Dance to This Beat

“Hey!” I exclaimed, jumping on Jon and kissing him. I hadn’t seen him since two days ago and I wasn’t used to not seeing him everyday.

Jon, if you’re wondering, was staying with Ryan while he coped to the loss of his dad, but Ryan seemed genuinely happy right now. It was hard to him mad on the fourth of July.

“Well, hi there,” he laughed putting his arms around my waist so I wouldn’t fall. He placed a loving kiss on the tip of my nose before I let go of him. He took my hand. “I missed you.”

Giggling, I replied, “I missed you, too. It’s weird without ‘round here.”

“I know. It was so … different to wake up at Ryan’s house and not be able to come see you. One: ‘cause my car’s here, and two: it’s a twenty minute drive, imagine how long it would take to walk.”

“I can’t count that high.”

“Hey guys!” Brendon exclaimed, walking through the gate to the skate park. “I see you’ve reunited.”

“Once again, you’re just jealous.”

“Oh shut up, Jon.”

“So Bren,” I started, “are we gonna have a reenactment of last time we were here? Please say ‘no’ ‘cause I felt like total shit the next day.”

“No alcohol. Ryan made me promise.” He sighed. "Stupid promises."

“Ryan, I love you.” I called to him.

“Thanks, Claire Bear.”

------

“Yo, yo, yo.”

I turned around to face Spencer, toting mass loads of Capri Sun in, in his old, red Radio Shack wagon.

“How long’s it been since you actually used that?” Ryan asked.

He was a lot happier once we were all together, I’d noticed.

“Last summer when me and Brendon tried to pull each other on it using our bikes.”

“Oh yeah,” Brendon recalled. “Then you had a massive face plant and almost broke your finger.”

Spencer scowled. “Yeah, that was the time.”

“Oops, sorry.”

“Hey, the food’s here,” I broke the angry silence.

Everyone turned their heads to look at he massive truck parked just outside the gate. A bunch of local businesses decided to donate food for our cause.

“Dude, this is gonna rock,” Brendon said. “We’ve got skating, food, Capri Sun, and fireworks. What more could a guy ask for?”

“Hot chi--“ Spencer started to say, but I cut him off with, “Plenty of chicks are gonna be here. Ryan passed hand-outs out with me and a bunch of ‘em said they were comin’.”

“Awesome,” Bren and Spence said at the same time.

------

“Ohhhhhhh!” a crowd of guys said as someone wiped out.

Next was Spencer’s turn in the bowl, I walked away. I couldn’t stand to watch him skate board, he was too reckless … too much like me. Our lives together could be one big episode of Jackass.

“Hey,” a cute guy nodded at me as he walked past. He had an interesting Irish accent.

I waved back. “How’s it goin’?”

He heard my accent and got a look on his face. “Country gal, huh?”

“Oh yeah.”

“But you’ve got that way rad Hawthorne Heights shirt on. And skinny jeans. And Converse.”

“You’re attentive,” I said. “I’m from Mississippi. My momma and daddy just got divorced and I moved here with momma.”

“Oh. So you’re a Southern rocker chick?”

“You could say that.”

“You got a boyfriend?”

I gave him a weird look. “I’ve been talking to you for, like, five seconds and you’re already tryin’ to ask me out?! I can’t believe you!”

“No. I was just making conversation,” he defended himself. “Besides, you’re not my type.”

“Whadda ya mean ‘not your type’? You don’t even know me.”

“Before I answer your question, I’m gonna take a quick guess. You do have a boyfriend.” He waited for me to nod before continuing. “So do I.”

I felt myself blushing. “Oh. I’m sorry. I was a jerk. I didn’t mean t--“

“You’re rambling,” he told me. “And I’ll forgive you.”

I laughed. “Thanks.”

Jon walked over to us. “Hey.”

“Hey Jon. This is.… Oh my God. I never got your name.”

The guy laughed. “Dillon O’Leary.”

“Claire Williams,” I told him.

