A/N: Sorta fluffy and filler-ish, but I put some work into a couple of the scenes here, so hopefully you'll enjoy it all the same.

Chapter 37

"Hey Jess, you just missed a totally gnarly collision between Stacy and one of the San Diego guys!" This was the greeting she got upon her return from a little hike into the trees surrounding the Escondido Bowl to answer the call of nature.

"No way, Kenny. Is everyone ok?" she asked concernedly as she broke into a trot towards the enormous concrete drainage bowl that was partially filled with about two feet of very muddy water and concrete rubble.

Kenny walked alongside her, his shoulder-length feathered brown hair gently bouncing with every step. "Oh yeah. The other guy got kinda wet, though."

As the bottom of the bowl came into view, Jess saw Stacy, clad in a bright orange tee shirt and matching jeans that she had begged him not to wear, claiming they would cause retinal damage to anyone who got within 50 yards. He was at the edge of the water inspecting his board for damage while a guy with longish brown hair, ironically clad in a blue-and-white horizontal striped tee shirt and blue jeans, was shaking excess water off his arms and legs, a vague look of disgust on his face. Stacy stepped over to him and they exchanged words that were unintelligible to Jess from where she stood, but there seemed to be no lingering animosity. Within a minute everyone was skating again.

Jess rejoined the little group of skater's dates who were sitting on the soft grass just beyond the concrete lip of the bowl. "Did you see them collide?" she asked Kenny's girlfriend Sheila, who nodded her head affirmatively, causing her long blonde braids to slide up and down the front of her cotton peasant top.

"Yeah, it happened really fast, but I don't think it was either guy's fault. Stacy went up the side of the bowl and did a Bert really fast, and while he was coming back down the other guy just happened to be skating in a straight line past him. Obviously neither one could have known ahead of time that the other guy would be there. Hey, Bobby!" That last bit was directed to a twenty-something skater with collar-length blonde feathered hair and a pencil moustache, who was skating the bowl with his feet together and parallel on the deck like a skier.

"Ok, gotcha. No harm, no foul, like our old basketball coach used to say," Jess said with a grin.

Sheila laughed, exposing very neat teeth that looked bright white against her tanned face. "Our coach used to say the same thing." Just then Kenny walked up and knelt down beside Sheila for a moment. "Babe, I'm gonna trade the stick in for my roller skates. Do you need anything from Tom's van while I'm down there?"

"Just some more jugs of water if there's any left," she told him, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek before he stood back up and made his way down the steep hillside where the vehicles were parked.

Stacy skated by at an insanely fast clip, little more than an orange blur with flying blonde hair. Earlier in the session he'd been mugging for the girls and throwing them little waves as he passed but now he was in his element and concentrating on getting speed with minimum physical effort, just perfecting the art of the flow. When he gets like that he can skate until he almost drops, Jess thought to herself. And yet I haven't found it boring yet. Guess that's because you never know what's going to happen next. Sorry I missed that collision, though!

When Kenny came back up the hill, toting a pair of tied-together roller skates and a plastic milk jug that now held spring water, he wasn't alone. Tony Alva and Bob Biniak were flanking him, a skateboard under each arm and no girls to accompany them, a fact that was not lost on the single female spectators. Jess couldn't help grinning to herself as the dateless girls immediately sat up straighter and began to preen, delighted to have hit the proverbial Z-Boy jackpot. Jess found Tony only moderately attractive and Biniak didn't appeal to her at all, but she didn't blame the other girls for wanting a shot at the two Dogtown skaters, especially now that the word was out that they were both sponsored by Logan Earth Ski. Almost no one from the original Zephyr skate team is left now besides Nathan and Stacy, Jess reflected privately, tilting her head to the sky to catch the rays of the sun as it became revealed by a low passing cloud.

