Into the Wild...Boyz

The next day, Darcie was a bundle of sunshine and happiness as she skipped around the office. The little in box attached to the outside wall of her cubicle overflowed with papers to copy and she didn’t care. She patted the head of the stuffed giraffe on her desk, swiped the papers from the box and headed toward the tiny room that housed the copy machine and fax machine. She finished the copies and literally skipped back to her desk. She didn’t care about the strange stare she received from Trip Taylor, one of the other executive producers, as she passed him in the hallway. She hopped toward her cubicle and saw Dimitry literally dragging himself into the common area.

“Good morning”, said Darcie brightly.

“Ew, gross. You’re happy”, grumbled Dimitry. “Should I even ask what you did last night?”

“I played skeeball, it was awesome.”

“What the hell is skeeball?”

Darcie shook her head sadly at him. “You have much to learn my Russian friend.”

“Can I grab coffee before we have this conversation?”

“No time for coffee”, said Jeff as he entered the room. “The vans are here, we’ve got a show to film.
Darcie, did you finish those copies?”

“Already made and distributed”, she happily replied.

“Quick and efficient this morning, I’m impressed. Here”, Jeff handed her a list. “Use this list, go outside and make a head count. Everybody should be here by now, including Chris and Steve-O. If they’re not, call them and see where they’re at. We should’ve been to Bob’s by now. Wait, what time is it?”

“It’s not even nine o’clock yet”, Dimitry literally moaned.

Jeff tsked. “Darcie, go get the cry baby some coffee please? The last thing I wanna deal with is a whiny Russian. And take care of that list too.” Jeff walked out of the room and Dimitry spat something evil sounding in Russian after Jeff left them.

“Well then. Remind me never to get on your bad side, Dimitry”, said Darcie as they started to head into the break area.

“It wasn’t as bad as it sounded, I promise”, Dimitry grinned mischievously as he fixed himself a cup of coffee. “So what’d you do last night that you’re all wired and chipper? Or dare I ask?”

“I just hung out with a friend and it was pretty cool.”

“Is this friend a boy?”

“Yes.”

“Is he a boyfriend?” Dimitry smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. Dimitry took a sip of his coffee and felt tons better. They started making their way outside.

“No.” Darcie started silently counting heads outside. There were two vans. One for equipment and crew and the other for talent at least that’s what Darcie guessed.

“Oh. But he might be a potential boyfriend?” He teased.

“I don’t know yet.” Darcie checked off her list then noticed Chris and Steve-O weren’t there yet. She got out her phone and started scrolling through to Steve-O’s number. Just as she was about to connect the call, the black BMW Steve-O drove her around in last night pulled into the parking lot. Chris quickly got out of the back seat, followed by a guy that was almost a foot shorter than Darcie was herself.

“We’re late because of Wee-Man”, said Chris as he laughed.

“Whatever. We’re late because Steve-O can’t keep his hands off his girl”, said Wee-Man.

“Come on already!” coaxed Chris as Steve-O was half inside the car talking to whoever the driver was.

“I’ll see you later, Babe”, Steve-O told the driver. Darcie felt her heart sink a little when the driver side window rolled down and the brunette called Steve-O back for a kiss. She didn’t notice Dimitry greeting Chris or the really short guy that was with Chris. She was snapped out of her reverie when Dimitry tapped her on the shoulder.

“Darcie?” The tall Russian gave her a quizzical look.

“Sorry, Dimitry, I was concentrating on this list. What’s up?” She smiled at him politely; hoping he didn’t catch on that it wasn’t the list she was really concentrating on.

“I wanna introduce you to someone. Wee Man, Darcie. Darcie, Wee Man. Darcie’s our new production assistant extraordinaire.”

“What’s up?” Wee Man shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you”, replied Darcie.

“Can I just say it’s fucking adorable to see you two standing next to each other”, Chris blurted out. “You’re almost like the same height!” Chris laughed as he blocked a punch from Wee Man.

“No offense, Darcie. You’re cute and all but too short”, said Wee Man.

“Well, Wee Man”, Darcie smiled, “the feeling’s mutual.”

Wee Man laughed, “That’s cool. I think we’ll get along just fine then.”

“Is everybody here?” asked Jeff as he approached them.

“Present and accounted for”, replied Darcie.

“Good, get in the van then. Darcie, you’ll be in the first van. I want you with the talent.”

“What talent?” quipped Wee Man.

“I ask myself that too, trust me”, said Jeff. “Get moving, guys. It’s kind of a hike to Bob’s. Where’s Steve-O?” Jeff looked around the parking lot.

“Be right there!” Steve-O called to them. Darcie noticed he was still occupied with the brunette and decided to just find a spot in the van with the rest of them. She settled into the middle seat with Dimitry while Wee Man and Chris sat behind them.

“Darcie, what’s wrong?” asked Chris. “You seem sad.”

“I’m just tired”, she simply replied.

“You can be tired back here with us. Come sit with the cool kids. Make Steve-O sit with Dimitry.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Darcie climbed over the back of the seat. Pontius and Wee Man made room for her so she could sit between them.

“Wait, let me sit in the middle so I can feel taller”, said Chris. Darcie shrugged and her and Chris switched seats so she was near the window. “That’s better”, Chris smiled then turned to Darcie and kept a quiet tone. “You need to get happy. We’re going to Bob Burnquist’s place. You skate, don’t you?”

