Ride Harder

Two|Donuts

Waking up this early is only okay for one thing, and sadly, school isn't it. I laid in bed for a good five minutes dreaming I was actually getting up for what I wanted to. The beautiful sound of my bike echoed through my head.
Eventually, I decided that I should probably get up. Not because I was excited or actually looking forward to today, but so I could get an education so I can later get a job to feed my obsession of desert toys.
Rolling out of bed is much, much better than getting out, I've decided. It's a lot easier, too. It's almost as if leaving bed isn't all that bad, but not quite.
It's six o'clock. I don't have to leave until seven fifteen, and normally I don't actually get out of bed until around seven. Maybe today is different.
I think I'm going to make an attempt at looking decent. Ripped jeans, a black long sleeve and my Brixton windbreaker sound good enough. I throw them on. My hair? Ugh, I hate doing it. It's shorter now, though. Maybe I can make some magic happen.
I curl thick pieces and brush them out. Then, I pull back the front, top half and tie it loosely behind my head. Finally, I pull a small piece out from each side of my part in the front and make sure they're curled, letting them hang loose on either side of my face. Looks pretty damn good to me.
It's only six thirty. Whatever. I'll get donuts on the way. Not like Mom is here to keep me company. Work, fun fun.
I hop in Stella, my white 1994 Jeep Cherokee. Also known as my pride and joy. I lifted her 6.5 inches, and put 33s in her just this year. Oh, how I would love to be in the desert right now.
People in the city drive so stupid. Maybe it's just me, or they really don't know that when getting on the freeway, forty miles per hour is not acceptable. My Cherokee is almost twenty years older than your Prius, Linda. The gas pedal is on the right.
I make it to the donut shop at six forty eight. Walking inside, the aroma of fresh baked donuts smacks me in the face. I walk up to the counter, and receive a good morning from the man behind it. I return it.
"We have fresh donuts coming in the next few minutes, or we have ones left over from yesterday on sale over there. They're still warm thanks to our amazing new glass thingy!" He says to me.
I laugh at his description. "Glass thingy." Definitely something I would say. All I really wanted was one or two, but, hell. Why not?
"I'll take a dozen from yesterday. You pick."
The man, who doesn't seem to have a name tag, walks over and grabs twelve donuts, putting them nicely in the box.
"Seven fifty." He tells me when he comes back.
I hand him eight dollars.
"Don't worry about making change. It's too early for all that." I say, grabbing the donuts.
He smiles. "Have a nice day."
"You, too."
I walk back out to Stella and hop in. I buckle the donuts into the passenger seat. No way I'm losing them to a pothole like last time.
School is a few streets down. I plug my phone into the aux cord, courtesy of the new radio Stella proudly holds, also a new addition. G-Eazy radio again. I put my phone in the cup holder, buckle up, and pull out.
Driving is fun. Just not here. Even more stupid people on these roads.
The same old sign to the same old parking lot. Seven o'eight. Almost thirty minutes before the first bell rings. Great.
I hop out, unplugging my phone, grabbing the donuts and my bag, locking Stella. I hit her door after I close it.
"I'll be back soon enough." I say to her. Oh, god I'm such a loser.
As I start to walk, I notice a truck in the parking lot I haven't seen before. Ford. F150. Lifted. 33's like Stella?
"Checkin' her out, huh?" A voice says to the right of me.
I jerk my head to look at where it came from. A boy. A rather good looking boy. A rather good looking boy holding keys. Oh..
"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry. I've just never seen her here before." I say, raising myself up from tire level.
"Yeah, that's because you're never here long enough to notice much." He smirked at me. "I've seen you around. You come a few minutes before school starts, and leave as soon as you can. Why so early today?"
"Just feeling it I guess. Uh, I'm Ashlynn." I look down at my hands, and back up at him.
"Ken." He says. "So, why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Spend as little time as possible here." He sticks both hands in his pockets, keys included.  "Don't you have, like, friends?"
