"Alright, your table should be right over...here." The waiter said as he guides the trio over to a random booth-table that was in the very back of the restaurant's dining area; it wasn't as good as sitting at one of the regular tables, but none of them mind it all that much. "So, before I head back to the kitchen; are all of you ready to order yet, or do you three need some time to look over the menu for a couple minutes?"
"Actually, I think I'm going to need some time myself, since it's been almost forever since I've last ate here." Katie answered as she was given a menu by the waiter.
"It has been awhile since any of us have seen you around the parlor, Katie; almost everyone here thought you would never return to Simport." The waiter then started making his way back over to the kitchen, giving the tomboy a smile as he left. "Gino says 'Welcome Back', by the way."
"Tell him I said 'Thanks'." After saying this, Katie faced forward so that she can pick up her menu and figure out what she felt like having here today; but right before she can read what was it, she quickly took notice of the surprised looks that were on Chaz and Tim's faces, both of whom were staring directly at her. "Uh...is there something on me right now?"
"No." Chaz answered as he placed his menu aside. "We weren't expecting you to be known amongst the employees here, that's all."
"It's surprising, I know; but there's two reasons why that's the case." Katie told the biker as she placed her own menu aside. "First and foremost, and this is going to sound very convenient for you guys to hear, my family's office is just across the street from here; and second, my dad's actually friends with Gino."
"Really?" Tim asked, clearly intrigued to be hearing this bit of information about the tomboy's father.
"Yeah; they've known each other since college." Katie told the two boys, before continuing on with her explanation. "Although, they were obviously in different fields when it comes to their future; Gino wanted to open himself a restaurant, while my dad wanted to go into...well, obviously, our family's business. Unlike me, my best friend, and some of the other students from the college I went to, neither of them really did anything all too exciting, except for going to a New Kids on the Block concert somewhere in the early nineties."
"New Kids on the Block?" Chaz asked in disbelief. "From what I've seen, your dad doesn't look like the type of guy to like a band like them."
"Truthfully, he's always preferred listening to either Blondie or Phil Collins; both of whom I don't listen to." Katie then chuckled at that comment, before proceeding to get back on topic. "So, after they graduated college, which was also when my parents got married, they all pretty much moved and lived the rest of their lives here in Simport; but, obviously, Gino and my dad are working at two different jobs that are right next to each other."
"Do they still talk with each other?" Tim asked.
"On occasions, yes; although, it's usually me who does the greeting for my dad more than the other way around; my dad can be super busy sometimes." Katie answered as she began looking through what foods were on the menu. "The only thing that's really a bummer about Gino and my dad being friends is that, despite their time spent in college, I'm not allowed to get the pizza here for free; not that it would've happened because of that fact anyway."
"I'm not gonna lie, that does sound like an awesome advantage to have for being the daughter of one of Gino's friends." Chaz commented with a hint of a chuckle in his voice.
"Yeah, that would be nice..." Katie replied while slowly nodding her head; this was also the moment where she decided to now change the subject to something else, which was the trick the biker did back at the skatepark. "Speaking of 'stuff that would be nice', I want to know more about what I've just witnessed from you approximately thirty-five minutes ago..." The tomboy stated, her expression going from a smile to a serious frown.
"What is she talking about?" Tim asked his best friend, raising an eyebrow in confusion at him. "Don't tell me that you've done that one trick you pulled in an attempt to impress Summer back in the tenth grade..."
"I'm sorry, but that wasn't the first time you've done that stunt?!" The tomboy exclaimed in surprise; thankfully, this didn't catch the attention of any of the other patrons or employees whom were around the restaurant.
"I'm afraid not..." Chaz replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "But don't worry, me, and Tim, have an excuse for everything."
"Then feel free to explain, you two."
"Gladly." Chaz then took off his sunglasses and proceeded to twirl them around in his hand for a bit. "So, I believe we should start from where it all began..."
It was the beginning of summer of 2014, Chaz and Tim were walking down the line of stores that were along the concrete-side of the beach; they weren't looking to go to any of the ones around here, since none of them were really anything all too entertaining for them compared to the ones that are ON the pier itself. They were planning on meeting up with the former's girlfriend, who was currently at the lifeguard-station trying to apply for a job as...well, obviously, a lifeguard. They were just hanging around the stores, waiting for her to get finished with her interview; and lo and behold, they had gotten the call from her that she was finally finished.
"How much farther is this station, dude?" Tim asked his best friend.
"It shouldn't be too fair now, Tim; it's probably just a few more minutes away from here." Chaz replied, glancing behind himself at his best friend, who was clearly getting exhausted from all the walking they were doing; especially given the fact that it was hot when this event had happened." Jeez, you're acting like we're walking all the way to California or something."
"Sorry, this is literately the first time we're actually going to the part of the beach where all the lifeguards have their meetings and what not; the least we could've done was take your car there instead of walk..."
