Brazen Girl by Ali Dean Page 0,33
inside and she’s got her eyebrows raised in mock disapproval.
“Did you say boyfriend?” I ask.
“For today, at least,” she says with a shrug. I know she wouldn’t purposefully play with my emotions, so what’s that comment supposed to mean?
“Labels are dumb,” Phoebe says. “Just do your thing, who cares what everyone else calls it?”
Jordan wags a finger at her friend. “Coming from the girl who threatened to stop speaking to Wyatt if he didn’t start telling people she was his girlfriend.”
“That was in seventh grade! Totally different. Girls were hitting on him and he was all like, ‘Phoebe’s just my friend.’”
Wyatt walks in then. “Is that voice supposed to be imitating me? Because it sounds like Bert. Sesame Street Bert.”
Levi’s right behind him. “You actually kind of sounded that way in seventh grade, man.” He turns to Devon. “He had a rough time with the voice change.”
“Anyway, that was totally different. My point is, I think it’s dumb you two have to strategize about everything with your relationship. I know Beck’s kind of famous in California and all,” she starts, but Devon cuts her off.
“He’s famous everywhere for skateboarders.”
“Okay, well whatever. I think you guys should just say fuck it to the rest of the world and pretend they don’t exist. At least for a while.”
“That’s kind of what we’ve been doing. This weekend at least. But thanks for that super helpful advice, Phoebs.”
I watch Jordan’s demeanor start to shift, and I know she’s thinking about how it turned out last time we went with the “fuck it” approach. She’s probably thinking about all the reasons why that would still be a bad idea.
Not wanting her to go down that road, I ask, “So, anywhere good to skateboard around here at night?”
Devon tells us there’s a park not too far that we can skate to. Jordan might look momentarily happy about my suggestion, but if she can’t get herself there on her board for whatever reason, my idea will put a real damper on the night.
“We’ll meet you guys there in our car. We might head straight back to Jordan’s place afterward.”
Everyone in the apartment knows, or suspects, what’s up with Jordan and skating, but no one says anything about it.
She doesn’t say much on the ride over, and I can tell she’s in her own head. Maybe psyching herself up or maybe thinking about something else entirely.
Lamps are still on, illuminating the park. It’s pretty cold out, but I’m surprised it’s empty on a Friday night.
“Skateboarding’s really not that popular around here, huh?” I ask as we get out and make our way over.
“I guess people in a college town would rather party on a Friday night.”
“Maybe. If they had a park on the Summerside campus, it might just be our crew on Friday nights too.”
“Makes me kinda sad we won’t all be there together again,” Jordan admits.
“What do you mean? We will. Naomi and Summer will be seniors. Taylor graduates but like Griff, the Summerside and Callaway area will always be home base.”
“What about you?”
“It’s the same for me. I won’t be a student but it will be home base for me.” I thought she knew this. Sure this summer I’ll be on the road, or planes, for a few months as I compete, but that’s not my norm. This travel has been in the works since before I met Jordan, when I announced I was taking a hiatus. My sponsors wanted some confirmation I’d be back and when I returned, I needed to go big.
Jordan doesn’t seem to be caught up in our conversation anymore. She puts down her board and places her foot on it like she did earlier today. Except this time she doesn’t look down, she looks out at the park.
“Can you go stand over there and wait for me?” she asks, pointing to the other side of the park.
I don’t answer, just get on my board and head to the spot she’s asked. She’s got a plan, and that’s a start at least. I can see the determination in her stance, the set of her shoulders. Jordan wants to break through that frozen state before her friends show up.
When she kicks off like she means business only a few seconds later I want to clap and cheer with excitement. It’s silly, because what she’s actually doing on her skateboard is probably something she could do by age seven. But I know this means she’s coming back.
Jordan stops for a hug but then she’s