"Almost there." Ray wheezed out. I wiped the sweat out of my eyes and squinted up at the street sign. 'Amber Lane' I groaned aloud.

We had at least a mile left that wasn't almost there.

A major heat wave had cone through today along with gross and sticky humidity. I was drenched in sweat the second i stepped out of my house.

We tried to stay inside all day but since Ray is determined to have a hot girl summer this year, she wanted me to go running with her down the road. I live in a small suburban subdivision. And all around if we ran every small road that either connected together or would connect off the main road, then we would have ran about four miles. If we ran the main road loop that would be a mile. Ray decided to run at around one thirty which made no sense to me because it was so hot and humid outside. We ran down a few smaller streets then we went down the main road loop so in total we ran two miles.

I had not at all trained for cross country like Ray had. I had never ran farther than from my door to my mailbox and that was when it was raining. Ray had been running since she was fourteen in cross country and had always competed in marathons and small town runs to raise money for charities. She told me all about each race and their details as she dragged me through possibly the worst experienceI have ever had working out in my life.

I hated running to the core now.

She said that my natural form and breathing was great and better than half the girls on her team who had been training all their lives. She also couldn't believe that I was keeping up with her and matched her pace the whole way. Though there was no doubt in my mind that she was slowing down for me out of pity. I was heaving and gasping for air at half a mile.

We rounded the corner and hit the catapult and turned around in the circle where there were basket ball hoops and bikes spread out at the ends of peoples driveways from their kids. I could see the half-washed away chalk markings on the asphalt and smiled at a sense of nostalgia. "Don't relax yet we still have a whole mile." Ray huffed. "Why did we run so far?" I whined. She went to say something but got caught up trying to control her breathing and I was left with silence.

I had to stop despite the warning she had given me about stopping and then trying to run again because that supposedly made it harder. But I was so exhausted I needed to stop for just a second. I slowed to a walk then stopped gasping for air bent over with my hands on my quaking knees. "You are better of walking with your hands over your head." She said through her slow and controlled deep breaths. I envied her stupid breathing. I did as she had said anyways and felt no different than when I was bent over I still felt like I was dying.

We walked together down half of the road. The sun was still set high above us shining brutally without a cloud in the sky. The only thing that could be heard was birds chirping, cicadas singing softly and the loud intakes of breath I and Ray were making. Ray started off again and left me cruising. I am done with running for the rest of my life. It took me about twenty minutes to get to the main road. I had stopped occasionally to sit down on the side walk and talk to myself about how brutal the heat was. Probably looking like I was insane to my poor observing neighbors.

Though I had lived here all my life I had rarely ever seen the houses down my subdivision. All of them were different sizes and colors but were all uniquely the same. Almost everyone (including our house) had shutters over the windows, an upstairs with a dormer window at the too of the house. The one house that caught my attention had a circle driver way, in the center of the circle was a huge water fountain with flower pots arranged neatly on the sides. In the circle drive way was a massive jeep. It was black with a skull flag off the back and the largest tires I had ever seen. The baby blue chevy truck parked behind it seemed vaguely familiar. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard voices coming from the back yard of the house. There was a fence that surrounded the backyard and cut your view of it completely off from the streets. The side gate opened up and out stepped the familiar brunette and then followed behind him was the infamous Grayson.

I spun on my heel and quickly began to speed walk but was almost knocked off my feet by something hard hitting me in the back of my head. I collapsed to the ground with a pained yelp. It felt like nails were digging into my skin and something soft and fluffy all at once then a cold wet nose pressed against my forehead. I opened my eyes which were squeezed shut from the fall to be greeted by a large red and black long haired German Shepherd dog. His long flag like tail wagged slowly before he grabbed a neon yellow tennis ball and galloped away, right back into Grayson's arms.

"I'm so sorry he's usually well behaved- hey you look familiar." His friend was standing in front of my pained figure with his hand outreached towards me. I grabbed it and let him hoist me up to my feet. "Gracie?" Grayson asked from across the yard. He began to jog over to us with the shepherd up his butt. I nodded and held my elbow which was scraped but barely bleeding. It felt way worse than it looked and I couldn't help but show the pain on my face. "I am so sorry about him jumping up on you and knocking you down." His friend began. I held up a hand and stopped him.

