Afternoon Run

four; ❝kiss❞

A week later, we've resumed our regular running schedule. Jogging has always been effective at calming me down, and allowing me to relax. During that time, I'm worry about nothing else. And, all I can focus on is spending time with Jesenia.

  I smile as I look back on everything that I've learned about her. I had heard random childhood stories, such as how when she was 10, she tried to ride a skateboard. She failed miserably and that day, she decided to throw it in a lake. She told me how she had regretted it the moment she did it, since her parents found out and forced her to continue. They fished the skateboard out and made me her practice every single day.

On one hand, she's now an expert at that. On the other hand, she hates skateboards and dreadsw even looking at one.

"Are you ready, Adelina?" Jesenia questions, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Only if you are," I say.

Today, we're on our usual run, and everything is going fine. . . And then she asks me a very sudden and very direct question.

"Are you interested in girls?"

"I don't know," I respond, giving her my honest answer. "I think I might be."

When I look back on my experiences, I've never thought much about what I've felt. I've had crushes before, but it's one of the few things that I was able to leave out of my constant worrying. It's very apparent that she might have other intentions with this question, but I won't make her aware of that.

"Tell me when you figure it out."

"Why do you care so much?" I ask, wondering why she's being so direct.

"I'm gay, Adelina. I just thought you should know that, and you can leave if you don't like it," she immediately say.

She's so straightforward, and I admire that. And, I would be lying if I said that her confirmation of her being gay doesn't make me happy.

"It's fine with me," I tell her.

"Good," she says with a sweet smile.

The silence that follows is awkward, so I decide to break it by making an impulsive decision. I've always been known to either take one second of thinking before I do something, or never do it at all because of my constant worries and doubts.

"Let's race to the lake!" I yell loudly.

I start sprinting across the grass until I catch sight of the sparkling lake. Despite having the advantage, I only beat her to it by a mere few seconds.

"You're fast," she says slowly, trying to regain her breath.

"So I've been told."

Truth be told, I had been told that. As caption of the track team, I was used to those compliments. Admittedly, from Jesenia, it means a bit more to hear her say that.

"Let's take a swim," she suggests.

"I'm good," I tell her.

"C'mon! It'll be fun," she says, as she begins to strip off her clothes.

She's so confident and careless that it almost makes me jealous.

I turn around and tell her, "I said no."

I place my hands on my hips, and based on the death stare I must be giving her, she immediately puts her clothes back on.

"Fiiine," she says, stretching out the sound of the I.