Alex set out from his house shortly before noon, on his skateboard. He wanted to be at the basketball courts slightly later than Natalie, as he thought it would seem cooler for him to be late rather than early. He had oiled his bearings and greased his trucks before he set out and so his ride was smoother than usual.

He was late arriving, but didn’t see Natalie or Julian around, and decided instead to skate the pool complex alone. It had large red concrete planters that slanted on an angle, and low concrete benches that were just tall enough to ollie on to. Alex liked to ollie onto the benches, ride the length of it, and kickflip off the back end. He landed that trick 70% of the time. He was practicing kickflips, heelflips and pop shove-its, as Natalie and Julian approached. Deciding to show off a little, he tried a varial kickflip, but couldn’t land it, instead planting his feet squarely on the backside of the board. He couldn’t stop his momentum and fell, rolling to the ground.

“Are you alright?” Natalie asked, giving Alex a hand.

He took her hand and sprang to his feet, brushing himself off like nothing happened at all. It was not his finest moment. He decided to play it cool.

“So, when did you guys get here?”

In her stare was the silent knowing, unflinchingly breaking down his flimsy façade.

“You were like the Tony Hawk video game!” Julian broke the awkward silence while studying art on the back of the skateboard.

It had a colorful graffiti design, depicting the inner conflict of man, with angels on one side, and demons on the other. The middle was scarred and scratched from boardsliding.

“Thank you,” Alex said, relieved, tousling Julian’s hair. Thanks, in more ways than one.

Natalie was watching him worriedly. He picked up his board and set it back around on its wheels.  

He brushed the sand and gravel off his hands. “You guys wanna see something fun later?”

“Together?” Natalie looked at Julian, then turned her eyes at him. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Alright, so, every Saturday there’s a community football game at 2’o’clock at the field by the playground. Everyone’s gonna be there. Well… all the kids anyway.”

Natalie gathered her hair in a ponytail, tying it up with the scrunchie around her wrist. “Are you gonna play?”

“Probably not.”

It wasn’t that Alex couldn’t play, but if he did, he would be on a team’s reserve. It was mostly the older guys who were 19 or older that ran the teams.

“Still, I go to hang out. Wanna come?”

“Okay, but I’m not sure if my brother should go.”

Alex knew what she was getting at. She didn’t want her brother around their parties.

“Don’t worry, there’s gonna be kids there and everything. It won’t be like last night.”

“Nattie what happened last night? Nattie?”

They walked together down the street, and Alex skated alongside them. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she walked, and Alex realized that he didn’t consider that she wasn’t from there and probably wasn’t used to the tropical sun. He looked up into the cerulean abyss, observing the curvature of the apparent shape of the sky. He turned his attention to Natalie and his eyes softened with empathy. A warmth flushed over him then, and he offered his skateboard to her, helping her get on it. She held Alex’s hand the rest of the way to the field for both security and stability, practicing moving and turning.

The field was behind the convenience store, adjacent to the playground. It was a large undeveloped grass lot, roughly the size of a football field. There were already people sitting on the sidelines here, and the younger kids were playing a game of their own. Julian ran ahead and joined them.

Natalie brushed aside her bangs and wiped the sweat from her brow. She smiled gently, as if in relief. “I’m so glad there’s kids here.” Natalie peeked at Alex to see his reaction. He was scanning the spectators. “Back home, we can’t go out the house like you guys can here. I never knew what this was like.”

“I’ve only been living here three years, so I know what you mean. I lived up north, and I never left the house. Ever.” Alex stepped forward, still holding Natalie’s hand.

“I see Kristen over there. Let’s go.”

Natalie stepped off the skateboard at the edge of the store’s parking lot, and Alex carried it as they walked onto the grass field. Kristen’s older brother was one of the guys playing, and she had come with him.

Alex came behind Kristen and massaged her shoulders. “Kristen!”

Kristen leaned her head into his arm, closing her eyes in either pleasure or relief.

