please ☼ diego v

forty nine: real life

"are you sure it's here?" rose asked, looking around at the sketchy alleyway.

"he texted me that address," i said, getting the messages out.

"hold on my phones ringing," thomas shushed us. "hello?" he walked away.

"yeah, this is what he texted me," i turned my phone so they could look for themselves.

"sorry," thomas came back. "chief called; he said this ain't it."

rose and i laughed. diego rolled his eyes.

"i'm not trying to die here?" diego said. "can we find out where we're going?"

"yo!" a voice shouted at us.

"roy!" thomas and diego shouted at the same time.

walking towards us, in a bright outfit that looked very out of place, was roy purdy himself.

"we're across the the street!" he said, after he got closer.

we all turned to our right, and lone behold, the skate park was right there. roy started to lead the way way across the street.

"have you ever skated before?" he asked us.

"yeah," thomas and diego said simultaneously.

"can't relate," rose laughed.

"yeah, me too. i've never even stepped on a skateboard in my life," i said.

"well, that's disappointing. it's so much fun! i'll start you guys off easy. diego, thomas, you guys help them learn the basics. i'll be here for moral support."

roy handed us skateboards, and thomas and diego brought their own. we all went to an unoccupied area of the park, and they helped us.

"stand on it like this," they'd say.
we stand on it.
we'd fall off.

"put your feet like this," they'd say.
we put our feet the way they said.
we'd fall off.

"propel yourself like this," they'd say.
we'd propel ourselves the way they said.
we'd fall off.

"move like this," they'd say.
we'd mirror their actions.
we'd fall off.

"you know what? i'm starting to think skateboarding isn't my thing," rose sighed.

"you're just not listening," thomas rolled his eyes.

"we do the exact same thing as you!" i said.

"maybe it's your balance," diego shrugged.

"if anyone has bad balance, it's you two," roy chimed in. "here," he put a different skateboard down in front of rose and me. "try this one."

"i don't think it'll do anything," thomas laughed.

i stepped on it and felt electricity flow through my body.

i'm just kidding.

it felt the same, wrong.

until i started propelling myself. i was actually doing it!

and then i fell into the grass.

"you did it!" diego shouted, running after me with a big smile.

"and now i have grass stains!" i rolled my eyes.

"besides the point," rose said, jogging after me.

"she rode it!" thomas shouted, walking over.

"oh, did she ride it?" rose laughed.

"she rode it well," diego said, innocently. we all laughed at his misunderstanding.

"oh, my innocent baby," i smiled. he pouted and opened his arms. i took them and hugged him. i heard a camera click. we let go.

"hey!" i laughed.

"what? i'm getting good moments!" thomas smiled.

"mhm," i hummed, taking in the moment.

"anyways," rose started. "you have to get me to skate before we leave."

"i'll help," thomas smiled.

diego and i sat down at a bench and watched the two. rose got on the skateboard and stood there. thomas took her hands, made sure she was stable, and then walked her down the sidewalk. she looked scared for her life, but he assured her it would be okay.

when she finally got the concept down, he let her go by herself. she did it without falling and instantly celebrated. diego and i got up off of the bench and clapped her hands.

"now we can all go together!" thomas smiled.

"we'll see about that," i looked to rose. roy walked over to us.

"i think this is where i step in," he said. "i'm going to push your limits."

"oh," rose looked at me, scared.

"i want you to skate all the way to me," he said, jogging back far away.

"we'll be right behind you," diego said, walking behind me. thomas went behind rose.

"and it's a race!" roy shouted, after he stopped jogging.

"oh it's on," i squinted at rose.

"son, you'll be crying when i'm done!" rose said.

"bet?" diego chimed in.

"on three you go! one! two! three!" roy shouted.

i took off, and rose followed. diego and thomas were behind us, staring each other down while shouting things at rose and me.

"yeah, ev! you got this!" diego shouted. i went faster.

"rose you're going to win this!" thomas shouted. rose went faster.

i felt diego push gently on my back, speeding me up. i kicked one last time and won the race.

"hey!" thomas shouted. "illegal!"

"no it wasn't!" diego smiled. "he never said anything about pushing."

"that's right, evelyn and diego won!" he laughed.

"the otp will rise," diego shoved thomas's shoulder.

"hmph," he crossed his arms.

"c'mon, let's go get pizza from the boardwalk," i rolled my eyes at the guys.

"yeah! we can skate by the docks," rose said.

"alright, get an uber," thomas said, walking towards the park.

"on it," diego opened his phone, following thomas.

i watched the boys and then looked at rose, who was staring at thomas.

"close your mouth, rose," i laughed, walking away.

"hey!" she shouted, catching up to me. we sat down on the swings next to diego and thomas, swinging back and forth as we waited for the uber.

i watched diego look around. he was so beautiful.

i never want to leave.