Page 45 of Encounter

“Yeah, I know,” he said, sounding hesitant and lost in thought as always. “About that, um— You probably already have plans tonight, I’d expect...”

I planned on seeing Larissa later on, to finally reward my body with some pleasure, but that was about it. “Not until late at night,” I quipped, smiling to myself.Should I not have said that? He’ll probably overthink now.“Why?” I asked in a softer voice, hoping to finally find out why he called all of the sudden.

Instead, I got more silence, and I could perfectly imagine his thoughtful little expression—always talking to himself in his head, over-complicating things no doubt, instead of using his words.

“Do you wanna do the training? Did you change your mind?”

“Yeah.” Finally, he pushed out a response.

I wasn’t sure why, but a wave of warmth passed through my chest. Like a sore, tangled-up muscle finally releasing. “Well, the regular time and place, then,” I said, making it plain and clear for him.

I heard an inhale through the phone, as if he couldn’t believe I just said it. “I-I’ll see you there...” he added quickly.

Chuckling softly, I nodded. “Roger that.”

I ended the call and stared at the phone in my hand for a moment. Wondering why I felt so happy he called, I hung my head back and sighed. I probably needed the distraction from work—something easy and organic—as much as he needed a distraction from his life

Yeah... That’d be it.

?

Outside of the mall’s side entrance, I parked at the curb and waited for Galen. He was exactly on time like always, and my eyes homed in on him as soon as I noticed him walking toward me. Holding a cigarette between my lips, I couldn’t help but smirk.

Why the hell does this feel like waiting on a date? God, this kid makes me feel stupid sometimes... and I don’t even mind it.

“Dinner got canceled?” I asked him playfully as soon as he got in. Whatever happened, Galen was his usual distracted, anxious self. By the time he crawled out of his head and looked at me, I pointed at him to put his seatbelt on. My gut wouldn’t untwist until he did that.

As he glanced at me in a hesitant, guilty way, I figured he knew I was onto his little lie. I wasn’t going to harass him about it or make him tell the truth. I didn’t know the reasons behind his shaky words and see-through lies, so I let it go, giving him a break.

“It... got moved to later this week, yeah.” He nodded, trying to act like he didn’t even acknowledge my skepticism. Amused, I snorted and started driving, leaving him alone for the rest of the way to settle down. Hopefully, he was going to be able to tell me what made him change his mind, and be capable of actually focusing on the training, too.

Once we arrived at the gym, things looked a bit different. Most of the tools were cleared away, and it even smelled better. Probably the best it ever did, to be honest.

“Be back to bein’ open soon,” I thought out loud as we walked through to the changing room, and Galen curiously looked around. “Whatever issues the city had with the plumbing and electricity—or whichever it was—are sorted. Sometime next week, the regular crowd’ll be back.”At least I think that’s what Paul texted me the other day...

Right as I said it, Galen’s pace slowed.

Realizing he must have jumped right to stressing about all the sketchy, dangerous people that were going to turn up, I eased my step too and turned to him with my arms resting over my hips. “Come on. Don’t bother yourself thinkin’ about that now. Chop chop,” I said sharply.He really needs to relax.

His brown eyes met mine, and again, he looked like a scared doe. Tightening the grip around the bag that hung over his shoulder, Galen finally nodded and kept walking.

He didn’t have his sports bag with him like the other times we arranged a training session. That meant he must’ve changed his mind throughout the day, and the call was pretty spontaneous. Once he caught my stare, I pointed for him to go and get something to change into while I waited close to the boxing bags.

A few minutes later, Galen walked out wearing shorts a bit too large for him and a shirt with some holes in it. He didn’t look half bad, dressed less uptight.

Resting against the wall, I watched him as he lost himself in thought again, stopping in the middle of the room. “Earth to Gale!” I shouted, waving my hand at him.

He blinked and rushed toward me. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

I really need to pull him out of his head and make him live in the present.

Smirking, I went and grabbed a jumping rope, handing it to him. “So absent-minded... What do you always think about in that pretty little head of yours, huh?”

He widened his eyes at first, but a shy smile flashed over his lips right before he looked down. “I’m sorry. I’ll focus more from now on,” he said and grabbed the rope from my hand, stepping onto the mat next to him to start his warm-up without any more hesitation.

“You should,” I said, “otherwise you’ll hurt yourself.” I was starting to get a bit tired, so I picked up a rope too, to get my blood pumping for once. I usually tried to focus on Galen and correcting him, so I couldn’t get much of my own training done, but there wasn’t much one could mess up about jumping. “Anyway, I asked you what’s going on in there,” I added when I had the rope positioned in my hands and pointed at his head.

“Oh,” he blurted, brows shooting up.

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