Adore You | ✔

Chapter 2

She had jade green eyes and thick lashes that made it seem like she was wearing mascara even though no one in their right mind would wear mascara with the current heat and before a run. She held her half-done ponytail with one hand and waved at me with the other. I ran towards her, and she smiled a 1000-gigawatt smile at me, a scrunchy hanging between her white teeth.

She took the scrunchy out of her mouth and finished tying her hair.

"Hi, my name is Maria; you ready?" She asked while clipping her messy bangs back. Her large green eyes more noticeable once the hair was out of her face.

"Hi, I'm Lia; yeah, I'm ready," I answered, and we started our run at a comfortable pace.

"So! You're fresh meat! Starting at Trinity in the fall?" she asked me.

"Yeah, first year."

"Aww, a freshman?" She asked. 

"No," I said, looking down at the track. I have been told many times I look young for my age. 

"Oh, so you're a transfer," She said surprised. 

"Kind of, I was recruited for Track," I explained. 

"Really?" she said furrowing her brow, "why haven't I ever seen you at any meets?"

"Probably because I went to a public school and am not from New York. Our meets and seasons are different. I don't think we would have crossed paths very often, if at all," I said shaking my head. 

"Wait. We recruit kids from public schools?" she asked surprised and seemed genuinely curious.

I felt my face turning red, and it wasn't from running. Maria hadn't said it in a mean way or anything, but I suddenly felt embarrassed not to afford to go to Trinity, like probably everyone else on the team.

"Y-yeah, I guess."

"Well, that makes sense." She chuckled as best she could while running.

"What makes sense?"

"That you were recruited. I was wondering where you came from and why you're so fast. Usually, the coach pairs me up with Jenna," she said, pointing to another tall girl behind us. "She's not as fast as me, but when we're doing easy runs like this, she can keep up since she's also tall."

"Yeah, I notice almost all the long and mid-distance runners are a lot taller here than back home.  How tall are you anyway?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"I'm five-ten... and a half," She said, grinning sheepishly at the last part.

"Wow," I answered, genuinely impressed. I always wanted to be tall but was stuck at five feet four inches— if I didn't slouch.

"Yeah, I hate it. Totally dwindles the dating pool."

"I'd love to be taller," I said sincerely. 

"Every girl says that but you have no idea how hard it is to find pants that fit right. Although, it's nice that they always have shoes in my size."

"So, you said back home, where is back home?" 

"Miami," I said, picking up the pace a bit as we passed the coach. 

"Miami?! I love Miami!" she said excitedly, and grabbed my arm for emphasis,"I just got back from there yesterday."

I suppressed a smile, she was so enthusiastic about everything it was almost contagious.

"Do you go there a lot?" I asked.

"I spend my summers there. My family usually goes once a year. My mom owns an apartment in Miami Beach and we try to spend at least a month there with my grandma."

"That's nice, I'm sure she appreciates it."

"She actually has no idea who we are most of the time, but she's the sweetest. Do you live by the beach?"

"Umm...no, my town isn't as glamorous as Miami beach. I live more in the suburbs around 40 minutes south of the city. It's actually really boring and everything is really spaced out so there is a lot of traffic."

She looked at me as if I were an alien.

"I would take traffic over the winters here any day. Why did you move over here? The weather is so much nicer there."

"My dad is doing his Medical Residency, so I moved up here to help him out. You know with the basics—like making sure he doesn't eat ramen noodles every night."

"Aw, that's so nice of you!" she smiled. For whatever reason, compliments are sometimes hard for me to take, and I didn't know what to answer and blushed instead. 

Noticing my silence, Maria asked, "What grade are you in?"

"I'm going to be a junior you?"

"Senior," she said out of breath. I noticed she was falling behind a bit, so I slowed down my pace.

"I guess you are faster than me," She chuckled.

"Sorry, I don't mind going slower," I said, embarrassed.

We spent the rest of our run talking about different topics, but mostly about our lives and school. It was surprisingly easy to talk to Maria; she asked a lot of questions and listened as if she actually cared about what I had to say and wasn't just doing it to be polite. Her openness surprised me since I was so intimidated by her at the beginning.

She was so excited about me being new to the city. She listed a bunch of restaurants I had to visit and cool places to check out. She said she would be more than happy to show me them herself and that we should make a date of it. 

Aside from getting to know Maria, the practice itself was grueling. After our warm-up, we had to do repeats, ab exercises, and then when we thought it was all over, the coach hit us with some muscle conditioning.

When it was over, I sat on a bench outside of the school gates, sweaty, aching, and tired, waiting for my first bus to arrive so I could make my journey back home. I was about to pull out my book when I saw a bright pink duffle bag plop next to me on the bench and looked up to see Maria standing over me. 

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A/N

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