Chapter Fifteen
The scent of maple syrup roused Adam early that Sunday. The light had barely begun to peek through the window with its gray overcast paleness. His head hurt, probably from crying, and Adam had a flash of embarrassed horror when he realized what an idiot he had been in front Ru. The absence of his weight in Adam’s bed made his heart nearly skip a beat. Had Ru left? Was he so disgusted with Adam’s waterworks that he took off in the middle of the night?
Adam threw off the blankets, did a quick clean up in the bathroom, and headed downstairs to see if Ru was still there.Please let him still be there.
In the kitchen both of Adam’s parents were awake, but there was no sign of Ru. He left them to fill plates with stacks of pancakes to head to the spare room. Ru was sprawled out on the bed in nothing but his boxers. Blankets thrown off and arms flung across the bed, it looked like he’d just fallen in an exhausted heap. Adam wanted to just crawl into bed with him, wrap his arms around Ru’s chest, and snuggle them up into the blankets for the rest of the day.
“Come eat,” Adam’s dad whispered. “Let him sleep since he got in so late. You and I can hit the gym, and hopefully he’ll be up by the time we get back. Your mom will make sure he eats.”
Adam didn’t really want to leave Ru there alone with his mom. Maybe Ru would wake up while they were eating breakfast. A half-dozen pancakes, two eggs, and three slices of bacon later, Adam was full and ready to go. His dad gave him time to run upstairs, change, and check on Ru again, who was still sound asleep.
When Adam hesitated to go for the third time, his mom thrust a piece of paper and a pencil into his hand. “Write him a quick note. If he wakes up before you get back, I’ll give it to him.”
Adam sighed and quickly penned,Went to run. BBS.With that they left. The gym was emptier that day than it had been the day before, probably due to it being not quite eight A.M. on a Sunday. Adam and his dad started out faster, just a few warm-ups, and then set a quick pace. He was sleepy, but that wore off after the second lap.
“Focus on your breathing,” his dad told him, his not even strained yet. “It’s early, but your body knows what to do.”
And it did. Adam channeled all his mental focus into breathing, letting his body move. The walls soared by in a blurred circle. Eventually his dad stopped and mumbled something about getting something to drink. But Adam just kept going, feeling the burn in his lungs, the heat of his legs, the weight of his spine, and the soft rhythm of his breath.
His pushed all his frustrations of the past few days out into the run. Like cleansing his body of toxins, he released it all with each breath. The worry about Bas, his fear of having Ru walk away, and even his own insecurity about his future—he just dropped it all. He released all the troubles to run with his mind clear and completely unfettered, but when he found that place, he didn’t want to stop.
Sometime later someone reached out as he approached the entrance area, holding out a bottle of water. Adam expected it to be his dad, but when the half-second glance didn’t register his familiar blond hair he had to look again and went sprawling on his face. Adam didn’t think he had ever wiped out so spectacularly. His legs flew over his head a few times and when the forward motion finally stopped, he lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, world spinning and knees stinging.
“I’m so sorry!” Ru knelt down beside him, and then Adam’s dad appeared on the other side. “Your dad said you needed some water. I didn’t want to distract you. I was trying to do it how you see them do it for people who are running marathons.”
Adam blinked at Ru, amused by the way his eyes got really big and bright when he worried. His dad put a towel under Adam’s head, and then his mom appeared with another set of towels. “Your knees are bleeding pretty badly.”
Adam peered down at them and sighed at the heavy gobs of blood that poured from the scrapes. No wonder it burned. His mom began washing them gently as one of the gym employees arrived with a First Aid bag.
“I sort of felt like Wile E. Coyote when he chases the Road Runner off a cliff, suspended in air for a minute before gravity kicks in. It was cool,” Adam said.
“Did you hit your head?” his dad asked. Ru gripped Adam’s hand as the medic moved around to shine a light in his eyes.
“He needs water,” the man said. His hands ran over Adam’s neck, listening to his pulse and searching the vertebrae for signs of damage. Another medic appeared. She took over working on Adam’s knees, using something with a horrible sting to clean them, and then bandaged them. “Roll over onto your side,” the man instructed. When Adam did, the man examined his spine for any sign of damage.
“I’m okay,” Adam said, his face burning hot with embarrassment. “Just feel really stupid.”
His dad helped him sit up, and Ru handed Adam the bottle of water. “Drink, please.”
He gulped down all twelve ounces without stopping for a breath. His muscles were starting to ache. After all that running, they would really hurt if he didn’t stretch them properly. Except his knees had giant white bandages on them. The jogging pants he had brought to put on over the shorts probably wouldn’t fit.
The medics declared he wasn’t permanently damaged, which made his face burn even hotter. When they helped him up, all he could do was bury his face against Ru’s shirt. Ru wore just a T-shirt and a pair of sweats, but it didn’t look like he’d hit any of the exercise machines. Adam, however, needed a shower something fierce. He stunk.
His dad ended up helping him, which was awkward. They tied some plastic bags around Adam’s knees, but the water and soap got in anyway and hurt pretty bad. Before his knees were rewrapped, Adam finally got to see the damage. Major road rash. Once it scabbed over it was going to be hard to move, even harder to run. Adam sighed. His dad packed up his stuff.
“I’m going to take the bags out to the car. I’ll be back in a minute to help with your shoes,” he said. Adam could probably get his shoes on himself, but it seemed like a long way to bend. Exhaustion was starting to settle in, but he fought the heaviness of his eyelids, not wanting to lose more time with Ru.
The track pants did fit over the bandages, but his knees stuck out like giant marshmallows had been shoved into the legs. Ru showed up again as Adam was pulling on his sweatshirt. Ru whipped a comb out of his pocket and gently ran it through Adam’s hair. A spot on the back left side of his head hurt a little, like when he’d banged his head into the door or a table by accident. He rubbed the spot lightly.
“You scared the crap out of me, Adam,” Ru whispered.
Adam thought he meant for leaving the house without him. “I’m sorry. I left a note. Did my mom give it to you?”
“Yeah, that’s why we came here. Your mom drove us over when your dad sent a text saying you were still running. We figured we would meet up with you and have lunch once you were done.” He stared off into space for a minute. “I meant that fall. I think my heart stopped while you were tumbling. It was almost like you were flying while you were running. But I don’t think you were seeing anything around you. I shouldn’t have tried to break your concentration.” He squeezed Adam’s hand. “It’s almost noon.”
“Oh no!” How had he wasted half the day, a day he should have been spending with Ru? “I didn’t realize...”
“It’s okay. Your mom and I got here around eleven. I did a little walking on the treadmill and some basic weight lifting. This gym is nice, having the equipment right on the edge of the track. I could watch you the whole time. Didn’t realize I’d done twice my normal reps on everything. Being with you is going to make my personal trainer very happy.” Ru leaned forward and kissed Adam’s cheek. “I was just pumping iron, losing track of the counts over and over. Too busy watching you.”
