by Dean, Ali
“I found my mom’s rollerblades in the garage over spring break and stole them!”
Ellie rolls up next to me, wobbling a bit. “Yeah, she looks like a total dork rolling around campus. We even got her a fanny pack to complete the 90s look.”
“She wears them to parties sometimes,” Lucy says. “Just warning you. We’re sure it’s just one of her phases though. Hopefully she’ll be over it soon.”
“At least it’s better than some of her other phases,” Sydney says from behind Lucy. “The older guy obsession got weird for a while there.”
“I can hear you!” Zora sing-songs as she twirls around, showing off.
I knew this part about coming back would be easy. My friends didn’t leave me behind, and they accept me just as I am, wherever I’m at. The hard part is the one I can’t see and don’t know how to face. Ignoring social media and Netflix is one thing, but those voices that drove me to skate the Riptide half pipe, they’re always threatening to return at any moment. Each day I skateboard, that threat gets less real. But now that I’m back, I have to wonder if any of those voices came from people on campus. People at the skateparks around here. Strangers, or individuals I know? Those questions have been lurking even as I’ve recovered from the concussion and overcome whatever stopped me from skateboarding months ago. Now that I’m back where it all started, they’re rising to the surface again. This time though, I’m determined not to run. From the voices, or from Beck.
Chapter Sixteen
Beck
“Jordan really doesn’t want to compete anymore?” Brie asks me as we wait for drinks at the bar. “She seemed to be having so much fun at the Oregon Cup.”
Two beers are placed in front of us. It’s an open bar, and after throwing a few pounds change for a tip on the bar, I turn to Brie and raise my glass. “To heading home tomorrow.”
She lifts one side of her mouth as we clink glasses. “I know that’s not about me moving back to Callaway. You’re excited to get back, aren’t you?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know.”
Brie leans back along the bar and laughs before raising her glass for a sip. “Know what?”
“Why I’m so happy to get on a plane again tomorrow.”
“So are you guys together or is that just something you’re hoping will happen soon?”
“As far as I’m concerned, Brie, she’s it for me.”
“I’m happy for you, Beck.”
“I never answered your question. She said she was done competing after her crash. But I think she’ll be back. It has to be on her terms though.”
“You know, it’s not going to be easy for her if she comes back.”
“What do you mean?”
“People were jealous of her before they knew much about her. They knew she’d somehow gotten in with you and Griff, then came out of nowhere to beat Sarah Kase, former world champion. Then she gets on the cover of Skate Wave like a month after starting a social media account or something. I really like the girl, Beck. But you need to know women can be jealous bitches. Not all of us. But once people find out she’s with you? Some won’t make it easy.”
“I know Kelly made it hell for you for being my friend.” My ex-girlfriend definitely fits the description Brie’s talking about. “But you really think she’ll do the same to Jordan after all these years?”
“It’s not just Kelly I’m talking about. I’ve watched the Shred Live episodes. Jessica Malloy? Sarah Kase? Camila Gonzales? Not only is she a better skater than them, but she’s got you. And she’s got Griffin Perry’s respect and admiration. I’m not trying to be a downer here, Beck. I’m trying to be a friend. She’s young, you know? We’re going to have to have her back.”
I nod. Brie doesn’t even know about the online bullying. I’ve been living in a bit of a fantasy, pretending like that’s all over, it was in the past, and it won’t happen again. But Jordan’s been basically hiding all this time. She can’t hide forever, not if she wants to compete again. Not if she’s going to be with me publicly. The contract is up in less than a month.
Brie’s working for Brazen now in a marketing position, and I’m glad she’ll be there not only to support Griff, but for me and Jordan too.
“Speaking of the ex-girlfriend,” Brie mutters. We’re at the after-party for the London contest. It’s not obligatory, but it’s strongly encouraged that all the pros who competed show up. People pay extra for tickets to watch the contest so they can hang with us at this party. So far it looks like it’s only pros here and some of the industry people, which includes Griff.
