The Flirtation

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She was awake by seven, a completely normal response to having been drunk the night before. This is what always happened when she fell asleep tipsy: she woke up wanting to be completely productive. Sometimes she cleaned her room, sometimes she got ahead on her homework, but this morning, she felt like exercising, so she pulled on running shorts and a loose t-shirt and tied the laces on her trainers before heading out for a jog around the sidewalks that wound through the apartment complex.

In general, Cassie enjoyed jogging. There was something so revitalizing about breathing in fresh air and the time alone gave her a chance to clear her head, a task which was in greet need after the events of the previous day.

It still amazed her that someone she'd known for less than twenty-four hours could spend so much time resonating in her thoughts. Despite her cool response to Tyler's flirtation on the balcony the previous night, every nerve end in her body had wanted to kiss him. The only thing that had stopped her, beside not wanting to upset Jessamine, was that she really wasn't bold enough to lean forward and plant her lips on his and for once in her life, she was glad that she was more reserved.

After returning to the party, she had spent the rest of the time they'd remained there, ensuring she was always as far away from Tyler as possible, not realizing that Tyler was doing his best not to keep glancing in her direction.

Cassie had managed to avoid him for a good two hours before Jessamine asked if she wanted to leave and she'd gladly said yes, making sure Jessamine was the one walking next to her brother on the way back to their own apartment. She'd bid the siblings goodnight almost as soon as they'd arrived back home and locked herself in her room, her heart beating almost erratically.

It had taken twice as long as usual to fall asleep last night because all she could think about was that Tyler was just down the hall, sleeping in the couch in the common area, and wondered if he had any idea that she would fall asleep with him on her mind.

He hadn't been on the couch when she left for her run, but she didn't think much of it, figuring he probably went to claim part of his sister's bed, which was decidedly more comfortable. She paused on the sidewalk that curved next to the community pool, mesmerized by a figure soaring effortlessly beneath the water. She watched him glide and kick every now and then and it wasn't until he came up for air that she realized it was Tyler. Mortified and not wanting him to know that she had been staring at him, once again, she turned away to finish her jog before he noticed, but was stopped short when he called out her name.

Freezing, she turned back to face him placing her hands on her hips to try and catch her breath, an effort which proved useless when her sights landed on Tyler pushing himself upwards and over the edge of the pool. His biceps flexed as he put his weight on his hands to lift himself up before swinging his leg over the edge and exiting the water. The weight of the water caused his bright red swim trunks to sag low on his hips, allowing his washboard like abdominal muscles to be more defined and revealing a line of script inked at his hip which read 'so far away'. Combine that with the fact that he was soaking wet and Cassie's mouth went completely dry.

Lowering his head, he shook the water from his hair before bringing one hand upwards to comb his fingers roughly through his wet curls, leaving them falling messily across his forehead as he came to a stop to her front, thinking she looked really cute, panting lightly, her short, curly ponytail swinging from the crown of her head.

"You're up early," he said, trying not to look too smug at the sight of her turning bright red because he was half naked and wet. Competitive swimming had kept him in shape over the years, the miles worth of laps he had to do during training sessions giving him toned muscles. Tyler knew better than anyone that his body was nice to look at, but he always enjoyed seeing that appreciation in others.

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