I pushed the pedals of the exercise bike round and round. "Feels like my life," I complained to Thea. "All this effort and I don't go anywhere."

She grinned and nodded, letting her movement on the treadmill control the movement of her head up and down. "But don't forget, we might not be going somewhere, but eventually we'll be getting somewhere."

Despite the late hour, we were both feeling energized by the exercise. After we finished our regimented half-hour, we went to our favourite coffee shop, Jazzed for Joe, which was conveniently nearby.

"Getting somewhere?" I put the low-fat, decaf mochaccinos on the table.

Thea tucked her feet primly under her seat and adjusted her hair. "You know, with our weight loss, and our New Year's decision." She droned on about her accounts receivable job, complaints which I have heard a hundred times.

Perhaps getting drunk together and giggling while the ball fell on television wasn't the best time to make promises. We agreed that we would share our resolutions – whatever one of us decided to do, the other would, too. I had been anxious to start losing weight, since the so-called Freshman Fifteen had blossomed to twenty, or maybe even thirty pounds (I am remaining purposefully vague here) that just didn't disappear again. Sad to say, we've been out of university for over seven years, and I still define my weight problem as the universal maxim that affects all first-year students. My resolution was to start and stick with an exercise program.

Thea's resolution was to find a man. The man. At the time, I blithely agreed, but I found myself musing while in the car or doing reps, "How can you make finding Mr. Right a New Year's resolution?" I never said this out loud to my best friend, which is probably for the best. It didn't matter, I had promised to accept her yearly quest as my own. Two months later, we had definitely made a go of mine at least.

A sharp whisper brought me out of my reverie. "Look, look!" I turned my head in the direction of the door. "Don't look!"

"Make up your mind, Thea," I grumbled. I hadn't seen anything, but Thea was frantically pointing with her chin. I peeked over my shoulder as surreptitiously as I could.

What Thea was ogling, of course, was a man. I should have known. This guy was tall, with broad shoulders, and had dark hair in a short sweep away from his face – a face notable for its bright blue eyes and mischievous smile. I felt my jaw falling to my chest. He was wearing a black leather jacket over business casual. This vision of manliness was not the usual fare in Jazzed for Joe, not at this hour. We usually ended up dreaming up good combinations of famous actors for our entertainment. I raised my eyebrow at Thea, and she raised hers back at me. She kicked me lightly under the table.

"Sorry, we're closing in another ten minutes, so we can only offer you coffee to take out," said the young blonde behind the counter. Baby Blues didn't seem to have the effect on her that he had on us. Thea whimpered, sensing the loss of a potential vict— life partn— new man in her life.

Some sort of internal decision was made without engaging my conscious mind. I stood up in a rush. The chair scraped across the floor in the most embarrassing, prolonged blubbery rush of noise. I made it to the door before Baby Blues did.

"My friend and I know of a great little diner that’s open late and has decent coffee and pastries." Was this really me talking? "It's not far and we could show you where it is," I said. "If you like."

He looked at me and then past me at Thea, and he smiled politely. "That would be very nice," he said. I held my breath. "But unnecessary. Thank you." He touched my arm, very lightly, and rushed out the door.

I crept back to the table. Thea's mouth was in the shape of a little 'O' and her eyes were on me. I don't think she blinked until I sat down.

"Did I really just flirt with that complete stranger?" I asked her. My breath was shallow and I was huffing more than when I came out of aerobics class or had a run-in with the mean office manager.

She gave me her grin, the one that means she wants to have an adventure. "You did! Let's go catch him in the parking lot." Thea grabbed her stuff and made to leave.

I didn't move. I couldn't move. "He's not interested, Thea. I feel like a real idiot." There wasn't any more mochaccino left in the mug to re-wet my mouth. I gulped at the leftover foam on the rim, but the cocoa powder caught in my throat. I coughed.

Thea was still trying to rush me up and out. "Come on, hurry!" she urged. She was out the door a few seconds later.

It was cold outside. We hadn't bothered with coats, since we were so hot after our workout. I shivered, and chased Thea. The parking lot was full of a light mist and only four cars. One of them was starting up and its lights turned the air into a cone of moving wet air. Thea was running right towards the two beams and waving.

This was going too far. She'd really lost it now. "Thea!" I called. She was at the car window and Baby Blues had rolled it down. He was probably capable of handling two overweight women stalkers – even if they had been going to the gym for two months and were fitter than ever. He looked like he worked out, too.

I couldn't hear their conversation over the engine and my pounding heart. One of my problems is that I get stage fright after the fact, so that I seem like I can handle anything and then fall apart later. The unexpected flirt session was finally playing havoc with my blushing facilities and blood pressure.

When Thea started waving at me to join her at the car, I was sure I was hallucinating. My feet took the few yards while my mind was busily screaming, "What is happening?" on repeat.

"Ruthie, come meet Ron." Thea had her hand on Ron's shoulder, her elbow leaning casually on the door. For some reason, this made me feel like we were teenagers, chasing boys on the beach. Even though it was freezing and we were in a dark parking lot.

"Hello," I said. I looked at Thea out of the corner of my eye.

The two of them laughed at some joke they had shared, or maybe me? My face felt like a hot iron, the misty rain slicing into my skin like a shower of nails.

Thea squeezed Ron's shoulder. "Ron was in my Statistics class, believe it or not," she said. "He was the class clown, and I had meticulous notes but no idea what they meant. We spent a lot of time in the library together trying to determine the z-score and creating cluster graphs."

