"Of course! What, don't you ever believe me?" Min was teasing, because it seemed that he was always asking 'really?' to things she said.

He was thinking about watching their practice? The thought made Min feel gently warm inside. It was just... so nice. Smiling she shook her head, silk waves of gold sweeping at her own ears. "Not today. I ran my laps this morning. Some of the others might be, though I think most of them went to the store before heading over to Karl's." For a moment her eyes -almost a silvery, clear blue today- fell to the swinging earpiece watching it sway back and forth before Min looked up again with a light laugh, looking a little sheepish for being distracted like that. "I was going to the hardware store, but I can go with you to watch those that're still running if you'd like." It sounded like a good idea to Min. She did not often just sit back and watch her teammates run except at a meet when they were in different races than she was.

"W-Well, of course," Besnik responded with a light blush. I'm just not used to it.

"I'm not sure your teammates like me," he mumbled, remembering the way the blonde with the fluffy ponytail had glared at him for watching their practice. "Want me to come along?" he offered, not having much to do now that was school had ended. He still had quite a bit of homework to finish, but he had the whole weekend to finish it.

Oh good. Mindy wanted him to believe her. Especially when she was telling the truth. But he was blushing. Maybe I teased him too much?

Min had to lean closer to him to try to hear what he mumbled and still didn’t quite make it out. Or at least, she thought she didn’t. Why would he think her teammates didn’t like him? “What?”

In a moment she was not thinking about that though, her entire face lighting up with the glow of her smile. “Really?” Then Mindy laughed, not missing how this time it was she who had said it and showing so. “Yes! Yes I do! You won’t be bored, will you?”

Besnik raised his hands before him and shook them. "Ah, n-nothing." Perhaps it was better that Mindy hadn't heard the comment.

Besnik chuckled lightly. "Yeah, of course," he replied with a smile. "All that awaits me at home right now is homework. "Going to the hardware store with a," he glanced at Mindy, "friend has to be more entertaining than homework."

Giving him a look that was half ‘yeah, I’ll believe that’ Min shrugged over her smile. She could hardly help it –she was just too excited that he might actually want to go with her to the hardware store. Usually her friends tried to convince her to do what they wanted to do. Not that they often succeeded, unless it was something Min wanted to do anyway. “Being with a friend anywhere is more entertaining than homework..” Min emphasized with a laugh. With an inclination of her head she invited Besnik to come along as she started to walk again. While walking she turned her head only back to face him. There was an earnestly thoughtful look in her eyes, though her words seemed to be trying to play it off. “You’ll tell me about it later though, right? If the ‘nothing’ becomes ‘something’.”

A soft thing, just to say that though she was going to believe him what she had missed earlier was ‘nothing’ that she suspected it was not the case but she would let it stand as is and she would not pry.

“sooo…” She went on, showing that her question was rhetoric. Something for Besnik to answer inside himself that she would only know when he told her. “What kind of music you got in here?” With a playful twinkle Min brought one finger over to flick the dangling earpiece and chuckled.

"I suppose that's true," Besnik said as he fell into step walking beside Mindy. He shoved his hands back into his pockets. At the question, he glanced at Mindy. He reached up to rub the back of his neck in thought. There really wasn't much he could say about what he had mumbled earlier. He didn't know what Mindy's teammate really thought of him.

"Hm?" Besnik blinked at the change in subject. "Oh, ah, just a bunch of random stuff. Rock, punk, pop, jazz, blues. Pretty much just a big mismatch of songs I like."

That was okay… Debbie probably did not have an opinion yet on Besnik herself. It was more the things he represented. But even had Mindy known that was what was on his mind, she would not have known to tell him that of her track friend.

Bluish eyes rose, impressed. “Jazz & Blues too?” She leaned over a bit while walking –as if to catch whatever tune was playing right then just by getting closer. “I didn’t think anyone else our age liked those.” Pause. “Blues can be a bit depressing though. Unless you laugh at it.” Once more her eyes crinkled with Min’s smile, and there was a faint hint of where her dimple would grow.

Besnik decided to put away thoughts of Mindy's teammates. "Yup," he said with a smile. "I listen to a bunch of different styles." He chuckled a little when he noticed Mindy trying to catch whatever was playing on his mp3 player. "It's not on right now."

