Emi felt like sh-- horse manure.
This was so unfair! She’d only gone on holidays for three weeks, and she’d even tried to keep running. She honestly only hadn’t managed because she was needed to help supervise her cousins - and okay, yes, she had loved that, but it shouldn’t be a crime to like spending time with your baby cousins, right!? She shouldn’t have to pay for it so badly now!
But paying she was.
Her breath was too short and painful. She was sweating like a pig. She had made sure to warm up and stretch extra well before going, but her muscles were already starting to complain anyway. And she had long stopped checking her time, because she knew that if she did that, if she saw how slow she was being today, she would give up on the spot and go straight back home and fight the urge to go to the bakery and buy one of those delicious little chocolate cakes for the rest of the day.
This sucked!
And possibly the worst part of it was that by now, she was sure to have missed Winter Girl.
Emi had been looking forward so much to seeing her again! It was just a few minutes every day, and obviously they never talked, and Winter Girl barely ever smiled whenever she answered Emi’s wave, but…
It was still one of the highlights of Emi’s days.
[…]
Emi sighed, and struggled to keep breathing regularly. Despite the chill in the air, she could feel the sweat drenching her armpits, and gathering between and under her boobs; it was far too early in the year for that to happen. It was humiliating… At least, Emi figured morosely, she would be spared the added shame of being seen in that disgraceful condition by Winter Girl.
Emi reached the park’s central plaza, a large grassy field surrounded by a criss-cross of footpaths going in every direction. That was usually where she saw Winter Girl. Sometimes they were on opposite sides of the field, but even just catching a glimpse made Emi’s heart sing. Sometimes their paths crossed, and Emi could wave, and Winter Girl would wave back. And when Emi was very very lucky, they got to run a few hundreds meters together as Emi aimed for the northern end of the park, until Winter Girl turned to the side to climb the Tower - all two hundred and forty-seven steps of it, which was something Emi wouldn’t dream of achieving even in her wildest dreams.
There would be none of that today, though; she was far too late.
She was also far too tired. Reluctantly, she slowed down to a walk, before stopping next to a bench and proceeding to stretch her achy legs. Closing her eyes, she started to count in her head as she bent this and that way, making sure to breathe deeply and slowly…
She frowned and a fist of anxiety twisted the pit of her stomach when she heard steps come closer and then keep going in that way that indicated that the person was running on the spot. She tried not to visibly tense as she waited for the creeper to start taunting her, or coming onto her…
When nothing happened, Emi sighed and resigned herself to facing the intruder. She opened her eyes--
-- and nearly screamed when Winter Girl waved at her with a small smile on her lips, before turning around and sprinting away.
In a daze, her heart pounding in her chest, Emi watched her go, all long and easy strides, wild ash-blond hair bobbing with each step…
Emi felt the goofiest smile spread on her face.
She felt her weight evaporate.
She was truly “walking in the air” as she started on the second half of her routine…
