Meet You There | Calum Hood

20

"You look like hell." Lexi said to Holland as she collapsed on the mat beside her friend.

"Cal flew out this morning, I stayed with him last night and we didn't get much sleep."

"I was wondering where you were." Lexi nodded. "So..." She said, her voice laden with innuendo, "did you guys?"

"A lady never tells." Holland smirked mischievously, turning away to begin her stretching despite Lexi furiously trying to regain her attention behind her.

Their practice session was long and grueling. By the time it was over Holland felt pain in every part of her body as she practically crawled towards the ice bath.

"Holland Anne Mayfield." Lexi said loudly as she entered the locker room and headed for her own ice bath.

"What, Lex? How do you still have the energy to be so loud?"

"I didn't spend my night getting boned by a rock star." Her friend said back quickly and Holland couldn't help but laugh.

"To be fair, I did not get boned. We did...other stu—you know what— that's none of your business." She laughed.

"So what now? When's he coming back? Are you guys official? What's going on? We all want to know." She said gesturing to the other girls on the team as they entered.

"I love you guys, but Calum's a pretty private dude. I can tell you he's supposed to be back for a few days right before he goes home to Australia for the holidays, that's the next time I know for sure that I'll see him. And yeah, he asked me to be his girlfriend so I guess we're official."

Squeals and a million questions poured from her teammates until she held her hands up.

"Alright, alright. Damn if y'all still have this much energy left maybe we need to make practice longer, fuck." That seemed to shut them right up. "As much as I love you guys prying into my brand new relationship. I am exhausted and a bit emotional from having to drop him off at the airport this morning and I have fucking math in half an hour so please leave me be."

A few grumbled responses sounded and she chuckled before retorting "Love you guys too."

•

Holland winced as she lowered herself into a seat in the lecture hall and waited for her Calculus class to begin. No one else from her team was taking the same class which may have had a lot to do with her struggles. She was used to always having a study partner and someone to compare notes with, but for this one she was on her own.

She tried to pay attention and follow the steps the professor was giving but she was hopelessly lost and her fatigue wasn't helping anything.

By the time lunch rolled around Holland had decided that today sucked and she wanted nothing more than to just go home and sleep. She could try again for a good day tomorrow. She knew that wasn't possible though, she had another class and afternoon workouts, not to mention Lexi was still monitoring her diet and would kill her if she blew off lunch.

With that knowledge in mind she slowly made her way towards the athlete dining hall. She had barely made it through the doors before she heard her team calling for her from a nearby table.

"Hey!" She greeted them with a wave, sliding her backpack on to the back of a chair and setting off to find something to eat.

Nothing looked good. Every option appearing in her mind as the calories it held instead of the actual sight in front of her. She took a deep breath. You can do this, Holland. She thought. It shouldn't be this hard, eating. But when your body is the biggest hindrance of your dreams, every added pound another thing holding you back, the reality of the situation begins to get a bit distorted.