Moving on

2. Half-Pipe Dude

"You know, they say if you make a face for too long, it'll stay that way." a voice says, breaking me from my thoughts. Startled, I whipped my head back and regretted it because the wind from my movement caused my hair to hit me smack in the face, some of it launching into my mouth. Embarrassed and annoyed, I spit it out and chuckled awkwardly. 

"Huh?" I question regaining composure. I came face to face to some dude with a silver and black helmet over his head, signs of light brown straight hair and kind blue eyes and a warm smile with signs of dimples. A skateboard was resting right next to him, looking customized. Guess he, like the other guys here, took advantage of the largest half-pipe in the city. I on the other hand, was here wallowing...again. Yesterday when my friends tried to cheer me up, it honestly just reminded me of Piper. Being away from them for a while was healthy.

"I said-

"I heard you." I interrupt, thinking it sounded rude as soon as I said it.

"Then why'd you say 'huh'?" Half-pipe dude asks with a wider smile. It wasn't bitter, but rather teasing.

"I- huh...I don't know. I guess you just caught me off guard." I say lamely.

"So why the long face?" he asks, sitting next to me on the bench. 

"Er, no offense, but why do you even care?" I ask hesitantly. Come on, I don't  even know this guy.

"How is that not offensive?" Half-pipe dude asks, his features hardening. Gulping, I pull out the jazz hands and blink rapidly. But before I can defend myself, he laughs like crazy and I glare playfully.

"You scared me there for a second. I thought you were offended!" I cry, shoving him lightly.

"Sorry." He offers, but it was anything but apologetic. "But I care because Darrin Woods, I think that was his name, pointed me here. He said his hot friend, Skye, was depressed and a guy would cheer her up. His words, not mine." He explains, shrugging. I mentally shake my head. Leave it to Darrin to purposely piss me off.

"Damn, he would do that. Damn you Darrin! My name's not Skye by the way, it's Skylar." I correct. He just smiles in response.

"So you gonna tell me or what?" He asks. I sigh. He doesn't look like he's going anywhere anytime soon so I guess I might as well tell him.

"Well, my best friend just moved away to Ohio. I just miss her like crazy and it hurts that I won't see her anymore." I admit, sighing again now I'm thinking about it again.

"Oh, that sucks. Ohio's a ways away from Michigan. I think I know why your boyfriend told me to talk to you then." He says with a chuckle. I raise an eyebrow. What's funny about my distress? Half-pipe dude, while attractive, wasn't doing so hot personality wise. And hold up. Did he just call Darrin my-

"Darrin is not my boyfriend." I make clear up front. God it was gross to even think about.

"That's a relief. But I think he told me to talk to you because see, my friend just moved away too. I guess Darrin just wanted you to talk to someone who was going through the same thing." He explains, making me like him a bit more again. At least Darrin knew how to pick a guy.

"That sucks. When did he move away?" I ask, feeling more like talking now.

"About three weeks ago. Feels like a year though if I'm being honest. Florida is days away from Michigan and I haven't even spoken to Dom since he left." He says, looking off into space. Something akin to guilt crossing through his ocean-blue eyes.

"I feel ya. Piper's only been gone for two days but it feels like forever. I usually don't go a day without at least seeing her face even if I don't talk to her." I say. We sit in complete silence the next few minutes, contemplating how we'll deal with it I assume.

"So, I know this is kind of random, but you are single, right? I mean, I'm just checking." He says goofily. I smile a little brighter and let out a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm single."

"Cool. I'm not."

"Wait, what?!"

He laughed again, causing me to push him. That wasn't even a funny joke. Half-pipe dude was a jerk wad. His blue, no his beautiful blue eyes were glistening from a mixture of his laughter and the sun. I made a mental note to thank Darrin later.

"Man Darrin wasn't lying." He says all of a sudden. Confused, I cock my head to the side.

"You're hot." He states bluntly. I give him a poker face before shoving him playfully. Stupid Darrin. Well, maybe smart Darrin. Talking me up to this cute of a guy was a gift.

"That is utterly disrespectful."

"Sorry milady. Thou art the most beautiful goddess like woman I have ever approached." He says in a mock terrible British accent. I roll my eyes. Great. He was doing so well too! He just had to be a lame cheeseball.

...

"Can we pretend that never happened?" He asks not meeting my gaze. I laugh. Okay, as long as he can acknowledge it was lame, I'm cool with it.

"Consider it forgotten." I offer. He smiles gratefully and gets up. I follow and we kind of just stare at each other for a second before we both move at the same time to leave. Unfortunately, we both had the same intentions and ended up bumping into each other. My nose kind of burned for a second and I realized it was because it made direct contact with his chest and I widened my eyes. Half-pipe dude wasn't fucking around. He probably came here regularly and I just hadn't noticed because his helmet was always on. That chest was pretty solid, hinting at routine working out and skating.

"You okay?" he asks amusedly as I stared at his chest.

"Oh I'm perfectly okay. My nose? Now that's another story." I say accusingly, rubbing it gently.

"I can fix that. Uh, maybe at least." he says with slight guilt lacing his tone.

"Huh?" I ask. He rolls his eyes playfully and pecks my nose lightly before strapping his helmet on and hopping onto his board, waving goodbye. I smile at the gesture and watch him roll away. Suddenly, he turns around again.

"Later Skye. And fyi, it's not attractive to pretend like you don't hear what's said the first time." He calls with a wink. That wink was pretty cute, but that's not what completely caught my attention.

"It's not Skye! It's SKYLAR!" I shout. He just gives me a peace sign and rolls on.

It wasn't until that moment that I remembered that Piper had indeed moved away. Half-pipe dude had actually gotten me to stop thinking about her absence. Guess I'd have to buy Darrin a Monster now for his 'gift'.