Gaming the System

Zoe awoke to the feel of a gentle vibration on her wrist.

She tried to ignore it, but it happened again, and again, until the red-head, eyes still closed, reached her other hand over to hit the button,

“It’s been 22 hours and 35 minutes since your last run of required distance. Run now to earn a reward!”

The woman’s voice chirped - had she been more awake, Zoe would’ve almost sworn the voice sounded annoyed.

She groaned peeking at her actual alarm clock… 6:00am… again…

“If I could just find a way to set a different alarm for you…” Zoe grumbled, shaking her wrist in mild frustration as she tried to eke out the last few minutes of warmth under her comforter.

But it was hopeless, she was caught by the same sounds she’d heard the day before – Katie was getting ready to leave downstairs and that was enough to rouse the red-head into action. She was anxious, excited and embarrassed - she knew what she wanted to do, but the fact that she was planning her entire morning around it still made Zoe blush…

She had one goal and one goal only – get the tracker to give her the most powerful orgasm of her life again, but on her own terms. She’d do the run, earn the reward, then masturbate until she was right at the edge and then hit the button.

She wanted to enjoy it properly this time – rather than yesterday’s pleasure equivalent of being blind-sided by a truck.

If her suspicions about this thing were true, then she didn’t see the harm in enjoying it… even if just once more…

Zoe pulled on an outfit to run in – leggings, sports bra, light hoodie – and headed downstairs.

Katie, clearly surprised by the sound of her housemate descending, laughed into her mouthful of cereal, “Morning sunshine”

“Morning” Zoe managed to get out around a yawn.

“Run?”

“Mmhmm – you’ll probably be gone by the time I get back?” The red-head opened the front door into the blinding early morning light.

“Yeah, um… have fun!”

Zoe bit the inside of her cheek – I hope to!

“See you later!”

After completing her stretches on the porch, Zoe set off, planning to run the same route as yesterday: a loop to and around campus, back through the woods and home. She reasoned she could use the same sycamore as yesterday as a marker and a place to stop if she was feeling it too much.

Easy

As she wound herself up into her full strides, the rust she’d felt yesterday was still there – but it seemed to fall away easier this time. Zoe was able to get into her rhythm sooner, feel her heart and breathing rate elevate and plateau faster, reach a better pace quicker.

Step…step…step…step…

She lost herself in the zone long before campus – relaxing into her strides, body and heart pounding with the delicious effortless-effort. As she ran, she felt the nervous, excited energy she’d pent up dissipating into her muscles, being used by her body to keep her moving, the promise of what was to come making her tingle – she couldn’t help but blush a bit as she glanced at the activity tracker on her wrist, realising its reward was actually motivating her…

If this did come from my wish, it's doing a good job...

The streets around her were just as quiet as the day before – the town was only just waking up, barring the odd car here and there, or the sight of the mailman, the streets were mostly empty. She gave the mailman a friendly wave as she passed.

The campus was even quieter - the only evidence Zoe even saw of people were the lights on in some of the office buildings, and some cars littered around the parking lots. But she didn’t mind that – it kept her focussed, it kept her mind serene.

She took mental stock as the sycamore came into view – she felt ok this time. No real aches anywhere, she didn’t feel the same tightness as she had yesterday either. She still wasn’t running anything close to race pace, and time wasn’t even on her mind, but she figured it would still be better to try to keep herself moving this time.

Zoe breezed past it and soon found herself on the back half of her loop, rounding out through campus, and then down into the woodland again. She tread the same path, and let the same views of the trees and sky blur passed her as she ran through - the sounds of the town dissipating into nothing but birdsong, rustling trees, and the reassuring thundering of her own heart, and the light steps of her shoes.

Before she’d even really thought about it, the red-head found herself rounding back onto their street. Legs a little sore, bum aching and breathing hard, but satisfied. She bounded up the steps to the porch, crossing the empty spot where Katie's car would've been, and finally came to a stop, hands on her knees as she focussed on her breathing again.

Anxiously she glanced at the activity tracker, biting her lip to stifle a squeal when it vibrated and she saw it light up green again...