Owen

Top Shelf

"Just keep an open mind."

I nodded, mumbling out "yeah sure" before she stepped through the door and held it for me.

We entered into a lobby of sorts, a store to the right, an office to the left, concessions straight ahead with an elevator and a flight of stairs. A giant neon sign that flashed the words Crip Adaptive Sports.

"What is this place?" I asked again.

"You said you miss running." Mina said, as if that cleared up all my questions.

"I don't get it."

For the first time ever in my presence and directed at me, she smiled. Not a smirk, not a fake smile, a real genuine smile.

"Come on."

I followed her. I had to. My heart was beating out of control and I just wanted her to look at me like that again.

She walked through an open doorway, a massive room that housed a court encircled by a track inside. The walls where lined with bleachers. In the center of the court was a group of people, all in wheelchairs, playing a sort of modified game of basketball.

"I realized after you said you missed running that you must miss all of it. The game, the training, the competition." I looked up at her, my heart still pounding. I didn't understand her at all. "I wanted you to realize that even if this is all you ever get, that doesn't mean it has to limit you."

I was speechless. Completely at a loss for words.

"This is amazing." I finally mumbled. But what I really meant to say was she was amazing.

"So you like it?" She asked, her eyes focused out on the game of basketball currently happening.

But I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She'd gone out of her way to show me this. To bring me all the way here. I couldn't even begin to put into words how I felt but I was overwhelmed. I was happy.

I finally felt like someone got it.

They understood.

"Yeah, I love it." I agreed.

Was it possible to have one moment define the action of falling in love with someone? Because if it was, I'd just had one.

"Hey there." A voice intruded in my thoughts causing me to look away from Mina to whoever spoke.

"Hi." Mina said back with a smile on her face.

I'd never seen her smile so much. It was infectious.

"My name is Will, I run this place. Is this your first time here?" He looked like he was in his thirties, a neatly trimmed beard, a Nike hat covering his head.

It wasn't until I realized I didn't have to look up at him that I noticed his chair. The wheels slanted in slightly, the back cut low. His upper body ripped and straining the material of his dri-fit shirt.

"I'm Mina." She held her hand out before looking at me.

"Owen." I followed suit.

"Mina? Katie right?" Will asked.

Mina's face lit up at the mention of whoever Katie was.

"Man I owe you big time. That woman is gonna be unstoppable." Will said.

"She found you on her own. I just recommended her finding a place." Mina explained.

"Well thank god you did." He smiled. "So what brings you in?"

They both turned to look at me, I sat there like a deer in headlights. I couldn't focus on anything other than my wildly beating heart.

"Owen used to play soccer and track." Mina started for me. "He had a couple scholarships for college also."

"No joke?" Will said approvingly. "Let's take a roll Owen, I'll show you the place."

I nodded my head, looking over at Mina.

"I'm going to go find a seat and watch." She smiled at me again. That was three times if you count the small one at the car. Three in one day, three in less than an hour. All at me. "Take your time."

"Awesome, come on brother." Will said, already rolling away.

I had to admit I was nervous. Scared of all the uncertainties. But I followed him.

"So what are you?"

I looked over at Will confused. "L1 through L3 complete. Happened when I was 21. College football."

"Oh uh, C5 C6 incomplete. Dove into the shallow end of a pool while I was blacked out drunk at a party because I'm an idiot." I probably could have left out the idiot part and maybe the drunk part.

He laughed. "I had plenty of times when I should have done something terrible to myself while drunk." I was aware he was studying me as we pushed along the perimeter of the track. "You have a lot of function for a C injury. Good use of your arms and trunk support."

"Yeah, it's improved. I have some feeling in my left thigh too." I told him.

"How long ago was your injury?"

"About 6-7 months."

"15 years for me." He said, coming to a stop.

"Do you ever wish you could change it?" I blurted out. The question had overtaken my mind as soon as we started talking about our injuries.

He chuckled, his head nodding. "At first, yeah, all the time. But now..." he shrugged his shoulders, opening his arms up. "I wouldn't have this place if I hadn't gotten hurt. I wouldn't get to help people like us pursue their dreams and achieve things they didn't know they were capable of. Sure sometimes I wish I could just stand up and grab something off the top shelf or kiss my girlfriend without having to have her bend down but ya know what? I stopped putting shit on the top shelf and now I can reach everything. And if all I have to complain about is my girl bending down to kiss me, I think I'm doing better than most."

A smile tugged at my face.

"So what do you know about adaptive sports?" He asked me.

"Nothing."

He barked out some laughter, reaching over to slap me on the shoulder.

"Perfect, I'll fill you in."

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**Edit: check out the banner made by Rensk3N !

Okay I have to admit something to you all.

I'm a pretty decent closet Machine Gun Kelly fan.

Like I don't want to admit it but I can't help it. Not only do I find him stupidly attractive (especially when he's not making dumb faces) but I also love the tone of his voice. Which may be weird but whatever.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, he recently covered Billie Ellish's Ocean Eyes. Which is already a ridiculously great song. But now I'm obsessed. I need his cover on repeat, following me around all day, every day. I'm even in love with the art on the video. And I can't, I'm losing my mind over it. I've been checking Spotify like a freak in hopes he decides to release it there. So far, he has not.

But here's the link in case anyone wants to give it a little listen.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FRNLgL-y5Jc&list=RDFRNLgL-y5Jc

Phew, glad I got that off my chest.