Take My Breath | Catnipz

thirteen

MARA JACE is out the front door before I even get the chance to tell her that her phone is on the kitchen island next to her cold half touched tea.

It's a black iPhone XS that she earned through  her hard work as a prize for her perfect season. It's an undeniable fact that LaCrosse is and  always will be MJ's forte; running through her veins naturally like blood and water. It's her sport.

I pick her phone up off the island, the screen quick to illuminate in front of me. Her lock screen is a picture of us we took several months ago.

Cute.

Riley sits quietly on her stool and watches me observantly as I pace around my kitchen like a headless chicken. She needs her phone. Surely. What person could possibly get through the whole day without their phone? Was it just me?

I tuck the phone away into the pocket of Mara's hoodie. "You don't think she'll need it?" I ask.

Riley sets down her copy of our biology textbook next to her loose leaf notes, pens, pencils, and a stack of printed test papers across the marble kitchen island that she's been working on all day.

"Do you think she'll need it?" Riley questions.

"I don't know." I fold over against the counter. My forehead is pressed against the cold marble,  outstretched arms on either side of my head.

"She doesn't normally run off on me like that unless it's important..." My voice fades. "No, scratch that. She never runs off on me like that,"I pinch the bridge of my nose before exhaling a sharp sigh. "I don't think I've seen her walk out the door so fast for anyone except a cronut!"

There has only been two reasons as to why Mara Jace has ever raced out my front door:

1. when she slept in and missed practice
2. craved a cronut so badly

It's honest to say that the cronut lived up the hype, and her passion to be first in line at the bakery managed to get us a free box of cookies.

Riley chuckles lightly and says, "who doesn't love a cronut?" I can hear her attempt to make me laugh somehow. She's sweet like that. "But that's not the point," She straightens up. "The point here is that she ran out your front door. And if you think that's strange then could she possibly be in some sort of emergency? Like something happened? But she would've said so..."

I feel my chest ache. "She would've told me. Jace doesn't leave without a word because she hates leaving me in the dark. She likes me to know where she is in case I need her and go looking..."

"And have you ever done that? Go looking?"

I lift my head up from the counter. "Is it unfortunate to say that I have?" I croak out.

"I think it's the opposite," She answers. "You have someone to run to when you need them. It pretty much means that she's ok with you being around even when she's busy or simple preoccupied."

Is that really true?

There's been numerous times where I've turned up unannounced at any given location where Mara Jace would be. "She welcomes me with open arms no matter the time of day," I add. "Whether her head's in the books or on the field. She'll drop it all just to make sure I'm ok."

"See. I may not know her a whole lot but it seems to me that you're something certainly special."The smile on her face eases up the ache in my chest. "Mara cares for you. That's undeniable."

My first impression on Riley wasn't great. I'll admit that. I genuinely wish that I could've been a lot more kinder than I had been. The latter hasn't been anything but kind. Even when I'm tired or not in the mood, Riley has been patient with me whenever we meet for our sessions. The version of me from a few weeks ago would never believe this; that I'm sat with Riley Marsh in my very own kitchen, talking about the girl I have feelings for.