Self Improvement, chapter 19

Previous chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/self-improvement-93474217?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Rachael's morning run was probably her favorite time of day. She could forget about everything, and just follow her own rhythm. Her declining grades didn't matter, her vile professor didn't matter, nothing did. Just the pavement in front of her, the sound of her breath, and of course, the leering eyes of guys. Some guys went as far as catcalling and whistling at her, but some level of civility was maintained. She didn't dress like a tramp yearning for attention, and her physique left a bit to be desired.

But every once in a while, some pervy guy didn't know what boundaries are. On this occasion, it was a middle aged dude with a beer gut halfway hanging out his too small T-shirt, belly hairs standing at attention from the cold, late autumn breeze. More than any other guy before him, this man was dead set on getting Rachael to halt her run and give him some of her time. He was so insistent in fact, he parked his ass right in the middle of the sidewalk, preventing Rachael from having any chance at escaping the cannon event. The heavy morning traffic also prevented her from using the shoulder of the road to get past.

"Oy, lad. Where ya off tooo~?"

The man was clearly intoxicated. He reeked of booze and cigarettes. Despite the heavy air of exhaust fumes and chimney smoke, Rachael could still smell him from her safe distance of four meters.

"Uhm. I'm out on my morning run. Kinda obvious, no?"

"Don't get snarky with me miss, dont cha know that purdy gals like you should be nice to men?"

Rachael rolled her eyes. This bag of shit could hardy be called a man. But in spite of her opinion of him, she found herself nodding along apologetically, looking up at him with her big doe eyes. The change to her demeanor didn't go unnoticed, and the man in front took it as an open invitation to close the distance between them, bringing with him his repulsive odor, which caused Rachael to scrunch her nose in disgust.

"But your eyes were so friendly just now! Don't let a little smell get in the way of a good time! I thought gals loved the smell of manly men?"

Ugh.. This guy.

He was hardly a manly man. More like the sorry excuse of one. Probably unemployed, undoubtably paying child support if he had any game whatsoever. And even if he did, it certainly wasn't working on Rachael, although she did just catch herself suddenly enjoying his "aroma".

"Here.. I'll cut ya a deal, yeah? You give me your number, and I'll let ya pass and get on with whatever you were up to. Sounds like a great deal, right?"

Such a scumbag..

Rachael wanted to turn him down, but the offer suddenly seemed so lucrative. It was a great deal, wasn't it? In his current state, the drunkard would probably mess up inserting her number into his phone anyway. Surely she could give in this once to get away from this situation.

"..Fine. My number is-"

"Hohoho, not so fast miss. Ya think I'm in any shape to member' that? Nah. Type it in yerself. And no fakes, good girls shouldn't lie, y'know.."

Rachael's eyes were getting as much exercise as the rest of her body, performing their nth roll of the encounter. Be that as it may, she still reached out her hand, signaling for the perv to hand her his phone. She went into his contact and made a new one for herself, she was about to add in some random few numbers instead of her actual number, but the statement from before kept echoing in her mind. Good girls don't lie. Inserting a wrong number would surely count as lying, and as such, Rachael instead opted to use her actual number.

"And add in a lil' selfie too, so I can member' yer face when I get sober.. "

Being the good little girl that she was, Rachael saw no other option than to comply with his demand. She held the phone up high and pouted her lips, her go-to pose whenever she took selfies where she wanted to look her best.

"Yer a fine lil' thing, aren't ya? You'll be hearing from me.."

I totally hope I don't..

Upon leaving the scene, Rachael paced down the sidewalk much quicker than usual, to make up for the lost time. She wasn't planning on going to school anyway, but still didn't want to stay out in the autumn breeze for too long.