Chapter 18: Sk8ter Boy (picture above is what Tyler is gonna look like, I left out the face so you could imagine whoever you want)

Jill

Great. Just great. 

If you forgot, Ben and I went to go get some ice cream sandwiches and while we were walking, I dropped my ice cream on the ground. I'm just staring at it, all messed up and slowly melting on the ground. At this point, I'm not even embarrassed. I'm just disappointed and sad since I barely even got the chance to eat half of it.

I pick it up and throw it in the trash. Even my parents look disappointed, I can tell that Tom and Debby feel bad because they're acting like they didn't see anything. I continue to walk with everyone and Ben looks like he doesn't want to eat his ice cream anymore. "Aren't you gonna finish that?" I ask him

"Sooner or later, I just feel bad eating this in front of you," he says. "Oh, it's fine I don't really care," I reply. "Oookay," he says shrugging and continuing to eat it. I'm secretly irritated of course because I obviously lost something very valuable and he's just eating it in front of my face. You said it was fine though, I know I just have to keep it to myself. 

"Whatcha thinking about?" Ben asks me. "Oh, nothing just uhm- wondering where we're gonna have the picnic," I say. "Hm, okay," He says continuing to walk.

•♦•

After a couple of more shops, we decided that we were going to get some sandwiches at one of the Deli's that was nearby. We drive towards the lake and once we arrived it was packed. I mean, I'm not surprised since it is the weekend and summer break. There were kids on the playground and there were a lot of people eating on picnic benches. They also have a little snack bar which I think is cool. We finally find a table to sit at and begin to eat. 

My parents and Ben's talk about work and vacation and me and Ben are just sitting awkwardly and eating silently. Although, Ben joins in the conversation from time to time and I just sit there and nod. "Jill, sit up straight," My mom says. I think my posture is fine, but my parents always call me out about it in public which makes it worse. I sit up and continue to eat, I look over at Ben and I notice that he always has good posture. Maybe it's because he's an athlete, or not.

I look over at my phone and I see that I got a text from someone. Oh, it's Tyler.

Hey, what's up. Also, it's fine that you couldn't text me earlier. Got any plans for the day?|T

Yeah, we're actually having a picnic at the lake today.|J

...

Oh, wait really? Are you at the one with the playground?|T

Uh yeah, how'd you know?|J

Idk, I just guessed. I'm there too, looks like we keep running into each other| T

"Jill, who are you texting?" My dad asks. "Oh uh- It's just Dani, she's just asking what we've been doing," I say. "Oh, well get off your phone and talk to us," he says. "Oh okay, let me just tell her." 

Lol yeah, I have to go. My parents don't want me on my phone| J

Oh okay, I think I see you also!|T

Really? Oh okay I really have to go now|J

K| T

It's kind of freaking me out that we keep running into each other. Maybe it's just a coincidence, or maybe it means something. Nope, not going to jump to conclusions this time. But what if..No. Nope no never. Just because you meet a guy doesn't mean you'll ever be together and start imagining a future with them. And I'm acting as I'll ever be in one.

https://youtu.be/QT8FPo2FRGA

I look behind me and I see some guy who looks familiar on the sidewalk. He was carrying a skateboard and looked like they were with a couple of friends. I nudged Ben and whispered to him, "Hey, is that who I think it is?" I say. Ben looks in the direction I am once I say that. "Oh, that's Tyler!" He says. He gets out of the bench and walks towards him. I get up to throw away the wrapper from my sandwich.

"Hey!" Someone says behind me. "Oh hi," I say back. It was Tyler, and he was with his friends I think. "I was just asking Ben earlier if you guys wanted to go skate with us. You wanna come?" he asks. "Oh uhm- I can't skateboard," I say to him. "Oh come on, I can teach you. It'll be fun," he says. "Um-"

"Hey, we can go, I asked my parents and Jill's they said it was fine," Ben says. I look over at him and whisper, "You what- you literally asked them without telling me?" "Yeah, I did. Come on, as Tyler said, it'll be fun," he says to me. Should I feel mad? I mean I am but, am I overreacting? I can't just hang out with a bunch of guys and then look stupid for not being able to skate. Maybe I should convince Ben that I can't go.

I walk up to Ben and tap on his shoulder. "Hey, uhm I just want to go back to the table. You can go hang out with them," I say my stomach filled with embarrassment. Please work, Please work. "Jill, you have to at least some interaction with people. You barely even talked at the table so just hang out with us. They're nice, trust me." he says.