With the arrival of the new skaters the session lost its laid-back feel and turned into an impromptu banked slalom race, using the colorful graffiti sprayed on the walls of the bowl in place of cones to carve around. Jess was delighted to see her boyfriend hold his own against the field, especially considering that the competition included some of the strongest skaters going, each with his own unique strength. Alva had power, Biniak had speed, Bobby the skier had the quick turning skills, Tom Sims had a good stable longboard and Kenny had extra control because he was on skates and therefore able to work his feet independently of each other. But Stacy knew how to throw his body weight around and the use the ball of his back foot for steering, so he was able to both go fast and turn sharply without having to charge the course hard and risk losing control. Biniak's wheels broke loose and he slammed, then Bobby missed a turn and dropped out, then Tom's longboard skidded on a rock and threw the handsome mustachioed rider. Finally only Kenny, Stacy and TA were left in the race and all the spectators were on their feet cheering on their favorites. TA, sensing that victory could be his, began skating harder than ever, a look of ironclad determination on his Latino features. He began moving a little higher up the wall so his downhill charges would have more power as well as having the added benefit of cutting more sharply across the paths of the other skaters, making him harder to pass. Nonetheless Kenny put on a burst of speed and edged ahead on a turn. Frustrated, TA looked back over his shoulder to judge Stacy's threat and ended up going wide on the next turn. Stacy cut hard to the inside of the same turn and passed TA as the crowd yelled even louder, either urging Kenny or Stacy on, or compelling TA to regain the lead. As he headed into the next to last turn, Kenny's left roller skate accidentally broke a tiny piece of concrete loose and sent it skittering into the paths of the two skateboarders behind him. TA had just drawn alongside Stacy again and was preparing to make the turn when his front wheel hit the chunk, causing his board to shudder wildly and veer to the left. Amazingly TA kept his feet on the deck, but as he began to careen toward Stacy, the other skater instinctively reached out with both arms to keep TA from running into him too hard. The collision caused both of them to bail, their loose boards flying up the walls of the bowl and over the lip, luckily – and narrowly – missing the people who were sitting there.

Sheila ran over to Kenny and gave him a congratulatory hug. After retrieving his board and giving TA a conciliatory slap on the shoulder, Stacy went to Jess for a hug of his own. "Sorry you didn't win, but I'm glad that's over," she admitted.

The corners of Stacy's blue eyes crinkled as he laughed. "Don't tell me you were scared!"

Jess gave a little embarrassed laugh of her own. "Hey, seriously. You have no idea how scary it looks."

"It's really not dangerous, though," Stacy protested, but desisted at a disbelieving shake of Jess' head.

"Well, maybe if I knew how to skate then it wouldn't look dangerous," she said in an accusatory manner.

Stacy's expression began to turn from mirth to thoughtfulness as he met Jess' gaze with his. "So what are you saying, really? That you wanna learn how to skate?" he asked her with a hint of doubt in his voice.

Jess lifted her chin defiantly. "Yeah, I want to learn how to skate. Since you say it's not dangerous," she added, putting a sarcastic little spin on the last word.

He licked his lips and ran one lightly tanned hand through his blonde mane, already becoming streaked from being out in the sun despite it not quite being Summer yet. "Welll, when I said it's not dangerous, I meant for an experienced skater," he explained, backtracking, but Jess cut him off.

"I didn't mean this place right now, but just…in general. I mean, I might not even be able to stay on a board for ten feet on flat ground, but we won't know until we try, right?" she said brightly.

Stacy laughed again. " 'We', huh? What makes ya think I'm gonna teach you how to skate?" he teased, but the spark of interest in his eyes told her that in truth the idea appealed to him. He's probably thinking that it would be an excuse for him to grab me in public if nothing else, Jess thought with a secret laugh of her own.

"C'mon, Stacy," she purred, playing along with his pretend-reluctant trip. She stepped closer and ran her fingertips suggestively down his chest, making him blush. "Please teach me to skate. Just one lesson. Pleeeasse?" She reached both arms around his neck and stood on tiptoes to bury her face in his hair and discreetly nibble on his right earlobe.

He squeezed his eyes shut and threw his head back. "Ok, uncle!" he cried out, causing a few heads in their vicinity to turn curiously in their direction. "I'll teach you some basics sometime," he promised as he gently pushed her a step backward, blushing even more furiously than before. "God, I wish you wouldn't do that with people watching," he added in a low whisper although his expression betrayed more pleasure than upset at her public display of affection.

Unfazed, Jess grinned at him and leaned in to steal a quick kiss on his lips. "Sooo shy," she quipped with an amused giggle. Off to their left Tom began to strum out a Gordon Lightfoot song on his acoustic guitar, apparently done skating for the day. TA and Biniak were back in the bowl, trying to find new lines in old territory. "You going to go back in there?" Jess asked, but Stacy shook his head no.

"It's getting late," he explained as he bent to pick up his board.

"But it's not even four o'clock yet," Jess protested. "That's not late!"

"It is if you want to go home and get your first skating lesson before it gets dark," he shot back, eliciting an excited squeal from Jess.

"Really? You mean it?" she asked him, bouncing on the balls of her feet in delight.

