Author's POV
Dawn. Lara's favorite time of the day where the Sun is still hiding from the world to give her a glimpse of light. After what happened last night, she couldn't put to the rest with the thought of her horrifying past. She still remembers the way he grabs her that night. Terrible moment, she thought.
Lara is sitting on the bench by herself in her red velvet sports bra and a pair of black leggings. Music's never her thing when she's running, she rather listens to her surroundings than some loud music to her ears. Her intention was to run, and yet she's currently occupied by the grace of the flock of pigeons in front of her.
From a distance, Keith could see his Red. He has the same intention of having a peaceful morning run. Because he adors the view, he might delay his intention a little bit longer. He slows his motion, turning speeding run into a quiet jog.
"Hey!" Keith stops right in front of Lara.
Distracted by the infamous sweet but raspy voice, Lara swifts her eyes to a fine young man in a Black tracksuit with a massive headphones on. Her smile grows as she lands her eyes to his. It's so beautiful, she kept that thought to herself.
"Hey!" She chirps.
There's this uncertainty in the both of them when they get themselves in each other's eyes.
"May I?" Keith gesturs the empty space on the bench.
"Please." Lara doesn't mind.
Although Keith takes the bench right away, he kept a distance in between. Not because it's so awkward to sit alongside her, but because she seems uncomfortable to sit too close to him. Keith pins his eyes to hers and finds bright stars in hers. It's so crazy for him.
Lara is a stranger, he thought. How could he be so peaceful near her? That's the question to himself.
"How'd you sleep last night?" He drops his headphones onto his neck.
"Not well." She's being honest.
"Why not?"
"Because I was scared." She tries to smile but her face is so bitter.
"They wouldn't dare to bug you. I'd kill them before they did that." He clenches his jaws.
"You'd do that?" She couldn't believe he just said that.
"Yeah. Believe me, they're a pain in the ass."
Lara is not sure if Keith really meant his words. He could be just playing or not. But seeing him like this is actually very relaxing for her. Suddenly, she feels safe for the first time in this foreign city. She presses her lips to contain her growing smile from Keith's eyes.
"What?" He's curious.
"What?" Lara threw away her smile.
"Why did you smile like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like...like that." He stutters again.
"Are they your friends?" She changes the subject.
"Blake and Aiden? Hell No!" He feels disgusted. "Blake's my ex and Aiden just a douche bag at school."
"Cheers Captain and Football Team Captain?" She assumes.
"Actually, you're looking at the Football Team Captain or...was." He chuckles. "Aiden's Basketball Team Captain."
"You're a Football Team Captain?" She doubts that. Somehow.
"I see a little sarcasm here." He wants to be offended, but he can't be.
Lara hangs her hands in the air, "It's a compliment because you don't look like a jerk."
"What?" He laughs at his own confusion.
"You know in the movies, usually they made the team captain a classic jerk." She copies his laughter.
"Wow, you watch too many movies." He's still laughing.
"I know." And yet she is.
"Aiden is such a good example of what they wrote in the movies. You met his rude behavior last night."
Keith words has put Lara's laughter aside as they reminds her of what happened.
"Did he touch you?" Anger suddenly grows in his blood.
"No. Not in a bad way actually." She swallows her fear.
"So, why did you spray him?"
"I felt like someone was following me that night and as he came closer to me, I turned around and sprayed him."
"And got his chin?! That's a very nice try. You know you should have aimed for his eyes." There's a little joke to cheer Lara up.
"I know." She giggles. "I felt so bad. I was going on the same direction as him and when I screamed and sprayed him, his girlfriend just appeared out of nowhere. It was weird."
"Well, we were fighting in front of her house. Apparently he was heading there when he got a little too close to you."
"Oh, no!" She covers her face.
"That's okay. He deserves that." He laughed.
"You're so bad." She glares at him, but still joined him for a laugh.
"Did he yell at you to make you that scared?"
"He did, but my own mind scared me." She tries to hold the smile.
"Your own mind? Like a PTSD or something? He sees right through her.
"Of a sort." She's doubtful. "I had an incident last winter where someone followed me home and tried to murder me."
"WHAT?!!"
"Miserable moment of my life." She admits.
"That's crazy! Did you know that person or just some stupid psychopath?"
"He was my ex-boyfriend." She reminds herself.
"Crazy ex-boyfriend." He spits.
"He paid the price, enjoying his precious time in jail."
"They should have sentenced him to death."
"He doesn't deserve a quick death. Rotting in jail seems perfect, I suppose." She aims her eyes up in the sky.
Lara brings back her eyes to his to try and find some peace that she desperately needs. Just a place to calm her soul down since she doesn't want to tell her closest ones about any of this. About the fact that she still feels like she's in danger.
"I am sorry. I shouldn't have told you about any of this. I got carried away." She apologizes.
"That's okay. That's what friends do. They listen to each other's sorrow." He claims.
