nevertheless~

part 63

HARDIN'S POV

“You’re going too fast this isn’t fair”, I yell after the woman as she rides away on her bicycle. Maybe this was a bad idea with how she is beating me at this race that my stupid ass designed. How am I losing at the race I made myself? However, seeing that smile on her face makes me realize that even though she is beating my ass in this cycling race, it’s totally worth it to see her this happy and free.

It’s not exactly a surprise to watch her like this. When you spend so much time with a person you sort of see them in all ways that you can and so it’s no surprise, but despite that it always does something to my heart when I see her like this.

“MAYBE YOU’RE GOING TOO SLOW! YOU OLD ASS”, I hear as she drives, cutting through the air, leaving me a slipstream after her to follow into her lead.

“DON’T THINK THIS END HERE”, I huff as I finally peddle my last and take a stop as I watch her go ahead without me, enjoying this high she is getting off of cycling. Leaving the hotel room was quite a difficult task, because it isn’t necessarily an easy shift from the melancholy we were in, into a calm and happy mental space. IT’S A MAMMOTH TASK!

“WHAT WILL YOU DO YOU OLD MAN?”, She teases me as she pedals away and I park in the vicinity. I try to look up where we are, and a small search tells me we are in the neighborhood of ‘The Louvre’ museum. I don’t quite understand the exact location of the place but a quick look of the Joan of Arc statue in the vicinity gives me away where we are, which isn’t exactly where we had decided to stop the race but if I continue anymore, I think I will pull my hamstrings. I am a big runner, but I am not a cyclist, this shit is tough.

Tessa takes multiple turns around the statue of the brave lady, as she rejoices in her victory.
“I WON!”, She celebrates as she finally steps a foot down from the peddle and halts.

“Yeah, you did baby”. I just admit my loss as I switch to the camera in my phone, taking photos of this gorgeously tired woman who is flushed pink, her hair wild and her shirt sticking to her body due to the sweat in which she perspires and I can only watch her glow in all this, that’s all I can do.

“So, why did we stop here?”, she sighs, taking a large breath of fresh air and parking her bike.

“To catch my breath, to be able to live this next moment.”, I state plainly and I watch her walk towards me.

“Right, but you know they say that such activities, cycling and running, are what keeps one alive.”, she snarks me up and stands beside me.

“You always have a mouth to run, huh?”, I turn to her side and embrace her into my arms, even sweaty. I don't exactly have a problem with it.

“You like that mouth, don’t forget”, she says, stealing my cell phone from my hand.

“I do very much. What’re you doing in my phone though?”, I ask.

“What’re you doing with my pictures in your cell phone?”. She looks at me suspiciously.

“Are you in love with me or something?”, she teases as she browses through my recent photos of her.

“How much do you know about Joan of Arc?”, I ask.

In the few moments we have been standing here, I couldn’t stop thinking of her. Her sincerity. Her generosity. Her loving nature, her will to provide me with comedic relief even where there is a swarm of things going wrong in my life.

“A bit. Why?”, she asks, her hair flying with the wind towards my face, I reach out holding tuft and tucking behind her ear, yet the naughty loose blonde strands get out of grip.