The Tour

twenty three / cute

"This was not a good idea," I panted as I neared the top of the eighth hill of the day.

"Are you kidding me, I'm having a great time," Will argued from his seat in his wheelchair. My hands were slipping off of the handles as I pushed him due to the sweat that was dripping off of me. The outline of my sports bra was visible through my t-shirt because it was the only part of my shirt that hadn't been sweat through. My running shoes pounded against the pavement and the clicking of the moving wheels added to the rhythm.

"Okay, we're done," I gasped when we finally made it to the top.

Will gave me a look over his shoulder. "That's what you think. Race you down!"

With that he pushed himself forward down the hill towards the part of the road where our houses were. I sighed before bounding after him, my stride lengthening in order to make up for the change in height. Will was way in front of me, although he was thankfully breaking slightly in order to prevent him from breaking the speed limit or something. He allowed himself to glide once the hill flattened out, and I slowed to a walk.

Once he reached my house, which was about ten houses away from his, he turned himself around and joined me.

"Well, that was fun," he shrugged.

"Totally," I pushed my sweaty hair back, "I have a newfound respect for those moms who run marathons while pushing their children."

"To be fair, their children probably don't weigh over a hundred and fifty pounds. Just a guess though."

"I'm going to force my children to run with me as soon as they are able to walk. They're going to learn that there's no such thing as a free ride, and they're going to become the best athletes while they do it."

A grin spread lazily on Will's face. "You gave me a free ride though."

"Well, you can't walk, it was a charity case. My kids will be more proficient than you in that category," I replied.

"It's so kind of you to look out for me like that," he laughed. "And you're probably not wrong, maybe they'll teach me a few things."

We continued down the street until we reached Will's house, where we walked up a newly constructed ramp to the front door. He opened it himself and gestured for me to come inside.

"I should probably shower first," I gestured to my soaked shirt.

He shrugged in response. "You left some shorts and other clothes here awhile ago, my mom put them in the drawer of the guest room. If you want you can just shower here."

I nodded, walking over to the guest room to see what I had left behind. It had happened many times before, and I was happy to see an old pair of running shorts that I used to love, along with a clean sports bra. "You guys got a shirt I can borrow?"

"One sec," came the call from the other room. Will tossed me some high school baseball t-shirt and I thanked him before going into the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later I was showered and changed, walking around the house in search of Will. Eventually I spotted him on the porch looking out at the ocean.

He looked over at me as I walked past the sliding screen door, taking note of my outfit. "You look cute."

I rolled my eyes and sat in the chair next to him. "You look cute too," I said, dramatically pretending to check him out.

"I always do," he smirked in an equally ridiculous fashion before laughing.

"So, you bored yet?" I asked.

"Unbelievably."

I gazed out at the waves before looking at him curiously. "Want to do something tomorrow? It's kinda a work thing."

Will raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Sure, what is it?"

The event seemed like something that he might be very uncomfortable attending, but on the other hand he could be fine, and it might be nice for him to get out. And he had made it through the WSL awards...

"There's a surf film premiere on the North Shore tomorrow night. I'm supposed to go and they said that I should bring someone, they want as many people as possible. I figured that you might want to get out of the house, but I'm not sure what the content of the movie will be.
There might be some nasty wipes outs, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable. If you wanted to go even without that of course."

"I'd love to come," he said without hesitation.

"You sure?" I furrowed my eyebrows.
"I'm sure that it will be fine. And if it's too bad I'll just let you know and make you leave with me, I'm sure they just need your famous face there for the press beforehand anyway," he joked.

"Okay, great," I smiled.

"This would normally be the part where I tell you when I'm going to pick you up, but since you're driving and know everything about the event I think it's your turn," Will hinted.

"Right, yeah, I'll pick you up at 6:15."

He laughed at my awkwardness. "Sounds like a great time."

This is short but it'll do. Hope you're all having a great life experience out there.