So it turns out that my assignment only took another hour and a half to finish... which means I've had plenty of time since yesterday to compose this new chapter.
Chapter 37
I was awake and dressed, but yawning and dead tired when six o'clock rolled around the next morning. I'd gone straight to sleep after the guys left at nine the previous night and slept straight through, but apparently that did not translated into a well-rested Stephanie. As I sat on the floor in the entryway tying my shoelaces I tried to figure out what time it would be if I was still in England, assuming that the root cause of my problem was the difference between what my body was used to and what the clock was telling me. By my calculations, though, it was already approaching lunchtime in London, which means I would have been up hours ago. I guess my body just didn't agree with the amount of travel I'd endured in the last couple of days.
The knock on the door came right on time, just like I'd assumed it would. The problem was, I was now settled on the floor, and the doorknob and chain were too high for me to reach from my position, even if I shuffled all the way over to it. Not to mention the fact that there was no way I could complete a run sitting down. Groaning loudly, I used the coat stand in the corner to pull myself up, made sure I had my keys tucked into my pocket and unlocked and opened the door, stepping out into the dimly lit corridor.
"Damn, Steph," Bobby breathed, giving me a once over.
"I know," I yawned, giving the doorhandle a jiggle from the outside to make sure it was locked. "I look like a zombie." And it was true, there were major bags under my eyes, my face was still wrinkled from the pillow creases, and while I'd attempted to tame my hair into a bun so it wouldn't annoy me during the run, it was looking more like a rat's next on the top of my head than anything resembling a hairstyle.
Bobby was shaking his head when I finally turned my full attention to him. "Are those the beginnings of abs I see?" He nodded toward my abdomen and I looked down to assess the area myself. I hadn't really taken stock of my body since I started training with Brandon. Don't get me wrong, I noticed that my clothes were a bit looser and my strength and stamina had improved, but I hadn't taken the time to stand in front of a mirror and catalogue the differences in my physique. Now, as I stared at my flat stomach I had to agree that there was a bit of definition emerging that wasn't there before.
"Huh," I said.
"What, you didn't notice?" Bobby asked incredulously.
I shrugged, leading the way toward the stairs. "It rains basically all the time in England," I reminded him. "The amount of time I spent with my stomach exposed to the elements was limited." Even now, I'd dressed in the sports bra and leggings I'd bought while overseas, but paired it with a thin, moisture wicking jacket that I just hadn't been bothered to zip up.
"Well, the physical evidence of your time away is clear," he assured me as we descended to the lobby. "Let's see what you're capable of."
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to showing off a little. Three months ago I couldn't even run around the block once without being completely out of breath. I'd improved a lot since then, and I was excited to get to show someone who's opinion I valued. Not that I didn't value Brandon's opinion, but I'd only known him a short time, relatively speaking, and the fact that he was in charge of whipping me into shape kind of coloured how much his opinion mattered to me, and in what ways.
Emerging into the early morning sunshine – and what a welcome change it was to have sunshine for a change – I found myself infused with energy as I worked through the stretches Brandon had taught me, Bobby going through some similar motions. We didn't say anything as we prepared our bodies for what we were about to put them through, just stretching in companionable silence. The silence continued as we set off at a jog across the car park, until we reached the street on the other side and Bobby paused, looking right and left with a look of contemplation on his face.
"Where to?" I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet to keep my body moving.
"That's what I'm trying to decide," he said, glancing over at me. "I don't usually run in this part of town, so I'm trying to map out a decent path in my head. I don't want to run you ragged on your first day and scare you off."
"I wouldn't worry about that too much," I assured him. "Why don't we just start in a direction and see where it takes us?" And because I didn't want him to think about his reply too much, I took off down the street before he had a chance, leaving him to catch up with a bit of a hop skip and a jump before falling into step beside me.
Twenty minutes later we'd woven our way around the streets surrounding my apartment and were starting on a roundabout return journey when Bobby decided to add a conversation to our physical activity. I was a little worried about this addition to the workout, since it came as I was starting to get puffed. I needed to focus on my breathing if I was going to make it back to my apartment in decent shape, and I couldn't guarantee that talking and breathing was going to work harmoniously at this point. Three months of running every morning had made many improvements to my overall stamina, but I knew that I still had a long way to go.
"I gotta say," Bobby said, slowing his pace slightly so that he was beside me again rather than just in front as he had been for several minutes. "I'm impressed." I was happy to hear that he was breaking his sentence into small bits, showing that he, too, was not having an easy time with the whole oxygen at this point. "I knew you'd made progress… but I wasn't expecting you to be able… to keep up the whole run."
"There's still… time," I pointed out.
Chuckling softly, he veered closer to bump his shoulder against mine. "I believe in you," he told me sincerely. "You can do anything you set your mind to."
I would have replied, but at that moment he decided to put on a burst of speed, calling over his shoulder, "Race you to that convenience store!" his right arm rising to point to the small store a two blocks away.
