The second the alarm sounded off, she groaned. I, on the other hand, was up and dressed already. “You have got to be kidding me,” she whispered. “Just give me like ten more minutes.”
“Once you get up, you’ll feel better,” I promised “But we didn’t go to sleep until like two. Can’t we go later?” She pleaded.
“Nope. It’s now or never.”
Whining was her only response.
I picked her up under her arms, bringing a sleepy smile to her face. She stood there with her eyes closed as I walked to her dresser and grabbed a pair of sweat pants and socks. She sat back on the bed and I slid the clothes on for her, shaking my head and laughing at her unbelievable laziness.
“Ok, now the rest is up to you. Get your coat and scarf and everything, ‘cause it’s pretty cold out.”
“Aww man! I forgot about that part! What if we just go to the gym later?” She bargained.
“Why don’t you just go back to bed while I go? You don’t even need this,” I replied, eying the perfection of her figure that was even visible through the sweats. Part of me expected her to bail out anyway.
She frowned. “What kind of workout partner gives up that easily? I’m glad I’m not paying you ‘cause you’d be fired already.” She stood on her own this time and went to her closet to finish getting ready. “I’m gonna get sick running in this weather,” she pouted.
“You’ll only notice the cold for a little while. I promise.” She frowned as she slid her hands into her gloves and covered her ears with her earmuffs. As soon as the cold air hit her face, she turned and looked back at the door longingly, rethinking the whole endeavor.
“Ready?” I asked.
“No, but let’s go.”
We started down the sidewalk at a slow pace. I was used to the less than ideal conditions because I’d been running for so long, rain or shine. Sam, on the other hand, wasn’t doing so well. Her eyes were tearing up from the wind blowing in her face, or at least that’s what she said it was from. She did alright for the first few blocks, but I noticed that she was starting to struggle by the fourth.
“Need to take a break?” I asked. Sam turned to face me and it looked like she was embarrassed that I had to ask. She shook her head ‘no’ and continued. A particularly cold gust of wind swept past us and I thought she was about to cry. She moaned and hid her face in her gloves until it calmed down again. I did my best not laugh, but then she slipped and almost went down.
“Are you ok?” I asked, fighting back a smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She shrugged it off and picked her pace back up, showing me that she was tougher than I thought.
We reached the neighborhood near campus and Sam was just getting comfortable with the temperature. She hadn’t stopped and taken a break other than when she’d almost fallen. About twenty minutes in, the sun was starting to rise and a faint orange glow was on the horizon. The scenery was part of the reason I preferred to run so early. I hoped that Sam would have the same appreciation for it that I did, but when I glanced back over, she seemed to be struggling again.
She stopped moving her feet and stood there bent over with both hands planted on her knees while she stared at the ground. “Ok, can we go back now?” She asked.
“Yeah, I’ll take you back to your room and then I’ll finish,” I replied.
“Well, how much further did you have to go?”
“We only did a mile and I usually do five. I was gonna cut it down to two since you were just starting out though.”
She looked at me and breathed into her hands, trying to warm them up. I watched her deliberate for a few seconds.
“If you wanna go back it’s no big deal,” I assured her.