“Hi, Kristen.” Natalie waved.

“Alex, Natalie, have a seat.” Kristen patted the blanket she was sitting on that was spread on the ground.

Alex sat next to Kristen, and Natalie sat a little further away, toward the edge. There was some unspoken thing between them, and she gave them some space. Kristen looked at Alex questioningly.

“Natalie, you don’t have to sit so far away from us,” Alex said.

Natalie stood up, brushed off her white shorts, and biting a nail, stepped over to Alex who was sitting with his legs outstretched. Using her foot, she spread his legs apart, then turned and sat in his lap. He looked at Kristen, mouth open in shock.

“Is that close enough for you?” She leaned forward to stand back up.

Alex put his hand on her forehead and gently guided her back down. He’d underestimated her boldness. So, it was a dare, then. He met her assertiveness with his own.

“You’re fine right there.”

He closed his eyes, and could smell her hair and body spray, like coconuts on a tropical breeze. Alex found that he liked the smell, or maybe it was that he just liked the girl. He wasn’t sure yet.

“There’s Georgie,” Kristen said.

The portly boy was setting up a folding beach chair, a short distance away. “He came to my house like… three weeks ago and asked me to work his shift at the restaurant. I don’t even work there, like, why come to me?”

Natalie glanced at him out of the side of her eyes. His chin was practically resting on her shoulder. “So, what did you do?”

“Well, I worked at the restaurant,” he said, laughing, “They didn’t even care.”

Natalie laughed.

“There’s Rich and his sisters.” Kristen pointed.

Alex scoffed. Kristen leaned close to Natalie.

“Alex and Rich don’t get along…” She leaned back to look at Alex and said in a sing-song voice, “I wonder why that is?”

“Don’t do that.” The joy had left Alex’s face.

“Why is that?” Natalie nudged him playfully.

Alex shook his head.

“Their mother moved back to the Shores, but they’re still living at the grandparent’s house. My mom is friends with their mom. And Joey and Rich are close. Really close.” Kristen smirked with an exaggerated wink.

Natalie held back a laugh and looked at Alex again out of the corner of her eye. “Did I meet Joey?”

“No, he wasn’t there last night. But I guess you’re getting the whole history of the Shores here.”

Kristen stole a glance at Alex for a few seconds and then looked away. Natalie had caught it. Her eyes and expression had changed in those few seconds.  Kristen and Alex explained some of the history and drama as more people arrived. In a small town like this, everybody knew just about everything about everyone else.
But Kristen often knew things she shouldn’t.

“Oh, shit,” Alex said.

He stood up and suddenly walked off. Natalie stood to follow him, but Kristen put her arm up and held her back.

She grinned. “No, wait. Just watch.”

Kristen was watching Alex intently and bit her lip in anticipation. Alex walked over to a boy on a bicycle that had just shown up with another boy. Natalie looked at Kristen, seeking an explanation.

“That’s Andy and J.J. over there.”

Natalie’s eyes widened. Andy was the one Alex said he was going to fight.

She saw the two arguing, and Andy had thrown his bike to the ground. He got close to Alex, and Alex pushed him. Andy took a few steps back and fell to the ground. He jumped up running and punched Alex in the face. Alex hit him back just as hard, and Andy grabbed him, tackling him to the ground. Others around were giving them space. Alex’s shirt was wrenched off in the scrap, and he scrambled on Andy, pinning him by the stomach, swinging wildly at his face.

Kristen’s eyes were transfixed. “Isn’t it so hot when they fight?”

Natalie couldn’t deny it. It was exhilarating. Breathlessly, all she could utter was, “Yeah.”

Andy took several unguarded hits to his face, before one of the older guys broke up the fight. He was bleeding. Alex walked back, shirtless, scratches on his back, hands and chest. He was faintly shaking as the adrenaline wore off. He let Andy hit him in the face, and it was beginning to throb. The fight was closer than he wanted to admit. Natalie and Kristen followed him as he came back to their blanket and sat down. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes, took one out and lit it, placing the pack back into his pocket.

