Jason flashed a gentle smile at Jillian. She couldn’t help but wonder why such a simple gesture affected her so deeply coming from him. Perhaps it was because she was so accustomed to seeing him grumpy or upset that the opposite was a surprise.

“Good… I mean yeah, see ya there.” Jason fumbled his words as he waved to her before walking away. Jillian waved back eagerly, a smile spreading across her face as she watched him go. Lost in thought, she only snapped out of her trance when she heard a crunching sound behind her.

“Why are you standing there?”

Jillian’s head snapped back up the stairs and she saw Wendel standing at the top, snacking on his carrots. Her smile quickly faded as she glared at her younger brother.

“None of your goddamn business, Wendel,” she growled back at him.

“Whoa, no need to get all aggro on me, just wondering why you were staring down the stairs,” the boy replied, holding his hands up in defense.

“Wait, how long have you been there?” Jillian asked curiously. The teen paused, thinking, then shrugged his shoulders.

“I would say about forty-three seconds before you noticed me.” Jillian rolled her eyes at her brother’s exact time.

“And did you see Jason down there when you first showed up?”

Wendel shook his head in response.

“Then how long have I been standing here?” Jillian mumbled to herself.

Jason sprinted home at full speed. Once inside the house, he dashed straight to his bedroom. After searching through his belongings, he realized he had nothing clean to wear. The tracksuit he had brought badly needed a wash. Frustrated, he muttered to himself, “Shit, shit, shit.”

Though he knew it wouldn’t make much of a difference as he was going to just sweat in them immediately anyway, he didn’t want to smell like an old gym bag in his tracksuit. Deciding that he would go shopping soon, he settled for some basketball shorts and his last clean tank top. Lacing up his running shoes, he rushed out the door. His mother watched him leave, giving him a small wave and a smile. The entire process took only about five minutes, and Jason was back in front of the Lins’ house.

Entering her room, Jillian carefully and casually considered her outfit choice. With how little she had, it should have been easy. But that wasn’t the kind of girl she was. Her choices boiled down to some tight stretch pants or track shorts that she usually wore for relaxation. In addition, she had her own tank top and a shirt that was essentially a loose crop top that cut off at her lowest rib. Even with the limited selection she had, she struggled to decide what to wear. She thought about the massive closet of dresses and evening gowns she had less than a year ago. They were one of the very few things she enjoyed about being stuck in that place. Even if she never had a reason to wear any of them.

After spending about ten minutes being indecisive, she let out a groan. Why was she fretting about this? They were just going for a run, not a date. Whatever she wore would end up getting gross and sweaty, so it shouldn’t really matter. At this point, all she had decided on was the bra. It was a little tighter than the rest and some old bloomers that barely fit. Turning her head over her shoulder, she checked the mirror to see how her butt looked in the tight bloomers. She suddenly found herself lost in the rabbit hole of wondering what Jason was going to wear. She hoped he would wear the same tracksuit he had been running in the last few days. It was probably so soaked with those powerful pheromones that it would make her head spin. She shivered at the thought.

“God, you are so gross,” she said to herself with a laugh as she walked over to the window.

Jillian’s eyes bulged when she spotted Jason outside, casually leaning against a streetlight pole. Watching him check his watch, frown, and then glance back at the house.

“Fuck!” she yelled to herself, scrambling to throw on the crop top and track shorts in a hurry. Grabbing her old black and white Converse shoes from high school, she quickly laced them up, almost tripping down the stairs in her haste. With the door slamming behind her, she dashed outside as fast as she could. Jason glanced up at the sound, watching as Jillian sprinted over to him, her curls bouncing with each step. Taking in her outfit with a hint of surprise, then noticed how out of breath she was from the short run.

Leaning forward with her hands on her knees, she coughed and wheezed a bit.

“Sorry... I... took,” she paused with a cough, “..so long.” After finally catching her breath, she stood upright and rested her hands on her hips. “Phew,... sorry. Have you been waiting long?”

She asked, chuckling slightly as she looked up at him.

“Umm, yeah, kinda,” Jason replied, his expression neutral. Jillian stared back at him, unamused.

“Pretty sure the line is: No, I just got here,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

Jason shook his head. “Why would I lie about that?” he replied bluntly.

“Uhh because it’s a nice gesture to avoid making the person you’re meeting feel bad for being late?”

“Yeah, but shouldn’t the late person feel bad for keeping the other person waiting, anyway?”

“So you want to make them feel worse?”

