The next day, Paige grabs his phone after he’s finished putting on a bright blue hoodie and a normal pair of jeans. He opens the group chat he, Bro and Brandon shared and types in a message.
paige: So when do we leave?
Brandon adds on almost immediately.
branflakes: ya
branflakes: nd how r we getting there
branflakes: piper normally picks us up from ur place so shld we come over
It takes a moment, but eventually Bro responds.
brobart: nah
brobart: we;ll come get u guys
brobart: since ur so close tgthr
Paige squints at what Bro said, confused a bit. “T… tuhguhth…” he mumbles, ending in a gasp. “OH! Together!”
paige: Oh okay! See you soon!
brobart: ya
brobart: we’ ll be there soon
Paige nods and switches to his texts with just Brandon.
paige: I’ll come over now then, okay?
branflakes: ya sure ill tell mom
With that, Paige pockets his phone and grabs one of his small bookbags, different from his school bookbag. This one was a nice dark blue and beige. It was one of Paige’s more liked outdoorsy bags that he owned. He brought it whenever he went out somewhere that wasn’t school.
He packs his things and hops downstairs to where his mom is eating a snack. “Mom! I’m heading off to Brandon’s so we can hang out with Kevin!”
“Oh?” Quinn asks. “Kevin from when you were younger?”
“Yeah! We’re gonna catch up a bit!”
“Oh, alright, sweetie!” Quinn waves. “Have fun!”
“I will! Bye Mom!”
Paige makes his way out of the house and to Brandon’s, humming a tune. “Hotdog, french fries…” he mumbles happily.
It’s not long until he’s knocking on the front door of the Aguja household once more. Footsteps soon sound on the other side of the door and it swings open.
“We’re off, Ma!” Brandon calls.
“Okay!” Carmen calls out. “Hi Paige!” she adds on.
“Hi Aunt Carmen!” Paige shouts back. “Have a nice day!”
“I will!” she chuckles.
Brandon pushes himself out the door and closes it behind himself. He’s got a colorblock t-shirt and shorts on and a drawstring bag on his back. “Hey dude!” he smiles. “We can wait here since Bart probably put my address in.”
Ting! Ting!
Both teenager’s phones ping at the same time. They blink at each other before checking their phones.
brobart: we’re almst thre
brobart: ull kno its us whn u see us :p
“Speak of the devil,” Brandon chuckles.
“Know us when you see us?” Paige reads aloud. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Dunno,” Brandon shrugs, looking up the road. “Maybe they have a cool car or something.”
“Maybe…” Paige mumbles, putting a finger to his chin.
There’s a honk that can only be described as… elegant that rings out from behind them shortly after. Both teens turn towards the sound, gasping.
“Oh my god,” Brandon says.
The window of the vehicle rolls down, showing a snazzed out Kevin wearing sunglasses and a smirk on his face. “Heyo!” he greets. “Get in, nerds!” He opens the door. Inside is Piper, Bro, and a third person who’s scrunched up in the corner.
“Oh my gosh,” Paige mumbles.
“Is this,” Brandon starts, awestruck, “A fucking limo?”
“Woah, dude!” Kevin laughs. “I didn’t know you swore!”
“You just rolled up and told us to climb into a fucking limosuine, Kevin.”
“And?” Kevin looks confused. “Dude, did you think I was kidding when I told you I was rich all those times?”
“YES?” Brandon says, finally climbing into the car. Paige follows behind and Bro closes the door behind them. “I can’t believe this. I really cannot believe this.”
“Well then, surprise!” Kevin laughs. “Collins, we’re goin’ to the skatepark now!”
“On it, boss!” a voice from up front calls. The car pulls off right after.
Paige blinks wide-eyed. He’d never seen the inside of a limo before. Now that he’s in the thing proper though, he can see the person from earlier up close across from him. They looked kind of familiar…
“Oh!” Paige gasps. “You’re Sebastian, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Sebastian scoffs. “And you’re one of Kevin’s rowdy friends, aren’t you?”
“I… I don’t think I’m that rowdy…” Paige murmurs, put out.
“Oh, ignore Seb,” Kevin waves. “He’s just all upset ‘cause he wanted to drive around and I needed the limo at the same time.”
“I told you I was going on my weekend drive!” Sebastian trills.
