HIM by Brittney Cohen-Schlesinger Page A

and I was still pumped.
    “Ready for the date to continue?”
    “Of course,” I grinned.
    He took my hand and we ran down to the beach, the sand beneath our feet.  We took off our shoes and got into the cold water.  The moon was so bright; the water glistened underneath it.
    “It’s freezing in here!” I laughed as Jensen splashed me.
    “I think it’s the perfect temperature,” he teased sticking his tongue out at me while splashing me once again.
    I yelped playfully and hiked up my dress.  “You can’t catch me!”  I ran in and out of the water running away from Jensen as he attempted to capture me.
    “Wow, Avalon,” he grinned, “you’re one fast girl.”
    “I was on my high school’s track team all four years.”
    “Running’s always good.”  He walked over to me as we entered the water again.  “Do you still do that?”
    “No,” I told him honestly.
    “I mean you’re in good shape,” he smiled.  “It’s not like you need to work out or anything.”
    I chuckled.  “I guess I got a little lazy.”
    Okay, so that was about half of the truth.  I didn’t want to bring my rape situation into the conversation, which had to do a lot with why I stopped running recreationally recently.  I didn’t do much for recreational purposes anymore.
    “Well maybe over the next week we could run together at some point?” he suggested.
    “Only if you can keep up.”  I began to run again, feeling the familiar ache in my muscles.
    Jensen caught up to me and pulled me in by the waist to look me in the eyes.  “Where have you managed to hide all my life?”
    “My bedroom.”
    He shook his head with a playful grin and tickled me until I collapsed on the floor, gleefully grateful for one of the best evenings of my life.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

SEVEN.
     
    The birds chirped and the sun shone bright through the clouds as Jensen and I ran along Lake Michigan Beach.
    “I want to know more about you,” he told me, playfully bumping into me.
    “We’re supposed to be running,” I reminded him, “not talking or playing bumper cars.”  At this point I now felt more at ease around Jensen; like I didn’t have to pretend to be someone I wasn’t.
    “Oh come on, Ava,” he laughed, “don’t take the fun out our time together.  At least not out of my bumping.”
    “Well it’s not fun for me,” I told him, laughing.  I tried very hard to concentrate on the running I was doing but Jensen was just too gawk-worthy to look away from.  I spent quite a bit of time staring at him.  I hoped it wasn’t too obvious.
    “So if I bumped you again you’d hate me?”
    “No, I wouldn’t hate you. I’d just be annoyed for a second.”
    “Okay, I can handle a second.”  Once more he bumped into me.  But this time I fell onto the sand, my arm hitting a sharp rock buried beneath.  “Oh my gosh, Avalon, I am so sorry!”
    Blood trickled down my arm and onto the side of my light sweatshirt.  “It’s okay.”  I got up, brushing the sand off of me.
    “Here, let me help you.”  He pulled out a bandana from his shirt pocket and wrapped it around my arm to keep the blood from flowing.
    “You carry a bandana with you?” I chuckled.
    “You never know when a bandana can come in handy.  Fixing a car and don’t want to get your hands dirty, wiping the sweat off of your forehead or even aiding someone’s injuries.”  His eyes dulled as he said the last several words.
    “Ah.  Well thank you.”
    “Ava, I’m so –”
    “Save it,” I cut him off.  “Let’s just finish our run, then bring me home…without bumping.”  I winked at him and he smiled in return.  When our run was over we departed in front of the beach house.  I didn’t like it but Jensen had to work for a while so there wasn’t much of a choice in the matter.
    “Ouch, Avalon,” Tory said when I came into the house, “what happened to you ?”
                  The blood had seeped through