Page 62 of The Thorne at My Side
"No problem, Maggie, there are some in the back of the studio, grab one and pick a spot."
"Okay, thanks." I mutter and without looking back at Austin I turn and head to the studio. I hear Sam skip to catch up with me.
"Aren't you going to talk to him?"
"What would I say?” I adopt a dopey cartoon voice, “nice job inventing a software that is smarter than I am.”
Sam blows me off with a scoff. "No, but you could at least be friendly to the man. I mean, he is helping the senator get elected which is the ultimate goal of all this, right?"
"I'll talk to him after class," I ruefully agree as I pull a mat out of the bin. "Where should we set up?"
"By the mirrors," Sam says, "I saw a video of a puppy who was so confused by the mirror and was walking into it for five minutes trying to figure it out."
"Isn't the point of this to workout?"
Sam laughs, "No, the point is to do some light stretching while puppies run around the room. The cardio comes when a fine ass man is doing down dog in front of you and your heart rate spikes."
We roll out our mats out and sit facing each other to continue chatting. I glance at each person who walks in, mostly pairs and trios of girls who look like they're going out for mimosas after this. The room fills up in clusters of friend groups and no one is directly next to me and Sam so thankfully there will be no one to witness my lack of balance and flexibility.
I agreed to do this because I admitted to DCFox that I wanted to be braver about trying new things. And then Sam wouldn't shut up about wanting to try it. She’s been on a puppy kick since seeing them at the hockey game last week. It’s really just a matter of time before she’s trying to sneak a puppy onto the campaign bus.
At the very least, my experience with this class will make a good first date story for DCFox.
Austin walks in followed by, Elle from the front desk. She comes up to the front of the room and Austin whips open his mat right next to me.
Of course he does.
"Good morning my friends, I just need to share a few things before our puppies arrive. First of all, welcome! Raise your hand if this is your first puppy yoga class?"
I raise my hand and glance around the room, there are only a few of the twenty people here who aren't raising their hands. Austin is one of them.
"You've done puppy yoga before?" I challenge him quietly.
"Of course I have," he says as he keeps his attention on Elle and her long limbs and dark hair.Silly Maggie, obviously he’s taken this class before. He clearly has a connection with the adorable instructor so I bet he comes here often.
"Next, ladies, well and I guess gentleman too,” she gives a smile to Austin, “watch your ponytails. Our pups often like to bite them if they're hanging as they walk by. If this happens try not to pull because they'll think you’re playing tug-of-war. Raise your hand or have your neighbor get our attention and I’ll come over to help."
I turn around and see Sam putting her hair into a swirled bun instead of a ponytail and decide to do the same.
"And finally, if a puppy has an accident nearby let me know and I'll clean it up.” Elle claps her hands together and turns on some music. "Who's ready for puppy yoga?"
The class whoops and cheers as Elle walks to the door at the side of the room and opens it slowly.
Immediately three puppies come bounding out and trip over each other as they race into the waiting laps of the closest humans. The room fills with giggles and baby talk. A few people make little kissy noises. A few more pups make their way outslowlyand finally a brown lab puppy with adorable droopy eyes meanders out into the room.
"We're going to start in child's pose so if you have a puppy in your lap please set them to the side and move into position. We'll be going through Sun A and Sun B flow today ending with a few hip openers and a delicious savasana at the end."
I look around the room and lament that I picked a spot at the front. I think I know what child's pose is but I don't know much about anything else she said.
I watch as Austin sits back on his heels and then folds forward to the floor. His body is stretched out and I see the way his muscles wrap around his bones. Of course he would do puppy yoga shirtless. I hope he gets scratched by tiny little puppy nails.
As soon as I turn my head over and press my forehead into the mat like Elle instructed, a puppy flops down on my neck. His belly is warm and squishy and it wiggles as his tail wags back and forth. I chuckle a little bit and turn my head to the side and see it's the chocolate lab that was the last to join the party.
"Awwww that's so cute, hold still," Sam coos and then I hear the shutter of her camera.
"You cannot post that picture!" I inform her as she settles back onto her mat.
"Why? Worried it would make you look soft?" Austin challenges and I roll my head towards him and narrow my eyes.
