Chapter 10

Waking up single wasn't really an experience I can say I had enjoyed. Granted, Nicole and I had only been going out for about a month, but it had been a nice month for me. I'd gotten to know her more both as a person and as a girlfriend. It had come as a surprise that things were over, but at least it hadn't been too bad. She was a nice girl, so I'm sure she had made it a point of doing her best to let me down easy. One thing I did try to think about as my day started though; that despite how things ended I did still want to have her as a friend. There was also the obvious fact that I would miss the physical aspects of it. I don't know what guy wouldn't, in that situation.

The first real thing I did though was to take the dog out for his walk. I'd gotten dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a simple t-shirt to do it, it was one of the race t-shirts from a 5k I'd done as part of our cross country season from the previous year. Once I had the dog back in I decided going for a run was a good idea. I didn't take any music with me this time; I just wanted some time to be able to pound the pavement and to think. Options: I actually had a few, or so I thought as I ran. The first, I could take some time off from the dating scene to make sure my feelings were sorted out after my time with Nicole. The second, I could see if something would happen with Tonya. The third, I could take a friend of mine up on her offer to do a double-date with her boyfriend and a girl she knew.

Each of those had advantages, I thought. If I took time off I might be in a better state of mind for the next girl that I tried to go out with. The question with that was whether I was truly in a bad place or not. Sure, I was hurting a little bit, but it wasn't like I was in love with Nicole or anything like that. The experience had been a good thing, though. A month's time and I'd grown in that short time. I'd learned that I could actually spend time with a girl in a relationship and not make a fool out of myself. Granted I was still at heart an awkward feeling 16 year old but that didn't mean I had to make it obvious.

As the run went I just let my thoughts go, using the distraction of my thoughts to start pushing the pace up a little. A quick glance at my watch showed I'd been running for about 15 minutes now and had covered roughly 2 miles so far. I'd run the area enough to have set routes I could go depending on the distance. Today's workout was looking like it would only be a 4 mile workout maybe. I hadn't been running as much lately and it was showing in my conditioning now. I'd still been able to hit the first two miles at a decent pace but I was probably going to need to ease back to finish the next 2 miles without stopping. That worked, since this wasn't a time I needed to work on pace really. Running during the summer was more about keeping mileage and the endurance up so that come fall cross country workouts I would still have a good base to work up from.

The workout ended up taking about 35 minutes and from there it was a little walk to cool down before heading inside for a much needed shower. Once out of the shower there was a definite craving that I deserved indulging in before heading into work. It'd been enough of a frustration the night before that a large shake was going to go well. In my opinion, Jakes Over the Top was the only place in the area that you would go to when you were really wanting a good shake. They had a lot of different flavors and the berries for anything that had it were always fresh, the shakes always thick, and even the 'mini' size they had was a size large anywhere else.

After putting the dog in the kennel I went out to the car and then the three miles it took to get down to Jakes. It had been a relatively new addition moving in last year to Kaysville. There were two other Jakes in the area, one further north in Ogden up by Weber State University, the other down in Salt Lake by the University of Utah. The burgers there were edible at best, but that wasn't the main reason people went there, and certainly not the reason that I went there.

It was a few minutes after I'd sat down with my root beer float and I was sitting down at a two person table when I felt hands reach around and cover my eyes. "Guess who?" The voice was a definitely female voice, and a familiar one at that. My first guess was given further proof by the relatively small size of the hands covering my eyes.

Reaching a hand out to grip one of hers and pull it off I answered before I would have been able to see her. "That would be the lovely and petite Tenille." My correct guess was confirmed when she pulled her hand from me and stepped around to show herself fully, a grin on her face.

"Don't go anywhere for a minute, I'm going to order a shake myself and then come back so we can talk for a bit." Suiting actions to words I watched as she walked away and over to the register to order. As Tenille walked I took the liberty of enjoying the view fully. She may have been short and petite but what was there was all proportionate. Thin at the waist with hips that flared out to show her curves. The shorts she wore were a snug fit which only helped to show that she had the type of ass that showed it well.

It was only a few minutes before she returned, taking the seat across from me at the small table, setting her shake down and taking a bite. "Haven't seen you at work for a few days, you aren't avoiding me, are you?" She still had that smile on her face which was usual for her. It was rare to see Tenille when she wasn't in a fairly good mood. Even when she'd been sick enough back when we were in junior high that she'd had to be home schooled she still had kept in good spirits.

I shook my head to answer as I swallowed the ice cream I had before verbally answering. "No, just haven't matched up schedules very well lately. I was going to try to go in a little early today and see if you were at work, but I'm thinking you're off for the day." "Yeah, no work for me today. I figured I'd come up and get a shake and then figure out what to do with the rest of the day from there. I may head over to Lagoon later this afternoon or evening and just hang out for a while. If anything, could just head out to the water park for a while and then come by and bug you once you're on shift tonight." We were settling into a pattern now, each person eating ice cream while the other would talk for a minute before switching back.

"Well if that's the case, feel free to only put the shorts on and come by. I for one wouldn't mind seeing you in your bikini top." I gave a little bit of a wink after that comment, I didn't want to get smacked after all. I was pretty sure she'd take it innocently enough, if not a little bit flirty. I'd known her for a while now though, so I was pretty sure it wasn't something I'd have to worry a whole lot about.

Her initial response was a surprise to me though, a half laugh half cough as she tried to inhale the bite of ice cream that she had in her mouth. "Ass hole." A simple enough statement once she'd gotten the ice cream down. "Or pervert, if not both. What would Nicole say, you saying something like that while going out with her?" "Actually she probably wouldn't have much to say on that one. She broke up with me last night. She said that she didn't think it would work out with her living down in Salt Lake and the summer getting close to being done. Granted, she was probably right. At our age it'd be tough to stay in contact with it being long distance to call and a 45 minute drive each way. Though I do think she wanted to end it now to give a little time free to see what happens before summer is truly over." Tenille hadn't eaten during that, just watching me, a sad look on her face for a minute before she simply shrugged. "Who'd have thunk ... naïve and shy Ryan coming up with a good reason on the timing of it. Maybe you aren't a safe guy to hang around with anymore. That was always one of the things I've liked about you. You're a genuinely good guy, not one of the muscle-bound football jerks who thinks he walks in water just because he knows what to do on the football field. Just don't let that go to your head." "Heaven forbid I should get a big head. I don't think I've got quite enough going for me to grow a big ego. I've learned a little bit from going out with her, even if it is over now, so it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Showed me that I actually can get a date when I want one, I just have to decide when I want one, see who with, and how it goes." "Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. You could get a date with several people I can think of. You may just want to wait a little while to make sure you've got the right timing for it." There seemed to be a subtle hint there and my mind latched on to part of it. I could get a date. Unfortunately for me and for how the next two years would go I missed the recommendation about waiting for the right timing for it. "You think so, hmmm? That's good to know. I'll definitely have to keep that in mind. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to go back to school with a new girlfriend along for the ride." She chuckled a little before turning briefly serious. "Just don't go thinking it's me on that one. I like you a lot, but value our friendship too much to want to risk messing it up if things were to go bad if we tried dating." It was only a minor let down. I definitely wouldn't have minded trying to date Tenille and see if it would work. She was right though, we were good friends, and perhaps it was the better bet to let it stay that way instead of trying to see what may come of a dating attempt. "Shot down before I could even make the attempt." I was chuckling a little myself, a good way to make sure that she knew I wasn't serious with that remark.