Parking Lot Kids

Chapter 8: Mixed Signals

Senior Year: First Day of Classes

James

I woke to the sound of my alarm ringing, unusually groggy. Anyone will tell you that James Potter is a morning person, but Sirius had kept me up half the night retelling every tiny detail of his summer. His family's house in Nice, the fights with his parents and Reg, and unfortunately each one of his "love affairs" as he loved to call them. And when I tell you these stories were detailed, I mean Sirius could be a famous Wattpad smut writer detailed. Ugh, I can't think of that anymore.

"Can you shut that shit up!" Sirius groaned from the other side of the room. He was NOT a morning person.

I rolled over to turn off the alarm blaring from my phone. "Sorry Sirius."

All I got in reply was a muffled "Whatever."

Well, now that I was awake I better get my morning run in. I need to be in shape if I want to make the soccer team. Plus, it will help me shake off some of these first day of class jitters. The hardwood floors were cold on my bare feet as I padded over to my dresser to get some clothes. I grabbed a pair of black Nike joggers and a blue t-shirt before going into the bathroom to get ready. Ten minutes later I emerged from the bathroom all dressed, ready for a great workout. Before leaving I grab my airpods off my nightstand.

The hallways are eerily quiet this early, so my footsteps echoed loudly down the long stone corridors. As I pass the pool on my way to the running trail, I'm surprised that the lights are on inside. Curiosity nags me until I open the large metal double doors. The hinges squeak as I shove open the doors. Just then a boy pulls himself from the water onto the tile pool deck. His eyes find me as he stands up. Uh oh. Short black hair, tanned skin, swimming at 6:30 in the morning, this could only be one person. The boy lifted his goggles to reveal grey-blue eyes I've spent a little too much time thinking about.

"Hey Regulus," I squeak out.

"James, up for a morning run?" he asked, water dripping off of his almost naked body that must have been sculpted by the gods.

"Uh.. yeah. Y'know I have to be in top shape for soccer if I want to be captain again this year." Wow, I managed to get through a sentence without looking like a complete idiot. "Practicing for the swim team?"

"Yeah kinda, swimming also just helps me relax," he smiled.

"Oh yeah, I totally get that. It's the same with me and running," I began. "It really helps me get my mind off anything that's bothering me."

"Yes, I'm glad someone finally gets it. Everytime I try to talk to Sirius about it he just gives me that "I literally hate you so much we couldn't be more different look.""

"Haha yeah I know how he can be. I thought for sure he was going to murder me when my alarm woke him up this morning," I laughed.

Regulus started to laugh with me, which gave me this weird fluttering in my stomach. "Well if you ever get bored running alone, sometimes swimming gets a little boring and I'm always up for some morning exercise," he winked. Bruh, did I see that right. Did this fucking man just wink at ME? Okay, come on James you got this. Just take this one word at a time.

"Uh... um... that would be great. Well... anyways... I gotta go. Seeyalaterbye!" I called, backing out of the pool area.

Once I was in the hallway, I Usain bolted out the back door to the running trail. Now I really needed to clear my head. The air was slightly crisp, some foreshadowing of the upcoming fall. Bits of ground crunched under my sneakers as I jogged along the path. A light sweat started to form on my forehead once I neared the half mile mark. Usually by this point in the run my thoughts would sort of melt away leaving my mind blissfully blank, today however was turning out to be quite unusual. I couldn't shake the interaction with Regulus no matter how hard I tried to forget about it.