Lunchtime Outside: Kayla tag Jara

[Kayla Whitaker]

Her long brown hair was worn down today and she was dressed casually in a pair of jean shorts that were cut off at her knees and a blue jersey knit top. Kayla was in a decent mood...she'd had a good run this morning and she was still smiling about that. But other than that things were...well, complicated.

It had been a long time coming figuring out her sexuality. But the more that she thought about it and the more that time went by, Kayla was finding herself more and more attracted to girls and not to boys. All and all, not something that she really wanted... She hadn't admitted this to anyone yet, but she was starting to admit it to herself which she supposed was a step in the right direction, or perhaps the wrong direction...she was still deciding.

Becoming closer friends with Amy wasn't really helping either. Being attracting to Amy hadn't been a huge issue at first. After all, Kayla was attracted to more girls than just Amy so she mostly could ignore it. But then of course there had been that night when Kayla had seen her kissing the other girl and while she hadn't confronted her about, but thought about more and more each day. And now they were hanging out...they'd become good friends. Well...it was getting harder...more complicated. At least for Kayla it was...

So as Kayla headed outside with her home packed lunch, she was pleased when she saw Jara. Jara was one of her track friends. One of her regular friends too but they'd become close while doing track together. While Jara was really pretty too, Kayla wasn't having any current feelings about her...plus she had news for her.

"Hey!" Kayla greeted the other girl, plopping down next to her on the bench. She placed her brown paper bag in front of her and pulled out a sandwich and an apple. "Guess what...I totally beat my record on my run this morning! I'm totally going to kill the 800 meter next meet," she said with a smile. "So, what's new with you?" she asked as she began to unwrap her sandwich.

[jaraaimes]

Here..on the track...this is where she felt free. The only other place that she felt even more free was the soccer field. The sun on her face, the wind brushing through her hair as she sprinted across the grass, dribbling the soccer ball between her feet, nothing better. This is where she usually spent her lunch breaks. A few laps around the track, then a quick lunch on one of the benches before heading back into class. It was a good, and healthy way to spend her break.

She'd just taken a seat a few minutes before when Kayla made her way over, flopping down next to her. "Hey!" jara grinned at her track mate, and friend. "What?" She asked, pulling a baggie of sliced fruit out of her bag and opening it. "Excellent!" She grinned. "My mile is still just a hair over 4 minutes, I gotta shave a good 10 secs off." The blond grinned, popping an orange slice into her mouth. "Oh..what's new with me?" She asked, her mouth sliding into a smile.

"Greg's asked me to prom.." She admitted, a bit of a blush creeping up her cheeks at the thought of the gorgous junior. Jara had met Greg Meyers some 6 weeks before. She'd been out with her huskies at the dog park, and somehow Kenai's lead had broken and both pups had barreled off. Greg had been out for a run and been nearly knocked over. They'd been hanging out..a lot since then. Her mom worked a lot of hours at the bookstore, and Greg had either come over to Jara's a lot for dinner and to keep her company, or she went over to his mouse. It was obvious to anyone that looked at them, there was some wicked chemistry, but neither had really moved forward about it.

"Asked me last night..so I gotta shop..for an actual dress...this afternoon.."

[Kayla Whitaker]

"Oh, I bet you can do it," Kayla said to the other girl about her mile. "The final meet of the year isn't for another two weeks so I bet if you work on it, you'll get it." Kayla was more of a long-distance runner than short distance, so she did much better in cross-country in the fall than in the short distance track sprints, but thankfully track had a number of long distance runs that Kayla competed it. It wasn't as if she wasn't fast, because she was, she just usually wasn't as fast as people who did the short runs like the 100 meter.

"Oh...well, I guess this weekend will be a bust for you running wise, but probably much more fun," Kayla said when Jara mentioned about prom. Kayla bit into her sandwich thoughtfully. It seemed like everyone was going to prom. Okay...well both Jara and Amy were. It wasn't that Kayla wanted to go to prom, it was more that she was pretty sure that actually being invited by a boy meant that she wouldn't be so confused about her sexuality and all that...she'd just be normal. Kayla really just wanted to be normal.

Kayla swallowed her food as Jara went on about the dress. "Wow, well good luck finding something, I know it's last minute but I bet they'll still have a decent selection. I mean...perhaps other schools haven't had their proms yet so they'll still have a lot out," she said. She reached for a bottle of water she brought with her and took a few sips. "So...you think Greg is like your boyfriend now or whatever or are you guys just...dating?" Kayla asked not sure how it all worked. She'd never had a boyfriend before...or a girlfriend for that matter. She'd never really had any action what-so-ever.

[jaraaimes]

Jara grinned, popping some food into her mouth. "Oh I hope so." She replied, already working out a plan of action to help shave off the time. Soccer was her main love however, so if she didn't do as well in track, she wasn't going to cry over it!

"Oh, I bet it's gonna be fun." She agreed. "But I'm still gonna get my morning runs in anyway..can't stop training just cause I gotta get all dressy one night." She smiled, already able to picture Greg in a tux. "I wish you could go...want mt to go kick some junior guy for you?" She asked, looking at her friend.

"I should be able to find something..somewhere..this is LA right? There's a million stores..and my mom is over the moon that I've got a date as it is..she likes Greg, which is good." Jara chewed on an apple slice slowly. "Well he called me his girlfriend last night, so I guess that answers that?" She grinned. "Seriously? can you pinch me...cause I swear I'm dreaming...me..with a boyfriend..and one that gorgeous?"

Jara leaned back on the bench. "Ok..so tell..you gotta have some juicy details about your life to tell me."

[Kayla Whitaker]

Kayla was the opposite. While she enjoyed playing other sports such as soccer or basketball, and even excelled at them, she'd always been best at track and loved running anyway so that was the sport she concentrated on most. She was on both cross country and track in school and while occasionally she'd join a rec team for another sport, just for fun, that wasn't really her focus.

When Jara mentioned trying to get a last minute date for Kayla for prom, her eyes widened, and it was clear that even the thought of going scared her to death. Of course no one would assume the real reasons this scared her, most people would probably assume that it was because it was a known fact that Kayla had never been on a date. It wasn't as if she openly showed an inclination toward girls, at least not on purpose. And she didn't really show much inclination toward boys either. Sure, she'd smile and nod along with her friends agreeing this or that guy was good looking, but she usually tried not to say much. After all, she didn't really want to lie about it, she just wasn't exactly ready to share it.

"That's true, I'm sure you'll find a dress no problem," Kayla said. "Oh yeah? I bet she's excited....oh really? So its all official and all? That's pretty cool," Kayla said with a nod. "Just don't turn into one of those girls who forgets all her friends once she has a boyfriend," Kayla teased, pointing at her friend as if she'd be watching out for this. Although really, Kayla was just glad her friend was happy.

She finished off her sandwich and started on her apple as Jara asked about her life. It was boring. Juicy? Not so much... All she could really think about was that kiss she'd witnessed between Amy and that other girl and how Kayla had wished that she'd been apart of it instead and then hadn't had the backbone to say anything about it. "My life if about as far from juicy as it comes," she said. "Been running a lot...hanging out with Amy a lot too, you know that basketball girl from Gould. She's pretty cool. We'll all have to do something together sometime," she offered making the whole thing sound as boring and normal as possible.