Skate Rink

Image by The Real Estreya via Flickr

“Who else is coming?” Bren asked, tapping his shoes to the rhythm of the song on the car radio.

“Michelle at least,” Ethan said. “And Hannah and Ashlee and David, I think. Michelle said she was bringing a friend.”

“That's a nice group,” Bren said, getting out of Ethan's car.

He was getting better at keeping his eyes above the neck as the weather grew warmer. The additional inches he'd grown since last year might have helped. Although, they didn't help at all when it came to looking down at girls and accidentally glancing down their shirts...

But! He was getting better at that, too. Standing a safe distance away, keeping his eyes on their eyes, and actually paying attention to what they said tended to help. It took some effort, but he was getting better at it.

Still, he found himself wishing it was fall and winter again. He was notified by the quick glance-and-look-away's he was receiving from the girls there that he probably had a scowl on. He checked his expression back into a pleasant one, was distracted by a girl in very short shorts and a low-cut top, and yanked his eyes back to the entrance of the skate rink.

“Geez, Bren,” he muttered in annoyance under his breath. “Horny much?”

Ethan didn't notice – he was not-so-subtly looking over a group of girls leaning against the wall near the door. They nudged each other and smiled. Ethan smiled back. Bren smiled vaguely in their direction, then elbowed Ethan in the door when it looked like he was going to stop and talk.

“One ticket and rollerblade rental,” Bren told the man behind the counter.

A few minutes later, they ran into the rest of the group near the back of the row of lockers. Ethan greeted Michelle with enthusiasm – much more enthusiasm, Bren noted with relief, than the girls outside the door. There were more people than Ethan had thought. Nikki was there, too, and Brittany. Some other people he didn't recognize were talking with the others; he assumed they were from Stenson.

* * *

“Look, Michelle,” April said, eyes closed. “My head kills. I don't think I should go.”

“Your head always kills,” Michelle said suspiciously, standing over April's bed with her hands on her hips. “I don't think you want to go.”

“No, seriously. I just took some Tylenol, like, an hour ago, and my head feels like it's going to pound out of my brain. I mean, wait.”

She paused, confused.

“You have that backwards,” Michelle sighed. “Here, take some Motrin. You're probably just dehydrated. You have to come! I invited Chris and Chloe, too. They don't know anyone else.”

“They know you,” April pointed out, eyes still closed.

“Yeah, but...”

“You want to hang out with Ethan,” April moaned. “Fine. Get me a bottle of water. But if you say one word about Bren, I will punch you. In the face.”

“Got it,” April said quietly. “I'll get you water. Go put on something cute.”

“This is cute enough,” April said, not moving.

Michelle took in the holey jeans and tee-shirt.

“At least put on those cute appliqued shorts we got at AE.”

“Fine.”

Not long after, they were at the skate rink, meeting up with everyone except Ethan and Bren, who hadn't arrived yet. Her head was starting to feel better, so she didn't have a hard time making conversation with the two people from Stenson that the others didn't know.

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Inspiration: A smaller section of a larger story in the works. I wanted to see how this Zemanta thing worked, mainly, but I hope you enjoyed the window into April's world. You know you love the snazzy skate photo Z found. *grin*