He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. The blues spoke a lot to him when he was thinking about some things. "They've got some good songs though."

"Aww..." The girl pouted cutely, a hint of blush touching cheeks already sun-kissed and always with a healthy glow as she righted herself. Min liked hearing different music, and she had wondered if maybe he knew other songs than she did. It would be hard for her to ask though, because unless she had a specific album in or the dj recently said the name Min usually did not know what she was listening to. It just was not something she spent time memorizing.

A flicker of worried confusion touched her smiling eyes at Besnik's shrug. Min's mouth formed a small 'o' before she could find the words to respond. "Lots of good songs. Just... well it's not exactly cheering to listen to someone sing about losing everything no matter how good they sound. In that way... it's kinda like Country. You know: if you play it backwards they get everything back." Her eyes glistened both playful and hopeful. Min had not meant to say anything negative of the genre. Not when she liked it too. It was just...

...sometimes the music hit a little too close to home and Min hated to dwell there.

"Yeah, but I find blues better," Besnik said, putting on a smile. For whatever reason, country had never been high on his list of music he liked. Though there were a rare few songs that he liked. "But yeah, it's not the cheeriest of genres to listen to." But the blues was soothing sometimes.

"Do you have a favorite genre to listen to?" he asked, shifting the talk away from the blues.

Mindy laughed. "Me too." Blues was way better than country in her opinion. Like all the good musicians moved up but still sang about much the same things, but with a little more... class. Something like that.

At Besnik's question her cheeks grew warm beyond the heat of the sun upon them and Mindy -going shy for the first time since they met- looked down at her shoes. In particular the one furthest from Besnik. "Showtunes." The girl confessed quietly, still looking down for that moment then jerking her gaze up to see his reaction. It normally was not a question asked her. Not straight out like that. Her smile quirked around the edges of her mouth. "But I listen to just about everything. Except the really dark or really gross stuff."

Besnik blinked at the sudden change in Mindy's personality. From their first meetings, it hadn't struck him that she could be shy since she seemed like such an outgoing person.

"Show tunes are pretty good. I think I have some from Kiss Me Kate and My Fair Lady on here," he said, toying with his mp3 player. He had put a bunch of songs on it and couldn't remember all of them.

Showtunes -not quite as much as the notebook he had found- were almost her secret thing. For some reason... years ago her friends had laughed that she liked them and Min had never brought it up in serious conversation since. Not with them. Since all of her friends were pretty much tied together in one way or another through track or soccer or friends of friends through those Min just kept quiet on the matter. The only way her interest showed up was in play, when she would toss out a showtune to lighten a situation in an almost silly fashion.

This was totally different.

When Besnik blinked she was worried that maybe... maybe she should have avoided a direct answer. Then she was blinking, then laughing with relief. Min felt the urge to hug him which she did -soft, short & warm- before just looking at his player & trying to read the titles over his hand to see if any of them stirred her memory. "Which ones from My Fair Lady? I don't know Kiss Me Kate as well."

Softly she was humming 'I could have danced all night' beneath her breath, the hum itself having a soft burr to it that might be somewhat pleasing but not something a singer would want.

Besnik was completely surprised when he suddenly felt arms wrap around him in a friendly hug. He hadn't expected such a reaction from Mindy when he said he also listened to show tunes.

"Ah, well, I think there's Why Can't the English? and With a Little Bit of Luck," he mumbled as he searched through the song list for the show tunes. He kept his head bowed, trying to ignore the flush of coloring dancing across his cheeks. No girl in school had ever hugged him for any reason.

He probably should get used to more where that one came from if he was going to make her feel so at ease and happy. Tilting her head to better hear him Min giggled. “You know it’s hard to hear you when you mumble like that.” A fun crinkle in her eyes. “Those’re both great. ‘Luck’ I think is a bit more fun.”

She pulled fully back to give him room then, afraid maybe her shadow might make it hard to see his screen and started softly singing in a soft alto. The ‘burr’ showing in her hum was more prevalent, and it might be that she was actually a mezzo-soprano. She was enjoying the song, but uncertain, tentative, in her singing. “With a little bit, with a little bit! With a little bit of luck you’ll never work!”

