Matt’s brother, Jamie, gives us a ride to the skateboard shop in Santa Monica. But the skateboard shop is also the surf shop, and the first person we bump into is Carly’s friend Crash. Is this what my life has come to—days just brimming with people I’d like to avoid? acknowledgment I secretly watch Crash meander through the store, checking out T-shirts and boards. He nods to Matt and me when he sees us—which is more acknowledgment than we’ve ever gotten from him. He’s wearing his wetsuit and carrying a skateboard with graffiti on the bottom. “He skateboards too?” Matt asks. “How come we never see him when we board?” The most probable answer is that he’s a hundred times better than we are and skateboards with older kids in places Matt and I don’t even know exist. But instead of saying that out loud, I just shrug. casual As Matt examines different sets of wheels, I try to act as casual as possible. “If Crash is here in his wetsuit, do you think Carly’s surfing today too?”
