It Only Takes a Minute

Chapter 5

Owen was laughing so hard that he was bending over and resting his hands on his knees. Claire was looking at him not amused at all, was he for real...laughing at her...like that? He couldn't even try be supportive and understand where she was coming from? After all, she was doing this for him. She was terrified to say the least, not that she didn't trust him. It's just that for what she'd seen, it looked dangerous.

"Why do you have to be so extra about these things?" He managed to wonder throughout his laughter.

"What?" She raised her arms which were not even visible under those elbow and wrist pads she was wearing.

He couldn't even see her eyes or those adorable bangs with that thick helmet she had on her head. The braids he had fixed in her hair were poking out and resting over her shoulders. "It's just—" He wanted to say 'too much'; she wasn't falling from a ten story building, after all. He wouldn't let her fall all together, either.

"Just what?" She rested her hands on her hips. She was also wearing long knee pads.

"You look adorable." Owen gave up, and just let her be. She truly did look cute, it was clear she had never done this before but he liked the confidence she radiated and how determined she was to step on that skateboard and master it.

Many of the guys at the skatepark were amusingly observing them. They were interested to see how that redhead who seemed to have been swallowed by the gear would survive her first skating lesson.

Owen wasn't going to push her and demand for her to do a tre flip the moment she set her left foot on the skateboard either. He knew this would take some patience.

She had mentioned how skateboarding used to be a very popular thing back in the day and she had always been curious about standing on one, ride it for a little while, and just know how it felt. So here he was, taking advantage of the little skatepark that had triggered that conversation.

They had seen a group of teens riding their skateboard through the park, passing them by while they finished their Mt. Sibo dessert. Claire had asked for them to follow, and so they did. They all were heading to the back where a very open area had a place for them all to ride their boards, skates, and even bikes.

Owen was not a skate expert, but just like any kid in the nineties, he had rode one around for a while. He wasn't looking to impress the freckled beauty by riding through the bump track, but instead wanted her to experience that little bit of adrenaline she said she couldn't back then.  They both had rented a skateboard each and some gear for her.

He slowly helped her bent her knees to the right angle once she was standing on the skateboard and had her practice how to step off and on of it a few times until she felt comfortable doing so.

Claire giggled while doing this, the first few times feeling how the skateboard would start rolling which made her a little nervous. He was next to her doing the same exercise and just holding tight onto her every time Claire would reach out and grasp his shoulder.

Once she had that down, they decided she was ready to push the skateboard around for a little while. Once again, he helped her bent her front foot knee to the right angle and once she was ready, he walked by her side while she started to push with her back foot.

"Owen~!" She called out a little nervous once he asked her to step on the skateboard with both feet.

At first she struggled with the balance, feeling the board moving sideways but she was a fast learner and soon she was pushing herself around and stepping on the skateboard with both feet on her own.

"I think you are ready for the slide." He smiled.

"What!? No...no...no...no." She shook her head.