you take my breath away (literally)

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We walk down the dark street, I check the time to see it's half six, the teachers should still be there; hopefully. Delilah's assignments sit in a huge plastic wallet which she carries, we walk side by side, our hands ever so often grazing.

"What's your assignment on?" I ask, making conversation.

"We had to take photo's of things we love, kinda showing him what makes us, us." She replies.

"What did you photograph?" I question.

She shrugs, "lot's of things, nature, books, strawberries, the colour burgundy, Converse, tall buildings, all that stuff." 

"What kinda books do you like?" 

She bites her lip, "comic books."

"Yeah?" I ask, laughing.

"Yeah." She defends.

"Hey, no judgement-who doesn't love a good comic?" I ask, rhetorically.

"What about you? What do you love?" She asks, as we cross an empty street.

"Me? I love loads of stuff, I love gaming and eating and my friends and my family and, I dunno, loads." I answer, vaguely.

"You love eating?" She laughs.

"Who doesn't?" I chuckle.

We continue our walk in a peaceful, comfortable silence when I suddenly hear her wheezing from behind me. 

"Can-can we stop." She coughs and I turn slightly to see her doubling over, her hands resting on her knees.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Just tired." She heaves, I slide my arm around her shoulders and lead her over to a small bench. 

We sit and I hear her regain her breath.

"Not do much cardio?" I joke, making her smile.

"Could you pass me my bag?" She asks, nodding to her backpack on the ground.

I nod and haul it up, passing it to her. 

"Don't laugh, okay?" She says, nervously.

"Okay." I agree and I watch as she pulls out a small blue 'L' shaped object.

She puts it to her mouth and pushes down on a small canister sticking out of it, breathing it in and slowly breathing out. 

"Asthmatic?" I ask and she nods.

"Cool, I know." She smiles.

"I just assumed you were breathless over me." I grin and watch as her smile widens.

"Don't flatter yourself." She smiles.

"You're alright though, right? We can go back." I ask, looking for reassurance.

"I'm good, just-I sometimes lose my breath, it gets worse when I'm stressed." She nods, standing up.

"Don't be stressed, I got you." I smile at her, she smiles back and her eyes finally meet mine.



We enter the building, lights still being on. Delilah leads me down a few corridors until we stand outside a door with the number '108' written along it.

"This is his room." She breathes out.

"Come on, let's go in." I place my hand on the handle but I can sense she's uncomfortable.

"What if he still doesn't want me on the course?" She bites her lip.

"Then he's crazy." I assure her, she nods slowly and I open the door.

He sits at his desk, photos littering the walls and fluorescent lighting beaming down from the high ceiling. He looks up as we enter, his face showing slight annoyance at our appearance.

"Brookes, what can I do for you?" He questions, as she walks around to stand next to me.

"I-I-I-" She meekly fumbles over her words and I hear the teacher sigh.

"She wants to hand her assignments in." I speak for her and his eyes meet mine.

"And who are you?" He asks.

"Her friend." I reply.

"Well, maybe she should tell me what she's here for, seen as she's a very capable twenty year old woman." He sighs, clearly bored and uninterested but willing to make her squirm.

Delilah breathes out and I notice her chest rise and fall faster and faster and faster. Her eyes suddenly widen and I notice the struggle in her face. A chair scrapes back and he runs up to her, her hands are flailing and tears slowly fall from her glossy eyes. Her breaths resemble that of a dog panting; she is desperate for air but can't get it.

"Wha-what's wrong with her?" I ask, panicked, as he sits her at a desk and kneels down to be level with her.

"She's having a panic attack." He answers.

I feel numb as I watch her struggle to breathe; it's a painful experience to watch so I can't even imagine how she feels.

"Delilah, I need you to breathe in and out for me, on my counts, okay?" He asks and she nods, "alright, breathe in, one, two three."

She takes a shaky breath in and holds it, releasing it when he gets to two. They repeat this process a few times before she looks to her bag and to me. I click on and unzip her front pocket, taking her inhaler out and handing it to her. She takes a few puffs of it and finally regains a normal breathing pattern.

"Son, do you think I could have a minute with Delilah?" He asks, his tone changing from rude teacher to a soft-spoken man.

"Sure." I nod, looking to her and she nods, I leave.



Ten minutes later she reemerges, her assignments no longer in her hand.

"You back on the course?" I ask, hopeful.

"I'm back on the course." She nods, smiling.

"Are you alright?" I ask her.

She blushes slightly, "sorry, that happens a lot."

"You have panic attacks a lot?" I ask, as we begin walking.

She simply nods.

"I wish you didn't." I mumble and she chuckles.

"Me too."

"Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that." I awkwardly say.

"No, I know how you meant it but it's crippling thing, it stops me from doing a lot." She mumbles back.

"I'm glad I came to your door tonight." I say, as we step in to the fresh air of London.

"How come?" She questions.

"Because I got to find out so much more about the girl who lives three floors down."  


A/N idk why I'm updating so much on this book but damn I am enjoying writing this

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