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Unfading Skies
Matt was midway off the bed when Ben came in, Lucy close at his side. From the look of it, they’d been at this a while.
“Just what I needed,” he said. “An audience.”
“Don’t mind me,” Ben said. “I’m just enjoying the view.”
“You’re leaning left again,” she said.
“I’m not leaning. I got distracted.”
“She’s right. Don’t blame me because your form sucks, Hartfield.”
“Wow. Ben’s on my side for once. Now do it again.”
Matt grumbled but shifted his weight back to the bed. His right hand slipped on the mattress edge, and Lucy steadied him at the waist.
Her hand stayed there until he gave her a small nod. Matt took a breath, planted his left foot and pushed up. His arms drove most of it as he pivoted and lowered himself into the chair.
“There you go,” she said.
“Not bad, man. 3 out of 5.”
Matt ignored him and reached for the water bottle on the overbed table. She handed it to him before he got there.
“I could’ve reached that.”
“And you could’ve just said ‘thank you’.”
He took a long drink. “You know, you’d make a terrible PT. No patience.”
“I have plenty of patience. I teach seventh graders.”
“That’s my point. You’ve used it all up by the time you get here.”
“You’re saying you’re harder to deal with than a room full of twelve-year-olds?”
“I’m saying you treat me like one.”
“Matt, if I treated you like one of my students, I’d have confiscated that water bottle and made you write me an apology note.”
“My handwriting’s bad enough these days. You’d need a translator.”
“I survived your third grade art projects. I can survive anything.”
Ben watched as Matt’s shoulders relaxed. A faint smile broke through.
She made it look like nothing.
The way she caught him without fussing. The shit-talking.
Just being there.
For months, he had spent almost every spare hour with Matt. Meant every word. Through the worst of it.
But it had also been the safest place to be.
He’d never once shown up for Josh the way Lucy showed up for Matt.
Seeing it didn’t make it easier.
“I’m gonna grab coffee. Either of you want anything?”
“I’m good,” Lucy said. Matt shook his head.
He walked down the corridor. The vending machine was at the far end, near the elevators. He fed in the coins and waited for the cup to fill.
The coffee was terrible. He drank it anyway.
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Fight or Flight