When Forever Ends

“Ace of Cakes!” I take that as a battle cry. Every time I hear that I brace myself for my best friend to jump over the couch and land on my sprawled out body. Three, two, one. I close my eyes and wait for the wind to be knocked out of me. I open my eyes once I can breathe again. There she is, Straddling my body while sitting on my stomach. The large gray eyes holding an amused gleam.

“Shayne!” I mock enthusiasm and change the channel.

“Psh, you’re no fun anymore.” she drops herself roughly to the floor, rolls, crawls to the longer couch, and takes the same position on Jake’s sleeping form.

My name is Ace Alden Bennet. I’m twenty years old. I live in a shitty ass apartment with my two best friends, Shayne and Jake. We have a cat named Charlie...we just call him Dumbledore. I sleep. I eat. I skate. Then start the process all over. I have no car, no girlfriend, and a shitty job at a laundromat. Hey, It’s the most effortless job I could find.

“What are you going to do to him?” I ask, the mischievous smirk on her face sparking my attention.

“Why do you always assume I’m going to do something, Bennett?” she asks pushing Jake’s blonde floppy hair off his face.

“Because you always do something.” I respond truthfully. I think she must get enjoyment out pushing people to their boiling point.

“Well, I could be innocently be admiring Jake’s handsome face.” she answers with a smile. “I could just have big crush on him or something.”

“Gross.” I pull a face and look back that televison. “But you don’t so what’re doing?” I ask knowing that there is no way Shayne could be interested in Jake. Jake is like a little kid...who swears, drinks, and skates like a beast. Shayne doesn’t answer me verbally, instead she twists Jake’s nipples.

“Ah! Fuck!” he sit up abruptly and tries to ease the pain as Shayne and I laugh at his expense. “You’re a bitch!” he accuses her. “And you’re a douche bag!” he points a finger at me and we only laugh harder. “Why would you allow her to twist my titties? You know how bad that fucking hurts!” For a second I think Jake is seriously mad until he flops back onto the couch and starts to laugh softly.

“She just did it! It wasn’t in my control!” I defend myself.

“You’re an evil bitch, Lewis.” Jake shakes his head looks back at the televison.

“Oh you know you like me!” Shayne laughs.

“We have to go in an hour.” I say informing both Shayne and Jake for the first time that we actually were meeting with the man who could change our lives.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Go where?” Jake asks still trying to wake up fully while rubbing his eyes.

“What sore nipples said.” Shayne motions to Jake.

“Go to the park and meet with Dave.” I say.

“Sweet deal.” Shayne says and continues to pester Jake.

It’s typical of Shayne. So typical. Jake and I sit in a sparsely decorated office, in front of Dave. Where is Shayne? No one knows. She promised to be here on time.

“So where is Shayne?” another guy, Rob asks finally breaking the silence. I would love to know the answer myself.

“Sorry, I’m late! There was huge line at Wendy’s!” Shayne bursts through the door with a frosty in her hand.

“Who are you?” Dave asks, he must have been expecting Shayne to be a boy. It happens all time. Their faces when they found out that Shayne was a girl would be priceless, they always are. I scratch my nose in attempt to hide my smile as I wait for Shayne to introduce herself.

“Shayne Lewis.” she holds her hand out toward Dave. Dave looks stunned but shakes her hand. I cover my laugh with a cough. Shayne sits in between Jake and myself. After a lot of business talk Dave finally tells us what I want to hear.

“Let’s go out to the park so you can show me what you’ve got.” Dave smiles as he says this. Jake and I practically run to the door and through the gate leading to the park.

“Muthafucking sweet!” Shayne sings in a high pitched voice. The entire park is empty. No kids. No posers. No wannabes. No assholes. Just us. Shayne throws her black bag onto a nearby bench and takes off toward the ramp. I follow after Shayne, I’ve had my eyes on that ramp way too long to just ignore it.

“This is like Christmas!” Jake shouts. Dave and Rob laugh. “I don’t even know where to start!”

“Think you can handle this, Bennett?” Shayne smirks while she takes off her plaid shirt, leaving her to stand in the same ripped skinny jeans and white tank she’s been wearing all week.

“I can handle it, Lewis. Question is, can you?” laugh at her raised eyebrow while she pulls her hair back into a bun.

