Charlie’s love of gravity died after a dozen steps. His belly jiggled and he felt sweat starting to flow almost immediately. His friends took off ahead of him, they ran with the grace of gazelles, and Charlie hung his head, running like a bloated french bulldog.

His feet thudded heavily on the pavement, the bright lights of their flashlights came on, and he reached for his own, only to realize he’d forgotten it. ‘Damn…’ He cursed, until he felt a light slap on his chest and saw Josef’s meaty hand holding a small glowing flashlight that was already turned on, the light bounced around over and under his feet, a dancing spotlight in the darkness of the early morning.

Josef remained quiet, he was jogging at barely more of a walk to Charlie’s left. “Th-Th-Than-anks.” Charlie wheezed and puffed and forced himself to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

‘Just keep moving.’ He told himself and leaned forward a bit, his teeth clenched with a definitive sense of anger that became hatred for the very body he inhabited.

“What- I- W-Wouldn’t tr-trade f-for a mon-montage!” Charlie wheezed out as he continued to huff, puff and struggle to keep his body moving forward.

Josef laughed as the rest of the drinkers with a running problem continued to disappear into the distance. Their little dangling glowing safety sticks, reflective belts, or swaying flashlights became as distant as stars. Then they were all but gone.

It felt good to get a laugh.

But seeing them leaving him behind and splitting off to follow the trails to the inevitable hidden beers, Charlie only felt awkward. His skin crawled like it was trying to get away from him. ‘I left them… I shouldn’t be surprised if I get left as well…’

Charlie’s lungs felt like they were about to burst, his jog became a walk. Josef slowed down in turn. After several minutes and no sign of the others, Charlie said, “If this were an anime I’d probably find some hidden power about now and race ahead of the pack, then they’d either look on with awe or find me smugly drinking all the beer at the end…”

“Then you’d spend the next few episodes winning over various women and the season would end without you ever actually having sex with anyone.” Josef pointed out, and the initial laughter redoubled.

“And with my luck it would be done by an animation studio that cut it’s animation budget.” Charlie retorted, and the laughter tripled.

“Man… it’s good to have you back again, Charlie.” Josef said with clear relief in his voice.

“It doesn’t look like the rest of my… our...your friends, really agree.” Charlie said with a depressed swallow, his genuine laughter devolved into an awkward smile that he couldn’t really remove.

Josef sighed, “You missed out. Look… now that I know? I get it. But to them, you’re the friend that abandoned them, nobody minded you leaving for a job. But when you came back, you ignored their calls, messages, Judy even baked you a cake. Mary wanted to throw you a party. Mark tried to invite you out… can you blame them?”

“No, I can’t.” Charlie answered, “I didn’t expect Judy to be…” Charlie inclined his head in the direction he’d seen her take off, “that way, you know?”

“You did say you wanted to go out with her after you got back.” Josef pointed out.

“I… did I?” Charlie asked.

“That’s what she said.” Josef replied with a shrug.

“Wow…” Charlie tried to start jogging again, his feet moved a little bit faster and Josef began to run beside him again.

“So how far do you think you’ll go?” Josef said, shifting the subject elsewhere.

“How about… do you think you’d mind if we just went straight to the coffee shop? Oh and do you have my card on you?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Josef answered. “One morning without sweating beer out of my pores won’t kill me.”

The sun was just starting to come up on the distant horizon when they reached the coffee shop. Charlie’s best effort involved a jog that was paced at a fifteen minute mile and a walk that was only a little slower.

“No shoes, no shirt, no service.” Charlie pointed out, “Do you mind?” He asked with some aplomb, waving his hand up and down to make it painfully obvious that he was shirtless.

“Sure thing, at least they’re still open, but what do you want?” Josef asked as they reached the set of stone tables and benches in the little fenced in outdoor dining area.

“Everybody’s favorite for everybody.” Charlie replied, “And… that’s all. I think this is enough for now.”

“Enough, Charlie you’re not going, are you?” Josef asked, his hand stopped in midgesture on the way to his pocket to pull the wallet out.

“Yeah, yeah I am. Thanks… thanks a lot for this. Really, but I think they’ll need time, and frankly I’m not comfortable being seen in public like this. I’d like to get back and shower.” He blushed a little bit, then hastily added, “But I promise I’ll come out for another run! I’ll keep at it… coffee is on me tomorrow too.”

“This isn’t about me reminding you of asking Judy out, is it?” Josef asked with a semi-suspicious lingering look.

“No… this is about everything. It’s for the best. I vanished suddenly… twice if you think about it, if I try to shove my way back in like I never left, I’d be kind of a dick.” Charlie pointed out, and Josef gave a reluctant nod.

“Maybe so, just don’t let Judy get to you, she’s always been a bit sharp tongued.” Josef pointed out, and with a polite inclining of his head, Charlie turned around and began to jog back home.

When he was gone, when the coffee shop was at his back, and he didn’t run into any of his friends and was sure that he wouldn’t, a sense of overwhelming relief hit him that was as strong as his previous embarrassment and shyness. ‘I made it, I made it through… alright not one whole day of socializing with the old group, but one short run. Or walk… whatever, you made it Charlie, don’t split hairs!’ He admonished himself as he did his best to hasten back to his apartment building.

The sun lit up the day with its bright orange morning glow and cars began to appear in greater numbers, they whished along and didn’t notice him. The people who walked, that was worse. He felt them linger on his sweaty, overweight and out of shape body. ‘Judgement.’ He felt it like knives in his flesh, sharp and painful, some had the good manners to look away, but others stared more openly or made faces of disgust when they saw him.

They, however, were few.

But they did make Charlie move faster, his breath came ragged and hard as he jogged in short spurts to reach the building near their starting point.

It felt like his lungs were on fire, like his veins were pumping battery acid, he gasped and gulped for more air as if he were nearly drowning, and the warmth of the sun made the sweat glisten like some foul shine over his exposed skin.

He grabbed at the door to the building and flung it open before rushing inside. His hand darted for the rail and he hauled himself up the steps until he reached the first landing, then out of sight of those beyond the door, he slowed down. His feet pounded up to the first landing, but his feet audibly slid over each step on his way up to the floor on which he lived.

Once there, he staggered on until he reached the door, opened the handle, and staggered inside. His eyes lingered on the bed, but his sense of disgust drew him to stagger toward the shower instead. He flipped the water on and fell with his back against the wall. He slid down until he sat on the shower floor and, lacking the energy to even wash himself, he simply let himself soak in the lukewarm water and like a thousand tiny rivers, he let the droplets themselves serve as a standin for his own efforts.

‘About half the group will have reached the shop. I hope they like my little peace offering…’ Charlie contemplated, though his uncertainty caused him to bite his lower lip and worry about it in silence.

He sat that way until he felt the strength to stand, spinning slowly once in the shower and moving each hand over his skin at least once, it was a ‘rinse’ more than a proper cleaning.

‘A half assed job is better than a no assed job…’ He reassured himself and flipped the water off, he then half stumbled to his bed. His eyes closed, the springs of the mattress squeaked and the bed rocked a little from the sudden impact of his weight, then he fell immediately into a weary sleep.