Forgetting is Best (JD.)

[JD Paerson]

JD laughed at Jalen's airboxing, then put one hand over her arms to bring them down. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I can handle myself. And don't worry about your secret. My lips are sealed. And if anyone asks I'll tell them you're the roughest, meanest, scariest girl ever to walk the halls of Hammel. Well, nearly, anyway." He thought of a few of the other characters wandering around the school and shuddered.

He shrugged. "Guess I'm just used to all my classmates staring at me whenever I go off on a subject." Mostly because he often knew more than the teacher had even mentioned, or he was busy correcting the teacher. He wasn't exactly aware of the term 'overachiever' and how it might be applied to him. "Well, then, feel free to test that out sometime." He still felt that it was in how you dropped it--namely if you threw it a bit in the right direction.

"I guess it's a bit of luck. But luck is more apparent if you have people who are basically on equal footing skill-wise. Skill tends to beat out beginner's luck, but if there's two people who are both really good, then it really is down to the luck of the draw. Certain games can eliminate this, but I find that the computer-designed randomizer within the video games does not actually eliminate luck but rather seems to encourage it, potentially to encourage people to feel that they always have an opportunity to do better." And realizing that he was once again spouting off, he quickly snapped his mouth closed, though at least he didn't apologize this time.

JD raised an eyebrow. "You think I would actually lie about it? What, to make you feel better? I'm a little hurt that you think that of me. But yes, you actually won. You can trust me."

She was walking backward, which made him a little nervous that she was going to trip over something, but he consoled himself thinking that if she did trip he could always try to catch her and hopefully she wouldn't get hurt. "Oh god, I spy?" he muttered. "All right, um..."

He looked around behind him, where her gaze appeared to be looking, and tried to see if he could find anything red. "Uh, those flowers," he said, nodding toward a patch of wildflowers on the edge of the trail. "Or the berries on that bush. Um..." He checked to see if he was wearing anything red, but it was the usual blue/black/grey combination on his outfit. "...my face," he tried. He didn't feel flushed or anything, but everyone's definition of 'red' was different.

"I give up. Am I allowed to give up? What is it?"

[Jalen August]

Jalen smiled, her arms back at her sides, “Thank you, it’s appreciated,” she said, carrying on with the walking. If people didn’t think she was scary, then they’d walk all over her, right? The blonde listened to JD intently, making sense of the videogame world, feeling enlightened. “Makes sense, otherwise first time players wouldn’t keep trying to do better if they didn’t win once in a while. And if they never won, then they’d never buy any games and the videogame industry wouldn’t be as booming as it is now,” she said, a happy grin on her face. She could match the boy in talkativeness easily. At least they were on equal playing grounds.

“I do trust you,” she said, shrugging. “I don’t know, maybe you feel bad for me or something. Guess you’re not as nice as I thought,” she said, a smirk on her face. Jalen was kidding, but she didn’t want to say that he was a nice guy outright. And hey, if she really did win, so be it. “I just wanted to make sure,” she said, trying to explain herself further. But she shook her head, grinning to herself. She was probably one of the most confusing people on the planet – and she knew it.

He had gone straight into her plan, looking behind him. She giggled, that half smile on her face again. “You shouldn’t trust me though, I may or may not have rigged this game,” she said, “see if you can figure that one out, smarty pants.” It was fun being cryptic with him and rendering him silent. JD not having something to say was an accomplishment to be proud of. She laughed as he guessed his face, and she brought a hand to her forehead, feeling sorry for the boy.

Jay pointed at the small bird perched in a tree branch, its sound echoing out as though it knew it had been called out. “That little guy over there, I spotted him,” she said walking backwards still. She was confident, like she had taken this path a million times, when obviously she hadn’t. She just trusted that if she was about to walk into something JD would let her know - she just said she trusted him. She preferred to look at him while they strolled.

“We don’t have to play this anymore if you don’t want to,” she offered, her ears perking up as something in the trees snapped. The small red bird flew away. Whatever was in there had scared it away. Jalen stopped walking, her eyes scanning over the forest. A raccoon scuttled out, mounting the nearby garbage can before diving in. She laughed, walking beside JD now. “Or maybe racing is more your game?” She asked, unwilling to let things get dull.

