90s Girl

by Mia Archer

  “So you’re still going for the older ladies, huh?” Felicity said with a twinkle in her eye as we sat on a bench and laced our skates.

  “Shut up,” I growled. “I am so not in the mood right now.”

  “Oh come on,” Candace said, taking a seat on the other side. “That girl was pretty in an alt goth punk sort of way. Or whatever the hell she was going for with those piercings and that dark hair.”

  “Whatever,” I muttered, really not wanting to get into this with them now.

  Or ever, for that matter.

  I sighed as I looked at my skates. They looked like the kind of thing a person might use while they were taking an order of greasy fries and a cheeseburger out to a giant boat of a car that was more chrome than anything else where a guy and his best girl were sitting in anticipation of all the fucking they were going to do in the massive bench back seat later that night at Lovers’ Point or something.

  I turned to glare at the girl who was working behind the counter, but she wasn’t there. There wasn’t anyone there. I frowned. What the hell was going on here?

  “Looks like your girlfriend decided to go hide,” Felicity said.

  “Whatever,” I growled. “Let’s just get out there on the rink. That’s what we’re here for, right?”

  I knew how to skate. Sure the last time I’d been here had been back at a skating party for elementary school. Sure the last time I’d been here I’d spent most of my time hanging onto the edges for dear life and making my way around. That’d been pretty fun.

  I’d learned to skate since in the neighborhood, but it was always on in-line skates. Which, I quickly discovered as I got out onto the rink, were a very different beast from the old solid skates I wore now.

  I had no idea that skating on these things would be that different, but it was. Sure people looked at in-line skates like they were death traps or something, but the truth was they had more maneuverability and room for error because there was less surface area touching the ground.

  Moving around in these clodhoppers with their four plastic wheels meant there was more surface area touching the ground, and it felt weird. Off.

  “You going to be okay Liv?” Felicity asked.

  “I think I’ll be fine,” I said, waving my arms around to try and regain some balance. “I hope I’ll be fine.”

  Felicity skated circles around us and hit me with a smile. A smile I wanted to smack ff of her face. This would be different if I was in in-line skates, damn it. That’s what I had all my experience in. Rolling around in these ancient things felt like learning how to skate all over again.

  “You sure you’re going to be okay there?” Felicity asked, sticking her tongue out.

  “I’m gonna grab that tongue and rip it out of your mouth,” I growled, lunging at her.

  Felicity yelped and took off around the rink. And by “took off” I mean she did an awkward little shuffle that set her ahead of me just a little, but not far enough that I couldn’t get to her.

  It was amazing what a little bit of annoyance could do to my skating ability. I stopped thinking about how ridiculously clumsy the skates were and started thinking about all the things I was going to do to Felicity when I caught her.

  We flew past an arcade. The place looked like something straight out of the glory days in the mid to late ‘80s. Those games had never really been my thing, I was more of a console girl thank you very much, but it was still interesting seeing a bunch of the classics out there very much in working order.

  Well, mostly in working order. As with so many other things in this roller rink there were more than a few screens that sported out of order signs. I wondered if it was even possible to get parts to replace those things in this day and age thirty years after the companies that made them stopped caring.

  Then we were past the arcade and out in the middle of the floor. A couple of disco balls floated overhead casting different colored lights all over the dance floor and illuminating our chase. A dude wearing a referee shirt, black and white stripes and all, whistled at us as we moved past, but I ignored him.

  I was going to get her damn it!

  There was just one problem with my foolproof plan to catch Felicity, and that was the fact that I was tooling around in a style of skates I wasn’t all that good at skating in.

  I felt gravity doing its work as the skates did something unexpected because there were four wheels on these things side by side instead of all in a line like I was used to. It was like I wanted to go in one direction and the skates wanted to go in another, and the practical upshot was I was treated to a view of those disco balls doing a crazy whirl as my whole body fell backwards.

  I landed on my ass first. Which didn’t feel all that great, but it was nothing compared to when the rest of my body followed my ass and my head slammed down on the hardwood rink with more force than I’d ever felt from a fall before, and it was all localized to the back of my skull.

  The stars dancing in front of my eyes didn’t have anything to do with the light reflecting off of those disco balls, is what I’m saying.

  Fuck. That was going to leave a mark!

  5

  Woman Down

  Felicity and Candace appeared above me, looking concerned.

  “Are you okay?” Candace asked.

  “Shit Liv,” Felicity said. “I wouldn’t have run from you like that if I knew you were that out of practice.”

  I was so disoriented from hitting my head that I didn’t even care that she was low key throwing some shade at my skating ability. All I wanted was to get the fuck off the skating rink and over to someplace where I could sit down and relax.

  “Get me out of here,” I said, but it came out as more of a muttered mumble.

  “What did she say?” Candace asked, looking to Felicity.

  “No idea,” Felicity said. “But I think we need to get her out of here before someone runs her over and makes this whole thing worse.”

  “Good idea,” Candace said.