Unlike her singing her feet however had fallen into an unfaltering pattern, doing a small little dance step perfectly in time to the music and right off the screen from the scene.

"Ah, s-sorry," Besnik stuttered, embarrassed at his mumblings. He stopped looking through his music when he heard Mindy start singing. "You enjoy singing along?" he asked with a small smile. He had often song along at random to whatever song he was listening to, though most of the time he didn't even realize he was doing it. Chewing on his lip, he was too embarrassed to join in singing.

I little bit of pink touched her cheeks and Mindy stopped singing, looking sheepish. "Sometimes. I'm not very good though. But some of the songs... they're so fun it's hard not to!" Laughing at herself the athletic girl paused to kick a pebble, watching as it bounced its way down the street ((yes, at some point they got outside. shoo. ^_^)) "Do you?"

There was a soft, almost wistful quality to the way Mindy asked the question. As confident as she could be, she was still a teenager and prone to at least tiny bouts of insecurity.

Besnik hesitated before offering a little bob of his head in response. "Sometimes," he admitted out loud. "Probably more often than I realize though." He chuckled out of embarrassment. He didn't usually tell people about that. Only his father had ever really heard him sing since he didn't listen to music a lot in public places.

Mostly because before he hadn't had any type of a music player.

Mindy's face brightened, glad not to be the other one. "Then maybe I could hear you sometime!" She said with all sincerity. There was a flickering thought near the back of her mind wondering if maybe Besnik danced too, but it was quickly washed away with a thought of 'later' so much that Mindy barely noticed the thought had ever been there at all.

Besides... they weren't talking about that now. Instead she crinkled her nose teasingly at her friend. "See...? I knew you had to have things you liked!"

Besnik paused to stare at Mindy, his brown eyes widening a fraction. "You'd actually want to hear me sing?" No one had any reason to suspect that he sang or ask to hear him. "I guess I could sing for you sometime," he said, dropping his gaze as he played with his headphones.

He lifted his head and stared at Mindy again. "I never said there weren't any things I liked."

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Her tone perfectly matched her words. Mindy beamed at her shy friend. "I'd really like that." For him to sing for her. That he even might made her happy. It didn't even matter to Mindy whether he could or not. So long as he enjoyed it.

Then it was her turn to blink. "But... you said you weren't into anything." Confusion crinkled eyes and brow cutely. She had yet to realize the miscommunication of their short conversation at her track practice. It was likely soon it could be made clear now.

"I don't promise it'll sound that great though," Besnik said with a slight flush of color. His father seemed to enjoy his singing, but Besnik had always thought that was just a dad trying to be encouraging to his son more than anything else. He certainly didn't believe he was the greatest of singers.

He reached up and scratched the back of his head as his brow wrinkled. "Weren't we talking about sports then?" Had he misunderstood her question at that time?

“Were we?” Mindy brought her right hand up to her face, her thumb beneath her chin while her index finger tapped at her lip. Her brows continued their knitting in confusion. “I don’t remember saying sports…” With a shrug Min laughed it away. “oops!” Her grin was sheepish and more than a little goofy. “I probably should’ve been more clear.”

Hopping into a little step Min danced in a quarter circle until she was in front of Besnik and facing him. “Glad to know it now, and I bet you’ll sound great!” The girl gave another laugh and stepped back to the side for Besnik to be able to walk beside her again. “Better than me, for sure!”

"It seemed like we were," Besnik answered, shoving his hands in his pockets. The slightest hint of pink tinged his cheeks. "I guess I misunderstood we you asked me."

"I don't about great." He chuckled lightly with the pinkness darkened. He doubted many others would assume he could have a good singing voice. But he didn't think Mindy would be the type to make fun of him if his voice ended up not being all that great.

Mindy liked to see others smile. Maybe because smiles were so rare at home. No one would likely recognize her at home. Not if her parents were there. Or more specifically: no if her father was there. It made her feel good to see Besnik smile, to hear happiness from him in his chuckle. In this case, it did not matter if he believed her. It was not really about him believing her anyway.

She made a face at him. Teasing. "But you'll accept better than me?" That bright grin of hers. Min was teasing, but not digging for compliments. Honest. Just wanting to keep Besnik smiling and maybe make him feel good about himself too.