Fraternizing with the Enemy

8 // Usain Bolt Me Out of This Situation

I didn't know if I was out of breath from the running or from the horrible realization that Tyler had heard this awful idea from someone else, meaning that it existed somewhere else in the world.

Reese was officially banned from my funeral. I needed no further miscommunication after my death. It should be known that my hatred for him burned with the heat of a thousand suns, or just my face after running for the last fifteen minutes

"No, no way! We barely- hah, get along!"

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to make that weird!" A genuine concern was written among the freckles on his nose and my heart instantly melted.

As I tried to reply with what I hoped was a reassuring smile, the tip of my foot managed to come in contact with a gnarled tree root and took my entire body with it. With a disgruntled cry my body was thrown to the side, off the path and down a little hill, with many rocks and twigs to greet me the short way down. Pain erupted throughout my body as I felt my skin break, the ache and the burning blending together to create a world of hurt.

When I finally hit the bottom, everything was still, and tears burned in my eyes. I groaned, lying there for a second, my body twisted at a peculiar angle but the pain was too strong for me to even consider moving.

"Ow."

Tyler immediately started towards me, concern etched on his face. "Shit, Stella, are you okay?"

I lifted up a hand to stop him, the back of my other wrist coming to cover my eyes. "Just, uh, wait a second. I'll, shit, I'll be right there!"

He paused, and leaned over to get a better look. If it wasn't for the lightning strikes of pain that were charging throughout my body, I would probably be mortified, but it hurt too much for me to care. I could feel the twigs entangle with my hair, and there was a particular poignant pain across my forehead that was probably more than a light scratch.

Heaving another moan, I managed to sit up, patting myself down to make sure that all my limbs were still in place. Nothing was twisted or broken, at least. Other than my dignity. That unfortuantly had a brutal, terrible death.

After a lot of internal convincing, I finally got up on my feet. Somehow all my tears were kept at bay, because water was not something I needed to add to the mess I knew I was. My arms were both dusted with various cuts and smeared with dirt, probably an echo of the disaster on my face, and there was a bruise forming on my tailbone already from the signals of pain my body was sending. I gave a feeble wave to reassure Tyler I was okay, but I wasn't even really sure of that myself.

When I finally scrambled up back to the path, Tyler grabbed my hand and pulled me up, steadying my weak footing. "Wow, are you okay? That was pretty rough."

"You know me, either do it well or don't do it at all," I drawled, wincing as he lifted my arm around his shoulders to borrow some of my weight.

Tyler chuckled, shaking his head. "How about we take you back home, yeah?"

I swallowed, nodding. "Yes please."

After a couple minutes of silent hobbling, which I was thankful for because I was a little too distracted for small talk, we turned back onto my street. There we found Reese, casually sitting on his porch, still in the basketball shorts he was wearing before. He was squirting water into his mouth via Gatorade bottle, and looked as if he was about to smile until he realized the condition I was in.

"Woah," he breathed out, jumping up and hovering towards me. For a fleeting moment, something like concern seemed to be sparked in those amber eyes. "Shit, what'd you do?"