Second lap, same as the first!

[MK Kilmarnock]

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine without a jacket. I really got to get home. Catch you at prom!"

Craig understood, and nodded. "Hey, alright, but don't get a cold or nothing!" He laughed again, seemingly full of it as the afternoon turned to evening and, indeed, it was getting a bit nippy, even for him. He would've said something if it weren't for the fact that she went to hug him once more, which took him completely by surprise. Hugging her back by reaching down and behind her, Craig made a mental note to watch out for the next one and try to kneel or something.

That didn't stop everything from being nice... Hera, the hug, the fact she asked, the fact he said yes; the cold hardly seemed all that bitter anymore. "See ya.." Craig said as he watched Hera run off. She was probably out of earshot, so he was talking to himself when he said that, but he felt so damned good that he didn't really care. "Now what am I gonna do tomorrow..." he said to himself as he went to pick up his things, looking at the gradually-distancing girl every so often from the corner of his eye until she was finally gone. She seemed really happy; sincerely happy, not begrudging or reluctantly accepting or even pitying.

"Weeeell, I hope I don't stay back this year... another year of football would be nice, but she's not staying back either." Craig continued mumbling, finally picking everything up. His eyes were stuck to the spot where Hera disappered, the path winding around a corner obstructed by trees and other such things. "Sheesh... looking too far ahead, it's making my head hurt!" Craig began the long and tiring walk back home... it was a whole mile and a half.

Along the walk, he imagined what Hera looked like in several different prom dresses.

((Craig Hoyle, continued in Going Balls Deep))