Getting Things Moving
He woke up early, preparing for something he dreaded, but would no doubt give him a bit of an extra edge: Working Out!
"Only Gwen could make me want to work out...Thats Love!"
Granted, Holden didn’t have a bad body at all, he just wanted to cover all the bases to impress Gwen. He sighed as he prepared to clothe himself in his rarely-used athletic clothes, “Only Gwen could make me want to work out. If that isn’t love, I don’t really know what is!” he told himself. Before he left his room to head to the treadmill that only Gwen had ever used, he stared at the photo on his wall for inspiration…
The photo hung over his chest of drawers, and he made a point to look at it every day. It was an artistic shot he had taken of Gwen’s mouth for a College art class. He had developed it in the dark room himself, gotten an “A” grade on it, and kept a framed version for himself ever since.
It's still dark out as Holden begins his work-out!
In the darkness, Holden begun running himself ragged, hoping to finish before Gwen woke up to make breakfast, and asked him what on earth he was doing! Holden would hate it if she witnessed him breaking a sweat!
Holden actually did really well, for a while, anyway. He gained a bit of false confidence when he read on the screen how many calories he had burned, and so he upped the speed, a lot, and you can see below what happened…
Oh, how embarrassing!
Holden brushed himself off, and decided that the few pounds he had worked off was good enough for today. Besides, he needed to shower before he faced Gwen!
Holden showered, and gussied himself up for breakfast. Meanwhile, Gwen was putting together her own killer outfit in her room. She had been spurned on by what Holden had said to her in her room last night, his breath so close to her face, his body so close that she had been tempted to grab him, and pull him close!
Gwen cooked a delectable breakfast, filling and wholesome, like a 1950′s housewife. But her outfit, though it included the chechered pattern usually found on aprons, was far less wholesome than her cooking, and more feisty and flirty. Typical Gwen! Holden couldn’t help but stare at her a lot. Was she wearing this on purpose? She had to be!
Gwen draws Holden further in with her choice of outfit...Oh, and the cooking was good, too!
Holden actually spaced out as he watched Gwen get her own plate of food, completley forgetting what he was doing!
“Holdy, arn’t you going to eat? You love my eggs! I made them with sharp cheddar cheese melted in!” Gwen said, waking him from a sort of comatose state.
“Oh, oh yeah, of course Gwen, Sorry I zoned out for a second. I was just thinking about the story Im working on. I just had a new idea pop into my head, thats all!”
” Well thats a perfectly exceptable reason to blank out like a zombie!” Gwen laughed. Sometimes Holden could be a bit absent-minded, but he was a genius, so his brain had to short-circuit and burn out occassionaly!
“When you write the new part in, let me read it right away! The last chapter’s cliffhanger is still bothering me, and you never give me a preview of what will happen next! Your one of those writers who won’t let anyone know whats going on until you have committed to paper, you know!” Gwen told him, excitedly.
“Gwen, your the only one I trust to read the manuscript. Even my own mother has no idea what the plot is, so count your lucky stars!” Holden reminded her, with his crooked grin of a smile.
Gwen smiled, and laughed, because it was true. Then, they ate the rest of their morning meal in relative silence. For some reason, things were a little awkward now. But it was good awkward, not bad awkward, right? Both Holden and Gwen could not help but wonder about it in their head, over and over again.
Holden decieded to channel his frustration into his manuscript, directly after he finished the meal. Both left the table rather abruptly, and went about their seperate business.
Holden tacks on a good 50 pages to his dramatic novel project!
Holden entered he and Gwen’s favorite room, their Southwestern themed den, turned on the desktop computer, and wrote furiously. His inspiration flowed into the keys, and thickened the plot of the story, advancing his characters a good 50 pages! He didn’t think of Gwen as he wrote; he couldn’t help but become absorbed in his writing, embodying his characters as he went along.
It was only after his productive writing session, when he opened the bills, that she crept back into his mind again. Seeing both their names on the bill statements, side by side, bothered him.
“Here we are, separate, but together. Always seperate but together.” He mumbled to himself as he paid each bill, wishing Gwen’s name would somehow transform on the paper from Glover to Wozny. But even his storytelling talent couldn’t just edit her name with a few florishes of the pen.
He didn’t like the awkwardness of the morning. For that matter, neither had Gwen. In fact, they had cleverly avoided each other the rest of the day. Holden took it upon himself to not give up so easily.
He knew Gwen had been wanting to visit the Octagon House again, her favorite place in Riverview. The Octagon House was Riverview’s Historical Museum and Art Gallery, and even though it rarely acquired new artifacts for display, Gwen loved to revisit it again and again. On the times Holden had been there with her, she always drew a new conclusion as she looked at the paintings, and was always moved in a new, interesting way. He knew what he would do: He would ask her to come with him this time.
“Hey” he said in the doorway of the kitchen where Gwen was. “I know we’ve both been really busy today, so I was wondering if you wanted to wind down together, at your favorite place,” Holden said, pausing.
“The Octagon House. I know you haven’t been there in a few months. Who knows, maybe they have a new statue or something?” Holden asked her.
Gwen laughed, and gave Holden’s shoulder a playful punch. “Yeah, that would be the day! The last time they got something new was three years ago, and it was journals and letters, so they keep them in the archive. You can only view them on request.” Then she stopped. Holden had gone out on a limb here, and she wasn’t going to leave him hanging, “Of course I want to go to the Octagon! Lets take a spin”
Holden felt all his worries leave him, as he and Gwen mounted their bicycles and took a ride down to the Riverview Town Square, just like they had done many times when they were young. They chatted the whole way there, and even raced each other to the front door of The Octagon, laughing the whole way.
Gwen’s eyebrows slightly raised, as she turned her head toward him, intrigued.
Holden and Gwen climb the steps to The Octagon House.