[JD Paerson]

"Exactly. I figure most marketed items are like that. Some people try to make me feel guilty at buying into it all, but I guess I figure that at least I'm aware of it, and I know what they're trying to do to me. And I still like it, so I don't really care." He was glad she was able to keep up the conversation, and he was also glad that they were having another nice discussion that didn't really involve any emotions or feelings.

"Nope, not really that nice at all," he said smugly. "It's probably because I like winning too much. But I'm at least honest. Something that kind of runs in the family, actually. My little brother, Josef? He's honest to a fault. Gets him in trouble sometimes."

He turned to look at the bird she pointed out, glowing bright red in the trees. "Well, good job, then. I'm not much of a bird-watcher myself. I can never seem to spot them, even when they're right in front of me."

JD looked back at Jalen, still marching backwards up the hill. "Veer right," he said, reaching out to try to guide her. "My right, not yours. We're going on the switchback now." When they were back on a straighter part of the trail, he responded, "I guess I'm just not an 'I Spy' person. But do you really want to race me? You do realize that not only do I have super-speed, I also know this trail better than you. And I'm the one still facing forward."

He looked around him. "We might want to step up the pace a little bit, though. I'm not exactly sure how long this trail takes at a normal speed, and we still want to get back to town before all the shops close." They were starting to rise noticeably from the surrounding area, and they were on an eye-level with many trees from the path below. "If you're up for a race, I promise not to use my powers. And when we reach the top we can stop and slow down for a while."

[Jalen August]

“Well I really like my iPod, doesn’t mean getting the songs for it are free. Well, I guess they could be, but I don’t really feel good about pirating music,” she said, quickly shutting her mouth about the topic. She had forgotten about how her most treasured possession was still missing, in a house she would never be going back to... Jalen sighed, mentally kicking herself for even bringing that up again. Forgetting Cody was going to be harder than she wanted it to be.

“Ha! Watch yourself or you’ll be in trouble soon enough,” she mock warned, a stern look on her face. “I like winning too, but it’s not everything,” she said with a shrug, actually able to be laid back when not in the face of a challenge. Jay really wanted to mention how nice she thought he was, but she decided not to, pushing her stubborn nature to the side, just this once.

She let him guide her, and was actually surprised she hadn't collided with anything yet. “I think luck is on my side today,” she said, winking at the boy. Bit flirty there Jay, watch yourself She chastised herself, turning around quickly so he couldn’t see her face anymore.

Jalen was walking beside JD now, eager to get to the running part of this shindig. She gazed over the tops of the trees in awe. “Wow, I’ll have to come here more often,” she said, looking at the boy beside her. “Thanks for taking me here,” she said, keeping her hands and flirtatious comments to herself.

A new idea crossed her mind. “We could just run to the top, no strings attached,” she said with a shrug, not sure if he would be up for it or not if he was as competitive as he admitted to being, his heart set on racing. Jalen set off at a steady pace, turning to look at the speedster for a moment. “I’ll admit I’m not good with running fast, but I have endurance up the yin yang,” she said, turning back around, following the trail that continuously lead up.

He was right though, they would need to hurry and make some time if they were going to do everything they had planned. “You still owe me that ice-cream!” She hollered, her back to him.

[JD Paerson]

"Because I'm not already in trouble?" JD asked. Not that he liked to remind himself of his woes, but it wasn't exactly easy to ignore at this point. "Sure, winning isn't everything. But it's still great. And it's the winners who will get what they want in life." Because it wasn't just winning games that JD was interested, he planned to win at life. He was determined to be successful.

"Yeah, looks like," he said, grateful that she finally turned around. It meant he didn't have to worry about her falling off the edge of a cliff at any point. "But this trail's pretty good, too. Higher up it gets a bit rougher, but down here it's still pretty smooth at least."

He followed her gaze out past the trees. "It's pretty great, yeah. I'm glad you like it. It's one of the actual paved trails, which makes it pretty cool. Some of the other stuff isn't really hiking, it's more like exploring. But if you know where you're going it can be kind of cool." He'd had plenty of time to explore some of the woods around Hammel.

"All right, let's go," he said, starting off on a run. It wasn't anything really fast--mostly he was keeping time with Jalen. "That's good, then. Because we still have a ways to go. And you'll want to keep your eyes on the trail--it gets a little rough here soon."

