Fate Falls
I kept running.
The air was burning my face, as I tried to match my pace fast enough to get away from Callum, but he was still catching up to me fast. There was something in the air, a kind of freedom that I hadn’t felt before. It was the same world, the same town, the same air that I had been breathing in for all those years of my life but somehow now it felt different. I turned, just to check to see if he was still there and sure enough his muscles were working overtime, his long legs were an advantage against my five-feet-five frame and that was the reason I was losing. I knew I never stood a chance against him. I’d never been good at sports, but I loved to run. Only with Callum around, everything became a game, a competition.
I wasn’t complaining.
I saw the finish line coming up, and raised my speed. One last burst of energy and I would make it—
But instead I was falling...
I kept waiting to hit the ground, but something broke my fall. I still landed on the ground but something was in control of me, and swerved me in the right direction so we both landed on soft grass. I landed on him. For a while, I was afraid to open my eyes. But then I did. Callum’s arms were around me, holding me by the waist, his chest in my back and he was breathing hard and so was I of course.
At first it was awkward.
And then we started to laugh, both of us at the same time and it became funny instead of embarrassing. “You lose!” Callum announced, happily.
“So do you!”
He placed his hand on my arm and ran it over my skin, brushing away the dirt. The touch made me quiver. I wished he would stop. I tried to get away but he held me there. “Let’s go back to my place,” he said, softly in my ear. “I want to spend the day with you.”
It was a weekend, so of course I said yes.
But I knew saying yes, meant more than just hanging out because Callum’s parents weren’t home. They were at some friends’ wedding and wouldn’t be here until late Sunday night. A part of me was looking forward to it, and another wanted to run. He kissed my neck, in the same odd position and finally loosened his hold so I could get up.
I brushed the dirt and grass off my pink running shorts and he stood and stared. “What?” I said, self-consciously walking away from his gaze. But he just followed me as I made my way through the course. There were tons of other people there and they were watching us, not the kind of attention I was seeking. This was a small town. One mistake and my parents would know what we were up to and I had no intention of letting that happen, they were nosy enough as it is without some news of their daughter being too cozy with her boyfriend in the light of day reaching them from a near-stranger.
“Why’re you always so afraid of what people will think?” Callum asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Have you met my parents? Don’t you know what big control freaks they are? They will probably start setting a wedding date for us.”
Callum laughed. “And marrying me is such an ugly prospect?”
“Well yeah,” I grinned.
Callum placed a hand over his heart and theatrically raised his voice. “You’re going to be the death of me, Jess. And here I thought we were going to be together forever.”
“You wish.”
This time he looked a bit disheartened. “Hey. That’s starting to sting you know!”
“You know what I mean!”
“No, I don’t actually! Why don’t you enlighten me?”
“I don’t know, Callum. I don’t think the two of us can end up together. It’s a bit odd, don’t you think? Look at you, and look at me. How many nerds do you see marrying jocks?”
“Hey, I resent that. I’m not a jock!”
“Oh yeah? Then what’re you?”
“I’m one of the popular kids,” he said. “But I’m not even close to being a jock!”
“Oh please, you’re a total jock sometimes.”
“Sometimes, right?”
“What’s the difference?”
“I had no idea you were so obsessed with labels, Jess.”
“Says the guy who’s never in his entire life dated anyone other than cheerleaders!”
He stopped and jabbed a finger at me. “You do not get to judge me, okay?”
“Why the hell not?” I said, angrily. “You popular kids label us and judge us the whole time!”
“Don’t think I don’t know what you were implying just now,” he said, fuming. “You can’t see a future with me because you think I’m an idiot!”
“Why does it even matter to you what I think? You never care about anyone!”
“Because, you’re not like everyone else, Jess! I thought I made that clear when I approached you during winter formal last year,” he paused. “But to you I’m just some brainless jock to pass the time, is that it? I’m the experience you have en route to whatever life you’ve got planned for yourself!”
The words stop me in my tracks. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Did Jock of the Century truly care what I thought about him? How’d that happen?
“Callum, I had no idea…”
“Save it, Jess.”
He started to walk away. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do but I knew one thing for sure—I couldn’t let him leave without telling him the truth. “I don’t think you’re an idiot,” I said. “I think you’re actually overqualified to be a jock.”
“Jess!”
“Look. You spend a lifetime being defined and divided into labels, you get this stupid programming inside your brain that makes it impossible to rise above and make your own decisions. I’m still learning, Callum. Today I learned that I shouldn’t reduce people to their stereotypes. You’re right, I couldn’t see a future for us but it wasn’t because I had some plans of my own but because I didn’t think someone like you could love me that much.”
He stopped.
That was a good sign, so I kept going. “I admire you Callum,” I said. “You’ve come so far, Gained so many strengths. Jock or no jock, I don’t think you’re like any other guy. You’re like no one I’ve ever known and I can’t get enough of you.”
He caved and came toward me, took my forearms in his grasp. “You know I love you, don’t you?” he said. “Nerd or not.”
I laughed.
We kissed.
“Still up for coming back to my place?”
“I don’t know, Callum. Maybe we should head back home, I need to take care of—”
But before I could finish my thought, Callum had lifted me up in his arms, still laughing and started carrying me home…