the rink was the place but in that space and time i was too young for you
OM
The summer before high school started was spent in Houston like every other summer before. Except the past couple years I spent more time in the Knowles home than my aunts.
Solange and I were the closest of friends, and we spent practically every day of the summer together since we met at the roller rink.
Despite me only being a year older, we had somewhat of a maturity gap. She was sheltered in the nice suburbs, and for 9 months out of the year I was living in a big city where life operated completely different. But we still got along great, we were the same type of weird.
Every year Solange had a new obsession, this year it happened it be doing hair so I sat on the floor in between her legs to let her try learning how to braid a heart in my hair while we talked. "What do you think high school is going to be like? Are you scared?"
I squinted my eyes to fight the pain from her cornrowing. "Mmmm.... not really. Kinda."
She laughed. "Not really or kinda?"
"I don't know. It's going to be a lot of people from my new school, but also a bunch of random new ones. Plus I'm going to be the youngest again."
She hummed like she was thinking. "Being the youngest in the school won't matter for you, I know you. But Bey told me that they put freshman in lockers so I don't know."
I rolled my eyes. "I don't know why you believe anything she says. She loves to play with you, and she doesn't know everything anyway." She just thought she did.
When I first met Solange's older sister Bey, I thought she was some older mature Goddess... then she opened her mouth. She basically had the personality of a teenage boy but in a pretty girl, so it was no wonder her and Wayne were best friends.
"Well, what about boys? Do you think when you get to high school you're going to be like... talking to and kissing them?"
I started laughing at how disgusted she sounded. "I mean, probably at some point. I feel like that's a given." I wasn't exactly boy-crazy like some of my other friends from back home, but I was sure I would find at least one guy I liked once I got to high school.
"That one guy from the park the other has a crush on you, for sure. He asked me about you after your cousin came to get you."
My face scrunched up. "Who? Aubrey?"
"Mhm." She giggled. "He's a little... I don't know."
"Yeah, I don't know about him." As a friend, he was fine but I wasn't sure if I could see him as anything more than that. "I'd talk to him, but only to get practice for talking to other boys in high school."
Solange hummed again. "I was going to suggest going to the rink anyway... we could invite him."
I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." Since I was curious, and most of the kids in the neighborhood would be there anyway so one more kid wasn't a big deal.
She quickly finished up my braid and then we went outside and down a couple houses to knock on Aubrey's door. He eagerly came to the door after only a couple seconds but tried to play it cool. "Hey, y'all. What's up?"
Solange stepped back and let me speak, so I did. "Want to come to the Rink?"
"Yeah, I should be free for an hour or two." He tried to seem nonchalant but I could see a smile creeping up on his face. "Let me just let my dad know." He quickly ran back inside his house without even bothering to close the door.
