Crainslug

Stairs

- Crainer -

I rush from the sidewalk towards my car, quickly giving it a tap on the side, before rushing back. Seeing Jelly sitting on the curb with a stopwatch in hand. Gotta make it.

"And, time."

"Phew, how fast was I?" I ask panting. Bending over with my hands placed on my knees.

"Two minutes and forty seconds," Jelly responds.

"Aww, man. I thought I was faster than that."

"Nope, still slow."

"Now let's try the stairs," I say.

"To the stairs!"

We both stand upright and make our way to the base of the stairs. Jelly getting his stopwatch ready as I prepare myself.

"Remember to yell time when you reach the second floor."

"I will," I reply, getting read to lunge. Jelly counts down from three and on one I bound on up. Pushing through the slight pain in my legs. Please don't slip, please don't slip.

"Time!" I yell out of breath as I lean over the railing. My lungs, my legs. Why did I agree to this again? Oh, right, because Jelly and I wanted to see who was faster. So far, it's one to one.

"Eleven point thirty seconds!"

"Woohoo."

"Now come on back," Jelly shouts. I head down at full speed. Until I accidentally step on my shoe lace and fall. Hitting the steps, I slide to a stop at the base of the stairs. My arms feeling dead from the impact. Though I manage to cover my face as I realise someone saw me fall. That's embarrassing.

"You alright?" asks the mysterious voice. I peek through my hands and see a concerned look. His brown hair, short and wavy.

"Um, yeah."

"Okay then," he replies, beginning to walk back to the door. His hair falling into his eyes as he watches me sit up and stretch. That's definitely going to leave some bruises.

"You okay there Crainer? That was quite the fall."

"Yeah, just a little sore. By the way, who was that guy?" I wonder.

"You've never seen him? He's been living on our second floor for about three months. We've run into each other a few times."

"How come I'm always the last to know things?"

"You never ask," Jelly counteracts, his face lighting up with an idea. "Maybe I can line something up for you?"

"What does that mean?" I question with knit brows.

"You told me just yesterday that you wanted to go out and meet someone."

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with the guy?"

"You seriously don't get it yet?" Jelly absurdly says. It's only then I catch on to what he meant.

He wants to set up a date. Like that went well last time. We had barely anything in common. Jelly is the worst match-maker. It's why I didn't want to date for a few months.