Broken by the end

4: Sweat & Cheap Cologne

       Heavy breaths followed close behind me as James and I made our way back home. Going on supply runs was always a scary thing to do, but it was a must. James had run past me in no time, and I was highly out of breath. My throat burned, my eyes watered, and my legs were weak. We had run for what felt like hours, only it was around 45 minutes.

      We went pretty far out of the way this time around and I swore that I would never go this far out again.

       I bent forward putting my hands on my knees. The cold air sent chills down my spine, sending me frozen in my tracks. James was still running, to up into his own world to know I had stopped. His shirt bounced with every stride, the sweat plastered on his body caused his hair to stick to his forehead. I tried calling out to him but my voice was fragile, I had to force the words out, yet he still didn't hear me.

     His footsteps faded in the distance and I soon realized he wasn't going to see I was gone until later, so I took it as an opportunity to lay down and rest.

     I crashed to the ground on my back letting the snow crunch underneath me. My body instantly cooled down, relaxing completely.  I closed my eyes listening to the sound of birds tweeting and dried leaves scraping the exposed ground.

     Everything felt at peace. I pushed my backpack off my body and threw it somewhere to the side. I smiled happy to finally let go and just relax. It was when a twig snapped that I then realized lying on the street under no protection was a dumb idea.

      My senses were overcome with fear. My eyes snapped open only to see a blur flash before me. My hands reached out in front of me to catch the body huddling towards me.

    I let out a high pitched scream as moans left the creatures mouth. I pushed as hard as I could but the monster didn't seem to budge.

    It was when I heard laughing that I was confused. I looked up to see none other than James on top of me. A mixture of relief and anger overwhelmed me. His laughter rang through my ears as he rolled over to his back in the snow.

    I clenched my hands into fists, taking deep breaths so I wouldn't scream at him. He turned his body so it was facing me a grin taking up most of his face.

   "What the hell?!" I yelled sitting up quickly reaching for my backpack. His smile immediately left and a look of worry replaced quickly. He reached for my wrist and squeezed tightly sending me an apologetic look.

     "I'm so sorry" he whispered looking at me directly. A feeling of guilt washed over me. Maybe I was being to hard on him, he was only kidding. But he needed to know not to do it again.

         "Your fine, it's okay just don't do it again yeah?" I asked a small smile spreading across my face. He quickly nodded a sigh of relief leaving his lips.

         "You should have seen your face though" he laughed holding his stomach as another round of laughs erupted out of him. I simply rolled my eyes.

    I sat up him following close behind me.

     "We better get back" I said pushing my freezing body of the ground.

     His looked up at me putting his hand out, hinting at me to help him up. I laughed intertwining our hands and pulling him up to his feet.

     The whole way there it was james making small talk. I only nodded or gave one words answer at his stupid questions.

"And you know what else sucks?" James questioned playing with his lose string from his jacket.

"What?" I asked humoring him.

"Not being with family" his voice echoed with sadness all the happiness radiating off of him disappeared. He looked down a whimper leaving his mouth. I knew he was about to cry so I stopped walking and spoke softly

"I know it's hard James, trust me I do, your family is like your rock and without them you feel lost, not knowing where my mom is or even if she's okay, haunts me everyday. I can't sleep or eat right not having my mom with me. It's scary, and I don't know how I do it everyday but somehow I do and it's the hope that they could all still be alive that keeps me going"

A smile made its way onto his face.

He brought me into a tight hug, something that somehow always made butterflies flutter in my stomach. He smelled like sweat, and cheap cologne he found in a department store, a mixture I thought would never go well together, but it was a smell I loved smelling every time he decided it would be a good time for a hug. I wrapped my arms around his much larger torso squeezing gently.

"Thanks Claire" he sighed lowering his head into the crook of my neck. I blushed thankful he couldn't see me. The way my name rolled of his tongue made my knees go weak but god it was something about this boy that I couldn't quiet understand why I had such strong feelings for him.

I hesitantly pulled away breathing in his scent on last time. However he keep his arms around my waist keeping me close.

Confused I looked up to see him starring at me with his famous smirk. My heart beat picking up slightly. I looked down a smile making its way onto my face. I removed myself from his arms a sigh leaving his lips at once.

"What's wrong" I asked curiously once I was out of his reach. I wanted him to kiss me I did, but he made me so nervous I was afraid to mess up to make a mistake, and there was nothing better than to create a need for something or someone for that matter. I knew what was wrong, I knew that he was disappointed we didn't kiss, I'm not stupid after all.

Although I wasn't going to let him know that. It was times like these were we become desperate for things we know we might never get again, and boy did I want to use that to my advantage.

"Nothing" James sighed once again looking up at me with the stupid grin that was always plastered on his face. I smiled, causing him to blush slightly.

"Good" I beamed walking toward home. "Let's get home, they are probably wondering were we are"  he nodded in response happily following me. He slipped his hand in mine, making me feel dizzy. I pretended not to notice and continued looking forward. He made me happy in a way I never felt before, it was strange but I loved it nonetheless. He was that boy in the movies and books you read, something I wanted but knew would never happen. He gave me butterflies and made my knees weak.

God, this boy makes me crazy

•That's the chapter guys!!!•
First off I would like to say I'm sooooo sorry for not updating sooner!! It was me being lazy and school that totally got me to not update. I'm sorry :( but the chapter is here and I hope you liked it. I see the romance in the air and I'm excited to see what you guys have to say about the book sooo comment your thoughts and vote!!!!
Until the next chapter
~Haley