Jackie squinted her eyes at the brightness that had consumed her bedroom. She had a headache, but it wasn't as bad as she expected. She looked next to her and saw Catherine sleeping. Jackie smiled at the sight of her in her bed, wishing she could wake up to her every morning again. She quietly got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom to take some aspirin.
What she really needed, was to go for a run to sweat out all of the alcohol. Since Catherine was still sleeping, she decided that's what she would do so she didn't feel miserable the rest of the day.
She quietly went back into her bedroom to change into her running gear. As she was getting changed, Catherine sleepily rose from the bed.
"Where are you going?" Catherine asked.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I'm going for a run to sweat out this hangover. I'll pick up some breakfast on the way home. You can go back to sleep." Jackie whispered.
"No, I want to come. Do you mind?"
"Of course not."
"I only brought one running shirt and I already wore it. Do you mind if I borrow a shirt again?"
"Yeah, no problem. I actually have something perfect for you," Jackie smirked.
She shuffled through her drawers before finally pulling out a blue t-shirt. She held it up and smiled.
"My lacrosse shirt! I've been looking for that forever! You stole it?"
"I didn't mean to. I wore it home one day and then, well...You decided to sleep with a man in front of me so I never really had the chance to return it."
Catherine made an oops face, "Sorry."
"You should be. I would have burned it but I liked it very much," Jackie smiled as she threw the shirt at Catherine. "I'll be in the kitchen when you're ready."
****
Jackie was stretching in the living room when Catherine came out. Catherine secretly bent her head to check out Jackie from behind before joining her. Those training sessions were really showing. Catherine started stretching her legs when she paused to reach out and poked Jackie hard, making her lose her balance and fall.
"What?! I didn't do anything! You're obviously still drunk and lost your ability to balance."
"Whatever, jerk."
"Expect me to give you plenty of hell today for being so hungover," Catherine beamed.
"Only if you can keep up!" Jackie replied.
With that, Jackie returned the favour and pushed Catherine back down before opening the door and running down the steps. Catherine ran after her. After a fifteen minute jog, Jackie led her to a gorgeous park. Once they got to the stop, Jackie slowed down to show Catherine the view that you could see all of LA.
"It's gorgeous!" Catherine said.
"Much better than Bloomington, huh?" Jackie teased.
"I won't argue with that," Catherine replied.
Jackie offered Catherine a sip from her hydration pack.
"You brushed your teeth, right?" Catherine asked with a scrunched face.
"I hate you."
Catherine laughed as she grabbed the pack from Jackie.
"As much as I would love to take in this view, we should probably head back as our time is limited. What time is your flight?" Jackie asked.
"10pm, red eye."
****
As they were making their way down the mountain, it began to sprinkle. By the time they hit the street, it was an all out down pour.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Jackie was screaming as she ran. "Come on Professor Stark! Keep up with the pace!"
"Not everyone has a fancy personal trainer you know!" Catherine yelled at Jackie.
"Oh and here I thought it was your age!" She yelled back.
With that, Catherine ran as fast as she could and passed Jackie. They were one block from Jackie's apartment. Catherine reached the door first.
"Ha! I win!"
"Not so fast, we're not in my apartment yet!"
Jackie slid the key in the door and then bursted through it, running up the steps. Catherine grabbed her arm and pulled her back. They wrestled on the steps as Jackie tried to block her. Catherine stole the key from Jackie's hand and jumped over her. She unlocked the door and covered it with her body as Jackie tried to sneak in. Jackie backed up and then slid through her legs. Catherine pounced on top of her.
"I won!" Proclaimed Jackie.
"I don't think so. I'm taller and winning by an arm's length!"
"That's not fair! I'm vertically challenged!"
Jackie squirmed under Catherine until she was completely flipped around. She began tickling Catherine, so she had no choice but to retreat her arms to stop the torture.
"Winner!" Jackie laughed.
They were hysterically laughing and breathing heavily. Both of them were out of breath. Suddenly, their laughing slowed as they looked directly into one another's eyes. Catherine brushed the hair out of Jackie's face and gently touched the knot on her forehead.
"How's your head?" Catherine asked before gently kissing it.
"Suddenly it stopped hurting," Jackie replied.
Catherine's lips were so close to Jackie's that they brushed against hers whenever she spoke.
"That's good."
Catherine's warm breath were on Jackie's lips.
Jackie wasn't going to make the first move. She tried last night and was shut down. So the ball was in Catherine's court whether this went any further.
Catherine smiled and looked down.
"Your heart is beating so fast."
"We just ran 3 miles," Jackie replied.
"Oh. Is that the only reason?"
"Yu-u-p," Jackie over pronounced the word so that her lips would brush Catherine's.
That was enough to push Catherine over the line.
She bent down and grabbed Jackie's bottom lip with her teeth, gently nibbling before she let go. Jackie closed her eyes and sucked in the lip that Catherine had just released.
"Don't forget to breathe," Catherine smiled.
"It's hard to when I'm around you," Jackie said, her face becoming serious as she looked deep into Catherine's eyes.
"Catherine..."
"Yes?" Catherine moaned, before leaning down to kiss Jackie on the neck.
Jackie swallowed so hard that Catherine could hear it.
"I love you."
A/n Thanks for reading my story. Please vote and drop a comment. Comments will help me a lot more than you might think. â¤ï¸