Page 5 of Tailwhip

Jumping and eyes wide, I look over at both Nick and Neha who are both smiling ear to ear and laughing at me. I tell her to shut up!

Still laughing at me, she says, “You never took your eyes off of him during his whole run. Do you realize that?”

I do realize that, I say to myself, but I really don’t know what to tell her.

Neha steps into me and says, “I would say don’t look now, but you have been spotted, Ashlynn!”

As soon as she says this, I feel his eyes on me and I turn to look at the deck where he is leaning on his bike looking right at me. He still looks like the boy I fell in love with, but he is now a man. It seems like he is a bit taller, still has his dark hair, olive skin, and damn that muscular frame. My goodness, he has straight forearm porn going on! As I continue with my staring, because I am having trouble taking my eyes off him now, he gives me a small nod and that damn beautiful, crooked smile that always got me to melt. How is it he only got more handsome with age? I turn to Neha and Nick, not knowing what to say, so I say the first thing that comes to mind, “I need to go get another Jack and Coke, I will meet you guys somewhere or whatever!” I can’t even think straight at this point; I just need to get out of here!

I make it back over to the whiskey tent and the line is massive, which I am more than happy with since it will take me a while to make my way back. Oh god, why did I have to stand there and stare at him like some lunatic? Though, thinking of the look on his face, he didn’t seem so shocked to see me with Neha and Nick. That makes me wonder if he somehow saw me when we first got here this afternoon, and I just didn’t notice? I do have quite the tunnel vision with pretty much everything. If I have a destination to focus on, that’s what matters and at the time it was getting a Jack and Coke. Now that I think about it, though, as I was standing in line earlier, it did feel like someone was watching me, but when I looked around, I didn’t notice anything. I’m not a big drinker, but right now calls for another one. I need to chill the hell out. My nerves are going crazy; I am shaking. He still has such a pull on me, even after all this time–like we are somehow tethered together, and it is trying to pull us back to one another.

As I am waiting in line, Neha comes up to me and gets a lot of dirty looks from everyone for cutting. She starts talking. “That was interesting.”

I don’t even want to look at her at this moment. I can’t take my mind off him. He saw me and wasn’t surprised. He had to have seen me earlier, but when? I finally answer her. “Yeah, I was just so into watching him ride, that’s all it was. It has been a long time since I’ve watched him.”

Once again, I am being laughed at. “You realize how many times you just said watched in the same sentence? Tell yourself whatever makes you feel better, Ashlynn, but you cannot fool me. You still have it bad for him, just like you did in high school. I don’t think either of you ever stopped.”

Smacking my forehead and sighing, I ask her, “Do you think he noticed how much I was staring at him? He didn’t even seem that surprised to see me.”

Neha looks away as if choosing her next words carefully, but she just blurts it out. “He saw you already, in this same line earlier. He told me when we saw each other at the skatepark. I think he could see my concern on my face, and he just told me he saw you, but you had your back to him and you didn’t know.”

Relief falls over me, thank goodness. She continues talking and tells me what else he said, “He also said that he could find you in any crowd.” For some unknown reason, this makes me blush far too much. Do I just not blend in very well or can he just really zero in on me that easily? It is that damn connection that has never gone away. It is still there and just as strong. Neha sighs and says, “I think he was hoping you would be here with me; he got such a sweet smile on his face when he told me he saw you already.” In good old Neha fashion, she makes me smile with this comment!

5

Anthony

Ohio is for Lovers – Hawthorne Heights

Once my song starts to play over the speakers, the crowd goes wild. I consider this one of my favorite songs to ride to for my dirt jumps. Once I get on deck, I can feel the crowd’s energy, along with something else. I feel it in the middle of my chest, a feeling only a certain someone can bring out of me.

I drop in and go through my first run. Once I am back on deck, I look around the crowd and still don’t see her. Why am I hoping she will be here? It’s probably for the best that she is not. As the announcers state my scores, I drop in for my second run. Again, I have another flawless ride. Once done, I lean on my bike and look over the crowd, and that’s it. I see her, and she is staring right at me. I give her a quick nod and smile over to her. She is with Nick and Neha, and I am not surprised they are all together. Though, after the announcement of my standing for the second run, she quickly turns and runs down the stairs–once again, out of sight.

As soon as the dirt event wraps up, I take my bike and quickly go in search for her. I have no clue where to start. However, a part of me thinks maybe she went back to the whiskey tent for another drink. She loved that shit in high school. I make my way over to the tent, and, sure enough, she is waiting in line talking with Neha. I start to make my way over.

Nick jumps in front of me, grabbing onto my bars, asking, “What are you doing?”

Sending him an annoyed look, I tell him, “What does it look like I am doing? I am going to say hi to her. Don’t stop me, everything is fine.”

He does not look convinced with this. Nick tells me, “I told her about Mika, so she knows you have a girlfriend and you’re welcome for that.”

This hits a nerve, “Why the hell did you tell her that? In case you haven’t noticed, Mika isn’t even here. She conveniently went on a girls’ trip while I was touring.” She is choosing other things over me. I look at him and tell him, “I just need to say hi to her and see how she has been. That’s it.” My heart is beating faster than at any event I have ridden.

Walking up behind her, I can tell the moment her body can feel me around. We have an invisible pull to one another, and it clearly hasn’t gone away. Coming up behind her, but not too close, I lean in and say something I know will get a reaction out of her. “Ashlynn, baby, let me see you.”

I can hear her breath catch and ever so slowly, she fully turns around and looks up at me through her dark lashes and gives me a big smile. My breath is taken away.

I try to find my words, but she beats me to it telling me, “I saw your second run for dirt; you were amazing–always have been.”

I give her a shy smile; don’t ask how, but she can still make me blush. Looking at her, I thank her for coming and watching me.

She looks away for a quick second and says, “I honestly wasn’t planning on watching you, but I was assured by two certain people that you wouldn’t see me because the dirt event has one of the bigger audiences. However, once I heard your song playing and getting up the stairs, I was stuck in my spot watching you. I couldn’t take my eyes from you.”

Thinking to myself, I realize it’s nice to hear that someone enjoys watching me do what I love.

As we continue catching up, a familiar song comes on at the tents: Ohio is for lovers by Hawthorne Heights starts to play. We both look at each other, smiling, remembering that the last time I was around her was at this concert. That was a good night, even though I knew it didn’t mean we would be back together. I left the next day for Greenville.

Ashlynn lets out a small laugh and I look at her with a smile, asking her, “What are you laughing at?”