Page 38 of The Reboot
Get fit
Lose weight
Famous
Rich
Pippa
‘Pippa? Seriously?’
‘What?’
‘I just didn’t think you’d want her back, that’s all.’ She’d spoken without thinking, not masking her surprise, and she blushed when she realised how blunt she sounded.
‘Why wouldn’t I?’
‘Well, you said she was an asshole.’
He shrugged. ‘The heart wants what it wants.’
‘And your heart wants an asshole.’
Roly laughed. ‘I guess it does.’
‘These goals are all a bit vague. You need to be more specific. Like, what does “get fit” mean? How much weight do you want to lose? Set definite targets.’
‘Okay. What have you got, smarty-pants?’ He glanced across at her page, which was blank.
‘I was still thinking.’
‘You can copy me if you want. I won’t tell. I mean, we both basically want the same things, don’t we?’
‘Broadly, I suppose. I don’t want to be rich though, just solvent. And I definitely don’t want to be famous.’
‘But you want to get your career back on track, right? Go back to college, do your PhD, become a hot shot professor?’
‘Yeah … not in the short term, though. At the moment I’m focusing more on my financial goals – getting out of debt and building up some savings.’
‘Well, we both want to get fit and lose weight.’
‘Yeah.’ Besides that she wanted to overhaul her whole image – buy new clothes, do something different with her hair, maybe invest in some make-up. It was very superficial, but it would be nice to focus a little on trivial things. It was a luxury she hadn’t been able to afford in a long time. Besides, it was all straightforward, easily achievable stuff, so she could tick off some smaller goals while she built up to the big ones.
‘Which brings us to this.’ He tapped the last item on his list.
‘Yeah, I definitely don’t want to get with Pippa.’
‘What about sex, though?’ He wiggled his eyebrows, grinning.
She shrugged. ‘I don’t think I have the energy for dating right now on top of everything else.’
‘Come on! You can’t give up on sex at your age!’
‘I’m not. But it’s not top of my priorities at the moment either. I’m taking it all slowly – baby steps. Besides, I’ve kind of got used to celibacy at this stage.’
‘Well, that’s just tragic. All the more reason to get back in the game. The longer you leave it, the harder it’ll be – as the bishop said to the actress,’ he added with a snigger. ‘Besides, what’s the point in getting all fit if no one’s going to see you naked?’
‘I’m doing it for myself,’ Ella said primly.
