A/N - This is actually a two chapter drabble that i'm still thinking of continuing so please share your thoughts x
Elizabeth flopped back against the grass, desperately trying to catch her breath. Her chest heaving each time she filled her lungs with air and her face a dark shade of crimson. The hair that had escaped from her plait was soaked with sweat and she looked like she was clinging onto life by a very minuscule thread.
Between her breathy pants, she managed to force out what sounded more like a rush of air from a deflating balloon than actual words "Oh my god - That was —"
"Pathetic is what that was."
Elizabeth turned her head to the side and managed a breathy "Huh?" Knitting her brows together as her expression morphed from exhaustion to confusion in a split second.
Her roommate Ella stood over her, hands on her knees as she looked down at the mess before her. "That was utterly woeful Lizzie. Look at the state of you."
Elizabeth forced her aching body up onto her elbows and frowned "Oh come on! That was pretty impressive even if I do say so myself." She was still trying to regulate her breathing and failing miserably.
"You only managed 1km and look at you." Ella chuckled and shook her head "You are never gonna be able to do this Lizzie. There's no shame in quitting."
Quitting? Quitting? That word did not feature in Elizabeth's vocabulary and she was pretty sure Ella was being overly critical of her efforts. She had definitely run further than last week. She was certain of it. Her whole body was telling her that she had practically run a marathon.
"I'm not quitting Ella. I signed up to this with you and when I start something, I always see it through."
"That's just it. If you're like this after such a short distance, how the hell are you going to manage 10km? You'll be carried off on a stretcher unable to see it through." The thought made Ella chuckle again. "Although, that would be rather amusing - For me at least."
Elizabeth pushed herself up from the ground with a huff "You can be a real bitch at times Ella. I really want to do this. It's for a good cause and will go a long way to sticking it to that so-called guidance counsellor."
"So that's the real reason you are doing this. You want Ms Parish to eat her words."
"I'm doing it to raise money for the homeless shelter. But —" A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth "If it happens to shut her up in the process then it's a win-win situation."
"I admire your spirit but I don't like your chances. We only have twelve weeks until the race and you've managed 1/10th of the distance. You're the math major, even you have to agree the odds aren't really in your favour."
"Ahhhh that's plenty of time. You just wait and see, there's nothing I can't do when I put my mind to it." Elizabeth flashed her friend an exhausted smile "Is it pizza time now? I'm starving."
Ella had a real soft spot for Elizabeth. They had hit it off pretty much the second they had met and she knew she was one of the very few people Elizabeth considered a friend. But right now, it was going to take a miracle of epic proportions for her friend to see this through.
"I've got the answer to all your prayers." Ella came bounding into the library in a mass of noise and excitement. "You're going to love me." Her face was beaming and she looked incredibly pleased with herself.
Elizabeth continued writing her notes, her eyes skimming the reference books laid out across the table. Ella was always extremely excitable and whatever it was this time could wait.
"Lizzie! - Lizzie! — Elizabeth!" Her overzealous whisper was now becoming an impatient growl, earning her a sharp QUIET from the librarian.
Elizabeth dropped her pen and met the eyes of the older woman now hovering near the table.
"I'm sorry! She's never been in a library before. I'll make sure she keeps it down." The sweet smile she flashed earned her a mumbled fine as the woman shuffled away
Elizabeth then turned her attention to Ella, a scowl replacing the smile. "I know it's a foreign concept to you, but I'm trying to study here. I have a paper due next week and Professor Ferris already has it in for me. I'll see you back in the room later." She turned her attention back to her notes but she could feel Ella's eyes still on her. "Fine - Spill."
Ella grinned widely "I've found you the perfect solution to the charity run."
Elizabeth waited for her to embellish but when nothing was forthcoming she probed "Aaaaaannnddd?"
"And you need to be at the gym by 5pm." Her grin was still huge and she was practically bouncing up and down. "You're gonna love what I've got for you."
"Unless it's a body double who can run for me, I can't see how anything will be of use to me. And I'm studying! I can't just drop everything and swan off to the gym. I can barely remember where the gym is."
"Well, you're gonna need to find it because you'll be spending a fair bit of time there. Just trust me on this Lizzie, this will really help you, in more ways than one."
Elizabeth found Ella's constant state of excitement rather irritating for the most part. But she was a genuine soul who was always there with a friendly ear when Elizabeth needed one and she felt this really wasn't the time to seem ungrateful. All she had to do was humour her, spend ten minutes at the gym and then get back to her books. How hard could it be? "Ok! I'll go — But I'm really not sharing your excitement on this."
"You will when you get there." Ella was practically bursting with excitement.
Elizabeth huffed and packed her books into the tatty backpack that had definitely seen better days. The sooner she got this over with, the better.
The pungent aroma of stale perspiration and Gatorade hit Elizabeth as she leaned against the doorframe of the campus gym. She had only been in the building a few times since she started at UVA and it hadn't been to work out. Books and study were her thing. She was a math major for god sake - not an athlete and she liked it that way. She'd always considered herself quite physically fit - That was until Ella had cajoled her into signing up for the charity run and as soon as they started training for it, Elizabeth came to the rather abrupt realisation that she wasn't as fit as she thought - in any way!
