Mid-August

Lucas gets the idea at the end of July. Initially, all he’d wanted was to support Sarah. And sure, he was attracted to her.

He had been for weeks at that point. But it didn’t seem mutual, and he wasn’t going to ruin anything, so he was set on just being a good friend. And friends support each other, cheer each other on - and what more reason to do that than when they run a marathon?

The rub was that the marathon she’d signed up for was the full marathon at the outskirts of Reading, about five hours away from the city. Just showing up wasn’t going to be as simple as if it were in Chelsea or Mile End. But Lucas’s been to the countryside before and has always had a great time, so even if everything else backfires, he’ll at least be in a beautiful place, right? So toward the end of the month, he’d pulled the trigger and organized a surprise camping trip with some friends (Marcia and a few of his friends that she’d spent some time with) so that they could be there to cheer her on. Even if she was too tired to stay after and felt like going back to the city, he’s sure that she’d appreciate them showing up.

Then, not even a week later, that night had happened. The night where he’d gone to her school’s event with her and then acted like a jackass because he couldn’t stop feeling jealous and protective every time someone glanced her way with anything but platonic interest. The night where he’d almost ruined everything inside some new hipster bar that won’t be open a month from now.

Lucas has no idea what it is about Sarah that drives him so crazy, because he’s never felt quite this erratic before with any other girl, but he’d almost blown it. It had taken all of his self control at that bar not to grab her and kiss her and tell her that he wants her to be his, only his - and in the end, he hadn’t even really controlled himself, given that he’d ended up kind of yelling at her on the sidewalk.

But then - then they’d gone home, and things had gotten … muddy. Sarah had come out of her bedroom wearing a little pyjama set that she had to know was going to draw his eye, then she’d smiled at him with those big beautiful eyes, she’d hugged him and touched him, she’d pulled his hair and kissed his neck. She’d let him drag his big clumsy hands over her runner’s legs and her perfect ass, and he was pretty sure that if he’d moved to palm her perky breasts, she’d have let him do that, too.

Now, Lucas truly has no idea what’s going on between them. They’re not just friends, they’re not quite more, either. They haven’t talked about it since that night - Sarah had tried a little when they’d returned home from the bar, but for all of the signals that it may be mutual, he isn’t confident, and he just isn’t ready to face that overt rejection. Not from someone that he wants to keep in his life, regardless of what role she plays.

The two weeks since that night have been busy. She’s had a lot going on at school, not to mention trying to rest and stay healthy and be prepared for her run, and now that he’s back at work he’s had a few hard days, too. But now, before he goes to bed, he always offers a hug, and she always accepts. But nothing like that night has happened again.

The night before Sarah is set to leave for Reading, though, feels different. Her parents are coming to watch from Canada, and they’ve booked a hotel for the three of them for the night before. Sarah has no idea that Lucas, Hamil, Marcia, Lemuel, and Jordan are leaving almost immediately after she is. She doesn’t know that Marcia is coming over the next morning to pack her a few extra days’ worth of clothes, just in case she wants to stay with them into next week, and she doesn’t know that when she crosses the finish line, they’ll all be there to pat her on the back. Her parents do, apparently - Lucas’s never met or talked to them, but Marcia had passed the plan along just in case they’d had alternative plans for the family.

Nope; as far as Sarah knows, she’s getting a ride up with a running buddy who’s also doing the marathon, meeting her parents, doing the actual marathon, then heading back the same way. And she’s nervous.

“You’re going to do great, Sarah,” Lucas says encouragingly, nudging her half-eaten bowl of pasta toward her. “You have to fuel up.”

She shakes her head and groans, flopping back onto the couch dramatically. “What if I’ve been doing all this running for six months and I get there and I fall in the first mile? And I break my leg and I can’t finish and -”

“Sarah,” Lucas cuts in gently, laughing despite the cross look she gives him. “None of that’s going to happen.”

“What if it does?”

He pats her hand reassuringly. “It won’t.”

Sarah sighs. She peers at her pasta and then pushes it away. “I can’t finish this,” she whines. “I’m too anxious.” Her eyes flick to Lucas. “Can I - I could use a hug,” she asks lamely.

Lucas smiles at her and opens his arm. “Anytime, Sarah, you don’t have to ask.”

Sarah exhales and shuffles to him on her knees, leaning over a bit until she can slip her arms around his neck. Lucas gently reaches over and pulls her by her hip until she falls to sit on his lap. Immediately, her arms tighten around him. He puts his around hers too, holding her close and feeling her breathe in and out slowly, calming herself down. She’s dressed pretty casually today, in a blue t-shirt that’s clearly from a vacation to the Grand Canyon and a pair of grey sweatpants, but a few inches of her lower back are exposed by the way she’s sitting, and he takes the opportunity to slide his palms against her skin.

