lo and behold

chapter three: in keds and tube socks

"Do it," Sapnap egged Dream on, laughing as he pushed his skateboard towards his friend.

Dream chuckled as he skateboarded along. "No," he said. "If I fail you'll make fun

of me."
"I guess I'll just win the bet, then," his shorter friend gloated.

The blonde-haired boy stilled, never one to turn down competition. "Fine, I'll do it," he challenged, readying his skateboard to carry out the elaborate trick Sapnap had challenged him to. But before he could, an excited greeting of "Hi, Dream!" met his ears eagerly. He turned around to see who'd noticed him and nearly choked on the sip of Monster he'd just taken.

George, in a pair of pristine white rollerskates and a light purple skirt , skated effortlessly over towards him. "How are you?" he smiled, Pokimane skating a bit more clumsily behind him.

Dream silently willed himself to try and not embarrass himself completely. He kicked off of his skateboard and held the end in one hand while holding his can of Monster in the other. "Uh, I'm good," he coughed, trying not to blush too deeply. "It's nice seeing you here," he nodded as casually as he could at the pair in front of him.

"Yeah, you too! I wanted to go skating as soon as you told me about this place. I like it," George gushed, eyes sparkling in the golden sunlight. The sun had barely begun to set, but it gave the shorter boy a flatteringly tinted glow to his skin.

"I didn't even know this place existed before George talked about it," Pokimane chimed in amicably. "I've only skated around my neighborhood before, so this is a nice change."
Sapnap walked up to the trio. "Hey," he nodded at them, nudging Dream discreetly towards George.

Dream mentally slapped himself as he was forced to stand closer to the pastel. "Yeah, Sap and I go here all the time," he said lamely, feeling his stomach flutter as the breeze blew George's cleanly sweet scent towards him.

The four high schoolers talked for a bit more before skating together, Dream and Sapnap trying desperately to outskate George, who was surprisingly very fast on rollerskates, his skirt streaming past Dream in the wind multiple times as he beat him in every race they'd set.

Pokimane was a bit less experienced on rollerskates, but managed to beat Sapnap twice, her laugh carrying in the wind as she flew by him.

Eventually, the sun had almost completely set as Pokimane called it a night, telling the other two boys that her and George needed to get a good night's rest for the next day's pep rally.

"Oh, yeah," Sapnap chuckled. "I forgot tomorrow was Friday."
"You'll be at the game, right?" George asked, turning towards Dream and looking into his green eyes imploringly.

Dream's heart skipped in his chest. This was his chance to accept George's offer. "Yeah. Yeah, I am," he nodded.

George suddenly clapped and pushed Dream's shoulders lightly, excitedly saying "Yay! I can't wait to see you there!"
If thoughts could be the demise of someone, Dream would've been destroyed on the spot with the rush of affection and adrenaline he felt as he wheezed lightly with laughter. Sapnap and Pokimane rattled on in their own conversation, getting consumed in the differences between skateboarding and rollerskating, paying little attention to George and Dream.

George turned to Dream again, softening his voice as he tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Can I ask you something?"
Dream looked down at him. "What's up?"

The shorter teen blushed. "Do you think I could maybe have your number? I want to skate with you again," he stammered.

Dream's stomach felt like it was doing flips. "Uh, sure," he chuckled as calmly as he could, pulling out his flip phone and handing it to George.