“No, but I don’t see how lying would make them feel better. Personally, I don’t like being lied to.”

“Well, obviously, but a little white lie to reassure someone you’re not upset is just common courtesy!”

“I still think I’d rather hear the truth.”

“Ugh! Fine. If you want to get technical, we didn’t even have a set time to meet here, you ass! It’s not my fault if you rushed,” she then paused as a thought popped into her head. “Wait… did he rush? Did that mean he was excited about running with me?”

The two continued to argue for a few minutes about whether it was better to be honest or to spare feelings on certain things.

“Okay, okay, can we just agree to disagree here? I’m tired of arguing,” Jillian huffed, while Jason sighed with a nod, pushing off the light pole.

“Fine, I can live with that. Ready to go?” she had almost forgotten about the run in their bickering.

“Ugh, yeah, I guess,” she groaned, pulling her curls into a loose poofed out ponytail with the hair tie she kept on her wrist. Jason watched her closely; when she lifted her arms, he caught a glimpse of the black bra she was wearing. He wasn’t an expert, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t a sports bra. He almost spoke a rather mean thought about her chest aloud, but managed to stop himself. It was yet another milestone in his personal growth.

“Alright, well I am gonna throw some back-and-forth dashes to my routine, so I keep pace with you, okay?” Jason said casually, stretching his body to prepare. Jillian tried not to make it obvious that she was staring at him as he stretched. Her eyes tracing the muscles around his waist that peaked out as he stretched to the side.

“Mmhmm... sure…. sounds good,” she replied, though she wasn’t entirely focused on what she was agreeing to. Lost in his display, watching the muscles in his body bend and stretch with his movements. Jason finished and noticed Jillian standing there in a slight daze.

“You good?” he asked, stretching his arms over his chest a few times.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, let’s get this over with already,” she said, trying to sound a little annoyed trying to cover herself as she snapped out of her trance. It felt like she was having a lot of these moments lately.

“How about we head over to the park down the road? It’s not too far. It would be a decent start, at least,” Jason suggested, watching Jillian’s eyes widen a bit.

“That’s like a mile away?! Are you trying to kill me?” she accused him. Jason just rolled his eyes in response.

“It’ll be fine. I usually run like five miles, four or five times a week. Though mostly on a treadmill, ‘cause Florida summers are super brutal.”

Jillian grumbled something under her breath, borrowing a phrase she’d heard her brother use often. “Five miles, friggin’ try-hard,” she muttered.

“Alright, enough talk, let’s just go,” she said reluctantly, and they set off at a leisurely pace down the sidewalk.

When Jason suddenly dashed off like lightning, Jillian let out a small scream and flinch as he zoomed past her. He ran about a hundred feet before skidding to a stop and dashing back toward her. Watching him with frightened eyes, she held a hand over her heart like she was scared half to death. She watched as he started running back towards her. He wasn’t even out of breath, standing there and looking at her strangely.

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“What are you doing? Why did you stop?” he asked, raising a brow.

“What am I doing? What are you doing, you psycho!” Jillian shouted back.

“I told you. I’m doing these dashes to rack up my miles while still keeping up with you,” Jason explained, hands on his waist. His broad chest and clean cut hair gave him that superhero look she saw all too easily.

“Well... ugh, a heads-up would’ve been nice!” she grumbled before pushing forward with her jog. Jason just shrugged, effortlessly catching up in no time.

“I mean, I told you I was… Nevermind, Sorry I guess,” he decided that apologizing would be the fastest to get past all this, his long legs letting him simply speedwalk to keep pace with her jog. Running with someone else was kind of strange for him. He’d tried it with Marco once, and the man didn’t talk to him for a week after like he insulted his pride or something.

Jason kept sprinting ahead every minute or so, occasionally throwing in some shadow boxing at the end of his dashes. Jillian tried to keep up, but her small tank of stamina quickly emptied, and the struggle began. Halfway there, she was panting heavily and looked like she might collapse. Seeing her falter, Jason slowed down even more to match her pace, basically walking alongside her slow jog.

“Come on, Jillian, you’ve got this. Keep pushing, dig deep,” he urged, trying to motivate her to continue. It was clear she was more than tempted to give up. Her usually pale, freckled face was now flushed red from the exertion.

“I... can’t... I’m... gonna... die,” Jillian said between gasps with a pitiful whine. Jason moved and started running backwards in front of her.