"It's because it's easier to walk there than it is to get there by car, that's why; and like I said, it should be too far from here." Chaz then turned his head towards one of the buildings that they were seconds away from passing by. "Yep, that's Roxie Road's Ice-Cream Parlor; so, that definitely means that we should be arriving...in about ten more minutes."
After hearing that last part of his best friend's sentence, Tim let out a frustrated groan. "The least they could've done was had it built somewhere NEXT to the pier..."
"Oh, quit your complaining, dude." The biker told his best friend with a glare. "Just be glad that they-"
Without warning, Chaz's sentence was immediately cut off by the sudden appearance of a man driving a motorcycle coming out of an alley-way they were seconds away from approaching, causing the two boys to stop dead in their tracks. The two just stood there and watched as the biker rode out onto the sand, circling one random spot before driving back up to where they were at, and driving back into the same exact alley-way which he came out of. After that happened, Chaz and Tim followed the man into the lot he drove into; wanting to see what all of that was about; and once they were inside, the two were left in awe at the sight of what was going on.
In the middle of the lot, there were two light-blue ramps with a red arrow painted on them; except one ramp had on that was going up, while the other use one that was going down. There was also the sight of a flaming hoop in between the two ramps, clearly indicating that the motorcyclist was meant to jump right through with his bike. There were also a bunch of stacked tires that were surrounding the large contraption within a large giant circle; however, some of the tires were scattered amongst the lot's exit, making it pretty obvious that the biker may have lost control of his bike after performing the stunt at hand. Needless to say, Chaz was quite astonished by the sight of this.
"Pretty cool, huh boys?" The biker asked the two boys, circling them on his motorcycle.
"Cool?!" Tim exclaimed, holding his arms out to the side. "You nearly ran us over!"
"Chill out, dude; it was just an accident." Chaz told his best friend, before turning back forward towards the biker, who had finally decided to park his bike a few feet in front of them. "I'm just gonna be honest with you, sir; I'm totally impressed."
"Thanks." The biker said as he hopped off his motorcycle and walked over to the two boys. "Are you two planning on sticking around?"
"As awesome as this is, we can't; I have to meet up with my girlfriend right now."
"Oh, well, that's too bad."
"What's the meaning of all this anyway?" Tim decided to ask, still clearly unhappy with what almost happened to him and his best friend. "It's not everyday that we see something like THIS being randomly built somewhere in the town, unless it's being used for the carnival."
"Coincidentally enough, that's exactly what I'm doing; but I just wanted to show off what I'm doing to my wife, since she works at the bar around here." The biker explained, before checking to see what time it was, via the watch that he had on his wrist. "Speaking of which, I'm supposed to be meeting her in about five minutes."
"Well, then I guess we'll just leave you so you can go do that." Chaz said as he wrapped an arm around his best friend. "We'll probably stop by again once we pick up my girlfriend."
"Then I'll hopefully see you around, boys." After that was said, the two friends left the lot, allowing the biker to walk away by his lonesome.
"Well, that was interesting..." Tim muttered once he and Chaz got out of the alley-way.
"It certainly was; and also, it was totally awesome too." Chaz replied back as a smile formed onto his face. "Speaking of which, that kinda had me thinking; what if WE did something like that down at the lot on our side of the Boardwalk?"
"Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously." Chaz answered before proceeding to explain his idea. "There's no way we'll be able to collect enough money to build our own auto-shop with the amount we're getting from my uncle; so maybe, if Tad allows us to, we can create our own stunt-contraptions like the one we've seen back there and see if any the patrons are interested in watching; we'll be able to get ourselves some more money that way." He then paused for a second, before turning to see the unsure look on his best friend's face. "Also, I've always wanted to do stuff like that back when I was a kid, so..."
"Hey, I'm not saying that this is a bad idea; but do you honestly expect Tad to just accept us doing something like...what we've seen back there?" Tim asked as he pointed off behind himself towards where the local bar was.
"I'll see what I can do about that; and if things don't work out, then...maybe we'll just have to see if Ol' Gabby's willing to let us do a few stunts there instead."
"The junkyard is your secondary option?"
"Well, the only other options would've been the forest that's behind the park next to the town hall, and that place is already a terrible idea of its own; too many trees."
"Fine; but don't be surprised if either Gabby or Tad say 'no' to us."
"I won't." Chaz replied before facing forward towards the building that they were now approaching, which was obviously the lifeguard-station. "Ah...well, would you look at that; we're finally here."
"The next day, I've checked in with Summer's boss to see if it was all alright for us to do so, and...it was; and from there on out, me and Tim used the area behind the stores as our main-spot to both hangout and do stunts." Chaz concluded, before picking up his menu off of the table in front of him.
