Page 11 of Convergence

“Three miles?” Nate groaned.

“You’ll be fine,” I said encouragingly. “I’m a slow runner, anyway.”

We set off on a jog through the little forest. It was dark in some spaces, and I tucked my phone into the top of my bra with the flashlight on and peeking out and led the way. We came up to a small clearing that had a small sign discussing the foliage in the area and a bench. Nate crashed down onto the bench.

“For someone who doesn’t run, you jogged with us for about three quarters of a mile on hilly terrain, man. That’s not bad at all,” Ev praised Nate, his own chest heaving.

“I played rugby in high school, so I’m not that out of shape. It’s just been a while,” Nate panted.

I remembered the way he lifted me with no effort at the party last night, and I knew he was strong. Warmth seeped through my body and I lifted my ponytail off the back of my neck and fanned myself.

“It’s probably harder on little thing, Eva. Seein’ as she’s about half of our size,'' Ev said with a smirk aimed at me. Everett was also six feet tall minimum, but was maybe two or three inches taller than Nate.

“I’ve done this almost every day since I was fourteen. It’s nothing…. No offense, Nate,” I rushed the apology after I realized how I may have sounded.

He flipped me off with both hands anyway and sat back up. “Okay, we can go. I’m fully awake now.”

We jogged for another mile before the sun was visible enough to not need my flashlight. A faded signpost and a less maintained path headed off to the right and I was about to jog past it when Ev whistled for us to follow him down the path.

At the end of the path, there was a wooden lookout platform next to a little brick building. It wasn’t as well maintained as the bathrooms at the front of the park, but not entirely abandoned either. Ev peered in the windows.

“Is there a water fountain?” Nate asked breathlessly behind me.

I handed him my unfinished water bottle, and he thanked me before taking a swig. I could hear ‌water and went to look off the platform. It was a small river, low in autumn compared to its likely height in spring.

“I think it’s locked,” Ev said and pushed on the door. The lock had been engaged, but as he pushed the handle it slid, and the door opened freely with a metallicclick.

“Oops,” Nate said for him. “Guess we have to go check it out.”

“You only want another break,” Ev said, but still carefully entered the building.

He called out a greeting in case, but there was no answer in the darkness. He felt around for a light switch and flipped it on. Lights blinked on in the little building and I could hear the hum of a water fountain.

“Not abandoned,” Everett said as he looked around. A little reception desk stood to the left, and he looked at the papers on it. “It’s an education field house used for summer school camps and field trips.”

“Well, if someone comes and sees us, Eva can pretend she was desperate for the toilet,” Nate said and approached the large picture windows along the back wall. “Oh, cool view.”

Ev and I followed him to the windows. It was a fantastic view of the gorge below. Fall colors were making an early appearance on the trees and birds were swooping across in their morning paths.

Nate stepped away first and laid down on the floor with a groan. “We’re walking the rest of the way.”

“Fine by me,” I said, turning to join him.

Everett refilled our water bottles and came back to us. “Get up or you’ll both end up sleeping until the summer camp kiddos arrive.”

“They’re all in school, Ev,” Nate said sleepily, like he was actually about to fall asleep on the linoleum.

“Let’s go,” I sighed and got up. I reached out a hand to help Nate up, and he gave me a lazy smile and grasped my hand.

Once Nate was up, Ev wordlessly handed us our water bottles and we followed him out of the building.

“Let’s run here every day,” Nate said. “And let’s see if anyone else comes by since we’re leaving it unlocked.”

He put some grass on the ground inside the door. Presumably to see if anyone has moved it aside when they walked in.

We walked the rest of the loop pointing out different birds and wildlife as we went, chatting quietly about parks in our hometowns.

Everett’s phone chimed to signal an incoming message as we were getting into Marie Curie. He checked it and put it away.

---