WHO: Max and Kyle WHAT: Literally running into old friends WHEN: Early morning WHERE: Random sidewalk STATUS: Complete RATING: Low
For all that he continually gave Michael a hard time about his lifestyle and diet, Max Evans was hardly doing much better. Oh sure, he ate more nutritionally complete meals than his friend most of the time, but any exercise plan tended to be waylaid, the time co-opted by a caseload full enough to choke a horse.
It was something he was definitely aware of as he entered the second mile of his run one morning. His muscles were tight and his pace slower than he would have liked. Glancing down at the Fitbit cinched around his wrist, eyes left the sidewalk ahead of him for 5 seconds max. And apparently that was all it took for disaster to strike.
As his gaze rose again, he collided solidly with another man, both tumbling to the pavement in a tangle.
“I am so sorry, man.” Max was the first to speak, pulling earbuds free. “Completely my fault.”
Kyle on the other hand spent so much time on his feet and walking the length and breadth of hospitals and clinics that even if he hadn’t had as much time for exercise as of late he didn’t really need a structured workout plan to keep on top of his health and fitness. That meant that as he rounded on fifth mile of his run he was only just starting to feel the burn in his calves though what he hadn’t accounted for was a head on collision with another runner.
An “oof” escaped him as the initial contact forced air out of his lungs before sure enough down he went right along with the other man, their limbs a mess of tangles and he felt the tell tale sign of a grazes on his right forearm and left knee, but honestly it could have been a lot worse.
He reached up to tug his own earbuds out when it was clear his hit and run was speaking to him and it was as he turned his head to rest a dark gaze on the other that his eyebrows shot upwards. “Max?”
What were the odds?
“Kyle?” He scrambled up, offering the other man a hand up. It had been years since they’d seen each other. High school, probably, or the summer between high school and college, Abe even one of the summers after that. But high school friends didn’t always stay in contact, no matter what Hollywood movies would have you believe.
“Sorry about that. I should’ve been paying closer attention. I didn’t do too much damage, did I?”
Kyle reached up to take a hold of the offered hand and used that firm grip to pull himself up to his feet where he brushed off any lingering traces of his fall. “Yeah, no, couple grazes but nothing serious.” It was no big, really.
“You know what they say about taking your eyes off the road,” he lightly teased with a pointed smirk.
“Yeah, you think I’d know better,” he answered, eyes twinkling at his own clumsiness, no offense taken at the teasing. “I’ll just have to be more careful. Don’t want to mow down any other innocent bystanders. How’ve you been?”
“Yeah, definitely not. I mean the next innocent bystander might not be as understanding as I am or sturdy.” Kyle’s lips tugged into a further playful smile. “And me? I’ve been good. Busy, but good. I mean, I did decide to become a doctor so should have expected that, really.”
He lifted his arm and took a look at the slight graze now present across his elbow.
“You?”
“Congratulations.” Gaze flitted to Kyle’s elbow but it hardly looked serious and he supposed that a doctor, of all people, would know whether or not it would require more attention.
Max shrugged at the question. “Attorney….public defender, actually. Isobel took the high-paying road.” Max had just wanted to help people. As he always had.
Kyle gave a small snort and shake of his head. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Max and Isobel might come from the same family but they were very different and that much had been clear throughout their high school years.
He did look up at Max with a frown. “Is it possible that you actually have less fun than I do?”
“Oh it’s a barrel of laughs.” Lips twitched sending the grin wider still. Maybe not but he was content enough. “At least I know I’m doing some good. I’ sure you are, too”
“Oh, I can imagine,” Kyle replied with a rueful smile. “But like you said, you’re doing good so that offsets the lack of a social life or a love life.” Or that’s what he kept telling himself anyways. “Unless of course you’re luckier in that department than I am?”
“Not so much,” Max admitted with a shake of his head. “And I could never really get into the whole dating app thing. Just seemed like another job.” He was old-fashioned that way. But then, to meet someone the old-fashioned way, you had to have the time to go out in the first place. Which he definitely did not.
“Beers with a friend is about as social as I get most months.”
“Ugh, don’t even get me started on dating apps,” Kyle replied with a faint grimace. “One of the nurse’s at the hospital where I worked signed me up for Tinder and it was by far the most… terrifying and traumatic
experience of my entire dating life.” He gave a visible shudder of the memory. “Suffice to say she was very apologetic when I regaled her with the tale.”
He smirked. “Well, you got me beat on the beers with a friend though,” he trailed off as he considered Alex and Michael, “I am getting better at that.”
Kyle wiggled his fingers. “Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in and then maybe we can both encourage one another to get out more.”
Sliding his phone out from the arm band snuggly settled around his bicep, Max handed it over with a nod, smile firm on his face. “Yeah, I’d like that. And at the very worst we’ll have some dating app horror stories to share.”
“Oh true facts,” Kyle enthused with an equally expressive movement of his eyebrows as he loaded up Max’s contacts and quickly inputted his digits along with his name, obviously. “But seriously stay away from Tinder.”
He smiled as he handed Max’s phone back to him.
“Unless you’re into that sort of thing?”
“Definitely not.” Max had little interest in one-night stands or hook-us with no emotional connection. It just didn’t appeal to him.
Tucking the phone back into his arm band, Max nodded. “I’ll call. Maybe sometime this weekend?”
Whereas Kyle? He could do one night stands and hook ups with no emotional connection because there weren’t many perks to being an adult but recreational sex was most definitely one of those things. Of course both those things still required time and he hadn’t had a lot of that to go around as of late.
“Yeah, that sounds good. Only time I’m not free is Sunday morning.”
“Not Sunday morning.” Mental note made. “Deal.” Max liked having a lazy Sunday anyway. It made up for the rest of a very hectic week. Which tended to be every week. “We’ll figure it out. For now I should probably stop monopolizing your free time and let you finish your run.”
“Alright, man,” Kyle said with a friendly smile as he reached up and patted Max on the arm. “Good to see you though and call me, yeah?” And with that he slipped his earbuds back in and set back off on his run again.
It was weird how he’d gone from not having seen people from high school to seeing three in a short amount of weeks.