Forever

Chapter 2

It had been a week since the game and Caitlin inviting her sister over for dinner.  Bailey had yet to let her sister know when she was free and somehow managed to avoid phone calls and facetimes too.  Caitlin really knew something was wrong at this point, but didn't understand why Bailey was hiding it. She started to get irritated about it, but every time Katie tried to get her to talk about her feelings Caitlin would shut down. 

Katie decided to take things into her own hands at this point because she was tired of Caitlin being so down all of the time and it really seemed like Bailey needed help too. Bailey's apartment was about 2 miles away from Caitlin and Katie's place, so on an off day when Caitlin decided to go visit her fellow Aussie friends, Katie decided to go on a run and head right toward Bailey's.  She already had the perfect excuse to check up on her.  I was on a run and really need to use the bathroom, can I just come in real quick?  Yep, that will work perfect Katie thought to herself as she jogged down the street.  

When Katie finally got to Bailey's place she saw Bailey's boyfriend, Ryan, and best friend, Ellie, carrying a few boxes into Ryan's truck. She knew Ryan lived with Bailey for almost a year now after having dated for about a year before that. And Ellie and her had become really close almost immediately after Bailey had moved to London. Katie and Caitlin had hung out with Bailey, Ryan, and Ellie quite frequently especially on Friday nights.  Caitlin had once told her that she didn't think Ryan was anything special, but Bailey was in love with him, so she didn't say anything.

Katie observed from halfway down the street. It looked like he was moving out, but that can't be? They were happy together and if they had broken up surely Ellie wouldn't be helping him, but would be Bailey instead.  It wasn't until she finally saw Bailey appear at the front door.  She didn't say a word, just stuck her hand out as if she was waiting for something to be handed to her.  She then saw Ellie hand something to Ryan who also reached into his pocket and removed a key from his keyring.  He handed both keys to Bailey who immediately turned around and slammed the door in their faces.  But what really surprised Katie was what she saw happen next. Ryan swung his arm around Ellie's shoulders, brought her in and kissed her forehead and then lead them back to his truck.  They got in and drove away without a second thought.

Oh you have got to be kidding me. Katie thought to herself, but quickly turned her attention back to Bailey's place as the door swung open again and Bailey came out in a running outfit and headphones on.  Before the door even shut again she was off in a full sprint.  Something in Katie urged her to follow after her.  And so she did and for the professional athlete that she was she was struggling to keep up with how fast Bailey was running.  That was until she saw Bailey's knee give out and her collapse to the ground.  She heard the cry that Bailey let out from the pain of her knee and quickly hurried up to help her.  Bailey still had her headphones on and didn't know anyone was following her, so Katie tried not to scare her.  She moved around to the front so Bailey could see her coming and saw that she was having a panic attack.  One of Katie's younger sisters got panic attacks when she was younger so she knew what to do.  

Katie slowly sat in front of her and slid her headphones off which snapped Bailey out of her trance as she realized someone else was there.  Katie grabbed Bailey's hands and put one on her heart and one on her own.  

"Follow my breathing Bales. Okay we are going to take one big breath in and let it out slowly. And then repeat 5 times."

As Katie led Bailey through the breathing exercises she slowly started to calm down.  "Are you okay? I saw you take a bit of a tumble?"

"My freakin knee gave out again.  I'm so sick of not being able to go running. I just didn't care at the moment. I needed to get out of my house. What are you doing here anyway?"