Lily's Playlist

Saturday was the day of the mud run so I woke up on time to get dressed in my "mud run" appropriate outfit. Forrest's instructions included no cotton, double layers, and shoes we don't mind washing or tossing. I was wearing black spandex shorts underneath black nylon running tights with a lime green training tank. The wide arm holes exposed my black sports bra. I pulled my hair into a low side ponytail and completely skip on make-up. Really, there was no point. I packed a bag with a change of clothes before I left for Rocky's house.

Rocky wasn't going to participate, but Brandon, Jake and Jasmine were. Trevor wanted to, but he already made plans to meet Becca's friends. Or from the way he told it, Becca made plans and he couldn't get out of them. Ah, the joys of being in a relationship. I teased him and told him when he wasn't pussy whipped or when Becca gave him permission to call me.

We agreed to meet at Rocky's place because Brandon volunteered to drive. I arrived first and went ahead and threw my bag in his Explorer. I was happy to see Brandon followed my clothing instructions. He wore a short sleeved Under Armour shirt with a tank, shorts and running pants. When Jasmine and Jake showed up, only Jasmine was dressed appropriately. Her purple camouflage workout tank with matching pants looked sporty and cute. Her hair was braided back in two French braids. Jake was wearing basketball shorts and a cotton t-shirt.

"Jake, cotton is going to absorb all the moisture and mud and you need double layers so you don't have to strip down to your underwear for the shower." I repeated what Forrest told me.

Jake pulled down his basketball shorts to reveal another pair.

"If it's ok with you, I was going to run shirtless." He answered.

"Whatever floats your boat." I shrugged.

"Whatever rocks yours." He countered.

Jasmine laughed. "Alright children. Settle it on the obstacle course. Let's go!!!"

We said goodbye to Rocky and hit the road. The drive to Fort Worth was a long one. The boys talked about the recent trades of basketball players in the NBA.

"Are you a Dallas Maverick fan?" Jake asked me.

"I feel like I have to be now that the Lakers are so disappointing." I answered. "I like players more than teams. And I hate Miami Heat."

"I hear you on that. Love the city though. Remember when we went down there?" Brandon asked Jake.

"Oh yeah. The beaches were nice." Jake replied.

"There were beaches? I only remember the women. Is that where you met that freaky Cuban chick?" Brandon chuckled.

"Aye.. chill out with all that." Jake said, nodding towards me and Jasmine in the backseat.

"Oh, please! No point in trying to hide it from me. I've had the misfortune of having to deal with the freaks you associate with." Jasmine exclaimed.

"We're in mixed company...." Jake said, referring to me.

"I would love nothing more than to hear about the freaks." I smiled.

"Go talk to your roommate then." Jake replied.

As they laughed, I reached to the front seat and tugged Jake on the ear twice.

"Be nice!"

"Ouch. Ok. Chill" He groaned.

We talked about old trips they went on and where they wanted to go next. Jake's birthday was coming up in October, so they were planning another trip.

"How old are you going to be?" I asked.

"29." He answered.

"Geez, aren't you too old to still be celebrating birthdays?" I teased.

"Only as old as you feel, youngin'"

I grinned at that. Ethan and Jake were the same age, meaning they would have been in the same grade in school growing up together. I used to wonder why Jake and Brandon were closer friends than Ethan and Jake. As I got to know Jake, it made sense. Jake was definitely more laidback and adventurous than Ethan. I could see why he meshed more with Brandon.

"It's his last year in his twenties. Gotta go big!" Brandon added.

"Thirty is the new 20 anyway." Jake said.

"No it ain't." Jasmine laughed.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." I said too.

"Okay, raise your hand if you spent the last decade having fun and doing you?" Jake asked. He was the only one with his hand up.

"Exactly." He said.

"Keep your hand up if you were there when Jesus walked?" I sang, Kanye West style.

We all laughed at that, before Brandon used his aux cord to play the song for us to troll Jake. Jasmine and I had a blast the rest of the ride, singing and rapping to each other until we finally arrived. The course was huge and MUDDY. We got rain all week, so I shouldn't have been surprised. There was a huge mud pit just in the middle of the course. There was a tires obstacle, barbed wires to crawl under, tunnels to burrow through, monkey bars, and fences to jump over. All accompanied by muddy water trenches or just mud. The course is long- added with the fact that it was humid as hell, it was daunting to say the least.

"What did I sign up for? They can keep the $75." Jasmine exclaimed.