He grinned. "I haven't forgotten. And you still owe me a steak dinner," he called back. Then he was busy focusing on where he was running, going along to an internal rhythm and trying to keep himself from slipping into super-speed. He watched Jalen's bright hair to keep himself from going too fast or running off an edge somewhere. And before he knew it they were at the top.

"Whew," he said, taking a moment to breath and drink from his water bottle. "You weren't kidding about the endurance," he said, wiping his mouth. "And now we can take a few minutes to look around. There's a reason they put the trail here--it's definitely got the best view."

After a few minutes of looking, he turned to her. "And if you're interested, we can go ahead and go a bit further. If you step off the trail there..." he pointed "...you can follow it out to a bit of an overhang. Maybe not the safest, but it hasn't fallen on me yet."

[Jalen August]

“As long as it’s what you want,” she said with a shrug, taking a good look around her and picking a light pink, wild rose. “But if you’re just focused on the end result, you miss the things along the way,” Jalen said, sticking the flower into her hair. Autumn had just begun, and it was interesting to see the flower in the first place. It should’ve died along with the rest of the flowers, but here it was, resting against her head.

She shrugged, “Even if you don’t know where you’re going, it can still be fun,” she said, giving him a sideways glance, “you know, an adventure.” She said, giving JD a small poke in the ribs. “Where are you roads and directions in the rougher trails?” Jalen asked, rehashing their past conversation today just to have something to say. That was too good of an opportunity to pass up. “Suddenly, ‘turn left at the biggest Oak tree’ seems like pretty valuable information.”

“I didn’t plan on closing my eyes,” Jalen said, a snappy comment to match the mood. It wasn’t like they were trying to one up each other, but it sure could have seemed that way. She kept running, her elbows in but never above her heart – doing so made the body work harder than necessary and if they were already running uphill, there was no need to make it more difficult. She grinned at the steak comment and kept on going, silence falling between them until they reached the top.

Jalen also drank from her water bottle, downing about half of it. She grinned, wiping the excess moisture from her mouth. “Told ya,” she said simply, only a little sweaty and tired from the trek. She twisted the bottle cap back on and took the time to look around, the pink flower still in her hair. She was glad to have spotted it, seeing as there wasn’t much for greenery – a new season was beginning. Still, she could practically count the houses in Pilot Ridge from where they were standing. “Some view,” she agreed, a satisfied smile on her face.

“Maybe next time,” she said, assuming there was a next time. “We have a few other things to do,” she said, her smile holding fast. Jalen was walking fast, letting her body cool off a bit before having to enter the car once more. She continued to follow the trail, which was now heading down. “I assume we’ll get down faster than we came up,” she said, her strides almost as long as when she had been running.

She waited for JD to catch up to her before speaking. “So you come out here to run often?”

[JD Paerson]

Jalen looked nice with her hair up like that, and the flower. And it wasn't expected, but JD suddenly said, "You look nice." This reflection was immediately followed with a covering sentence. "With the flower in your hair. Maybe you should wear your hair up more..." And he trailed off, remembering the scar and how self-conscious she was about it. He could kick himself. "Or, you know," he said weakly, "wear more flowers. Or something." And the compliment gave a weak sigh and flopped to the ground dead.

JD frowned back at her. "Only if you know which oak tree is the biggest. I still think signs are important--even in the middle of nowhere you sometimes see an arrow left by a helpful earlier hiker. Signs and directions are still important; you can't just use landmarks. And if it's an adventure, landmarks won't do you any good anyway, since you're trying to explore new territory." This argument was going round in circles, but JD didn' think either of them was willing to give it up. They were both just a little too competitive for their own good.

Far down was the small town of Pilot Ridge, and set back a bit he could pick out Hammel itself, as well as some of the outlying buildings. It was when he was up here that he most wished his power was flying instead of just super speed. Wouldn't it be great to have these sorts of views all the time?

"All right, next time," JD said, though he was starting to wonder just how many of these "next times" they would be planning. Was this going to become a regular thing? He supposed he could probably live with that. It would be nice to have a hiking partner. "This side of the path is actually a little bit longer than the other side," he said as he followed her. "It loops around the back of the mountain instead of having all the switchbacks. The good news is that it's not as steep, and it's a little bit nicer path." He actually usually took this side at a little bit faster pace, and it was easy enough for him to catch up to Jalen.

