Friends Falling: I'll Run to You

Chapter One

Evelynn

My heart is almost pounding out of my chest, there's sweat running down my face and I feel like I might vomit at any moment. I'm wondering why I'm doing this to myself when I look at the girls in front of me in my circuit training class. Oh yeah, because I want to look like those supermodel looking women right there.

I look to my right and see Gina with her jet black hair in a messy, but sexy bun, with her olive colored skin glistening as she does her squats. How is she glistening, when I'm sweating and panting like a pig? I'm contemplating strangling her with my bare hands when she turns her bright blue eyes on me and says, "Come on Evie don't give up now, it's just getting fun." If she wasn't so guileless and sweet, without a mean bone in her body, I really would throttle her.

I turn to my left and see my other partner in crime, Megan, leaning against the wall, eyes closed, gulping for air with her red hair plastered to her face. I can tell she wants to make a smart remark towards Gina's comment, but I think she's breathing too hard to speak for the moment. Her green eyes catch my brown ones and I can see the murderous glint in her eyes. I chuckle to myself, feeling a little better knowing that I'm not the only one struggling to make it through this workout.

Gina is tall and fit where Megan and I are both shorter and curvier. Gina recently grew tired of hearing me complain about how unhappy I was with my figure and talked me into joining this circuit training class, and I, being the great friend that I am, dragged Megan along for the ride.

I'm having a hard time concentrating on the instructor as she talks us through the exercises. Besides my avoidance to exercise, and the inevitable pain that comes along with it, I have a lot on my mind.

My brother Trevor called asking for a favor. He says that he has a buddy separating from the military that needs a place to stay. He claims this friend of his already has a job lined up but needs somewhere to stay until he can find a place of his own. Trevor says the guy is more than willing to pay rent and that it would only be two or three months tops. My big brother thinks it would be an opportunity for me to put aside some extra cash for me, and my daughter McKinley.

I've been a single mother since I was eighteen. My Granny Mabel let me stay with her and helped take care of McKinley while I went to college. I've just recently moved out of my grandmother's house and gotten a three bedroom apartment. It isn't in the nicest of neighborhoods, but it isn't the worst. Besides, I can't live with my grandmother forever.

I'm considering taking in Trevor's friend. I really do need to start a 'rainy day fund' for me and McKinley. I love my little girl more than anything, there's nothing I wouldn't do for her. Which is why I'm worried about having a stranger move in with us.

It's not that I don't trust Trevor's judgment. He's my overprotective big brother after all, and if the guy is a friend of Trevor's he'll be a friend of mine. It's just that I haven't brought a man around McKinley since the day she was born. Even though this man won't be someone I'm dating, I don't want to give my little girl the wrong idea.

McKinley has recently started asking questions about her father. It all started when she began Kindergarten and heard other children talking about their dad's did this, and their dad's did that. I remember the day she looked at me with her sparkling eyes full of tears and said: "Momma, how come I don't have a daddy like everyone else?"

With her beautiful light eyes like her father's and her caramel complexion more like mine, she's like a beautiful little angel. I ran my hand over her sandy colored ringlets and told her that her father had to go fight for his country, but if he could, he'd come back for her one day. That's the best I could come up with for the time being. The truth is too complicated for her five-year-old mind to comprehend right now. Hell, sometimes it's too much for me to comprehend.