Joba hasnt ever actually gotten to know Matt properly before. He knows that Matt exists, sure. He has some classes with him, and he's heard of him through Kevin, who tells their table at lunch about the cool tracks he makes with Matt. Joba's made music with Kevin, too, at his house, but he's never really had that spark with Matt anytime he's been there. So, they're just casual friends. Acquaintances.
Joba hasn't talked that much to Matt alone before now, but they're the only ones at the skate park tonight. It's almost 1 in the morning, and Joba just came out to smoke for a little. He watches Matt miss a trick he's been trying to do all night, and it doesn't look good. His board slips away, wrecking what would have been the rest of the trick, and he falls right onto his knee. The fact that he's wearing shorts doesn't help and Joba watches him for a good minute while he rolls around on the floor. It's quiet, so he can hear each and every curse word Matt's spitting.
Finally, Matt gets up, grabs his board and angrily heads back towards the parking lot. As he walks by a street light, Joba can see that he's busted his knee open pretty badly. He's worried about Matt now, not knowing how far away he lives, and if he's got a car or if he has to walk home with a fucked up knee.
He doesn't give it a second thought and calls out, "You need some help with that?"
Matt stops and takes some time to register where the voice came from. He spots Joba, but doesn't recognize him in the dark. The taller boy makes his way over to him, and in the light, Matt realizes who it is.
"...Hey, Joba," Matt greets him, his confused expression replaced with a small smile. "Since when have you been here?"
"Just came out to smoke," Joba says, raising his right hand to show the remainder of his cigarette. "I have a first-aid kit in my car, if you need it. That looks pretty fucked up." He motions at Matt's busted knee.
Matt seems to appreciate the gesture, and the awkward tension diminishes a little. He meekly scratches at his skateboard with his finger and shuffles his foot. "Sure, thanks."
It takes a minute for them to get to Joba's car. He pulls the keys out of his pocket to unlock it, and the rear lights blink. He opens the trunk straightaway, and begins searching for the first-aid kit. Before he can tell Matt to sit down, the boy was already perched next to him in the trunk, his legs hanging out of the back. As Joba pulls his head out of the trunk, flipping the first-aid kit open with one hand, he takes his cigarette from his mouth with his other.
He hands it to Matt, shrugging and saying, "Hold this for a second? You can finish it if you want."
"Thanks, man." Matt says, taking a drag from the cigarette right away.
Joba pulls a large bandaid from a bag in the kit, and locates anything else he needs. This isn't that big an injury, but he wants to make sure it's protected in case Matt falls back on it again on his way home. He seems pretty clumsy on his board.
"Get out your, like, phone flashlight or something. I can barely see anything." Joba brings his attention back to Matt's knee while Matt holds the light for him. He has a paper towel to clean it up, and since he doesn't have antiseptic, a little water will have to do. He makes sure to catch it with the paper towel before it gets on Matt's shoes.
Joba dabs the soaked paper towel over the scrape, making sure nothing got stuck in it on impact. He hears a little hiss from Matt while he's going over it, which makes him laugh a little. "Is it that bad?"
"Not funny, dude. A man almost lost his life," Matt snorts, tapping the cigarette against his finger to get rid of the built up ashes. "No, seriously. Kinda hurts."
Joba knows it's not that bad; it's not a deep cut or anything requiring serious medical attention. To be honest, Matt could've done this himself at home, but Joba just wanted the opportunity to take care of this for him. He doesn't really have the courage to ask Matt to hang out on their own, so he's gotta take what he can get, right? This is the closest he'll come to hanging out with Matt, and he's sure of that. He's just scared of being annoying if he were to ask to hang out.
Joba places a large band-aid on Matt's knee, after what feels like a good ten minutes. It's probably only been five, but he's overthinking it. While Joba's stuffing everything he used back into the first-aid kit, he spots a sharpie in the messy trunk of his car. He quickly grabs it and kneels down in front of Matt.
"Hold on, I wanna do something." He explains. Steadying Matt's leg with his left hand, he quickly draws a simple flower in the center of his bandaid. It's the type of flower all little kids draw, a small circle with five petals around it.
Matt hops down from his seat in the trunk and tosses his now finished cigarette to the ground. He leans over and raises his leg, inspecting the inked flower.
"Nice. I like this little flower, dude, thanks!" He collects his board from the trunk, and reaches up to close it.
"Do you need a ride home? I'm, uh, leaving anyway. You live close to Kevin, right? I could drop you off." Joba says, trying not to sound too eager.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Matt replies, placing his board back into the car. He walks over to the passenger side, and Joba shuts the trunk before going to the drivers' side.
As the car starts up, Joba's already thinking about how weird this must be for Matt. They barely know eachother, and he just patched his knee up, drew a fucking flower on him, and now he's giving him a ride home. What the fuck? He pulls himself out of it, though, because he's gotta drive.
"Oh, um, you can just drop me off at Kevin's house. I live, like, half a block away," says Matt.
"Alright."
They don't talk much, Joba focusing on the road. He's pretending to concentrate more intensely than he actually is because he's scared to start a conversation. It's only when they're almost to Kevin's house that Matt finds Tyler, the Creator's Cherry Bomb among some trash in the side door pocket, and finally pipes up.
"Yo, you listen to Tyler? Dude, this is, like, my favorite album. It goes so hard." Joba finds it cute how Matt's eyes light up at the CD in his hand. He looks at him for a split second and has to bite back a little smile.
"Kevin left that here. I haven't listened yet," Joba shrugs, still smiling softly
"Oh, dude. You gotta. It's so good. You better have it memorized by next Monday. I'll be checking up on you." Matt jokes. "We can listen together at lunch, if you want." He finishes his sentence just as they pull up to Kevin's house.
"Yeah, sure. We can do that," Joba nods to Matt as he gets out.
"Remember, though. Lunch's at 1. We can sit in, like, the library or something. Bring headphones," Matt grins a little at Joba, who seemingly has no choice but to smile back. "Thanks for the ride. And for the flower. I'll see ya!"
"Yeah. Monday," Joba says, a little too late, as Matt's already left to grab his board. He hears the trunk close, and when the rough sound of Matt's wheels distance a little, he pulls back on to the road and begins heading home.
Monday. Lunch. At 1. Could that count as a date? He shakes that thought out of his head. Matt probably doesn't mean for it to be like that. Either way though, Joba's just glad he'll get to hang out with the boy he seems to have developed a fat crush on.
