Chapter Ten: The Run-Part 1
Shawn opened his eyes and he was looking directly at the ceiling of his bedroom; he rubbed his eyes a little to clear his eye sight from the sleep that lingered there.
He got up from his bed when to the bathroom to pee after which he washed his face and brushed his teeth; he did a few stretches before pulling on his work-out clothes and went for an early morning run.
Shawn was an early bird and he doesn't joke with his work-out routine. He wakes up by 4am everyday runs for an hour, hits the gym for a few drills before running back to his house later around 7am except on Saturdays and Sundays when he works out only at home.
On this particular morning the weather was oddly cooler and it was as if it wanted to rain. Not really a good thing if you wanted to run very early in the morning.
He could have just worked-out at home. Regardless he continued his run, he normally has a route that he always follows every morning but diverted and followed the street that led to Angela's apartment.
He did not know why he followed there but he did and just as he predicted the first few drops of rain hit his long eyelashes light as a feather before heavier drops fell.
He blinked then he increased his speed so as to not get drenched in the rain but it was actually of no use. He tried to find shelter to wait it out until it reduced a bit before he heads back home, that's when he saw her.
Drenched in the rain, training, from her swift movements he could tell she knew martial arts and was really good at it which also came as a surprise to him.
He watched her the entire time, she performed a few back flips, the butterfly kick, eventually he found out she used all the animal styles of kung-fu from the ferociousness on the tiger style to the gracefulness of the crane. She was truly a master.
Although Shawn thought she didn't see him but she knew he was watching her. The intensity of the rain had already reduced it was just drizzling.
He was thinking if he should approach her or go back home without her seeing him.
He wiped his face and looked up and she was gone, there was no way she could have left there that fast. He sighed and was about to move when he heard her voice behind him.
"You know, it's not good to spy on people Mr. Fab" she said in slightly breathless husky voice which gave away the fact that she had run and it was the sexiest thing he has ever heard. But he furrowed his brows to what she used to address him.
"Mr. Fab?" he raised his eyebrows clearly puzzled because he never told her his name was Mr. Fab.
"Oh, that is just a name that I came up with since you didn't tell us your name the other day. And you bought that overpriced fabric so, I just thought I'd call you Mr. Fab, that's short for Mr. Fabric" she said with a cocky grin.
He was dumbfounded, of all the nicknames in this world, this girl could only come up with 'Mr. Fabric', his pride was broken and he was red with embarrassment but he tried to hide it.
"So, Mr. Fab is the best thing you could come up with?" he asked and she nodded her head with a lot of energy that you would think that her head would fall off from her neck.
"Mmmhmm, if it's not Mr. Fab, what else should I have used? Mr. Fab is pretty catchy you know" she winked like a child who was learning how to wink newly with all the muscles of her face doing the winking and he couldn't help it but laugh at how silly she looked when she did that.
"See, I told you" she said laughing with him.
He managed to compose himself even though he was still fighting the urge to laugh.
"Ummm, nope. I won't have you going around calling 'Mr. Fab'. Hell no" he said with a straight face.
"Well, I would have called you your real name but since I don't know it, I guess Mr. Fab would do" she said in a matter-of-fact kinda way, acting like she was clueless about how much he despised the name.
He opened his mouth to say something then closed it in defeat. Either he tells her his real name or he gets stuck being called this ugly nickname.
He already had his fair share of nicknames in high school and he is definitely not going to go through it again.
"Fair enough. Alright you win. My name is Shawn Jason but you can call me Shawn"
"Shawn?" and I nodded my head and I definitely like the way she said my name. "Well nice to meet you Shawn, you already know my name but I would say it again regardless. I'm Angela Stone" she said with a smile.
'Stone?' for some odd reason, the last name was stuck in my head. If she meant the Stone family which is his rival in the business then he shouldn't have anything to do with her, but what would a daughter of the Stone family be doing working as a waitress in a fast food restaurant, unless the last name was just a coincidence.
"It is nice to meet you Angela Stone" he smiled back.
It has stopped raining, but it was still dark. It was just the chilly breeze that raised goosebumps because of their wet clothes that was glued to their skin acting like a second layer of skin.
They both shivered in Angela rubbed her hands together before she said.
"It is getting pretty cold; I should be going back home. Where do you live Shawn?" she asked me.
"I live a couple of blocks away. I …." I started before she cut me off. "Then come over to my place to have a cup of coffee and some dry clothes, I wouldn't want you freezing to death.
It's the least I could do for Mr. Fab who was kind enough to buy me and my friend a piece of overprice clothing" there it was a again, the dreaded nickname.
"Thanks for the offer but I don't think I could possibly fit into any of your clothes, firecracker" I snickered at her not so thoughtful thoughtfulness.
"Oh, about that you don't have to worry. I usually buy really oversized sweat pants and sweat shirts" I gave her a puzzled look and raised my brows as to why she would buy oversized clothes, and as if catching my drift she smiled looked around as if checking if someone was listening to our conversation whereas we are the only ones there.
She signaled for me to come closer and to bring my ear, curious as to what she wanted to tell me I bent down a little and she took my head and brought her mouth close to my ear.
Her hands were cold and her breathe hot on my ears against the cold temperature outside and I had a tough time concentrating on what she wanted to say.
She looked around again and started whispering against my ears "Don't tell anyone. I bought those sweat pants and clothes to trick my girlfriends that I'm seeing someone or that I have a boyfriend when in fact I never had.
So, I got it and wore it to video call them with a green screen of an entirely different apartment to make them believe the act and I was off the hook. Am I smart or what?" she ended it with a giggle. I blinked, definitely could not believe my ears and started laughing.
I don't know what's funnier, the fact that she pretended to have a boyfriend by buying oversized clothes or the way she said it as if it was some top secret like the formula for Coca-Cola, but either way it was really funny and found her to be really adorably sweet.
"So, let me get this straight. You bought oversized clothes to avoid being bugged by your friends about the fact that you do not have a boyfriend?" I asked amid laughs and chuckles.
"What's a girl to do?" she shrugged and acted indifferent then her eyes widened then she turned to me quickly grabbing my wet shirted and said "please don't tell Kira, she would fucking kill me, please" she gave me those cute puppy eyes while she begged like her life depended on me keeping this little secret and it was hard to resist so I gave in.
"Alright, I won't tell her..." she heaved a sigh of relief "…on one condition" and the smile fell from her face and worry lines appeared on her forehead and her green eyes really confused.
I continued "that you stop calling Mr. Fab.
Come on, it's a really weird name" I tried to reason with her but she just smirked and said
"Lets go before our clothes dry on our bodies then we, well I would definitely catch a cold. I don't know about you though". And with that she ran off not waiting for my reply or agreeing to the condition that I gave her about keeping her secret.