None of those things seemed to come to mind at that moment but she was sure that was just a repercussion of the state she was in.
It was a beautiful, Saturday morning. The park around her seemed to be slowly waking up, its sounds and colors the tell-tale signs of it coming alive. Early morning dew still clung to the leaves of trees, the grass, and the flowers that still managed to endure the December cold.
The chilly breeze brushed her face, a few wisps of hair falling from her loose ponytail.
Of course, all of this did nothing to distract her from the fact that she was probably dying.
A slow, painful death caused by... lack of air? Heart failure? An inability to follow basic instructions?
“You okay there, Mads?” a hateful, loathsome voice sounded behind her.
She was perfect. She was absolutely fantastic, if only she could manage to dismiss the fact that she was bending forward, bracing on her knees for dear life, incapable of drawing the slightest of breaths, and a sharp sting in her side was making her wish she’d never been born.
Or that she’d never met a certain idiot.
Or that she’d never let said idiot talk her into this.
She could pick either one really.
Nate’s tall, athletic, and barely out of breath form stopped next to her.
“You’re doing it wrong.”
If Maddy had had any breath left in her body, and she was sure she wasn’t going to break her hand doing it, she would have punched his stupid, pretty face.
“Nate, I swear to all that’s holy,” she gasped out, “stop talking before I kick you in the sheen.”
The bastard laughed.
She turned her head towards him just in time to see a few weak rays of pale sunshine touch Nate’s face making him look positively angelic. And sinful. Like the devil he was.
She cursed under her breath.
No one should be this pretty.
“Does my torture amuse you?” she scowled at him while she attempted to right herself and regain her faculties. Maybe make sure her internal organs were where they were supposed to be and not relocated somewhere near her esophagus.
“A little bit, to be honest,” Nate said, clearly not heeding the warning Maddy had issued.
It had been a week since their movie night and things had been really... nice since then.
There had been some texts exchanged related to movies (she wasnotgoing to watch a thriller no matter what she had promised), music (they had mutually agreed that should be a face-to-face conversation if they didn’t want to end up with cramped fingers again from typing), and other everyday stuff.
Maddy could feel the shift between her and Nate. And she trusted what her gut told her, that maybe he could really become her friend.
A friendship he was determined to put in jeopardy with his behavior.
“Running is all in the way you regulate your breathing, Madison. If you control your breaths then you can start building your stamina and eventually stop feeling like a horse has kicked you in the chest.”
If looks could kill, Maddy thought hers would have incinerated Nate on the spot.
“And honestly,” he continued with no care for his life whatsoever, “I’m your friend now. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help you after you told me you couldn’t even run to save your life? Your words, not mine. I take my role very seriously, you know.”
He said that, but his lips were twitching the entire time.
Maddy tried to stretch her beat-up body, closing her eyes, inhaling the crisp air to the point it hurt a bit.
“You know, there are other ways you can show your friendship and not one that inspires violent feelings against you,” Maddy said, as her heartbeat slowly returned to normal.
