Keep your friends close and your enemies, closer

I woke up early the next morning, at about eleven in the morning. Ranger was still sleeping next to me, snoring his nose off. I smiled when I realized that I had no nightmares about Kent that night. I quietly got up from Ranger’s bed and tiptoed over to the hallway. I decided to make him breakfast in bed for being nice to me.

I went to the first floor and sighed when I realized that my parents were not home, once again. They were hardly at home, especially my mother. The house might as well have belonged to Ranger and I.

I walked over to the kitchen and prepared a simple meal for my brother. Once I was done, I crept inside his room and woke him up.

“Ranger? I brought you breakfast.” I whispered, not wanting to startle him. He lifted his head and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Oh. Thanks. What time is it now?” He sat up, leaning against the headboard, and dug in.

I sat on the edge of his bed and replied him. “It’s eleven thirty.”

“That’s late.”

“Tell me about it. We slept like pigs.”

“You do. I don’t.”

“Look who’s talking. You were the one snoring like a pig.”

“Whatever. Hey, what happened yesterday?”

I bit my lower lip, hesitating. Should I tell him? No, it wasn’t important. It was just a nightmare. And I definitely didn’t want to curse Kent by mentioning the nightmare out loud.

“It was nothing.” I lied. “Just a nightmare. I forgot what it was all about, actually.”

He frowned at me, but chose to ignore my lie. I left him in his bedroom and walked over to mine. I wasn’t hungry so I decided after my shower, to go to the skate park. Harvey or Dustin should be there. If they are, Summer and Mel might be there too.

I picked out a black Panic! at the Disco shirt and a pair of denim shorts. I brushed my hair and let it loose, letting my hair fall into waves around my shoulders. I took my purple cap and put it on my head.

I knocked on Ranger’s door and told him I would be at the skate park. I walked over to the front door, wore my purple converse high-cuts, and left the house. The walk to the skate park only took ten minutes from my house. I didn’t skate there because I couldn’t. Like, I seriously couldn’t skate because I didn’t know how. But it was fun to hang there, nonetheless.

As soon as I stepped inside the skate park, I smiled this huge grin. The atmosphere was so cool! Kids were skating around and were doing all those awesome tricks on their boards. Some were even skating around on those half-pipes, vert ramps and handrails. The people here were about my age, more or less. Most of them were sporting on scene hairstyles.

There weren’t too many girls there. No, wait. There weren’t too many girls skating there. Most of them were just boy watching and giggling like hyenas on the bleachers.

I made my way over to one of the benches and sat there, just looking at the people skating. I was so intent on watching them skateboarding that I didn’t notice it when someone sat next to me.

“Hey.” The person said. I tore my eyes away from this one guy who was doing a stunt on the stairs to look at the boy next to me.

“Oh, hey Dylan!” I greeted him, a smile appearing on my face. Dylan looked good today. Heck, he looked good everyday. His blonde hair was spiked up behind, and his bangs were hanging in his deep brown eyes. He was wearing a purple fitting shirt and a pair of white shorts, holding a skateboard on his right hand.

“So what’s a pretty lady like you doing in a place like this?” He joked.

“Why, Mr. Deville. Are you flirting with me?” I asked coyly, feeling my heart beat faster.

“I do think so, Ms Perez.” He wiggled his eyebrows, sending a shiver down my back. I was just about to give him a come back, when I heard someone calling my name. I turned to the sound of my name and saw Kent walking over to us.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were waiting for someone.” He blinked, starting to get up. “Well, I’ll see you later, Ashlynn.” He waved and skated off just as Kent was a foot or two in front of us.

“Hey there hot stuff. What’s up?” Kent winked, loosely placing an arm around my shoulder.

I hid a smile from him. “Nothing. I didn’t know you skated.” Although Dylan looked good, Kent looked better. He was wearing a white All-Time Low tee with black shorts. He was also sporting on a black cap and a hot-looking skateboard.

He shrugged. “No big deal. Do you know how to skate?”

I shook my head. I could only skate straight. I couldn’t turn or anything. I was sure that didn’t count as skating, though.

“Well, come on. I’ll teach you.” He got up, and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. I was about to pull my hand away when he tightened his grip on my hand. It wasn’t too tight till it hurt, it was tight enough to show me he didn’t want to let go.

So, I spent the rest of the afternoon learning how to skateboard. Let me tell you, it was as hard as riding a bike! Okay fine, so that was because I didn’t know how to ride a bicycle too, but it was still hard. I fell many times but Kent was always there to catch me. After an hour of skateboarding, we had our lunch, and then continued to practice.

His two hands were on my waist, steadying me up on the skateboard. I was biting my lip to keep from screaming with happiness. Kent was touching me! In the middle of practice, I caught the time on Kent’s watch. “Kent, what time’s our date?”

He lifted one hand from my waist and looked at the time. “Shit. In about two hours.”

My eyes grew wide. “Wow, I guess we have to get ready now. You’ll pick me up, right?”

He nodded. “Yup, I’ll be there at about eight.”

“Okay.” I answered, but then thought of something else. “Hey, isn’t this like a date too? I mean, when you taught me how to skateboard. It is, isn’t it? If it is, why do we have to go out later on?” I wasn’t saying I didn’t want to go. I did. Of course, I did. I would get to spend time with Kent!

“I’ve already planned this date since our first day. So hey, why the hell not today right? I promised you anyway. And I always keep my promises.”

“True.” I shrugged. “Later then.” I waved to him and was about to walk away when he grabbed a hold of my hand. He twirled me towards him and gazed deeply into my eyes, kissing my cheek.

I stared into his eyes and it was making me do something I had never thought I would do to Kent. I tilted my head higher towards him and he leaned down. I was still wrapped in his arms, but I stood on my toes to reach his lips. He closed his eyes and I took that as sign that I should do the same.

Our lips were about an inch apart when I came to my senses. I gently pulled away from his embrace, and blushed. He cleared his throat in embarrassment and released me, placing a hand behind his neck.

“So, I’ll see you later then, all right?” He mumbled, not looking at me. I couldn’t say I blame him. I was having trouble looking at him myself.

“Yeah, okay. Bye.” I gave a hesitant wave before walking away from the skate park. What was I thinking? Was I about to kiss Kent?! I knocked my forehead a few times. Stupid stupid, Ash.