Flying Solo » Nash Grier || au *ON HOLD*

Chapter 2

Nash

A goofy grin appears on my face when I see the last Captain America comic book sitting on the dusty display rack at the front of the bookstore. I tuck my skateboard under my arm as I eagerly reach out to grab it.

"Finally," I whisper to myself.

I start flipping through the pages as I make my way up to the counter where the cashier is busy typing away on her phone. She must be new I assume by her fresh yet unenthusiastic appearance. Her name tag says Stella. I place the book down on the counter along with some cool looking keychain I found at the front of the store. She smiles down at her phone before shoving it into her pocket to look up at me with a very unappealing face.

She then snatches both items and scans each barcode for the price.

"That'll be $5.98," she mumbles.

I pull out a crumpled ten dollar bill from my pocket and hand it to her. She takes it from me and puts it in the cash register and then hands me my change and a receipt along with the bag she's just shoved all my stuff into.

"Thanks," I say to her with an eye roll which she sends me right back.

"Whatever," she sighs.

I huff and walk towards the front of the store again. I pull open one of the large glass doors and step outside, breathing in the summer evening air. I place my skateboard down on the sidewalk and get on it, making my way down the street as fast as I can.

I'm determined to get home before 7 pm but when I check the time on my watch, it's way past 7.

It's 7:23 pm.

Ah, shit.

My mom will be pissed at me again since I've been spending most of my allowance on comic books.

It's become a daily routine for me during the summer actually.

I wake up, eat cereal, play some lame video games, complete whatever chores she brays behind me to do, ride over to the book store on my skate board, buy a comic book, come back home, eat dinner, read another comic book, and then fall asleep at one or two in the morning.

That's what my daily summer routine consists of. It may sound boring to most people but that's because it is really boring and I have nothing else to do while I'm at home. I have no life and it actually hurts.

I've always wanted to go and do something adventurous, something that I've never done before. After all, I do live in New York City but not Manhattan, with all the skyscrapers and bright lights and such.

I live in the large borough of Queens and honestly I don't enjoy it very much. There's not much to do here in Flushing, a large neighborhood located in the north central part of Queens, especially with no friends.

Maybe there are things to do; it's just that I have to make a few friends before finding something that interests me. But once I'm finished with high school, I'll move to Los Angeles and go to college over there and I'll finally be far from away from this place. I sigh in relief at the thought of my dreamt future.

I shake my head as I look back down at my watch to check the time again.

7:31, it reads.

I'm almost home, just a few minutes left.

I make a sharp turn onto 28th Avenue, increasing my speed as my house comes into view. My skate board seems to be gliding smoothly against the pavement as I'm about to cross over onto the other side of the street. But part of the sidewalk has a huge crack making it uneven and causing me to trip over and crash into someone who I didn't see standing there. Before I realize what's happening I'm lying on the grass along with this stranger.