Phenomenal

10~ Everything

Charlotte hurled Clarissa out of bed the next morning at quarter to five and threw jogging clothes and trainers at her.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" she cried, forcing Clarissa out of the massive t-shirt she left in, not a single blush as she grabbed a sports bra and wrenched it over Clarissa's head. "He'll be up! He'll be getting ready for his run. You need to catch him."

"What are you talking about?" Clarissa yawned, pulling on her top and bottoms by simple muscle memory rather then really having any conscious thought over it.

"Damien!" Charlotte cried, exasperated at her friend's sleep-riddled brain.

"What?" Clarissa asked, only to have her toothbrush shoved in her mouth and a smoothie slammed on the table. Wasn't this the smoothie she'd made last night? So she'd made so much so there was spare for breakfast? But that depleted the nutrients.

The pointless thoughts trailed her to the bathroom as she cleaned her teeth on autopilot, then drank the smoothie, blanching at the twisted taste of fruit and mint then Charlotte threw a sweatshirt and water bottle at her, smacking her into the face, and promptly kicked her out of the apartment.

Everything was done in less then ten minutes and Clarissa stood on the balcony outside her rooms... confused.

What just happened?

A door opening nearby made her look around and Damien stepped out of his apartment, Deacon on his lead.

The dog's ears instantly pricked up when he saw her and Damien looked up when he noticed his reaction.

He looked at Clarissa in simple surprise and she looked back at him with all the emotion of the walking dead.

"You're awake," he finally said.

"So I am," Clarissa said, looking out across the courtyard with squinting eyes. "I'm not sure why though."

"Maybe you should head back to bed?' Damien suggested, passing her, pulling his hood up. There was a mist that morning, darkening the sunlight, casting grey across the city and dampening everything.

"Where are you heading?" Clarissa asked.

"For my run," Damien said, his tone suggesting he expected her to remember something.

Clarissa just looked at him for a moment, then she blinked... blinked again... and her eyes widened and she straightened instantly.

"Oh yeah! We were talking about this yesterday!"

Damien let out a surprised laugh, staring at her. "My god, you really were tired yesterday. I didn't expect you to join me this morning so I aimed for my usual time. Shall we postpone until later?"

"No, no, it's fine, we're ready now, might as well get going," she said, zipping up her hoodie and pulling up the hood in hopes of blocking out the morning chill. "Yeah, sorry, I must have been so out of it yesterday, no wonder you thought it's sleep through it," she said with a smile as they made their way down.

"Oh, no, just figured you'd not want to," Damien said.

"Because of the time? But you agreed to go later then usual."

"No," Damien said, his voice a tad strained for a moment, "because of yesterday... with you boyfriend."

Clarissa looked up at him as they left reception. "Why would I not want to because of that?"

"Well because it had nothing to do with me and I was aggressive towards him. Some girls can get seriously scary when you threaten their guys."

"All you did was tell him to back off when I wanted him to leave," Clarissa said, crossing the empty morning road, heading for the local park. "Really I should be thanking you. Did you think you were being aggressive?"