In response Stacy took a couple of steps away, then turned back and extended a hand to her. "I'm ready if you are," he told her.

She all too eagerly placed her hand in his and together they walked away, Stacy calling out goodbyes to the other skaters as he led Jess down the steep hillside that led from the reservoir to the parking area.

By the time they got back to Venice it was going on five and the shadows were long, but the light was still good. Stacy drove straight to Mar Vista Elementary since it was relatively close to both of their houses and the banks were much more mellow there than those at the other schools in LA. As he pulled up and parked next to the asphalt-covered playground Jess noted with relief that although it was a Sunday and school was out for Summer, the schoolyard was deserted. Stacy exited the car with his orange Zephyr board tucked under his arm, and helped Jess climb under the fence before following suit.

"Most guys would have climbed the fence, you know," Jess teased as Stacy crawled under the gap and stood up to brush off his light blue jeans.

"Well, most guys have a need to be showoffs," Stacy shot back with a smug smile. "I on the other hand have a more urgent desire to keep my dignity and the seat of my pants intact."

"Ya coulda fooled me," Jess replied as she meaningfully reached out and fondled the tatters where his left back pocket used to be, sure that she could see a glimpse of his boxers through the shredded fabric. That's as much of a trademark look for a Z-Boy as the navy blue Zephyr team shirts, she mused. "Weren't those jeans new just a couple of weeks ago?" Jess couldn't resist asking.

Hurriedly Stacy pulled the hem of his shirt down. "Now you know where all of my extra income goes," he informed her a bit sadly. "New jeans. And shoes. They wear out even faster than the jeans, to be honest."

"Wow, I had no idea," Jess told him. "How on earth do you shred this stuff so fast, anyway?"

"You're about to find out for yourself. Come on." And with that Stacy directed Jess to follow him to an open area of the schoolyard. First he gave her a quick rundown of the skateboard's parts and how they all worked together, then he put the board on the ground and showed her how to step on it correctly without making the board shoot forward, a classic rookie mistake. "Here, step on it from the side and put your front foot on first," he instructed. Jess paused, unsure which foot should be her front foot.

"Guess we gotta figure out your stance," Stacy mused aloud, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Chances are good you ride regular like me and most people, but you might be a goofy-foot."

Jess shot him a funny look and he quickly explained: "It's not an insult, it just means you put your right foot forward instead of your left."

"Oh," Jess said with a nod of understanding. "But how do we know which one I am?"

"Well, you could try rolling around a little bit in each stance and see which one feels more natural, or you could try…let me see something." As he spoke he walked behind Jess and bade her to look straight ahead, then without warning gave her lower back a firm shove with both hands, noting that as she lurched forward she put her left foot out to brace herself. "Yep, looks like you're regular stance," he quipped.

"That was dirty pool," Jess complained, glaring at him as she regained her balance.

Stacy just laughed a little. "Nah, it's a classic method that surfing teachers use to help first-timers figure out their stance real quick," he told her. "No harm intended, ok?" He gave her a placating kiss and continued doggedly with the lesson. "So put your left foot on first, just behind the front bolts there. Now put on your back foot."

As he held both her hands to keep her from making any sudden downward moves, he showed her how to pivot on the balls of her feet to turn them from pushing position to riding position. Once that seemed smooth he got her to push once or twice, then ride a few feet, all the time keeping hold of her now-sweaty palms.

"You nervous?" he asked her with a little grin.

Jess shrugged. "No. Well, maybe. A little, yeah."

He let her roll to a stop and looked her in the eye. "What are you nervous about? Falling?"

She swallowed and nodded shyly, then instinctively looked down at her feet.

"Look at me, Jess," Stacy commanded in a kindly tone. When she obeyed, he told her, "Look, don't worry about that. You know what I heard TA tell Baby Paul once? That 'if you're not falling, you're not learning'. Ya catch my drift? Falls are going to happen no matter how good you are. You saw me and Tony racing today, right?" Jess nodded yes again and Stacy continued. "Tony falls, I fall, we all fall. And if you fall I'll be here to catch you, ok?"

"Ok," she agreed.

Stacy returned to teaching mode. "That's the spirit. Now we'll do it holding hands one more time, then you can try it on your own."

After five more minutes Jess was getting the hang of it and able to push off and roll longer and longer distances without Stacy holding her hands. He did trot alongside her just in case she took an unexpected spill. "Bend your knees and hold your arms out a little more," he told her. "You'll feel more stable."