I laughed. "Too late. You're already here."

I called Jordan as we parked. She told me she was already there, waiting in her car. I texted Forrest, just to let him know we made it. He didn't respond before I left my phone in the car with my bag. I found Jordan right away and we all got in line. Jordan and I were signed in quickly because we were already registered. Brandon, Jasmine and Jake were still in line when me and Jordan finished. We stepped to the side to wait for them. I was trying to figure out how to snap the wrist band on Jordan's wrist when Forrest approached us.

"Let me see that. It's gotta be real tight or you'll lose it on the course." He said to me, taking over.

"Hey Forrest!" I smiled. "I was worried I wasn't going to see you! This event is massive!" I exclaimed, genuinely excited to see him.

"I wouldn't have let that happen." He smiled at me, snapping Jordan's band on. "There you go. Y'all ready for this?"

"I was till I saw that huge pit of mud." Jordan responded. Forrest laughed as he grabbed my wristband and put it on my arm for me.

"Having technical difficulties already Lily?" Jake asked as he joined us with Brandon and Jasmine.

"No, they just have to be on really tight or they fall off on the course." I explained.

"Yep. Make sure y'all's are tight too. No band, no beer." Forrest explained as he finished mine.

"Can you help me with mine too?" Jasmine said, grinning. He returned her smile.

"Of course." He replied, grabbing her band.

"Guys, this is Forrest. Forrest, these are a few of my friends. Jake, Jasmine and Brandon." I introduced them.

"Nice to meet y'all and thank you for coming out." Forrest greeted them. They all greeted him back.

"So what heat are y'all in?" Forrest asked.

"6th. How bout you?" I responded.

"1st. We gotta run over to the hotel and get set up for the luncheon. Y'all are coming to that afterwards?" Forrest asked.

"Umm, we weren't planning on it. We didn't really bring clothes for a luncheon." I said.

"Good. It's super casual, barn themed. Come eat, there's always plenty of food." Forrest said.

Before I could respond, the woman I recognized from Forrest's Facebook as his fiancée came over. She was wearing the matching brown mud run shirt to Forrest's but paired hers with khaki shorts, and a red, brown and white plaid shirt. Her wavy black hair was half up half down. Silver studs adorned her ears. She looked beautiful and chic- definitely not about to run around in the mud.

"Rachel, remember Darren,the wide receiver I've been working with? This is his physical therapist Lily. She and her friends came out to support the cause." Forrest said.

"It's great to have you. Always so nice to see new faces out here." She smiled at us before turning back to Forrest. "I need you with the Denisons."

"Be right there." He promised.

"Ok. Goodbye. Good luck." Rachel smiled to us, before walking off.

"She seems really nice." I smiled.

"Yeah. She's really busy. I better go help her out. Make sure you watch the first heat- You can walk down if you wanna pick up some pointers." He smiled.

"Of course. I'll be the one yelling Run Forrest, Run!" I said, in my best Jenny impersonation.

He laughed. "Real original Lily."

"I bet that one never gets old." I smiled at him, before he walked off.

Jasmine rushed over to me. "Damn girl. Now I see why you were so anxious to come to this. I would roll around in the mud with him any day."

"Stop fantasizing. That girl was his fiancée." Jordan informed her.

"I didn't see a ring." Jasmine replied.

"It's huge. I wouldn't wear it out here neither." I said.

"That was your first time meeting her?" Jake asked me. When I nodded, he continued, "How do you know what her ring looks like?"

I blushed. "I might have seen it...On Instagram."

After they teased me for being an internet stalker, we stood to the side to watch the first heats. I don't cheer for Forrest, but I definitely watch him for as long as I can, eventually walking alone to stretch and prepare. Forrest was obviously very comfortable in the mud, he ran through the first obstacles like it was a breeze. When I see the 3rd group passing by, I head back to the start.

We all line up when our heat was announced. You can tell the majority are newbies just by the clothing options. Some of the girls are just wearing spandex shorts and sports bras. One fearless dude was wearing just a Speedo. I didn't know if it was ignorance or experience, but more power to him. I kept my eyes forward when Jake took off his shirt. I didn't need him catching me checking out his chest, abs and arms. Even though they're amazing, his head was big enough. His ego needed no inflation.

