Max was staring at the clock on his screen… there were days… when there just wasn't enough coffee in the world. He was on his fourth cup before lunch. Donna had been cracking jokes that he would be joining the caffeine addicts anonymous before he was six months in. He wasn't even six days in yet…
His phone vibrated drawing his attention. Dreading another message from Robbie, he grudgingly checked the message. It was from Jack.
Hey, hitting the gym tomorrow and Friday at six if you're interested.
Max blinked, glancing at the Athena training video that still had twenty minutes, he quickly responded.
I have work tomorrow, but Friday is cool, location? Max would have to catch the first bus.
Cool, pin location. Max opened the pin, the gym was only a mile and half from the apartment… maybe he'd just walk.
"Hot date?" Donna asked looking over her shoulder.
Max nearly jumped out of his skin, "Huh?" He asked swiveling in his chair to see Donna's raised brow.
"You're smiling so wide I could see it with my back turned, text from a hot date?" Donna asked nodding to Max's phone.
Max blushed, "No, uh, some friends, well, invited me to the gym." After the last few days they'd been chatting about their personal lives.
"Oh, that guy who helped you get the interview?" Donna asked as she rotated her wrists.
"Uh, no, the two cousins who helped me move, so Friday I'll see them." Max explained. They chatted a bit longer, then returned to their personal tasks. After this video he'd be back on voice mail duty. He tapped on the call logs, over 1500 voicemails… at least he wouldn't be bored.
Max blearily searched for his phone to turn off the alarm. After accomplishing a feat that would make Hercules proud. Max rolled out of bed. Literally. Ace had been giving him tips on waking up. They were still kind of hit or miss.
Having his alarm go off out of reach had been a no go. Instead of getting up to turn the alarm off… Max had rolled over with the pillow over his head until the alarm had drained the last of his battery on his phone. He'd woken up with five minutes to be out the door.
Not only had he missed the six twenty bus, he'd barely made it to work with two minutes to spare. Not exactly earning him any brownie points.
Next idea had been a set of three alarms, ten minutes apart, each progressively louder. He'd slept through the first, had lucid dreams of sirens during the second, and woken up irritated beyond all reason for the third.
Despite his best efforts yesterday, every little problem had just set him off. He'd snapped at Robbie in a text asking for his address, been short with Donna all morning, even the small annoyance of having Athena crash had nearly sent him over the edge. So… not trying that again.
Max stood up, eyes closed as music started to play. He wasn't familiar with the song, but it was upbeat.
Today's idea was only having one alarm set, after turning it off music would start playing. His goal? Be out of bed before the first song ends. Max wasn't sure if it was the music filling the apartment, or not having the extra alarms as harbingers of the day to come… but this may be how he woke up from now on.
"Water! Oh! Water first! Hydrate or die!" Tony exclaimed as he bounced around Max's feet.
"On it, yawn." Max promised as he went for the kitchen first. Max didn't usually drink lurk warm water, but… he'd promised. Taking the several moments to chug half the bottle down, Max finally felt awake.
Max watched as the dolls also drank some water as he headed off for the bathroom to get ready. He had about twenty minutes before he had to start walking.
After brushing his teeth, hair, wiping his face, and getting dressed, Tony was about to explode. With a laugh Max returned to the kitchen for something light.
He didn't want to go to the gym on a full stomach… hmm.
"Bananas are great, bananas are good! Perfect as a pregame meal!" Tony chattered away as he circled the last two remaining bananas.
"Sounds good to me." Thankfully, Tony didn't breakout into a parody about how great bananas were for you. Tony was great, helpful for cooking tips, healthy food options, sending him down the foodie rabbit hole. Now… if only he learned to sing better.
Max ate one banana, slicing up the second into seven portions. Half for Tony, the other half split into six pieces. "Okay, I'm ready."
"And we're off! Gym day! Let's. Get. Wrecked!!!!" Ire bellowed has he shrank to fit on Max's key chain with the others.
Max didn't stop his grin from Ire's excitement, it was kinda contagious. Thankfully, most of the time the sins just hung around in their dolls. Max shivered as he walked out the door. His backpack had become a universal carrier of all things work, shopping, gym, and more. Unfortunately, one of the straps was starting to fray… either he'd have to learn to sew or buy another one.
Max kept his phone in hand to follow the directions, not that he'd ever get lost.
Max glanced at the gym, Wolves Den. Two wolves were growling at each other. One grey, one brown. After a brief hesitation, he jogged up the stairs to enter.
A brief glance almost made him turn right around. It wasn't the clean floors, or spacious juice bar that caught his immediate attention. Not the long rows of mirrors with all sorts of machines, not wall behind the counter full of tennis rackets, basketballs, towels, gym memorabilia. No, not at all. The first thing Max saw when he pushed past the glass doors… was that every person in sight had turned to face him like it was some old western movie.
All chatter had stopped, beefy guys in the middle of reps had stopped, even two girls at the juice bar had turned to look at him.
Max was so caught off guard he froze like a deer in headlights. "Uhh, I'm um, looking… uh, was… invited?" Max only had one foot through the door, but he could easily turn around. Turning around might be good for his health.
"He's with me." An irritated voice snapped.
Max jerked around to see a red headed man built like a tiny brick house. He wore basketball shorts, red and white head band, a black tank top… all while carrying a metal bat. Max had never seen the man in his life.