thirteen
M addy wondered if this was how she died.
She really hoped not. She was too young, for one, and she had so many things she still wanted to accomplish.
None of those things seemed to come to mind at that moment but she was sure that was just a repercussion of the state she was in.
It was a beautiful, Saturday morning. The park around her seemed to be slowly waking up, its sounds and colors the tell-tale signs of it coming alive. Early morning dew still clung to the leaves of trees, the grass, and the flowers that still managed to endure the December cold.
The chilly breeze brushed her face, a few wisps of hair falling from her loose ponytail.
Of course, all of this did nothing to distract her from the fact that she was probably dying.
A slow, painful death caused by... lack of air? Heart failure? An inability to follow basic instructions?
“You okay there, Mads?” a hateful, loathsome voice sounded behind her.
She was perfect. She was absolutely fantastic, if only she could manage to dismiss the fact that she was bending forward, bracing on her knees for dear life, incapable of drawing the slightest of breaths, and a sharp sting in her side was making her wish she’d never been born.
Or that she’d never met a certain idiot.
Or that she’d never let said idiot talk her into this.
She could pick either one really.
Nate’s tall, athletic, and barely out of breath form stopped next to her.
“You’re doing it wrong.”
If Maddy had had any breath left in her body, and she was sure she wasn’t going to break her hand doing it, she would have punched his stupid, pretty face.
“Nate, I swear to all that’s holy,” she gasped out, “stop talking before I kick you in the sheen.”
The bastard laughed.
She turned her head towards him just in time to see a few weak rays of pale sunshine touch Nate’s face making him look positively angelic. And sinful. Like the devil he was.
She cursed under her breath.
No one should be this pretty.
“Does my torture amuse you?” she scowled at him while she attempted to right herself and regain her faculties. Maybe make sure her internal organs were where they were supposed to be and not relocated somewhere near her esophagus.
“A little bit, to be honest,” Nate said, clearly not heeding the warning Maddy had issued.
It had been a week since their movie night and things had been really... nice since then.
There had been some texts exchanged related to movies (she was not going to watch a thriller no matter what she had promised), music (they had mutually agreed that should be a face-to-face conversation if they didn’t want to end up with cramped fingers again from typing), and other everyday stuff.
Maddy could feel the shift between her and Nate. And she trusted what her gut told her, that maybe he could really become her friend.
A friendship he was determined to put in jeopardy with his behavior.
“Running is all in the way you regulate your breathing, Madison. If you control your breaths then you can start building your stamina and eventually stop feeling like a horse has kicked you in the chest.”
If looks could kill, Maddy thought hers would have incinerated Nate on the spot.
“And honestly,” he continued with no care for his life whatsoever, “I’m your friend now. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help you after you told me you couldn’t even run to save your life? Your words, not mine. I take my role very seriously, you know.”
He said that, but his lips were twitching the entire time.
Maddy tried to stretch her beat-up body, closing her eyes, inhaling the crisp air to the point it hurt a bit.
“You know, there are other ways you can show your friendship and not one that inspires violent feelings against you,” Maddy said, as her heartbeat slowly returned to normal.
At Nate’s brief silence, she opened her eyes and turned to see him watching her with a focus she couldn’t read.
Walking towards her, he stopped just close enough to lift a hand and lightly brush aside the strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face, and moved with every breath that escaped her mouth.
She didn’t know why something so small would make her blush. She didn’t know if it was even possible to blush in the cold, but her cheeks suddenly felt warmer.
“How about we go for something to warm you up?” Nate’s quiet voice seemed to break her out of a trance. It felt like his usual tone but Maddy couldn’t shake the feeling that there was an undercurrent when they were around each other. A constant tugging that was barely there now but was growing.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Maddy smirked.
“Ha, I see what you’re doing. You play it all cool, Mr. I-Know-How-To-Run, but I bet you’re just as tired as I am and all this is a clever plan to take a break.
” She knew she was bullshitting him. He didn’t even have a hair out of place, for crying out loud.
Nate’s blank look stared back at her.
“Wow, you got me.”
“It’s okay. No need to feel bad. It happens to the best of us. Plus, now you can make it up to me.”
