Cruising on a sunday afternoon

[micula]

Ocean slid across the tarmac with ease, the noise of his rollerblades soothing to his ears as he moved forward at a lazy speed, feeling the breeze whip past his cheeks.

He felt better when he skated like this, washed clean from thoughts, all he had were the noise of the skates, the feel of the wind and the occasional attempts to remain upright. It took away all the crap that floated through his life. His parents, his sisters, his friends.. all of it drifted away in those few minutes of skate time.

[katiefrank]

Lauren pushed off on her skateboard, speeding down the park path with ease. The wind caught her hair, causing the short strands to stick up even more than usual. She was glad, more than anything, to be out of the house. Away from her parents' constant nagging about her appearence and her sisters pure perfection. Apparently good grades didn't matter if you weren't perfect looking. She shook her head, pressing her foot hard into the pavement and kicking up a burst of speed. What she really needed was a night out. She heard there had been a party at Tric, but she wasn't sure whether she'd bother going.

She spotted someone rollerblading a little way down the hill from her and slowed down, not wanting to crash into them. Bringing both feet up onto her board she cruised down the hill, swinging and coming to a stop at the bench nearby. She plonked herself down and watched, waiting for the kid to notice her arrival.

[micula]

Ocean saw the girl with the board as he smoothly skated towards her.

do I really want company he toyed briefly with the idea of taking another trail and leaving, but he had skated past his escape route and now there was only the girl and the bench ahead. He stopped skating, preferring to coast down the rest of the hill towards the newcomer.

"Hey there!" He called as he neared the girl, his accent unmistakeable and his dark eyes unreadable.

[katiefrank]

Lauren smiled and raised her hand in greeting, piercing blue eyes focused on the boy. She recognised his accent as a Floridian one. Not quite as exotic as her own London accent but still she wondered what he was doing down here.
"Hey." She replied, holding out her hand. "Lauren Newton, nice to meet you."

[micula]

"Ocean Mitchell!" He replied, raising an eyebrow at the English tones, he wasn't about to state the obvious about it though.

"Sorry about the name, but my parents thought they were being 'interesting'!" He held up his index fingers and made air 'quote' marks.

[katiefrank]

Lauren laughed and nodded, she knew te type. One of her friends back in London had been called 'Star' although her parents had been old-school hippie types. Star lived in a caravan. For a moment she wondered whether Ocean's parents were hippies too, he didn't look the type to have been raised by hippies, but she guesed she didn't look like she'd come from such a conservative house and background. She opened her mouth to ask about his parents, then quickly shut it again thinking it would be rude as she hardly even knew the guy.

It took her a moment to realise she didn't actually care.
"I haven't seen you around here before. You travel around a lot or something?" She asked, pulling a pack of Camels from her pocket. "You smoke?"

[micula]

"Like a chimney!" He replied, accepting the offered cigarette and sitting down next to her.

"No I haven't travelled the states!" He answered her first question after taking a long drag of the cigarette. "This is my first move from Cape Cod!" He shrugged and stared over the green parkland.

"We moved in last week! We're in the estate on the hill!" He waved a hand in the direction of where he lived, describing the expensive side of town. He pushed a hand through his wavy locks and sighed.

"Don't really know my way around yet."

[katiefrank]

Lauren eyed him carefully as Ocean took the cigarette from her, lighting up and taking a long drag from it. A small smile formed on her lips and she lit one up for herself.
"I think I'm going to really like you kid." She grinned. "Usually when I light up people look at me like I blow smoke in babies faces. Apparently taking up smoking automatically enters you into some evil cult."
She followed his hand as he talked about his new house. She knew that part of town, she lived there too. Okay so she spent more time away from there than she did in the actual estate, but still.
"I can show you around a bit if you like. My family lives in that part of town too." She suggested.

[micula]

Ocean eyed Lauren and gave her a rare smile. "That'd be cool!" He replied as he stretched back on the bench and enjoyed the cigarette.

"So what's there to do around here?" He asked after several moments silence.

[katiefrank]

"Not all that much." She admitted. "Okay, that's a slight lie. There's skating in the park and if you're into music there's a recording studio and a few local bands around. I'm in a band myself actually. And there's Tric, which is the local club."
She paused and took another long drag on the cigarette.
"And of course a mall and a pool and all the usual stuff." She shrugged. "It's not so bad really I guess."

[micula]

"So your basic small town stuff.." Ocean replied as he puffed a thin stream of smoke into the air, he supposed it could be worse, they'd passed a couple of very tiny villages in the last leg of their trip here. "You say there's a recording studio, are any of the bands good?"

[katiefrank]

Lauren laughed and nodded, her eyes glittering mischieviously. She'd just had an idea.
"Yeah, but this is your basic small town so I guess that's to be expected." She paused and stubbed out her cigarette. "We have a few good bands, we have some terrible ones too. It's a bit of a mix. Although I have heard that there's a new upcoming band that are pretty good. They haven't got a name yet but someone told me the lead singer is a bit of a babe."
She waited for his reaction, wondering if the kid was quick enough to catch on.