The Reunion Show by Brenda Hampton

was now back on my team. I was upset with him earlier, but I liked how he inspired me. Without him around, I never would’ve been able to pull this off. I watched the timer go from one minute left, to one second. Exhausted, I removed my feet from the pedals and dropped my head back.
    â€œLord, have mercy,” I said, sighing from relief. “I am so glad that this is over.”
    â€œAlmost.” Roc sat on the floor mats in the middle of the room. “Now all you have to do is a few sit-ups. You need to work your stomach area like this.”
    Roc pulled the wife beater over his head and used it to wipe across the minimal sweat on his forehead. He put the wife beater next to him and then started to do sit ups. While switching his elbows to touch his knees, he kept lifting his feet off the floor. By the time I got off the bike, he was already up to one hundred sit-ups.
    â€œYou’ll be lucky to get ten of those out of me,” I said.
    I staggered over to where he was and plopped down on the mat in front of him. I lay on my back and took a few more minutes to rest. Roc was now up to two hundred and fifty sit-ups, so I watched and waited until he was done.
    â€œYour turn,” he said, kneeling in front of me to hold down my feet. I knew he was going to push me to do more, so after five sit-ups, I pretended that I couldn’t do any more.
    â€œYou can give me more that that, Jada. Up and down, ma, up and down.”
    â€œDang, you gotta make it sound so sexual?”
    â€œI don’t care how it sounds. Just do it.”
    I strained to do more, and by the time I got to fifteen, my stomach cramps were back again. I squeezed my stomach, but I could feel a fart wanting to slip out. I tightened my ass and grunted as I forced myself to do another sit up.
    â€œMore,” Roc shouted. “Come on, Jada, ten more!”
    â€œI can’t!” I shouted back.
    â€œYes, you can. Give me more.”
    I strained, tightened, and squeezed as I did five more sit-ups.
    â€œFive more!” Roc hollered.
    â€œNo. One!”
    â€œCome on, ma. Give it here!”
    On my way up to do one more sit-up, I exhaled and several pops of loud air flew out. I looked around and tried to play it off, like I didn’t know what had happened. Roc ducked and backed away from me, thinking it was gunfire. At that point, all I could do was cover my mouth.
    â€œDamn, girl,” Roc said with a twisted face. “What the fuck was that?”
    I removed my hand from my mouth and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
    He fanned his hand in front of his face. “You really and truly need to go handle that. You got it stankin’ in this mutha, for real.”
    I couldn’t argue with him on that. I tried not to go there, but he kept pushing and asking for me to give him more. I stood and pinched my nose, so I didn’t have to inhale what I had put into the air.
    â€œCan I go now?” I asked, hoping we were finished.
    Roc walked away, looking disgusted. “It’s a wrap. We’re done.”
    I walked like a penguin as I made my way to the door. I then hiked up my leg to give him one more silent poot for memories. Afterward, I took his advice and left to go handle my business in the kitchen with some ice cream. My body was hurting so bad; Lord knows I needed a cane to walk.

I hurried to get out of the workout room and moved into some fresh air that had done my nostrils some good. Jada had gone to shower. I hoped like hell that she got herself together. While I didn’t approve of how she got down sometimes, I did like the realness about her. She surely wasn’t no phony, with the exception of what- ever it was she was doing behind my back.
    I’d been thinking about it all day, but before I brought anything to her attention, I needed some privacy. The only place I could get it was in the bathroom, but Jada was in there. The only other place that I suspected didn’t have