wild and running || a.b. (series on hold)

Chapter 33

I eventually catch back up to Clay. Despite he breeze, I find myself begging to sweat. Lovely. I'm sure I smell nice. Clay glances behind himself with a bright smile. "Back I see?" He says as I get closer behind him. He's going with more of a sprint than a jog. Curse his years of track. "Yup." I breathe. He laughs and I eventually end up beside him. "Remember when we were younger and I would always try to race you, but you were too slow?" He smirks. "What?" I gasp. "No. I don't remember being too slow, sir." I smile. "Well. Let's see what you've got." He says. I shove him back and begin to sprint. "Hey! Cheater!" He yells while running full speed behind me. I laugh as I hear James and Marie yelling in protest. I glance behind me to see Clay almost passing me up. "No!" I giggle while cutting in front of him and almost tripping on a bunch of fallen tree branches. The trail starts to go downhill and we pick up major speed. We both laugh as the wind whips around us. The moonlight reflects on something in front of me. "Clay there's a pond!" I yell while I try to stop myself. "Clay!" I laugh as he wraps his arms around me and picks me up, swinging me around until we eventually both fall into the ice cold water of the small pond. "Clay!" I splash him and he laughs while slicking his wet hair back. It usually sticks up in a quiff. I admit that the flat hair looks kind of cute. Marie suddenly starts screaming and laughing as Clay and I switch our focus to James rolling down the small hill. He eventually splatters into the edge of the pond. "Clumsy ass." Clay mutters. I laugh as James gets up and starts to chase Marie back up the hill, hia wet hair flopping around. Her foot slips on a pile of leaves and ends up falling back down, taking James with her. A bit likes dominoes. The eventually both tumble into the pond and we all roar in laughter. I float on to my back and look up at the small opening between the trees. Stars twinkle brightly, there's not a cloud in sight. 

"We need to finish our jog." I laugh while getting out of the pond. "True." Clay says. "I have class tomorrow." I groan. We all begin running down the rest of the trail. "We should play hide and seek." James says once week get too a fully wooded area. "That would be fun!" Marie exclaims. I laugh. Im glad to see her so happy. She must really like James. "Okay. Well you're it." Clay says. James closes his eyes and counts backwards from sixty as  we all run and hide. I quietly climb up a tree. I don't see Marie or Clay from where I am so they must be hiding really good. James eventually finds Clay and I climb down from my tree. "Lara Croft much?" James asks. I just laugh in return.

"We should probably be getting back now." Marie says after at least an hour of hide and seek. "Alright. Back to the trail." Clay says. We all stand and look at each other, waiting for someone to lead the way to the trail. "Do we know where that is?" I ask quietly. Everyone just stays silent until James laughs quietly and we all begin laughing. "Did someone bring their phone?" Clay asks. The one time I don't bring my phone anywhere... No one replies. "Lovely." He says. "Well. We just have to find it."  We start to look around. All I can see is trees and trees and more trees. The only source of light we all have is from the moon, thankfully it's shining bright tonight. Clay and I make eye contact and the moonlight bounces off of his eyes creating a crystal like look. A piercing hits my heart. That eye contact was about .5 second to long. "It can't be too far." I say while walking in a separate direction from everyone else. Leaves crunch beneath my feet, causing me to get a little bit paranoid. I look around me and don't see anything suspicious. I make my way back to everyone else and James points in a certain direction, "I think it's that way." We all follow him and pass by some familiar rocks. "We're close." I say while staying close to everyone and constantly looking around us. "Are you alright." Clay laugh. "What?" I breathe. My heart is hammering. He makes a pouty face, "Is someone scared?" I stiffen up, "No." Something falls in the distance and I jump. Clay's eyebrows furrow and he puts his hand around my back. "Get in front, I'll stay in the back." His policeman instincts are taking in. James and Clay make eye contact and James moves faster.

We eventually get back on the trail and run back. We all get into Clay's car with some laughs. I pull out my phone to see that's it's nearly 2 a.m. "Dang. We were in there for a really long time." I say. It didn't even feel that way. "Do you guys all just want to come to my house? I'm super tired." "Yeah that's fine." Marie slurs while falling on to me. I sigh and lean my head back, dozing off a bit. I wake back up when the inside car lights come on as the front two doors opened. I shake Marie off as James opens her door. Clay opens mine and I smile sleepily. "Thank you." I sigh. He stops me, "Piggy-back ride?" I giggle, "Oh no. I'm fine." "Come on, Ivory. You used to love those." I give in and hop on to his back. "You're still as light as a feather." He compliments. "Thanks." I say while resting my head on his shoulder. He types in the passcode on a fancy keypad to unlock the garage. It opens and a shiny police car, or black and white as Clay likes to call it, is sitting in its rightful place. I admire it as he opens the front door to his house. He turns the lights on a bit, keeping them dim enough to not hurt my sleepy eyes, and holds the door open for James to drag a half-asleep Marie inside. "Do you want to shower?" Clay asks. "I need to." I murmur. "I think we all need to." James laughs while setting Marie on the couch. She falls asleep in an instant. James smiles and runs his fingers through his long hair.

He loves her.

Clay brings me upstairs to his master bathroom. I admire everything we pass by. His house is a beautiful color scheme or black, white, and a deep blue. It's very modern. He sets me down and starts to run the shower. It's a gorgeous glass walk in. He sits down on a very fancy looking chair in the corner of the bathroom and begins taking off his shoes. Why does he have a chair in the bathroom? He looks up at me, "You can get in, you know." "I know." I say while slipping off my shoes also. He gets up and ruffles his hair off in the mirror. A few pieces of crushed leaves fall in the sink below. "What are you waiting for?" He asks with a smile. "You to get out so I can undress." He walks over to the giant bathtub on the other side of the room. "Well I have to take a bath, so that won't be happening anytime soon." I turn around. He's seen me naked before, what's the difference now?

Oh yeah, it's been quite a long time, and I have a boyfriend. He's not gonna get out anyways, so might as well. 

I quickly undress, keeping my back turned to him. I hear the bathtub switch on as I open the shower door. I turn to close it to catch him taking off his shirt, his back muscles moving with insane strength as he pulls it over his head. Police force workouts served him well. I close the shower door and adjust the water temperature to the way I like it. Steam fills the shower as I turn my back to the falling water, letting it run over my muscles. Showers are always my happy place. I ended up having to use men's shampoo and soap, but in the end I didn't mind. Clay and I both stay silent. I have a feeling that if one of us tried to start a conversation while we were bathing that it would end up super awkward.