Evan felt his hands turning to jelly as he beat his fists against the bright red punching bag. He was ready to turn in the towel, but he also couldn't stop. Not yet. Not until every last drop of manic, wild energy had been wrung out of him.

Rodney had been running around the track for about an hour now, trying to make sure that Evan noticed him. He had made a stupid face every time he had come into Evan's field of view, and Evan was more than willing to fight him right now if he walked up to him.

But then again, his hands were jelly.

One of the on-hand trainers walked up to Evan with a concerned face. "Hey man, how's it going?"

"Not great. What's going on?" Evan asked, grabbing the towel off his shoulder and drying his face off. "Am I being disruptive?"

"Oh, no! No, you're fine. I just noticed that you didn't seem like yourself today."

Evan looked at the guy. He was younger, his name was Leon or Lee or something like that. He had a mess of tousled sandy hair that gave him a wild look.

"Um, no . . . My grandma passed away kind of suddenly a few days ago."

"Oh God, man, I'm so sorry. I remember when my grandma died, it was rough. Was she the only family you had in the area?"

Evan nodded. "Yeah."

"That's the worst. When's the funeral?"

"We're having a memorial for her tomorrow. I um . . . I kinda didn't think too hard about it, and she didn't have plans for the event, so . . . So we ended up dithering a little too long."

"Hey, that's alright. Death is a rough time. Was she religious?"

"A little."

"Well, hopefully she ended up wherever she wanted to go," he said, and he smiled. Evan actually found himself smiling too. That was new. He hadn't smiled in a while. It felt like it had been ages.

"I'm sorry man, I don't actually remember your name," he admitted, a little ashamed.

"Ha! That's okay, I don't really know yours. I'm Leonard. Most people call me Leo."

"Nice to meet you, Leo. I'm Evan," he said, offering his hand. Leo took it and shook it, grinning. "Pleasure to meet you."

Leo laughed, and said, "Well, that's all I wanted to bother you about. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. Hey, listen," he said, and he gestured Evan in close. Quietly, he said, "Most guys aren't interested, but I have this counselor that is great. You want his number? Really helped me through my grandma's passing."

Evan wrinkled his nose a little, and Leo laughed, waving it off. "I got you man, sorry."

"No, no, I just . . . Does it actually help? A shrink?"

"Oh yeah. More than punching the daylights out of a bag anyway," he said, his tone very cautious so he didn't offend Evan. He shrugged, and Evan did too. The kid had a point. All Evan felt now was weak.

Evan sighed. He glanced over to see that Rodney was still staring at him. Dancing around the track now, too.

"Yeah, alright. I'll give him a call."

Leo went to the desk and wrote the number down, and Evan followed him. He tucked the paper into the pocket of his shorts, wondering when he had turned into someone who considered calling a shrink.

Realizing that he had no more use for the punching bag, he decided to call it a night, and went to the locker room.

He showered and dressed, and when he went back for his stuff he found Rodney sitting on the stool in front of his locker.

"I saw your little university girl a few days ago."

Evan gripped his dirty clothes. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Think it was nearly a week ago now."

"Funny, she didn't mention it."

He went to his locker, unlocked it, and snatched his bag. Throwing his clothes in, he zipped it, and was about to leave, when Rodney said, "I bet she's sweet as cherry pie. She looks like she would be. I wonder if, when she's done with you, I'll get a turn. She's not my usual type, but I know it would break your heart to see her on my arm instead of yours."

Evan walked back over, knowing he was falling right into Rodney's trap, but falling for it anyway.

"If Isobel decides she wants to see you, that's her business, not mine. She's not a sex object, she's a person."

Rodney looked up at him and rolled his eyes.

"Ugh. Don't tell you've been getting into all that feminist bullshit? It's so unbecoming."

Evan wondered why he'd stopped, and he turned around to leave. He did, though Rodney followed him and kept talking.

"I know what it must be. Nice and tight? Is that it? You don't usually go back to the same girl twice, so it really must be good. I'll have to give it a try."

"Break a leg," Evan returned.

"So sweet! So supportive. I wonder what it will be like. Her mouth on my big fat—"

"Excuse me, can you call security on him?" Evan asked the guy at the front desk.

The attendant looked up from his book. Evan tried not to judge people based on their body types, but this guy didn't seem like someone who should be working at a gym. "Why?"

"He's saying graphic, offensive language."

The attendant looked as if he'd never heard something so uninteresting.

"Like what?"

Evan sighed. "Never mind, dude."

Rodney followed him out the door of the gym and to his car, still chattering disgustingly about Isobel. He wanted to whip around and knock his lights out, but he knew that if he got arrested, and they did a real background check on him, it would spell a lot of trouble for everyone else. Better that he just kept his head low, and hurried away from there.

Also, just for the day, he was starting to get tired of dealing with his problems by punching them.

Evan climbed into his car and turned it on. He slid a pair of sunglasses on and looked at Rodney. "Look, dude, I'm really tired. I just want to be left alone. If Isobel wants to be with you, that's her choice. I'm not gonna stand in your way. But I'm getting the feeling that you're just saying all this to get under my skin. And that's not gonna work."

He buckled his seatbelt and looked up at Rodney. The guy was grinning ear to ear.

"Oh, I think it will."

"Whatever, dude."

Evan carefully eased out of the parking stall.