I look back at Stella. "Just the one here, and the bike at home."
"That's your Jeep?" He seems surprised.
"You haven't seen me get out of it?" I laugh.
"No, I've just seen you walking around, never driving. Wait, the bike at home?"
"Yeah. Like, my dirt bike.." I feel so awkward. Who is this guy?
"You ride?" He laughs.
"No, I use a thousand dollar toy as a shelf." I'm not sure why he thinks that's so funny.
"No, I don't mean that in a bad way. Just, no one around here does. Well, actually, other than me, you're the first I've met." His hand reaches around and scratches the back of his neck. I've got to say, his truck wasn't the only hot thing in front of me.
"You know. How about instead of standing here, we go eat donuts and talk about this? I've got nothing better to do." Wait. Did I just do that? Did I actually invite this random guy to donuts and dirt bike talk? What a day this is already..
He pulled his eyes up from the ground and looked at me, then the box of donuts. I smiled, hoping I wasn't letting off that I found him interesting.
"Here. Come with me." He walked around the back of his truck and pulled down the tailgate. "Give me your stuff."
I handed him the donuts and my bag. He put them both in the bed, and hopped up onto the tailgate. He patted the spot next to him with his hand, and I followed his lead.
"Donut?" I asked after opening the box and picking one up.
"Sure. The maple chocolate ones are my favorite." He grabbed just the one he wanted and closed the box.
We sat silent for a moment, eating our donuts. This was so strange. I went, I don't know how long without making a single friend, and now I'm eating donuts with some guy on the tailgate of his truck.
"Where did you come from?" Ken asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I swallowed the bite of donut I had been choosing and stared at the building in front of us.
"I was living with my dad. A small town surrounded by desert. Where all my toys came from." I laughed.
"Vague, but I'll take it. You haven't. Wen here long. You do know that normal people try to make friends when they move, not run away from every person who approaches them, right?" He laughed loud at his own joke, and I joined.
"I mean, yes. But if I'm honest, I just feel like everyone here is snotty."
"Hey!" He cut me off.
"Yeah, yeah. You don't seem too snotty. Yet that is." This time I laughed at my own joke.
"I've got to agree with you, though. Not a lot of people seem to know that it's easier to smell the roses when your nose isn't stuck up in the air."
"Interesting take." I bite my donut again, then pop the last piece into my mouth.
"You know, you surprised me." Ken looks over at me.
"Uh, how?" I'm still not sure how to feel about this whole situation.
"I thought you were going to run off when I walked up. Never would have guessed you'd invite me for donuts on the tailgate." He laughed.
"Actually, I invited you to talk and eat donuts. The tailgate was your idea." I rolled my eyes, but laughed along.
"You got me there. Hey, what's your number?" Ken pulled out his phone.
"Oh, uhm. Here." I took his phone and put my number in, alone with "Ashlynn Oakley."
I hand back his phone. The parking lot is starting to fill in, and we've already gotten more than one weird look.
"Oakley? Like the brand?" He asks, then begins typing something.
"Yeah, except I'm just another customer. Nothing special. Pretty lame if you ask me."
"You sure are optimistic." My phone buzzes.

(Unknown Number)
Thanks for the donuts.

"I guess that's one way to start a conversation." I laugh and save his number. "Hey, what's your last name?"
"Roczen. R-O-C-Z-E-N."
"God forbid I spell it wrong." I laugh and close my phone.
"I was just making sure!" He hopped off the tailgate, and I followed.
"You can have those donuts." I hand him the mostly full box.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I won't eat them." I put my back pack on and stand back while he puts up the tailgate.
"Thank you. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but thank you." He let out a small laugh.
The bell rang. "That's my cue." I say, and start walking away.
"Ashlynn." A warm voice from a few feet behind me. I turn around. "I'll see you around?"
I smile and nod my head, then turn back around and keep walking. Today is different.