"Here, there, around," he said, gesturing. "I like this trail, so I swing by here every once in a while at least. There's plenty of other places to see, though."

JD glanced at his watch. "Hey," he asked, "You want a lift to the bottom? I want to make sure we're in town with enough time to hit the shops before they close, and I'm not sure how long this trail would take at normal speed." He could give her a piggy-back ride to the bottom of the trail, then they could head into town, or she could refuse and they could just finish up the trail the usual way.

When they were at the bottom, JD finished off the last of the water in his bottle and wiped his face with a hand. "I guess we're ready to go then? Where would you like to go for your ice cream?"

[Jalen August]

Watching him fumble all over his words only made Jalen smile more the more he spoke. “Sometimes saying less is more,” she said with a shrug, touching the flower in her hair. “But thanks, I’ll try and do all those things more often,” the blonde grinned, poking fun at him while simultaneously forgiving him for his lacklustre compliment. At least he had tried, she would give him that much.

“Sometimes, being the key word there. But if I’m going on an adventure, I want to go somewhere other than in circles,” she retorted, a sharp look in her eye. No, neither of them were going to let this go. It would probably always be something one of them brought up when given the opportunity. It would be a good character builder for Jay, it wasn’t often than people relentlessly challenged her on a seemingly useless debate. It wasn’t the topic itself but the person behind each side that was intriguing her more and more.


This path was just as interesting as the last, and Jalen was enjoying herself. “I guess seeing the trails around here isn’t a big deal for you,” she said, grinning. “I wonder what the trails look like in winter,” she asked aloud, not caring if JD had an answer or not. It only struck her fancy because winter was her favourite city, and seeing everything before her now, except covered in snow and frost, ignited her imagination. It was something she would love to be a part of and observe.

Accepting the ride on the JD express to the bottom of the trail, Jalen slipped from his grasp and held out her car keys, pressing the button to unlock their doors. Unzipping her sweater quickly and throwing it into the back seat, Jay saved her last bit of water for the ride back into town should she need it. The blonde started the car and they were off in a hurry, Jalen driving a little bit like a madwoman on a mission. They needed to get to the stores on time.

“I was thinking of hitting the grocery store and picking up a bucket of icecream there. Cheaper, saves time, and we can share,” she said, sending a grin JD’s way. Passing through traffic swiftly, the two of them were back in town faster than it had taken them to leave, and Jay was just glad she hadn’t received a speeding ticket.

Exiting her car and heading into the store, she grabbed a cart and approached her friend, grinning. “Now don’t get lost on me, I need your opinion on what you want for dinner tonight,” she said, the flower she picked still stuck, stubbornly, in her golden hair. “You’d probably do well to hold onto the cart, then I can keep an eye on you,” teasing him simply because she could.

[JD Paerson]

"Slick," JD responded to the winter question. "Icy and slushy. Not good for running. I usually don't come up here in winter because I'm afraid of falling off somewhere. The one time I did go all the way to the top it was really cloudy and you couldn't even see anything." JD was not a big fan of the colder season, or snow in general. Late summer to early autumn was his favorite time of the year, or would have been had he been forced to select a favorite.

In the car, JD held onto the door with one hand while they drove along. The driving was slightly more maniacal now, and he found himself keeping his eyes more on the road than on anything else, primarily out of some fear that he might have to reach over and take control at some point.

"Yes, that's true. But the grocery store also doesn't close as early as the other stores, so is there a reason we're still going this fast?" He didn't have a problem with speed...just not in a car. Cars were too big and unwieldy, and harder to maneuver. He had never even really gotten the hang of motorcycles.

But they made it just fine. And if he got out of the car a little quickly, well, at least he hadn't said anything too offensive. He followed Jalen into the store.

"If we're sharing the ice cream, you know," he said now that he wasn't trapped in the giant metal vehicle, "It kind of defeats the purpose of the challenge. Where you get to watch me eat ice cream and gloat. But hey, if you're okay with it I won't complain. I'm not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth."

He took the cart even as the words were registering in his head. "Wait, who said I need looking after? I can do just fine..." And yet as he took the cart he somehow got the feeling that he'd lost some sort of battle of wills. Because he was still following her, and he wasn't really wanting to break away and do his own shopping. He still needed to have her pick out the ice cream, and they needed to choose the food for tonight together.

