Heat scorches up my neck. “Right.”
I get out of there pretty fast after that, waving an awkward and shaky bye before trying not to race to my car. When I get there, I slam my head on my steering wheel. So much for love at first sight.
Pete
Damn, this floor is sticky.
My shoe lifts with a crackle, and I eye the bottom of it, wondering what coulda walked through the skating zone. Maybe a walking, talking, leaking soda bottle.
Better take care of it. Wouldn’t want an innocent skater going through here and coming to an abrupt halt. Knowing my sister is out on the half-pipe right now, preparing for her next boarding competition makes me move a little bit faster than normal to a mop bucket.
“No one knows how to read signs, right?” Tanner says as I drop the mop to the floor with a slop. He points to the “no food or drink” sign, puts a straw to his mouth, and takes a giant sip of his Dr. Pepper. I shake my head with a laugh.
“Now I know how Candace feels when she works with me.” Tanner has got a huge thing for Candace, and the look of disappointment on his face when I was the one who strolled over to help him out said it all. Candace and I were scheduled at the kiddie rides today, but when Jeremy called in sick, the boss told one of us to head over to the Wheel Zone. Tanner’s always here. After about four months of trading shifts so he’d be in charge of the skaters and boarders, the scheduler just stuck him here permanently.
I push the mop across the floor, cursing the skaters out under my breath when they roll on through my work. My normal MO is not giving two shits, but if some dumb kid gets hurt, I’ll be put on probation. Losing a couple weeks of pay is gonna put a hitch in my budget.
“She loves working with me,” Tanner defends, tapping on his hat. “I follow the rules. Mostly.”
“Around her, probably.” I quirk a grin and stick the mop in the water and ring it out. “Sorry you got stuck with me.”
“No you’re not.”
“Yeah…”
“I’m thinking of asking her out. Good idea?”
I tilt my head back and forth, lifting a shoulder before I push the mop over the last bit of sticky floor. “Dunno. How are you with rejection?”
He glares and then deliberately spreads his dirty shoe over my freshly mopped section. He nearly falls on his ass in the process, so karma is good.
“You really think you’ll do it this time?” I ask once I’ve mopped his stupid mess. I click the mop into its spot in the bucket and wheel it back to the cleaning closet. Tanner’s been saying he’s gonna ask Candace out for about a month now. I’ve yet to see the guy actually take the plunge.
“Hell yeah. Next time we get scheduled together.”
“You know that could be a while.” He never moves anywhere, and Candace hates the Wheel Zone. Her anxiety goes through the roof with all the injury possibilities, not to mention all the people who ignore all the signs posted about no food in the area.
Tanner sucks his drink dry, the annoying sound of air and barely there Dr. Pepper echoing before he chucks the thing in the garbage. He hops over the counter set up for the music and switches it up to some love songs. The rink gets couples skate time every hour.
“Okay, lovebirds, time to hold hands and try not to fall on our butts in front of our crushes,” he says through the mic. I reach around and press the buttons for the darker lights for a better mood. Saturdays we get mostly preteens and high schoolers. During the week we get some older folks, which is pretty sweet. But I pray they don’t fall and bust a hip.
Today we got lots of preteens awkwardly asking for each other’s hands, skating as far as their arms will stretch.
A chunk of people get off the rink, and through the crowd of skaters, I find Madison with her board, sweat rolling down her forehead as she heads to the counter.
“Brink!” Tanner says when he sees my older sister approaching. “How’s the half-pipe?”
“Crowded.” Maddie hands me her board, and I set it on my shoulder while she glugs half her water. Her blue helmet has a dent along the side from when she wrecked last week. My overtime will for sure go to new gear for her. She’s holding out all hope for a sponsor in the near future, but it’s good to have a backup plan.
“You should head to Granite Park,” I tell her. “Might not be as busy.”
She shakes her head. “Went there first. With the Ultimate Board competition coming up, everyone’s trying to get practice in.”
“Too bad we’re in the dead of winter, right?” I joke, and her eyes go wide and she nods in agreement. “Maybe I can get you some private time while we close.”
She pushes her sweaty black hair from her face and blows out a sigh. “That’d be nice, but I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
I furrow my brow. She loves when I work Wheel Zone, especially during closing hours. We let her board until we’re absolutely ready to go home. It’s not exactly okay, but we’re rarely checked in on since Tanner knows what he’s doing. He’s sort of the unofficial boss of the skating rink and half pipes.
“Never stopped you before,” I say.
She frowns, her eyes meeting mine with a look like she needs to talk. A rock plummets into my stomach. What now?
Maddie and I have lived together for three years, both of us agreeing that living under the same roof is okay as long as it’s not with Mom and Dad. Being responsible for some of the bills was required of us when we first got jobs—me at sixteen and Maddie at eighteen. That was fine, but then we started paying all of them. Dad started blowing the majority of his income on opiates and booze while Mom refused to get a job because she simply “didn’t know how to work.”
When I graduated high school, Maddie proposed getting our own place to rent. We’d save more money splitting it between the two of us, and not to mention, it was cheaper than paying mortgage, phones, car payments, and all the other responsibilities that were on our shoulders and not our parents’. We hoped tough love would get Dad to budget better.
It’s worked out so far, with Mom and Dad asking for money only here and there. The only reason we help is because of Demi, our sister who’s still at home. She’s got a good five, six years before she’s forced to get a job and contribute. Maddie and I are hoping to talk our parents out of that if it happens, though.
“I’m gonna take my break now,” I say to Tanner. “You got this?”
“See you in fifteen.” He adjusts his Troublemakers cap and leans against the back of the sound booth, keeping watch on the skaters. Maddie offers a half smile at my awesome ESP, and I hook an arm around her shoulder and walk her to the break room.
She’s technically not allowed in here either, but Saturdays are so damn busy that the managers are off doing their own shit. And if she’s caught here, it’s more or less a slap on the wrist. I clock out, and she flumps into the well-used couch. I grab a fresh water and toss it her way.
“All right, what’s going on?” I flop onto the cushion opposite her.
She unhooks her helmet and drops it to her lap. Her black hair is matted and sticky, her ponytail low on her neck. She slides the elastic out and runs her fingers through the damp strands. “Dad called.”