I hate it when people say that. Cool and attractive people scare me, I'm afraid I'll get made fun of because trust me, when I trust people like that I get made fun of, and then they think I'm lame so I just leave and wish to disappear from existence. I really don't want to be here.

"Look, Jill, I know you don't like to trust ideas that require hanging out with people you've never met before. Just- here, watch this. Hey, guys come over here and hang out with us!" He exclaims to Tyler and his friends. Oh my god, this literally cannot be happening. They all walk/jog towards us with their boards in hand.

"Okay, I want you guys to help and teach Jill here, how to skate. And, Be. Nice." He says to them. "Why?" one of the guys ask. "Thomas, just don't even ask because I wasn't even gonna ask you to help in the first place because you suck at explaining," Ben says. I hold in a laugh. I look around the other guys and they all had kind smiles and were laughing as well. Maybe this won't be as bad.

While we were walking, a couple of the guys introduce themselves to me, 

The first guy was Jackson, "Hi, I'm Jackson and I'm guessing you're name is Jill right?" he says. "Oh yeah, that's me," I say. "Haha, Nice." We talked a lot about rollerskating because that was something we had in common. I told him that I wasn't the greatest but he wouldn't believe that after I said I could skate backward. It was a nice conversation, and we talked a bit. Then there was Thomas who was the supposedly 'bad explainer' according to Ben. He was nice as well and I would say that he wasn't too bad at explaining. The third guy was Lewis who was really quiet but was a great skater. He was on his skateboard the whole conversation and looked like a freaking pro.

Tyler was the one who offered to share his board with me and Thomas shared his with Ben. "Okay, you ready to learn?" Tyler asks me. I take a deep breath and nod. "It's not that bad, but you will fall, just to be honest. I'll catch you so you won't die." He says. "Ah yes, I will die if I fall off a skateboard," I say sarcastically. We laugh and he tells me just to put my feet on the board to feel what it's like on it. "Okay, so just hold my hands like that and push with one foot and keep the other one on the board," he says. I do what he says and I manage to move just a little bit. "I did it!" I say looking at him. He laughs and says, "You did! But, that's not really anything exciting. But, if it is to you, it's a great achievement."

We practice moving for a while and after a few tries of falling and tripping, I finally got to move without guidance. He taught me how to bend my knees to help with balance and I got that pretty quickly since you have to do the same thing for rollerskating. "Okay, you ready?" Tyler asks. "I think so," Tyler is a few feet away from me and my goal is to reach him without falling. I put one foot on the ground and bend the knee of the other foot on the board and push. I almost lose balance for a second but I regain it. Once I reach Tyler I get filled with joy. "I actually did it!" I look over at Ben and yell to him, "Did you see that?!" "You did it! Haha, Good job!" Ben says.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much, Tyler for teaching me," I say. God, I got so happy that I even hugged him. "Hey, can you uhm take a video for me so that I can show my parents and my best friend that can skate?" I ask taking my phone out. "Yeah, sure." He says taking my phone.

I take the board and go back to where I was before. "Okay go!" he says. I do the same thing as before and I skate freely across the ground. "Woo!" I exclaim. I get off the board and I try something I've always wanted to try. I press the front of my foot to the back of the board and it lifts to my hand. "Aha, I finally got to it," I say smiling. "You're so cute," Tyler says.

How do I respond to that? "I don't know how to respond to that so I'm just going to say thank you," I reply. "Haha, good answer. You wanna see a trick?" He says. "Sure," I reply

He grabs the board and goes to the top of that hill thing. He goes down so smoothly and makes his way back to me. "Wow, that was actually so coo-"

Before I actually got finish my sentence, Tyler did the absolute worst thing in the whole world. He kissed me.

"I- uhm," I say trying to get a sentence out. "Wasn't that a cool trick?" he says grinning. My stomach drops along with my heart. This isn't the first kiss I wanted, it all happened so fast that I couldn't even have time to process it. "I-i'm sorry I really didn't want anything out of this," I say. I turn around and I walk back to where my parents were. I wipe my mouth in disgust and slight sadness.

Why'd it have to end that way?

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A/N: I know right, why DID it have to end that way? The next chapter is what I plan to work on right after this. In my mind, I think it's going to be a heart quencher but I bet when I write it'll just seem fine. And just because I say that doesn't mean anything is bad is going to happen between Jill and Ben. Just don't spoil it for yourself okay? Anywho, yeah Tyler sucks for the no consent lol. And wasn't that a Lil too fast?

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