IT'S BRUTAL OUT HERE!

Judah hadn’t skated much since moving out to San Verto, but in the interest of not spending his summer hunched over a tattoo seat or his notebooks, perhaps it was best to get back into it. He hauled his old gear out of retirement and hit the Labryinth on his first free afternoon, hopping onto his wheels the first chance he got when the rink was clear. He pulled a few glides across the half-pipe, getting used to being on a board again, before hopping off and waiting his next turn. The girl after him was much better than him though, causing a laugh to fall from his lips as she spun on the bowl, “Woah, causing sparks to fly over there,”

@ofkinteh·

the person who had once told olive that skating and surfing was practically the same thing was a damn liar, according to olive. not that she was that much worse at skating than she was at surfing, of course. once she picked something up, she had to try to be the best at it. but she preferred the waves, moving with the water, the fluid movement of it all. she’d take that over this hard and unforgiving concrete, but it would have to do for now since the waves weren’t exactly surf-able today and she’d needed to get some energy out. usually she only went to the labyrinth with charlie. olive wouldn’t admit it, but she felt a bit intimidated. sure she was good, but she still wasn’t as confident on a skateboard as she was on a surfboard and the fear that she’d face-plant and be the laughing stock of the skatepark for the next few weeks had held her back from going on her own. it was exactly why she huffed out a relieved breath at the compliment she received after landing on her feet at the side of the half-pipe again, turning to face a guy she’d never seen at the labyrinth before, but she’d definitely noticed him earlier. “you weren’t doing too bad. just a bit... rusty, i assume? you’ll get back in shape in no time.” she told him, accompanied by a teasing smile. the way he’d skated reminded her of the way she’d had to get used to surfing again after her recovery. “i haven’t seen you around here before so either we’ve completely missed each other until now, or...” she trailed off, leaving space for him to fill the blanks.

               “i’m not getting a stalker, don’t worry.” she rolled her eyes with a little laugh. charlie paused for a moment, not expecting olive to go there. “he’s not my boyfriend, shut up. lemme see that.” she grabbed the piece of paper once again to look at the handwriting more closely this time. “yeah, she’s not in town…” charlie trailed off, then showed olive the paper. “this is nico’s handwriting, what the fuck? that’s how he always writes his fucked up 5′s.” she pointed out, then threw the paper on the table. “i can’t believe this. even when stevie isn’t here, they’re still having these dumb arguments.” charlie chuckled. 

As much as Annie tried to hide it, a sneer grew slowly onto her face as she scanned the library. It was a crowded evening, and it looked like the only free chair was right next to one of her former classmates - a classmate things hadn’t ended well with, “Mm, working hard or hardly working?” Annie forced a little sweetness in her voice for the sake of a polite greeting as she sat down, hoping to get this over with.

@ofkinteh·

olive looked up from her laptop screen, where she’s been reading some boring data analysis for one of her classes, only for her eyes to fall on a familiar face. she wasn’t sure if she was annoyed that annie had chosen this particular spot to sit down, or that she was glad to have an excuse to be distracted for a couple of minutes. “working hard, clearly.” she gestured to her screen, not completely succeeding in putting on the same polite tone annie was using. “shame basically every other seat is taken.”

                “i could always just block them.” charlie shrugged, and took the piece of paper to write the number in her phone. “what’s the worst that could happen?” she paused, and looked at olive. “… don’t answer that.”  the moment she finished typing the number, an already saved contact appeared to her. ‘stevie 🤍’. charlie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, and showed olive her phone screen. “this is stevie’s number…”

                 “steve?” with a confused expression, charlie took a look at the piece of paper, then up at her friend again. “let’s text them from mine.” she grinned as she took out her phone from her back pocket. “come on, it’ll be fun.” 

“no you’re good,”   hana said, glancing quickly over at the girl.   “thanks. it’s an old one. i couldn’t be bothered to really plan out an outfit.”

“well it worked out anyway. you look good.” olive flashed the girl a smile, adjusting her hair a last time and checking her reflection in the mirror. “i’m just stalling going back out there at this point. i kind of fled in here to escape some creep.”