Standing, Natalie looked down at him, as tendrils of smoke curled around his body.

“You’re bad.”

Alex looked up at her, his arms resting on his knees. His knuckles were red, and a couple were bloody. Their eyes met, and he took a pull from his cigarette, exhaling the smoke. Are we stating the obvious?

“So?”

Her eyes softened, and her mouth opened as she took a small breath.

She touched her face with her hand. “Oh,” she muttered, quivering slightly.

She blinked a few times. “I wanna go somewhere else.”

Alex peeled some of the torn flesh from his knuckles. “We can go to the pool. They have pool tables there.”

Kristen watched Natalie with a silent understanding. Alex hadn’t noticed what was happening to her. But she recognized the face Natalie was making because she had felt the same way many times before.

“Why don’t you and Natalie go to my house and grab us some sodas?” Kristen tossed Alex her keys. She looked at Natalie. “Nobody’s there right now, so let yourselves in.”

Alex stood with a sigh and gestured for Natalie to follow. Kristen lived a block away, so they didn’t have far to travel. They walked together across the field to the street.

Alex shook his head in annoyance. “She always does this… Manipulating people to what she wants them to do. You know, when I first met her, she told me that she hates water and is allergic to it. She said she can only drink soda.”

Natalie laughed.

“But there’s water in soda. That makes no sense.”

“Yeah, that’s what me and Chris tried to tell her.” Alex nodded.

“Also, she’s always been kinda mysterious.”

“Mysterious?”

“Yeah. Every time I asked her, she would tell me she was a different age. To this day, I still don’t know how old she is. 15? 16? I know she’s not 17, but who knows.”

Natalie grew quiet. Kristen probably didn’t want to be thought of as young and immature by the older boys, so she always hid her real age. If she had to guess, her true age was on the lower end.

“I told you that Kristen and Chris used to date, but they hate each other now. I tried to play matchmaker a few times, but they never told me what the issue was.”

Natalie peered at Alex. “Is that because Kristen is in love with you?”

Alex stared at her, and she met his eyes with an unreadable, flat expression. He turned to look straight ahead, staring blankly into the distance. “Is that how it looks to you?”

“I’m certain of it.”

“Huh,” Alex began, taking a deep breath, “I always wondered if she might be. But then she always tries to hook me up with her friends.”

“Maybe she doesn’t think that she’s good enough for you. Do you like her?”

Alex shook his head. “She’s like a little sister.”

Natalie sighed dramatically. “Oh, I feel so bad for her.”

Alex wondered if she really did. It didn’t sound like it. “Ha, don’t feel bad for her. She’s just as bad as I am but in a different way. Kristen’s a bully. She even got expelled from middle school. She’s got a really controlling personality.”

“Really? But she’s so nice to me.”

Alex looked at her with a smile. “That’s because you’re with me.”

Alex skated up the property, and they both walked up the driveway. He opened the door, and they stepped inside. The kitchen was small, but island style with a flat range and brand-new stainless-steel appliances. Alex opened the side-by-side refrigerator and took out four cans, grabbing an orange soda for himself. Opening the can, he took a sip and placed the can on his left cheek which was hot and swollen.

“Can I have a taste?”

Alex set the other cans down and took another sip of the soda. “I think I saw another orange in there.”

Natalie grabbed Alex’s hand with the can, and their eyes were locked to each other’s. Alex’s eyes held a curious fascination, but hers… She put the can to her mouth and slowly took a sip, her gaze deep and unbroken. It was like a switch had flipped in his brain. And Alex had finally felt what Natalie was feeling. In her eyes was a deep wanting, and he saw himself in them. He set the can down and closed the distance between them, backing her up against the countertop. There was nowhere else to go, and no more space between them. Their bodies touching, he brushed aside the loose strands of blonde hair from her face, her eyes intoxicatingly full of desire and expectation…