Forget You

California

***I guess saying that I was gonna do more consistent updates right before holiday was a bad idea, sorry guys! Here's a double update to make up for it :)

I was allowed to go back and the next night, Enrique was there to give me a ride to the airport and give me my ticket.

"Do I get my knife back?" I asked.

"They won't let you take it on the plane with you," He said.

I sighed and then left with my few bags of things.

California weather was so nice. It was so warm and I loved being by the ocean. I was out in the water at least once every day. This time my job was at an electronic store and my job was to show people how to work the devices. It was a fairly simple job, but it was nice.

I tried to go back to my old ways of going out to clubs at nights and picking up guys for the night and then leaving them before they woke up, but with less money to spend, I didn't go out so often. I was falling back into a normal lifestyle quickly and was happy and felt like it was going to last long. I was even tempted to try to get an actual boyfriend and do something serious. I was 20 now and that means in a few years I might be wanting to settle down with someone. It's best that I start looking now.

I've had plenty of people who have shown interest in me, especially my coworker, Cody. He isn't shy about letting me know that he wants to go out with me, and I am not shy about denying him. Sure, he's attractive and nice, but he's not my kind of person. He lacks adventure. His version of excitement is watching people do the activities instead of participating in them. I have yet to explain to him that I would rather be the one racing the car than cheering them on.

That's why I have taken more of an interest in Cody's friend, Shane. Shane doesn't work with us, but he's always stopping by the store to try to convince Cody to go do something with him, to which Cody always say 'I'll watch you do it', and then Shane rolls his eyes, mutters about Cody missing out, and then leaves.

I like Shane, but from what Cody has told me about him, Shane doesn't think that a girl can do all the things that he does. Which makes me want to do it even more. It's just like with the gangs, where they don't let girls in because they are all sexist and are making excuses. So I told Cody to agree to Shane's idea and then I would go along.

So that's how my plans went for Saturday. Shane wasn't too excited when I showed up.

"Who is this?" He asked Cody.

"I'm Scout," I introduced myself.

"Since when have you had a girlfriend?" Shane asked Cody.

"She's not my girlfriend. She works with me," Cody said.

"So what is she doing here?"

"I've come to do something worthwhile," I said. "I've been so bored lately that I have considered going with Cody to watch people surf."

Shane couldn't help but laugh. "But why would you try to come here?"

"Because you are always asking Cody to do these things with you, but you are always denied so I thought that I would take his place."

"And what makes you think that I would let you?" Shane stood tall, looking down at me, trying to bring me down to the level that he thought that I should be on.

As if I was going to let him do that to me. "I thought that you might need a challenge."

This was perfect for me. We were at an outdoor range to do trick shots with guns and knives. My kind of party.

Shane now burst out laughing. "You? A challenge for me?"

"Scout, you're overestimating yourself," Cody said.

"I wouldn't say that," I said.

"Fine," Shane said. "If you prove to be more than what I think, I will bring you along to my other projects and stuff."

"And if you are right about me then...?"

"Then you owe me a fun night."

"I will not get down with you. Keep dreaming. If you're right, then I will go on a date with you...and you'll have to wait and see what happens after."

"Deal. But we have to wait a little while yet 'cause I'm waiting for a friend to arrive."

"What friend?" Cody asked. "Oh, is it that one from Scotland?"

"Britain, but yeah. It's only about once a year I get to see him and of course we're going to be doing this. He needs to show me more."

"Okay, well I'm going to head out before you shoot me or something," Cody said. "See you at work, Scout."

"See ya," I said.

As Cody drove away, someone else drove up and parked in front of us and out stepped one of the last people I expected and wanted to see, Nate.

"Hey!" Shane said and greeted Nate. "We need to have these visits more frequently."

"I agree," Nate said. "But I still don't think that that would help you do any better than me."

"Well sorry that I don't kill people for a living."

They both laughed.

"Oh, and by the way, this is Scout," Shane motioned to me. "She's joining us today for a challenge to me, though we both know that it won't be much of a challenge."

We both stared at each other for a moment before I shook Nate's hand and said, "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

Before Nate could say anything, I walked towards our choices for weapons.

"What are we starting with?" I asked.

"Gun," Shane answered, completely oblivious to the tension between me and Nate. "We start with a gun and end with a knife."

"Perfect," I said.

We each selected a gun and stood facing a target. Nate shot and got a bulls-eye, Shane was about an inch off-center, and when it was my turn, Shane told me that I was supposed to try to hit the target. So I did, right over Nate's mark so you couldn't tell that there were two there. Shane stood in shock.

"What the hell do you do for a living?" He asked me.

"I just work with Cody," I answered.

We continued with the guns, trying different tricks like shooting through a hoop and hitting a target and things like that. When half the afternoon was over, we switched to knives where I could really out-do both of them. Shane could barely believe it.

"Okay, seriously, where have you been before coming here?" Shane asked me as he drove me back to my apartment.

"Let's just say that I've been around," I answered.

Shane shook his head. "I guess I will be seeing you next weekend for something else exciting."

"What will it be?"

"I was thinking rock climbing in Nevada."

"Nevada? I can't afford a trip to Nevada."

"It's all paid for, don't worry about it."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I work at a recreational park where they have all these activities, like a shooting range or rock climbing, but it's all fake and cheesy, but I just help people with doing them safely and it pays pretty well, better than I thought it would."

I nodded and we arrived at my place. I thanked him for the ride and then got out.