𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲; byler

- 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓇𝓎 3 -

𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝐼 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹 I was going to the gym, but I just had to read one more chapter. 

And then another. By the time I actually got to the gym, I only had an hour before my mom would get here.

I take one of the treadmills, and start to walk. Now, walking is kind of hard when you can barley breathe. I HATE working out, too. Always have.

BUT it's important for my treatment, so I go at least once a day. yeah, once every single day. I should get a medal or something, I swear.

So I'm kind of the master of power walking by now.

 I'm just walking, fantasizing about seeing my mom. I miss her so much. What if she brought Jonathan too? I was really starting to get excited, and the minutes ticked by super fast as I thought about the stories they must have, about seeing my family.

"Hey, you're my stalker!" I hear, and turn my head sharply to the side. Mike climbs on the treadmill next to me, his messy black curls already sticking on his face with sweat and his eyes glitter mischievously. 

"I wasn't staking you!" I say defensively. He laughs.

"If you say so. I'm Mike wheeler." He smiles a dazzling smile, but the weird attitude I over heard at his room is still kind of irritating me.

"You know, you're really lucky to be a part of this drug trail. I know thousands of people who would gladly trade places with you!" I blurt out, and his smile freezes. I don't know why I said that.

It's just, I hate when people don't understand how lucky they are. I bet he's super rich, and doesn't understand how very fortunate we are to be here. To be treated.

He sighs, his smile gone. "Whatever. We're breathing borrowed air, just humoring our parents until the inevitable death in a year or two." 

Now I'm actually mad. "Maybe you won't die! maybe you have 50 years left! you can't live your life waiting for it to end-"

"I have B. Cepacia, okay?" He says.

I freeze. That's not what I was expecting.

B. Cepacia is a bacteria. The moment it enters your body it colonizes extremely quickly, and it causes your lungs to deteriorate even quicker, and it's not really treatable. You get it, and it's bye bye lung transplant list.  

"Well... I guess that just means you have to be even more diligent with your therapies."

He scoffs. "Yeah, right.
With that, I turn my whole body to him
"You- you  do your therapies, right?!" I ask, and he shrugs.
"I take the pills. They're the ones that really count anyways."

""No! No! That's not how this works!" I'm starting to panic, and it shows. "You have to do them! you have to!"

And he smiles.  SMILES!! "Wow, this is really getting you worked up, stalker."

"NO! ughh." I say, exasperated. I feel my heart beating in my throat, and it's not because of the exercise. The thought of him wasting a room (and not just any room- THE SUITE!) by not even trying is giving me an itch. I can't stand it! Then, I get the perfect idea. 

"Fine then. If you don't care about your life, how about we make it interesting?" I say. Mike raises his eyebrow, still smiling.

"You have my attention, stalker boy." 

"Whoever runs the most miles in 5 minutes- wins. If I win, You have to do all your therapies and take all your meds."
"What happens if I win?" he asks.
"Pick your prize," I reply.

"Huh. Well, If I win, you have lunch with me tomorrow." He winks. And I blush again. Is he- is he flirting with me? 

"Whatever," I roll my eyes at him, hoping he can't see how flattered I am. I hate how flattered I am.
"Okay then. Ready, reset your treadmill, and- go!"

                                                                   ✏  ----------------         

"Woo!" Mike calls, basically falling off the treadmill, but with a huge grin on his face. I follow, breathing heavy.

 He sits on one end of the bench as I sit on the other, and for a moment we don't speak, just trying to clam our breaths. I literally feel  like my lungs would just explode, so I have to focus on taking small breaths and drinking small sips from my water bottle.

Mike recovers before I do. His smile is still shining at me through his pretty brown eyes, and he finally speaks.
"0.29 miles. Beat that, stalker!" He says happily.
I smile over my water bottle, and take another slow sip. I'm purposely taking my time, and he knows it. I finally finish the sip. I wipe my chin dramatically, rearrange the towel on the bench-but he can't take it anymore:

"Come on! what did you do?" He asks.
"0.33. Can't mess with me!" I can't help my smile. And he's shocked for a beat before returning it.

"Fine," he sighs dramatically, "I guess you win. I'll do my therapies."
"Ha, like I'm trusting you on that." I say, and he raises his eyebrow at me.

"Oh, we're doing them together: FaceTiming, same room, I don't care. I'm sharing my schedule with you through airdrop right now." I continue as I pull out my phone. I hear the small "ding" from his pocket, and he removes his phone from his pocket.

The new iPhone 11 pro, of course. I see him clicking on my shared document, and his eyes widen with terror.
"Holy fuck! you do all these every single day?" he asks as he turns back to look at me, and his mouth hangs slightly open. Kind of cute.

 You should know, I'm strangely proud of my schedule. Nurses always tell me they have never seen a CFer keep this tight of a schedule, but I never miss a day.

"And now you do too." I smile at him, and he sighs again.
"Fine."

We both get up, grabbing out bags. 

"Shake on it?" he asks, offering me his hand. I take an instinctive step froward before I realize what I'm doing, and take two cautious ones back.

"Very funny," I say. He just winks.
"Well, if I'm doing all these things now I think I deserve some lunch, no?" he asks as I start going towards the elevator.

I don't answer, because what are you supposed to answer to that?

"How about we grab some? consolation prize?" he asks as I press the button, and I turn away from him. I don't want him to see how my cheeks are burning. My stomach is fluttering with a million butterflies.

Is this cute (slightly annoying) guy asking me to lunch?

"umm- my mom is actually coming for lunch. Sorry," I reply. 
"Tomorrow than," he winks again.

"We'll see," I try to swallow my smile, but he sees it. The elevator dings and opens, and I step in. He obviously can't follow (6 feet apart!). I smile goodbye, but he hold the elevator doors open.

"you still didn't give me your name, stalker boy. Your AirDrop name was Huffelpuff pride, but...." He smiles at me again.

I blush even deeper. I keep forgetting to change that name!!

"It's Will. Will Byers," I say.

"See you at- what was it- 10 am meditation tomorrow, Will Byers." Mike says again, "And for the record- Gryffindor for the win." He lets go of the elevator doors and they flutter closed. The last thing I see is his brown eyes and huge smile.

And my cheeks are still red as the elevator shoots up. Did I just get asked out for the first time in my life?

-𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