<i>I see you snagged the good spot.</i>Whoever got in first got first claim, that was the rule with dorms. “You don’t wants to be tripping over my stuff anyways. Over here, it’s isolated. Thank me later.” He chuckled about that to her. Wouldn’t make for a good first impression if she had accidently tripped over his sharp skates one night and cut herself. He shot Lily an incredulous look when she stated she would be up at that time too. To do what, a morning jog? Because she wanted to and no one else told her to? Damn she was crazy. Gordie couldn’t believe it at first. Coach said he had to be, that’s why he was going to be. But if it was his choice, he’d easily sleep till noon.<br/><br/>“Sports Management. I just want to play hockey but you got to take something regardless. Guess I’ll be a school coach one day if I don’t go pro.” Gordie chuckled, his ambitions hardly as amazing as Lily’s were. A professional dancer, eh? She certainly looked it. “Help yourself to them. Just uh, read the descriptions, ya know?” Gordie added with a small laugh. They had different supplements for men and women. Don’t want to be taking something that didn’t belong. He liked especially that she didn’t move to claim the washroom with all her things. He remembered tripping over his sister’s cosmetics back home with their shared washroom. Still, women’s cosmetics usually smelled better and he had no complaints with that.<br/><br/>They exchanged numbers, which was smart, given there might be any emergency or need for general information on something. And it was good to have a friend. “That’s the plan for after. Business first, pleasure second. Just don’t drink the city dry before I’m done eh?” He teased Lily as she got ready to depart. He shot her a finger gun as a farewell salute and used the temporary privacy to quickly change into his gym clothes, while packing a smaller duffel bag with a change of clothes as well as his protein shake. Then with everything prepared, he locked the door behind him and headed on down to the gym. Upper body workouts seemed fitting today, perhaps a focus on chest. He was sure to get a good lower body workout on the first day of hockey practice.<br/><br/>It was a bright and beautiful day. Nothing like dreary Canada or north-eastern American with its colder climates. He took a quick gander down his hallway, taking note of everyone who was arriving and moving in. Seemed like a very chill crowd of folks! Looks like all the stereotypes of Americans being rude and loud was completely baseless in his mind. He liked it here. No doubt he would get to learn about his fellow dorm members throughout the semester, over beer and other fun activities. Right now, he had a singular focus to get the blood flowing in his body again. Following the signs, along with a little help from students, he made his way to the gym and found it already intensively in use. Many fine bodies were in here, as well as those working hard to get there.<br/><br/>He started with some stretches, working from his neck down to his feet, in front of the mirrors. Then he went on a quick five minute jog just to get everything more warmed up. Free weights next, using lower weights in a more extensive stretching routine before moving on to find a bench press. Many of the plates were already in use so Gordie found himself having to wait on others to finish before he could add on more weight to his bar. Most people were in small groups, twos and threes, taking turns after one another so it was quite a wait to find a station that wasn’t using its heavier 45lbs plates. He did find one person working out alone, Gordie hoping the girl might be done her sets soon to allow the release of a few plates.<br/><br/>He stood nearby waiting patiently for the woman to finish but a part of him could not draw his eyes away from the spectacle. It was a short, slender blonde woman…who was squatting almost as much as he could. She was tattooed up and her form was excellent. He could tell too she must be older than him.<i>Hopefully with the kindness that older age brought too.</i><br/><br/>“Damn.” He blurted out as the woman completed yet another repetition. “I wanted to borrow one of those forty-fives if you can spare them but I almost don’t want to ruin this perfect picture.” He said to her, hands on his hips as he observed Irene in her reps. “Hurricane couldn’t knock you over if it tried.”