Brazen Rush: Brazen Series Book 1

by Dean, Ali

  I tune back into the conversation and hear Zora say, “Yeah, she made it clear she’s obsessed with skateboarding when she ditched going out with us last night so she could get to bed early and skate this morning.”

  “But we didn’t know she was famous,” Ellie adds.

  I can tell it’s Wyatt responding this time, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. I grab the phone back. “All right, I don’t need all of you ganging up on me. See? I’m making friends. They’re just as irritating as you are. Now you two can go back to your honeymoon or whatever you’re calling it. Bye!” I give them a little wave and hang up before they can respond.

  Then I take in Zora and Ellie, who don’t look the least bit guilty for taking over my phone. They’re wearing pajamas and staring at my forehead.

  Zora links an arm through mine and starts dragging me up the steps. “Come on, we need to get Lucy. Then we’re getting food. Once I’ve got some food and coffee in me you’re going to tell us everything.”

  “Everything?” My mind instantly goes to Beck.

  “Starting with why you have a bruise the size of a baseball protruding from your forehead,” she says, shooting me a pointed look as we wait for the elevator to the fifth floor. “I can already guess. But I feel like there’s a lot more about you and this little skateboarding obsession we need details about.”

  Ellie adds, “We need to get a booth somewhere, make Jordan get in first, and that way she can’t escape when we interrogate her.”

  “Wow. I don’t know what to say. There’s really not much to tell.”

  They ignore my protest, and I wonder what exactly they’re expecting. It’s not all that juicy. With the exception of my encounter with Beck, which I just can’t bring myself to share. Not yet.

  Maybe it’s wrong of me to want to keep it to myself, especially with the girls being so welcoming and forthcoming with me. And especially with Phoebe, who I’ve never had secrets from. But my emotions are still raw. And he’s a celebrity. The entire time was special to me, and I want it to stay private. It feels like I’m cheapening it, if I share it. Plus, then I have to tell them how it ended. And I’m not sure I’m ready to accept that part yet.

  Chapter Seven

  Jordan

  As soon as Lucy gets a look at me, she scolds her friends for not bringing me immediately to the campus health clinic. Lucy becomes this mama bear, refusing to allow Ellie or Zora to make excuses as they try to tell her about the video.

  “You guys, she could have a concussion and you wanted to put her in the hot seat? I don’t think so.”

  I don’t mind going. If my parents get a bill, at least it will seem less serious than one from an urgent care farther from campus.

  But this doesn’t get me out of the interrogation after all because all three girls wait while I get checked out, and then we go out to what is lunch for me at this point, but still breakfast for them. They seem to know where to go, some place called The Mecca, but when we get there, it’s an hour wait. We’re too hungry and opt for the cafeteria instead.

  I have a concussion, which basically just means I need to take it easy. I mean, the nurse at the student health clinic said a month without skateboarding, but I know she’s only saying that because she has to. Besides, as long as I don’t hit the half pipe, I’m as safe on my skateboard as I am walking. Kind of. Depending on what I’m doing on a skateboard, but yeah, I’ll stay away from doing harder tricks for at least a few days, maybe even a full week. Anyway, the diagnosis isn’t enough to keep the girls from flinging questions my way. I quickly realize though that they’re not all that fixated on the video, they’re just using it as an excuse to get to know me better.

  “Okay, so how long have you been skateboarding?” Ellie asks on our way to the cafeteria.

  “Starting with the questions before we even sit down?”

  “It’s been like over an hour since we discovered you’re some secret superstar, I’ve been patient. Besides, I’m starting with an easy one.”

  “I was five. Phoebe and Wyatt lived in my neighborhood and we’d become friends at kindergarten. They got skateboards at a garage sale that summer and brought them to the playground. We couldn’t really ride them but we’d play around, sit on them and ride down slides and stuff. I got my own for my sixth birthday and I’ve basically been obsessed ever since.”

  “So Wyatt and Phoebe skate too?” Lucy asks. She didn’t get to meet them on the call earlier, but she’s heard me talking to them on the phone before, and I’ve got a picture of the three of us in our dorm room.

