Careless and Reckless — Chapter 12

It's Saturday!

I'm literally happy dancing right now, no joke. This week felt like a lifetime and now it's finally the weekend, hallelujah!

For some reason even though this week was actual hell and it tired me to no end I woke up early this morning, strange I know. It's five thirty in the morning but I couldn't have more of energy. I can't make any noise though otherwise Alice and Hugo will murder me so I think I'm going to go for a run before breakfast.

That reminds me, mum is still away for work which means I'm not having one of her heavenly means, fucks sake.

I quickly put on my running clothes and quietly make my way down the stairs. If I wake up the twins I won't hear the end of it, trust me I've done it before. They made my life a living hell for a week, I've tried to suppress those memories but the mere thought makes me shudder involuntarily. Let's just say I've learnt my lesson and will never be doing that again.

A lot of people ask me why I bother with running. They say things like 'are you that obsessed with how you look' or 'you're not fat so why bother', stupid I know. They don't seem to understand that I run because I like it. Yes, it keeps me in shape but that's not why I do it. I run because it helps me. Whenever I have a lot on my mind or I'm stressed running helps me clear my head. It doesn't have to be about looks all the time, people just don't seem to understand that.

The days haven't gotten too much shorter yet because it's only September so the sun is out. Soon I'm going to have to rethink the times when I run because as we get closer to winter the sun comes out less and less.

I'm going to go around the park–which is about a fifteen-minute jog away–that takes about half an hour and come back. So in total about an hour jog, not too intensive but I'm not in the mood for that.

Because it's early there are not too many cars about which means I can jog in peace. I put in my headphones and bob my head to the music as I go down the all too familiar path.

The only problem with the park is when I get too close to any dogs. I wouldn't say I'm scared of them but I'm not exactly comfortable around them either. I can handle walking past a dog when their owner has them on a leash but when they are allowed to just run wild is when I get worried.

That's another good thing about going for a run at this time. It's about ten to six on a Saturday morning, no one in their right mind is up–I'm the exception, obviously–so there are a scarce number of dogs around.

Just as I say that I hear a barking noise. I fucking jinxed myself, great. I look around but see no dog in sight, maybe I'm just imagining things. Never mind, as I turn around I can see one in the distance running towards me.

Wait.

Hold up.

RUNNING TOWARDS ME?!?!

FUCK.

In this situation I did what any person with a working brain would do, I run, I run fast, I run very fast.

Stupid, stupid me. I'm never going to able to outrun a freaking dog. What the hell was I thinking?!

As the seconds go by it starts to gain on me now it's just a few metres away. Oh, why? What did I do to deserve this? I've been good–mostly. Okay so maybe I took Alice's iPhone charger without telling her and claimed it as my own so she thought she lost hers and had to buy a new one. And maybe I painted Hugo's room hot pink and swapped everything in his room for the hot pink version as well–in my defence I had a good reason, he finished MY cereal one morning so I had to have stupid porridge for breakfast. And maybe I was driving mum's car and crashed it into a lamppost because I was cursing a driver for not indicating. But I'm a saint, honestly, I am.

Oh god, it's almost ca–ompf.

Shit. Shit. Shit. There's a dog on me. Holy fuck.

Okay, so obviously I act like any rational person and scream at the top of my lungs, thrashing underneath its weight. Side note, can I just say that it's bloody heavy, seriously what the hell does this thing eat.

It leans it's head towards my face as it does so I gulp.

"Fuck," I curse as it starts to lick my face.

There's a dog licking my face. I think I'm going to faint. This cannot be happening. I try again to push the dog off of me but it won't budge. Note to self, start working out–okay so that's never going to happen but whatever.

I begin to hyperventilate. This might sound stupid but put yourself in my position. There's a random dog on top of me, that could have rabies might I add, and it's licking my face. Not to mention that I'm not the biggest fan of dogs.

I'm about to scream for the umpteenth time when for some reason the dog moves and is now no longer on top of me. I cautiously open my eyes that I've kept shut throughout this whole traumatising experience.

