𝕊𝕦𝕘𝕒𝕣 ℍ𝕚𝕘𝕙 • 𝕂𝕒𝕣𝕝ℕ𝕒𝕡

Chapter 9: Sodas + Skate Parks

The four boys walked through the empty streets of the suburbs, music blared from their small bluetooth speaker as they made their way to the small skate park a few blocks away. The setting sun casted long shadows across the concrete

Karl thought things were going fine, until Chris opened his mouth and spoke without thinking.

"Why are you wearing Nick's hoodie?"

Karls face heated up as he chucked nervously. "It was just the first hoodie I saw, cause it was," Karl laughed again, "It was just laying on my bed!"

"No it wasn't? Or I didn't see it when I went in there," Chandler pondered as he dribbled the basketball he had brought with him, he wasn't much of a skater.

"Karl, you can be honest with us. We're your best friends so no more bull shitting us," Jimmy said.

Karl stared at his friends before sighing.

"Ok so, Nick just happens to be that really cute cashier at the candy shop that I've been crushing on for the past few months," He couldn't help put fiddle with the hem of the hoodie with his free hand, "And I may or may not have obtained this hoodie cause we snuck out last night and we might have fallen asleep in the back of his truck," Karl spoke the last bit very quickly hoping his friends wouldn't quite catch all of it.

Chris gave the boy a smile, Jimmy just gave a simple 'nice' before staring back at his phone, and Chandler nodded.

"I'm glad things are starting to look up for you in the romance department bro," Chris punched Karl lightly on the arm.

Karl let out another breath he had been holding before placing his longboard down on the ground and gently rolling as the street sloped down. He did his favorite longboard trick, the Peter Pan, making it seem like he was simply walking on air as he rolled towards the setting sun, the park was coming in to view. Chris hollered as rolled past Karl, his body lower to the ground as he picked up momentum. Chris skidded to a halt outside the park as he watched Karl pick up momentum since had sat down on his board, holding the front as he leaned into himself. Chandler was next to arrive as he allowed gravity to pull him down into a sprint. Jimmy was last as he laughed at his friends antics before he took his place on his usual bench.

Karl and Chris took turns going back and forth using the skateboard and the longboard. Chris groaned as he struggled to do an ollie.

"I swear I can do it! Ask Chan-Chan! I did it in my garage yesterday," Chris whined as Karl laughed at his sixth failed attempt.

"I'm sure you can do it but right now you're being absolute dog water at skating," Karl couldn't help but wheeze slightly.

"Fine if you're such a god, you try it," Chris slid the board over the smooth concrete to his friend.

"Woah now, I don't skate as much as I used to I just longboard now for fun," Karl raised his hands up in defense as he slowly calmed down from his wheeze.

"Please Karl," Chris begged, "Do it for me?"

Karl sighed and pulled the board closer to him with his right foot. He looked back at Chris who had a smug look on his face. Karl stepped onto the board, taking a deep breath. He pushed with his right foot to get going before placing his foot behind his left foot. He closed his eyes as he pushed down on back of the board, taking the pressure of his left foot off. It was nowhere near a perfect ollie, but he felt himself become weightless for a moment as the front of board lowered to meet the back half. He braced himself for the impact of the board reconnecting with concrete. He stumbled slightly as he landed. Jimmy and Chandler gave him a small round of applause as Chris rolled his eyes before giving his best friend a pat on the back.

The sun had disappeared from the sky, a full moon basked down on the four high schoolers. Chris and Karl had stopped doing tricks since it was getting hard to see and were instead propelling themselves with their hands as they sat on their boards racing each other around the park. Chandler sat on the bench next to Jimmy.

"How do they have so much energy? I'm ready to go home," Chandler reached into Jimmy's back pack.

"Cause Karl has so much sugar and caffeine and you know Chris, he's just happy to be around Karl and will match his energy level any day," Jimmy chuckled as he also reached into his bag.

The two boys cracked open cans of orange pop, causing Karl to snap his head in their direction. He rolled off of his board, letting the piece of wood roll into a wall. He scrambled to get up before stopping in front of the boys, puppy dog eyes apparent on his face.

"One for me?" He asked quietly.

Jimmy laughed as he reached into the bag and pulled out another can, handing it to Karl. Chris rolled up to the bench dragging Karls board behind him as he rummaged through the bag and found the last can. He had the unfortunate can. The can hissed as he pulled the tab up and it started spraying foamy orange beverage. Chris frowned for a moment but shrugged as he guzzled down the sweet fizzy drink.

Karl sat happily on the floor. He missed hanging out with his friends. Chris had convinced Jimmy and Chandler to let Karl sit with them. The three of them were there for him when he first came out and was getting weird stares and harsh words from people in the hallways. They always made sure he was ok and never let him feel like he was alone. They truly were his best friends and he'd do anything to spend all of eternity with them.

Karl's phone rang in his back pocket, the familiar jingle of his moms ringtone urged him to answer quickly.

"Hey mom," Karl smiled happily.

"Hi hon, it's kind of late out now, are you still at the park?" His moms voice was sweet and gentle.

"Yeah, we were just getting ready to leave actually."

"Do you want me to come pick everyone up and give them rides home? I don't want anyone showing up on the news at 6 tomorrow morning with the word missing under their face."

Karl pulled the phone away from his ear. "Do you guys want my mom to give you all rides home? She doesn't mind."

The three boys looked at each other and nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be great mom," Karl gave a light hearted giggle.

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A/N: aaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! shorter chapter for now I'm sorry!!!! I apologize if my description of the skateboarding tricks aren't amazing. I've only ridden a longboars a few times but a few of my friends skate so I took my try at writing it. I'm gonna try to write another chapter today after I go down some caffeine cause my head is killed me.

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