inhale, kevin day.

i. outnumbered

chapter one
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Maeve Kingston inhaled deeply, carefully allowing the air to fill up her lungs before releasing it through her mouth. Her feet hit the ground in sync to the hammering of her heart in her chest and she counted each step— one, two, three, four, breathe, one, two, three, four, breathe. As always, she let her feet lead her where they wanted to go, granting her mind, in this moment, to be free.

     There were no decisions to be made, no people she had to pretend to like, nothing at all... the only thing she had to do for the next several miles was focus on the way she breathed. It was her and the breeze hitting her face as the path before her stretched on as long as she needed it to.

She would have kept going, had it not been for the buzzing of her phone strapped against her arm— it was a simple phone, a "necessity" she didn't know how to use it for half the things it was good for and had a voice yelling into her ear the second she regrettably clicked answer. Of course, she knew better than to decline a call from this person, and so she brought herself to an abrupt stop and exhaled slowly as it chimed to catch up with herself and answered with a sigh.

"Maeve Joy Kingston, where in the hell are you?!"

"Ah— full name!" She exclaimed as Wymack's voice rang loudly,"What have we talked about?!"

"When it seems to be the only way I can ever get your attention these days you don't get to be picky with me, missy." He grumbled back,"Now, I didn't call you to chat because we all know how pleasant you can be." Maeve rolled her eyes as he went on,"But I've been informed you've left the dorm, Matt says you were in running gear and not to worry. Despite all this, I'm warning you, you made a commitment— your ass better not run off before you follow through or so help me—"

She scoffed,"Wait, who the hell even—"

He cut her off,"Not important, I want you back at the dorms within the hour. I'll be there soon."

Maeve seized the moment, wanting to ask him what time their flight was set for, but she didn't get even two words out, as Wymack hadn't even stopped talking long enough to acknowledge her needing something before putting an end to their conversation with a dead toned,"Goodbye."

Maeve's fingers clenched around the phone, her frustration multiplying. "How soon is soon?!" She grumbled out to the empty space of the sidewalk in front of her before turning back around to return the way she came from.

In the end she'd run approximately nine miles total, which wasn't bad since she hadn't exactly been trying to go for fast— distance was more so her territory and that was alright for the amount of time she'd been out. She stopped to the left of the building that housed the athletes at Palmetto State and looked up as she checked her pulse with a couple fingers pressed to the side of her neck, from where she stood she could see someone facing one of the windows on the third floor.

     The Exy team was situated there.

Unfortunately, she knew Andrew to not care enough about her to voice to Wymack a concern that she would flee before their flight, still she gave it a second thought before completely throwing out the idea. She panted slightly— her situation might just be amusing enough to him to possibly believe her fight or flight instinct had kicked in with today's arrival... and if it had been him, the call would've been short, Wymack obviously would've reached out to Matt after... a thought confirmed as she recalled his mention of the boy's name in regards to her whereabouts that afternoon.

The person in the window turned around, pressing their back to it just as Maeve finished off with a few stretches. She squinted up at them and despite not being able to see him clearly, flipped him off before making her way inside.