Friends? She questions herself. She never expected that word would come out of his mouth. To be honest, she never expected to have a conversation with him at all as he seems to despise her for no apparent reason.
"So, we're friends?" She asks him to be sure.
"Yeah. Unless you don't want to." He doesn't want her to say no.
"What do you say, my friend? Should we take a lap?" She gets on her feet.
"You better run, Red!" He steals a start.
"Cheating? Already?" She snorts then begins her run.
"Why? You can't keep up?" He teases her over his shoulder.
"You're legs are technically way longer than mine." She protests.
Keith gives in to her protest and slows down a little bit to wait for her. She rolls her eyes at him and it brings so much joy to him. He never thought that it's so much fun to be with her. Had he gathered up his courage earlier, they would have been closer way sooner.
"Are you a horse or what?!" She is out of breath.
"We literally just started running like ten minutes ago." He rhymes his running to her again.
"How long do you usually run?"
"Ugh..." He's trying to catch his breath. "Thirty minutes."
"That's a long run." She wants to give up already.
Running was never her thing. She only runs for a couple minutes to keep her health in check.
"Do you want to stop?" He offers.
"Please?" She begs.
"Alright." He agrees.
After a moment of slowing down, they decided to stop running. Lara rests her both hand on her knees while Keith is still up for another good lap.
"I have weak lungs." She jokes.
"Clearly." He laughs at her joke.
"I think I just really worked my legs." She clings onto Keith to prevent her wiggly legs from falling.
"That was a good lap." He leads the way to home.
"I just realized that I've never seen you running before. Were you hiding from me?" She teases him.
"What? I think you've never seen me running because you couldn't ever catch up." He defends himself.
"Wow, that's a mouthful of a lame excuse." She chuckles.
"I need water." He coughs on purpose to avoid her further question.
Lara laughs even louder watching her new friend impersonated Jim Carey's cough from The Mask. He's so funny and adorable at the same time. Honestly, he reminds her of his father as the two shared a kiss yesterday.
"Have you decided to go to college?" She tries to erase Kyle from her mind.
"Yeah, I applied for UCLA and NYU." He tells her.
"UCLA? That's in Los Angeles." She is surprised.
"That's a short for University of California, Los Angeles." He is still joking.
"I mean, seriously you want to go there?"
He lets out a big sigh, "I don't know."
"Then why did you apply to go there?"
"Because I wanted to get away from my father." He is telling the truth.
"What about your siblings? Who will watch over them when your father is busy?" What about me, she thought.
"I don't even know. It's just an option." He shrugs.
"But you will take that chance?" She presses him.
"Probably, yeah."
A new friend. She thought she was getting a new friend, a good friend. But, he seems like he preferred to go away before they grew closer.
"Hey, do you want to hang out? Kennedy will be baking cookies with Katherine, she's already busy in the kitchen when I left." His question wipes of her thoughts.
"This early morning? On their own?"
"Katherine is an early bird and my dad's pretty much up." He spills the truth.
"I wish I could. I need to go to Michelle's house in a little bit to do some shopping." She actually prefers baking than shopping and of course to see Kyle.
"Oh."
"Will you be home for lunch? I mean you could have a cookie at lunch." Such a lame excuse to hang out, he thought.
"I think I will stay out late." She tells him.
"Shopping all day, huh?"
"No, Michelle wanted me to go shopping for this date that she arranged tonight."
"What date?" He's curious.
"My date with her teacher friend. Marco de Villa, I think."
"That Match teacher?" He just wants to make sure.
"Yes."
"Like a dinner or a movie?" He feels a little bit jealous.
"A dinner at the Groove."
"I work there as a part time waiter." He gets excited all of a sudden from the thought that he's able to see her tonight.
"Really?" She couldn't believe that.
"Yeah."
"Will you be working tonight?"
"Yup. I'll do closing tonight."
"Great! We could go together." She really hopes that Keith would say yes.
"Yeah, I could use the ride" He wouldn't dare to say no.
"We leave at six?"
"Okay."
"Um, how's the Carnival? Did you guys have fun?" She tries to ask about Kyle.
"I think so, though my dad kinda looled sick."
"Why?" She speaks too quickly.
"I don't know." He throws his shoulders up. "He didn't ride anything crazy."
"Is he okay now?" She sounds worry.
"My dad never got sick in my whole life. I think he'll be just fine." He's confused because Lara suddenly got curious about his dad.
"Don't you think he should go to the hospital?" She bits down her lips.
"He's okay."
"Oh! We're already here." Lara's surprised that she didn't feel the time actually went by.
"You sure you don't want some cookies?" He is hoping to hang out with her a little longer.
"Maybe next time." She pans her eyes to his house across the street.
"Alright. I'll see you at six." He crosses the street.
Across the street, Kyle is watching the two of them from the window upstairs. He never thought that they would walk home together. Ever.
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