The Reluctant Wag by Mary Costello

somehow eased the tension inside. She felt she was ready to look at Cal – but she was wrong. He was talking to one of the trainers, his hands on his hips, wearing only his shorts. He looked like a statue of a Greek god, only more muscular. She gulped and took a deep breath.
    ‘Best not to look,’ whispered Jay. ‘If you get any more heated I’m going to have to redo your foundation.’
    ‘Jay!’ she hissed, and developed an intense interest in Simon’s lighting umbrellas.
    A few minutes later Simon was ready to begin the shoot and Tim went off to get Cal. Merise could feel her heart battering her chest as he walked towards them.
    ‘Hi,’ he said and she responded with what she hoped seemed like a distracted ‘hello’.
    But then she couldn’t help it – she looked at him, he smiled, and something melted within her. It was at that very second, in that great space smelling of sweat and liniment, that she realised that she’d fallen utterly, hopelessly in love with Cal McCoy. It wasn’t just physical after all, it was the whole emotional deal. She craved his very presence. She wanted to please him, she wanted to care for him, and for him to care for her. That realisation came as a shock, and was even more upsetting than his being so close. It was something she’d sensed at a visceral level, but had never allowed to form into a conscious thought, until now, and it rattled her to the core. She suddenly understood just how deep her feelings were for this man, however different they might be as people. It was a sad realisation, because she was sure that any feelings he had for her were pretty superficial. And she only had herself to blame. She’d scorned his world, made it clear she’d wanted no part of footy or the fame that went with it. If he had been attracted to her at the start, he was probably over that now. He wasn’t the kind of man who had to beg for a woman’s attention. He’d have moved on. She barely heard Simon as he talked about the set-up, and woodenly followed his directions.
    ‘Okay, Merise, standing right there – between Cal, Troy and Ryan.’
    She positioned herself between the three players – Cal pumping a small dumbbell in each hand, Troy bouncing on a mini-trampoline and Ryan pedalling on an exercise bike. But all she could think of was that she had to cover up the way she felt about Cal. Wasn’t it written all over her? She felt utterly exposed there with the camera continually flashing at her. Surely it would tell the truth.
    ‘Right, Merise, turn and look admiringly at one of the boys,’ Simon instructed, and she deliberately turned her back on Cal. Her eye fell on Ryan – a player who had only joined Yarraside that year. He was a handsome twenty-year-old, already the darling of the team’s teenage female fans. Merise had an idea. She fixed her gaze on Ryan and gave him the biggest, most adoring smile she could muster. Her face lit up as he smiled back and Simon snapped, ‘Yes! That’s it – good girl. Move closer now. Keep smiling, Ryan.’
    ‘No worries, mate,’ said Ryan obligingly as Merise moved towards him and draped herself seductively over the bars of his bike. What was she doing? Part of her was standing back, scrutinising her antics in a kind of horrified disbelief; another part was driving her on, shaken by the thought that Cal could see what she felt for him, and desperate to show him that he was mistaken.
    She didn’t look his way for the rest of the shoot, flirting wildly with Ryan and even a little with Troy. By the time Simon was satisfied, the two young men were high on the exercise and apparent adulation. While Simon was packing up his camera gear, Ryan approached Merise.
    ‘Hey, you wanna go down to the café and get a Coke or something?’
    ‘Sure,’ she said impulsively, ‘that’d be great.’ But out of the corner of her eye she was watching Cal striding out of the gym.
    It wasn’t quite noon and the café was almost empty when she followed