The Process of Losing and Gaining

“Sera, I’m fine.”
Sera is my best friend. I love her to death, but she really gets on my nerves somewhere. I know it’s only because she cares.
“You know I have the money Kali, just take it, please.”
Currently, she’s insisting that she sends me money to help cover my rent and expenses until I find a job out here. The conversation goes back and forth until I finally decide to just make up and excuse to get off the phone.
“Ah fuck, Sera, the oven’s smoking. I’ll text you later, love you!” and I hang up. I wasn’t even cooking anything.
Honestly, I do need to find work. I’ve really only got enough money to get me through next month and that’s pushing it. I suppose I’ll go around and grab some applications today. It’s only 11am, so considering my usual schedule I’m getting a head start on the day.
It’s unusually chilly out for August, so I grab the hoodie Mike let me borrow a couple nights ago and head out the door. I realized I didn’t bring anything I needed with me as I was locking up, so I went back in to grab my longboard and backpack. The beach is about two miles from my house, and if I skate to the boardwalk it only takes me about 20 minutes to get there unless I really push it. I don’t particularly enjoy the company of tourists, but there are so many places down and around the boardwalk that I’m probably guaranteed a job if I just ask around a bit. So that’s where I head.
“Oh, fuck!” I knew what was happening, and my board flew out from under me before I had a chance to react, it slammed into the curb on the other side of the street and I landed hard on my side. I almost wanted to get up immediately, but the street was empty so I decided to lay there for a minute just to recover. My minute didn’t last very long. I heard a car creep up behind me and honk.
I groaned and rolled towards the curb to allow the car to pass me, but it didn’t. Whatever. I sat up and immediately wished that I hadn’t. Okay, yeah, maybe I was in a little more pain than I thought. Not so gracefully I stand up and lift the hoodie and pull the waistband of my jeans down to get a look at the damage. Just as I do, I hear a car door shut and footsteps approach.
“Oooh, looks good,” says the familiar voice.
I look up. Oh. “Hey Vic...” I trail off and look back down. Fucking great. Vic reaches to touch the skin around the already bruising hip bone and I wince.
“That’s gonna look real gnarly in about an hour, Kali.”
I nod and gingerly cover my side back up but I decide to leave my waistband rolled. No use in putting myself through more unnecessary pain. Then I remember my board and walk over to it.
“Fuck!” I won’t apologize for the expletives. Today was going so great already, and now I had a broken board, too. I begin preparing myself for the inevitable pain of bending to pick up the board, but I really don’t want to do it just yet. I just stare at the broken tail and shake my head.
“Aw man,” Vic says from my left. I sigh and ask, “Would you mind, uh…” I gesture towards the board. “Oh yeah, of course.”
“Where are you headed, anyway?” He shakes hair out of his eyes as he straightens back up, board in hand, smiling. “Need a ride?” I think about it for a moment, and decided that it’s better than walking. “Yeah, I guess. Thanks. I was gonna go see if I could fill out some applications down on the boardwalk or something but…Now I should probably look into getting a new board.
“Do you trust me?” He asks, walking to his car.
“Umm, yeah, I guess.” He turns and starts walking backwards, shuffling his feet. Okay, he’s pretty cute. Must run in the family.
“Good, I know a place.” He tosses the board in his trunk and runs around the car to open my door. Less than ten minutes later we walked into one of the most chill skate shops I’ve ever been in.
“Welcome to Adrenalina,” Vic states, “go crazy.”
I look around for a moment as I peel off my hoodie. It’s early afternoon now and it’s definitely warmed up outside. Suddenly there is a chorus of voices: “Holy shit!” and “Woah!” Were only two of the phrases that I picked up out of the many voices.
I felt my eyes widen automatically and turn towards the voices, “When’d you get that?” A middle aged man directed to me. My t-shirt, had risen, apparently.
Vic answered for me before I could even open my mouth, “about twenty minutes ago, actually,” he came over to me as he spoke and gently pulled my shirt down. He glanced at me as he stepped back with a…weird…look in his eyes. Well, all right then.
“Rad, hope it heals quick…What can I help you guys out with today?”
A half an hour later I’d managed to put together a nice 39 inch board, exactly how I wanted it…Of course Vic did help a little, insisting that I get “those green wheels! They’re so…green!” I had even been able to squeeze in that I’m new to the area and am looking for work. I thought my efforts had gone unnoticed until: “Will you be paying with cash, card, or work?” My head popped up, “huh?” Ryan, the one that was helping me, repeated himself. “Cash, card, or work? You said you were looking and, well, so are we. You seem to know your way around the board so…If you’re interested, I mean, we can probably work something out.”
I worked hard to contain my excitement, “Oh man, yeah, that would be so cool!”
“Come in tomorrow, okay? Be here by 10.” I nodded pretty aggressively and he high fived me. “Thank you so much, seriously!”

I guess today wasn’t going to turn out so bad after all.