Bring your running shoes

don't forget to wear comfortable clothes. I'm thinking sweats

It was 5:02 am when Jezebel woke up and heard an early text from her phone. Seriously, 5:02 am? She held her head while slowly leaning the upper half of her body up to confirm if what she's seeing was true. Five am was too early in the morning to do anything; six am was enough torture to get up and get ready to go to school. 

He texted her the location to meet up, and she internally groaned. Forget it. I ain't losing my sleep in the morning. 

She thudded back into the bed and closed her eyes. She needed an hour. A minute was peaceful until another vibrating text rang out. He couldn't give her five minutes of sleep. She grasped for her phone again.

If you're not here in 20 min I might reconsider our transaction ;) 

Jezebel bolted right up, looking at her phone tiredly. Twenty minutes? That evil rascal. 

She quickly pulled off her blanket covers. By the time she washed her face, freshened up her look, and picked out some clothes, she had to carefully sneak out of the house to not disturb her sleeping parents. They would hate to know that she's leaving somewhere so early and for goodness knows where and why at 5 am if it wasn't for school.

The drive was misty to her amiss brain, for her beauty sleep was an essential part of her vital looks. One thing she wouldn't do was rush her skincare routine. Jezebel never rushed perfection unless it was a dire emergency, and she wouldn't give it up for him.

As her car parked on the street, Jezebel poked her head around for a spot of familiarity with that reckless being. Grand Rapids city streets were a sight to look at appearing in early time. Old historical office buildings and multi-storied buildings came forth like a visual novel: hard structured, neutral colors, old-fashioned traffic lights at every intersection, and a blend of new and old bricks if one walked down to a different street. Automobiles were lined up on the side of the streets and people took out their dogs for morning walks. Even with a sky that was a ceiling of weathered grey, things were not dull even when people should be sleeping.

Though Jezebel could care less about the streets and more so about where that boy was. He made her work up an effort just to be here. She crossed the street while she scanned around with a hand against her forehead. She was cold and couldn't think straight.

There was a body tall-framed leaning against a brick wall. A head cocked slightly in her direction then she realized it was Mackinley. He leaned nonchalantly as he looked at her particularly. "Well, well... someone decided to show up." He checked out the time on his phone. "You're thirteen minutes late." 

Don't you dare start with me now. She couldn't just get on her bad side now; it wouldn't look believable if she was more annoyed, and it would only prove him right. She needed to keep a face, but it didn't mean he couldn't hear something from her.

"A girl would prefer her beauty sleep. Five am is a bit far-fetched, no?" Jezebel said.

Mackinley smiled amusedly. "Not when you have kickstart energy. Then you have to do something about it."

He didn't look tired at all. He looked ready like he could conquer the world. Head to toe Mackinley was clothed in a black Adidas tracksuit and sleek style running shoes in glacier grey/dark blue. 

He lowered his gaze. "Nice clothes." He nodded towards her oversized baby blue hoodie and black high-waisted leggings.

Jezebel smiled lightly. "Thank you, now tell me what are we doing?"

Mackinley pushed himself off the wall and stepped towards her. He went next to her, and he widely gestured out his arm forward to the front of them. "We're doing a morning run."

Her jaw dropped, eyes suddenly wider. "You want to r-run?"

His eyes stared at her sly like a fox. "Not yet. Let's do a jog first. Get ourselves warmed up. Maybe you'd like to start with stretches first?"

Not a single ounce of dilly-dallying, he stretched his arms out in the air, pulling along his wrists. She looked at him incredibly then looked away for a second and back to him. Had he woken her up for this?

"Aren't you going to stretch? You don't want to pull a muscle," he said, crossing his left arm against his chest and stretching his shoulder.

"I'm an athlete, of course I'll stretch!" she exclaimed with her chin up, then began with her arms elevated above her head.

They had taken five minutes stretching, all muscles relaxed, and blood flowed swimmingly. Their jog set in motion moderately as the two were light on their feet, just passing through storefronts and street signs. Jezebel would've never taken him for a guy who liked to do 5 am jog. He didn't strike her as that type.

"You could've warned me that you wanted to do this. I didn't bring a hair tie with me," Jezebel whined, her long hair flying behind her back and forth.

Mackinley chuckled, glancing at her hair. "I told you to wear comfortable clothes, didn't I? I gave you a hint."

"What sociopath would decide to go out for a run at five am?"

"Wow, is that another nickname for me?"

She sucked in her breath momentarily. "This is something different I wouldn't know about you."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," he sighed. "I try to keep up with a regime with doing it four or five days a week."

Are you training for a marathon or what? 

Jezebel was a prominent setter on the girl's volleyball team. She received cheers and applause in the gym with all the eyes on her. The intensity of them incited the exhilaration that she needed. They were motivators to her greatest moments even when her feet were ready to plop and let exhaustion hit.