“Yeah but I probably won’t today because we’ll be busy and all.”

“Oh please. They’ll be plenty of time for fun, you know that. So what’s really eating you?”

“Nothing”, she held a polite smile.

“She’s not really his girlfriend, if you’re curious.”

“I’m not curious. Just wake me up when we get to Bob’s okay?” Darcie turned away from him and settled next to the window.

“Sure, Darcie. No problem”, replied Chris with a twinge of sadness in his voice.

Just then Steve-O climbed into the van and sat down next to Dimitry. “Guess all the good seats are taken.”

“You took too long”, said Chris. “You missed your chance for the good seats.”

“I bet Darcie doesn’t think so. Huh, Darcie?” He turned to grin at her but his smile sort of fell when he noticed that she was hiding underneath her hoodie.

“She’s sleeping. Leave her alone”, said Chris. Steve-O gave a slight shrug and struck up a conversation with Dimitry instead.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darcie wasn’t fully asleep. She could still hear the small talk going on around her. What woke her up was the fact that Chris’s face was barely inches away from hers when she opened her eyes. At least it wasn’t his ass she thought as he chuckled.

“Guess what?” asked Chris with that playful, boyish charm that only he could pull off.

“We’re here”, said Darcie as she cleared her sleepy throat.

“Yeah. How’d you guess?”

Darcie looked out the window. “The big ramps gave it away.”

“They’re sweet aren’t they?” said Chris as he glanced out the window with her.

“Guess I should’ve brought my board.”

“I’m sure you can borrow somebody’s. Come on, let’s check it out.” His enthusiasm was a little catchy as she followed him out of the van. Her enthusiasm vanished though when Steve-O waved at her while he was busy having a cigarette. She just slightly waved back as Chris dragged her towards the ramp.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Chris breathed.

“Yeah it is”, Darcie replied. She was completely mesmerized by the ramp and the loop that was near
it. “Now I really wish I would’ve brought my board.”

“I’ll go grab mine. Don’t move.” Chris ran back to the van. While she waited on him, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She assumed it was Jeff as she dug it out to look at the message. It was a text from Steve-O, much to her dismay. He actually had the guts to ask her if she was mad at him, even sent a little sad face along with the message. He watched her from afar as she sighed then took off in search of Jeff to get her day started while she pocketed her phone. She was determined to keep herself as busy as possible.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darcie kept herself busy all the way until they broke for lunch. She even managed to keep herself away from Steve-O as well which was no easy task since Jeff had made her talent wrangler for the day’s shoot. Thankfully, Bob Burnquist’s vert ramp kept everybody from straying too far since they were all having so much fun skating it.

She broke herself away briefly from her own little skate session to go through the craft service table. She loaded her plate with some macaroni salad and some fruit salad for something sweet. It was unfortunately slim pickings for a vegetarian. She found a table all to herself and that was away from everyone else. She didn’t notice Steve-O sit down across from her.

“Looks good”, he said.

“Yup”, was all Darcie replied as she unwrapped her silverware from her napkin.

“Is that all you’re having?”

“Well there’s not much of a vegetarian selection.”

“I’ll have to say something next time for you.”

“Well, I appreciate the thought.” Her voice held a cool demeanor.

“Darcie, are we cool?”

“Sure.”

“No, I mean it. I could swear you’re mad at me for some odd reason. You never texted me back.”

“Well we’re at work, Steve.”

“That’s never stopped us before, ya know?”

“Everything’s fine. I’m just tired from last night, we got back pretty late.”

“Yeah we did. But I had fun and so did you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And we’ll get together again, I promise.”

“As long as your friend with the BMW doesn’t mind.” As soon as she heard herself say it, she
regretted it.

“Misty? She’s just a friend.”

“Seems to be a pretty friendly friend.” Regret number 2.

“Uh, well, I think she has a crush on me or some shit like that.” A slow smile came to his lips. “Wait.
You’re not jealous are you?”

“Dude, I don’t care what you do.” Her voice betrayed her though and cracked a little with the
statement. Steve-O held his smile which Darcie found a little unsettling. Thankfully her phone rang
to break the awkward moment between them. “I really have to take this call”, she said as she dove into her pocket with one hand and juggled her plate with the other as she got up from the table. “We’ll continue this later.” She made a hasty retreat from the table, phone already to her ear, before Steve-O could reply.

“All right, what’d you do to piss her off?” asked Chris as he approached Steve-O.

“Nothing, Dude, I don’t know what her deal is. Well”, Steve-O grinned, “I think I know and I’m not surprised either really.”

Chris just shook his head. “Wipe that shit eating grin off your face.” Immediately, Steve-O’s grin slipped. “She’s not someone you hook up with for a week and then toss away, you know.”

“I know that”, Steve-O snapped at him. “And I didn’t say she was. Just forget it.” Steve-O stood up from the table and turned to walk away from Chris but Chris grabbed his arm.

“I mean it, don’t fuck with her like that and I’m saying that nicely of course.”

Steve-O glanced at Chris’s tight grip on his arm then he glared at his friend. “Let go of my arm, Dude. Or there’s gonna be problems and I’m saying that nicely of course.” Chris just rolled his eyes as he released his grip on Steve-O’s arm and watched him walk away.