When had he gotten roped into such a...domestic activity?

"Frozen vegetables are over here," he said, about to head down that aisle. "Peas, carrots, corn? What do you like?" He grumbled the words, as he was still a bit sore about his latest realization, but there was nothing for it but to just get it all over with.

[Jalen August]

Jalen grinned, sighing. Not everyone appreciated the same things she did and while she didn’t see that as a problem, she felt like explaining anyways. “I wasn’t asking because I want to run through the muck. I just love waking up on a winter’s day and seeing the small layer of snow on everything. It makes everything new and fresh and it looks beautiful, it’s my favourite thing to see,” she was rambling and she knew it, but JD had had his turn and now it was hers. “I can just envision all the trees here covered in snow, the mountain. Oh, it would be amazing!” She said, twirling in a small circle. Jalen was just a kid at heart, and wasn’t afraid to show her excitement, even at the smallest of things.

In the car, Jalen looked at the clock within and frowned. “Am I looking at the wrong time?” She took out her cell phone and groaned. “I forgot, I didn’t switch my clock an hour behind,” she said as they got into town. The blonde had enough sense not to speed in Pilot Ridge, where the cops had nothing to do and were probably dying to give a teenage girl a speeding ticket. “Red cars are the ones more likely to be pulled over for breaking traffic laws, I should be more careful,” she said with a grin, spouting off the random fact she knew about cars that applied to the situation. They would be just fine.

“Don’t talk about horses,” she said as they walked through the parking lot, “but if you don’t want to share that’s fine, you can buy me a whole pail of chocolate ice cream and I’ll eat it all by myself,” she said, a crooked grin on her face. The thought of eating that much ice cream made her sick to her stomach, but she just wanted to get a point across. “You’re sharing your dinner with me, I was just returning the favour.” She added, alluding to where they were and what they were doing for what purpose – his steak dinner, which he had won. Somehow.

Jalen pushed the cart through the store, a big grin on her face as JD moped. “I didn’t say I was looking after you, I said I should keep an eye on you, you know, keep you out of trouble,” she said, a smirk on her face. Of course she was joking. JD would probably stay away from trouble for the rest of his life after that sex ed seminar.

“Ah the frozen section, so many choices,” she said, looking over the bags of vegetables. “Corn sound good?” She asked, opening the cooler door and taking a medium sized bag out. JD seemed solemn, so she grinned at him, putting the corn in his hands. “What’s wrong JD? Never gone grocery shopping with a girl before? Lighten up, this will be fun,” she said, returning to her commanding position at the front of the cart.

A few more steps and they were at the ice cream section, and as promised, Jalen reached for a big tub of chocolate no name brand ice cream that was as cheap as it could get. “This will be on a separate bill, right handsome?” She asked him, putting the bucket in the cart. She was playing, like the first time they met and had such a ‘fancy’ lunch. Jay just hoped he would loosen up and have a bit of fun. This wasn’t a death sentence for him, was it?

[JD Paerson]

"Here, I can deal with the clock," JD said, leaning forward to look at the controls. "You know, I don't actually agree with that whole 'red car' theory. I figure they rigged the tests, or something went wrong with it, because they just got the results they were looking for." Despite his skepticism, though, he was still glad when they arrived at the shop without getting pulled over.

"Fine, we'll share dinner, we'll share dessert. I guess it's fair enough anyway, since the win was kind of based on luck." He shrugged and kept walking. "I guess the video game might've been too, though, so who can really say who won anything?" And then, because he was drifting into something that sounded theoretical, he gave up.

"Trouble followed me because it was attached to a little bloodsucker impersonator. I don't need watching anymore." That was, of course, the theory. And so far he had stayed out of trouble as long as he'd been avoiding Zac. Which was only two months, but that was still a longer streak without some sort of difficulty than he'd had since his first year at Hammel.

"Corn is fine." He leaned on the edge of the cart. "No, not since I went with my mother. And not with a cart." He wrinkled his nose. "What's wrong with just carrying the stuff? It's not like we're getting anything much."

They turned the corner into the ice cream area. JD looked at the large tub of ice cream with a raised eyebrow. "Quantity over quality, huh?" he said. "Yeah, right, separate bill." And half a second later the rest of that statement kicked in, and he blushed slightly around the neck.

