A/N: Sorry for not updating for a few days, I was out of town. Things should start to pick up with the story again. Thanks as always for reading and reviewing! I appreciate everything you all have to say. –Relia

Chapter 19

They got all of one block before a debate broke out among the three guys over where to go next and how to change clothes. Wentz kept his gear in a locker near the Zephyr shop and wanted to go there although it meant navigating smoke, firetruck and cop-filled streets unless one was willing to seriously detour. TA wanted to go straight to his house, which wasn't far. Red Dog had his clothes in a rucksack and didn't care where they went as long as they got a chance to eat along the way. Jess hung back a few feet away, checking for sand in her bike chain and trying not to eavesdrop. From the surreptitious glances she was getting from TA and Red Dog, it was becoming clear that she might not be entirely welcome to tag along for the time being. Wentzle confirmed this a minute later when he stepped away from the others and approached Jess. "Ahh, I think the guys and I are gonna get changed and stow our surfboards. Do you wanna meet us later at …Hey, Tony, where should we all meet up?"

"How 'bout the corner of Pacific and Marine? We might end up skating banks at Mar Vista if everyone can get their shit together," TA suggested with a hint of impatience.

Wentzle turned back to Jess. "Sound cool? Give us like an hour to change and eat and all that. I know how these guys move, especially once they're on their second joint of the day."

"We aren't gonna get on the first one until you get your ass in gear, vato!" TA barked.

"Pacific and Marine in an hour," Jess confirmed. Wentz gave her the thumbs-up.

"Ok, later!" he shot over his shoulder along with a grin at Jess as he turned to go.

"Later," she muttered at his retreating back. She was a little let down not to be included but decided it would probably be pretty boring tagging along while the guys did mundane stuff. Well, watching Wentzle change out of that wetsuit would be worth it, but that wasn't an option at this point, she mused. Now, what to do for the next hour? She really didn't want to go back and watch the pier anymore. A glance at her watch told her it was still a little too early for lunch. She was hesitant to go to the boutique on her day off in case Evie found something for her to do. It had happened before and now Jess was understandably wary. Maybe she could go window shopping, or pop into the salon and see if Deb was working. No, Deb's salon is run too tight. They're not cool with casual visitors, Jess mused, still standing where Wentzle and the guys had left her. For a moment she toyed with the idea of buying a skateboard of her own but had no idea how the other guys would react to that. They might tease her unmercifully for being a bandwagon hopper or they might be supportive, there was just no telling. She had seen one girl skating with the Zephyr crew, the Asian girl Peggy, but only that one time on Bicknell Hill. And she'd noted the occasional sidewalk surfer girl rolling past the shop or near campus, but for the most part the skating scene was dominated by males. Well hell, there's nothing to stop me from just looking, right? It'll kill some time if nothing else, Jess thought as she began to retrace her steps south on Pacific. She was now familiar enough with Venice to know the location of some surf shops that would be likely to have skateboards. Failing that there would probably be places on the recently rejuvenated Ocean Front Walk that might carry them, too. I have absolutely no idea how much one even costs, Jess mused as she kept walking.

The first surf shop she reached had several skateboards hanging in the window along with a rack of colorful surfboards. It was open and looked well-lit, clean and inviting (unlike the Zephyr shop, but without Zephyr's personality, Jess contemplated as she gave the storefront a good once-over), so she stepped inside. Immediately a friendly twentysomething guy with wavy streaked blonde hair stepped out from behind the front counter and gave her a friendly hello. "Looking for something in particular?" he asked helpfully.

Suddenly a tad embarrassed, Jess could only mumble, "Umm, I'm just…"

"Looking?" the guy quipped with an understanding wink. "That's cool, look all ya want. I'll be glad to take one of those boards off the rack for you if you want to handle it."

She felt a bit bolstered by his friendliness. "Actually, I'm kinda interested in a skateboard."

"Right on! I skate some but for me, surfin's where it's at, ur-hur!" Jess almost cracked up when she heard his laugh, but held it together. The guy seemed oblivious to her inner struggle as he pointed to the store's selection of skating supplies. "Browse away."

Jess did so, but it was impossible to tell which board was best. They were a number of different shapes and materials and colors and she didn't know what she liked most. God, it's just like car shopping yesterday, Jess thought in frustration. Why can't I pick something and just be happy with it? "How much does a skateboard cost?" she asked the guy.

"Depends. Do you want to build your own or buy a complete?"

"You mean one already built?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. Sometimes a complete is more expensive since it's already set up for you, but you can also build your own with the top-of-the-line components and that would be more expensive than a lot of completes. Is it for you?"

Jess just nodded, still studying the collection.

"Well, if you're new to skating then I'd suggest a more inexpensive complete. That way you got it all put together for ya and if you don't like skating at least you haven't thrown away a bunch of money, ya know?"