When I do I see that the dog now has a blue leash attached to its collar. Thank fuck. The bloody owner finally found their dog after letting it loose.

I get up onto my feet, dusting myself as I do but to no avail. I look up and let's just say that I'm not prepared to see the owner of this creature.

You guessed it, it's Wyatt fucking King. Seriously, why can't I seem to escape this guy? Oh and guess what, he's smirking big shocker there–not.

"Fancy seeing you here, green eyes," he says, trying to hold in his laugh, bastard.

"Have you been stalking me, King?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

He chuckles at this "Nah I think you've got it the wrong way round."

I scoff. "Please, why would I want to see your horrid face more than absolutely necessary." Okay so obviously I was lying there, his face is the total opposite of horrid but I'm not about to tell him that.

Now it's his turn to scoff. "Let's be real here, you're dying to see me and my handsome face as much as possible so you've resorted to stalking me as I take my dog for a walk," he states in absolute confidence.

I give him a look, wondering if he's actually serious. When his face doesn't change I open my mouth but am quickly cut off by his barking laughter. Thank hell he was joking. He'd be a really good actor, I honestly thought he was being serious. How can anyone be that good at lying? Must come from years of practice. Now that I think of it it's not a good thing, I've no idea why I'm commending him for it.

"How come you can lie so well?" I blurt out without thinking. I slap my hand on my forehead in embarrassment. Why the hell did I say that, stupid Aurora. "What I mean is how come you can hold such a straight face? I mean you didn't even falter once."

"Years of practice."

I raise my eyebrow, "any reason you've been lying for years?" Okay, that's quite invasive, you're so dumb Ari, now he's going to be uncomfortable around you. I internally groan at myself for my idiocy.

He shrugs but smirks. "I can't be revealing all my secrets, can I?" Fair point. At least he's not mad at me.

Suddenly, his dog barks and I immediately jump away from it. Wyatt seems amused by my response and fails to hold in his laughter. "Afraid are we, green eyes?"

I scoff. "Puh-lease, why would I be afraid of a harmless little dog," I say, quite confidently might I add even though I'm lying my arse off.

He raises an eyebrow at me, "whatever you say," he says, sounding unconvinced. Maybe I'm not that good at lying.

I brush him off with a wave of my hands. "What's his name anyway?" I know for a fact it's a boy. Let's just say when he was on top of me there was definite evidence to support this.

He looks away from me and mumbles something but it's impossible to hear. "What did you say?" He mumbles slightly louder this time but I've still no clue what he said. "I still can't hear you, speak up."

"His name is Cat," he says just loud enough for my ears to pick out.

Cat. His dog is called Cat? I can't help myself, I burst out laughing. "Wait, let me get this straight," I say between tears, "you named your dog Cat?"

He scowls at me so I try to compose myself but fail miserably. After a few attempts I manage to stop laughing but the grin won't leave my face. "Firstly I didn't name him, my little sister did and secondly Cat is just for short," he says sounding slightly irritated but I can tell that he's not actually annoyed.

"So what's his real name?" I question, eyebrows raised.

He shakes his head at me and doesn't answer. Instead, he says "that's not important. Anyway since you're here I'd like to have my first tutoring session."

Tutoring?

Oh right, I promised to tutor him in maths. I completed forgot. Urgh! I guess I have to, a deal is a deal.

"Alright. When and where?"

"My place, now." He gives me a suggestive smile and it's only then I realise the double meaning of his words. Okay, I probably should have worded it better on my part, I kinda walked right into that one.

I ignore the side smirk he is giving me and nod. I'm not that sweaty anyway, seeing as I didn't get to finish my run.

I walk with him to his house, making conversation as I do. I'm not sure how I'm talking to him so easily, usually, I have a hard time talking with new people but with him the words just flow like water under a bridge, let me tell you that's an amazing feeling.

We get to his house and as soon as he opens the door I can hear voices. Shit. I forgot Wyatt has a family and a big one at that. I guess I'm meeting his family.

Deep breaths Aurora, you can do this.