When the buzzer sounded, we took off. The first obstacle was a muddy water trench. We all jumped in and trudged through it together. When we got out, we raced to the next obstacle, the tires. Jake and Brandon let us girls go through an open lane together while they wait for the next available one. I looked beside me as I went through. Jake had already caught up with us. His stutter steps are so fast, the mud barely affected him.

Obviously he works out, but I was surprised he was so athletic. He's built, but graceful on his feet and fast. I can tell he was holding back to keep up with the group. I sped up to see if he would do the same. He did. I caught his eye and smiled. It was officially on.

When we got through the tires, Jake and I both took off. I figured we would meet the rest of them at the finish line. Jake must have thought the same, because he immediately dove into the tunnels. When I made my way out, I saw that he already took off to the next obstacle. I followed quickly. It was the monkey bars. I caught up with him on the fifth bar. His grip was slowing him down. I was able to wipe my hands on the inside of my shirt. He didn't have that luxury but I teased him anyway.

"Your upper body needs some work." I huffed out, as I prepared to pass him. I was a bar ahead of him when I felt fingers briefly tickling my side. It was long enough to make me lose my grip, and I fell into the huge ass waist deep puddle.

I was shocked and pissed as I heard a splash beside me. Jake laughed as he took off through the water. My anger melted away at his laughter, and I took off after him.

Watching Forrest definitely gave me an advantage. I saw when he did the mud pit, he went to the edges. I did the same. Jake tried to go straight though the middle and got stuck there. When I got out the pit, I wiped some of the excess mud off me and walked to the middle to watch Jake struggle. I sat down on the side and waited. When he finally pulled himself out, I looked up and smiled at him.

"Karma is a bitch huh?"

"Shut up and lets go." He panted, helping me up.

Brandon wasn't far behind, so he knew to go to the outside. He flew past us to the barbed wire. We took off, crawling under the wire together.

We ran to the last obstacle together. It was a series of alternating fences and trenches. I didn't know about Jake, but I was tiring out. After the last fence, I saw the finish line. A burst of energy passed through me. This time we kept pace with one another as we sprinted to the finish. Brandon was already there, covered in mud. I knew I have to look the same. I felt mud EVERYWHERE. As I crossed the finish line, I was honestly too pumped to care. It was so much fun. Everyone was cheering and giving mud hugs. Photographers were walking around taking pictures so I took one with Jake and Brandon. Jordan and Jasmine crossed together. They both looked thrilled. Not that they finished, but pumped to find the showers. I made them take photos with me first. We struck model poses covered in mud and received a few laughs.

We walked about a half a mile to outdoor showers. When you're covered in mud, modesty honestly goes out the window. I stripped until I was down to my sports bra, spandex shorts, and flip flops that were provided. I hopped in the huge, community, co-ed showers that were not too crowded because the heats were staggered. It was cold, and the water pressure was super hard, but I swear it felt like a freaking spa day getting all the mud off me. I mentally thanked Forrest for the tip to wear double clothes. I saw others showering in their underwear. Underwear plus mud was not a pretty mental picture.

We then walked the rest of the way to the entrance. The sign in table is covered with water bottles. The boys offered to run to the cars to get our bags. We grabbed water and found a nice little spot under a tree. We were 2 water bottles down when the boys finally joined us. We planned to dry out a little before heading to the bathrooms to change. I looked at my phone and saw Forrest texted me.

Forrest: Call me when you're finished.

I gave him a call and told him where we were. He and his friend Drew came over with beer. Modesty was slowly creeping back to me. It was comfortable when everyone was half dressed, but Forrest and Drew were both dressed in shorts and the same mud run t-shirts that Rachel was wearing. I was painfully aware that I was half naked.

"Hey. You looked good out there." Forrest said, handing me a beer. "You all did."

"Thanks." I said, shyly, hoping my blush just looked like exhaustion.

"Good eye if you could tell the difference between one mud covered person from the next." Jake said as he drank his beer.

"I saw you knock Lily off the monkey bars. And Jordan and Jasmine skipped an obstacle." Forrest chuckled.

"Cheaters!" Brandon pointed at Jasmine and Jordan, laughing.

"She slipped. Not my fault." Jake lied.

"Karma already got you in the mud pit." I laughed at Jake.

"It took me getting stuck to learn to run on the sides. How did you know?" Forrest asked.

"I took your advice and watched how you did it." I admitted.

He smiled at me.

After our beers, Forrest headed to the hotel. We went to the bathroom to get dressed. Jordan left after she got changed, saying she had plans with her boyfriend.

"You shoulda invited him!" I pouted.