As she scanned the room, she was starting to feel rather out of her depth. Was it a requirement to be absolutely gorgeous and ripped to the gods before you could set foot in these places? And the sheer amount of skin on display was more than her eyes could handle. Elizabeth glanced down at the tatty t-shirt and cropped leggings she was wearing and began shrinking in on herself. She didn't belong here. Whatever Ella had planned - She didn't want any part of it. Maybe the stupid charity run wasn't such a good idea after all. And it wouldn't be quitting exactly - Just realising her limits.
Elizabeth turned on her heels and headed straight for the exit. She had already wasted enough study time on this ridiculous escapade and she wasn't prepared to waste any more. Her gaze met the guy coming in as she pushed through the door and she managed to get all of about ten feet away before she glanced back over her shoulder to see him staring at her. She shook it off and carried on walking but she could still feel his eyes on her and against her better judgement, she stopped walking and turned.
"You're Elizabeth Yeah? Elizabeth Adams?" He was walking towards her and she was really starting to wish she'd actually listened to Ella and gone to that self defence class after all.
"I have pepper spray in my bag and I can assure you that when I scream there isn't a single person within a mile of here that won't hear me."
"Hey - I didn't mean to scare you." He was now standing directly in front of her, smiling.
"Well staring at someone like that will generally have that effect. What do you want?" Her hands were gripping the strap of her bag "I swear to god I will scream."
"I don't doubt it! But there really isn't any need. I'm Henry - I'm sorry I'm a bit late, I had to drop a paper into Dr Hale and he kept me talking." He was still smiling at her which only confused her more. "Are you ready to get started?"
"Excuse me? - Am I supposed to have any idea who you are?"
"Oh! You're not Elizabeth? Damn it - I'm so sorry! I was sure I had the right person. The description matched perfectly." He took another step towards her "I didn't mean to stare - or scare you in any way. I was supposed to meet someone here for a session but I spoke to her friend and then I got caught up and —" He looked at Elizabeth who was now staring at him open mouthed and wide eyed.
"A session? I have no idea what you mean by that and I have no intention of finding out - But you have about two seconds before I scream -"
"No no, please - Let me explain. I'm on an ROTC scholarship and I do personal training sessions in my spare time. I have to keep my own fitness up anyway so figured I may as well make some money out of it which helps keep me afloat financially." When she didn't scream, Henry continued. "I have a new client but I'm running late and I thought you were her. I was clearly mistaken and she's probably waiting for me inside! I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." He turned and walked a few paces before she spoke.
"This friend you spoke to — Her name wasn't Ella by any chance, was it?"
Henry turned around "Yeah - She said her friend Elizabeth needed a lot of help and could I start as soon as possible. All she told me was to be here at 5pm and to look out for a gorgeous blonde in a tatty Guns n Roses shirt - Her words, not mine." He looked her up and down again. "You're Elizabeth - right?"
Elizabeth nodded.
"And am I right in thinking your friend Ella told you nothing about me at all?"
"Not a word. She just told me she'd found something to help me and to be at the gym by 5! I'm going to kill her."
"And do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Do you need my help? Because you look pretty fit to me! I mean - You look in good shape. Not that I'm paying particularly close attention or anything - You just seem…."
Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh "I'd stop talking now Henry or I may just need that pepper spray after all."
Henry shook his head and groaned "This isn't going well! Can we please start again? I'm Henry -" He held out his hand "It's good to meet you Elizabeth."
Elizabeth shook his hand "Hi Henry - So you're my personal trainer? And how much is this going to cost me exactly?"
"I'll tell you what, let's go inside and have a chat about what you're hoping to achieve and if you like what I propose and want to continue, we'll figure all of that out. How does that sound?"
"It sounds like this is something I neither have the time or inclination for - But I'm here now so an hour won't hurt."
Elizabeth followed Henry back inside and she perched on a weight bench while Henry made some notes.
"So Elizabeth - What are you hoping our sessions will do for you?"
"Well, considering I didn't know anything about this until about ten minutes ago, that's a little difficult to answer. But, I would like to complete the charity run without dropping dead - Is that something you can work with?" Her face was deadpan and she raised a questioning brow at him.
Henry smirked "I think I can work with that. Have you ever used any of the equipment here before?"
"Elizabeth nodded" Yep."
"Great - That's a good start. What have you used? The treadmill? Spin bike?"
"The vending machine! It's the only one on campus that has the crunchy cheetos I like."
Henry laughed but Elizabeth's expression remained neutral. She just looked at him and shrugged.
"Oh, you're serious?"
Elizabeth nodded "I'm more of an academic than an athlete. I would much rather be studying right now than wasting my time here - no offence."
"None taken! So why are you doing the charity run? It seems like you're less than enthusiastic about the whole thing?"
"I want to stick it to Ms Parish! For a guidance counsellor, she's a real bitch! Apparently, I don't participate in enough extra curricular activities and in her words 'I need to broaden my horizons'. My horizons are broad enough thank you very much - But Ella mentioned the run and it seemed like a good idea when I signed up."
"Yeah, Ms Parish is not the most diplomatic of people is she? But I have to say - 10km is a fair distance for someone who doesn't do any exercise, Elizabeth."
"Hey! I don't recall saying I didn't do any exercise Henry! I can just think of better ways to get all sweaty - That's all."
A faint blush crept up Henry's neck and into his cheeks and he cleared his throat, much to Elizabeth's amusement. "Well, I'm sure we can get you to complete the race without gasping your last breath - But we only have twelve weeks so we'll need to meet regularly. Are you willing to commit to this?"
"I'll give it my best shot if you do, Henry?"
'You've got yourself a deal Elizabeth! Now let's get started."