Breathe

Chapter 2

"Hey, uh, Vanessa?" Val yells from inside the bathroom.

"Yea?"

"Could you run back to my car and grab my purse quick?"

"Oh, the things I do for you.  Yeah, I'll be back in a few minutes." I say as I start walking back down the hall.

"Thanks!"

I open the door and return down the path.  I pull out my phone and turn on the flashlight to reveal the path since there's an absence of light.  The ground crunches with every step, and honestly, it sounds like the beginning of a horror film.  I hear a branch crack and my head whips around. Stop it Vanessa, you're just being paranoid. Being alone in the woods is definitely one of my biggest fears.  Who wouldn't be afraid of that? I continue walking along the gravel in absolute silence.

"Boo!" A guy yells as he jumps out from behind a tree.  I let out a loud, girly scream as my butt hits the ground, and I fall onto my elbows. 

"Ah, shit!  I'm sorry, fuck. I'm sorry. Didn't think I'd scare you that bad!" He over apologizes.  He sounds and looks really awkward.  My heart is rapidly beating and I'm convinced he can hear it.

His hands plead for mine. I grasp them, and he pulls me up. I face my phone's flashlight at my elbows to find the source of the pain.  Blood is trickling down from my elbow to my wrist.

"Fuck. Um, you can come in my house quick, and I can get you some band-aids." He's obviously trying to stay calm, but I can tell he's weak at the sight of blood.

"Thanks." I reply with a slight smile on the corner of my mouth to ease his guilty conscience.  We step inside the house.

"Hold on a second, my friends in the bathroom."

I walk to the bathroom and announce just loud enough for Val to hear, "I couldn't find your purse, sorry!"

"It's alright hun, thanks anyways!"

I return back to the front and he's still waiting for me.  His blue eyes meet mine and I can finally take in his appearance.  He's taller than I thought, probably around 6 foot.  I'm 5'8", so our height difference is strangely perfect.  Body wise, he's skinny but defined.  His dirty blonde hair looks cute with his blue eyes.  Our hair and eye color are creepily similar.

"By the way, my name is Luke."

"Mine's Vanessa."

He leads me up the one of the staircases and into the bathroom.  "You should know, I feel really bad about this.  I was just coming back to the house because I was having a rough night, and I thought I could use a good laugh. I feel even worse now."

"Don't worry about it.  It's one of those stories we can look back at and laugh about.  Promise me you'll let it go, yeah?  I don't want you to feel bad if you're already having a bad night. I'm perfectly fine."  I fake a big cheesy smile.  If he's having a bad night, I'm obviously not going to make it worse.  My elbow actually kind of hurts, but I'm not going to admit that.

"Well as long as you're okay."

I stand by the sink while he looks for a band-aid.  The bathroom has a cute nautical theme.  Anchor patterns line the walls as well as the rug in front of the sink.  A ship shaped toothbrush holder sits below a seashell bordered mirror.  Before I can finish admiring the decor, he withdraws a Monsters Inc. band-aid box from a basket in the cabinet.

"Finally found them! Sorry they're childish. My little brother picks these out from the store." He embarrassingly admits.

"Monsters Inc. is my favorite movie." I laugh. He smiles back at me.