“And I told you that we’re just goin’ to the skatepark, nark,” Kevin says, sticking out his tongue. “Besides, you get some company this way! Some good as hell company, might I add!”
“Aww!” Brandon coos. “You really think so?”
“Hell yea, I do!” Kevin grins. “Me and Paige used to be thick as thieves, and I know you’re cool, and Bro’s awesome, and Piper—”
“Is your little pogchamp?” Piper cuts in.
“Is my little pogchamp!” Kevin cackles, hitting Piper on their back. They also bark out a laugh.
“Ugh,” Sebastian scoffs again, rolling his eyes and turning away.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Kevin says.
“H-he’s just like th-is,” Bro nods.
“Oh… if you’re sure,” Paige frowns. “Sorry for interrupting your drive anyways, Sebastian.”
“Glad to see one of you brutes has some civility!” Sebastian humphs. “I appreciate it very much, citizen.”
“My name is Paige,” the teen introduces himself.
“I appreciate it very much, Paige,” Sebastian corrects, nodding towards him. “I’m going to bide my time now by looking out the window.”
“Oh, um… okay?”
“Okay indeed.” Sebastian turns away, doing exactly as he said he would.
Odd guy. But he seemed like he could be fun if you were nice to him? Maybe he should talk to him at school more…
The thought flies around Paige’s head as he stares at the other, conversation happening right next to him. The others are laughing up a storm and jerking and jabbing at each other, but Paige is stuck in his head.
At some point, Sebastian catches Paige’s eye and blinks. “Yes, Paige?” he asks, face furrowing after. “Wait. Paige?” he asks, looking at Paige with new eyes.
“I… yes?” Paige replies, confused.
“Oh my god,” he breathes. “Oh my god.”
“Sebastian?” Paige asks carefully.
The car comes to a stop. “We’re here, boss!” Collins calls.
“Thanks, king!” Kevin shouts, opening the door. “C’mon, guys, let’s leave Seb to his lovely afternoon drive,” he smirks. “Have a good one, Sebby!”
Sebastian has been in a deadlock stare with Paige since he seemed to realize who the other was.
“Paige!” Brandon yells from outside the limo, “Come on!”
“Coming!” Paige yells back before saying to Sebastian, “Um… it was nice to… meet you properly?”
“Eep.” is all he says.
“Eep…?” Paige blinks.
“Paige!” Brandon yells again.
“Um! See you later?” Paige tries one last time before getting up and climbing out of the limousine. Bro closes the door behind him and the car pulls off after.
“Y-ou okay?” Bro asks as they walk ahead, slowly following the other three. “Did S-eb say someth-ing wack?”
“More like he didn’t say anything at all…” Paige says. “But I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever actually talked to him before today, so?”
“Weird,” Bro shrugs. “H-he is j-ust kinda like that, th-ough.”
“If you say so,” Paige sighs. The two of them hurry and catch up with the rest of the group now, conversation over.
“...fine that you don’t have any gear,” Paige catches. “We sell stuff here now.” Kevin huffs with a smirk. “I told Mom it would be a good business venture. She actually fell for it too!” He throws his head back and laughs. “Things are cheap here. On purpose.”
“Power to the people!” Piper recites, pointing a finger gun upwards.
“Hell yeah,” Kevin cheers on. “But don't worry about paying. It’s cool if you just take stuff.”
Brandon grins. “Really?” he says, eyes wide and hopeful.
“Sure, man. Who cares?”
“Hell yes!” Brandon shouts, running ahead. “I want the coolest board you guys have!”
The rest of the group laughs heartily.
+++
“A-am I supposed to just… go?” Paige wobbles as he’s on the edge of a tall ramp.
Everyone had gotten some correctly sized protective gear and a board of their choosing. They’d then done the basics, how to stand on it, how to take off and stop and how to recover from a wipeout.
Now they stand on top of one of the bunny slopes. Paige is clutching his skateboard close to his chest, trembling a bit.
“Just go for it, man!” Kevin cheers. “You can do it! Remember what I taught you!”
Paige turns back to see the group all giving him thumbs ups. Brandon’s face is a bit worried, though.
“Be careful!” he says.
Paige turns back to the ramp. “I don’t know about this…” he mumbles. Still, he takes a deep breath and backs up a bit.
Now or never.
Paige rushes forward, plopping the board down in front of him and hopping on with acceleration.
