"he has persuasive lips but terrible motives."
a story about young people navigating love, friendship, drugs and becoming an adult.
content warnings: mature content and descriptions of drugs, suicide and overdose.
edited in dec 2022.
Birthdays had never been Isabella's thing, she hated being the center of attention and was the happiest when people didn't know what day it was. When she woke up her father had already left for work so she took the bus to school. When she was living with her mom, he had never called to wish her a happy birthday, she guessed he didn't remember it.
She didn't have any classes with Fuckshit and she didn't see the other boys in school either but the day went by pretty fast anyway. When the last bell rang out she made her way to Motors. On the way there she was feeling light headed, a side effect of all the xans. So she took her time walking, not stressing about getting there. When she came up to the entrance the shop looked surprisingly dark and empty but the door was still open. Isabella walked inside, going towards the back to turn on the lights. Suddenly the lights were turned on and the boys all jumped out in front of her.
"Happy birthday!" They yelled out. She couldn't help but smile. On the table by the TV layed a poorly wrapped present with colorful paper and a few red balloons were scattered around the floor and by the TV.
"How did you know? I never told you about my birthday."
"You know, I have my ways ma." Fuckshit said before leaving a kiss on her lips.
"Euw, get a room!" Ruben said, clearly not used to them being affectionate just yet. They all sat down on the couches around the TV.
"This is from us." Ray grabbed the present on the table before handing it to Isabella. It was pretty heavy and she had a good guess about what it was.
"You didn't have to buy me anything..." She said, looking around at the boys.
"Open it!" Stevie said eagerly. She ripped the paper and there it was, a brand new skateboard. She had never got her own, only borrowing the others whenever she felt like riding. It was a whole new set and she knew it wasn't cheap.
"Oh my god... Guys, you can't spend this much money on me."
"Just shut up and take the present!" Ruben said and they laughed.
It was a brand new Alien Workshop deck with a custom grip tape job that she guessed Ray had done. It looked amazing. She was way too bad at skating for a board that nice.
"Fine... I'll accept. But I know y'all got me this because you want to see me eat concrete." She always played it safe everytime she was on a board so she wouldn't fall, but with her new board she really needed to do more.
"That might be it." Ray replied and they laughed.
"I have a thing I wanna show you guys." Fourthgrade said to them.
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He had his camera in hand and plugged it into the TV. The screen started and you could see "a fourthgrade film" pop up. Isabella knew he always had his camera running but she had only seen a few short clips. She rested her head on Fuckshit's shoulder as the movie started. The first few clips were of the boys only, she guessed they were shot before she moved to town. But then she saw herself on the screen, shot from afar and walking on the other side of the road from where they were skating.
"Imma have her! I'm telling y'all right now!" It was Fuckshit's voice talking into the camera and smiling.
"Boy, you ain't got no game!" Ray was heard yelling and the camera panned to him. It was from the first time she ever saw them, that time she went out walking. It made her smile. Back then she didn't know if he noticed her or not but now she knew that he did.
"So you were down bad from the beginning?" she whispered to Fuckshit with a grin, nudging his arm.
"Head over heels. I thought you knew that mamas." He placed his hand on her thigh and squeezed it softly.
The movie continued with clips of them all together. Isa skating for the first time, Ray doing a hard flip down some stairs, Ruben and Stevie play fighting, Fourthgrade adjusting the camera and then all of them together eating at the taco place. So many moments would've been forgotten if Fourthgrade hadn't filmed them. She would do anything for those boys and she knew they felt the same about her. They were family.
For the rest of the night they hung out at Motors, not many customers came in so it was chill. It had been the perfect birthday, better than any she'd had before. It started getting late and they all decided it was time to call quits for the night. She thanked them all for the board and balloons. Everyone went their separate ways except for Fuckshit and sabella.
"I got a present for you at my place." They skated next to each other slowly, getting to use her new board for the first time. Whenever she felt like she was about to lose her balance, he was there to hold her hand.
"What? Are you trying to tell me I'm getting dick tonight?" She teased, turning her head to look at him. Fuckshit bursted out in loud laughter, like only he could.
"I mean... you be getting that too but I got a little thing for you."
They got to Fuckshit's empty house, now it wasn't long until his parents would come home again. When they did, he was gonna get his car back. He had been doing well and going to class again so they were happy.
"Okay ma, close your eyes!"
"Alright, closing 'em."
She was nervous to see what it was. Getting the skateboard had been more than enough as a gift. Isabella stood in his room with closed eyes as she heard him go through one of his drawers. He then took her hand and placed something into it.
"Okay, open." Isabella opened her eyes and saw a CD case. On the cover was a handwritten note that said "happy birthday to my girl" with a smiley face next to it.
"I got Fourthgrade to help me burn it." Isa turned it around to see that he had written down all the songs. iI was some of their favorites and some he had recommended to her but she hadn't gotten to listen to yet.
"I love it." Arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer, she hadn't expected any gifts at all, from anyone.
"I thought that I needed to give my girl something more." She smiled and leaned in to kiss him, his lips were soft against her own.
"I'mma go to the bathroom, so you put on that CD and maybe we can get to my other present after." She teased before going out in the hallway and into the bathroom. Isa locked the door behind her and went through her pockets. Isabella had started keeping her pills in a little tin box she got when she bought some mints at the corner store a few days back.
She had to almost double the dose on xans to feel anything anymore. Maybe she would pick up something stronger the next time she was at Nick's, then she wouldn't have to take as much. Isa put the pills in her mouth and turned on the faucet to swallow them down with water. Then she put the tin back in her pocket and she looked at herself in the mirror. She rubbed away some mascara that had fallen underneath her eyes. She didn't want to lie to Fuckshit but he wouldn't let her continue if she told him. He knew about her past addictions and her overdose. Fuckshit had only let her smoke when he was around, nothing else.