“Yes you can, and you aren’t gonna die. I believe in you. Come on, tell you what, if you make it to the park without stopping, I’ll do anything you want after. Within reason, of course.” He wasn’t sure what he was promising, but it sounded good. She looked up at him with slightly furrowed brows. He would do anything she wanted?

“Prom... promise?” She gasped out. Jason grinned in response, seeing the flicker of life come back to her eyes.

“Promise.”

She nodded and grit her teeth. A look of determination appeared on her face. He turned back around to continue his dashes.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the park was in sight.

“Almost there. This is the home stretch. Come on, you can do it, push hard!” Jason cheered her on as he dashed forward and threw a few more punches into the air as he ducked and weaved. The man was sweating pretty good now, and his scent lingered in the air like a trail she could follow as he moved ahead, giving Jillian a boost of endorphins. It was as if it distracted her mind from the pain and kept her going. At long last, the two reached the park. Jillian quickly flopped down on the cool grass and took deep, gasping breaths. Jason walked over and stood over her, smiling.

“Congrats, you made it to the first stop. Take a moment to catch your breath, then we will continue our run.”

“You …owe me…” she said in between deep breaths. Jason chuckled with a nod.

“And what is it you want?” He was curious and couldn’t help but think back to the events of last night and this morning. He wondered if she would ask for something he wasn’t sure he could agree to. The entire plan of promising her anything she wanted was Marco’s suggestion.

“Women are pretty selfish creatures, but they tend to have pretty limited ideas on what they want when put on the spot. If you are the only one around, it usually works out if you promise them whatever they want.” His friend’s words played out in his head. “But what if she tries asking for forgiveness again…” this thought caused his chest to tighten slightly. Despite his inner turmoil, he kept a calm expression. When Jillian gave him a mischievous look as she panted, he braced himself for the worst.

Jillian was chugging water like there was no tomorrow, trying to quench her thirst.

“Take it easy. You’ll make yourself sick drinking too much water after a run,” Jason cautioned her. Jillian pulled away from the fountain, water dripping from her lips and chin.

“Oh relax, legs. I know when I’ve had enough,” she retorted, then playfully snuggled back into Jason. Nestled into his arms as he held her in a princess carry.

“How about we take a little walk around the park?” she suggested. “Go on then, march…Urp” Placing a hand over her mouth like she was going to throw up.

“I warned you.” He said with a sly smile. She swallowed the impending sickness and glared at him.

“Shut up and get moving!” shouting before her smile returned. Jason rolled his eyes and did as he was told.

“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I said I’d do anything,” he admitted.

“Oh? And what exactly did you have in mind?”

“Well, I definitely didn’t plan on being a human taxi, that’s for sure.” He sounded a bit annoyed.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have offered anything,” Jillian teased.

It was perfect weather for a Sunday, families out and about, enjoying their day at the park. She stretched comfortably in Jason’s arms, enjoying her new accommodations. For her, being close to him, surrounded by his warmth, was like being on cloud nine. Meanwhile, Jason was mortified, carrying her around. The looks they got from passersby were enough to make him want to drop her mid step. “This is so fucking embarrassing!”

“Let’s rest under that tree for a bit,” she said, pointing to an enormous oak tree. Jason quickly obeyed, having no complaints, wanting to get out of sight as quick as possible. Bending down to one knee he set her down by the base. She gave him a funny look, but said nothing. He sat down next to her, leaving a decent gap between them.

They sat in silence for a while, neither of them finding the will to speak. It wasn’t until the silence became more oppressive than speaking would that it broke. They both turned to each other and blurted out simultaneously, “I’m sorry.”

They both looked wide-eyed at each other.

Jason was quick to speak up, “Please, go ahead.”

But Jillian shook her head just as quickly, “No, no, please you first.”

Being the straightforward guy he was, he simply nodded, skipping anymore back-and-forth.

“I just wanted to say sorry if I jumped to any conclusions, automatically thinking the worst this morning,” he started.

“And I wanted to apologize for not explaining myself and getting upset,” she excitedly followed up as well, a bit stunned by this sudden breakthrough. The two seemed to get a tiny bit closer as they locked eyes.

A moment of silence passed between them before he spoke softly, “So… it was just an accident, then?”

She nodded eagerly, “Yeah, I was basically still asleep and thought I was with… well, I wasn’t really thinking anything, and the first thing I saw when I woke up was my hand was, um...”

She held out her hand like she was gripping something cylindrical. Heat coloring her cheeks as she felt an odd shyness talking about it with him. A stark contrast to her normal self, who had never struggled with talking about sex, even when she was younger.

