Free Take a Deep Breath (Lake of the Pines) by Shar Dimick

What’s
yours?”
    “Cameron.” Her voice was as bright as her outfit. She
started to fidget and bite her lip. He could tell she was going to walk away if
he didn’t say something else soon. “Hey!” He pointed at her shirt. “You’ve got
a bug or something on your shirt there.”
    “Get it off!” As she looked down to brush off the ‘bug,’ he
reached out and tweaked her nose.
    “Gotcha!” Their eyes met. She smiled and laughed then. She
hadn’t gotten angry and stormed off.
She got him.
Later, she pulled
the old “weed on the back of the neck” trick as they walked down the path. He
knew it was her, but he let her tickle him a couple of times and pretended to
slap at it until she gave herself away by giggling.
    From then on, they’d become best friends. Every summer they
spent time together hiking, swimming and talking. It wasn’t until the end of
the summer before his junior year of high school that he knew he was in love
with her. He’d meant to tell her the next summer, the last summer they were
together, but never had…
    The next morning, Cam woke up at 5:42 AM. He’d gotten up at
5:30 for years and his body wouldn’t let him sleep past that time no matter
what time he’d gone to bed the night before. He rolled over and tried to go
back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later he still felt wide-awake, his head filled
with thoughts of Liv. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and sent her a
quick text message.
    “Thx 4 dinner last night. Great seeing you. Had a g-8 time.
C.”
    Immediately after pressing send, he regretted it. He hadn’t
been up ten minutes and already he was doing a poor job of staying away from
her. He just couldn’t get her out of his head. He got out of bed and pulled on
his black running shirt and a pair of gray shorts. Sitting on the edge of his
rumpled bed, he laced up his running shoes. Standing, he stretched. He rubbed
his jaw and realized he needed a shave. He pulled his hair back at the nape of
his neck to keep it out of the way while he worked out. He headed down the hall
to the spare bedroom that Brad had turned into a small weight room years
before. Even if Cam wasn’t a star athlete like his brother, he learned he could
look the part by lifting and running.
    He lay back under the free weights and began to do three
sets of ten. He’d get her out of his mind one way or the other. Thirty minutes
later he’d completed the circuit. His muscles ached, but Liv’s image was still
firmly planted in his mind. His phone beeped, startling him out of the moment.
He glanced at the screen. It was a text message back from Liv. It simply read,
“Me too.”
    Cam smiled as he set the phone aside, and then frowned. He
knew a text message from her shouldn’t make him feel so happy inside, but it
did. He went to brush his teeth. At the last minute he decided to shave as
well. In the back of his mind he hoped he’d run into Liv, even though he knew
he should avoid her for both their sakes. He applied a little extra deodorant
and headed into the kitchen to grab his water pack. It was 6:55 when he headed
out the door for his morning run.
    He jogged towards the woods and the Big Loop trail. He
didn’t want to risk running into her at the beach again. He needed space to
think. He needed to get himself together again; to remind himself that she was
his friend. And, after finding her again, he didn’t want to lose the one thing
he still had with her.
    The weather was a little cooler than it had been, but by no
means uncomfortable. In fact the cool air felt good as Cam ran along the side
of the main road until he came upon the brown trail marker. He veered off the
road onto the dirt path. The park did a good job of keeping it clear of roots
and other fallen debris. He followed the path around the right through the pine
trees. He took in the pine scent and exhaled. He kept his pace slower so he
could enjoy being in such a beautiful place while he ran. He wasn’t training
for a marathon or