Breakout

Chapter 13.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," I said, shaking my head.

"Why not? It's easy," Alex said.

"No it's not! I could die on this thing!"

Alex rolled his eyes. It was Saturday and we were both in the school parking lot. Of course no one was at school, who would show up to school on Saturday? Alex decided to drag me along and teach me how to skateboard. I was totally against the idea. A girl like me should never skateboard.

"Stop being a baby. Don't worry, I won't let go," Alex assured me.

"You promise?" I said, thrusting a finger at his chest. Alex smirked.

"I promise."

Alex placed the skateboard on the ground. I walked over to it and placed my feet on the hard board of the skateboard.

"I seriously don't think this is a good idea," I repeated.

"You'll be fine. Now, feet apart," Alex directed. I did what I was told.

"Now, place your right foot on the ground, and you just pedal."

"I'm not riding a bike," I said. Alex ignored me and placed his hands on my waist to steady me. And of course, I had to freaking blush. Alex noticed and chuckled. I placed my right foot on the ground and slowly started "pedaling".

"That's it. Now start going faster," Alex instructed.

"What?!"

Suddenly, Alex let go of my waist and I found myself rolling along the parking lot pavement on a skateboard. I lost my balance and nearly almost fell off.

"Pedal!" Alex yelled. I placed my foot on the ground and pedaled. A big smile scretched across my face.

"I'm skateboarding!" I cheered. In the distance, I heard Alex laugh.

"Place your foot on the ground and stop!"

I placed my foot on the ground and the skateboard instantly came to a stop. I turned around and found Alex running toward me.

"Not bad for a starter," he said. I smiled.

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be."

"See! Later, I'm going to show you some tricks."

"No! No, no, no, no, no!"

"You are such a fucking fun sponge."

"I'm not a fun sponge!"

Alex rolled his eyes and smiled. "Well, are you hungry?"

"A little," I admitted.

"Come on, I brought some food."

I picked up the skateboard and Alex and I started heading toward the spot where we came from. It was right under the giant oak tree near the school. Alex took out sandwiches from his bag he brought with him. He also got out a red and white checkered table cloth.

"Really Alex?" I said. "A picnic?"

"Don't make fun of it!"

I held my hands up in surrender. "I'm not making fun of it. It's just too damn cheesy."

"How?" He asked, placing the picnic cloth on the ground.

"Well, it's Saturday, the sky is a cloudless blue. It's a perfect day to go on a picnic," I stated. Alex sat down and munched on his sandwich.

"So?"

"Please don't talk with your mouth full." I sat down and grabbed a sandwich also. Alex obnoxiously started chewing his sandwich and eventually began eating in my face.

"Ew!" I squealed. "You pig."

Alex stuck his tongue out which had chucks of food on it and I literally almost puked. I flicked him in the head. "Stop it."

"Question thirteen," Alex ignored me and swallowed his sandwich. "What do you look for in a guy?"

I felt my heart skip a beat or two in my chest. I tucked, my still curly hair, behind my ear and replied, "Um, I guess I like guys who have great personalities. I hate boring guys. I love guys that have a sense of humor. A guy that's super nice and sweet. A guy that can always have fun with me..."

When I didn't say anything else, Alex nodded. "Interesting."

"Why'd you ask?"

Alex shrugged. "No reason."

"Question fourteen, how many girlfriends have you had?" I asked. Alex snorted.

"You jealous?"

I blushed. "No." Yes. Alex smiled.

"So far, only two."

"Two?!"

"Yeah, most people think I've had more but it's not true. I like to call those flings. They don't last for about a month and a half. The only true real girlfriends I had are Jasey and Lisa."

"Lisa Ruocco?"

Alex nodded.

"I've seen her around school but I don't really talk to her."

"I wrote a song about her actually."

"How many songs do you write about girls?"

"A few."

"What's the Lisa song called?" I asked, biting my sandwich.

"It's called Noel."

"What's it about?"

"Nothing," Alex shrugged. I stared at him. Is he serious right now? If I was a cartoon, red flames would be flaring out of my ears right about now. I'm sick and tired of Alex not telling me things. Weren't we friends? Hell, are we even best friends? Even though he hasn't told me his story yet, I'm willing to accept that. I told him my life story and he barely tells me anything. I'm sick and tired of his crap. Does he not trust me? I can keep secrets. I have been for the past few years now about my dad. Alex is the only person that knows besides my mom and Andrew. I continued to glare at him while he was oblivious that I was mad.

"Alex?" A female voice broke into my thoughts. I turned around and saw Lisa Ruocco walking towards us with a smile on her face.

"Lisa," Alex spoke. "What are you doing here?"

"I came over to your house to see if you wanted to hang out. Since you weren't home, I texted Jack asking where you were. He said you were hanging out by the school with..." Lisa's eyes flickered over to me. "You're Marie right?"

"Yeah," I said.

"So nice to meet you! I'm Lisa!"

I nodded at her and smiled. "Hi."

Lisa sat down next to me as we were both facing Alex. "How long have you've known each other?" she asked.

"About this year," Alex answered. Lisa smiled. Lisa was stunningly gorgeous. She had blonde hair that came to the middle of her back, big blue eyes and she had a few freckles sprinkling her face. I couldn't help but feel jealous on how pretty she was.

"I love your hair!" Lisa squealed. I softly smiled.

"Thanks, my friend, Samantha, did it yesterday."

"Samantha Henderson?"

"Yeah."

"She did a good job! You look wonderful."

"Thanks, Lisa," I said.

Suddenly, Alex, who was looking at us with wide eyes, his phone started ringing.

"Hello?" he answered. He got up and put up his index finger, indicating he would be right back, and started walking away.

"Are Alex and you dating?" Lisa asked suddenly, looking at me.

"No..."

"Oh, okay."

"Why?"

Lisa sighed. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Alex is the type of guy that never takes relationships seriously. He's dated a couple of girls but none of them really meant anything to him. So I want you to be careful, okay?"

Lisa reminded me a bit of my mother.

"Um, okay."

"I'm not some bitter ex-girlfriend that wants you to stay away from Alex, it's just that, he's not the type of guy you think he really is."

I studied Lisa. Was she telling the truth?

"Well, I gotta get going," she said. "Shopping with my friends. See you around?"

I nodded, not making a sound.

"Tell Alex I said bye!" And with that, Lisa Rucocco walked off.