Page 74 of Good For Me

“Do something actually cool,” Ash adds, the little traitor.

I glance back at Jas, who’s watching me with a huge grin on her face. She gives an exaggerated yawn and I snort out a laugh. “Such a brat,” I mutter, grinning to myself. I drop into the ramp, building up some speed, then perform a bluntslide—sliding on my wheels across the lip of the ramp. It’s one of the harder slides, because I’m totally trying to show off, and I almost pay for it by falling. I manage to stay on my board, even if it’s wobbly, and Ash and Cade cheer. I look over my shoulder at Jas—because I’m apparently just as bad as the teenage boys when it comes to wanting to impress her—and she yawns again, then checks an imaginary watch on her wrist.

Cade and Ash hoot and holler, loving that she’s giving me shit. “Guess I gotta step up my game,” I mutter to myself. This time I do a kickflip at the top of the ramp, getting some decent air.

“Oh come on,” I cry when I come up to the rim and see Jas still sitting there looking bored. “You can’t tell me that wasn’t the slightest bit impressive.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “It was okay. I suppose.”

I cross my arms, trying to keep a stern expression on my face. It’s a struggle though. I freaking love this. Trying to impress her. The way she’s giving me shit. The banter back and forth. I can’t remember when I had such a good time.

Probably the night I danced with her at Ruby’s, honestly.

“You think you can do so much better?” I ask. “Because when you were doing your little tricks earlier, I didn’t see you pull off a kickflip on the ramp.”

“Oh, I can do a kickflip on the ramp. And I bet I can get a hell of a lot more air than you,” she says, to a chorus ofooohsfrom the boys.

I hold out my hands. “Then what’s stopping you, hot shot?”

She flips her hair over her shoulder, grabs her board, and pulls off an absolutely flawless kickflip without breaking a sweat—and she totally gets more air than I did.

The loud cheer that follows doesn’t just come from the two boys. I look over my shoulder to see my youngest cousin, CeCe, running towards us, her braided pigtails flying out behind her, looking as excited as I’ve ever seen her. “Was that Jas?” she cries as she skids up next to me.

“Sure was.”

“She’samazing,” CeCe says, sounding awed. “Do you think she’ll teach me some stuff?”

“Hey, we asked first,” Cade says.

“Yeah, but she’s agirl,” CeCe says. “I never get to hang out with girls who can skate like that! This is amazing. Presley needs to see this.” Before I can tell her to chill out, she’s takes off running, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“I think this is about to get a lot more crowded,” I tell Jas when she skates over.

“CeCe has a big mouth,” Cade grumbles.

Sure enough, CeCe returns just a few minutes later, our cousin Presley and my sister Violet with her. A few more people are trailing behind—apparently, she made an announcement to the entire family.

Jas takes it all in stride. “You guys skate?” she says to CeCe and Presley who are both hurrying to pull on pads and helmets.

“A little,” Presley says. “Ceece is the prodigy of the family.”

CeCe flushes with pleasure, an expression of total hero worship on her face as she looks up at Jas. “I’m not as good as you, though,” she says. “That kickflip was amazing.”

Jas grins down at her. “Show me what you got, girl.”

It’s all pretty chaotic after that. A bunch of my cousins join us on the track while even more members of my family mill around watching, including my parents. My dad must have said something to the caterer, because the staff arrives a few minutes later with coolers of sodas and platters of chips and cookies. Dad also turns on the stadium lights, since it’s starting to get dark, and gets the sound system going so there’s music playing.

“This has turned into a nice little party,” Jas says, looking around as she munches on chips. Even though we just finished a huge meal, Jas abandoned her board the second the food showed up to fill up a plate. She’s watching my mom—who’s a pretty decent skater herself— attempt a heel flip while my dad cheers on the sideline. Jasmine’s eyes are sparkling, an easy grin on her face. She’s having a good time, and the fact that I helped to make that happens fills me with a satisfied warmth.

“Jas,” Presley calls from over by the ramp. “Can you show me that fakie again?”

“Sure.” She hands her plate off to me and heads over. I stand there and watch her for a while as she demonstrates the trick. She immediately draws a little crowd—CeCe and the boys and my mom joining Presley to watch. She says something that makes them all laugh, and my chest grows warm and tight, watching them.

“You know you’re screwed, right?” I don’t have to look over to know the voice comes from my cousin Will. He sounds amused as hell. “You’re like,gonefor this girl, Riv. You should see your face right now.”

I grunt noncommittedly. I don’t need to view my face to know what he’s seeing there. I’ve never been good at masking my feelings for Jas, even when she was just a girl who I used to stare at in the bar, wishing I could get closer.

And honestly, not much has changed. I’m still standing here at a distance, watching her. Wishing I could get closer.