Another first meeting
Who: Jarrod and Clarity Where: The parking lot of Reagan High When: Friday afternoon
School had just let out, not fifteen minutes or so ago. While most of the students had already left, either by bus, or by hopping into their cars and peeling out, Jarrod Moore stood by the plain black motorcycle he had in the parking lot, listening to his discman as he carefully strapped a large duffle bag to the back of the bike. He had his faded leather jacket draped over the seat as he worked to make sure the bag was properly secured. Couldn't be losing his equipment on his way to training, could he?
The blond stood outside, hoping to see Cassie on her way out. Maybe they could hang or something at The Sugar Shack. Dressed in a black lightweight, sweater number with knee high boots, Clarity Myles pulled out her cell phone from a dark red purse. Checking the time (as well as to see if Serena had called), the blond pushed back a lock of hair that had escaped the hair styx that pulled back her hair in a twist. Returning her cell phone into her bag, the girl absently played with the necklace her mother had given her shortly before her death years ago.
Well, that was certainly a new girl, Jarrod thought as he finished strapping the huge bag to his bike. While certainly not JUST because she was attractive, it was a factor nonetheless in his looking over to her, giving a little whistle to get her attention, the sun illuminating his bronze skin as he smiled to her. "Got a ride coming? I can drop you off somewhere nearby if not..."
Clarity glanced in his direction at the sound of the whistle, clearly hearing his words, but she didn't answer him right away. Her expression was carefully blank as she looked at him and then past him, as if looking for someone. Honestly, though, a mixture of feelings rose within the blond because lets face it, A) a hot guy with a motorcycle? Oh. My. God. And, B) Clarity wasn't sure if she should push this friend thing too far. I mean, like...she figured she'd made three so far...should she really push it by making a fourth (and maybe something more? HA! Yeah, right at the rate she was going).
It didn't look like Cassie was going to make an appearance this way and Clarity reluctantly sighed. Walking over to the hottie, she said with some disappointement, "...I guess not." She then clearly scoffed at his offer, "Are you kidding? Me, ride on a motorcyle in <i>this</i> dress?" She gestured to it, the material slipping off her shoulder. Really, though, the idea of riding a motorcyle was scary to Clarity.
"It was pretty much a dumb thing to offer, really." He pointed to the bag on the back of the bike, which honestly, probably weighed as much as SHE did. "Sometimes in my efforts to either help someone or talk to a pretty girl.. or both in this case, I tend to speak before really thinking." He gestured to his physique, not above having some fun at his own expense. ""You could say my brain has never been my most used muscle."
"I'll say..." She said aloud and then realized she'd actually SAID that out loud, referring to his rather well...attractive form...a hand rushed to her mouth. A shocked giggle escaped her lips, "Ohmigosh, that wasn't supposed to be said outloud!" Yeah, sometimes Clarity's brain wasn't the strongest used muscle either.
"I'm gonna be nice to myself and say that meant you think I'm hot, and NOT that you think I'm stupid." He teased, momentarily grumbling as he saw one of the damn straps coming loose already. "I swear... I can't tie a damn know to save my life..."
Clarity giggled, watching him wrestle with his bag again. While he fixed the strap, the blond looked around for Cassie, still not finding her and finally resigned to the fact that the girl just didn't come this way after school had let out. Oh well, it was probably for the best, anyway.
"Aha! Finally." He said as he tied the straps together in a really, REALLY bad knot, one that was likely going to have to be cut in order to be undone. "I gotta start leaving some of my stuff at the gym in a locker or something."
Her brows furrowed in mild confusion, obviously not understanding that Jarrod meant a gym outside of school. "I thought the school assigned gym lockers to everyone?" Not that it really mattered to Clarity, she always found gym class to be icky. She hated going, but did it anyway because Serena would have a cow.
"Oh... no, I meant like, a REAL gym. I have training and practice every day after schoo, and the equipment's a bitch to haul back and forth." Everyday workouts would certainly explain why he was so much more musclebound than the average student here... while he had a face that showed how young he really was, his body was more that of a college student or older.
Clarity reassesed her initial glance at him and REALLY checked Jarrod out. Well, that certainly explained a lot of things. "Oh..." She pushed that lock of hair that seemed hellbent on escaping back behind her ear again, "Well, why all the extra training?" Her lips curved into a teasing grin, "I think you look perfectly fine."
"Thanks... but... it's more for my career. Once I graduate this year, I want to be a professional shootfighter. Ultimate Fighting, that sort of thing. I'm trying to get into The Lion's Den, one of the the premier camps in the country for training..." Shrugging a little, he suddenly felt a little self-conscious, as if he just made himself sound like a neanderthal to the girl.
Actually, Clarity was very impressed. Anyone who could defend themselves and fight back always impressed her and maybe it was because she needed a freakin' <i>angel</i> to protect her. Although the blond had yet to encounter any of the entities that Serena was protecting her from, that didn't mean that Clarity wasn't appreciative of that, "Wow...that's pretty cool."
An excuse to see hot guys duke it out? Sign Clarity up! Of course, she hoped to she didn't look as eager as she felt on the inside. "Um..." The blond tilted her head a bit, checking Jarrod out again. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth in indecision until a smile curved her lips, "Okay."
"Oh yeah..." He said with a quirky grin, as if he'd almost forgotten an important point. "Welcome to Reagan High."
It was a welcome that she hadn't felt in some time. A year or more at least. That feeling alone put a smile on Clarity's face, her nose scrunching cutely just a tad. "Thanks." She then stuck her hand out to Jarrod, "I'm Clarity."
"Jarrod. Nice to meet you." He offered, taking her hand sweetly and shaking it with a delicate lightness.
Clarity was surprised at the gentle, almost light grip he took her hand with. It gave him a different side that his physical appearance would've normally projected. His touch brought out a shy smile on the blond's face, "Um...nice to meet you, too, Jarrod."
"Well, look. Let's make an agreement. We're gonna hang out sometime. When you know of something that you think sounds like fun and I don't have a bag the size of Montana hitched to the back of my bike." He laughed as he blurted that all out, wondering how the hel his brain was wired sometime.
The blond giggled at the visual reference but then sobered. "Yeah, um..." Clarity hesitated, "About the hanging out part..." She pouted a little, but bravely blurted out, "My sister will want to meet you first." Clarity was embarassed about saying that, "It's not just 'cause your a boy or anything...she just...likes to meet all the friends I make." Pushing her hair aside, "Serena is just, oh, slight? Overprotective?" Clarity gave Jarrod a nervous laugh and smile.
"Oh... hey, that's cool... I have nothing to hide. I'm not some wild party guy or anything. Unless she's got some horrible fear of bikes, I should be ok..." He felt a little bad for her, at how embarrassed she looked. "Seriously, it's no big"
Yeah...her attractiveness and cool factor probably just got lowered a few notches on his meter or...whatever it was that boys measured things like that by. Clarity could tell that Jarrod thought it was a little weird, but...there wasn't much she could do about that. Serena <i>would</i> want to meet Jarrod and Clarity knew that Jarrod was just being nice about it. It made her feel a little better. The blond then pulled out a pen from her purse and took Jarrod's arm, writing her cell phone number on the inside of his forearm. "Call me any time you want." She said with a smile.