Dumb Luck

12

𑁯𝙴𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𑊁

"If I fall, I'm never being your friend ever again."

I laugh. She's already standing up on it anyway. "You'll be fine." I assure. She watches me closely, unsure as I take her hand in mine. She squeezes my hands tightly. "I'm right behind you, okay?" I remind.

It's a tight fit for sure, but we make it work with her tucked right up against me. Her heels on top of the tips of my shoes and her hands reaching back for mine to hang on tight. I peek around the beautiful mess of dark curls to watch where we're going as I lift my foot and take the first push. Mallory starts wobbling as soon as we're moving, but I clutch her hands tighter to help her relax. "Shit," She whispers. I recognize the slight laugh in her voice.

I laugh. "You're a natural!" I proudly declare while I put a little more force into my next push. She wobbles some more but ultimately finds her balance again. It'll take a few times for her to find it immediately, so I try to be of as much service as I can be until then.

"Oh! Wait, wait, we need to turn here!" Mallory gasps, her eyes trained on the sharp right up ahead.

I forgot about turns.

I chuckle as I hop off the skateboard. With my hold on her hands, she slows down a little. Luckily, she doesn't fall. She does look back at me like she's a little horrified though. "I got you—don't worry." I dismiss her with a laugh, realizing I didn't warn her before I jumped off. She probably thought I fell. "Lean to the right." I order, moving quickly beside her while I pull her along. Her hands still settled in mine.

Mallory tries to follow my instructions, but I end up letting go of one of her hands so I can reach over to grab her by her waist just to add that extra strength so we can make this turn. She doesn't mind me and starts smiling wider when we make it. Barely.

"I did it!" She declares. I laugh, still pushing her along the now bumpy sidewalk.

"Want me to let go?" I ask playfully. She shakes her head quickly with a laugh.

"Can't believe I never tried this before." Mallory smiles as she looks down to watch the skateboard roll across the bumpy sidewalk.

"I'll teach you how to ride by yourself." I promise, stepping ahead some so I can continue to pull her along a little faster.

"Oh, great. So, I won't need a car." She smiles, rolling her eyes at the idea.

I shrug. "Anything's better than walking." I reason. "But in the meantime, I could drive you to school. If you want." I offer happily. Yet another opening I found just to make sure what happened when we were little doesn't happen again.

Mallory just laughs to herself at that. She doesn't answer, but I leave it be for now. I'll bring it back up later on when she's not focusing on keeping her balance.

Luckily, the more time she spends on the skateboard, the more confident she gets. She must realize that the chance of her falling is small with me being the one to control her speed and mostly her balance with one of my hands connected with hers and my other wrapped around her waist. Her smile starts to widen, and I get to watch her get more comfortable just standing on it and going over the few little bumps. Normally, I'd probably do more to avoid the bumps, but the wheels haven't gotten caught on any little pebbles and she's not really in danger if it does happen.