Her coach normally assigned everyone laps around the gym for their warm-ups. As much as running was her least favorite activity, she knew they were important. She had to be quick on her feet to shift positions for the ball.

"My..., getting up this early in the morning before school sounds like substantial work," Jezebel noted.

He seemed to think about it as he had thought so too. Then he brushed aside the fact. "Yeah, what can I say? I didn't wake up to be average."

She raised her brow at him. Yeah, he was not an average guy. He was a twist of destructive and an outlaw of his own terms.

Before long their feet took them to a riverfront park, and the river arose in blue-green serenity, floating peacefully among the forest green leaves and cityscape. Jezebel began to feel the weight down on her chest, her heart pumping turbulent. Her body was telling her this wasn't her usual norm. She was slightly out of breath and wanted to stop this jogging madness.

Mackinley was calm and relaxed, not showing any sign of weakening as he kept his head up high and his form perfectly in shape. "This is great," he said, smiling casually.

"And I'm not. I'm physically going into a cardiac arrest," Jezebel breathed out, pausing so she could catch a moment to herself.

He stopped two steps ahead of her and whirled his head back. "Are you already tired of keeping up with me?"

She placed a hand on her lower back in an attempt to stay upright. With his taunting expression, it was so hard not to glare as much as she'd rather do that, so she urged a tight bitter smile. "You sure are atypical."

"I thought you could handle this, no joke," he replied unconcernedly with his mouth slightly curled.

She couldn't trust that face.

"Do you not remember you made me get up around five am in the morning?" Jezebel asked dumbly.

"I didn't make you. You got up yourself." Mackinley pointed to her. 

He thinks he's such a smartass, doesn't he? Jezebel glanced away. She repeated to herself—she needed Mackinley. She needed Mackinley. If she could look past his annoying behavior, she could do anything she put her mind to.

This was about getting Mackinley to fall into her hands and make him bewitched by her. He needed to be that guy to look into her eyes and smile like he mean it without the fakeness.

If she was going to do something insane, why not make a good challenge to shift something in a boy enough for her to get pleasure out of.

"Are you an alarm clock because you're the first I'll hear with that loud energy," she said, playing her joke coyly.

He looked at her, puzzling. "Is that a pickup line? I'm not sure if it's supposed to attract me."

Jezebel smiled. "It's supposed to be very... symbolic, like you."

As though he's flattered, he nodded. "Cute. Anyway, let's pick up the pace now. Ready for a run?"

Desperation sunk in her eyes onto him, hoping he could read please don't make me do this. "Really?" she asked weakly.

"Yep. Let's go fast this time. I want the gears to get turning." He spun his index finger, mimicking how a shifting gear looked.

Jezebel clung a hand around her neck tiredly, struggling to take another step. "Can you not see me here?"

"Oh, I see you." He made a head start, and a distance widened between them. "I'll see you on the other side."

There he goes. Mackinley was fast as a lightning bolt. She looked up to the sky. Please help me now.

Quickly she started running to not lose sight of him. He wouldn't slow down for her, and he seemed to enjoy this greatly. Jezebel tried, but she didn't have the track star capacity. Did that boy put anything in his cereal?

The cold wind had slapped her face, and she fought the feeling to kick up a fuss and take things out against nature. She didn't want a worse punishment coming her way. This was Mackinley's fault for choosing such a first barbaric activity.

"Could you slow down and wait for me?" Jezebel shouted as loud as she could with the separate space they had.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Or you could simply run faster," he replied, bearing a cheeky grin.

Clearly, Jezebel wasn't amused by the response, with her face gone dull. He had no mercy was the explanation. She shouldn't have let him choose their first hangout if this was their outcome. Mackinley treated their time so far like a child's playground to him, as if he owned the floor where he runs.

It was a good thing that she followed his advice to wear running shoes with her running in her white Nike shoes. She couldn't understand why he told her to bring them, but she aimed to show that she cared to listen even if she was confused about why it had anything to do with their first meeting outside of school.

If he was going to play his game, she had to play along with him and be even better at it than he was. Jezebel showed her determined face and picked up the pace, pushing herself to move faster. Though the hammering in her heart was bulking up, she wouldn't care as long as she could be close enough to catch up to him.

Still, with her effort to keep up with him, it wasn't enough as he was still quite ahead. She was closer than her previous place, but Mackinley was far superior.

In the seven minutes of their run, Jezebel was close to expiring her muscle power and just enough to fall over and sleep on the ground like how a panda would. "I can't take it. I need air," she stated. No longer did she care to match the same speed as her lungs were taken into more priority.