  “I kind of made them,” I admit with a laugh. “I wanted to skate all the time, and I’d drag them to the skatepark with me. They’re not nearly as into it though.”

  The conversation pauses when we get to the cafeteria and go through the line. I’ve only had a few meals here so far and I’m already sick of it. Fortunately, they’re still serving pancakes, which look decent enough. We go through the checkout line and find a table, but there aren’t any booths in the student cafeteria so they don’t get to cage me in.

  “We all skateboarded a little but it was too hard,” Ellie tells me.

  “We sucked,” Zora adds.

  Ellie raises her index finger. “But we know when someone’s really good and you obviously are. I mean, a 540? Are you sponsored?”

  I scoff. “Uh, no. They didn’t even have women’s skateboarding brands and gear until recently. Most of the companies are still totally focused on the male population. There just aren’t enough girls who skate.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t even have an Instagram account. How do you know?” Ellie asks.

  They already learned about my social media status last night when they wanted to tag me in a photo before they went out for the night. I have to fight not to roll my eyes as I take a bite of pancake. It tastes like sawdust, even smothered in syrup. Sticky sawdust.

  “Are you making that face for the pancakes, or for Ellie’s question?” Zora asks.

  “Both, actually.” It’s the pancakes, but the truth is, I don’t need these three on my back about the same things I’ve already got Wyatt and Phoebe on me about. I need to put it to rest, and the only way to do it is to tell them the truth. “There used to be another kid in my group back home. Levi. It was the four of us, me, Levi, Phoebe and Wyatt. Our elementary school was in our neighborhood and we’d walk there together. Or skateboard.”

  “Wait, are we still talking about why you don’t do social media?” Lucy asks.

  “Yeah, it’s because of Levi. He got his first cell phone in middle school when Instagram was still pretty new. But he was bullied on there in comments and messages and it got real bad. His family ended up moving in eighth grade and he went to a different school.”

  I look up from stabbing my pancake to gauge their reactions. “Look, I know it seems like I’m overreacting,” I say, already defending myself. “But it’s not like I really want to be on there anyway.” I start ranting about how everyone’s always taking photos, posting, commenting, and not actually living in the moment, but Lucy cuts me off.

  “How’s Levi now? Is he okay?”

  I don’t even realize I’m shaking a little until I hear that question, and my body settles. “Yeah, I think so. He didn’t stay in touch very well after they moved. I think he just wanted a fresh start. To move on without dwelling on what happened. And that meant space from his friends too.”

  It was hard, when Levi left. Wyatt and Phoebe had always been close but once they decided they were actually a couple, the dynamic changed a little. Levi and I got closer. I was one of the first people he came out to. I was his confidant when the bullying got bad and he started getting too much anxiety to go to the skatepark with us. But I understood why he didn’t try harder to stay close after moving. Everything that happened had been really painful, and I’d been there through all of it.

  “I get it,” Lucy says. “If that happened to Ellie or Zora, I wouldn’t want to be on Instagram either. Especially no
t if I was some badass surfer bound to get a huge following and maybe get famous from it.”

  “Really?” I don’t know her well enough yet to tell if she’s being sarcastic.

  “Yeah, it’d feel like a betrayal or something.” She sounds genuine, and my chest expands at her words. It aches too, because it’s the first time someone’s put into words how I feel about it. She doesn’t know the details, but even Phoebe and Wyatt seemed to think my aversion to social media might be based on fear I’d experience something similar to what Levi went through. It’s not that, it’s more a loyalty thing. There’s fear too, but it’s not for the reasons Phoebe and Wyatt assume.

  “Someday you can tell us more about what happened, if you want,” Ellie offers.

  “Shit, you guys are even cooler than I thought,” I admit. “But Lucy, please don’t eat that bacon. I’m afraid you might throw up in our dorm room.”

  She looks down at the rubbery strips on her plate. “I kind of just wanted to touch them and see if they felt as weird as they looked.” She picks one up and runs a finger along it.

