𝗸𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲, 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝟿𝟶𝚜

002

los angeles, california
1990s

ARLEY FLETCHER

"fuck! i'm skating like shit today!" fuckshit groaned. beside him, fourthgrade recorded fuckshit's girlfriend as she attempted lighting her board on fire. arley watched her, before skating over to the wall where a jug of water the skaters shared sat next to a boy.

as arley approached she noticed it was the same kid from the store before, and he held a ridiculously colored board that said, 'cowabunga!" in a largely obnoxious large pink print with a dinosaur on a skateboard drawing on it. arley shook her head, looking away from the cruiser board, and watched her friends skate before she noticed the kid kept glancing up at her.

she put the jug down and sat down beside him, squinting in the sun slightly, "hey...you skate?"

the kid looked at her, before shaking his head, "no, but i want to."

arley chuckled lightly, instantanously making the kid smile. arley had a laugh that usually light up her whole face, it was hard to ignore and highly contagious. her mother had the same effect when she was alive.

"you can't skate on that—at least, you can't do tricks..." arley told him, looking at the board in question.

"why not?" the kid asked.

" it's a cruiser which is way too heavy to actually do shit. it's mostly for style more than performance." arley recited from memory.

arley's adoptive mother, barbara, had given her a notebook that contained a bunch of skate facts and a few diary entries. it was from barbara's youth and was given to arley on her eighth birthday.

the kid nodded and looked up at ruben as he jogged up. ruben grabbed the water jug from arley's outstretched hand.

"who are you?" ruben questioned after taking a swig.

"this is—i didn't ask your name. sorry." arley sighed, getting up and looking at him.

"stevie."

"alright, stevie." arley smiled at the boy, and ruben began to introduce himself and the others. " i'm ruben. and the guy over there with the long blonde-ish hair is fuckshit-it's not his real name-the guy with the dreads is ray, the blonde kid with the camera is fourthgrade, and the girl is manny."

ruben gestured to all of them, and arley grabbed the water back from ruben, only to get a drop. "go fill it up, you asshole." arley hit him on the head with the jug before skating off.

same day

arley, ruben, and stevie went back inside of the store together. ruben and arley slightly fatigued from skating in the heat. the two boys sat on the couches, while arley sat on the couch beside ruben, her face pointed towards the ceiling with her eyes closed.

ruben lit a cigarette and handed another to stevie, "thank you," steve nodded, taking the cigarette.

ruben looked at stevie as if he kicked a puppy or somthing, "what're you? gay?" ruben asked, making arley look down from the ceiling to ruben, rolling her eyes.

"what?" stevie asked, not understanding what he did.

"why the fuck are you thanking me? don't fucking thank people, man. that's gay," ruben said, matter-a-factly.

arley looked at him, rolling her eyes for the second time, "it's just being a good person to say thank you. ignore him stevie."

ruben flipped her off, as she began to stand up. arley smiled sarcastically, before mumbling to herself about him shoving it up his ass. stevie lit his own cigarette, uncomfortably and immediately began to cough. arley glanced over her shoulder as she walked to the counter, making stevie flush red and begin to stifle his coughs.

"you smoke?" ruben asked. stevie enodded, glancing at arley, who now began to raid emerson's snack collection under the main counter, "yeah, just a different brand."

stevie chuckled, walking back over to the boys and reclaiming her spot on the couch. arley gave stevie a small smile, before taking a fritos corn chip and popping it into her mouth.

ruben rolled his eyes, "yeah, you're gonna fucking pay attention to me, man. i'm a fucking badass. you're a little ass kid. you should fucking look up to me." ruben boasted. "i smoke. i skate. i fuck bitches."

stevie looked at him in awe, "dang."

arley shook her head, "don't lie to him."

"whatever, it's not like you get any boys buggy." ruben rolled his eyes.

"wow, that burned." arley said, sarcastically, in contrast to her reddened cheeks.