Getting an in school suspension was not part of your plan. You just thought you’d skip your last class of the day and go and watch her run the mile for gym, since you heard her complaining about it at lunch. You weren’t sure what was more embarrassing; your mother having to be called when you’re a senior or the fact that the dean busted you on the bleachers right as she ran past you. Either way it meant you’d be spending all weekend at home and the entire day Monday in the Biology lab serving your detention. Your friend Evan drives you home and as you turn the corner onto your street you see the cream color of your brother’s truck which must mean he’s decided to come and stay for a couple of days giving you even less privacy. You grumpily stumble out of the car and head up the walk just as your mom and brother are walking out for dinner. “Grounded!” Your mother says as she walks past you.
You head upstairs and throw your bag on the floor and fall onto the bed. Turning on the tv you notice your mom has set your skateboard on your desk. The new deck, a Sean Cliver for Girl Skateboards Blacklight Series “Buddha Superstar”, glows like sea monkey’s in the dark of the room. Just as you roll over in frustration your phone rings. “Boy, you have to GOT toget here now!” Evan whispers into the phone. He explains that she’s at the skate park. “And she’s alone. She didn’t come with him. I think they might have broken up or something.” You hold the phone in your hand thinking about how much you miss her. How her hair smelled when you sat next to her in her car. How she’d smile at you right before she’d kiss you. “Give me 15 minutes.” You say and hang up the phone.
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Looking at yourself in the mirror you realize there is no way you’re going to get her back looking the way you do. In fact, since she broke up with you, because you got drunk instead of hanging out with her, you’ve kind of let yourself go. She always said how she liked the way you dressed because you didn’t give a fuck and just wore what made you feel good.
You quickly get undressed and throw on your Spenglish “Juan Two Three” tee (Spenglish, $45) that she loved. You pull up your tight Nudie “Thin Finn Faded Black Black” jeans (Nudie, $199) and check yourself out in the mirror. Not bad. Not too shabby at all. But it’s not enough. Running your fingers through your hair you realize it’s greasy and you haven’t washed it in a couple of days.
You look over at your clock and realize you’ve already wasted 5 minutes. You head into the bathroom and pull the clippers out from underneath the sink. Plugging them in you look in the mirror. “Fuck it.” Five minutes later the six inches of hair surrounds your bare feet. Some pieces on your head are still longer than others, but who cares. You’re not a barber and you kind of like how it looks edgy anyway. But something is still missing. You stand there for a second and then get an idea. Walking into the guest bedroom you stand over your brother’s luggage as if you’ve found your hidden Christmas presents and don’t know if you should open them and seal them back or not. Quickly you unzip the biggest bag and look until you find exactly what you’re looking for. His brand new Gucci Washed Ostrich Biker jacket(Gucci, $11300)
You slip the jacket on carefully realizing how much it means to your brother. Standing in front of the mirror you realize it looks absolutely perfect. You’re sure you’ll be back before your mom and brother get back anyway so you’ll just slip it back in the suitcase and you’ll never get caught. You quickly grab you board and run out the door.
While running over to the skate park you think back on the first day you actually got up enough nerve to talk to her after having watched her from far away for a long time. You remember how your friends were pissed because you chose to sit and laugh with her all afternoon instead of skating. “Bros before hos, dude.” Afterwards she asked you to teach her to skate. You kissed her instead. But she became a pretty good skater…for a girl. And for the six months you were together saved up your money to buy her a board. She broke up with you before you ever got a chance to give it to her and the board still sat on the shelf in your closet.
When you finally reach the skate park you immediately sitting by herself with her back up against a tree. You throw down your board and skate over to Evan. “She’s been by herself the whole time. I’m telling you man, I think they broke up. She looks really sad.” You look over at her but she doesn’t look back. You take a deep breath and skate over to her. “Hey” You say. She looks up. “Hey.” She says back. You sit down next to her just as it starts raining. “So.” You say. “So.” She says. “Not skating today?” She asks, barely looking up. “Naw.” You say. You scratch your newly shaved head and some hairs falls in front of your face. You laugh. “I’ve missed you.” She says. You don’t say anything. You never were good with words. “It’s why we broke up. I told him I couldn’t be with him anymore because I was still in love with you.” You close your eyes and scream at yourself in your head. Don’t Cry! Don’t be a little bitch and start crying! But she’s already beat you to the punch. You stand up and reach for her hand. “Let’s get outta here.” You say. She takes your hand and stands up. She’s still crying. You reach into your pocket and grab the Sugar Factory “Hello Kitty” couture pop (Sugar Factory, $25) you bought her while at your brother’s wedding in Vegas.
She looks up and you make a face. She laughs. “Come on you asshole.” She says, pulling you with her across the field towards her car. About halfway there you stop. She turns around, confused, her hair slicked back in the pouring rain. You take off your brother’s leather jacket and put it around her shoulders. Lightly grabbing her by the back of her neck you pull her towards you. “I’ve missed you too.” You say, right before you kiss her.
“Wait!” She says. You open your eyes and look at her mysterious smirk. “I want your new board too.” She says, biting the corner of her lip. You look down and feel the rain wash down over the back of your neck as you fix your eyes on the key of her 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (Jeep, starts at $25545) thinking about all of the times the two of you made out in that car. Man, not the new board.
You think about all the nights you tried to say you were sorry but she wouldn’t talk to you. You think about all the times you walked past her house after school just to see if she was there. You think about all the times you had to watch her with him. Sometimes…life is in the risks. “Deal.” You say, smiling. She grabs you and kisses you hard.
And standing in the field, your lips meeting hers in the rainstorm, you realize how happy you are that you decided to break the rules and just say fuck it. Because even though your life is going to completely suck for the next few weeks, this moment is totally worth it. After all…this might have just been the greatest day of your life.
Be fearless. Be yourself. Be your own unexpected luxury!