Thrasher's King of the Road

Chapter 3

For the first few days of the trip, Mara and I hit the main tourist sites. Chinatown, Alcatraz, and lots of shopping. By the end of our first week there, it was time for a rest from the heavy itineraries.

"Today's finally beach day! Winnie I can't believe that you don't like the beach. Who doesn't like the fucking beach?," Mara yells out from the back of our AirBnB. She's starting to layer on the sunscreen around her bikini top and put the final items in her beach tote.

"I've told you before, the sun and my ginger genetics don't exactly get along. There's no sunscreen in the world strong enough to protect this pale skin from sunburn. Not everyone has a naturally sun kissed complexion like you do. Plus, I'd rather not spend the next week digging sand out of my ass crack."

Mara laughs as I grab my picnic blanket and an umbrella for the park.

"Oh whatever, you go watch your skateboarders and leave all the beach sun for me to soak in. I'll pick you up from the park later when I've gotten sufficiently pruned and it's time for dinner."

Now I'm laughing at her, picturing how closely she'll resemble a raisin when I hop into our rental car later.

"I'll scope out some food options for dinner while I'm at the park. Just text me when you're done roasting and you're on your way. Give me another sec to finish getting dressed and then we can head out."

For today's fit, I've decided to keep it simple for the park. It's not too warm out so my ripped mom jeans will do just fine paired with a baggy Vans muscle tank and my checkered slip-ons. Luckily my curly hair is cooperating today by laying nicely in its shag cut, so I don't even have to do anything to it. I'm surprised to see that the pink blocks of color I added to the natural red before graduation haven't started fading yet.

"Alright Mara, I'm ready if you are."

It's about noon when Mara drops me off. I pick out a good patch of grass to set up shop on that's a safe distance away from the skate park. I'm not trying to get in anyone's way or look like a weirdo watching the local skaters, but I still want to see all the action.

I crack into my book and get through a few chapters before I'm taken out of my trance by a loud group of skateboarders filing out of a van. It's been pretty calm since I got here so the abrupt change in noise level immediately catches my attention.

There's yelling, swearing, laughing, and for some reason one of the guys is wearing a hazmat suit. All of them look like they haven't slept in days. There's also a TV level camera crew that seems to be following them? However, the group starts unloading their gear from the back of the van like this is completely normal. What in the fuck is going on?

"Dude, who has the fucking book? I wanna check out those ledge tricks again. There's a perfect spot here for me to try that Switch backside Smith kickflip out," one of the sleep-deprived guys eagerly shouts at his group.

The man who appears to be in charge of herding these skaters around replies, "I told you, the book isn't leaving my sight anymore considering that someone took it upon themselves to throw it out of one of the windows in the van last night. I'll yell out the other ledge tricks after you put that one down first." He continues with, "Let's get fucking moving today boys, we've got less than 24 hours before this book goes bye-bye and our fate in this competition is set in stone."

A book, a competition, weird outfits, a camera crew...

Holy shit. I heard rumors that King of the Road might make its long anticipated return, but no fucking way it's happening right now in front of me. The vibe at the park instantly changes when the team starts to skate. It's still high energy and fun, sure, but some of these guys have a seriousness about them that only KOTR could bring out. I notice the logo on their van and I can't quite figure out what team they are. Damn, I can't even imagine what teams are competing this year after such a long break. The real session begins when the guys start cracking beers and landing some insane tricks that I've never seen before. I'm trying not to stare but this shit is magnetizing to see in person. After about an hour watching them, I think the guys notice me staring when I see them start looking in my direction.

Oh fuck, they probably think I'm some creepy pervert watching all of these guys with their shirts off. I make myself look down at my book and try to appear as nonchalant as possible, but a couple of minutes later, there's a pair of beat to hell Vans at the edge of my blanket.