  Okay then. Maybe they couldn’t understand me, but they had the right idea and they were getting me out of there. I was more concerned about a concussion than I was concerned about someone running into me, but now that Felicity mentioned it maybe it would be a good idea to stay the fuck out of the middle of the rink where someone could run me over at any moment.

  They got me off the hardwood and sat me down on a bench.

  “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Felicity asked.

  “I’m not sure about anything,” I said. “When did I ever say I was sure I was going to be okay?”

  “Huh,” Felicity said. “I guess that makes sense. You didn’t ever actually say that.”

  “My head fucking hurts,” I groaned. “What the fuck were we thinking coming out to a skating rink?”

  “Well it was your idea,” Candace said. “I would’ve been happy if we just…”

  “Not the time Candace,” I said. “Totally not the time.”

  “Whatever,” she said, crossing her arms and looking out at the skaters like she’d like nothing more than to be out there.

  I’m sure there was some cute guy out there that she wanted to get with. I couldn’t tell which one it was since I was totally not equipped to find cute guys, but I was sure he was out there.

  “Go on,” I said. “Go have your fun. I’ll be fine hanging around here.”

  “You sure?” she asked. “I’m fine staying here if…”

  “Get out there and find him,” I said. “Seriously. I’ll be okay here.”

  Candace grinned and left. I guess she didn’t want to hang around long enough for me to decided that whoops, maybe it would be a good idea if my friends stuck around to lend some moral support as I remembered how to breathe.

  “Look at me,” Felicity said.

  “Why am I looking at you?” I asked, feeling the beginnings of one hell of a headache starting in the back of my head. We’re talking the kind of rager that was going to make me unhappy to be alive pre
tty soon.

  “You’re looking at me because you hurt yourself,” she said. “And the last thing I want is for you to have a concussion that’s going to cause some damage, so look at me.”

  “Whatever mom,” I said, then realized what I’d said. There was a moment of silence, then I shrugged and grinned.

  “Well I imagine that’s what my mom would say if she wasn’t dead, y’know. It’d be kind of weird for her to say anything to me now considering she’s not alive.”

  I grinned to try and take some of the sting out, but from the way Felicity frowned I didn’t think it worked. Tough crowd when it came to the dead mom jokes, I guess, but whatever.

  “I’ll never understand why you do that,” she muttered as she looked into my eyes.

  “Coping mechanism,” I said. “If you can’t laugh at the shit life throws at you then the only other option is depression, and I’m really not in the mood for that shit.”

  “Whatever,” Felicity said. “Look into that bright light over there.”

  I glanced at a fluorescent light hanging over us, then looked back to Felicity.

  “Happy now?” I asked.

  “Not really,” she said, peering into my eyes. “But I don’t think you have a concussion. We’re gonna have to keep an eye on you for the rest of the night though.”

  There was something about her tone that said she wasn’t looking forward to hanging out here on the bench with me for the rest of the night. She gave the skating rink a longing glance, then turned back to me and forced a smile.

  “It won’t be that bad though. They have lots of arcade games we can play! I know how much you love those.”

  “Go out there and have your fun,” I said. “You don’t need to sit around babysitting me.”

  Felicity looked between me and the skating rink. For a couple of girls who were talking about how much this place sucked, she and Candace sure had done a one-eighty on this place. Then again I’m sure there was some cute guy out there who was changing her opinion of how awesome the skating rink was the same as some other cute guy had done the same with Candace.

  At least I hoped they were looking at different cute guys. Otherwise things could get pretty awkward pretty fast.

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “I mean it’d just be a couple of times around and then I could come see how you’re doing.”

  “Go have your fun,” I said. “Honestly. You’re not going to hurt my feelings. I have a hell of a headache brewing, and I’d rather not have to do the whole social thing.”

  “You’re sure?” she asked one more time. Like she didn’t believe me or something.

  “I appreciate you wanting to worry about me, but you don’t have to stick around,” I said.

  “Right,” Felicity said. “I’m going to go have some fun, but I promise I’ll be back in a little bit to see how you’re doing.”

  I smiled until she was gone. Then I winced. I put on a good show for her, but I really was serious when I said I wanted nothing more than to have a little time on my own where I didn’t have to worry about being social.

  It was hard to be social when I had the beginnings of one hell of a headache threatening.

  I leaned back and closed my eyes. Did a thought exercise where I tried to think about how the headache wasn’t really there. It was a mental trick my mom taught me, and something aunt Olivia did from time to time too when she had a really bad one.

  It took a little while with the music pounding, but eventually I felt like I’d chased off the headache just a little. Now I needed something to distract me from thinking about it.

  I turned and looked at all the bright lights coming off of the arcade and grinned. That might distract me from the headache threatening, so I wobbled to my feet and carefully rolled my way over to the machines.

  The place looked like something straight out of an old ‘80s movie or something. The kind of arcade you didn’t see in the real world anymore where the focus was less on games that ate quarters and more on giant VR games with haptic feedback that were designed to eat five dollars a pop.