He was not unused to girls thinking he was cute, handsome, whatever. And there was a reason he lifted weights in the gym, and it wasn't just for keeping in good running condition. But somehow he hadn't really expected to hear that kind of compliment from Jalen, especially by this point in time. Then he had to wonder if she was being serious or if she was just teasing. And while he was busy trying to sort all this out they were on their way to the meat section.

"Uh, do you prefer ribeye or t-bone?" he asked, looking over the meat. "I don't really care either way. I guess it's just whatever you don't mind cooking." He was still having some trouble thinking through what kind of a mood this was supposed to be. They had gone from argumentative to comfortable to angry to happy...it was all very confusing. But he felt that she was probably not being totally serious right now, so he decided to try and join in.

"Mind if I push?" he asked, coming up to the handlebars. He took hold of the basket, put one foot on the bottom rack, and started pushing himself along the store. "Right, shopping cart turned skateboard, check. Food, check. Is there anything we're missing?"

[Jalen August]

Jalen was going to thank him for fixing the clock, but maybe it wasn’t necessary, considering she would be cooking tonight for him. He should be thanked enough through that alone. The blonde raised a hand to her face and glanced at him, wondering where he was going with this lose/win luck/skill conversation. “You won the game JD, if I didn’t want to cook for you, I wouldn’t, win or lose,” she said, trying to end the conversation on a lighter note, even giving up on how she would totally duke it out with him in Mario party next time. But that would be next time, for now she just wanted him to feel appreciated.

The blonde winced as JD spoke about Zac – she wondered if the two would ever reconcile. She sighed, not sure what to say about that. She had tried to make things light, but that was a sore spot for the speedster. “I was just joking around, I won’t mention Zac anymore,” she grinned, “starting now.” They ventured on and she started talking, again. “Well there’s the vegetables, the dessert, the steaks themselves, maybe a few potatoes, some buns or something, all of which doesn’t fit in four arms, not without squishing something and completely ruining it anyways,” she said, grinning. Did he have to fight her on everything? More importantly, did she have to fight back?

Nodding, Jalen tapped the top of the ice cream as they carried on. “Right, besides, if I remember correctly, one of us has an enormous appetite,” she grinned, his blush going unnoticed, “but I seriously doubt you’ll be hungry after my cooking.” Okay, it was a bit of a cocky statement, but she wasn’t going to bet her cooking if it wasn’t amazing.

It was a good thing she kept talking, as her companion hadn’t said much, but she didn’t mind. He seemed deep in thought, and she blamed it on his being hungry. She stepped towards the wrapped meats in white styrofoam and sighed. “Let’s do one of each,” she said. The t-bone was bigger and guys tended to like it more, but when all was said and cooked, she would let him choose which one he’d like the eat. The rib eye tended to be more flavourful, so she would wait and see.

After placing the food in the cart, Jalen shot JD a winning smile. “I knew the cart would grow on you,” she said, standing on the bottom part of the cart, tagging along for the ride. She pointed left, “That way captain! To the potatoes and buns!” Jalen laughed, glancing back at JD, who finally seemed to be letting go of his stress. “Just don’t tip the cart, kay?” She asked, looking forward again. It was nice not to push.

[JD Paerson]

Was it that obvious that he still didn't like talking about Zac? JD just nodded and tried to pretend like it wasn't a big deal. Because it wasn't. "All right, fine, but I just don't see why we don't get a small hand basket or something. Walking around with the big cart, it's like...I don't know. Like something only moms do." He looked at the corn sitting in the basket, frowning.

"What, you don't eat a lot of ice cream? I can't help it you know. Side-effect of the powers." At least that's what he told everyone. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was just an excuse, though, even if he did feel quite hungry after a good run. "Good thing you're such a good cook, then. After that exercise today I'm st--" His stomach grumbled just a bit too soon, so he looked down and patted it. "Hey, wait until your cue next time!" he said. "Why can't real life be like in a movie, where all the sounds come in just when you want them?"

He glanced over the meat. "All right, sounds good to me. I'm pretty much fine with whatever." He wasn't a picky eater--he could hardly afford to be with his appetite.