  Zora declares, “That’s it, we’re going back to The Mecca and waiting in line. The food here sucks, no wonder they include it in tuition. It might be free but there’s barely anything edible here.”

  Ellie’s already standing up. “Also, we need to get jobs to pay to eat out sometimes. But we need to find a place that will hire all four of us.”

  I shake my head as I follow her lead and push my chair back. “No, that won’t work. Then if we need a night off to go out together it will be harder to switch with people.”

  I’d discovered this working at an ice cream shop with Wyatt and Phoebe every summer. While it was great working with both of them, it seemed like one of us was always scheduled to work.

  We walk back to The Mecca to put our name in again, and find standing room at the outside bar to wait. It’s along the sidewalk, and the place has another space for outdoor seating in the back. I can see why it’s popular; the location is perfect for people-watching. In anticipation of hungover college students waiting, they even have free coffee set up. The others help themselves but I go for the ice water.

  Zora’s leaning against the wall of the restaurant, checking out a group of guys at the bar. “I wish we had good fake IDs.”

  Ellie crosses her arms over her chest. “We don’t need fake IDs to go over there and flirt. We do, however, need better outfits. What were we thinking, anyway?”

  Zora raises a single eyebrow. “If I recall, you came storming into my room and woke me up.” Zora and Ellie don’t share a room but they’re in the same dorm building.

  Ellie shrugs. “I was hungry. At least I’m wearing cute pajamas.”

  They’re pink and frilly and if I’m being completely honest here, look like something my grandmother would wear. But somehow they suit Ellie. I won’t go so far as to say she blends in, but I get the feeling the Sunday morning college scene is very accepting. Or college in general. Maybe it’s southern California. Either way, no one’s really batted an eyelash.

  Without a good view of the guys they’re talking about at the bar, I’m busy watching people on the street.

  “Is that Griffin Perry?” Lucy asks, standing on her tiptoes and peeking over my shoulder.

  “Oh no way! It’s totally him!” Ellie gushes.

  Zora glances at me. “You know who that is, right?”

  I roll my eyes. “Just because I’m not on social media doesn’t mean I live under a rock. Actually, he was at the park yesterday.”

  “Really?” Lucy’s eyes are wide as she looks at me. “How did I miss that?”

  Smirking, I waggle my eyebrows. “Shirtless too.”

  Griffin Perry is a skateboarder, who also happens to be known as Beckett Steele’s best friend. Where Beckett’s best on verts, Griffin is best on the rails. Or he was until recently. After Griffin tore his ACL at the X Games last year, he stopped competing. Word is that he’s starting a skateboarding company. Unlike Beck, however, he graduated college already.

  Griffin is standing with a group of people. As if he senses the four of us staring, Griffin looks our way. I immediately dart my eyes back to the sidewalk on reflex. I’m sure the dude is used to women staring at him, but still.

  A guy rides by on a skateboard and my gaze follows him. He’s on a long board, something I don’t see much back home. Long boards are meant for getting around and they aren’t used in skateparks, on rails or in verts. A lot of skateboarders think they’re for people who want to look cool and get around but aren’t actually comfortable on a real board. I don’t know about that, but on the Summerside U campus, I’ve already noticed how popular they are.

  I hear Lucy beside me, “Is he…”

  She doesn’t finish her thought. There’s an elbow in my ribs and Ellie whisper-shouting, “Griffin Perry is coming over here!”

  I shift away from people-watching to find Griffin Perry is in our small circle, his presence just as mesmerizing as Beck’s had been earlier. My eyes drift over his body before finding his eyes. They’re right on me, and he’s smirking. He caught me checking him out, but that isn’t why he’s smug.

  Griffin points at me. “You’re the mystery girl from Sly’s Instagram, aren’t you?” He’s wearing a self-satisfied smile, like he already knows the answer.

  I want to deny it just to wipe that look off his face, but I should’ve known with my three new friends here, they’d never let me get away with it.

  I open my mouth to respond but Ellie beats me to it, throwing an arm around my shoulder. “Yup, you found her. This is the mystery girl. Buy us drinks and we’ll give you her name and number too.”

