head and lightly dotting her face with concealer to finish the look. She could practically hear Eve rolling her eyes over the phone as she called her to reveal her plan. Eve had, of course, been the supportive friend, but Maria could tell that she didn't take her seriously at all; just like Kaitlyn the night before.

But today would be different, because while the old Maria was no good at plans, the new grown-up Maria was. And she was fearless. She breathed in and out and reminded herself of this as she stepped through the front doors of the swanky new gym, quickly scanning the area to see if the mysterious, handsome man from yesterday would appear again. All she had to do was find him, strike up a conversation and leave with his phone number. It was easy. She had done it before and she was sure she could do it again. If she could do this and get back on the wagon by eventually going on – at the very least – a date with him, she would be able to convince herself to try her luck with Punk the next time she bumped into him.

There was no sign of the man, but Maria headed over to the reception desk with a grin.

"Hi," her perky voice called out.

"Hello there, and welcome to Believers. Can I help you with anything today?"

"I'd like a membership to the gym please."

Maria nodded and grinned along as the friendly receptionist handed her paperwork and let her know all the essential details. Maria seemed to be in so much of a daze as she filled in forms and chatted with the woman behind the desk that she barely noticed when the man from the day before walked through reception, this time flanked by a friend. Her breath hitched in her throat as she watched the two enter the main weights room out of the corner of her eye. She was practically bouncing up and down as the receptionist finished off her membership details and welcomed her to the gym.

Clearing her throat and trying to regain her composure, Maria thanked the woman and headed to the weights room. She was glad that Eve had signed her up for an induction yesterday, as she was able to walk straight into the room like she knew what she was doing.

Strolling casually over to a small set of weights, Maria was able to keep her eye on the man over on the other side of the gym, working out with his friend. Trying to visualize what Eve had taught her yesterday, she got into working out, feeling like a fool, but working out nonetheless.

She couldn't help but notice just how hot he was. She practically had to stop herself from drooling as his veins stuck out of almost every part of his body in concentration; his skin glistening from sweat. She barely even noticed herself dropping her set of weights only inches away from her feet.

"Shit!" She cried out, turning red in embarrassment as she realized just how loud she was being. She looked over at the man, thankful that his headphones prevented him from noticing her.

"If you wanna get buff, dropping those baby weights all over the place is no way to go about it."

Maria jumped at the sound of the voice standing above her. She gasped as she recognized him as the gym-babe's friend. She cleared her throat and stood quickly.

"If I'm being honest, I'm pretty new to this."

The new man smirked, placing his hands on his hips. The look on his face told Maria that he saw through her in an instant. The look of amusement still on his face, he bent to pick up the weights and returned them to their station.

"Here for Roman, right?"

"Who?"

He gestured over towards the man lifting weights across the room.

"My buddy, Roman. Trust me, you're definitely not the first girl to trip over herself in the gym, drooling after him."

Maria blushed in embarrassment.

"I wasn't... Okay, maybe a little."

He laughed and for the first time Maria noticed the dimples in his cheeks and the twinkle in his bright blue eyes. His hair was floppy and a dirty blonde sort of colour, slightly dampened by sweat. This new mystery man was no Roman, but Maria had to admit that he was pretty good looking.

"Honesty. I like that."

"Do you think Roman will too?" She said with a giggle.

He shrugged. "Who knows. Can't hurt to try, right? Anyway, as interesting as Roman is, I came over to see if you're okay. Those weights came down pretty hard."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm pretty useless when it comes to exercise, although you probably couldn't tell from the look of this bod."

She began holding up her biceps and poorly executing other bodybuilding poses, making the blonde man laugh again.

"Not quite, but almost."

She gave him a hurt look.

"That's so rude! As if you can do better."

Maria was instantly shut up by him casually flexing the muscles in his own large arms, all the while keeping them folded across his chest.

"Whatever," she giggled.

"For real though, would you like some help with... whatever you're doing? Today's my day off but I'm always game to help someone in need."

"Oh... you work here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, short-term as a favour for a friend. And yeah, Roman works here too," he added, noticing her eyes quickly flicker back towards the larger man.

"I wasn't-" He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Okay, maybe I was a little."

She eyed him quickly, trying to figure out what his intentions were.

"Thanks for the offer..." she paused, realizing she didn't know his name.

"Dean."

"Dean," she confirmed with a nod. "Thanks but I might just go hit the treadmill in the room next door. Better than embarrassing myself over here with these baby weights," she added with a wink, repeating his words.

Dean gave a shrug.

"Sure. But if you do ever want to learn a thing or two, you know where to find me."

"Thank you, Dean. That's very nice of you. I'm Maria by the way. It was nice meeting you."