"Aye aye, skipper," he said as they scooted along the store. He was glad it was a little later in the day--there weren't a lot of other people around for him to knock over. "Do they keep the potatoes with the bread? Or are they in different areas?" He took a tight corner and felt the basket go up on two wheels--partly due to the increased weight on one side where Jalen was holding on. Stepping down firmly on the other side of the basket, he brought it down to ground. "Uh, are we in the right aisle?" He was looking around for bread or potatoes but only saw flour and baking powder. So he zoomed down the aisle and turned the corner into the produce section. "That looks better, I think..." He scooted in close to a stack of potatoes. "Were you planning to mash these yourself?"

[Jalen August]

Jalen glanced at JD, shaking her head. “Let’s just pretend that the cart is a huge basket with wheels, does that make it cooler now?” She asked, unable to suppress her chuckles. “Who are you trying to avoid around here anyways?” She asked, looking around. That’s when her eyes caught the eye of a frizzy haired cashier, and she glanced at JD again, nudging her head towards the girl. “Or are you trying to impress someone with your manliness?” Again, Jay was horsing around, but she also thought he really needed to get over himself. He was starting to act like Larousse himself.

“You’re also a boy, and you’re not fat, so I wouldn’t worry about eating a lot of ice cream if I were you, I just don’t want to be sick is all,” she said. It wasn’t that she didn’t like ice cream, she just didn’t want a whole tub. Jalen glanced down at the culprit of the noise, and light laughter ensued. He really could be quite charming, in that silly, JD sort of way. “Next time you need a sound effect at the proper moment, just let me know,” she jested, but then her eyes focused ahead. “We better hurry up then, food takes time to make you know, and I’m pretty sure neither of us can control time.”

Jalen was nearly glowing, zipping around with JD. She only laughed when the cart lost balance. “Haven’t you ever done this before?” She asked. “Well, not any time recently, since you hate carts and all,” there was that crooked smirk again. The blonde liked having spontaneous fun, and the brunette seemed to be enjoying himself – finally. She was about to say they were in the wrong aisle, but he got the hint and ran to the next one. For a few moments, Jalen thought they would run into someone, or something, but JD was precise with his movements, something she was very grateful for. If he crashed though, it wouldn’t be the first time Jay would be sent sprawling from a grocery cart accident.

Hopping off the cart, Jalen took the biggest bag of potatoes, heaving them into the cart. “They don't take long to mash,” she said simply, glancing at him with a smile. The only thing they were missing now was bread, and it just so happened that there was a random display of the new breads the store had in the produce section. The blonde took up a bag of twelve buns, presenting them to JD who was still at the cart, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “Let’s try their new buns, shall we?” Okay, it was a bit juvenile, but she was having a great time. She was having a great time with him, there was nothing wrong with that.

Once that was in the cart, she got back onto her previous position on the cart, raising a hand to sit aligned with her eyebrows. “The cashier awaits Captain!” Jalen was smiling, ready to make food for the both of them.

[JD Paerson]

"Hey, it's not that I'm trying to do this for anyone. It's just...the principle of the thing. Guys don't walk around with shopping carts. It just looks...dumb."

He finished arguing with his stomach and smiled at Jalen. "Well, it's good to have someone then that I can count on. I'll be sure to give you a ring the next time I need a dramatically placed sound effect." He hurried with the shopping, since he had to agree with her about the whole time bit.

"Not since I was nine or so. And to be honest, then I was a lot less worried about the whole thing flipping over with too much weight on one end. But you know, old habits and all that. Plus, it's just like riding a bike. You never forget. Or so I'm told." He actually was having a little bit of a hard time maneuvering, but it wasn't too bad--he was used to tight corners at high speeds.

Raising her eyebrows at her in mild amusement, he gestured with his head for the buns to go into the basket. "Funny, I never figured you for the type who would enjoy that sort of thing. Ah well, you learn something every day."

He scooted them toward the counter again, but walked the last few steps to make sure he didn't run into anything. And sure, the cashier may have given him a bit of a dirty look, but who cared? He made a point of paying for the ice cream completely separately, but winced as he saw the rest of the total. "You sure you don't want me to pitch in for some of that?" he asked Jalen. "You're already doing the cooking, you don't have to pay for it all."

He grabbed all the groceries in one load and went out into the parking lot. He paused at the trunk of her car and waited for the lid to pop so he could set everything down. "Okay then, I guess we're ready to head back to the school. Unless you can think of some other errand you need to run while we're down here, and something that's still actually open."