Chapter 13

"Hi Stacy, I wondered if you'd be waist deep in wild waves right about now." Alex did the dance of joy while tethered to her phone.

"Wow, alliterative answers always appreciated," Stacy quipped. "I'm here at the surf contest, signed in and waiting for my heat. How are you doing this morning?"

If the truth was to be told, Alex was trying to find her Zen place that would allow her to continue talking without babbling. "I'm doing good, had a great time last night."

"Yeah, me too, umm sorry I had to bow out so early." Stacy aimed for a breezy tone while leaning his head against the glass wall of the phone booth, eyes closed, willing her to be OK with it.

Alex stifled a sigh of relief, sensing that Stacy wasn't blaming her for any date derailment. "Oh, no problem, I understand you had to get out there early. In fact, I ended up getting up pretty early myself…"

"Taking up surfing?" Stacy cut in.

"No such death wish on my part. Remind me to tell you my views on sharks and the food chain. No actually there were pebbles…"

"Alex" Stacy stated in mock grave tones, "We do not mention dangers of the deep to friends about to participate in water sports." Stacy was happily surprised by how easy it was for him to get back into their joking rhythm with Alex.

"Sorry, bad cheerleader form?" Alex too was falling into an easy repartee, and he did say they were friends – that can't be bad.

"No, you got a great form for a cheerleader. Why'd you say you got up? Something about pebbles? Did you want to catch the Flintstones over breakfast?" Stacy flirted and teased.

"Ha ha, thanks, now I'm gonna have the Flintstones' theme song stuck in my head all day. No, Tony Alva, Blanca and some of your skating buddies were throwing pebbles at my window, they're out back now."

Stacy was somehow strangely discomforted by the thought of the Z-boys invading Alex's house without him around. Well at least Jay was with him. "Don't let them…"

A metallic recorded voice came on the phone line interrupting with: "twenty-five cents, please deposit twenty-five cents for the next three minutes." "Oh crap, I don't have any more change"

Stacy muttered.

Alex heard the phone booth door scrape open and him yell, "Jay, got any change, gimme a quarter." In the distance she heard Jay's reply: "Dude, do I ever have any money? And even if I did, I'm in a wet suit, where would I put it?"

Stacy's voice returned to the phone, "Alex, sorry we're gonna get cut off. I'll call …." BEEP

The line went dead. (A/N Kind of like the prehistoric version of dropped cell calls)

Well, I guess that was reassuring overall, pondered Alex, even if it left a few unanswered questions. Don't let them what? You'll call me when? Get a grip, girl. You had one date with this guy; it's not like you to sweat the details. Don't worry 'bout a thing. Cause every little thing gonna be alright. This is my message to you-u-u. She sang herself a few bars of Three Little Birds, her favorite Bob Marley song. She didn't even realize she was singing out loud until she heard Tony's voice behind her.

"Marley, cool. Tell me where your bathroom is and I'll be back out in a minute with a spliff Bob would be proud of; we'll light up."

"Right at the end of the hall, and you don't need to bring back a joint, I think I could just inhale my hair at this point." Alex said, still a little surprised by his presence.

"Inhale your hair?" Tony looked at her like she probably had already inhaled too much of something.

"Sorry," she smiled at his confusion, "I was at an Allman Brothers concert last night, and I got enough smoke left in my hair to make any Rasta feel at home."

Tony crossed the room to her in a flash, damn these Z boys are athletic she thought, and buried his face in her hair. "Hah, that ain't nothin' compared to what collects in my hair," he laughed shaking his mop of curls in her face. "Allmans eh? You know Stacy went to that show too." He was still standing very close to her, scanning her face for a reaction to his statement.

Alex's face must have confirmed what Tony was looking to find out, even though she really was more worried about Blanca's inevitable arrival looking for her boyfriend. It would not do to have her come in and see Alex and Tony hair to hair, no matter how innocent the situation really was.

"Yeah, I know he went" she said noncommittally, "soo, bathroom's right down the hall. I'll see you outside."

Tony raised his eyebrows and snorted a little in amusement, "Soo, Peralta, huh?" as he sauntered away.

Gossip moves faster than skateboards around here, thought Alex as she grabbed some sodas and a bag of chips and walked towards her back door. Sure enough, she nearly walked into Blanca coming in to check on Tony's whereabouts. "Just sent your boyfriend down the hall to the bathroom, how about a soda?" Alex headed off the inquisition.

"No thanks, I'll just go and check on Tony," Blanca said moving down the hall.

Dogtown people really see bathrooms as a great threat, necessitating backup; Alex surmised as she went out with her food and drink offerings. She put them down on a little table in the backyard and started watching the skating. Peggy was the first one out of the pool after pulling off a few carves that elicited hoots and hollers from the other skaters. "That looked terrific, Peggy" Alex complimented "How bout some soda or chips?"

"Gnarly," said Peggy, "but didn't anyone tell you if you feed the Dogtown boys, you'll never get rid of them?"

"I'd run inside and lock my doors, but Tony's already in there, Blanca too, oddly."

Peggy laughed at that, "She tries to keep him on a short leash, but it's a full time job. Knowing Tony, they won't be out for a while, not if you've got a spare room or closet."

"Grreat, now I'm running a no-tell motel." Alex answered. "So what about you Peggy, can I sign you up for our one hour honeymoon suite?"

"Nah, I'm in it for the skating, not the skaters, though the parties are pretty rad too." Peggy said happily.

"Yeah Tony offered to join me in a joint as soon as he came in before." Alex remembered.

"That's all he offered to join you in? He usually hits on anything that moves; I think it's a reflex with that boy." Peggy said as matter-of-factly as if she was commenting on the weather.

"Thanks for the warning, I'll remember to remain motionless next time I see him. It doesn't seem fair to increase Blanca's workload." Alex smirked.

"Oh-oh, here they come." Peggy whispered, nudging Alex. "Freeze!"

Tony and Blanca (busily fixing her hair and lip gloss) looked at the two girls frozen like statues in front of them, trying not to shake too much with laughter. "You know you're right, you don't need to get high." He said shaking his head with amusement.