“You know I can.” Shayne says confidently and plunges downward. I go right after her, keeping a constant flow of trash talk while we try our hardest to show each other up. Jake, I don’t know what he was doing. I was concentrating on how on spot Shayne is today, not one screw up.

“Fuck me in the ass!” Shayne yells, at the bottom of the ramp sitting on her knees. I spoke too soon. Shayne marches over to her board and kicks it once before climbing back to the top.

“You did pretty good...for a girl.” I say this only to get a rise out of her. Never, and I mean never should anyone say ‘You did pretty good for a girl’ because Shayne will rip them a new asshole. I grin, satisfied when she presses her lips into a think line and her eyes flare with anger.

“Watch yourself, Bennett. You only won the first round.” I laugh at her warning.

Laughing at Shayne saying the girl thing to Shayne wasn’t too smart to say while trying to impress people. I say this because Shayne kicked my ass at everything after that. Anything Rob and Dave asked us to do, I did and she did it thirteen times better. It’s difficult to be shown up by a girl, even if it is Shayne...who technically doesn’t count as a girl. I sounds sexist and narrow minded but it’s true. She’s been known to deflate my ego every now and then.

Jake, he sort of just did his own thing all day. That’s the way Jake is, he’s not into trying to kill each other like Shayne and I. Jake is an easy going guy, nice, funny, dumb as shit sometimes...but he’s a good guy. My life would be a hell of a lot more dull without him.

We stand in front of these too formally dressed me. All three of us soaked in sweat, smelling putrid, and panting. I wipe my forehead against my shirt at the same time Shayne does the same. As her shirt lifts up, I can’t seem to look away from her exposed stomach. I’ll admit, she’s got a nice body. She’s such a guy though that it’s easy to forger that she actually is a girl. It weren’t for the boobs and the box of tampons in the bathroom, I probably would forget altogether.

“Well!” Rob claps his hands together, I can see the reflection of my friends and in the lenses of his sunglasses. “Welcome aboard.”

“Fuck yes!” the words tumble out of my mouth and Shayne and Jake jump and holler in excitement. This calls for a celebration. The biggest celebration of my fucking life.

The apartment is swarmed with people. I can’t name more than half of the people walking around with red plastic cups and dancing against each other. I down the liquid in my cup and throw it over my shoulder. I push throw people in attempt to find anyone I know. Who the fuck were these people.

“Congrats, Ace.” I look for the source of the voice. Alice, my most recent ex. Who the fuck was she to even think she was invited. I scowl.

“Thanks.” I say and walk off. Where in the hell are Jake and Shayne?

“Okay, okay! I got one! Who would be better at skating, Darth Vader or Yoda?” Jake slurs. Another fact about Jake, he cannot hold his alcohol.

“Dude, that’s not even a fucking competition! Yoda would slaughter Vader at anything!” I hear Shayne laugh as I get closer.

“Fine, you make one.” Jake says leaning back into his chair.

“Okay, who could hold more alcohol Harry or Ron?”

“Fucking Potter!” Jake yells flailing his arms around.

“I say Ron.” I chime in, Shayne looks over her shoulder then motions me to sit with them.

“I agree with Ace.” Shayne says. “Potter would be plastered after one shot.”

“You guys are fucking lame! I’m going go get laid!” Jake mutters before slinking off into the crowd of partying people.

“He’s ridiculous.” Shayne laughs as we watch Jake sweet talk to a girl drunker than himself.

“So...” I say leaning back into the hair. “Having a good time?” I know what she’ll answer.

“Parties aren’t my thing, you know that.” Ten points for me.

“So you’ve been sitting here in the corner all night?” I ask feeling a little bad. Not much. I thought maybe she’d be more lively since we were celebrating something monumental after all.

“Nah.” Shayne ruffled her freshly washed hair sending a delicious scent in my direction, a nice change from her normal french fry and sweat aroma. “Marley was around here somewhere, but we all know she’s a lightweight. She was gone after her seconds drink...she was making out with some guy last time I saw her.”

“Talk about a quick recovery.” I shake my head while laughing.

“Yep, well...I’m going to go make out with some random guy now. Later, Captain.” Shayne salutes me with a crooked smile before heaving herself out of the chair and disappearing into the crowd. I smile after her, that’s more social than she ever gets. She must be having a good time. I sit for until a blonde catches my eye, and then I follow her like a lost puppy.

It’s a good night to get some action.