The sound of the chair next to me scraping against the linoleum floor startled me. Nikki looked at me curiously as she put down her backpack and settled into the desk.

“Why do you keep smiling at your phone, you loser?”

“None of your business, nerd.” She reached for my phone. I reacted too late and could only hide my face in my hands. I could feel my face getting hot as she looked at the name of who I had been texting. In my defense, he was telling me about the time he ran into a trash can on his skateboard because he swerved to avoid a raccoon.

“Zelo? Is this the dog park guy you’ve been seeing every week?”

“Maybe.” She looked at my pink face and gave me a knowing look.

“When am I going to meet him? Haven’t you only known him for like a month and a half?”

“Eventually. And yeah but it’s just different with him. We just click y’know? We can talk about everything and nothing at the same time. When it’s just us, it’s like a whole other world where I don’t have to worry about deadlines or school or anything. It’s just us and the dogs.” Truth was I wanted to keep him all to myself for just a little longer.

“Alright. But just make sure when you introduce us, he brings one of his cute friends along.” she grinned at me. I laughed and shoved her shoulder.

“Whatever you say.”

One particular day, when we met up Zelo had an orange skateboard with him. I raised an eyebrow at him.

    “What’s with the skateboard?”

    “Remember how you said you always wanted to learn how to ride one?”

    “Um I’m pretty sure I said that I thought it was cool you knew how to ride one and I thought about learning it once when I was younger.”

    “Yeah same thing.”

    “No no. I’m pretty sure this won’t go well.  I’m totally going to fall on my face. Multiple times.” I was one of  the most awkward and uncoordinated people ever. Zelo would probably get so frustrated with me and I would feel so terrible and embarrassed. Zelo gripped my hands and I looked up at him startled.

    “ I won’t let you fall.Trust me.” I caved in when I saw  the sincerity in his gaze. I sighed.

    “Alright. Fine.” Surprisingly it wasn’t that bad. Zelo kept his word and he was right next to me, letting me hold onto him for support. After a while, it was clear I had gotten the hang of it. I mean I wasn’t going to be zooming around the park or anything. But I didn’t have to hang onto Zelo anymore. He stayed close enough so he could still help me if I needed it. I kind of missed holding onto his solid arm. It made me feel secure.

    “Hey, let’s see how good you are now that you pretty much got this. Try skateboarding to me.”, he said and walked a few feet in front of me. Feeling confident, I agreed. I guess there was a small rock or something on the path. Whatever it was, threw me off balance and I braced myself for impact silently thankful for the helmet and pads Zelo let me use.  I fell on something solid that felt much nicer than concrete. I opened my eyes and found myself on eye level with Zelo’s chest. Ohmygod. I quickly jumped away.

    “I’m so so sorry. There was a rock or something and- are you ok?” My thoughts were a mess. I can’t believe that just happened. It was a pretty nice chest, too. No. Focus.

    “Yeah. I’m fine. Just embarrassed.” I could feel a blush creeping up my neck and face. I quickly turned around too embarrassed to meet his eyes.

    “Kookie and Mochii are probably wondering where we went. Let’s go back before they get uh dognapped or something.” We weren’t even that far from the dogs. We could even still hear them barking excitedly. Definitely not my best excuse. But Zelo silently followed me anyway.