Visions and Hearts

Laps and Walks

Sam

He got lucky. She was there when he walked onto the track. He'd tried to stay away and get back into the groove of school and practice but only managed to make it through two days before he convinced himself that he could at least check in on her. See how she's doing. Maybe heavily encourage her to sign up for a self defense class or something. How he would do that last part without looking like a crazy person was still up in the air. He was charismatic, girls usually did what he wanted, maybe this would be easier than he thought.

She was fast and looked like she had been running for a while. This was going to be interesting. Sam started out at a slow jog, waiting for her to recognize him. It took her a while, but once she got close enough he saw the familiarity register on her face and he waved as casually as he could manage. She waved back carefully and kept running. Sam kept running, hoping she wouldn't go for too long since he had already been to morning practice today and didn't think his legs could handle much more.

Jess

Sam Chase was on her track. He wasn't supposed to be here. He was the school's resident waterpolo star, he belonged in the water. Maybe this was some new cross training thing. That he was doing by himself? Who knew. All Jess knew was that she wanted to go another three miles at least and while she considered stopping for the obligatory hello and awkward small talk, she figured that he was there to work out as much as she was. Plus, she really didn't want to stop. They had known each other since the first grade, a hello and 'hope you're doing well' was implied.

She kept running.

Sam

She wasn't stopping. Eight laps later and Sam thought that he was going to die. Plan A was a massive fail. His other options were far less appealing: keep running and conveniently stop whenever she did (who knew when that would be?), stop now and hang out like a creep until she stopped, or just stop running and leave. Leaving was out of the question and so was more running since his waterpolo coach had decided to punish them for his failing marriage this morning with sprints. Sam was pretty sure that his legs were going to give out any minute. Creep it was. He could pretend to stretch for a while and then wing it from there. Great.

Jess

If he didn't leave soon, Jess was just going to have to stop. She kept accidentally making eye contact with him and it was making her feel self-conscious, something that she used running to escape from. She had known Sam for a long time, had been to his house as a kid, would say 'hi' to his parents if she saw them on the street, but they were far from good friends. Plus, his school-wide reputation as star athlete and all-around Greek god made an overlap of their social lives virtually impossible. He was infiltrating her safe space and throwing her off balance. She tried her best to forget he was there.

It worked for exactly five seconds. Fine. Five miles was good enough.

Sam

She was slowing down, walking. Thank god. This was his chance. Walking towards her felt weirder than it should have. They've known each other for years, this should be easy, right? Getting closer just made it clear how different she looked. She was small, something that he had never really thought about her before. She had always been short, kind of chubby, but always cute. Her new slight size did not make him feel any better. All of the nightmares came back at once and it fit, this was the girl in those horrific scenes that had been haunting him for days, this was the girl that he needed to protect.

Jess

He walked over like he was determined to say something. Jess found herself running through the short list of shared friends they have from back in high school. She had a bad feeling that something was wrong. Was someone sick? Maybe his sister? Oh god.

"How are you?" he asked casually. Ok, maybe no one is sick.

"Good. Sweaty. How are you?" she asked, trying to get a read on him. She was usually pretty perceptive but all she was getting off him were nerves. She glanced around, trying to find someone watching that might make him nervous.

"Good. And also sweaty," he half laughed. He was, and it looked good on him. "I didn't know you ran so much," he gestured to the track, looking impressed. And super tired.

"Oh. Yeah. I picked it up about a year ago, and started running a lot a few months ago," she stopped before mentioning that it was her first big break-up that triggered that second part. He didn't need to know that.

"Cool," he nodded. They kept walking on the track and Jess found herself worrying about what to say next. They hadn't had a real conversation in years, maybe not since high school graduation? She wasn't sure what to say.

"So you headed home? I could walk you," Sam offered. For a minute Jess just stood there, unsure of what to say. Did she want him to walk her home? They lived close to each other. But that would mean another ten minutes of awkwardly trying to fill those minutes. Or maybe he had something he was trying to tell her after all. Her brother was like that, he had to talk for ten minutes about nothing before he got to what he actually wanted to say. In the end, her middle school self would never have forgiven her if she turned down this opportunity, so she couldn't.

"Sure," she lifted a shoulder and started heading towards the exit. He followed next to her, looking relieved? Tired? She couldn't really tell.

Sam

He thought she was going to say no. Flat out reject him. He watched her consider it and it was an interesting feeling, waiting for her to decide what to do about him. In the end she agreed, thankfully, and she started walking out. Sam kept himself from checking out her ass and focused on something safe, her shoulder. It was a nice shoulder. Totally asexual. Sort of.

"How's your sister?" she asked lightly. Sam suddenly remembered that they used to be friends, years ago.

"She's good. We don't talk much. She married a rich investment banking guy in New York. They live in a giant penthouse somewhere by central park. She loves it out there. I'm supposed to go out there at Christmas and see her," Sam felt like he was rambling. He hadn't thought about his sister in a while. She'd kind of become an asshole since marrying that guy but he was still planning on going out there in a couple of months.

Jess laughed quietly, "She did always like to shop. She probably feels like a kid in a candy store out there."

Sam turned to watch her smile. She looked tired. He had a weird urge to offer to carry her the rest of the way. He shook that off.

"How's your brother?" Sam remembered her older brother as being kind of crazy. Partying, hooking up with lots of girls in high school, basically the coolest guy he knew. Even more contrasted against Jess, the perfect student sitting quietly in the back with a perpetual book in her hand.

"He's ok, I think," she paused. "We don't talk much either, honestly. I try but he's...hard to get ahold of."

She stopped like she was done with the subject and Sam let it go. His sister was an asshole but at least she always answered his calls. Jess stopped and he gave her a look, she smiled and gestured behind him. They were standing in front of his place.

"Oh, I can walk you to yours..." Sam offered, wondering how the hell they got here this fast.

She waved him off, "Don't be silly. I'm good. But thank you." She started to walk away and then paused and looked at him carefully, "You're okay?"

For a second he didn't understand the question. And when he did, he didn't know what to say. Was he okay? Was this his opening to tell her what he'd seen, what he'd been told? What was he even doing?

"I'm okay, Jess," he said slowly. She looked relieved, like she'd been worried about him. Jesus.

"Good." And with that she walked away. Sam stood on his porch and watched her until she turned a corner. Now what?