That Thing Between Eli and Gwen(45)

He whined again, his paws on my leg.

“We're going, we're going.” I put on his leash and exited my room, and he ran toward the door. “What is up with you—”

I paused when Eli came out, adjusting the mp3 player on his bare muscular arm, wearing black loose-fitting running pants and a hooded shirt. Only when Taigi went up to him did Eli glance at me, wide-eyed as he took his earbuds out.

“Morning,” I said quickly, even bringing my hand up and doing a small wave like an idiot.

“Morning.” He grinned. “Do you usually go out this early? I’ve never seen you.”

“No, usually we go out later, but for some reason, he wouldn’t let me sleep this morning.” Now I look like a stalker, thank you. I glared at Taigi, who walked on his own toward the elevator. “See, he really has to go.” I followed, walking past Eli.

“Where are you guys going?” he asked.

He was already next to me as I pressed the button. “Central Park,” I replied, getting in with him.

We both reached to close it, our hands grazing each other.

“Sorry.” I quickly dropped my hand.

He snickered, closing the doors. “He looks excited.”

I glanced down to Taigi, whose tail waved back and forth.

“I was so busy with the wedding yesterday that I could only give him a short ten-minute walk, which is nothing; he really needs a good run.” I petted his head.

“You run, too?”

He sounded excited as we reached the bottom floor. “Yeah.” I had no idea why the hell I said that; it just spilled out of my mouth. I only ever either let Taigi run by himself or biked next to him. Running was not my thing.

“I usually do the Hudson River route, it’s almost nine miles, but Central Park is good too. Do you start your run from here?”

Almost nine miles every morning? Are you shitting me right now?

“We—” Before I could finish telling him to go on without us, Taigi ran forward, pulling me with him. What made it worse was I could feel Eli running beside me.

Why, Taigi, why? I screamed in my mind, running with them. I couldn’t get out of it now. It was early enough that the sidewalks toward the park were mostly empty; there was still even early morning fog out.

When we made it to the park I hoped, prayed one of them would slow down, but they were in their own little world, running farther and farther along the path while I could feel my calves tightening up.

Come on, Guinevere, you can do this. Just make it a half hour. I pushed myself, breathing in slowly through my nose and out my mouth.

I thought I was doing pretty well for a little bit too, until my whole left leg went numb and I had to slow down, much to Taigi’s annoyance. I slowed, finally stopping at a bench and grabbing my leg.

“Are you all right?” Eli came over.

I noticed that while I was sweating like crazy, he just looked like someone had sprayed him with a damn mister. Sighing, I just sat, trying to catch my breath.

“I’m not a runner.” I threw up my hands. “I have no idea why I said I was. I take him on walks, and if he really needs to go for a run, I take my bike. I’m a great cyclist, but running…yeah, not my thing. I think I’m dying. How long have we been going for?”

“Twenty-four minutes—”

“Really?” I was surprised I had made it that far. I should have kept going! “See? I can’t even make it thirty minutes. That’s bad, right?”

He knelt down in front of me. “Which leg is stiff? I’m guessing you didn’t stretch?”

“All of me is stiff, but my left leg is worse. I stretched my back when I got out of bed, but other than that, no.” No point trying to hide my embarrassment. I wanted to go back home and close my eyes. Maybe I could restart the day.

He took my left leg and massaged my calf. “Guinevere, when you're with me, I have one rule: don’t lie, especially if it leads to hurting yourself for no reason…or for any reason. I don't really care if you are a runner or not.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying not to focus on his hands. “You looked excited when I said I ran, too, and—”

“I was excited I could spend time with you.” He glanced up at me. “Even if we didn’t say anything, you were still going to be next to me. I spent the whole night wondering how I was going to approach you today. Running seemed like a good way to break the ice. I was excited about that.”

“I won’t lie, I’m sorry,” I said softly. “But I thought you said you could tell when I’m lying.”

He frowned. His hands had worked their way from my calf to my knee, and he froze right before reaching my thigh, his eyes looking up at me. “I was distracted and didn’t notice. Should I stop? Does it feel better?”