THE JOCK JUST WANTS THE NERD [2]

45

||JACKSON||

Kenny stood aside like Kyle's assistant. He held a presentation with the lily plant he purchased from me which was surrounded by those cardboard borders with notes surrounding it. He seemed pretty good at speaking, influencing passerby's to pause and observe for a moment while Kenny was looking absolutely done by it. To be honest, I politely excused myself because I wasn't exactly interested myself, that and I wasn't smart enough to understand what the hell that was all about. Exiting the convention, the pouring rays of noon dawned on me with radiant warmth. To be frank, I had nothing in mind of what to do. I'm considering checking out the garden, but I've finished most of the tasks days ago. Tapping my foot on the ground, I pulled out my phone and tapped through my messages. "Are you free?" I grinned, sending it to none other than Ethan. I gazed intently though expecting a response in an instant. After a few minutes, I decided to give it a rest and do something at the moment and just wait for a notification to pop up. Just then, an idea came to mind. Staring down at myself, I pinched the side of my stomach and cringed at the plush feeling, "I'm getting fat," I frowned. I lifted my shirt have to check myself; my abs are still there, but they aren't defined as they used to. With that, it wouldn't be a bad idea to spend some time at the gym getting (Jack)ed.

Heh.

Wait, it sounded sexual than what I intended to.

-

I brought with me a duffle bag that contained a towel, a water bottle, and some spare clothes. Making my way to the gym, it wasn't a surprise that Damian was now at the front desk managing the area. He notices me, leaning over with his elbows and a smile on his face, "sup, actually using this place by yourself for once?" He says.

I nod at him, "thought I needed it, I felt my waist getting flabby."

Damian sighs and shook his head, "I feel ya bro, anyways, here," he then gestures a number pad, similar to the one at the cafeteria. Inputting my code, I do a few more steps before he allows me in. "I'm sure you don't need someone to look after you while pumping weights, unless you want me to?" He raises a brow.

Chuckling, I shrugged, "it's fine man, I'm good."

Waving, I ventured around and entered the locker room. Brings me back to high school in a weird way. Undressing my shirt, I wore a tight tank top along with some shorts. Sweatpants and hoodies are another option, though I wanna feel flexible as I do some lifting.

Once I was done, I kept my belongings and proceeded to do some light exercises and building up to heavier activities: benches, dumbbells, and other stuff to get swole.

-

It has been a couple of hours and I was sweating bullets. My entire body felt sore, I was desperate to tone my body after slacking off from working out. Gardening, school, and unbalanced meals just don't do well together along with my schedule.

As I was panting with my back resting upon one of the open seats my phone rang out in my pockets. Exhausted, I brought it out to check what it was. "Oh, Ethan," my eyes twinkled as if the sight of him replying gave me a boost of energy.

"My shift ends pretty early for today, in about 15 minutes we can hang around," he texts.

You gotta be shitting me.

I typed back as soon as I finished reading, "yep! I'll meet up with you as soon as possible," with that been said, I quickly got up rushed over to the locker room.

Bringing out my belongings I stepped out and stopped by Damian at the entrance, "wow, you look hurried" he notices my demeanor.

"Ah yep, got stuff to do," I nodded. We shared a few words while I timed out before saying goodbye. Jogging over back to the dorms, I immediately went straight to my room first and quickly held a shampoo bottle accompanied with my gym towel, and bolted to get to the shower area.

-

After finishing getting clean, I was now digging through some freshly folded clothes underneath my bed. There wasn't much of an option, but I settled with a grey shirt the shaped my body well and some jeans. My hair was still slightly damp after rubbing my towel on it so I left it be to dry. I scavenged to look for my keys and double-checked to see if I needed something else. I brought along my wallet with me and then locked the door. As I walked down the parking lot, I could see Kenny strolling around the walkway with the plant with him. He spots me. "Oh, hey Kenny," I said.

"Hi, can't believe you just left me to listen to Kyle ramble about his project alone. Then again, I was thinking the same thing," he sighs.

I let out a small laugh. It was somewhat surprising that he too didn't want to stay. Seeing that he has the same white orchid flower, I pointed at it, "did Kyle give you that?" I questioned.

"He says I should keep it. According to his research, it's supposed to help improve one's mental health or something like that, hence why they're called 'peace lilies'" Kenny rolled his eyes, appearing to not believe.

Tilting my head, I was about to continue the conversation but just remembered having to see Ethan, "ah, I gotta go. It was nice talking to you," I motioned.

"To where?" Kenny blinked.

"I'm gonna go hang out with Ethan."

Kenny disregarded and held his potted plant, "of course" he says before stoically walking away as if nothing else to say.