LOVE and SECRETS

JUST KEEP RUNNING

"Come on, Perri! You can do this. Let's go! Just keep one foot in front of the other! Just keep running!" Holden looked back at his sister.

"FUCK YOU HOLDEN!"

"Awe. Come on! You can do this! You have been working so hard. I am so proud of you."

Perri desperately tried to catch her breath. Her lungs were burning. "Let me reiterate! FUCK YOU HOLDEN!"

He has been doing his best to bring his sister out of her shell. One thing they have worked on is making her shell look more like a peanut and less like a chestnut. She has followed the diet that he had planned out for her. She does her meal planning and has been swimming at the local health club in the winter and now in the family pool. He hadn't seen her in the last three months, and when he came home, He was blown away. She has lost fifty pounds and has been weaned off her anti-depression medication. 

"You told me that you have been running five times a week. This should not be difficult."

"Maybe I lied. I may have meant I have run five times... period."

He shook his head and slowed to a stop. "You know you are something else."

She came to a stop, put her hands on her thighs, and bent over. "I must be because I know I am not a runner."

"Stand up straight. Put your hands on your hips and bend back a little. You need to open your lungs, not compress them." 

She gave him one of her Persephone stares. The one that her namesake must give Hades daily. 

"Wow. What the hell?"

"I'm sorry, Brother Bear. I know you are trying to help. It's just... all of this. The diet and the running and the exercise... I don't know why I am even bothering. I am going to go to school and gain the freshman fifteen."

"Why are you being so negative? You look absolutely amazing."

"So, I was ugly before?"

He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. "I don't get you sometimes. Perri, you are going to be a doctor. You, of all people, know that you need to take care of yourself."

"I am going to be a psychiatrist, not an internist."

"Then you should know the ramifications if you have low self-esteem and a negative body image."

"I'm sorry, but you are studying what? Sports medicine?"

"Yes. So, I know you need to open your lungs to help you breathe. Giving me dirty looks is not going to help you."

"No. It's helping me immensely." She smiled and took off.

On their way back to the house, they saw Annie and all of her friends heading into the backyard to go swimming.  "Why do they have to come over every single day? I am getting so sick of her and her little orphans." Perri said, rolling her shoulders.

Holden giggled. "Her what?"

"That's what I call her friends. You know little orphan Annie? Little Annie's orphans. Get it?"

She's good. She's really good. He laughed and shook his head. Perri makes him shake his head a lot. 

"Well, I have some friends coming over too."

"Oh. Holden's Hold Ons," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What!" 

"Your friends hold on and never let go."

"Come on. It's only Jake, Lewis, and Bodhi." He winced. He knew she had a secret crush on Bodhi, and she was unaware he had any idea. Little did she know Bodhi had a massive crush on her. They were both so naive. But who would want their brother interfering with their love life?