Surrender

“Ugh,” I grunted as I flopped down onto one of the few free wooden benches around, extending my legs and roller skates out in front of me. “That is not nearly as easy as it looks in TV and movies.”

“I think you did great,” Liam complimented as he settled down half a foot away. “After the first wipeout, anyway.”

I laughed and reached down to loosen the skates. They were pulled super tight, which helped with my balance when I was skating, but once seated, I could almost feel my feet turning blue. It took me a minute to figure out how they worked, but the second the death grip released, my toes sighed with happiness.

“So how was your day?” I asked, trying to fill the dead moment. While skating, we’d mostly talked about Liam’s last year in college, about his crazy professors and difficult assignments and how nervous he was to graduate, while I added the occasional story about weird things that happened in high school, so I figured deferring to the basics wasn’t a bad idea.

“It was good,” he replied casually. “My lessons went okay. Nothing really for the record books. How was yours?”

“Mine was good, too. I went down to the beach with my mom and drank too much coffee.” I remembered how many times I had to go back and forth to the bathroom all afternoon and laughed to myself.

“Impossible,” Liam commented suddenly, making me startle just the slightest bit. “There’s no such thing as too much coffee.”

“Yeah, there is. Too much caffeine can kill you.”

He rolled his eyes dramatically before smiling to show that he was kidding. “Okay, I guess if you get crazy about it, then you can have too much coffee. But for those of us who know to drink coffee casually, there’s no such thing as too much. It’s actually never enough.”

I giggled a little and shook my head. “More than a small coffee is more than enough for me. Even a medium coffee is enough to make me feel all shaky and hot.”

“That’s because you’re weak.” I made an involuntary sad noise, so he rushed to add, “And you haven’t been to college yet. Wait until just around finals, when you realize that you have three five-page papers to finish in the course of two days. You’ll wish coffee came in an IV.”

I blinked a couple of times and hoped that wouldn’t be me. Or whatever roommate I got stuck with. I didn’t sleep well with noise. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” I answered eventually. “In high school, I was the kind of girl who started month-long projects the day they were assigned.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” he laughed. “But really, just wait. That kind of person doesn’t exist in college. Not for long.”

There was a short silence before Liam rose to his feet, putting his hand on my knee for leverage. “Okay, enough of that. I’m starving, and you’ve never gone to the diner outside the resort, which just shows what a terrible friend I am. They have burgers so good that vegetarians convert into carnivores. So let’s get going.”

Just mentioning the world burger made my stomach start growling excitedly, so I was all too eager to return my clunky skates in exchange for my sensible canvas sneakers.

After Liam helped me retighten my skates (which was embarrassing and sweet at the same time), we were off down the boardwalk again, Liam chattering all the while about how good the food was, like the curly fries and onion rings, while I tried my hardest not to have a crash landing in front of a bunch of strangers.



“I have to ask,” I started once we cleared the outer gate of the resort, thankfully back in our sneakers, “how did you get so good at rollerblading? Did you do it a lot as a kid?”

“Actually, no. I was born as talented as I am now. My mom tried to get me on one of those kid prodigy shows, like that Oprah used to have from time to time, but they never accepted my tape because I was too ugly.”

I tried to ignore the comment, but a small laugh exploded out of me in spite of my control. “No, seriously, Liam.”

“Seriously, I played hockey all throughout my childhood. My dad was from Canada, so he grew up eating, sleeping, and breathing the sport, and he wanted to keep the family tradition alive.” He rolled his eyes and sighed. “It killed him that I was so bad at it, but I learned to skate really well, so it wasn’t a total bust.”

“What’s easier, roller skating or ice skating?”

“Roller skating, hands down. There’s so much more friction to keep you on your feet.” He gave me a sideways glance before asking, “Does that mean you’ve never been ice skating?”

“I’m too afraid,” I admitted. “You saw how bad I am at roller skating. I don’t even want to think about how badly I’d injure myself trying to move on ice.”

“But once you ice skate, skating on the street is no sweat.” I wasn’t convinced, and I made sure he understood. “I guess we’ll see. But I’m about to make it a goal to take you to an ice rink before you go back home.”

“Don’t count on it.”

A silence fell between us again, but it didn’t feel very awkward. I was a little surprised at how mellow I felt around Liam, but I sort of figured out from the get-go that he had the kind of aura that kept anyone from feeling strange around him. He was just warm and welcoming and understanding in a way most people weren’t. I seriously admired that about him.

Soon enough, we approached a small building with a neon sign out front, something that I would definitely drive by if I even noticed it on the street. The brick on the outside looked dingy, like it hadn’t been cleaned in either of our lifetimes, and the parking lot was unbelievably small with maybe ten parking spaces. Strangely enough, they were all filled, with two more small cars squeezed in by the Dumpster.

“Doesn’t look like much on the outside,” Liam acknowledged. I hadn’t even noticed he was watching my expression until he spoke, but he was observing closely with a twinkle in his eye. “But wait until you get inside.”

I followed him without comment and tried to be open-minded, withholding from pointing out how he had to yank so hard on the door that the muscles stood out in his arms.