Ron grinned, making him seem much younger than we were, maybe as young as a college student again. "Now I'm kicking myself even more that I didn't take you up on your offer." His blue eyes were piercing, but all too soon turned back to look at Thea. "I can't believe I didn't recognize Thea right away. Though, maybe I should be just as surprised she did recognize me. It's been what, five years now?" He let out a laugh, more through his nose than his mouth.

"Ro-on," Thea giggled through her teeth, "it's more like ten. But I would recognize you anywhere."

I knew when it was time for me to exit stage right. "Listen, I have an early meeting tomorrow." I started backing away towards my car. "You two want to catch up, so I'll see you at the gym tomorrow at six, okay, Thea?"

When I saw her the next day, Thea was not grinning or bubbling over with things to say. I thought she would have at least have some gossip about their spontaneous date after nearly a decade.

"So?" I demanded.

Thea looked confused. "What's the matter, Ruthie?"

Sometimes she is very frustrating. "What happened last night? Tell me everything!"

After pursing her lips to think, she said, "Oh, Ron. It was nice to see him. I can't believe we lost touch after that Statistics class. He was great fun back then. We caught up at the diner. I swear he didn't take me home 'til nearly midnight." She grabbed her towel from her locker and slammed it shut.

"He did say he was sorry you didn't stay and join us," Thea continued when we were stretching in the aerobics room. "He liked how bold you were in the coffee shop. Said you seemed 'nice'."

"'Nice'?!" I rolled my eyes. "Nice won't get anyone married, that's for sure. Maybe it'll let me be your bridesmaid, though." The room was starting to fill up for the class. Thea and I were in the back, as far from the mirrors as possible.

"Married?" Thea dropped her water bottle. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not holding up my end of the bargain." She really did look surprised, but I kept babbling. "Now that you've met Mr. Right, it's just a matter of time before the wedding bells are ringing, and I haven't even had a nibble." I was mixing my metaphors and pop songs all over the place. I felt deflated, almost tearful.

"Ron is certainly not Mr. Right. He's not even a Mr. Right-Now, believe me." Thea's laugh was so big and genuine that I did believe her. "Why would I be throwing myself at him? He's cute, though. And sweet." She lowered her voice. "You should go for him. He liked you."

"I don't want your leftovers." My voice rang out a little too loud. The room had quieted when our instructor, Sashé, entered the room but I hadn't noticed.

A wave of giggling went through the room. Sashé smiled indulgently at us and, I swear, she punished us later with an extra tough routine consisting almost entirely of the dreaded grapevine move that made me trip over my feet.

Jazzed for Joe was buzzing more than the previous night. It was Friday night, after all. Thea and I found a table by the window, and it was her turn to buy the mochaccinos.

"I really don't know what you were going on about before, Ruthie," she said, after we had finished bitching about aerobics.

I still felt stung that Thea had not jumped at the wonder that was Ron. He was really hot and seemed friendly and charming. What was wrong with her? I waved my hand. "Nothing. It was nothing," I mumbled.

"You know, seeing Ron again made me really think about the past," Thea said. She had a dreamy look in her eye.

"So then why are you pushing him on me?" I said. "You two would make a good couple. It's fate that you found each other again after all this time."

She sputtered into her coffee. "Sometimes, Ruthie, you really don't get it." She looked at me very intently, as if she was talking to someone stupid. "Ron and I are not meant to be a couple. Seriously. There's no chemistry." I rolled my eyes. "Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy," she continued. "And you shouldn't dismiss the possibility out of hand."

"But you seemed so happy to see him again last night." I shook my head. The thought of Ron rushed a red glow to my cheeks. Could it really work out, really?

Thea's coffee cup clicked hard against the saucer. "All day, I have been mulling over my life." Her voice was soft, like she was talking to herself. "Seeing Ron again reminded me of what I used to be like, who I used to be... I'm not happy with where I am. It's like you said yesterday, I'm not going anywhere. If I'm lucky, in ten years, I'll be head of accounts receivable at work, but that will be it." She looked down at the table while the rest of the room whirled in activity of people chatting and going back and forth to the counter to refill their mugs. "I've been—" She stopped herself. "Would you say I was crazy if I said I wanted to go back to school?"

"Of course not!" I said. I mulled it over. "I'm surprised, because you never seemed like you wanted to continue on to get another degree."

"I have to look into it, but I think if I go back part-time, I could get a degree and become an accountant. It would be a lot of work, but I'm not scared of that." Thea's eyes were shining, a newfound happiness coming through. "You've shown me, in pushing us so hard this year, that if we take our goals one step at a time, we can make progress."

"Me? I thought it was you pushing us to go to the gym and stick with our resolutions."

She shook her head. "It was your resolution to go to the gym. I just came along for the ride."

My mug was empty but I didn't want to get up for another one. Thea's news was something to celebrate, even if it wasn't the achievement of— "What about your resolution? And finding the guy you're going to marry?"

"What? When did I ever say that?" She snorted.

"New Year's Eve."

Her eyes widened and then she puckered her lips and leaned closer. "Is that why you thought I chased after Ron?" I nodded. "And why you were insisting I shouldn't give up?" I nodded again.

It was silly. We both exchanged a look, and burst out giggling for no reason. Or maybe there was a reason. It didn't matter.

We got another round of coffee.

"You know, Ruthie, the year isn't anywhere near over yet," Thea said. "You and I can still work on that second resolution."

We clinked our mugs together, drinking to the start of her new goal, like we toasted in the New Year. Later, she gave me Ron's number.