Chapter 2

It must have been early in the morning, because it was pitch black outside and Thad was cold. He had left the track with nothing on except his running outfit and it wasn’t exactly designed for warmth, or even modesty he thought to himself.

He found himself sitting on a picnic table looking over Lake Oconee. He had no idea how he got there, it was too far to run, at least twenty miles between the school and here, and while he had certainly run twenty miles before, there was no way he should have been able to do that after running three world record pace 400 meter races.

He saw some clean trash bags tucked into the ranger station office, so he headed over there to get one to wear like a poncho to help keep him warm.

“Just further proof I am a freak,” he thought as he pulled is head through the hole he had torn in the end. “Now I am wearing trash bags and trying to set a new fashion trend.”

He then looked around for somewhere to rest and remembered there was a thick patch of pine trees nearby where he could get out of the wind and have a nice thick bed of pine straw. He headed over there and crawled in, clearing out the pinecones that were on the ground and pilling up some extra needles until he had a nice bed and some extras to cover his legs. He took the second trash bag and slipped his legs into it like a sleeping bag and then covered himself as best he could with the pine straw and tried to get some sleep.

He knew he would have to head home eventually; he hated worrying his mother and not letting her know that he was fine, but he just needed to get away. Life would have to wait for morning. He was too tired to worry about it now. And with that thought, he was soon fast asleep.

The sun was just coming up through the trees when Thad was awakened by the sound of a car pulling into the picnic area. Not wanting to give his hiding place away, he stayed very still but watched as the car parked and much to his surprise Tricia got out.

She looked around and sighed before leaning against the hood of her car and looking forlorn.

“I really thought he would be here,” she muttered to herself.

Realizing that Tricia was likely looking for him, Thad decided to crawl out of his hiding place. He started brushing all the pine needles off of him and took off the garbage bags. It was bad enough that he was smelly from running and spending the night in the wild, but he didn’t need to add homeless bum appearance to his image problems.

“Shit, who’s there?” Tricia called out, alarm in her voice when she heard the noise coming from under the large pine tree.

“Um, it’s me, Thad, Tricia,” He called out as he shucked the trash bag over his head and brushed himself off as best he could before crawling out from under the limbs.

“Thank God!” Tricia exclaimed and rushed to him, throwing her arms around him and hugging him.

Thad was at a loss for what to do, still being rather self-conscious about the way he must look and smell. But despite his attempts to dislodge her, Tricia wasn’t about to let go of him. She held him even tighter.

A minute later Thad realized that she was crying. Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. No matter what, Thad had been friends with Tricia for a long time and he couldn’t stand to see his friend hurting.

They stood there for several minutes, their arms around each other until eventually Tricia got herself under control and gently pulled back from Thad, looking up into his eyes with a fierceness there that surprised him.

“Don’t you ever do anything like that ever again! Do you understand me? I’ve been up most of the night looking for you, and your mother is worried sick about you.”

Thad instantly felt horrible. He knew his mother would be worried, but now faced with the reality of it, he felt horrible. Not only was he a freak, he was also an insensitive jerk.

“I’m sorry I worried you, but I just needed to get away from there last night. Do you have your cell phone so I can call her?” he asked.

Tricia nodded and taking him by the hand, led him over to the car and reached in to pull out her iPhone and hand it to him. Then she reached in to pull out a bag full of breakfast food from MacDonald’s and a Venti Latte as well.

Thad realized just how hungry he was when he saw the food and he could barely hear his mother scream with relief when she answered the phone over the rumbling of his stomach. After apologizing over and over to his mother and promising to be home shortly, he hung up the phone and grinned when Tricia led him over to one of the picnic tables and set the bag of food in front of him.

“I figured a growing boy who broke the world record twice in one night would be hungry.” Tricia said with a grin. “But you only get to eat if you promise to tell me why you disappeared and how the hell you got all the way out here?”

Thad shrugged, “I ran.” He said simply and took a bite of the bacon egg and cheese biscuit Tricia had brought.

“But that is like 20 miles!” she exclaimed.

“I’ve run that far several times before.” he replied between mouthfuls.

“But after a race?” she persisted.

“Alright, I’ll grant you never after a race.” Thad replied. He was starting to become uncomfortable with the way this conversation was going. He was starting to feel like a freak again.

Tricia stopped asking questions and just looked at him, her head tilted just off center as she did when she was thinking.

“What?” Thad asked as he finished his breakfast.

“You are incredible, you know?” she asked, “Only you would be this freaked out over breaking some track record! Most people would be hamming it up and trying to get as much attention as possible.”

Thad looked at her and saw adoration in her eyes, and for a second, he got lost looking in those eyes, their green drawing him in and helping him to gain some confidence.

“Look,” he started, “I just enjoy running, I have no idea what happened and all those cameras and people yelling just spooked me. I mean, I’m not a freak!”

Tricia paused and it dawned on her what was really bothering him. She sidled up beside him and put her arm around him.

“You know, you have some gift that allows you to run really fast, but no matter what else I know about you, I know you are a good person,” she said very quietly.

Thad put his arm around her and hugged her.

“Thanks, that means a lot to me,” he said quietly. “It was just all too much last night.”

Tricia nodded. “I can only imagine how I would have reacted if suddenly I started skating perfect routines on the ice and won my way into the Olympics.”

She paused and then playfully punched him in the stomach.

“You runners are so lucky!” she exclaimed as she hustled to get away from him, “You can set a world record anytime, but us skaters have only one chance in four years to get that kind of recognition.”

