I went about the recovery process the right way. I never missed a workout on the fan bike, I never missed getting in the pool, I was on it. Anything that I was allowed to do, I did. 

Eventually, it was time to check in with my doctor again. He told me that I was cleared, but to keep the boot just to be safe. After I heard this, I texted Porter right away that I would be out of the boot for practice. 

Practice that night started as usual. Everyone gathered on the indoor track, listened to the coaches speak, and then had a team break. But this time, I got to walk over with the sprinters. I got to go warm up with them. Everyone was asking how I felt and if I was excited to be out of the boot. 

I could tell I wasn't perfect yet, my ankle still felt tender doing certain movements. Coach told me to go as slow as I wanted and to skip anything that brought pain. While I was starting to feel like I was part of the team now, I still felt a little distance. I would have to wait in the back of the warmup lines just to make sure I didn't get in anybody's way if I was going slow. This also meant that the team would have to wait for me to get from one side to the other. But I was happy to be working in with the team. 

The team completed the warmup and went up to Porter to gets the specifics on what they would be doing today. I let everyone go in front of me since I probably wasn't going to do much. After everyone else got their workouts, I went up to coach and asked. I was hoping I would be assigned some short and slow laps around the track. I missed running. 

"Trevor! So you're actually going to be with Claire today on the bike." Porter turned and directed my attention to Claire who was standing behind him. 

I didn't hear a single thing Porter said after that. It really felt like a movie, time froze when Claire and I locked eyes for the first time. In real time, I smiled at her and gave her an awkward wave. But in my mind, I was looking at her for what seemed like an hour. When I looked her way the first thing I looked at were her eyes. They reeled me in. She was wearing a mask too since she was sick. This only helped enhance her eyes. She had probably gotten complimented about her eyes millions of times before. But I didn't care, they were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. I'd let her know too if I was with her. I couldn't believe someone could look like that. Whatever shade of blue it was, it was my new favorite. Her hair was perfect. I was in love with curly hair, but I figured out that I was only truly in love with Claire's curly hair. She was wearing a long sleeve, black athletic shirt with dark blue running shorts. I won't lie, I was definitely checking out her body. You could see her perfectly sized breasts easily through her tighter fitting shirt. Her legs looked great in her shorts. You could tell she worked out, her quads were massive. She looked even better in real life as compared to the photos. This was the first time I really got to take her in this close. But I quickly abandoned these thoughts as I figured I had no place to be thinking those things, I hadn't even talked to her yet. 

Whatever Porter was saying, he was finished now and walked away. Claire and I started to walk toward the bikes. 

"I'm about sick of this fan bike." I said, trying to show her that I knew how to talk. 

"I bet, how long have you been doing it?" She responded. 

"Since the first time I came back. I thought I would stop now that I'm out of the boot, but I guess not. And I'm going to be completely honest, I don't remember what he said we were doing."

Claire laughed. "I have 8 sets on the fan bike at all out effort for 30 seconds. You have 12 sets."

"Exciting stuff."

We got over to the fan bike and I let her go first. I couldn't help look at her butt as she adjusted the seat to the bike. I was down bad in my thoughts. I had never looked at a girl like this. No girl had ever caught my attention. She wasn't even doing anything. She was just being herself and I felt like I was being seduced. 

I sat on the ground and watched her do her reps. She was working hard. I imagined it was hard to work with that mask on. But after her reps, she'd sometimes pull the mask down to breathe better. I was happy whenever she did this because I got to see her full face. She's so adorable. 

She was way smaller than me. When she finished her first rep, I had to come over and adjust the seat and lift it up way higher. I finished my rep and sat back down. She went back to the bike and adjusted the seat back to her height. I felt bad that I didn't do it for her. So during my next rep, I checked what her settings were for the seat. I then adjusted the seat to my height. As I finished my rep, Claire was filling up her water bottle. I put the seat back to her desired height and sat back down. She came back over and bent down, expecting to have to change the seat again.

"I already put it at your height." I told her.

"Oh thank you!" 

I hope she was smiling under that mask. 

During our rests, we would talk about simple things to get to know each other.

"So what's your major?" Something she and probably every college freshman was sick of getting asked. 

"I'm not 100 percent yet, but I was thinking about politics." 

She told me about some of her other interests and I was lost in her voice. She had such a sweet voice. I was tired around her. Not in a bad way, but I felt so at peace by her presence. I think part of it was that I had been thinking about this girl for so long. I was finally in her presence and talking to her, I could just rest now. 

"How'd your senior season of track go?" I asked next. 

"Not too good. I have bad shin splints that really messed with my performance. I also had mono the whole season."

"Oh shoot! I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's over now. Just wasn't the best way to end high school track."

She was so easy to talk to. I felt like I was talking to an old friend I hadn't seen in awhile. But I felt something deeper than a friendship. I would watch her intensely as she worked out. Watching the definition in her legs, all of it. What was Claire Hawkins doing to me? I was always so strict about my workouts and taking my exact rest. But when I was talking to her, I would go over my rest just so she could finish telling me a story. I wanted to give her 100 percent of my time. 

Our conversation transitioned into what classes we were taking and how we liked our professors. I just wanted to sit there the whole night and talk to her. I was still trying to place my finger on what made Claire so different. I was obviously attracted to her body, but I was never one to put the body above the actual person. But I was drawn to her body and herself. And actually hearing her talk about herself and her interests only made me more attracted. She seemed like the total package deal. I mean, since I was little, the things I were looking for in a girl were: a great personality, athletic, sweet face, curly hair, shorter than me, attractive body. Sure, some of those things were goofy, like I wasn't going to shut someone out of my life if they had straight hair. But here was Claire with literally every single thing I had wanted in a girl since I was a little boy. But how am I supposed to communicate that in my first real conversation with her? I had to play it relaxed if I wanted to continue to know her. I couldn't blow this opportunity. But part of me wondered if she could read my eyes and tell what I was thinking. 

She finished her 8 reps on the fan bike and said bye to me. I was back alone for just a little bit. I had just 4 more reps but I was missing Claire's presence. But, she now could put my name with the actual person, not a social media profile. She knew my interests and I knew hers. She was no longer a stranger.