I follow Brie’s gaze and spot Kelly. Brie sighs. “You know, I should warn Griff she’s probably going to try to get a job from him.”
“She’s relentless.” I’m not surprised though.
We head over to Griff, who’s talking with Moses and Taylor. Conversation stops when we approach and I glance at Brie, who notices it too.
“That was pretty fucking obvious, you guys,” I tell them. “Was Moses telling you confidential Shred Live info or something?” I’m joking, but I can’t really think of anything else the guys would be discussing that would be secretive to me or Brie.
“Actually, we were talking about Jordan’s stalkers,” Griff says, cringing a little.
“Jordan has stalkers?” Brie doesn’t hide her alarm.
“She kind of had one a while ago. It’s why she shut down her social media accounts,” I explain.
“So my warning about crazy jealous girls wasn’t really necessary then?”
“No, your warning was needed. You were talking about the pro circle. The stalker situation was about fangirls.”
Taylor scratches the back of his head. “So, the one who took the picture of her at our apartment building?”
“The one who thinks she’s destined to be with me and that Jordan was the only obstacle in her way,” Griff clarifies.
“Yeah, her profile now says, ‘The future Mrs. Griffin Perry,’” Moses adds.
“Yeah, I know. Razzleydazzles or whatever. What about her?”
“We think it might be that chick Fliss, remember her?” Moses asks. “She was all over Griff with her British friend Daisy at that little party I had.”
“Yeah, I remember.” I share a glance with Griff. We ended up giving them a ride back to campus, and they propositioned us, even with Jordan in the van too.
“They’re here,” Griff tells me.
“Here?”
“Yeah, they were in the audience, watching the contest.”
“I thought they didn’t even skateboard.”
“They don’t.”
This sits between all of us for a beat before Taylor connects the dots. “I bet they’re the ones who were harassing Jordan on Instagram. You said there were others who made some digs, but there were two main accounts that really attacked her hard.”
“Yeah, the one that calls herself ‘the future Mrs. Griffin Perry’ in her profile and comments everywhere about it on the internet,” Griff says with a little shiver that looks pretty authentic. The guy is freaked out and I don’t blame him. She didn’t exactly go away when Jordan got off the internet. Not for Griff, that is.
“The other one, Bubbles, seemed to be more interested in me, but thankfully she hasn’t been very active since filming started.”
Taylor rubs his hands together. “I bet they got VIP tickets and will show tonight. Want me to pretend to be their consolation prize when you turn them down? Then I can take a look at their phones.”
“Easy there, Detective Sly,” Brie says with a chuckle. “These two hotshots have all kind of women admirers. The ones who bullied Jordan could be total strangers.”
“Now that we’re brainstorming, it even crossed my mind it could be Sarah or Camila with the way they targeted me at Shred Live. ‘Course I don’t know how stalkers’ minds work and if the one destined for Griff would bother with me to get his attention,” I explain, half joking. No one’s really brought it up since Jordan left a
t the end of the last semester and the cops shut us down. I didn’t know I wasn’t the only one sometimes haunted by it.
We’ve got plenty of people who think they know us through social media and feel connected to us even though we don’t know them back. But those two accounts and the messages to Jordan definitely went overboard. I hate not knowing who they are, knowing they’re still out there.
Brie looks around before adding, “And it could be Kelly. One of them at least.”
Griff steps closer to me and lowers his voice. “They’re here. A bunch of people are coming through the doors so they must have just started taking VIP tickets. What’s our game?”
“Let’s talk to them at least. I want to measure the level of crazy. Maybe we can’t bring charges for how they messed with Jordan, but it’d be nice to have some peace of mind if we’re somehow able to confirm it’s them.”
“My offer still stands,” Taylor volunteers.
I glance over my shoulder, and sure enough, two blondes are beelining in our direction. They don’t even bother with the open bar. Nope, they’re here for us.