Nate shook his head, turning his gaze to the skies, probably praying for the strength not to strangle her. Maddy was finding it really difficult not to crack up.
“What exactly do I have to make up to you?”
“Well, you talked me into this whole thing.”
“Yeah, but you agreed. You even said it would be nice to give it a shot as one of our bucket list things.”
Oh yeah, she had said that.
Okay time to retreat and deflect.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter who said what to whom,” she said, looking anywhere but at him. “What’s important is that I’m willing to forgive you for the pain you put me through if you do this small, tiny thing for me.”
Nate’s look turned guarded, the way someone would look like if they were expecting an attack at any moment.
“I really miss my books and I’ve literally got nothing to read. I’ve read all the books I have here dozens of times.” She paused, peeking up at him. “Could we maybe stop by the bookstore to pick something up? I will be really quick, I swear!”
Nate’s expression was undecipherable before he said, “Coffee first.”
“Yes!” Maddy cheered, doing a small happy dance.
“You’re not going to be quick, are you?” Nate asked, a tone of resignation in his voice.
For his own sake, Maddy decided to leave his question unanswered.
What he didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.
“Nate!” a masculine voice sounded from somewhere behind them.
“Shit,” Nate murmured under his breath.
Maddy threw a puzzled look in his direction before turning to look at whoever was apparently coming their way.
Two equally tall and almost as good-looking guys as Nate had stopped at a few feet from them, one of them grinning wildly and the other smiling kindly, an apologetic expression on his face.
“What a coincidence! Look, Liam, it’s Nate,” the guy who was grinning with hair so dark, it was almost black, turned to tell his friend, lightly punching his shoulder.
“Last time I checked, I wasn’t blind, Coop, so yeah, I can see him,” came the answer from the sandy-blonde guy on the right.
They were both dressed in sweatpants and long T-shirts, their faces slightly flushed, which led Maddy to believe that they had also been running or doing some sort of workout.
She turned to Nate. “Are they your friends?”
“Not anymore.” Nate’s blank look made her want to giggle.
“That is cold, man,” the guy named Coop said, shaking his head. “Is that any way to treat your oldest and bestest of friends?”
“For the record, I had nothing to do with this,” Liam said, looking Nate in the eye.
Maddy felt like she was missing something but had no idea what.
Nate sighed deeply. “Mads, these are Cooper and Liam. We’ve been friends for a long time.” She thought he heard an added “not sure for how long that will last” under his breath. “Guys, this is Madison.”
“Hey,” she smiled, lifting a hand in a wave. “It’s nice to meet you.”
They both returned the gesture and then seemed to look between Nate and her for a few seconds before Liam asked, “So what are you guys up to?”
Since Nate seemed to be engaged in an intense stare-down with Coop who looked very pleased with himself for some reason, Maddy decided to be the one to answer.
“We were just running for a bit and were just about to go grab something to drink. You’re welcome to join us if you want to.”
Nate’s head swiveled so fast towards her, she worried he’d pull a muscle. His eyes were trying to communicate something but she had no clue what that was.
“Of course we’ll join you! What a great idea, right, Nate?” Cooper clapped his hands in excitement. “So where are we going?”
***
They decided to head to a cafe nearby where they served pretty much everything, including sandwiches and pastries, because the truth was that Maddy was ravenous since she hadn’t had breakfast. And if she was that hungry, she couldn’t even imagine the appetite on the three guys next to her.
Grabbing a table that could fit all four of them, they each unloaded their orders that pretty much covered the whole table.
Maddy didn’t know what to make of the group.
Cooper gave her the impression of an overgrown, excited puppy, full of energy but also ready to cause trouble at a moment’s notice.
Liam seemed more controlled on the other hand, like he would be perfectly happy to participate in said trouble-making but wouldn’t hesitate to pull the brakes as well.
In Maddy’s opinion, Nate seemed the most closed-off of the three, bordering on grumpy with an almost permanent broody expression, which she thought was funny since he’d never been so grumpy with her from the moment they’d started to get to know each other.
Well, he was in full grumpy mode now.
“Did your coffee wrong you in any way, man?” Cooper asked as he munched happily on a sandwich that was bigger than her arm.