Page 22 of Your Pace or Mine
The tension was electric.
“Right. Well, it’s a good thing it’s not just your decision then, isn’t it?” Darius replied coldly. “I guess we’re done here. Congrats, Jax,” he choked out, before turning on his heel.
The last two groups of runners arrived back from their run to a group standing in stunned silence as Darius left the park without a further word to anyone.
Chapter 7
Jamie
11 weeks to the London Marathon
Jamie was pretty fucked off about the clinic. The way the head coach had laid into Darius was not cool.
It had been on his mind all week. He’d be in the middle of teaching a class, and as the dancers lined up in front of the bar, his mind would drift to the way he’d started to see Darius finally open up. How that fucking adorable dimple had appeared when he laughed. And to how quickly that openness had disappeared when Anders had started in on him. Something had twisted in his gut at the look he’d seen on his face when he’d been told he’d never be on the Olympic team.
Honestly, he wasn’t really sure why he’d bothered coming back this week—it was routine at this point, and it did help keep him on track with his training. Still, when he thought of that look on Darius’s handsome face, he couldn’t help but empathise. Jamie had lived that feeling a thousand times.
It was the feeling of being rejected once again, even though he’d agreed to do the marathon just to get an audition. The feeling of seeing one of his drama school classmates win an Olivier, while he was stuck in chorus and swing roles. It wasdedicating your whole life to a goal and watching it slip through your fingers because someone else held all the cards. Though at least he’d never had it delivered with quite the degree of pleasure Anders seemed to have derived from destroying Darius’s hopes.
Besides, training with Darius had just started to be kind of fun; he’d actually enjoyed running for once. He’d felt almost hopeful. Like maybe he could really pull this off.
This week, he had some other generic runner guy leading their group. And look, it was fine, he didn’t do anything wrong, really. But Jamie was bored as fuck. They were just running in circles. Even the other four runners in his group, who were still turning up, seemed kind of subdued.
Well fuck that.
He wasn’t going to waste his time here; besides, he had plenty of experience with cheering people up after a loss.
“Hey, Jennings!” he shouted, jogging over to meet the leader of the second group as they arrived. He hadn’t interacted much with Jackson Jennings, seeing as he was leading a different group, but he knew he was friendly enough with Darius. Not because he was paying attention to Darius and figuring out who his friends were or anything… because Jennings had tried to step in last week with Anders. God, his internal voice sounded way too much like Reggie.
Jackson turned. “Twinkle toes!”
“What did you just call me, Lad?”
If anything, Jackson’s grin widened at the deepening of Jamie’s accent. “‘Cause you’re a dancer, right?”
“How’d you know that?”
Jackson tilted his head to the side, grin never falling from his face. “A little birdie told me all about you.”
A groan escaped Jamie’s throat. “You still can’t call me that.” He ignored the resulting pout from Jackson and pressedforward. “I was wondering if you could give me Darius’s number?”
Jackson’s grin widened further.
“Because I’m going to add him to our group chat,” Jamie explained. “That wasn’t on last week, and I thought, if he wanted to meet up with the group, away from your coach, then maybe…”
“That’s really sweet,” Jackson said.
Jamie flushed. “I just thought, well, I know a bit about how it feels to get passed over for something you deserve.”
Jamie winced as he realised what he’d implied. Jennings was the one who’d been selected after all. “I didn’t mean—“
Jackson waved him off. “Everyone knows it should’ve been him, don’t stress.”
Jackson eyed Jamie; it gave him the brief sensation of someone trying to peer into his soul. “Darius is a good guy. A little too serious sometimes, but he has a good heart,” he said as he took Jamie’s phone and entered the number. “Just give him time to open up, okay?”
Jamie hesitated over the contact Jackson had entered. “I mean, yeah, just… you know, adding him to the group chat.”
Jackson arched a brow knowingly, and Jamie hunched up his shoulders, waving an awkward thanks before heading off on his way.