“Hey Griff! Taylor!” the one without a British accent, Fliss, calls out.
My eyes swing to Griff and Taylor at the familiarity in her greeting. Griff mutters in my ear, “We’ve already been accosted a couple times at the park these past two days.”
Not sure how I managed to avoid it, but I’m not complaining.
Fliss beams, clearly giddy to be in our presence, or Griffin’s presence maybe. I zero in on Daisy, and while I catch her checking me out, I don’t necessarily register the same type of crazy vibrating off Fliss.
“Hey Beckett,” Felicity says once she’s standing with us. “Remember us from Moses’s house? You gave us a ride.”
“Yeah, hey. So, are you on vacation in the area or did you fly overseas just to watch this event?”
Griffin steps on my foot and Brie coughs. What? Maybe I’m not being all that subtle, but it’s a fair question.
Daisy takes a step closer until she’s almost in my personal space. “I live in London, Fliss came to visit me. Great job out there today, Beck.” She turns to flash the other competitors a smile. “All of you.” Then she puts her hand out to Brie. “I’m Daisy, by the way.”
Brie shakes her hand, introducing herself.
All five of us are scrutinizing the two blondes but if they notice, they don’t seem the least bit put off by it.
“So, you’re skateboarders then?” Brie asks, but I think she already knows the answer from our conservation a minute ago.
“We’re skateboarding fans,” Fliss responds. “But we don’t really skateboard.”
“I tried it but I don’t have the patience,” Daisy adds.
“Big fans then, to come out for the competitions and get VIP tickets, too?” Taylor pushes.
“Biiiiiig fans. Especially of you all.” Felicity’s eyes linger on Griff as she speaks. “See, I grew up in Summerside so even though I don’t skateboard myself, I know all about it. I heard of you even before you came to college at Summerside.”
As Fliss yammers on about Griff’s various career highlights, he attempts to maintain a neutral expression. The rest of us exchange looks that say, yep, this girl is red flag material.
“What about you, Daisy?” I finally get a chance to ask.
“Oh, Fliss got me into it. I’ve always thought skateboarding was cool and all but this is the first time I’ve watched a competition.”
I’m actually a bit disappointed Daisy isn’t sending off the same warning bells as Fliss. She even seems a bit aloof, like she’s just here as Fliss’s wing-woman. As we continue talking to the girls, I don’t notice Daisy paying me any special attention. Fliss, on the other hand, is basically drooling over Griff.
Did this girl fly overseas for this moment with him? The more she talks, the more it becomes clear this trip to see her friend was only a convenient excuse. If Fliss is the one who threatened Jordan, and sent pictures indicating she was following her, now what? Soon she’ll learn Jordan’s with me, not Griff, but does that mean Jordan’s safe?
Maybe Daisy had a thing for me back in the fall and got over it. But it’s hard to imagine someone threatening to take out Jordan’s legs over me and then losing interest in me shortly afterward.
I feel the weight of eyes on our group, which isn’t unusual, but as I take in the people at this party, some clearly waiting for their opportunity to talk to one of us, I can’t help but be suspicious. We might have found Griff’s stalker, but what about mine? Is she still out there?
Chapter Seventeen
Jordan
Just like last time I picked up Beck from an airport, I can barely contain my excitement. The only difference is that this time, I know it’s okay to show just how excited I am to see him. Sure someone could see us and blow our cover a few weeks before the contract is officially up, but who cares? At this point we can handle some speculation until we can make it official. The only thing I’m debating is whether I can get away with a kiss and maybe an ass squeeze.
My train of thought comes to an abrupt halt when I spot the person walking between Beck and Griffin. Felicity Bernstein?
When my eyes meet Beck’s, he’s smiling at me like everything is totally normal. I glance at Griff, who isn’t giving me the easy-going grin I’d expect. I haven’t seen him in seven months, but instead of opening his arms for a hug, he’s kind of cringing at me and shaking his head.