The next couple of seconds happen in flashes.
First, Paige slips.
Then, the group of friends gasp.
Then…
Crack.
“Paige!” someone cries.
The wind is knocked out of him as he lands on the ground and rolls downwards a bit before stopping.
And then things become very bright very suddenly and Paige doesn’t know what’s up and what’s down.
Shade covers him and he blinks hard.
“Paige, oh my god. Paige!” Someone is yelling at him, shaking him. He wishes they wouldn’t. His head hurt…
“Don’t shake him, dude!” someone else shouts. “You’ll like, discombobulate him or something!”
“G-get the m-edics,” a third person says. “H-he might n-eed re-re-re-...” They groan. “He m-ight need CPR.”
“On it,” yet another person says, footsteps walking away after.
Ugh… His eyes start scrunching up. His head was spinning and sounds were too loud and people kept yelling…
“Don’t crowd,” Paige hears. Then, he’s being lifted up by the head. “You okay, son?”
“Oww…” Paige mumbles.
“Oh thank god, he’s awake.” …Brandon?
“Paige, buddy.” …Kevin? “You good?”
Paige cracks his eyes open again. All his friends are loosely surrounding him and there’s someone holding him up.
“I…” Paige groans. “What happened…?”
“You wiped out big time, dude,” Piper says. “It was scary.”
“It was beyond scary!” Brandon shouts. “Your helmet cracked in two!”
“Really…?” Paige asks.
“Yes!”
“Good thing I had it on then…” the teen sighs. “Sorry for messing up as soon as we got here…”
“Dude, I’m just happy you didn’t die,” Kevin says. “You wanna sit around for a while?”
“Yes please,” Paige nods very slightly, turning to the person helping him. “I think I can move on my own.”
“You sure, kid?” they ask.
“Yeah…” Paige stands and wobbles only a bit before giving a weak thumbs up. “Don’t wait up for me though, guys.”
“We’re not gonna go and have fun while you’re just sitting around!” Brandon pouts.
“Y-eah,” Bro nods. “We don’t mind chillin-g with y-you.”
“No, no,” Paige waves after he’s taken a seat on the nearby bench where they all left their bags. “Go skate. I’ll just sit here for a while, okay?”
“Are you sure?” Brandon asks, looking pensive. “Seriously, we can—”
“Goooo,” Paige drones, slumping in the seat. “I’ll watch from here. Maybe I can even learn a thing or two this way?”
“...Alright,” Brandon relents. “You better yell if you need anything, okay?”
“I will,” Paige promises.
The four friends all give each other one last look before walking a little ways off to steeper slopes. When they get there, Brandon seems to be a bit paralyzed, looking from the ramp to Paige and back again.
Even though he’s a bit far away, Paige raises a thumbs up high into the air. You’ll be fine, he pushes into the air. I’m just clumsy.
That seems to do the trick. With a nod at Paige, Brandon finally takes his running start and hops on his board. Unlike Paige, he lands on it and skates down the hill with ease, shouting and laughing all the way.
The mood shift must be palpable over there, because the others immediately line up for their turns. Good. Paige wanted them to have fun even if he couldn’t join right now.
With nothing else to do, Paige pulls out his phone. Most of his contact list was here, so he couldn’t text them. Sue was on a date or something, he thinks. Which, great for them! But it means he can’t text them either. He wouldn’t want to interrupt.
Once again Paige finds himself in OJ’s DM’s.
paige: Hello OJ!
paige: I bet youll never guess where I am right now.
paige: Or what happened!
Paige kicks his legs as he waits for a reply. He didn’t know what else to say.
Eventually typing bubbles form on OJ’s end. His texts were always so wordy but typed out so fast somehow. Paige absently wonders how he does it.
Then the text comes through.
squeezed to meet you: Hello, Paige! It’s nice to hear from you before Sunday. What have you gotten into today? Has something bad happened? Are you alright?
Paige smiles softly. He was worried about him… Count on a good friend like OJ to always want to be there for you.
paige: Guess :P
The response is immediate.
squeezed to meet you: I’m afraid I cannot, Paige. You’ve given me no context. You could have visited family in Jersey for all I know.
There’s another message after it.
squeezed to meet you: Though I know you can’t be doing that, as you have no family in Jersey. You would’ve told me by now if you did.
