I Would Rather . . .
Pier 62
As it turns out Pierce the Veil rides around in a shit green church van when they’re not in their tour bus. A shit green church van that everybody seems to call “The Mystery Machine” even though it looks nothing like the mystery machine. At the very least it’s inconspicuous.
“So Tony where exactly are we going?” Jaime asks leaning into the front seat from the middle of the back.
Mike, sitting in the passenger seat, blows the smoke from his drag into Jaime’s face. “Maybe if you sit the fuck back he’ll tell you.”
Jaime sticks his tongue out, “Like smoke bothers me anymore after sharing a van with you for six years.” Mike laughs.
“So Tony seriously, where we going?” Jaime asks leaning waaay into the front seat, putting his face as close to Tony’s as he could without touching.
Tony laughs and paws at his face, “Sit the fuck back Jaime, I will wreck us!” he threatens.
Jaime laughs and flops back against the giant back seat back seat that he managed to squeeze into with Vic and I and almost hits me with one of his ridiculously wide shoulders. “Does that mean I don’t get to know?” He whines.
“You’ll see when we get there. It’s a surprise, I promise it’s cool.” Tony insists into the rear view mirror.
“Usually when we get a night where we can just do whatever each of us picks a place we want to go and we try to go to all of them in one night.” Vic explains to me, “Last time we didn’t get to Tony’s so he goes first this time.”
“Ohh,” I reply, “sounds fun.”
“Yeah. Mike has this magic talent of finding the best hookah bars in any city we go to.” Vic laughs, “Don’t you Mikey?”
“It’s a gift.” Mike replies turning around in his seat.
“Oh the best one around here - ”
“No!” Mike hold up a hand. “You mustn’t tell me, I must find it on my own.” He waves his hand in a circle in a dramatic gesture that makes everybody else laugh and me giggle a little bit.
“I still think that’s a point for Hufflepuff man.” Tony adds glancing out of the corner of his eye.
“Dude, it is a not actually true in the books that Hufflepuffs are good finders okay! I’m Slytherin and you’re going to have to accept that one day.” Mike points a threatening finger in Tony’s direction making everybody laugh again. It’s this comment that makes me laugh a real genuine laugh for the first time in a while, and for once, it actually feels nice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you take us to a fucking parking garage? Is this your place?” Mike asks exasperatedly as we pulling into a building with a giant Cheetos ad on the side.
“Of course not you idiot. We’re in New York it’s not like there’s a fucking parking lot in front of everything.” Tony relies putting the van in park “Now get out you hooligans.”
Once Tony grabs his board out of the back of the van and we get out of the garage and onto the sidewalk I realize that I recognize the tennis court across the street, and the terribly designed intersection we have to cross. “Wait, are we, we’re at Pier 62 aren’t we?” I ask whipping my head around to Tony.
He smiles, “You’ve been here before?” He asks.
“Yeah, I used to come here all the time with my dad.”
“You’re dad skates? That’s cool as fuck!” Tony exclaims.
“Yeah, I mean he did I least.” I say shrugging.
“Did he get too old?” Jaime jokes elbowing me.
“Something like that.” I answer.
“Wait, we’re going to a skate park?” Mike asks sounding vaguely annoyed.
“It’s my spot man, and this skate park is supposed to be fucking awesome.” Tony answers grinning as if Mike’s annoyance doesn’t bother him in the slightest.
Traffic stops and we all jog across 12th Avenue towards the sign pointing us towards Chelsea Piers.
“Dude what are the rest of us supposed to do at a skate park?” Vic questions as we cross onto the Hudson River Greenway.
“I don’t know man, enjoy yourselves?” Tony answers shrugging, “It’s an empty skate park, the possibilities are endless.” He grins.
“It’s almost two thirty, there’s no way in hell the park is still open. How the fuck are we supposed to get in?” Mike asks spotting the high fence around the skating area.