"You too." With one last friendly smile he turned and went back over to Roman, who was now releasing his weights and taking his headphones off. She tried to watch a little more discreetly, hoping to God that the quiet exchange of laughter taking place between them had nothing to do with. For a second she visualised Dean and Roman pointing and laughing in her direction and felt ready to melt into the floor. Thankfully they both returned to working out fairly quickly, leaving Maria to grab her bag and sheepishly head out and to the cardio room next door. She may not have known the slightest thing about weightlifting, but she was pretty sure she could run on a treadmill for a while.

Eventually her speedy pace became rather relaxing. Maria had shot Eve the dirtiest of looks the day before when she had tried to explain how much peace she found in working out, but she was now sort of beginning to understand where she was coming from. Plus, it was just more time to think about the gorgeous mystery man who now had a name – Roman – and the beginnings of a story – he worked at the gym. Just his name alone was to die for. If his friend hadn't turned up and crashed the party she so would have spoken to him. It wasn't too late though, at least. Now that she knew he worked at the gym, and now that she had her membership, she had a good feeling they'd be bumping into each other on a very regular basis.

"Just one date," she muttered to herself. "One date and Eve and Kaitlyn would be proven wrong, for good."

After some time Maria brought the machine to a standstill and hopped off; grinning to herself at the feel of sweat dripping down her body. She may have come to the gym with an ulterior motive, but this thirty minute run was probably the most productive she'd been in weeks. As she wandered back into the main entrance, she once again stumbled across Roman, who was leaned against a wall speaking on the phone. Maria took a deep breath and advanced.

Taking what felt like the longest walk along the foyer, she began rehearsing her approach. 'Hey' was far too casual. Not even a 'hi' would do the trick. She'd have to add an 'oh', or something that made it look like she had just accidentally but possible sort of on purpose bumped into him...

For the second time today, she very nearly lost her bearings as her phone began ringing in her hand.

"Eve!" She said in a hushed yet stern voice. "Now isn't the best time-"

"Sorry Maria, but considering you were supposed to meet me at the mall about fifteen minutes ago..."

"Shit. Sorry Evie! I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Maria, please tell me you're not still trying to..."

"Bye Evie!"

She quickly hung up the phone and turned back around, her heart sinking at the empty space where Roman stood just a few seconds ago.

"God damn it," she groaned in exasperation. "Just perfect. Can I not just have one day where everything goes to plan? Just one?"

She turned around and shoved her phone into her bag. Looking up again as she headed towards the exit, she felt her luck change in an instant.

"Punk?" She gasped, her eyes opening wide in embarrassment as she realized she had said it out loud. "I have got to stop talking to myself."

He looked up quickly at the sound of his nickname, frowning as he laid eyes on a doe-eyed Maria.

"Uh... yeah?"

She felt like she was about to throw up. He didn't even recognize her.

"Um... Sorry, never mind," she bowed her head and rushed out of the door, unaware that he was following.

"Hold on a sec – Maria, right?"

She stopped suddenly and spun around.

"You recognize me?"

"Yeah... Yeah." Punk flashed Maria a warm smile. "It took me a second because you look pretty different, especially with the red hair, but yeah, I recognize you. Maria Kanellis. You sat behind me in Math class for years."

She beamed.

"Oh my god! This is so weird. I can't believe I'm bumping into you like this!" She struggled to hide the excitement in her voice.

"Yeah it is, talk about a blast from the past."

She nodded, desperately racking her brain for something semi-cool to say.

"You look really good," she said quickly and suddenly, cursing herself immediately after doing so.

"Thank you," Punk replied with a chuckle. "You do too."

She blushed, feeling as if her entire body was on fire. She then felt her phone buzz again in her bag and was brought abruptly back to reality.

"Um, I'm really sorry but I have to go. I'm supposed to be meeting a friend in... twenty minutes ago."

Punk laughed.

"Yeah, sure. Maria, wait a second," he reached out to grab her arm as she was turning to rush away. Fire, again.

"Yeah?" She croaked.

"I know we may not have known each other that well back in high school, but I always thought you were pretty cool. Would you maybe wanna hang out sometime? Go out to dinner or something? I mean, it'd be pretty silly not to take advantage of running into each other like this."

She nodded, grinning like a madwoman.

"I would love to!"

Barely able to contain herself, she exchanged numbers with him.

"Awesome. It was really cool bumping into you today. I can't wait to hang out again sometime."

"Yeah... me too. Okay, I really should go now. Bye Punk!"

Maria realized how ridiculous she must have looked power walking back to her car, but she just couldn't help it. She felt ready to break into song and dance, in her mind visualising the incredible movie montage that would be taking place right about now. Her entire thought process as she drove to the mall was in exclamation marks. How on earth did she manage to get so lucky?! Kelly was definitely right about destiny and seeing signs. What other signs did she need? She had just failed in her – albeit meagre – attempts with Roman Reigns, all so Phil Brooks could once again fall right into her lap. Although her Plan A may have fallen through today, for once she was pretty damn happy about this spontaneous Plan B.

"Eve and Kaitlyn are so going to be kicking themselves."