"Just to make sure that this is all factual and not something you've just made up..." Katie says as she turned to face Tim. "Since you were present at the time, was everything he was saying true?"
"It was." Tim answered honestly, while nodding his head 'yes' as well. "The only part he got wrong was the fact that he was wanting to use the junkyard as his second choice; it actually was the forest. I told him it was a bad idea because, not only were the trees gonna get in the way, but also because of the fact that he had an instance there where a bunch of squirrels attacked him; neither of us know why, but it just happened."
"Oh, you just had to bring that up..." Chaz muttered as he leaned forward into the table, all while Katie was just laughing at what was just said.
"Okay, now that I believe." The tomboy commented, pointing at the biker's best friend as she did.
"Whatever..." Chaz muttered, still face-down in the table.
After laughing for a few more seconds, Katie suddenly stopped and proceeded to ask another question. "Say, I just realized something about your little story there; by 'Summer', do you guys mean 'Summer Baxter'?"
"Yeah." Tim answered while shrugging his shoulders. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, nothing; it's just that you guys don't seem like the type of people she'd hang out with, since I've mostly seen her hanging out with either jocks or other members of her cheer-squad."
"That's true; but after we all graduated high-school together, she's been hanging out with us a lot more." Chaz chimed back into the conversation, lifting his head off of the table as he said this. "Also, she's my girlfriend now."
After hearing that last part, Katie's expression turned into that of both surprise and disappointment; but she restrained herself from showing off any signs of the latter emotion. "She's...your girlfriend?"
"Yep; we've been dating ever since Senior Prom, and we're still going strong today." Chaz chuckled fondly at the thought of his current relationship. "I still can't believe that was four years ago already..."
"I can't believe that-" Katie then stopped herself in her own words, before picking up her menu and hiding her face from the other two boys. "N-Nevermind."
"What can't you believe, Katie?" Tim asked.
This while situation just felt completely awkward for the young tomboy to handle, especially now that she's discovered that her new neighbor already has a girlfriend; but rather than not answering or hand-waving the question away, she decided to say something in which she thinks Chaz didn't take into consideration. "Does...Summer know that we're hanging out right now?" She asked in with an eyebrow raised at the biker. "It's usually never right for someone's girlfriend to be totally fine with their boyfriend to hang out with some other girl."
"Of course she does, and she's totally cool with it." Chaz answered honestly. "I've texted her about you on the way home after I dropped off some stuff at the antique-store."
"She knows about me?"
"Well, yeah; you're our school's valedictorian, remember?"
"Oh, right..." Katie said through a slightly-heard chuckle. "Sorry, I am just...so surprised to discover that you already have a girlfriend; heck, I'm more surprised at the fact that you're dating Summer Baxter of all people."
"Eh, I wouldn't say it was all that surprising; Summer's had her eyes on him ever since I've first stepped foot inside the Royal Academy's hallway."
"There were other girls who had their eyes on you ever since your first day of high-school." Tim commented to his best friend as the former rolled his eyes with a smile. "Heck, I'm pretty sure Liberty Martin was one of them; and she doesn't even like you now."
"I know." Chaz then paused as he saw the discourages look on the tomboy's face. "Is...something wrong, Kate?"
"I-It's nothing; I'm alright." Katie says as she faked a smile and picked up her menu. "I...think I'm just going to resume figuring out what food I want; you two can just...continue on with your gloating-party you've got going on there." After that was said, the two boys exchanged glances, before shrugging and proceeding to talk about high-school memories together; Katie just remained looking at her menu, hiding the discouraged expression that she currently had.
Note: So, a chapter that mostly focused on Katie, Chaz, and Tim; but that's not the only thing that this chapter has in store: it's the first chapter in this story to have a flashback (which is obvious the secondary segment in the middle there). There might be flashbacks coming from some of the other characters, so expect more stuff like that in the near future as the story goes on.
Now, let's see what reviews we have for the previous chapter...
TheBigBunnyBoy: Originally, I was wanting Crystal to be one of the people whom Travis and Liberty invited to their party, but I forgot to add her name in the bunch that described by Travis chapters ago; so, I decided to correct that mistake by making Crystal confront Liberty about it.
lordgemini: Well, technically, it was Travis who invited Chaz, while Liberty was against the idea of inviting him in general; there was a reason why Summer wasn't mentioned among the people whom they invited when Chaz met up with the couple chapters ago. Also, it's still unknown to Liberty whether or not Chaz will actually even show up at the party, especially given their past together; but for now, the biker's still thinking about it. One more thing I will mention in regards to this chapter is that, for me personally, the Katie and Tim talk was probably my favorite part of the chapter in general; mostly on the latter character's part though, but I don't know why though (probably because I just like the idea of Tim being this socially-awkward person compared to his best friend).
Anyway, that should be it for now. We'll most likely go back to see what Crystal's up to in the next chapter; until next time, my fellow readers.