“Whoa,” I mumbled instinctively as we passed through the door, almost overcome with the smell of every greasy, unhealthy, delicious food known to man.

Just as Liam had predicted, the inside made me totally forget what the outdoors looked like. It was very cool, with décor that was definitely inspired by what people back in the ‘50s and ‘60s thought 2014 would be, with lots of chrome and plastic and funky paintings, the tiles on the floor a reflective white color. A Four Seasons song was playing out of the small speakers in the ceiling, and there was a video of a dancing hologram next to a see-through juke box.

Liam turned to smile at me, probably noticing that I was practically beaming with excitement and awe, but before he could say anything, someone was waving to him from a booth in the far corner. “Hey, Payne! Over here.”

Before I could ask for any information about the stranger, Liam’s hand closed around mine and we weaved around a couple of waitresses to get to the back of the restaurant. My heart was pounding in my chest as I looked down at our clasped hands and hoped my palm wasn’t clammy, as it tended to get when I was even a little nervous.

“Hey, Jay,” Liam greeted with a smile, removing his hand from mine, leaving me feeling relieved and empty at the same time. “What are you doing here?”

“Grabbing a burger before I have to head over to Megan’s. She texted me saying that she’d been craving one all day.” He nodded in my direction as he took a sip of his soda. “And this must be Olivia?”

“Yeah, this is Olivia. Olivia, this is one of my roommates, Jay.”

Jay was a very large guy, tall with extremely broad shoulders and a torso shaped like a solid rectangle. I probably would have been much more intimidated if he hadn’t shot me a bright smile and extended one of his giant hands in a friendly gesture. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard much more about you than you’ve heard of me, I’m sure.”

I felt my face flush as I reached forward and shook his hand. “I hope he’s been saying good things.”

“The best,” Jay assured me. “Did you guys want to join me? I’ll be out of your hair once the burger gets here, but at least I can see you for a few minutes.”

Liam looked over at me quickly for my approval, so I nodded. “Yeah, sure.” Jay seemed perfectly nice, and I knew that I had to start getting more comfortable around strangers if I was going to be even remotely successful at college. Shy just wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

Jay turned into the table while Liam and I grabbed the seats across from him. “So, Olivia, where are you from again?”

“Massachusetts,” I explained.

“Anywhere near Boston?”

“Uh, no, not really.” I felt myself blush a little, but neither boys seemed to notice. “I think it takes almost an hour and a half to get there from where I live.”

Jay nodded musingly. “Oh, okay. I only ask because I go to Boston every winter break to lead a dance camp.”

“In the winter?” I grimaced. “I think Boston should be one of the last places you go to in the winter.”

“I’m from North Dakota, so the cold is my close, personal friend.” Jay chuckled and gestured toward Liam. “It’s this one here that can’t take a day below sixty-five.”

“It’s not that I can’t,” Liam argued good-naturedly, “it’s that I’d really prefer not to.”

“Now thinking about it, I don’t even know where you’re actually from,” I voiced.

“Northern California,” Liam replied. “And it gets cold enough up there. Maybe not North Dakota cold, but bad enough for me.”

Jay grinned just in time for a huge paper bag to be put down in front of him. “You’re all set, kid,” the waiter announced. “See you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” Jay got to his feet and patted Liam hard on the shoulder. “I’ll catch you guys later. And Liam, tell Olivia about the party this weekend.” He maneuvered around to me and extended his hand again. “It was a real pleasure to meet you, and I wouldn’t be rushing out of here of quickly if my girlfriend didn’t have a bitch of a head cold. But I’ll see you again soon, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

And with that, Jay was out the door, the bell clanging behind him.

“He really loves that girl, doesn’t he?” the waiter, whose nametag read “Frankie”, commented. “Seems to me like he should just propose already.”

“He would if she weren’t about to start her second year of law school,” Liam responded matter-of-factly. “He told me he’s waiting until her graduation.”

Frankie nodded before sighing. “It’ll never stop surprising me that Megan even looked at him twice. Kids confuse me.” Then, smiling a little, he pulled a pad out of his pocket and said, “Enough about Jay. Are you going to introduce me to this lovely lady?”

“This is Olivia. Her family is staying at the resort, so I’m trying to give her a real California experience while she’s here.”

“Olivia,” Frankie repeated, shaking my hand. I couldn’t remember the last time I shook so many people’s hands in one night, but I didn’t exactly mind. “Very nice to meet you. So what can I get you?”

I glanced down at the menu and ordered, “A bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms, a side of curly fries, and a chocolate milkshake, please.”

“Now that’s my kind of woman! Knows exactly what she wants, no questions asked,” Frankie complimented before turning to Liam. “And you want your regular, right?”

Liam nodded, and then Frankie was off to put in the order. “You won’t be disappointed with those curly fries, I’m telling you. They’re heaven.”

“I trust you,” I told him with a grin. “You haven’t steered me wrong yet.”

“I just hope I can keep up the streak. That’s a lot of expectation.”

“You’ll be fine, I’m sure of it.”