  I’ve got the strongest desire to melt into the sidewalk beneath me, but Griffin’s eyes light up at Ellie’s forwardness.

  “You’ll thank me later,” she whispers in my ear.

  “More like kill you later,” I mutter in response, which only makes her burst into laughter.

  Griffin chuckles too but I’m not sure if it’s because he heard what I said or if it’s a delayed response to Ellie’s outrageous demand.

  Sighing, I don’t give him a chance to take her up on the offer. “I’m Jordan. And yeah, I guess it’s not a mystery anymore. I’m the one in that video Taylor Sly posted.”

  “Well, you’re still a mystery to me, but I’d like to change that. I’ve got your name, but I’m happy to get you drinks for your number too. What would you all like?” He glances at the others, and Zora tells him mimosas but I tell him we’re not twenty-one yet.

  “Really?” He raises his eyebrows, either surprised I disclosed this or surprised it’s true, I can’t tell. “What else can I do to get your number then?”

  I can feel all three girls burning me with their stares, wondering why I’m not jumping on this flirting train. I don’t have answers for them. I mean, maybe it’s because I don’t really know how to flirt. I’m not used to this kind of straightforward confidence from guys. But that can’t be true because I was totally comfortable with Beck earlier, wasn’t I?

  It’s all too overwhelming. I don’t understand it. I’ve never been anything special and now two skateboarding celebrities in one day have flirted with me. Only this time, my younger age came up immediately, and didn’t make him shy away. With that thought, I find myself giving him my phone number. I can practically feel the surprise coming off of him and the girls as I do, but no one’s more astonished about it than I am.

  Chapter Eight

  Jordan

  I’ve got no idea whether I gave Griffin my number to get him to go away, or because I actually want him to call me. Either way, it’s stressing me out that he’s got it. I’ve never given any guy my number until today, at least not in a flirty context, and now I’ve given it out twice. To guys who are, according to skateboarding gossip, best friends, and who happen to be the golden boys of skateboarding. What is even happening right now?

  “I’m concerned about your flirting skills,” Ellie d
iscloses when we’re finally seated at a table.

  Zora scoffs. “I wouldn’t be, her awkwardness didn’t dissuade Griffin Perry, so something’s working for her.”

  “It’s the skateboarding. He likes that I can ride a skateboard. That’s the only reason he’s interested.” I know it’s true, it’s what explains Beck’s interest too. And this doesn’t dishearten me, not really. Not when skateboarding is basically the foundation of who I am.

  “Yeah, that could be it. Even I was a little turned on by that video,” Ellie says. I stare at her and she blinks back innocently a few times before winking.

  We’ve finally got that booth they wanted, but I’m on the outside, Lucy beside me on the inside. She places a comforting hand on my arm. “Jordan, how much dating experience do you have, anyway? Newdale, where we’re from, wasn’t far from Callaway, where Griffin Perry’s from. Everyone kind of keeps track of him and Beckett Steele around here. Griffin’s older and gets photographed with women a lot. I don’t want to make any assumptions, but my guess is that he got your number for a specific reason.”

  I can feel my cheeks flame but I’m saved from answering by the waitress stopping by to take our order. At least, I think I’m saved, but Zora taps my ankle under the table as soon as the waitress leaves. “Lucy’s right. Guys like that aren’t looking for commitment. When they come on strong like that? They’re usually sending a message this is about a hookup, not anything serious.”

  I soak in her words. Honestly, that hadn’t even occurred to me. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s hard to tell though. He seemed genuinely interested.”

  “Oh, he was genuinely interested,” Ellie says.

  “In having sex with you,” Zora deadpans, just in case I’m too dense to fill in the blank myself.

  Lucy tilts her head. “We would all totally be cool if you went for that. I mean, we’d be jealous but completely nonjudgmental,” she clarifies. “I even want to encourage it because it seems like you might need a push and that this could be good for you. But first, how much experience do you have? Like, did you have boyfriends back home?”