Everly || Steve Rogers

37. On Your Left

A few days had passed since Everly's outburst, and they tried to operate as if everything was normal. But it wasn't, at least not really. She felt both embarrassed and guilty for having snapped at him when he was only trying to help. He was quick to forgive and forget however, which in a way only made matters worse. She almost wanted him to be mad. She felt like he needed to be, that he deserved to be. But he wasn't. Forgiveness wasn't necessarily a concept she was used to.

She was sitting atop Steve's bed wrapped in a blanket, watching the sun rise from his window. Faint pinks and purples pierced through the veil of darkness that blanketed the sky. As always, she had been awake for a while, though she didn't entirely mind. This time of the morning was relaxing to her. Something about being up before the rest of the world was soothing. There was a soft knock at the door before Steve poked his head in. When he saw her awake, he pushed the door open and stepped further into the room. He perched his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, watching out the window as Everly was.

"I was going to go for a run and I thought you might want to tag along." He said quietly, almost as if he was afraid to wake someone else in the room.

"Sure." She nodded.

~~~

Everly jogged along at a steady pace, smiling as her ponytail bobbed back and forth. Steve was long gone, at a dead sprint of course. She didn't dare attempt to match his pace, knowing for certain that she lacked the stamina. She was capable of more than she ever thought possible, but definitely not that. He lapped her on a few occasions, sending her a goofy little smile as he passed. One man however, was quickly getting irritated with constantly being lapped. Everly too had passed him a time or two, but Steve was pushing it. Eventually, when she was about to pass him again, she slowed down to match his pace. He glanced up at her and then did a double take when he noticed her running alongside him.

"What's a matter, you pop a tire?" He panted, sweat soaking the front of his gray sweater.

"No, just getting tired." She lied.

"Uh huh. I'm sure." He remarked sarcastically, returning his attention to where he was going. Soon enough, Everly could hear the pattering of Steve's shoes running up behind them.

"On your left." He breathed as he whooshed by with a face of stone. Everly snickered, but kept jogging. A bit later, the footsteps were heard approaching once again.

"On your left."

The man nodded lightly. "Uh huh. On my left. Got it." They ran for a while longer, and the sun was now in the sky. He lifted his head at the sound of rapid footsteps behind him again and began to speed up, peeking back at a quickly approaching Steve. "Don't say it. Don't you say it." 

"On your left."

"Come on!" He sprinted as fast as he could manage around the corner of the pond, but Steve was long gone. Everly began laughing as he slowed to a stop, hunching over and resting his hands on his knees. She walked over to a grassy area and plopped down at the base of a tree. Admittedly, she could probably have gone another lap or two, but decided against it. The dark skinned man stumbled over and sat down beside her, tilting his head back against the rough bark. A few minutes went by before Everly noticed a shadow stop in front of them. She looked up and squinted through the bright sunlight to see Steve's grinning face. 

"Need a medic?" He asked, perching his hands on his hips.

"I need a new set of lungs." The man answered, his breathing still heavy. "Dude, you just ran, like, 13 miles in like 30 minutes."

"I guess we got a late start." He answered. Everly scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Really? You two should be ashamed of yourselves. You should take another lap." His gaze left them and he waited a few seconds before peeking back. "Did you just take it? I assume you just took it."