All week, all she could think about was Twister. After training with him almost every day for the past year, not seeing him at all sucked. Continuing training on her own was excruciating and she hadn't realized just how much of a difference it made to have him there, even when things had been off between them. It had been so hard to push herself to keep going when all she could think about was standing in front of him, not saying a word. She could've asked Sam or Otto to help but she didn't want to explain to them why Twister wasn't training with her anymore. She resigned to Mrs. Stimpleton's pool for swimming days, glad to be cutting back on training for the last two weeks before the triathlon. She couldn't endure much more of this.

All she wanted to do was talk to Twister. She loved him, she knew that she did. She just didn't know if she was going to be able to tell him that. But she had to try. She had to say something. She had planned to try to get him alone at dinner at her dad's house that weekend but he didn't show. Otto told her he said one of the couples he had shot a wedding for was really adamant about wanting the video that week. But Reggie knew the real reason he hadn't been there.

When she finally heard from him, it was a text the night before their trip, asking what time she wanted him to pick her up in the morning.

She responded, "7:30," wanting to add more, tempted to call him like she had been so many times. But she didn't. She just pressed send, leaning back in her bed, not having the motivation to pack even though she knew she needed to.

She saw his car pull in the next morning and grabbed her stuff, walking out to meet him. He had already gotten out of the car and was headed towards her door. She held out the extra travel mug she was carrying.

"I thought you might want some coffee," she offered.

"Thanks," he gave her a half-hearted smile and opened the trunk so she could put her bag in.

Music played as he started the car and neither of them said anything for over an hour. Reggie rested her elbow on the window, looking out, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. She couldn't remember a time she had felt that way with Twister.

"I'm sorry," she said, finally.

"You don't need to be sorry," his voice was level and he kept his gaze on the road.

"I just stood there. I didn't say anything."

Twister didn't respond.

"What's going to happen with us once this is over?"

He sighed. "I don't know."

She wasn't used to this version of Twister. She missed the guy that always tried to make her laugh; the one that always said just what he was thinking. At least, she thought he had. She was the reason he was shutting down. He opened up to her, told her exactly how he had felt and she couldn't do the same for him.

She didn't say anything else. She rested her head back against the window, watching the trees flashing by them as she drifted off to sleep.

She woke up as the car came to a stop. She looked up, seeing that they had just gotten off at an exit. He looked to his left, waiting for traffic to subside before he turned. She looked at the clock; it was almost noon. He pulled into a gas station and she went inside. The car was locked when she came back out so she just leaning against it, waiting for him to come back out.

"What do you wanna do for lunch?" he asked when he saw her.

"I love you," Reggie blurted out. She was sick of keeping it in. Twister deserved more from her. She knew it was the wrong time, she should've said it that day on the trail. She should've done a lot of things.

"What?"

She took a deep breath and took a step forward repeating herself. "I love—"

That was as far as she got before he kissed her. She threw her arms around his neck, feeling her back press against the side of the car. All she wanted to do was keep kissing him forever. Nothing else mattered— their fight, the race, the fact that they were standing in the middle of the gas station parking lot. She didn't care about anything but her lips dancing with his, his hands resting on her hips, the feeling of complete and total happiness washing over her.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Reggie was nervous, way more nervous than she had been before the marathon. She looked around at the thousands of people that surrounded her and thought of the horror stories of some of the things she would have to endure as they all attempted to swim at the same time. She looked over at Twister and grabbed his hand, squeezing it to try to calm his nerves.

"I can't believe we're about to do this," she said.

"You're just worried I'm gonna beat you again," he teased.

She smiled. "In your dreams."

"Too cocky. That's why I'm gonna win."

"Right. Because you don't sound cocky at all." she laughed and he shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, then. Why don't we make this more interesting?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Loser has to tell Otto we're together," she said with an evil grin.

"Oh, that's mean," he said, grabbing her waist and pulling her in towards him.

"Not so cocky anymore, huh?"

She couldn't tell if her heart racing was due to her nerves about the triathlon or because of the way he was looking at her. He smiled and kissed her, temporarily making her forget all about the race.

"You're on."