Magenta felt it in her chest first. A pain that slowly grew bigger and moved up into her throat. Her lungs were being squeezed and the air was being cut off. She had tried this before.
"Breathe!"
A simple word. Something that should be so simple to do. It should come naturally. Just open her mouth, take a deep breath, and go on with a smile on her face as if everything was okay.
Everything was in fact not okay.
She moved her hands up to her dark purple dyed hair. For some reason she always wanted to release it from whatever hairdo she was sporting. It was psychological and only made things better in her mind.
"Fuck!" She muttered.
She had forgotten that her hair had been braided in small braids. It would take forever to get them all out. She didn't have time. She needed air in that moment. Her lungs felt like they were on fire.
"Breathe!"
She tried making that one word the main focus in her head. She just needed to calm herself down and take one, single breath. Just one lousy breath. It really was that simple.
Nothing was ever that simple.
There was no time left. No place to run, no place to hide, no one to reach out for help. She kept her chocolate brown eyes down on the floor to avoid anyone seeing she needed help. It was not the right thing to do. She knew that.
"Breathe," Drew said.
She felt him move her hands away from her hair to stop her from tugging on it. His arms went around her and she was pulled back into his embrace. He was right behind her, shielding her so that no one would see her struggle. He was leaning down to talk lowly in her ear and that was all she needed to hear in that moment.
"Breathe, love," he said. "It's okay. I got you. Just breathe."
Just like that it felt like the invisible iron grip that had been on her lungs got released. She focused on her breathing and took some deep breaths while he kept standing there. He didn't need to do anything else. Him being there, holding her, supporting her, loving her was enough.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm okay," she nodded. "Thank you."
She turned around in his arms and gave him the best smile she could. He smiled back and leaned down to peck her lips.
"Ready for your comeback?" He asked.
"I'm ready," she answered.
"Go knock them dead, love. I'll be right here waiting for you after your match," he said.
He let go of her and she walked over to stand ready by the curtain. She looked back at him while waiting for her music to start playing. He was smiling warmly at her. She wasn't sure she would have made it this far without him always being there for her but she was grateful she would never have to find out. He was always there and he was everything she needed and wanted in her life.
"I love you," she mouthed to him.
Nothing was ever 100% okay but that was okay. No one was ever completely okay. No one was perfect. No one had everything going on for them in life. But everything was as it was supposed to be with him. Everything was okay as long as she had him.