Love in the Time of Corona Pt. 1
Before the Quarantine
When Dale asked me to go gym-short shopping, I couldn’t come up with a good reason to say no. We lived together, we attended the same gym together, and our apartment laundry machine had just torn up a recent load of our clothes.
It wasn’t that I thought he was annoying — Dale and I did a lot together as roommates — last month we’d gone to the amusement park together and gotten matching lightsabers.
Dale was a good dude. He’d been attending a Christian college up here and and was considering seminary.
I just — didn’t feel comfortable thinking about my body around Dale. I was still over my recent weight goal, and at this point, even I was noticing how tight my pants were getting.
Normally, a few extra pounds here and there didn’t exactly shake me to my core. I’ve bartended for a long time, and don’t feel down about myself physically. Things felt strangely hyper-focused when it came to Dale, though. Was it because it felt like he was judging me? We’d worked out for a long time together at this point, and I guess I didn’t want him criticizing my recent fall from grace into IPAs.
Gym short shopping seemed to be the perfect intervention moment. I emotionally steeled myself for the onslaught of possible comments.
Instead, what actually happened was the start of a very complicated quarantine during a worldwide pandemic. All because of a pair of shorts.
“What about here?” Dale asked , pointing over to a store in the mall. The foot traffic had gotten scarce in here now, with fear of the virus driving people into supermarkets.
“Sure thing,” I shrugged. I was a little light on my last paycheck, and I didn’t feel like actually trying to find a pair of shorts. I don’t exactly know how I got so wrapped up in my own head about a stupid pair of shorts, but my hands were legitimately clammy now.
“Everything ok?” Dale pulled up his sunglasses, squinting at me. He stooped over me to inspect me like an inquisitive doctor.
I held still, suddenly dizzy with how in my space he was, how surprised I was that I could smell his soap, and how I could make out the 5-o’clock shadow making its way across his jaw. My breath hitched, trying to make sure I wasn’t coming across half as flustered as I felt.
“I’m fine, let’s head into the store before it gets too crowded,” I said, feeling every hair I had standing at attention.
Dale meandered into the store, slurping out of his soda cup. I followed behind him, trying to quiet how loud my blood was pumping into my ears. As we neared the athletic section, we spotted a mannequin sporting a pair of gym shorts.
We both stopped to look at the mannequin.
“That’s uh,” I said, quieting suddenly.
“Really short, huh?” Dale said, appraising the length of the mannequin’s short-shorts, rubbing the material between his fingers. “But I bet it breathes pretty well.”
“Are these the only ones here?” I said, casting my eyes around for more choices.
“They’re probably just rolled up or clipped to look stylish or something,” Dale said, grabbing himself a hunter green pair.
Shrugging, I took a blue pair in my size and bought a pair without trying them on. The faster we get out of the store, the better.
Back at the apartment, we made dinner as usual and prepped for our nightly workout. We’d fallen into a rhythm by now — we’d eat, he’d take care of the dishes and I’d start putting pre-workout into our shaker bottles. Then, we’d head out as soon as the normal nightly rush died down.
Tonight felt different, though. For one, there was the looming announcement of a possible statewide quarantine, and secondly, I’d finally have to try on these gym shorts. Though my tiny shorts problem seemed small compared with a larger worldwide pandemic, I still couldn’t keep the former off my mind.
The shorts turned out just as surprisingly short as advertised on the mannequin. Except my thighs, a little thicker than usual, made them ride up slightly. I stood there in front of my mirror, somewhat mortified.
Dale knocked on my open door, ducking his head in, “Check these ittie bitties out!” He jumped into the room, showing me his green shorts. They were indeed tiny, but looked good on his long, olive-toned frame.
I turned, trying to keep the embarrassment out of my face, “Are these in style now or something? Are they a thing?”
“Yeah, I think so. Like the seventies,” Dale said, nodding approvingly at the shorts.
“Is it working?” I asked him.
“It’s working,” Dale said, staring for what I could have sworn was maybe too long.
“You uh, wanna head to the gym?” I offered, trying not to get pinned down by his eyes. They were honey brown and had a warm melt to them, and oh my god I couldn’t believe I was saying this about another man’s eyes. I grabbed my gym shirt off my chair, trying not to meet his gaze again.
“Do you think they’ll shut the gym down in all of this?”
“Nah, I don’t think it’ll get that bad,” I said, pulling my hair into a short knot. It was getting sort of long now, and fell into my eyes at the worst possible times.
“I mean, worst case scenario,” Dale said, growing excited as we jumped into my truck, “We can always work out from home.”
I turned to him as we drove up to a red light, “You like all this.”
“I don’t,” Dale said, getting quiet, “It’s just kind of a departure, from like, the normal. You know? All the things we usually do.”
My throat grew tight, and I tightened my grip on the steering wheel as I turned into the parking light. That didn’t mean what I wanted it to mean, it couldn’t have. What did I even want that to mean, anyway?
Dale groaned, slumping disappointedly in the passenger seat. Even from the turn, we could see people being turned away at the doors of the gym.
I drove up to the front entrance, rolling down my window. “Excuse me miss,” I said, calling out to the employee locking up outside. She turned and waved.
“Miss, how long are you guys going to be closing up?” I asked.
She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, looking apologetic. “We don’t know. We’re just going to keep following state orders for now for any non-essential businesses.”
I sighed and thanked her, rolling up the window. Then, I looked over at Dale.
“Plan B?”
