your heart is rip-shit

“And when I first showed him my scar, he said it was interesting. He used the word ‘textured’. He said ‘smooth’ is boring but ‘textured’ was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever it was that had tried to hurt me.”

BIOGRAPHY | CONNECTIONS | MUSINGS

Joselia had figured out quickly that the most popular person in a hospital wasn't the anesthesiologist-- it was anybody who dared bring a pack of cigarettes onto the grounds. The thing between her fingers seemed to fly in the face of her job. Who wanted to take advice from the addiction counselor who couldn't give up smoking? It was her one vice, a hard habit to kick considering she'd started at fifteen.

When the back doors swung open, Joselia took a cautious glance over her shoulder before dropping the dart to the ground and stomping it out with her foot. "Dr. Jollah! Hi," she smiled, embarrassment warming her cheeks. "Would you, uh, believe me if I said I was holding that for a friend?" she attempted, waving her hand in the air to disperse the smoke that hopefully wouldn't linger on her clothes.

It wasn't like Joselia knew the firefighter all that well beyond a last name and a preference for early morning runs. It began by accident about four months ago, when Joselia found herself setting her pace against the hard-to-miss man who often ran at the same time and place as her. He offered a bit of silent competition, and Jo welcomed it-- hell, it even helped her shave almost a minute off her mile time. But then about a month ago they walked a cooldown mile together and Joselia decided Rockwell was genuinely nice-- Which is exactly what led to this, Joselia and Archie meeting at the end of the street for a late night run.

"Thanks for coming," she breathed when he was within earshot. Jo finished stretching her hamstring-- a habit she'd picked up as she inched closer to thirty-- and flashed a grateful smile at him. "I know some jiu-jitsu, for the record, but I would hate to get a reputation," she joked. When spring was inching into summer and the days were warmer, Joselia preferred to run after dark. There was a therapeutic element to the way the cool evening breeze blew in off the water. It was the closes to zen she'd gotten in years, and Jo wasn't exactly eager to give it up because of safety, not even with her brothers' warning voice in her head. Inviting Archie to run with her was the compromise, she supposed. "Long day?"