"Gah!" I cried, quickening my own pace to catch up. "No fair!" I yelled. "You got… a head start!"
"This is street racing, Steph," Bobby called back. "There are no rules in street racing."
"Just don't pull any… parkour stunts… and disappear," I demanded, pulling ahead ever so slightly as Bobby had to alter his course to avoid a head-on collision with a lamp post.
My lead was eaten a couple second later when Bobby brushed past me again. "If I knew parkour," he said. "I would use it to my advantage."
That gave me an idea.
Keeping up my pace, I waited until we reached the last road we needed to cross in order to reach the convenience store, and sped up so that I was a couple paces in front of Bobby when I stumbled on curb, crying out and slowing to a limping walk before stopping completely to bend over and hold my ankle, a pained expression on my face.
"Steph!" Bobby exclaimed, pumping his own breaks. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"
"My ankle," I gasped, as he approached. "I landed wrong… coming off the curb and…" by now he was lowing himself to his knees in front of me, preparing to examine my apparent injury, ever the good medic. "I rolled… over you lead!" I yelled, tearing off at a run for the other end of the block, unable to contain my laughter.
I heard Bobby swear behind me, but I didn't slow or glance back. "Why you-!" he called, cutting off his own words, probably to conserve his oxygen as he worked on closing the gap I'd managed to put between us. "No fair!" he protested as I reached the store and broke into a victory dance, watching as he jogged the last few feet.
"You said… there's no… rules… in street racing," I pointed out, even more out of breath now that I'd introduced a manic sprint to the mix. "And you'd use parkour… to your advantage… if you knew how… I was just using my… own advantages."
He narrowed his eyes at me, breathing hard as he shook his head. "Alright," I he agreed. "You win this round, but don't forget about the boy who cried wolf."
I nodded. He had a point. If I pulled the injury stunt too often he'd stop believing me, and then I'd likely injure myself for reals and he wouldn't stop to help me, assuming I was faking it again. "I'll have to come up with other ways… of getting one up on you," I acknowledged.
Shaking his head, he pulled me into a rough hug, using the hold to turn me around and start us back on our way. "Come on," he said good naturedly. "We're almost back to your apartment. I think we've earned the right to a slower pace."
It was only another few minutes before we reached the street my building was on and slowed our pace even more so that we were walking down the street at a leisurely pace. With my breathing becoming more even, and the end of our time together this morning in sight, I started to think about the emails we'd exchanged after I'd arrived at Aunt Beth's. There were things that needed to be discussed, and I knew from experience that addressing them sooner rather than latter was the best course of action. I didn't want the stress of uncertainty hanging over our heads and souring the friendship we'd built over the years, so, as we wove between the cars toward the back entrance to the building, I took a deep breath and dove right in.
"So, Bobby," I said, making sure I had his attention before opening the topic. He'd appeared to drift in and out of his zone the whole run, alternating between what he was used to with his solo running habit, and being aware of the fact that I was with him, making sure I wasn't out of my depth. "When we were emailing while I was in England I said I wasn't in a place where I could make any, um, commitments? And I promised we'd talk about it when I got back, so I was wond-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there, Steph" Bobby cut me off, side stepping so that he stood directly in front of me in the middle of the parking lot. "Given everything you've been through just now, I don't want you to rush into anything you're not ready for, be it conversations, or relationships, or… I don't know… a kitten."
"Oh…" I uttered, ducking my head to stare at the toe of my sneakered foot. Maintaining eye contact during these types of conversations had always been difficult, and while it was something I'd been working on with my therapist in England, there was only so much progress that could be made in six weeks. "You don't-?" I couldn't finish the sentence.
Bobby reached up, placing a finger under my chin and applying a small amount of pressure until I relented and lifted my gaze to his. "Don't get me wrong," he said, holding my gaze with his solemn one. "My feelings for you haven't changed. I mean, hell, if anything they've only gotten stronger. But I think you need me as a friend first and foremost right now. So until you've got yourself all straightened out and you're certain you're ready for the conversation, I don't want you to worry about me. I'll be here for you every step of the way. No matter what."
I swallowed, trying not to give power to the prickling behind my eyes or the lump in my throat. Bobby was probably the most caring guy I'd ever met and as much as I already knew this, he still found new ways to prove it. "That doesn't seem fair to you, though," I pointed out, my voice smaller than I would have liked.
He shrugged, snaking his arm over my shoulder and resuming our journey across the car park. "I haven't dated in, like, five years, Steph," he informed me. "A little longer isn't going to hurt."
"Are you sure?" I asked as we reached the pavement outside the lobby.
"Positive," he said firmly, dropping his arm and stepping out into a lunge. "Now stretch out those limbs."
I hope you're all staying safe and following the advice of your appropriate relative authority to do your bit during this pandemic.
