Fresh Start

T h r e e

   "I'm so glad you came." Kaylee gushes, but I assumed as much when she looked victorious the whole cab ride to this church, a smug look on her face that was still currently present.

"I didn't do it for you." I mutter making her give me a challenging look. I roll my eyes, "Fine I did it for you."

She smiles fully as she hugs me, "If it makes you feel better I'm doing this for you too." She states, smiling proudly before turning on her heel and leaving me as she passes through the front doors.

I stand still for a second, trying to decipher her words, 'for me'? What does that even mean? How is she doing this for me? I leave these thoughts in the back of my head as I head through the doors Kaylee just entered through.

When I spot Kaylee she's standing in the empty corridor, but not alone. A girl stands next to her, Alexandra I guess. She's nearly as tall as Kay, maybe a few inches shorter but not many. She wears a large grin as she and Kaylee laugh about something. I wait a few more seconds, noticing her curled hair and light makeup, her combat boots and cuffed jeans, her short nails and jeweled rings, before I finally walk over to them.

When Kaylee notices my presence her smile tugs up a bit but she waits to speak until I reach them, "Alex, this is Kris, Kris, Alex." She introduces.

I smile at the girl, offering her a greeting, "Nice to meet you."

"You too." Alex replies, her words sounding genuine as they pair with her smile. "C'mon youth group's starting soon."

She doesn't leave time for disagreement as she starts to lead the way and within another second Kaylee's taken my wrist in her hand as she drags me along. I roll my eyes at her eagerness as Alex leads us through a doorway into a small carpeted room. Full of people.

I straighten my stance a bit as we all stop. A few months ago this scene-this scene being a bunch of unknown faces, most of which are looking this way-would have sent me into a state of mind filled with terror and anxiety. But I'm better now, I remind myself, but still I notice how my hands shake slightly as my heart rate picks up.

"Okay everyone, the theme of today's class is going to be trust." A man in the middle of the room annonces, gaining everyone's eyes, "We're gonna start off with an exercise, everyone pair up." Kaylee turns to me, and opens her mouth but before she can get words out the older man speaks up again, "Try to find a partner you don't know very well, okay?"

I hear Kaylee curse under her breath as she turns back around. In a split second Alex is pulling Kaylee to the side who sends me an apologetic look. I turn my head, glancing at the millions of strangers who all pair up.

Screw this, I think as I take a step back. Screw youth group. I turn around, expecting to be met with an empty door that I can escape through but instead I'm met with another person directly in my eyesight as we both crash to the carpeted floor.

"Shit." I mutter, staying on the ground as I brush the small amount of grit off my hands.

"I'm so sorry." The voice apologies, and when I look up I'm met with an expression somewhere between guilty and sorry. Her black hair is slightly curly as it hangs over each of her shoulders, but tucked behind one of her ears. Her eyes are so dark I'd guess they're black but as she moves slightly the fluorescent light glares into her iris lighting it up and revealing a brown colour.

"It's fine." I state simply, brushing more of the dirt off on my jeans, "Not your fault I should have been looking." I explain as she simply meets my eyes, still looking just as sorry.

"Here." She says, offering me a hand after she stands up. I look at her hand for another second before taking it andletting her help me from the floor, "I guess I'm late, what's going on?" She asks, looking around the room at all the pairs of people, all of which are making small talk as the man jots notes on a large clipboard.

"It's like a trust exercise or something." I explain vaguely, crossing an arm over my stomach, "I don't really get it."

Before the girl can say anything else the man running everything looks up from his writing, his eyes landing on the two of us, "Ah Maia I wasn't sure you'd make it." He greets, drawing a bit closer to us two.

I glance over at the girl again, Maia, I guess, giving her a questioning look but she doesn't notice as her eyes stay glued on the older man. "I'm always here Benson." She replies, "My brother had the car, I had to bike."

"Well I'm Just glad you're here, uh..." He stops speaking as he glances around the room, seeming to be looking for something before he looks back at us, "How about you two pair up." He suggests, pointing between us with a pen.

Maia glances at me and shrugs but before I can explain I'm leaving the man has turned around and started speaking again. "Okay now that everyone's here and has a partner, we can begin." He starts.

"I'm Maia by the way." She whispers, leaning a bit closer to me but keeping her eyes up front towards the man who claps.

"Kris." I whisper back, Maia looks at me once she hears my name, nodding slightly, and smiling,

"Kris." She repeats, and just as I notice a tint of pink on her cheeks Benson claps again, drawing both our eyes to him.

"Okay, everyone sit on the floor cross legged and facing your partner." He commands.

My gaze shifts to Maia again as she starts to sit on the floor, I follow her lead, facing her as I cross my legs. I don't hear what the man says but I did catch the word 'knee' and a second later the girl in front of me moves forward slightly until each of our knees are touching.

"Now place your hands on top of each other's."

When I meet Maia's gaze it's warm, and...comforting almost, she reaches her hands forward, facing the sky. I let my eyes leave hers to look down at her hands but when I look back at her, her eyes are still looking at me, studying me.

I follow her lead, putting my hands down on hers and then reconnecting your eyes. "I want you both to hold eye contact as we all take do breathing excursuses." my eyes stay glued to her as I breath in deeply, followed soon by her own breathing.

As she smiles, I find myself squinting slightly at her questioningly, she just shrugs, her smile tugging up a bit as she receives my silent question of why she's smiling. We could have sat there for minutes, or maybe even hours. All I know is that time got lost to me as I noticed the light freckles on her face. I find myself watching her closely, trying to find anything else I didn't notice when I first saw her.

By the time Benson tells us it's over I have a list set.

One; her freckles.

Two; her dimples.

Three; her hair's brown, not black.

Four; her hands are soft.

Five; her gaze is comforting.

Six; I like being this close to her.