people were asking and i finally listened

brb gonnna go break rule 12 bc this shits ugly yall-

"Get out of the way!"

I leapt to the side, eyeing the zooming cab as it raced past. The music pumping through my headphones caused me to shrug in nonchalance as I continued on my way, dodging by pedestrians and slipping across the hoods of cars. My fingers clicked to the beat as I pranced my way downtown.

Nodding my head to the rhythm, I entered the cafe with a ding from the bell that clanged above the frame. I leapt lightly on the balls of my feet as I flounced to the song playing through my headphones towards the counter. I shoved them off to order.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I mumbled to myself as I studied the menu of hot drinks. The cashier gave me an exasperated, dirty look as I took my time pondering.
"Can I get a hot chocolate."

With raised eyebrows, the cashier took my order as I paid with loose change. I loitered by the counter as I waited, not bothering to sit, and while I did so, a flash of blonde caught my gaze.

I shifted my attention to the blonde-haired boy as he walked down the street, oblivious to my stare. The sunlight caught his hair in highlights, and made his green eyes glint in a mischievous, yet wise light. His hands rested in his forest green hoody pockets while he sauntered lazily, but had a careful tread to them like he was purposefully avoided footstep sounds. As if he felt my stare, he caught my gaze. My eyes widened in embarrassment that he caught me, but his lips just turned upwards in a crooked smirk.

To say I was breathless by his beauty and in plain intrigument was an understatement.

"Hot chocolate?"

I turned, smiling in thanks as I grabbed my hot drink, relieved for the distraction. By the time I exited the small cafe, the blonde haired boy had already disappeared, seemingly into thin air.

I frowned, glancing down the street, skimming my eyes across the heads of the pedestrians. Nothing. That couldn't be possible, could it?

I shook my head. No matter. I had places to be and people to see.

Placing my headphones back onto their rightful place, I nursed my hot chocolate as I bounded my way down the street, continuing onto my destination. The park, where I was meeting up with a couple of my friends to skate.

I made my way down the street, dancing around objects that lay in my path, precariously balancing my hot chocolate in my hand.

The entrance to the park loomed in front of me like a gateway to nature itself. I inhaled deeply, smiling to myself, before embarking forward onto my journey. I paced my way through the park, enjoying the scenery and sipping my sweet drink.

I took out my phone, checking for updates. Nada. Shit.
I plonked down on a nearby seat and placed my cup down next to me, slouching over my device as I texted my friends, querying as to how far away they were.

Five minutes, my friend Claire replied. I huffed through my nose a little and stood, sending back an acknowledgment message. I embarked down the short concrete path to the half pipe, where some other teenagers were hanging around and skateboarding.

Soon enough, my friends collected there in a group, laughing and chatting the minutes away. I approached them with a bright grin, some which were returned, others which were ignored. Not all of them were my friends, let's get that straight.

"Heya, Y/n!" a voice from my best friend greeted exuberantly, her skateboard hoisted under her arm. Her long, black hair was tied up with a rubber band, and a multitude of plasters decorated her legs, arms and even one claimed her cheek. "Where's your board?"

I stared at her, before something in my head clicked and I groaned, slapping my hand against my head.
"Shit," I grumbled, running the hand through my hair. "Shit."

Claire grinned in amusement, before shaking her head and holding up her other hand with my old board. I didn't even notice her carrying it.
"You're one ditzy girl," she chuckled, rolling her eyes. "You left it at my place the other day. I thought you would've noticed, but obviously not."

I giggled sheepishly, precariously taking my Board back while my face flushed bright red. A few of the members in my group laughed. But they were laughing with me, so it's fine.

Claire shifted her gaze behind me, but it quickly flickered back to my eyes as if it never even happened. She sent me a fluttery smile, before turning to the girl on her right and beginning to discuss what tricks they should do.

A sudden hand on my shoulder caused my skeleton to attempt to leap out of my body, and I twisted around in a fight or flight, adrenaline-based response, lifting my hands up in defence with the skateboard still clutched in my grasp.

For a split second, I saw a glint of green, and then the sound of my old skateboard quite literally splitting down the middle. The force from my baseball-skateboard defensive swing caused a person to collapse to the ground, groaning in shock and surprise.