"That's fine they are energetic dogs. I get it." He smiled at me. "You know your dog breeds huh?"
"Yeah I wad wanting to be a vet when i was younger like any other girls dream." He chuckled and ran his hand through his hair like a typical teenage boy. "Cody I'm going to lock your dog in the fence ok." Grayson shouted across the yard.

So that was his friend's name. Cody.

"Ok." Cody responded although he didn't seem to be paying attention since he began telling me all about what his dreams and aspirations as a child was.

I was not in the mood for chit chat especially after being body slammed by a dog after running miles but I decided I was trapped here and couldn't run away now. I could not run period from exhaustion. Grayson approached us moments later, swiping dark black dog hairs off his white shirt. "Does your friend live down here or something?" He asked tilting his head in the direction Ray had ran in. "I mean if that was your friend running." He added .

"Yeah shes my friend. And I live in this neighborhood. By the entrance."

Why did I tell him my location? it wasn't necessary for him to know where I lived. "That's where my grandma lives. She lives in the yellow house with the collie dog." Cody stated with a smile.

I knew exactly who that was. Mrs. Charlotte. She was the elderly lady who lived next to me and would always complain about my car being parked on the side of the road when literally everyone in our neighborhood did the same thing. We all had a one car driveway, everyone just had to make do with what they had. But she always targeted me with her anger and complaints and threatened to hit my car one day because of it being in the way. Though her house was the two houses away from me and the first house when you turned into 'Robin Lane Subdivision'. She was not passing my house up at all so my car was never actually in her way. Not to mention her stupid collie dog did nothing but run up and down the fence and bark at every moving thing on the road.

Of course I was not going to tell him this at all so I just smiled and nodded my head. "I know where she is. She lives two houses down from me. Very sweet lady." I lied. He hummed and gave me a knowing look but didn't say anything. Maybe he knew how much a pain in the butt she could be too. Grayson was quietly listening to us then his eyes lit up. "So we are actually going to see a movie tonight. You can come."
Ray and I were planning on spending the entire day together so that was probably not an option. Besides I still felt entirely uncomfortable around Grayson. His friend seemed to click with me better than him but I still didn't know them yet. He followed my gaze where I had been staring down the road where Ray had ran off to.

"Ask your friend if she wants to come watch it with us too."

_________

"So you're telling me you stood them up last time he asked you to something and now you are planning on standing him up again? Gracie, Lord, this is why you don't have a boyfriend." Ray was laying on her back with her head hanging off the side of my bed. I was sitting on the floor with my back against the wall so I could talk to her. I really did need to invest in at least a bean bag chair but I always found something else to spend my money on rather than necessities. "I mean last time he invited me to a party and I did not want to show up to a bunch of drunk kids."

She nodded in understanding to that statement. "I get that but you aren't going to be surrounded by drunk people tonight at the movie theater. You've been before right?"

I slowly shook my head no. My mom and dad never really got into family outings so eating out and watching movies was something we never did often or really ever. I knew about what a movie theater looked like but I had never been inside one. "You have to be f-ing kidding me." She groaned. "This is why you should go tonight." She sat up and checked herself out in my mirror. She was wearing a green crop top and white jean shorts with sandals and now a full face of makeup. Ray always had a full bag of outfits and an emergency makeup kit. She had an outfit for any occasion that could have sprung out and hit her in the face. That and she has an obsession with changing her clothes and makeup every few hours a day.

"I say we go so get dressed and text him what time."

I sighed and grabbed my phone and let him know through text that we would be going. When she had something in mind it was set in stone. Moments later my text was read and then he answered with a simple "k" .

"K" always annoyed me it seemed sarcastic and unenthusiastic. I always felt as if someone was annoyed with me when they texted that.

I still had no idea what movie theater or even what movie we were watching it at. We had two drive by movie theaters in the area and three cinemas that were popular. I assumed he meant the closest cinema but then again who knows where they wanted to go.

Another ding had came from my phone.

- The cinema off parkway dr. We are watching A Quiet Place.