Next he showed her how to turn by leaning in the desired direction and flexing her feet and ankles either up or down depending on whether she wanted to turn toeside or heelside. "Wanna try a tail stop? It's really good for your balance," he inquired playfully, but she shook her head, wanting to master one skill at a time.

Once she demonstrated that she could make wide, gentle S-turns, Stacy instructed her to take the board to the top of the lowest part of the banks surrounding the schoolyard and ride down it and across the long flat part. She put the board on the ground, then placed her front foot on the deck, then froze in place. Although the drop was less than two feet, it seemed more like ten to her. "I can't do it," she muttered, feeling more than her hands start to sweat furiously.

At first Stacy had to stifle a look of amusement, but he quickly realized that she was genuinely afraid and his laughing expression turned serious. "You want me to hold your hands again?" he asked solicitously.

Feeling embarrassed at her childish fear, Jess shook her head. "No, that's ok, I'll do it. Just gimme a sec, ok?"

Stacy stepped back, not wanting to pressure her implicitly. "Need a push?" he couldn't resist quipping with a little grin, trying to keep the mood light.

"No! God, no. Ok, I think I'm ready," she said a bit unsteadily, then took a big breath and put her back foot on the board.

"Lean forward and don't forget to bend your knees," Stacy reminded her as she began to roll forward. Although the trip was a bit wobbly, she got down the back and began to ride across the flat with no incidents. "Yeah, you got it, Jessica!" he called out, applauding her encouragingly like a Little League coach. "Hey, try some turns now!"

She carved a couple of small arcs before the board began to lose speed. "Let's go back to the top and try that again," Stacy told her when she had come to a complete stop. The second time she was at the top of the small bank, she stepped on the board and rode down the incline with only the barest hesitation. "Much better," he praised Jess as she tried a few more turns on the flat part at speed.

The third time she went to the top of the bank, she started off from a slightly higher point. The extra speed made her heart pound, but she stayed upright. "Try hitting the bank again!" Stacy yelled. She ventured a wild look back at him over her shoulder and he gestured that she should carve to her left and ride the large bank beside her like she'd seen him do dozens of times. With a little shrug she attempted it, but the feeling of riding at an angle made her feel uncomfortable and she jumped off, making the board fly back down the bank toward the school building.

"What happened?" Stacy queried after he intercepted the board and caught up to her.

Jess pointed to the bank. "It just felt weird when I rode up it," she admitted sheepishly.

"You'll get used to it in time. Maybe if you're facing the bank when you ride it, you'll feel more comfortable," he counseled her. She nodded in agreement. "Come on and start from the other side," he urged her. The opposite bank was slightly higher than the one she'd been starting from, but she swallowed her trepidation and pushed off. This time the speed was almost too much, so she tried a big turn away from the bank, then carved toward it, climbing up it almost straight on as opposed to approaching from an angle as she initially intended. The board, doing what it was supposed to do, climbed high up the big bank, then slowed to a halt a foot from the lip. To her horror Jess found herself rolling backward fast. "OhshitwhatdoIdo?" she shrieked.

"Hang in there, you got it!" Stacy called out, already running to catch her and scoop her off her feet, but before he could get there the back wheels of the board hit the flat and Jess bailed, but not cleanly like a more experienced rider would have done. Her front foot stayed on the board as it kept rolling, making her lower body torque sharply before she realized her mistake and took it off the deck. In almost slow motion she lost her balance and fell on her backside, her upper body falling back with the downward momentum and bringing her head dangerously close to the black pavement.

A second later Stacy was crouching at her side, looking down at her in concern as she sat up and rubbed one shin. "You ok? That was a gnarly bail," he told her a bit unnecessarily.

"Yeah, the landing didn't really hurt as much as twisting my leg did, though," she informed him through gritted teeth. "Injured in the first fifteen minutes of my first lesson. That's gotta be a record," she added in disgust.

"Hey, you should have seen how shredded up my knees and hands were after the first week I started skating," Stacy told her with a little laugh. "Here, can I see your leg?" He reached out and gently palpitated her calf and shin with his hands. "What did you do to it exactly?"

"Umm, I don't know. Just twisted my shin somehow. That's what really hurts."

Stacy stood up. "We'll get ya home and put some ice on it, that'll help." He reached down and help her get slowly to her feet.

"Now I've got two bum shins," she joked grimly as she took a hobbling step forward.

For a moment Stacy looked confused, then realized she was obliquely referencing her stab wound and gave an anxious little laugh. "But your other leg isn't bothering you anymore, right?" he asked curiously.