He had a point there, Jess privately admitted. Maybe she should try skating first and then buy a board if she wanted to keep on doing it. She thanked the shop guy for his advice and took her leave, stepping back out into the now-sunny street and retrieving her bike from the rack outside the store. Now where to, she mused. Her little foray to the shop had only taken 20 minutes, more or less. She decided to check out Ocean Front Walk and perhaps get a sandwich and a Coke at the new Sidewalk Café.

45 minutes later she was pedaling back up to the intersection where Wentzle had told her to meet up. She figured the other guys wouldn't be right on time for the rendezvous and she was right. It was another fifteen minutes before she heard the sound of urethane on asphalt, heralding the arrival of the Z-boys as they came rolling over the crest of Marine Street. As she watched them charge down the hill, making huge S-turns with their knees fully bent and arms extended, fingertips skimming the ground, Jess was glad she hadn't bought a board after all. There's no way in hell I could keep up with these guys. They'd laugh me all the way back to Jersey if I showed up with a board of my own.

Wentzle was the first to reach her, followed shortly by Tony, then Muir, who made a big show of pulling a long sliding tail stop that ended inches shy of Jess' feet. She managed to keep her place on the sidewalk, but couldn't resist giving the redhead's shoulder a shove as he laughed in her face. Even TA's not that much of a dick, she thought with a secret sneer.

"Well, we're back," Wentzle announced a tad unnecessarily. He was now clad in his Zephyr team shirt, white jeans and blue Vans. TA was wearing a white shirt with narrow green pinstripes along with faded bluejeans and the same kind of Vans. Muir also went the Zephyr shirt route but was braving the balmy temperatures in cutoff jean shorts and – naturally – blue Vans. Jess wondered if they got a group discount on the shoes. As she studied the guys she caught a trace of booze and pot in the air around them. Great, they've been busy getting wasted.

"So we gonna head on up there or what?" TA demanded. So impatient, Jess thought. I thought stoned people were more inclined to just sit around.

"Hey, we should see if someone can give us a ride up there. Otherwise it's like a 45 minute trip," Muir suggested.

Wentzle squinted in concentration. "Who can we call? Shit, we shoulda thought about this when we were still at your house, TA."

"Yeah, well…all I could think of then was killin' off those thai stix," TA shot back with a shrug. Jess stayed silent, not about to suggest they call her mom, knowing full well she would be less than thrilled to play taxi for a pack of stoned skaters. As they debated, a high girl's voice cut through their more masculine rumbles: "Hey guys! What's the haps?"

As one they turned around and saw Angel, Karen and Deb's younger sister Allie approaching them from across the street. Jess instantly wished she could slip down the nearest manhole and sneak away through the sewers. Although her last encounter with this particular group of Dogtown denizens had been neutral, she still felt very uncomfortable in their presence, especially since she was currently keeping company with TA, whom Karen had warned her about before. At least Stacy wasn't there to compound her sins. She ferverently hoped that Wentz wasn't on any of their kiss lists, or she was sunk.

Luckily all she got from the other girls were stony glares, which quickly melted into sunny smiles and greetings for the Zephyr skaters. Allie had an especially long hug for Muir, melding her slender jean-and-peasant-top-clad figure to his unabashedly. Being invisible to them was the next best thing to not being there at all, Jess thought relivedly. As the everyone began talking about the fire Wentz told Jess, "I'm going to make a couple of calls. Wanna come?"

Hell yes, she did. "I got some change if you need it," she offered as she trotted alongside the handsome teenager, pushing her bike. No way was she leaving it alone with those harpies – no telling what might they might "accidentally on purpose" do to it.

"Hey, do I look broke to you?" Wentzle quipped, but with a cheeky grin.

Jess grinned back. "No, I just thought you might want to save your money for a new pair of jeans." While walking behind him she'd noticed that the entire left back pocket was gone and the underlying material was little more than tatters, exposing a hazy glimpse of white underwear where the hem of his Zephyr shirt stopped. He instinctively reached back and tugged it down a bit more to hide the rip.

"Ahh, I go through jeans like most people go through…uh…"

"Underwear?" Jess finished helpfully.

"Yeah, or something even more disposable than that. I dunno, uh, a box of Kleenex?"

"Or a roll of toilet paper?"

Wentzle barked with laughter. "Yeah, that's about right. Shit, it's hard to think of stuff when you're stoned sometimes."

Upon reaching the Pacific Bell payphone half a block from the intersection, Wentzle dug in his pockets and triumphantly retrieved two nickels. He held them up proudly in front of Jess' face. "See, I'm not broke," he confirmed as he plugged the coins into the slot and picked up the reciever, but hesitated with his index finger hovering over the dial. "Shit, speaking of not being able to think of anything…oh yeah, now I remember." He cautiously dialed a number. Jess could hear the faint ringing followed by a female voice picking up on the other end.