Her nerves kicked in all over the place, buzzing like needles, and she exhaled out. She hadn't used up her strength since the last fall semester for Volleyball.

Mackinley checked up on her, hands on his hips. "I feel great. Don't you feel better now?" How was it possible that he looked as refreshed and glowy as he was in the beginning? Other than sweat dripping down to the side of his forehead, he had no problem standing in full glory.

You're enjoying this, aren't you? In her imagination she was glaring at him as ferocious as a tiger. But outwardly, she smiled nervously. "Your lively spirit is so charming." She ignored the sweat running behind her neck and grabbed his hand.

His palm felt heated like a blazing fire. So that's how it felt after the run.

"Curious about my hand?" Mackinley asked.

Jezebel met his eyes, and he gazed at her inquiringly. "Why yes, I am," she answered. "It's cold out here, and I'm cold too." She lightened her face with her smile brightening. "Pass on some heat to me. I ran because of you, so the least you can do that for me."

It's her best believable smile, and for now, he bought it. Mackinley didn't object, but he scoffed. "I kind of like it better when you looked irked. I'm not sure if this... painted sweet courtesy you're giving me is you."

"Maybe you haven't given me a chance yet? You can't be so decisive until you at least learn more about me."

She innocently wrapped her fingers to the back of his hand and held them, purposely closing in a few steps closer until she was close with him. Confidently she made puppy eyes at him. She practiced enough times in the mirror and out to many guys before him to know this key look was it. Had she had more time to touch up on her face, other than a quick grab of mascara, she would be glowing ethereal like those dreamlike scenarios.

It had to work on him, just a little. Melt right into my eyes. She waited, staining that look a while longer at him.

Ultimately, Mackinley smiled. "Since you're making an effort with that face, I'll try my best to be nice to you. But don't expect too much out of me."

She was satisfied. With the amount of time they spent mostly jogging around and running, Jezebel wondered what time it was as she took out her phone. Her eyes widened. Crap, it's 6:11. My parents are going to kill me when they burst into my room and find me not there.

"What's the matter?"

She blinked back that panic; she wouldn't let them phase her. "I have to get home now. I will get questioned if my parents don't see me."

Mackinley didn't see what was wrong. "But you'll be leaving to go to school anyway."

"Yeah, but my backpack is at home, and I haven't had breakfast yet."

Still, his reaction didn't change, and he shrugged unconcernedly. "It's not a big deal. Tell them you went to go out to buy milk."

"Huh? Going out just for milk at six am?" she asked, the idea painted seemingly ridiculous to her.

"Why not? Milk can be a part of your breakfast and milk is a good source of calcium." His eyes pointed narrowly in a way like he said, well, duh, and he bent his head down toward her. "Just don't forget to buy milk, so you can actually use a plausible excuse."

That sounded like a childish way to justify her reason to be up.

Jezebel had just entered through the front door quietly. The irony of this situation took its turn when she came home after a short trip to the grocery store to buy whole milk.

A soft sound of metal clanging rolled in like someone was eating out of their bowl. One of her parents was awake, and by now, they would tell she wasn't in her room. They checked up on her religiously to ensure their daughter didn't slack off from school.

Abeoji normally was the first of the two to be up early in the morning, and he was there when she saw him at the dining table eating rice. He glanced up, and a questioning gaze set his expression immediately at her.

He waited to swallow his rice before he began. "Where were you? You weren't in your room. Were you trying to skip out on breakfast?"

"No, I wasn't," Jezebel replied quickly.

"Then where were you?"

"Huh?" Her voice shrank, wishing she didn't have to answer.

"Where did you go this early in the morning?" Firmness gripped his voice, loud enough for the sound to exit out of the kitchen.

She cleared her throat, distracting her nerves from building up. She held up the milk carton out on display. "Milk. I went out to get milk."

"You went out to get milk at six in the morning? That was it?" He took the idea and painted it as unimaginable why she would do that when her parents were the ones to be in charge of the grocery shopping.

"Yeah, I need milk badly, and I had to get it. We were low on milk, and I couldn't wait any longer, so I got milk." Jezebel widened her eyes, nodding her head to confirm her statement.

Abeoji sighed and closed his eyes. "You're not allowed to do that again, even if it's for one thing. Understand?" he demanded strictly, and she pursed her lips, nodding in agreement. "Now you go eat and get ready to go to school."

Putting the milk in the fridge, she couldn't believe that prop worked. Who knew milk could save her butt?  

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Hello, happy friday. We're closing up the September month. But get ready to say hello to October, right? October is spooky month, oooooh.

What do we think about today's chapter? I would hate to do a 5 am morning run like Jezebel too, lol. I've not been active for years. Lazy chair potato. I would say couch, but I sit in front of my computer all day, so yeah :) 

Please vote and comment as it means the world to me.