body copy (a.g.)

= Chapter Ten =

= Chapter Ten =

I don't know why seeing Skateboard Boy surprises me, it just does. I guess he's always been this intriguing enigma of a person ever since he handed me that flyer in the art media centre. I'll admit it, I haven't really been able to forget him ever since that happened. He's been half real and half dreamlike in my head ever since that whole little exchange happened, you know, like the shows you watch on TV when you're laid up in bed with fever. The whole thing is just one of those events that's vivid in my head for no discernable reason.

Now that I think about it, after the whole incident in Hampden, I guess I could even go so far as to say that Skateboard Boy almost got me and Melanie arrested, but that would probably be unfair. We were the idiots who actually went down there and attempted to sneak into a bar underage with fake I.D.s- it's not like he told us to do it or something. In fact, I don't think we spoke ten words between the two of us during the whole time we were in the media centre together.

Cassadee moves to sit on the floor in front of the couch, nestling herself in between Rian's knees. He never looks away from the TV or puts down the controller in his hands, but it's not lost on me when he knocks his knee against her shoulder affectionately.

Unsure of myself, I sit on the floor too, shyly plopping down next to a huge easy chair that's currently being occupied by a guy that's ridiculously tall and even more ridiculously handsome. There's a half-eaten cheese pizza in an open box on the floor a few feet away from me, and I pluck up a slice for myself. I haven't eaten in a while, and I'm a little hungry.

I watch for a while as the boys play videogames and give each other a hard time, all of them cussing pretty loudly when something bad happens to them in whatever game they're playing. Nobody pays much mind to me, but it's no big deal. I like playing the wallflower every once in a while- it gives me an opportunity to observe without seeming weird.

Even though I'm trying not to be a creep, I can't help but glance over at Skateboard Boy every once in a while. It's just so strange to see him like this, all normal and casual or whatever. Like I said before, he's always been some half-real person to me, at least up until this point, and it's unsettling to see him not doing things like printing up mysterious flyers and handing them out to people he doesn't know. And it doesn't help that he isn't exactly ugly...

Imagine my surprise when after about my fourth glance this way, I find that he's already looking at me.

I flinch in surprise initially, ashamed that I've been caught. But Skateboard Boy doesn't look pissed off or creeped out or anything even remotely close to that; he just looks sort of... curious. He isn't playing the videogame anymore, the PlayStation controller now replaced by what looks like just a regular can of Coke. He's looking at me like he's trying to figure something out, almost like he's trying to remember who I am. I hold his stare, fighting the urge to look away or blush or both.

Wait, shit... Does he remember me?

"I think I know you from somewhere," he declares, never once breaking eye contact with me.

Across the room, one of the much less sober guys in the bunch snorts loudly and throws a shit-eating grin at Skateboard Boy. "Alex, that's the lamest fucking pickup line I've ever heard." His words are slurred, and he looks pleased with himself.

I make a mental note: Skateboard Boy = Alex.

"I'm not fucking hitting on her," Skateboard Boy retorts, rolling his eyes at the guy who just spoke to him. He looks at me again, biting his lip a little. "I seriously think I know her."