“Holding your... man…hood, I guess,” Jillian said, trying to pick the most innocent word for dick she could. “When I realized what was happening, I tried to put you away. But then you woke up and... I’m really sorry about that too. It was an accident as well. . . It looked like it hurt.”

She looked away. “I kinda panicked when I saw the look in your eyes. I got scared.” She sighed, too anxious to hold Jason’s gaze anymore. He frowned in the middle of her speech, but still listened intently.

There were a few more moments of quiet before Jason finally broke the silence.

“Yeah… the waist band certainly didn’t feel good, and I was pretty mad… at first, but I kept thinking about it, how upset you seemed… I really thought about it for a long time. I thought about all the shit you did to me back then, but somehow, I couldn’t see you doing… that.” Jillian turned to face Jason, her mouth slightly open in surprise. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“It all just didn’t make sense to me,” Jason explained, while Jillian continued nodding along.

“Yeah, yeah, I literally don’t remember shit before waking up. It was like: Surprise! Your dick is in my hand,” she added, trying to defend herself with a little humor. Jason cleared his throat after her colorful defense.

“I see…Well, honestly... I was afraid I missed the chance to get the truth after you left,” he admitted.

“So… you used my hoodie I left behind as an excuse to come see me?”

The thought that he cared about what really happened so much that he used returning her hoodie as an excuse. It made her heart race. It felt like he might just care about her, even. Her stomach fluttered lightly as his beautiful green eyes stared back at her. She had to wonder just what this boy was doing to her.

Jason felt increasingly awkward as she brought up him returning her clothes. The way she was staring at him didn’t help either.

“Umm... Yeah, I guess,” He managed hesitantly, while rubbing the back of his neck and breaking eye contact. His embarrassment was more than obvious at this point.

Another momentary silence followed, neither of them knowing what to say next. But Jillian slowly scooted closer and closer, till she was eventually pressed up against him. Her head laid softly against his chest and her arms carefully slipped around his waist, her whole body turning.

“W-what are you doing?”

“It’s... It’s cold... A-and you are supposed to still be carrying me…if that’s alright,” she whispered.

Jason swallowed his nerves and slowly shook his head slightly. “Umm… I guess it’s fine…A promise is a promise,” he whispered back, losing his voice. She cuddled closer till she was basically in his lap. The warm scent of her shampoo once again filling his nose.

Jason hesitantly raised his hand, inching it toward her waist before freezing in place. “Is this right? Should I even be here with her? What kind of fucked up situation is this? What am I doing cuddling with my high school bully!? I don’t cuddle!” His inner voice screaming at him non-stop

It all felt so far from reality he couldn’t come to terms with any of it. The past few days had been an emotional rollercoaster. He wasn’t even sure if he was remotely okay with this situation. After all, he’d be leaving in less than two weeks. He shouldn’t get too attached. Was he getting attached?

“Push the bitch off!”

But just as those thoughts yelled at him, she reached back, took his hand, and placed it around her waist, resting it on her bare stomach. The voice in his head was banished instantly, as it felt like a current ran through his fingertips when they pressed into her warm, soft skin. It felt like his heart was suddenly in his throat.

“What the fuck is happening to me?” his mind spun with a million different thoughts and emotions.

Jillian let out a long, satisfied sigh, and her body melded completely against Jason. It took him a moment to realize she had fallen asleep on him. A strange crooked smile spread across his face as he sat there contemplating what to do. The sound of voices nearby brought him out of his thoughts for a moment. Looking up, he noticed a couple walking close by, hand in hand. The girl had bright blonde hair and her breasts looked too large for her small size. While the guy had short dark brown hair and wore a letterman’s jacket with his jeans. The girl seemed to find Jason and Jillian cute while the guy stared a bit too intently, squinting as if trying to get a better look. Luckily, the girl pulled him away before it became too awkward.

After that weird moment, Jason leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. Neither of them got enough sleep last night, so taking a nap seemed like the perfect solution. He would deal with this mess when his head was clear and rested. So, resigned to his fate, they sat there together, keeping each other warm in the early autumn breeze. “Obviously, there is nothing I can do. I mean, I promised right.” Not sure just who he was trying to convince, Jason let himself finally relax. Once he did, it was shocking how fast he felt himself fall asleep like this, snuggled up with her. It had been really easy to fall asleep last night as well.

In these last three days, he had felt so many emotions he thought were impossible for him. Because of a woman that he thought was the reason he couldn’t feel them.