No distractions, I scold myself.
When I make it to the gym, I exit through the side door of the building. Gravel crunches beneath my tennis shoes and I wince, rubbing a hand up and down my arm and shooting a glance over my shoulder. I’m the loudest sound out here and the biggest target.
Focus on something else, Hailey.
The trail. The woods. The pre-dawn air.
I take in the sky—a cloudless state of midnight blue. It glows from a smattering of stars stretching in all directions. I gawk at it, missing the figure cloaked in darkness as he crashes into my side and knocks the breath from my lungs.
“Hayes? What are you doing out here?” Dean squints.
I huff out a laugh as my blood pressure skyrockets. “Oh, y’know… just thought a good bulldozing would be the ideal way to wake up.”
The corner of his mouth quirks up in a half smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you. Are you okay?”
Okaywould be an understatement. More like shaken up and thankful for the dark. Neither of which has anything to do with almost getting plowed to the dirt.
“Yep. Fine.”
“Are you going for a hike?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. “No, I’m going on a bear hunt.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Stupid question. Mind if I join you?”
There’s a very real possibility I could run into a whole host of wild animals out here. I don’t have the faintest clue what to do if one approached me. Regardless of the state of our friendship, having him along might not be such a bad thing. He used to be my safety blanket. Before he went and screwed it all up.
“Sure.” I hold out my arm, motioning him to go first. We don’t need another collision. The next one would end in a bed of sharp sticks.
“You aren’t wearing glasses,” he notices.
I concentrate on his face instead of the uneven terrain beneath my feet. Under the moonlight, a two-inch mark glows white near his forehead.
“And you have a scar through your eyebrow,” I retort.
His eyes drop to the ground.
Did he expect me to come back here the same person as when I left? I doubthe’sthe same.
“I got Lasik two years ago,” I say. Not that I owe him an explanation.
He nods. “I stood too close to a branch my buddy was sawing. It gashed open my face when it fell, and the hair never grew back where it scarred.”
Four years. Over twice the amount of time it takes scars to fade. It looks about as light as the ones on my heart. And yet, I feel guilty. For the past but also for right now. I’m sure this is his morning routine, and I’m encroaching on it. Or is it him intruding on me? I let out a sigh. Having him here adds to my already confused thoughts.
My feet pick up their pace as I sort out what to say to him. They carry me. Faster and faster. Until I’m practically running, my heart drumming inside of my chest.
What do you say to the person you used to tell everything to? Someone who was an extension of your family and now feels more like a stranger.
“Do you always walk this fast?” Dean pants.
I’ve managed to weasel my way around him. He’s having to grind his hips back and forth to keep up with me.
“Didn’t knowI’dbe giving you the workout, did you, Denominator?” I tease him.
The old linebacker nickname slips out before I have the chance to register the intimacy of it. As though we’re not two people marching in a single-file line like distant soldiers readying for battle.
“No, but you’ve always surprised me, Hayes,” he says.