"Hello, Mrs. Peralta? It's Wentzle Ruml. Is Stacy home?" Noooooo, Jess wanted to shout. Not him, please god get anyone but him to pick us up. I want to live to see the dawn!

Wentzle listened for a moment, nodding. "Oh, that's cool. You don't need to tell him I called. It's not important. No. Yeah, ok, goodbye." He hung up the phone with a frown. "Just tried to call my friend Stacy's house, but he's working. Do you know the guy? He was at the pool last weekend, the other dude with long blonde hair sorta like mine," Wentzle explained. Jess just nodded her head, not about to inform him that Stacy occupied the #1 spot on her Hot Guy list. Although at the rate things were going, Wentzle posed a strong threat to Stacy's standing.

"Now who else can I try?" Wentz mused aloud, squinting his eyes and curling his upper lip slightly in concentration. He's so cute when he does that, Jess thought in delight.

Then Wentz's face lit up with a revelation. "Ahhh, I got it. Ok, lessee…" he fished around in all of his pockets in search of more coins but only came up with three pennies, a crumpled gum wrapper and some lint. "Now I'm broke," he sighed. Jess wordlessly handed him a dime. Wentz playfully mock-cuffed her on the jaw, dropped the coin in the slot and dialed another number. Just when Jess thought nobody was going to answer, she was proven wrong: "Hey, Nathan! It's Rum, what's up? Hey man, me and TA and Red Dog're thinking of skating banks, can ya get ahold of your mom's car and pick us up? Really? Fuckin' A. We're on the corner of Marine and Pacific. Yeah. Oh, and there might be a couple of other people but we'll all fit." The thought of being stuck between Angel and Karen in the backseat of a car made Jess start to sweat. She'd rather ride her bike up alone to where ever this place was, even if it was an hour and uphill both ways.

Wentlze was still talking. "Right on, see ya in a few. Thanks man, bye!" he hung up the phone, smirking with satisfaction. "Got our ride. Let's go back and tell the guys."

When they returned to the corner only Allie and Red Dog were there. "TA's gone with the chicks to get their car. They're gonna give us a ride to the school," Red Dog explained.

"Well shit, I just called Nathan and he's gonna drive his mom's car down and get us."

Red Dog shrugged assent. "That's cool. We had too many people to fit in one car anyway."

"I wanna ride with you, Red Dog," Allie blurted out unashamedly as she gazed up at the tall, good looking skater. Jess was amused but at the same time she had to admire Allie's straightforwardness.

"Sure thing, babe," Jim replied as he casually draped one long arm across Allie's slender shoulders. She looked up at him in ecstasy and Jess had a good idea where Allie would end up that night. She turned to Wentzle and made small talk about skating banks while they waited for their rides to show up.

Karen got there first, driving a cherry red Maverick with white trim and whitewall tires. Tony was in the passenger seat with the window rolled down, puffing on the last of a joint. "Let's go, guys," he commanded as he flicked the dog end of the butt into the gutter.

"Nathan's on the way down here too. I called him," Wentzle explained.

"Well, you guys can wait for him if you want, but we're going up there now," Tony replied as he shot Red Dog a look that clearly said for the love of god, do NOT make me ride with these locas by myself!

Muir got the hint and anyway, Allie was already climbing into the backseat so he resolutely followed her into the car, which promptly pulled sharply away from the curb with a squeal of tires, bathing Jess and Wentz in a fine haze of exhaust. Was it her imagination or did she hear one of the girls yelling "Adios, bitch!"? It wouldn't have surprised her, anyway.

"Oh, you're a class act, honey," Wentzle muttered at the retreating car. Hmm, maybe he heard it too, Jess ruminated. Or maybe he just doesn't like them either.

Right on cue, Wentlze sneered and said, "I really can't stand those girls. I think Tony only puts up with their shit 'cause they do stuff for him."

"I hope only stuff like giving rides," Jess remarked with a bit of trepidation.

"Oh, there's rides and then there's rides, ya know? And I think there's definitely both kinds goin' on, if ya catch my drift." Wentzle raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Eww!" She couldn't imagine Tony going near those disgusting broads. Her estimation of him slid quite a bit in that moment.

Wentzle shook his head in disgust. "Man, I'd never let my dick get within grabbing distance of those chicks. They'd probably keep it as a souvenir!"

Jess cracked up laughing. "Yeah, maybe they'll get it framed with a nice plaque – 'Authentic Z-Boy privates, caught Spring of 1976!' Oh, god!"

That had Wentzle cracking up too. "Well, all I can say is that TA's a braver man than I am. Not that I really get it; it's not like the guy's hurtin' for chicks – oh, here's Nathan. Damn, he's movin' fast today. Guess he hasn't been smoking anything!"