Maverick

Chapter 19

Pedalling hard, the rain running down my face in thin, cold rivers, I cycled furiously down the end of the highway, my tyres squealing as I made a sharp turn onto the forest path. My knees were covered with flecks of dirt and oil grease- effects inevitable with taking a bike ride on a wet summer afternoon. My hair was damp, hanging in wet matted strands down by the side of my eyes; I shook them away as I saw the thick green woodland finally appear into view.

The pain shooting through my thighs was my first attempt at making me forget about my meeting with Hanna. However the pain, reverberating through my chest at every breath was a reminder that forgetting was never that simple. In my life, the forest had always been synonymous with forgetting, or at least distraction. My dad had used it when I was younger during the many episodes I had of missing my mum, but as I grew, the forest had become my own place of respite and calm. If I was a good girlfriend and I knew that I wasn't, the best thing I could have done was to go to Maverick. But although he would listen, he wouldn't understand, and perhaps I was mental enough to believe that the trees would- but it was still worth a shot.

"It's like I'm not really here," Hanna had said to me, "It's like I'm just a shitty hologram or something, looking on at everyone else's world."

"It doesn't have to be like that, Hanna," I'd told her, "You're still alive. You're still you."

I didn't know what I was most shocked at, the fact that she was cursing, or the way that I was lying, awfully at that, to save her feelings. Hanna and I never lied to each other. But Hanna had changed. But, I guess things change when your best friend has been through things she doesn't want to talk about.

"Please. I was a bitch to you last night. When would I ever have talked to you like that?"

"You were drunk," I'd replied, as if it were the perfect explanation.

"Reece!" Hanna had cried, her nails digging into the soft fabric of the sofa, creating tiny, fairy-like dents. "For God's sake, stop making excuses for me. I'm a horrible person."

"Hanna."

"The worst thing is," she had continued, "I feel like there's nothing I can do about it. Like what happened changed me forever, and now that's that, I can't go back to the person I was. I feel helpless. Like I'm drowning."

Drowning. The word had echoed distantly in my head from that moment until now, where in the quiet of the forest it had stopped. Silence.

It was unnerving. Birdsong tittered above my head but it was no longer soothing- it sounded like a death-call. I stumbled for a moment until I found a fairly clear patch of grass. My body collapsed and, ignoring the dewiness seeping into my shorts, I pulled out my mobile. I pressed speed dial, and he picked up on the first ring. Maverick was breathless. "Reece, thank God," he exhaled. There was a silence, as if he expected me to say something. I didn't. Then, "are you okay? Who are you with? Where are you?"

The million dollar question. I closed my eyes. "In a forest."

Anyone else would have been exasperated at this answer, there were about a hundred forests, but he just sighed. "Right," he said. "Well. I'll come and find you. Stay where you are." He cursed softly before hanging up.

When Maverick's headlights finally appeared out of the gloom and he pulled up beside me, I was shivering. I had done what he said: I had stayed exactly where I was. Maverick screeched to a sudden halt and was out of the car and by my side in an instant. "Reece," he said, and looped his arms around my waist, straining me closer. I pulled him towards me, wanting him closer, but then his lips were on mine and he was kissing me roughly, fiercely, giving me no time to even take a breath. "Maverick!" I gasped, pulling away. His eyes were dark, searching me.