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She leans into me, her head resting on my chest as she takes a puff and
waits a moment before inhaling another one.
Her chest rises and falls fast, and I lower one arm, wrapping it around
her waist as I hold her to me.
Her weak body sinks into me as her breathing starts to slow down and
she’s taking in deeper breaths.
Dammit. She tried to tell me as we raced through the school, and I
didn’t listen to her.
What would I have done if she’d dropped her bag somewhere, and I
couldn’t find her medicine?
I hug her close, feeling, for the first time, how small she is in my arms.
Ryen is always so large around me. Never backing down, her confidence
always appearing larger than life.
I hold her head to my chest with the other hand and bury my nose in her
hair.
“You’re okay,” I say gently. “I got you.”
“My heart won’t stop pounding,” she says, her fragile voice starting to
come around.
“I know.” I smile. “I can feel it.”
The beat of her heart is hitting my chest, and I can feel her body slowly
get stable as her breathing calms.
What am I going to do with this girl? Just when I think I have her
figured out, she pulls at me a little more.
Just when I think I can’t stand her, and I can leave, never looking back,
I turn right around and want to make sure nothing hurts her.
Her arms, hugged close to her body as I hold her, start to drop as she
pulls away from me.