  Though several games sported Out of Order signs, and most looked like they’d seen better days. I frowned. I guess that was in line with everything else I’d seen in this place, but it was a little disappointing to see all these classics rotting away, even if the cabinets looked to be in pretty good shape. If I ever owned a place like this you bet your ass I’d treat these classics with the love and care they deserved!

  I sighed and rolled around some more. I saw the old Simpsons arcade game and something starring the Ninja Turtles that looked like it would’ve been a heck of a lot of fun back in the ‘90s. Sure none of the graphics held up to the realistic stuff people could enjoy on their home consoles these days, but they were impressive for the time and the graphics were still pretty cool in a retro sort of way.

  I sighed as I rolled through. I couldn’t play anyway since I didn’t have any quarters on me. Who carried change in this day and age? Unfortunately it looked like none of the machines took plastic.

  I moved past those machines and found myself staring at something that was almost as interesting as the arcade. It was a big black hole in the back of the arcade, and it led to a room that wasn’t being used as part of the main roller rink even though it was obviously part of the roller rink.

  I stuck my head in and looked around. The place smelled like dust and electricity. Like the feel of an antique store, my mom loved those and used to drag me to them, mixed with that weird shivery sense I always got right before a big storm when it felt like the air was full of electricity.

  “Hello?” I called out, not expecting to find anyone in here.

  There was no response, of course. Not that I was expecting much of a response, but oh well. I figured if there was no one in there then that meant it wouldn’t be a big deal if I walked in to see what there was to see.

  Though it would be more like I was rolling in to see what there was to see. What I saw was a place that looked like it’d been a dance studio once upon a time. There was an old boombox with an honest-to-God tape deck on the front and no CD player in evidence.

  I could imagine people sweating to the oldies in here once upon a time. I smiled as I thought of a bunch of women in leotards and those silly sweatbands they always wore on their wrists, ankles, and foreheads in those old videos jumping around and working up a sweat.

  “I bet this place was pretty hopping back in the day,” I muttered.

  The layer of dust on everything would seem to indicate that it hadn’t been hopping lately though. It looked like no one had used this place in a good long while. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to turn the lights on though.

  Assuming I could find the light switch. I pulled my phone out and switched on the light on the back. I looked around and there was a switch on the other end of the room, which didn’t seem very practical but whatever. I skated across the dance floor and felt my hair standing on end.

  That was weird. I shivered. I reached the switch and flipped it, then jumped as something sparked and exploded overhead. I took a couple of deep breaths and forced myself to calm down. That had to be a light going out up above, finally giving up the ghost after sitting in here unused for who knew how long, and blowing out.

  Yeah, that was it. That had to be…

  The world twisted and exploded around me. I covered my eyes and cried out as everything shifted around me.

  The next thing I knew I was on my ass on the dance floor and the lights were on. Now that was weird. The whole “world falling out from under me” thing must’ve been my skates going out from under me as I took another spill.

  Luckily this time around I had the wall to catch me instead of slamming my head on the floor. The last thing I needed was another hit to my head to finish off what the last hit had started.

  And the lights were on, so maybe I could finally get a good look at this place!

  6

  Skate, Skate, Baby

  I looked around t
he studio. There was the boombox in the same place I remembered it, but the rest of the place felt different.

  I looked at some decorations on the wall and tried to remember if those had been there a moment ago. It was hard to tell since I’d been feeling my way through the dark like an idiot who didn’t have a cell phone on her with a flash that was brighter than most old school flashlights. Stupid!

  I got a scare when someone stepped through the door.

  “Hey, what are you doing in here?” the lady said.

  I looked her up and down and wondered if I was seeing things, or if maybe there was a retro night going on and I hadn’t seen the posters advertising it. She looked like something straight out of an advertisement in an old Sears catalog I’d found in the bottom of some of my mom’s bookshelves a few years back.

  I’d looked the thing over from top to bottom and wondered what it was like growing up when she did. I’d really been interested in the toy section that seemed like something out of another world, but I also got a good look at some of the fashions.

  This lady looked like something straight out of that section.

  “Um, I’m sorry,” I said. “I thought the place was abandoned and…”

  “Well it wouldn’t be abandoned if I have the lights on, now would it?” the lady said, sounding just a touch annoyed. “Now get out of here. Skaters aren’t allowed in here. I’m not going to have you ruining my dance floor with those plastic clodhoppers!”

  “Sorry,” I muttered, skating around her and wondering what crawled up her ass and died.

  When I rolled out into the rink I found myself in a place that had almost no resemblance to the place I’d been before. It was enough to make me wonder how long I’d been screwing around in that dance studio looking at things and having lights exploding at me.

  “What the fuck,” I muttered.

  The arcade was packed, for one. There were a bunch of people who looked like they were anywhere from middle school to early college leaning against the machines playing. I even thought I saw one kid try to pull out a cigarette, but then someone else pushed it down and looked out towards the rink like they were afraid some adult would come along and catch them.