“Ah, so your name originated in Ireland too. Well, your first name. Your last name’s Belgic, right?”

“Yeah,” I replied then turned to Jon. “You wanna go skate in the bowl with me?”

He got a happy look on his face. “Yeah.”

------

“Then he tripped and fell down the hill,” Brendon finished.

I laughed and tried not to choke on the corn I was eating. “Brendon, that’s mean. You can’t go around telling that to people. Spencer’s gonna kill you. He’s comin’ over here right now.”

“Hey guys, what’s up?” He sat down on the hard cement next to me.

“Just hangin’ out,” I replied. “Have you met Dillon and Tanner?”

“No.” He looked at the two I was gesturing to. They both waved and smiled politely. “I’m Spencer, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” they replied at exactly the same time.

Jon leaned behind me to tell Spencer something, so I got up and went to talk to Ryan.

“Hey Mr. Grumpy-Face.”

He gave me a weak smile, so I sat on the rail next to him.

“We talked about doin’ fireworks soon. You wanna run around like idiots with me?”

“What fun would a party be without us running around like idiots?”

“So yes, then?”

“Duhhh.”

I gave him a smile that quickly turned into a laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

I pointed over to one of the many picnic tables. A girl was yelling at Spencer for simply talking to talk to her.

Ryan joined my laughter. “Can you say rejection?”

“Yeah, I just can’t spell it,” I joked.

------

“Here!” Jon threw Spencer a new lighter.

I was laying on the ground laughing at Spencer’s reaction to me confronting him about the girl.

“Claire! It’s not funny!” Spencer whined.

“You’re right…. It’s hilarious!”

“I was just trying to tell her she could rock a board.”

“Well apparently she thought you were tryin’ to rock her bed,” I laughed some more.

“Oh God,” Ryan groaned when Jon burst out laughing. I could see the smile on Ryan’s face.

“Hey, gimme a sparkler!” I exclaimed when I saw Spencer light one.

“No. I bought these for me.”

I sat up in the grass. “You’re selfish. If I had sparklers I would share them with you.”

He gave me a disbelieving look.

“I would,” I protested.

“Uh, Claire,” Brendon said, running up to me.

“Wha’?”

“There’s something I just saw that you might wanna know about, but I don’t really wanna tell ya, ‘cause it was sposed to be a secret ‘cause of where they were but I know you should know ‘cause it has a lot to do with you and--“

“Brendon!”

He stopped talking and gave me a confused look.

“Just slow down, boy, an’ tell me what ya saw.”

“I saw.… Isawyourmommakingoutwithsomeguyinacar!”

My jaw literally dropped. “Are you fuckin’ serious? Brendon, this ain’t funny.”

“I’m being dead serious.”

“Ew!” I squealed, sounding like a third grader. “My momma and some guy gettin’ it on in a car.” I made a horrified face.

------

After the fireworks, everyone left. After everyone left, the guys and I had to stay behind and clean up. After we cleaned up, Jon and I began walking home holding hands.

“God,” I started, “I’m still creeped out. Brendon saw my momma and some dude makin’ out in a car. Normally it’s the other way, like your parents would walk out and find you with our boyfriend. Ugh.”

“Yeah, that’s defiantly weird. It’d still be weird if it were my parents. They don’t even kiss anymore. And they have separate rooms.”

I laughed. “Spence told me his momma and daddy are always holed up in their room. I was like, ‘didn’t even need to know that’.”

He laughed.

It was an unusually quiet walk home for a Friday night, but our neighborhood was mostly rich people, so they were probably all down in LA on their yachts. “It’s quiet,” I whispered.

“I know. It’s kinda creepy.”

I laughed along with Jon at his statement.

We talked about the day until we reached my house (well, technically we got to his house first, but he walked me to my door).

“So I’ll see ya tomorrow?” he asked.

“Well duh,” I giggled.

He leaned down to kiss me just as a car full of drunken sophomores drove by.

“Get a room!” they screamed.

I laughed into the kiss and I could feel Jon doing the same.