Paige laughs at the message. OJ was always such a card.
paige: That’s fair!
paige: Im at Kevins skatepark!
paige: He owns a skatepark BTW!
squeezed to meet you: Yes, I’m aware. The Sharp Skatepark is quite infamous for having cheap prices whilst pretending like they’re expensive. I think it’s something of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” sort of thing. Its history is actually quite interesting.
paige: Woah! I didnt know that!
squeezed to meet you: Would you like to know more? I have studied the park a bit in the past… But no one really likes listening to the history of a skatepark, you know?
paige: Well I want to!
squeezed to meet you: Really and truly?
paige: Yep!
With that, Paige gets comfortable while waiting for the wall of texts that he knows is about to be thrown his way.
For the rest of the afternoon, Paige texts with OJ. Then, at some point, they start a call.
“I thought this would be easier,” OJ says as Paige picks up the sudden call. “Shall I continue where I left off?”
“Yeah!” Paige says enthusiastically.
Their conversation switches to other things at some point, but Paige doesn’t really care what they’re talking about. Just hearing OJ’s voice is helping his head feel better, honestly.
“Yo Paige!” he hears and turns.
“Oh, hold on OJ, Paige says, pulling the phone down. “Hi guys!”
“We’re about ready to dip,” Piper says. “You good to go?”
“Oh, what time is it?”
“Check your phone, dummy,” Kevin says.
“Oh yeah,” Paige blinks, checking the time. “Oh my gosh.” He pulls the phone back to his face. “OJ, have we been talking for three hours?”
“It would appear so,” OJ replies. “Apologies if that’s… sorry if I talked too much.”
“No, it’s okay!” Paige says quickly. “I just didn’t realize so much time had passed!”
“Ah. Then shall I continue on the history of cherry blossoms in New York? Or must… do you have to go?”
“I think we’re leaving, yeah,” Paige says apologetically. “But we can still text! And we’ll see each other tomorrow, right?”
“Right,” OJ says, smile hearable. “Well then, talk to you again in a moment, Paige. I love…” OJ pauses. “I love having conversations with you. We must do this again soon.”
“Tomorrow!” Paige laughs.
“Yes, but also on the phone,” OJ explains.
“Oh, I see. Okay, yeah. That too.” Paige looks up to see Kevin on his own phone, probably calling Collins to come pick them up again. “I think I have to go now.”
“Ah, alright,” OJ says. “Farewell and goodbye, Paige.” The line shuts off.
Paige smiles at his phone. He remembers OJ always used to say that before getting off the phone in the past as well.
“You done, talking to your crush or whatever?” Kevin teases.
“Huh?” Paige blushes. “I—me and OJ are just friends?”
“OJ?” Kevin asks. “That one nerd?”
“He’s not…!” Paige starts, then glances away. “Well… he’s not a nerd in a bad way!”
“Never said that, king,” Kevin chuckles. “But you sure about that just friends thing? I’ve never heard you talk like that to anyone with that funny little tone in your voice before.”
“You haven’t talked to me in ages!” Paige pouts, voice cracking a bit. “Besides, even if I did have a cr—even if I…” Paige shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. OJ’s not interested in people like me.”
“People like you?” Brandon asks, sounding upset.
Paige is quiet.
“Paige, do you like men?” Piper asks.
Paige blinks. “...Yes?”
“Okay,” Piper nods, then turns to the others. “Let him do this one himself, guys.”
“What?” Paige asks.
“Fair,” Bro nods. “For the b-best probably, actually.”
“Agreed,” Brandon nods too.
“He’s so close, though…” Kevin says, sounding disappointed.
“What the heck are you guys talking about?” Paige asks, a bit distraught. They were talking about him, weren’t they? What did him talking to OJ have to do with him being gay?
Kevin’s phone pings. “Oh hey,” he says, checking it. “Collins is here.”
“C’mon, Paiges,” Brandon chuckles a bit, pulling an extremely confused Paige up. “Time to go.”
“Guys?” Paige mumbles.
“You’ll get it when you get it,” Piper says like some sort of Pokemon using Future Sight.
Paige sighs. If they were gonna be all cryptic for no good reason, he would just have to deal with it he guessed.
His phone pings. Paige smiles, knowing it was OJ.
At least he knew OJ would always be straight with him.