I stay late that night at Tanner's, asking questions, trying to figure out why he's suddenly not as hostile towards me. He puts on Iron Man 2 on FX around 10 and after a few minutes of pointless questions that I ask in a exhaustion induced daze, I fall asleep. Which is probably one of the last things I was planning to do tonight.
I find myself up early, woken suddenly by someone screaming on the tv. Never was I a deep sleeper and that has stayed true through all the years. The house is quiet, Tanner no longer at the other side of the couch where my feet now rest, a blanket that wasn't there before now draped around my lower half.
Getting back to sleep is hopeless now, once I wake up I'm screwed. Timidly, I force myself up and into the kitchen silently, following the shadows into the kitchen. Turning on any light would just blind me and I definitely wouldn't be getting any sleep. I sigh, trudging a hand through my messy bedhead, and grab a water from his refrigerator.
"Can't sleep?" A voice comes from the doorway. I spin on my heel, my hand on my heart. Tanner stands there, hands in his sweatpants, a white shirt snug against his chest.
"Oh, my gosh. You scared the crap out of me," I breathe, a small laugh finding its way in. I try to avoid the thoughts that come with his morning voice which is more raspy than anything
He chuckles. "Besides raiding my fridge, what brings you up this early?"
I blush, suddenly becoming self conscious of my untamed bedhead. "Oh- sorry about that, I was just getting a water. The tv woke me up. What's your story?"
"Morning jog. Want to come along?" He asks, laughing slightly. Running would definitely good for me considering I haven't even worked out since I was home. I had planned on getting a gym membership at Gold's up the street from my hotel but never got around to it.
"I don't have any clothes besides these."
"Or we could just walk," I thought he couldn't care less for me, whats the sudden, whole change in character? And why is that character near to the one I've seen back in Tennessee.
Despite my instinct, I agree but excuse myself to the bathroom, where I try to get a grip on my unruly mane. Thankfully, whether it's Tanner or Monica's doing, there's a bottle of hairspray and comb, which I use both generously. After I'm decent, I walk out to Tanner standing by the door, chewing on a nutrigrain bar, and he offers me a grin through a full mouth.
"Ready?" He asks and I nod. I doubt this is a good idea from the start but I follow him despite my instinct out the back door.
"You don't just walk on the sidewalk?"
"Not enough space, too many people stopping me, and I don't like streets," I laugh but he continues. "Hiking's much better once you get past the loose gravel up here."
He glances down to the loose rocks under our feet that shift with every movement. I'm once again thankful I didn't wear heels.
"Do you do this a lot?" I ask as we walk, close but not enough to accidently brush shoulders.
"Every morning. It's kind of relaxing," He says, looking to the right where the trees are just starting to cover everything on our path. "Fresh air, you know?"
"Yeah," I say quietly. I keep my eyes on the ground in front of me, willing myself not to fall. That'd be great, faceplanting the second my heels caught a rock.
"Remember how we used to sit in that field and play hide and seek when we were really little?" He says suddenly, surprising me by bringing up his past, or more or less, our past.
"Yeah, you'd always have a tough time finding me," I laugh at the memory. We'd play that game for hours at a time, until our moms called us in and scolded us for being late when we didn't come when called.
