Sugar Rush (Friend-Zoned 3)

He smiles at me. A warm smile I hadn’t yet seen before. It almost knocks me on my ass. She looks up at me cautiously before lowering her gaze again. Her jaw steels.

Max looks down at his daughter, eyes narrowed. “Don’t be rude.”

Ceecee mutters

through gritted teeth, “Hi.”

Damn. We’ve got our work cut out today.

James looks to Max, then jerks his chin towards the door. “Mind if I have a word outside?”

My eyes widen as panic settles over me.

No! Don’t leave me alone with the broody teenager!

Max nods, but looks over at me. “You gonna be okay?”

The concern on his face is palpable. No way am I telling him his daughter is a little scary. I wave him off. “Go. We’ll be fine. Won’t we, Ceecee?”

She sighs, long and drawn out, resting her chin on her balled fist. He hesitates.

I mouth, ‘Go.’

He does, but he does it reluctantly. James follows him out the door and I’m left here, alone with Ceecee. She’s a completely different girl to the happy one I remember.

“How was school?” I ask with interest.

“Fine.”

Form a connection. “What’s your favorite subject? I loved art.”

“I hate art.”

Of course you do. “Do you like to read?”

She looks around the room, eyes trained on the equipment in the far corner. “Not really.”

Okay. This isn’t working. Be blunt. “Ceecee?” She looks up at me. “Honey, you look a little tense. Is something wrong?”

Her eyes blaze at my question. “I don’t want to be here. The only reason I came, was because my dad brought me. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have come.”

Okay. Fair enough. “Is the exercise so bad?”

Sweet, little Ceecee long gone, she rolls her eyes at me and turns her chair around. “You don’t get it. You don’t understa—” A sharp yelp has me kneeling by her side in an instant. Her face screwed up with pain, her body is so stiff the tendons in her neck bulge. This is a spasm. A bad one.

“Breathe, honey. Breathe.”

Her mouth parted, she huffs in short, jerky breaths. I see the pain in her tear-filled eyes, and I finally understand a small portion of what Max goes through every single time this happens. “Look at me, Ceecee.” Her eyes meet mine. She’s panicking. “Breathe with me.” I reach out to hold her hands tightly. “Breathe in deeply, and release slowly.”

I show her exactly what I want her to do, and I’m relieved when she takes in a long albeit jerky breath. “Good. Again.” The second time around, she manages a smoother inhale and a longer exhale. “Excellent, Ceecee.”

Her tightly strung body begins to loosen. Sweat beads on her forehead. We breathe together for another thirty seconds, and when I move to release her hands, she grips mine, not quite ready to do this alone. Eventually, her body relaxes completely and she sighs. She looks exhausted.

I move to the water cooler and fill a glass of cold water. I hand it to Ceecee and rub her back as she drinks. “Good job. You handled that really well. I’m impressed.”

She looks up at me, eyes filling with tears. Her bottom lip trembles as she mumbles, “It hurts.”

I nod in agreement and respond in the gentlest tone I can muster, “Yeah. That’s bound to happen though, when you stop exercising, honey. Your body is really tightly strung. You need to help loosen it.”