“I can’t wait for this to be over,” she mumbles over his shoulder. “The training has been fun and I like the challenge, but I’m just … tired.”

Lucas rubs her back. “You’ve been working hard,” he agrees. “Think how good it’ll be to sleep in the day after.”

“Mmm.” She presses her face into his t-shirt. “That feels good, Lucas.”

Lucas increases the pressure a little. “Like that?”

Sarah nods. “Yes.” She reaches around and pushes his hand higher. “Can you - right between my shoulder blades-”

“Oh - yeah, sure.” His hand drifts past the rough lace and hard satin of her bra and digs in the centre of her upper back, pushing against her and at the same time pulling her body even more toward his. She whines a little - a good noise, he thinks - then her muscles soften and he feels her noticeably relax.

She pulls back and turns her upper body to the side, readjusting so that she’s sitting on his right leg and leaning the left side of her body against his chest, her left hand in her own lap and her head next to his. “I swear, Lucas,” she sighs, “you missed your calling as a massage therapist. Or a baker. Would’ve done great at either with strong hands like that.”

Lucas chuckles. “What do I need to be a baker for, Sarah?” His right hand, now resting lazily against her hip, slides up slightly and tickles her stomach. “I got you.”

Sarah shrieks; she’s incredibly ticklish, something he’d learned weeks ago, and it’s adorable as hell when she laughs. She pushes at his hand and tries to wiggle away, but he grabs her around the middle and pulls her back, tickling her again until she gasps, “I give up, I give up!” and hits his hands with her palms.

Lucas obediently stops tickling, but he doesn’t move his arms from where they are, now locked around her waist, each hand holding the opposite curve. She slumps against him.

“You going to let me go?” she asks when she catches her breath.

He shrugs. “I’ll think about it,” he teases. “For now I think I’ll just keep you trapped here.”

Sarah sighs. “Fine,” she concedes, and for a minute Lucas thinks he’s won. But then, she starts wriggling her hips rhythmically, back and forth, and god damn her, she’s teasing him and trying to get him worked up enough that he’ll let her go, and it’s definitely working.

“You’re a little devil,” Lucas tells her as he releases her.

She giggles. She’s free now, but she doesn’t move off of his lap. Lucas desperately wants to read into this. “Sorry,” she says, not sounding apologetic at all. She relaxes into him and tucks her knees toward her, but the roll of her ass over his one leg sends an unpleasant pain into his femur and he swears under his breath. Sarah sits up immediately. “Oh no, I hurt you,” she frets, trying to pull her legs toward the floor so she can get off of him. “I knew I was too heavy, Lucas, you should’ve said I was too heavy-”

“Give me a break, Sarah, you’re basically a doll. I told you, I got bad knees!” Lucas readjusts and gestures for her to come back. She looks at him dubiously. “Sarah, come here.”

“No way,” she refuses, shaking her head. “Lucas, I almost broke your leg.”

Lucas rolls his eyes. “Oh my god, Sarah, no you didn’t.” He sighs; it’s been two weeks, and he just really - he really wants to hold her again. “Will you lay with me?” he asks. “If I lay down, will you lay with me?”

Sarah’s eyes are soft when she looks at him. “Yes, okay,” she says quietly. “But if I hurt you-”

“I’ll tell you,” he assures her, scooting his big ass down on the couch until he’s laying down - as much as he’ll fit, anyway; his shoulders and head are propped up against the arm so that his legs will fit on as well. Sarah then gingerly places a knee between his, brackets her other leg around his, and lowers herself down until her head is on his chest and her arms are on either side of him. Their hips are aligned in this position - he hadn’t quite considered that, that could be a problem - but otherwise, she fits perfect, feels perfect, like a pretty weighted blanket, melting his anxieties away.

Sarah’s left hand rests on his bicep. Lucas’s muscles are sore, still adjusting to being back at work after having been away for a short while, but her hand is delicate, and so pale against his more tanned skin. Her nails scratch lightly, which feels amazing.

Christ. He thinks he might love her.

“Sarah, I’m warning you, I think I might fall asleep.”

“Mmm.” Her thumb rubs his arm. “It’s alright. Me too.”

“Catnap?” he suggests, and when she nods, he turns off the TV. It’s only seven o’clock, but their apartment faces east and it’s dark in the evenings, even now. He closes his eyes, feeling his chest rise and fall and her along with it, then lets sleep come.