Uncertain what the hell is going on, I lift my hand in a dorky wave. Beck picks up his pace, and when he lifts me in his arms and twirls me around, I relax. Nothing can be all that wrong if Beck is giving me one of the greetings I’ve been imagining all day. Fine, there’s no tongue or ass grabbing, but we can get to that later, in private.
When he finally puts me down, I can tell he’s holding back from the good stuff too.
I turn to Griff, who’s looking a little pale.
“Hey Griff, you okay?” I take a tentative step closer.
“Oh yeah, just not feeling too great. Don’t want you to catch anything.”
“That sucks. We can stop at the drug store for some meds on the way home if you want.”
“You didn’t seem sick on the flight,” Felicity says, placing a hand on his back. “Did it just hit?” She reaches another hand to his forehead.
My eyes swing from Griffin, who really does not look himself, to Felicity, to Beck.
“Come on man, let’s grab our luggage and then we’ll get you home,” Beck suggests.
“I have my car,” Felicity says. “I can drive him.” She turns her attention to us. “I don’t know exactly what the history is here with you all, but maybe seeing you two together like this isn’t good for him,” she snaps.
“Uh,” is all I manage to get out.
“What are you talking about, Fliss?” Beck asks in a tone I’ve never heard from him. It’s kind of harsh.
“Well, Jordan, you can’t expect it to all go so smoothly when you play two best friends.”
As Felicity’s face starts to turn red, I try to shake myself out of shock and keep up with what’s happening here.
Griff takes a step away from her. “Whoa. She didn’t play us. I’m not with Jordan. I was never with Jordan.”
Felicity crosses her arms. “But did you want to be?”
My jaw drops. How does she know about that first week of my freshman year? It seems so long ago, irrelevant now. If I stop to think about it, Griff’s initial interest in me helped bring me and Beck together, but it’s not something any of us dwell on.
Griff narrows his eyes, regaining some of his color. He doesn’t answer her question. “What’s your Instagram account?”
Oh! As Felicity huffs, it finally hits me what’s going on here. Kind of. She’s the one who threatened me to stay away from Griff. Or we think she is? Beck places a steadying hand on my lower back as Fliss rolls back her shoulders.
“Not sure what that has to do with anything here b
ut it’s my name, Felicity underscore and then my birthday. Do you want me to text it to you?” She starts to pull out her phone and ask for Griff’s number.
Beck interrupts her. “So you don’t know anything about the ‘future Mrs. Griffin Perry’ account then? Razzleydazzles?”
Felicity’s hand pauses for a split second over her screen before her eyes snap up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she says primly.
The silence that follows might seem awkward to a passerby, but it’s more threatening than anything else. I’m just an onlooker at the moment, but I soak it in as the guys shoot daggers at Felicity, who makes a valiant effort to appear composed.
Finally, she asks in a shaky voice, “Well, should we get our luggage?”
* * *
When we’re finally alone in Beck’s old Jeep, which I borrowed from his sister, Griff bangs his head back on the passenger seat headrest. “How is this my life? Is this what it’s come to?”
Beck looks back at me from the driver’s seat.
“Is it wrong that I’m struggling not to laugh?” I ask quietly, feeling a little guilty. I mean, poor Griff, the guy has a real live stalker who actually followed him to London and got on the same flight back. She lives nearby!
“You think I scared her off?” he asks.
“How? By asking about her Instagram account?”
“Yeah, she knows we’re onto her now.”
“Maybe temporarily,” Beck says as he backs out of the parking space. “You could just see the wheels in her head turning though, and it freaked me out. She’s got some notion Jordan got between us. I don’t want Jordan on that chick’s radar.”
“Me neither, but guys, what about me?” Griff, usually as cool as a cucumber, is nearly hysterical. “I’m going to have nightmares about her standing over me with a butcher knife!”
I do start cracking up then. Beck must have been on the verge too because he bursts out laughing.
“This is serious, you guys,” Griff attempts to rein us in. “I might have to get a bodyguard.”