The Boy Next Door

ebony meets ripstik

A couple weeks go by, and I hang out with Caleb almost every day. We have a great time in each other's company, and we secretly think Hayley and Joseph fancy each other. Joseph swears I'm mental when I ask him if he likes her, though. Mine and Caleb's first date was to a local ice cream shop called The Servana Scoop, and it was great. He teaches me more and more about American culture everyday, and it's incredible.

I'm going to the LeBlanc's with Joey in a few minutes. Katie's taking the kids to the local zoo today, and Caleb and I will hang out. "Let's go, let's go, let's go Ebony!" Says Joey, jumping on my bed as I finish applying my makeup. I have my hair straightened and I'm wearing my high waisted jean shorts and a simple purple tank top with my converse.

"Alright let's go!" I say and we're out the door. I see Caleb in his driveway, on a skateboard. "Heyyy what are you doing?" I ask him.

He rides up to me and puts his hands on my shoulders to stabilize himself and kisses me. "Riding my ripstick." He says, he's wearing a baseball cap with some team name on it that I steal from him and put on.

"Ripstik?" I ask as Joey goes inside the house.

"Ripstik," he says. I look at the thing he's riding on. It's kinda like a skateboard, but shaped like an hourglass. It swivels as he moves and it works kinda like a skateboard. I can tell he's really skilled at it. "Wanna try?" He asks, my stomach flips, I suck at things like this, but maybe Caleb's a really good teacher.

"Okay, but just to warn you I'm really, really bad at skateboarding!"

"It's okay, Eb, I'll teach you!" He says and he gets off the board. "Here, just put your hands on my shoulders and-"

"BYE BUBBA, WE'RE LEAVING!" Shout's Katie. "OH, HEY EBONY!"

"Hey Katie!" I shout to her.

"Bye Mom!" Shouts Caleb.

"HAVE FUN LOVES!" She shouts.

"Thank you!" Caleb and I shout to her as she, Annie, Hayley, and Joey get in the car. We wave to them as they drive away.

"Okay, so back to teaching you how to ripstik. Put your hands on my shoulders and step on the board." I shakily put one foot on the board, and then the other. "You stable?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay so you want to push off with your back foot," he says.

"Oh God, I can't-"

"I got you!" He says, I push off lightly and he holds my hand and jogs beside me.

"I'm doing it!" I say, surprised I haven't fallen off yet.

"Yeah, good job Eb! Now begin wiggling your back foot to keep going, I'm gonna let go of you now." I let his hand slip away and try wiggling my back foot. It's working! I'm riding a ripstik! I turn back to Caleb, but then lose my balance. I scream and Caleb rushes over as fast as he can and stops me from falling.

"Woah, that was close Eb. Let's go inside, okay?" He says, wrapping his arms around me.

"No Caleb, I wanna try this! I'm not a weakling that can't do anything on her own, I really want to do this," I say firmly.

"I know you're not a weakling! I just don't want you to get hurt, Ebony."

"I'll be fine, Cae! Trust me," I say.

"Okay," he says softly.

"Now, let me just put my hands on your shoulders and I'll push off." I say, determination decorating my words. I push off of him really hard, too hard. I have no control over the ripstik and I know I'm going to fall once I lose whatever balance is keeping me up. I scream, but I'm going to fast for Caleb. I fall, landing on my side. Pain shoots up my wrist and side of my hip. I close my eyes and try to fight the tears down, but the keep coming. Caleb rushes to my side.

"Ebony! Are you okay?" He asks, concerned. I nod my head, but then realize there's no need to keep pretending I'm okay. I open my eyes and look up to Caleb. He sees I'm crying. "Oh God! Crap, crap, crap, crap, come inside." He helps me to my feet but then I grab my hip and wince. He easily picks me up and carries me inside, and puts me down on the couch in their living room. "I'll get you some ice," he says, and returns with two ice packs. "Where does it hurt, Eb?" He says softly. I point to my hip and wrist, he applies the ice.

"I'm so stupid," I mutter, and take off my glasses to wipe my eyes, and put Caleb's hat on the coffee table.

"Awe Eb, you're not stupid. I shouldn't have encouraged you to do that, it's my fault. Do we need to go ask your mom to bring us to the clinic?"

"No, I'll be okay I think. And Caleb, that was all me. You were the one who told me we should go inside and I was the one who said I wanted to try it again, I'm such an idiot." I say.

"Well, you're the smartest idiot I've ever met." He says, and sits down on the couch next to me. I lean into him and he kisses the top of my head. I gingerly pull up my shirt and roll down my shorts to see my hip, there's a bruise forming, but I'll be okay. Then I look at my wrist.

"It's really swollen," says Caleb, lightly touching it. "Does it hurt?" He asks softly.

"A bit," I say, and put my head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. I close my eyes and he strokes my hair. He's so kind, if I were him, I'd be angry at me. He presses his lips to my head lightly and squeezes my hand.

"What do you want to do?" He asks after a while.

"Can we watch the VidCon vlogs?" I ask.

"Of course!" He says, and grabs the Roku stick. He turns on YouTube and goes to Bratayley. We watch them, and they're so adorable. Those were the two most fun days of my life. We laugh when we do the fashion show, and he holds me tighter when it shows us before the dance. "I love you, Ebony Shields."

"And I love you, Caleb LeBlanc." We watch all of the vlogs this summer up to yesterday, where we went on a scavenger hunt for Annie's gymnastics team, The Coral Girls, at her friend Liv's house. My wrist feels a little better, so Caleb breaks out an old game of Candyland, and we play it. It's funny, I don't remember it being so boring! We laugh as we both admit we want to play a different game, and Caleb takes out mancala. I used to love this game so much! It actually ends up being pretty fun, Caleb wins everytime, and I joke that he's cheating. Then Caleb confesses to me that he loves this game called minecraft and shows me how to play. I've never heard of it before, and he's really surprised. It's really fun, but I'm not good at it. Apparently he has a whole YouTube channel dedicated to minecraft videos. He tells me it's kind of a nerdy game, but I think it's cute he secretly likes nerdy things, it only makes our relationship stronger.