Broken Arrows

07 | a treacherous slope

"I look around, and you know what I see? Losers! We've all lost something. But life's giving us a chance. To do what? Something good, something bad, a bit of both."

—Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

☁☁☁☁

The run got easier. Slightly.

Sachi was able to make it to the hill without slowing once. Lady seemed excited at the quickened pace, and she took the challenge with ease, always staying one step ahead. But when they'd made it to the base of the hill, she slid to a stop, pulling Lady close beside her.

"I'm not running up that." She pointed to the hill, and then looked over at Lady, who stared at her with an inquisitive look. "We're walking this, Miss Lady."

Sachi took the first step upward, ignoring the burn in her legs, and she continued till she reached the top, though she felt like death. The ice cream shop was visible in the distance, and she allowed herself to breath in relief as she neared.

"Wait here," she ordered, tying her handle around a spare tree branch. She didn't think anyone would try to approach Lady; she was more worried about what would happen if Lady somehow managed to free herself, despite Lola's assurances that Lady would never step one foot out of line.

Lady understood her instructions and took a seat beside the trunk.

Sachi took that as a good sign, and she went back to the ice cream shop. When she walked through, the bell dinged again at her entrance, and Brad looked up from his phone. He smiled when he realized it was her.

"Hey," he greeted. "What can I get you?"

"Not sure yet." She waved a hand at the glass cases. "Can I look around?"

"Be my guest," Brad said, retaking his post against the back wall. Sachi took another step closer to the display. She doubted anyone was in the mood for ice cream so early in the morning; she was in more of an Italian ice mood anyway.

"Okay," Sachi murmured after deciding what to get. "One small watermelon Italian ice, one small chocolate, one small vanilla Oreo, and one small cotton candy." Should she get something for Lola? "Add a coconut one too."

"All right." Brad cleaned off one of the spoons as he readied himself to take her order. "Where are your friends?" he asked as he dipped the scoop into the coconut container. "The ones who came with you the other day?"

"Probably asleep." She realized too late that she probably couldn't call them her friends, since not every issue amongst them had been smoothened out, but it was too late to correct herself. Not to mention it'd be strange to say that the people she'd been hanging out weren't friends of hers.

"You're an early riser, then?" He pushed down the coconut scoops with his spoon before covering it with a cover. He moved onto the watermelon ice.

"You can say that." Sachi wandered down the line of assorted ices as Brad did. "I'm always up at this time—to run."

"You're a runner? Neat. You do track?"

"No." She watched him set aside the watermelon. "I used to do soccer. But I stopped junior year, so I have to do something to stay in shape."

"Why'd you stop?" The conversation was becoming very personal very fast, and she wasn't sure she liked the idea of spilling all of her secrets to a complete stranger.