"He's not into this kinda thing. I'll see you at work!"

After she left, we drove to the hotel were the luncheon was being held. We went to the bathroom first to make ourselves look as presentable as possible. Thank God Jasmine is a beautician. She was able to tame my damp, wavy hair and put it up in a cute, messy bun with strands framing my face. She left her hair down from the braids. It was curly and looked great tousled.

We arrived at the hotel banquet room. Forrest wasn't lying about it being casual. It was buffet style BBQ. The room was decorated minimally with polished hardwood floors, red and white checkered table cloths, and cute firefly string lights. We waited in line and filled our plates with turkey, brisket, sausage, beans, potato salad, green beans, macaroni and cheese, broccoli salad, and rolls. We ate in silence and drank sweet tea. During the dessert of banana pudding in mini mason jars and mini pecan pies, the founder of the run gave a speech. It was light-hearted and touching as he talked about his father's battle with cancer. What started off as a way to remember his dad turned into an event to educate and hopefully prevent other families from suffering from the same loss. His family came up afterwards and everyone gave them a standing ovation. As we finished eating, Forrest joined our table.

"Y'all done eating yet?" He asked, sitting next to me.

"Forrest, we spent two hours at a nacho bar." I exaggerated. "How long do you think I can spend at a BBQ buffet?"

"Probably all night, but if you do, you'll miss all the fun." He grinned.

I looked at Brandon, Jake, and Jasmine.

"Are y'all up for more fun?" I asked.

They agreed.

Fun ended up being an indoor/outdoor bar. Forrest and his group of friends rode Ubers to the bar and we followed, Brandon now the designated driver for the night. We saw a huge mechanical bull on the outside of the bar when we parked. I automatically knew this was going to be an interesting night. We headed to the bar first and started the night off with a round of signature shots before going off to explore. Outside, there were corn hole games, Foosball tables, and of course, the mechanical bull. Inside there were skee-ball games, a wall of retro arcade games, oversized Connect Four and Jenga. Jasmine grabbed me and we headed for the danced floor. The DJ was playing a mix of top 40 country, pop and some hip hop. Jake and Brandon joined us and we were all dancing together until some girls started dancing on the guys.

Jasmine and I just continued to dance with each other until I felt someone close to me. I turned to see Forrest and I moved closer to dance on him. I tried not to notice how freaking sexy he looked dancing against me as Sam Hunt sang about taking it slow just as fast as he can.

"Where's Rachel?" I asked, pulling away from him.

"At the hotel. She hates this bar." Forrest explained. "We got a corn hole table. Come play with us."

I nodded and told Jasmine over the music. She waved me off and kept dancing with some dude. As I left, I watched both Jake and Brandon on the dance floor. Brandon had some young, sloppy girl grinding her ass all over him. I glared at him, willing him to look up. When he didn't, I pulled Forrest's arm to stop him. "I'll meet you outside!" I said, loudly in his ear. After Forrest nodded, I marched over to Brandon. Jake noticed me first and tapped Brandon on the shoulder. Jake said something to Brandon to make him look my way. Jake laughed when Brandon took a sheepish step back from Ms. Twerktastic.

"I was just dancing." He yelled over the music

"Yeah, with her ass!" I yelled back.

Jake leaned in close to my ear. "Like Forrest was dancing with you?" He said, loud enough for only me to hear him. That was a lie! Homegirl was literally giving Brandon a lap dance standing up. I was not grinding against Forrest. I gave both Brandon and Jake a dirty look before I stomped off to find Forrest outside.

He was waiting on me to be his partner, even though I never played corn hole before. The rules were explained to me and it seemed simple enough. On the tables sat two fish bowls of trashcan punch with a ton of straws. For every point scored against you or bag on the floor, you had to take a drink. Forrest went first. 3 of his bags end up on the board, one on the floor- giving us an automatic drink. Blake, his friend on the opposing team, goes next. 1 on the floor, 2 on the board, and one holer, a term for when it went in the hole. I learned it when they all screamed HOLER. That gave them 5 points. Meaning they scored 2, so we had to take 3 drinks, while they only took 1 for the bag on the floor that Blake threw.

When it was my turn, all my bags landed on the board. Ashley, (the girl I was going against) only got one on the board. We easily crushed them. Me and Forrest hugged as we celebrated and trash talked. Well, I mostly trash talked, but in my defense, they scored 11 points, so I was 11+ sips deep in trashcan punch.