And then it happened. One minute Thad was chasing her playfully through the picnic area and in the next instant he was in front of her and caught her as she ran into him.

Tricia couldn’t stifle the gasp that escaped her as she realized that in the blink of an eye, Thad was suddenly in front of her. But despite how strange it was, when she looked up and into his eyes, all she saw was a look of love and adoration.

Thad suddenly had a very strong urge to kiss her and the way she was looking up at him, he knew that she wouldn’t object. He debated for a split second, and then he leaned his head down and kissed her softly.

Tricia’s lips were soft and moist and warm and just perfect, and a split second after touching her lips, Thad was lost to the world. All he could do was moan and savor the kiss, breathing in her scent, running one hand up to run his fingers through her hair and the other hand down to cup her ass and pull her against him.

Tricia met his passion with a passion of her own. She wrapped her arms around his neck and going up on her toes, she wrapped one leg around his leg, molding her body to his and moaning even louder when he pulled her tighter against him.

Thad had no idea how long the kiss lasted, but when eventually Tricia had to gasp for air and when she did, Thad tried to pull away, but she was having none of that. He was a little self-conscious about the erection she had caused, but when he tried to pull away, she used her leg to pull him back and then ground herself against his erection, moaning as she did so.

The sound of a car coming down the road eventually caused them to break apart and Thad walked behind Tricia back to her car. Thad didn’t know what to say and so he just ran his fingers through her hair until they got to her car.

“Why didn’t we do that a long time ago?” Tricia asked as she turned back to face him.

“Because you are a beautiful and popular and wonderful and I’m a bit of a nerd?” Thad answered honestly.

Tricia paused and did that thing with her head again.

“I didn’t just kiss you because you are some world class runner now. I came down to the track just to see you, before you did anything special, because I realized some time ago that you were the kind of guy that I should be hanging out with, not the stupid jerks who are always hitting on me.” She said, never breaking eye contact with Thad.

“And I’ve wanted to do that for at least a year,” Thad admitted with some hesitancy.

And then they both broke up with laughter, some nervous laughter, but mostly the laughter that comes when you are laughing at yourself.

“Well, as much as I would like to stay here and kiss you again, I think I need to get you home,” Tricia said.

“Yes, I suppose it is time to face the music.” He replied.

Thad paused and looked at her.

“I’m glad you came to the track yesterday, and I am glad you found me today, but what I would really like is for you to stand by me over the next few hours as I have to face the world. Would you do that for me?” Thad asked, the nervousness plain in his voice.

Tricia kissed him softly on the cheek and whispered softly, “I’d be honored.”

And then she turned and climbed into her mother’s car that she had borrowed, while Thad walked around to the other side and climbed in and with a grin, Tricia gunned the car, throwing gravel in an arc and she spun the car around and onto the road like a rally car driver.

Tricia screamed with delight as they sat off down the road, Thad’s voice joining hers, and for a moment all was right with the world; just a guy, a girl, a car and a road to travel together.

Thad called his mother when they saw the crowd that was gathered around the house. The cameras were there, even more of them than were at the track last night. Vans from all the major networks were there and a few that Thad didn’t recognize.

Fortunately the police were there as well, and when Thad’s mother went out to talk to the officer in charge, he was able to clear a path for Tricia to pull into the driveway so that they could escape around the back of the house and in the back door.

Thad thought his mother was going to choke him as he ran in the back door, then suddenly pulled back and looked him in the eye.

“I know you freaked out, but don’t EVER do that to me again.” She exclaimed.

“I’m sorry Mom,” he replied.

“Now go get cleaned up. Then we need to plan a press conference before old Mr. Clarke next door gets fed up with the mess in the road and starts to clear the crowd with his shotgun.” She said with a twinkle in her eye that suggested that she was secretly hoping that was exactly what would happen.

Thad turned to head upstairs to grab a shower. As he rounded the stairs, he saw his mother take Tricia and hug her as well. He wasn’t sure what to think about that. He was certain they were going to talk while he was gone. Probably plan out his whole future, he thought grimly.

A few minutes later when he got out of the shower, Tricia was in his room, laying out clothes for him on the bed.

She smiled suggestively at him when she saw him standing there with just a towel wrapped around him.

When he blushed and moved to push the door closed, she just smirked. “You know, I think that covers more than your running outfit.”

“Can I have a moment?” Thad asked a bit incredulously, not knowing what to think of his mother allowing a girl in his room when he was obviously naked, and picking out his clothes, for God’s sake. Was he five again?

Then Tricia pushed open the door and grabbed the towel, pulling him to her with it.

“You can have several minutes,” she purred huskily and then kissed him.

And suddenly all rational though left his mind as the blood that had previously been delivering oxygen to his brain, was suddenly re-directed to another organ.

“Ah, youth!” his mother interrupted from the bedroom door.

At least this time Tricia was the one who blushed and broke away.

“When you are ready, please come down and review the statement that we drafted for you to read.” He mother said and then closed the door behind her, leaving Tricia and Thad alone again.

“Your mother is pretty cool,” Tricia said, turning to Thad, “But I don’t think we are ready for anything else yet, so I am going to let you get dressed and I’ll see you downstairs.”

To read this story you need a Registration + Premier Membership
If you have an account, then please Log In or Register (Why register?)

Support the author's future writing by purchasing this book from Bookapy

Runner's High

Lorn Skye

$3.99