City Lights, Country Nights

9.favorite scrunchie

Liora tied her hair up into a ponytail and adjusted her black spandex shorts and sports bra as she reached for her phone. It was 4:30, and Liora let out a huff as she walked towards her bedroom door, nearly stumbling over someone's shoes.

Frowning, she looked down at the shoes, unsure whose they were, but determined to move them. Liora shook her head and made her way to Jackie's door, hoping she was awake enough to at least see her off in case they encountered someone.

After knocking on Jackie's door and receiving no response, Liora sighed and decided to leave without her. As she made her way to the stairs, she began to descend, but abruptly stopped in her tracks upon hearing a thump. At first, she thought she might have dropped her phone or something, but when another thump followed, her head snapped in the direction of Cole's door.

Liora decided not to dwell on it and continued on her way, stopping when she entered the kitchen. "Rory," George said as he stood there with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Tea?" he asked, and Liora nodded.

"Yes, thank you," Liora replied, walking a bit closer as she looked around while he made the tea.

"Hot tea with one sweetener," he said, handing her the tea. Liora looked surprised that he knew her preference. "Cole said that you always have them stop by a shop every morning to get a hot tea with one sweetener. He was very particular about it, even buying some throwaway cups," George explained. Liora's eyes moved down to the cup – it was indeed a throwaway cup.

"He didn't have to," Liora mumbled as she drank her tea.

"Anyway, what are you doing up so early?" he asked. She just shrugged, not wanting to reveal that she had had a nightmare and couldn't fall back asleep.

"I... I just felt like I needed to get back into my routine from New York. I didn't really have a set time to work out, but I figured I would do it early in the mornings," Liora said, setting down her cup. "I just thought I could get it out of the way and shower before anyone else was up," she explained.

"What happened yesterday won't happen again," he said. Liora looked down. Yes, nothing that happened yesterday would ever happen again. "Anyway, I set up your air mats, but everything else, you're going to have to show me how to do it," he said. Liora nodded with a big smile as they walked to the door and out.

"I'll just be over by the horses if you need anything," he said. Liora nodded as she walked over to the mats. It was still dark, but she could see the inflatable air mats. These mats were filled with air, providing a bouncy surface that's great for practicing tumbling, flips, and other dynamic movements. They were also easy to inflate and deflate for storage. This was good and t

They were a pretty shade of blue.

With a smile, Liora did some stretches before moving on to a series of gymnastics maneuvers. She started with a couple of back handsprings, then progressed to front tucks, aerials, back tucks, front layouts, back layouts, and aerial twists.

Liora had lost track of time, and before she knew it, the sun was fully out. She walked over to her phone – 6:30. She let out a breath and made her way back to the house.

"Hey," Nathan said. Liora smiled at him. "That was pretty cool," he said. Liora shook her head.

"It wasn't really anything," she said as she looked him over. "Hey, are you going for a run?" she asked. He nodded.

"You want to go?" he asked. Liora nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to put on different shoes and see if Jackie's up," Liora said, walking inside and up the stairs to find Jackie coming out of her room. "Hey, I was just about to come get you. Nathan and I are going to go for a run," she said.

"I was just coming down when I saw you out the window," Jackie said.

"Okay, I just need to get my running shoes, and I will meet you down the—" Liora began, but stopped when the door across from them opened. Cole's door opened, and out walked the korean girl whose name Liora still didn't know. She looked just as surprised to see them as Jackie and Liora were to see her.

Liora's jaw clenched as she watched her walk down the steps, then she looked to Jackie, who was already looking at her. "Is that a little green monster I see?" Jackie asked teasingly.

"Yeah, it's called 'duscussed.' I think I heard that this morning," Liora said. Jackie hummed, making her roll her eyes. She wasn't going to tell her she might have felt just a little bit jealous. "Just go, I'll be down in a minute," she said as Jackie walked down the stairs, and Liora turned to walk into her room, only to stumble over the shoes again but quickly caught herself on the door.

"Are you okay?" Alex said, walking over to her as she picked up the shoes and looked at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but whose shoes are these?" she asked. Alex looked at them and pointed at Cole's door. "Well then, why are they over here?" she said more to herself as she went to get her own shoes.

When she walked back out, Alex wasn't there, so she walked over to Cole's door and knocked. There was a noise she didn't recognize, then the door opened and there stood Cole, just in his boxers.

"Really?" Liora said, looking up at him.

"What?" he said. She saw the small tug at his lips. Liora just shook her head.

"Look, keep your shoes out from in front of my door. I'm tired of tripping on them," she said, pushing the shoes into his chest.

"I don't know how they got there," Cole said, and Liora tried to stop herself, but couldn't.

"Well, maybe you lost them when you were bringing your supposed girlfriend's best friend to your bed," she said. She immediately regretted her words, but they were already out, and before he could say anything, she walked away.

"Okay, let's go," Liora said, trying to leave before she saw him again.

"Why are you in such a rus—" Jackie was cut off when the door opened. She didn't look up. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked. Liora just put one of her headphones in, but out of nowhere a pull came from her ponytail.

Liora's hair fell over her shoulder and down to her waist as her hand snapped up to grab the back of her head. Only then did she realize what just happened. Her eyes looked over to watch Cole walk away with her favorite scrunchie. She then looked back at Jackie with big eyes.

"I'm not going to get that," Liora said as Jackie gave her the one around her wrist, and the three started to jog off.