Lessons of A Feminist

diaphoresis and a date

"Three weeks, max."

"Three months." She countered.

"One month." Luke mumbled, his words unclear with a Chicago Flames baseball cap perched over his face, hiding the beaming sun. He shuffled his body a little before he was sitting up on the bleachers and moved the hat, "One month, tops."

"Are you kidding? Clarke doesn't date." Cho emphasized, "I've been privy to every goddamn hook-up she's had. And there's been a lot." She tipped her head back, wiping the sheen of sweat at the tip of her forehead, "But boyfriend? There hasn't been a single one."

The May weather was growing uncomfortably hot and Cho was itching to rip off the jeans she wore. Unfortunately, her mother was running late with traffic leaving her in the sweltering heat – with her butt feeling very sticky against the cold material of the bleachers. She stared intently at Clarke who was seemingly laughing loudly at a joke on the field while she shoved Jake away. They were both drenched in perspiration but were clearly willing to do a few more laps as they prepared for a friendly race.

"Watching both of them exercise gives me physical pain." Cho whined, "I just want her to drive me home so I can rip off these disgusting clothes."

"Yeah, you have some pretty sexy pit stains there Harry Potter." Luke chirped before glancing down at his phone, "How much does she party?" He made a low whistle, "Geez." He swivelled his phone in Nick and Cho's direction showing Clarke's profile. Each photo was her posing with a someone, a beer in her hand and a grin on her face – once in a while there was a picture of Cho and her baking, or Cho with a bowl of popcorn.

"Why do I never see you at these parties?" Nick questioned, "Not a fan of drinking?"

"Not a fan of people." Her face twisted, "Man, that sounded morbid. I mean, not a fan of being around a crowd. Also because, I'm not invited." She squinted her eyes at the sunlight, "Duh."

"I don't trust her." Luke stated, suddenly, out of the blue, "Jake's too innocent for her."

Cho raked her hand through her hair, pulling it up into a ponytail and scoffed, "Wasn't he the one that made the joke about the guy dressed as a chicken and hooking up with an egg? That was pretty perverse." She grabbed her Human Geography essay and began fanning herself, "God, is it hot out, or what?"

"It's because I'm here." Both Nick and Luke respond at the same time, before shooting one another incredulous looks. Luke laughed before continuing, "It's just... Once Jake likes a girl, he becomes obsessed and will do anything to be with her. It's unhealthy."

"Looks like you guys have a lot in common." Cho muttered under her breath.

Luke scowled, "He's the kind of guy who gets his heart broken more times than he should. He's the best guy."

"Wow, don't forget about me." Nick clutched his chest, "I'm wounded."

"Can you talk to Clarke? Maybe figure out whether or not she's into him too?" Luke prompted, ignoring Nick's antics, "He doesn't need his heart broken again."

Cho's eyes brightened, "Ooh, a story. Elaborate on the tragedy." Her face grew more serious, "Not that it's funny that Jake may have suffered from a tragedy."

Luke stuck his hat back on the top of his head and huffed, "No, it's not funny, just a little ridiculous." Jake, Nick and Luke had been best friends since elementary school – there wasn't a single thing the trio didn't do together. Besides football, thanks to Nick. Jake was the heart, Luke was the brains and Nick provided all the laughs. They had always been a perfect combination of empathy, thought and humour. Nick had some skeletons in his closet and Luke was supposedly the tortured one of the three; Jake, well, Jake had it pretty easy. His family was kind and supportive, and he was a well-rounded individual. Except he beat himself down – a lot. Even though he was extremely masculine with his athleticism and jawline, he was pretty fragile-hearted. They had all been protective of one another, just as Nick had been weary of Lana's intentions for Luke. "He went on a cruise. A two-month cruise around Europe and he met a girl who lived in, like, Vancouver. They had pretty much nothing in common. She was really into art and listened to a lot of Miranda Lambert. Of course, Jake fell madly in love with her within the first week and when she friend-zoned him, saying she couldn't do long-distance, he cried. For days."