Cleaning up porcelain with my bare hands wasn't the ideal way of getting rid of Dakotah, as he fussed and worried about me cutting myself. I literally had to bar him inside his own room just to keep him away from me and this mess…
I pick up the last piece with gentle care, an odd red tint catching my eye. Twisting it between forefinger and thumb, I notice a small animal etched on one side: a wolf. It seemed to be howling. Getting up from my half-crouch, I leave the kitchen, moving through my room and into the bathroom. Digging through a drawer, I find my nail file and begin to carefully file the edges of the jagged porcelain. Once the piece was smooth and rounded, I placed it into one of my desk drawers, the idea for a gift forming. Then I leave the room to finish cleaning up and check on Dakotah.
"You alive in there?" I ask, smiling as the reverberations resounded through the patterned wood. "Wouldn't want to find a body you know."
From the other side I hear some garbled words and a small squeak. It takes him a while to answer the door and when he does, I look past him to see an unruly bed. I guess he'd been asleep.
"Yes?"
"You feeling better?"
"I'm still alive aren't I?" He replies before flashing a smile, "Plus, I think my body is like a work of art. It's meant to be found."
I couldn't exactly deny that remark: from what I've glimpsed of him, he was like a living piece of art. Too bad he was a figure skater instead of a model. Then again, I might not have met him. Small blessings indeed…
"Hey, you okay?" His voice, snapping me out of my reverie, reminded me that I was staring at his half-naked body—something I had only realized just now.
"Um, yeah. I'm okay. I was just wondering what you wanted for dinner actually. It's almost five." I could feel my face getting hot from the intensity of his gaze, and despite wanting to end the conversation fast, I remained cool and poised—a pathetic attempt at hiding.
I could see him judging my expression before his lips pursed in a self satisfied smirk. "Chicken is fine, thanks." Before closing the door. As I turn away, a small chuckle escapes from the other side. I wasn't going to live this down was I?
That night passed quickly without further incident. Dakotah remained held-up in his room like a recluse throughout, while I left the dorm at the crack of dawn. With a backpack on my back and a board in hand, I leave the campus, towards the heart of Ashland. Entering the city so early in the morning, around four to be exact, I found the silence both refreshing and eerie.
Finding the nearest skatepark, I immediately notice how run down it is: ramps with pieces missing, colorful graffiti defiling pavement and trash piling high in some places. Out of my good conscious, I clean up the trash—despite being a germaphobe— before doing exercises, preparing myself. Stretching each of my legs, thighs and even arms until they no longer burned; I then dig through my pack. Strapping a classic black helmet on my head and pads onto my arms and knees, I recover my board from the bench it leaned against and my intense regime began.
Starting slow, I take my time going down the three kidney-shaped pools that were connected, gaining speed as I traveled along the transition parts of the walls. Then taking the small snake run around the side—with a six-foot pool at the end with an equally as high transition—at maximum speed, I reach the top.
Placing my right foot on the tail of my board and sliding my left towards the nose simultaneously, I pop an Ollie right up over the edge. Landing on the concrete deck with ease. Smiling to myself, I continued honing the basics and some intermediate skills until well past eight o'clock before returning to campus. Smelling foul and covered in sweat.