It's Like Running Away

Aiden, at some point in the night, had moved to where his face was covered by his hand and he was on his side. But, that did not serve to stop the sun from waking it up when it got warm enough. Had he really just slept outside? Then he heard Dodge. "Shush. Too loud," he muttered.

"Ehhh not my fault," Dodge said, albeit much quieter this time. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and shielded his eyes with his hand so that he could look around. When his eyes began to adjust he checked his watch, but sure enough it was dead as a doornail. "I wonder what time it is," he said, senses already clearing. Being an early riser by nature, he had no trouble going from sleeping to full speed pretty quickly.

Aiden forced his eyes open, wanting very much to just sleep again, but the sun was too hot to allow that apparently. "Too early?" he suggested.

"Not likely," Dodge disagreed. "I'll go see." He carefully lifted himself up from the ground, happy to see that his legs were fully functioning again. He jogged over to the locker room and peeked just around the door to see the large analog clock on the wall. He winced at the time and jogged back, hands on his hips as he looked down at Aiden below. "It's 5:30," he stated matter-of-factly glancing left and right and surprised to see no early-rising runners out for their pre-class laps.

Aiden made a noise at the time. "Definitely too early," he mumbled, wanting to sleep more but keeping his eyes opened just a little bit.

"You're going to look silly if you just lie there you know. I wouldn't put it past Stevie to be out here in about 10 minutes." Dodge ran through his mind all of the things he had to do before class started. He needed a shower, and he needed to repack his book bag, and.... He knew he was forgetting something, but that wasn't uncommon with him.

Aiden yawned and forced himself to sit up. "You people are all crazy, getting up this early. Honestly..." he muttered, pushing his hair down, since he knew it was probably sticking up.

Dodge caught Aiden's hand and pulled it gently away from his head. "Leave it, it's cute." He ruffled his own hair, knowing his didn't look half as good in its natural state. "And we're no crazier than all of you who can't function before noon."

Ai was slightly startled when Dodge stopped him from unstickyfying his hair. "It's a mess. And I can function before noon...just not before ten," he muttered, figuring that maybe he should stand up, but not finding it worth the effort.

"It's a cute mess. Don't argue." Dodge looked away at a slight sound and, sure enough, there were two girls (they looked like second years) headed toward the track. "We have company," he said, grinning and waving at the girls.

Aiden looked over at the two for a second, before focusing on standing up from where he was still sitting on the ground. He was still tired, so it wasn't the most steady stand-up, but at least he didn't fall back over or something.

The girls giggled and waved back but didn't come over, which Dodge was glad of. Even if they were fourteen, and even though he wasn't interested in girls in general at all, it was still nice to keep your appearance up in public. "I should really go shower and get ready," he muttered, as he noticed a few more of the track members showing up for morning laps.

Aiden nodded. "Same, although knowing me I'll get to my room, and crash again." He yawned, rubbing away some sleep from his eyes. "It's way too early for my liking right now. I could handle an hour or two more of sleep without the sun."

"Well, either way, we better get going," Dodge said firmly. He glanced around at all the people arriving and held out his hand. "Is it okay, with them here?"

Aiden looked around at the people himself for a moment. Then he nodded. "It's okay."

Dodger smiled at the slight step up from Aiden and took his hand before he started to walk away from the center of the track, making sure not to cross the path of any stray runners. "So, how was your first night avoiding the curfew sensors?"

"It was...I don't know," Aiden replied.

"Oh, come on, that's not an answer," Dodge said as they walked back towards the school and, in turn, closer to the dorms where they could get themselves in order. "Crick in your neck? Grass down your back? Itchy all over?"

"None of the above. The ground was nice and pleasant to sleep on until the sun woke me up," Aiden said. "Although really, I can sleep comfortably just about anywhere."

Dodge pulled an invisible pen from over his hear and scribbled against the air with it theatrically. "Picky when awake, not so much asleep," he said jokingly. "I'm glad you were comfortable. It's really my fault we had to stay out there all night."

"I'm not picky," Aiden mumbled. "And it was as much my fault as it was yours. I'm the one that started the whole conversation that kept us outside."

"Did you? I don't even remember anymore. I'm the chatty one anyway," he said, nodding happily at a boy headed in the opposite direction who gave him an odd look. They were nearing the paths to the dorms, where they'd have to split. "Walk you to your dorm or no?" he asked.

"Yes, I did, oddly enough," Aiden said, watching the ground as he walked which had always been a habit of his. "And you don't have to."

"That's odd. You must be coming out of your shell....and now you sound like a clam or something." Dodge shook his head at his early-morning logic. "I want to, I just wanted to make sure that was okay."

"Not a clam. A turtle. Cause they can like poke out of their shell and then just as easy go back into it. And clams don't actually leave the shell I don't think..." Aiden commented, then laughed at himself wondering what part of his brain had thought that up. "And, yeah, it's okay."