I dropped the two broken pieces of my skateboard as I gasped, crouching down next to the blonde-haired boy as he slowly sat up, rubbing the side of his head. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing the same mischievous yet wise green eyes that I had caught for a second in the cafe.

Shit.

I burst out in apology as I held out a hand for him to grab. He did so, and I aided him to his feet. I noticed in horror his green hoody was covered in the remains of what seemed to be a hot chocolate. In his grasp was a takeaway cup - an open takeaway cup - with my name on it.

Fuck.

"I- oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I repeated frantically as I tried to wipe down the excess hot chocolate from his hoody in vain. The blonde haired boy pulled his hand away from his face and revealed an irritated gash on his forehead, brimming with blood.

A new wave - tsunami - of guilt rushed through my body, making me feel a thousand times worse. But the blonde-haired boy just cracked his crooked smirk as if a bonk to the head was nothing.

"Well, that's one way to meet a pretty girl," he joked, and held out the empty, topless takeaway cup. "You left this on a bench."

I gaped, grabbing the empty cup from his grasp. His previous compliment flew over my head.
"I- I'm so-"

"It's fine," he waves it off nonchalantly. "I've been through much, much worse. Trust me, this isn't anything new."

"But-" I tried, and the blonde cut me off again.
"It's fine." His eyes began to twinkle in amusement, but I did not get the joke.

"Your hoody, it's covered in hot chocolate!" I exclaimed in panic. "Please, at least me wash it for you."

The boy's eyes flicked from my worried gaze to the group of my friends that had began snickering behind me. Somebody must of said something funny. His green gaze then turned to the ground where he noticed my split skateboard.

"Oh, no!" he exclaimed as he bent and grabbed the two halves. He stared at it at the same amount of worry I held for him, as if I was the one bleeding from my forehead. "I'm so sorry. Here, I can get it fixed for you."

I blinked, my mouth still wide open like a fish. Is this guy serious? Yes. He was, because then he asked for my phone so he could keep in contact and inform me of the process that my skateboard was going through, and so we could meet up and exchange belongings. I handed him my phone in a daze as he punched in his number and texted himself.

He handed it back, along with his dirty hoody with a sympathetic yet warm grin. I tried not to look at his bare arms as they held the two halves of my board. It was a challenge.

"Eye for an eye?" he shrugged. I laughed weakly in response, nodding as I clutched his hoody. I grabbed my device from him and tried to slip it into my pocket, but in my frazzled state, I completely missed it. It started to fall to the ground, but before I could even blink, it was being held out in front of me. The boy sent me a pointed smirk, and although he was still bleeding from the gash above his eyebrow, I still felt my heart flutter.

"Careful," he said. "Don't want to break another thing."

In awe tenfolded, I gently took my phone from his fingers, taking care in making sure it slipped into my pocket safely this time round. With a parting grin and a two fingered wave, the blonde-haired boy left the park with my old broken skateboard in tow.

I blinked, staring after the blonde. The whole interaction we just had seriously went over my head. It was as if I was in some sort of daze.

I jumped when Claire roughly leant on my shoulder, watching the blonde leave the park with me. She blew a bubble of pink gum right next to my ear.

"He's cute," she mused. I missed the indecipherable glint in her eyes. I nodded absentmindedly, the hoody in my grasp loose.

"Hey, since you've got no skateboard, and it would be boring and awkward if you just sat and watched us, why don't you go home? You could get another hot chocolate on the way," Claire suggested with a shrug.

I blinked, turning my head toward her and opening my mouth to disagree against her proposal, but she had already hoisted herself off of me, kicking her skateboard to the ground and pushing off. Quite literally leaving me in the dust.

She's just excited to play on her skateboard. She was just assuming that I would get bored. Claire's a good friend like that.

I smiled to myself as she went off, laughing to our friends. I blinked a couple of times, trying to push down the slight mush of rejection that seemed to swell up in the bottom of my stomach.

I set off, bringing the headphones over my ears again and playing the same song that I had on during my walk to the park. I took a shuddering sigh, before clutching the green, hot chocolate covered hoody closer to my chest. It wafted a smell of hot chocolate for obvious reasons, but underneath the stench, there was a soft underlying scent of men's cologne and almost the cool, fresh smell of spring.

I held back a soft sigh, instead letting the breath escape from my nose. I left the park a little more downcast than which I arrived, but there was hope hidden within the folds and creases of the green hot chocolate stained hoody.