Jess laughed as well. "Nah, I'm just being silly. It's healed up fine. I don't even think the scar's going to be that bad," she assured him as they made their way toward the gap under the fence. After they both crawled underneath, Jess stood up and insisted that she could walk on her own. "Looks like it's not anything serious, just a bit wrenched," she declared as she haltingly crossed the few feet to the car.

"We'll still get some ice on it when I get you back home," Stacy insisted as he opened the door for her solicitously.

During the drive back Jess expressed concern that her mom would be home and would give Stacy hell for letting her daughter get hurt, but upon arriving at her house they saw that Sandie was gone. "I bet she's out with that guy from work she's been seeing," Jess guessed aloud as she unlocked the front door and let herself and Stacy inside. She spied a note on the dining room table paper-clipped to a ten-dollar bill. "Gone to dinner and a movie with Sam. Be back by eleven. Treat yourself to dinner. Love, Mom," Jess read aloud. "Cool, where do you want to go for dinner, Stace?"

Stacy was already in the kitchen putting some ice into several layers of paper towels. "Let's take care of your leg first and then we'll figure out where to go," he insisted as he walked back into the living room and indicated that Jess should sit on the couch and prop her injured limb on the coffee table. While they took turns icing her shin, they talked about where they could go eat, finally settling on the cheap and easy route of takeout from the nearest Del Taco.

After twenty minutes Jess declared that she'd had all she could take and Stacy dumped the half-melted remains of the ice down the kitchen sink and threw the now sodden paper towels away. "Ok, let's go eat," he said as he helped Jess stand up. She tentatively flexed her leg and declared that it felt much better.

As they headed north, again with Stacy at the wheel, the looming green-gold Santa Monica mountains captivated Jess' gaze and sparked memories of the stolen week they'd had looking after Bunker's friend's house. "I wish we had another place to house-sit. That was so much fun," she said wistfully.

Stacy's vocal tone, normally a bit wistful and dreamy-sounding, sounded even more so as he replied. "Yeah, that was the best. Unreal."

Her face suddenly brightened as she got a sudden notion. "Stacy, why don't we think about maybe moving in together – not now, obviously, but maybe sometime later on this year?" She looked at him appealingly as she put forth the idea in the hope that he found it as appetizing as she did.

But her burgeoning hopes were dashed when Stacy drew his eyebrows together and shook his head uncertainly. "Uh…I dunno," he said after thinking for a moment. "I mean, how can we possibly afford to have our own place? Even the dumps in this area go for eighty bucks a week. I doubt we make that much even with our incomes put together. And then you have water, electric, phone…" his voice trailed off and he shook his head again.

Jess crossed her arms over her chest and sank down in the passenger seat a bit sulkily. "Hey, it was just an idea," she started to explain in her defense, but Stacy stopped her from saying more by reaching out and caressing her knee briefly.

"It's cool, Jessica. Don't get me wrong – I'd love for us to get out from our parents' houses and be together with no hassles, but unless something changes radically, it isn't gonna happen anytime soon. Not on the crappy wages we're makin', ya know?"

"Yeah, I hear ya," Jess replied distractedly, staring out of the window beside her into the middle distance.

At the next stoplight Stacy quickly leaned over and gave her a little kiss on the lips. "Don't worry, things won't be like this forever," he assured her.

Jess sighed partly in resignation and partly in agreement. "I know. If my mom were as cool as your parents then it wouldn't be so bad, but she still has to treat me like I'm eight, not eighteen."

Stacy gave her one of his classic nose-wrinkling, semi-smug smiles. "Well, that's how it goes. It may not seem fair, but society will probably always be overprotective of girls." He swung right into the Del Taco parking lot and parked in a space near the front door. "Especially the really foxy ones like you," he told Jess with a wink as he pulled her close for one more kiss.

"Oh man, 'foxy'? You're starting to sound like Jay now," she jested as they got out of the car.

Stacy gave a staccato laugh. "Hey, since he does so well with the ladies I thought I'd try his technique for myself," he joked back.

Jess intercepted him in front of the hood of the car and slid her arms around his waist. "You don't need to take a leaf out of anyone's book," she told him in complete seriousness. "You do just fine with the ladies yourself. Or at least one of them," she added with a mischievous grin.

"The only one who counts," Stacy declared as he looked down at her with a gentle smile that made her want to both swoon at his feet and push him down onto the hood while ripping his clothes off. Neither option was suitable if she wanted to retain her dignity or their right to be served at Del Taco in the future, so she settled for just returning his smile before they walked into the restaurant hand-in-hand.