“We go over it of course.” Tony answers. There is a collective groan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Getting over the fence turns out to be easier said than done. About 15 minutes after we arrive the only one who’s managed to making it into the park is Tony’s skateboard. It does, however, turn out to be just as entertaining to watch Tony and Mike try to boost Vic up high enough to grab the top of the fence though. Jaime and I have been sitting under one of the many trees around the fence and laughing to ourselves for about ten minutes when he asks, “So what did you mean by ‘something like that’?”. I give him a confused look and he elaborates, “When I asked if your dad got too old to skate you said ‘something like that’.”
My stomach drops slightly, I look away. “Well if by ‘got too old’ you mean ‘got too dead’ than yeah he got too old.” I say as Mike tells Vic to lock his knees for the hundredth time.
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“I was three years ago.” I turn back to him and offer a small smile to try and make his blanched face less severe. “I’m over it.” There’s a loud clang and then a soft thump and when Jaime and I turn around Vic is (finally!) over the fence. Tony and Mike follow easily behind him a moment later.
“Looks like I’m gonna have to boost you myself short stuff.” Jaime teases ruffling my hair as he stand up.
“Who says I need a boost?” I ask raising an eyebrow at him but taking the hand he offers me to help me stand.
“You really think you can get over by yourself? You’re so tiny. Seriously how old are you?” He asks.
“I’m 19, and I’m not that small.” I assert.
“You really are,” He insists, “but if you want to try to climb up yourself be my guest.”
“You’re such an ass.” I laugh and walk up to the ridiculous fence reaching as high as I can and taking ahold. After I haul myself to the top and throw a leg over I bellow, “Somebody wanna catch me?”
Mike comes over and looks up at me, “I’ll do my best but if you hurt yourself it’s not my fault.” He warns.
I roll my eyes, “Just catch me it’s not all that hard.” I chide. I throw my other leg over the fence and shuffling down the fence as far as I can go without letting go of the top. “Okay, one, two, … three.” I leap and Mike grabs me by the waist as I almost slam into him.
“Jesus you’re light.” He points out, setting me on my feet. “Seriously kid, you’re tiny.”
“That’s what I said!” Jaime hollers from half way up the fence.
“I’m not that fucking small, I’m 19 for christ sake.” I sassed.
Jaime thumps down beside me, “Aw, don’t be insulted Jo. It’s okay to be small.” He throws an arm around my shoulder. “Doesn’t mean anything really. It clearly doesn’t hold you back, you got over the fence easier than Vic, and he’s bigger than you.” He leans down, “Vic is just a big baby.” He whispers.
“Hey! I heard that!” Vic shouts from inside the concrete bowl in front of me. We try to laugh quietly, but fail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony’s been zooming around and flipping off the sides of the bowl for a good twenty minutes while Vic and Mike play chicken as if Tony were a dangerous vehicle. Jaime and I are sitting on one of the curbed sides and letting out feet dangle over the steep edge.
“So do you actually have school tomorrow or what?” Jaime wonders to me.
“What are you on about?” I respond tearing my eyes away from a laughing Mike who just barely avoid an unflinching Tony.
“Why didn’t you want to come with us originally? Is it like Vic said and you have school?”
“Kind of.” I answer shrugging and letting my eyes slide back to where Tony is rolling down one of the sides at top speed towards a jittery Victor.
“Kind of?” He nags.
“Graduation actually.” I provide.
“Oh, I thought you would be in college. But that’s cool man, no shame in getting held back, one of my best friends in high school was held back.”
“I wasn’t held back.” I scoff.
“Oh?”
I sigh. “I spent a year in rehab.” I supply.
“Oh. . . . can I ask why?” He mumbles.
“Nope.” I counter popping my lips with the P. He doesn’t get a chance to respond because in a second I’m hopping of the curb and sliding down the steep side of the bowl with a small shriek.
“Holy shit, that looked fun as fuck!” Vic bursts and scrambles up one of the sides to try it for himself.
“You know what’s even more fun?” I grinned. “Can I borrow your board Tony?”
Tony kicks his board to a stop before looking at me speculatively. “As long as you don’t break it.” He worries and cautiously hands me the board.
I scoff. “I’m not going to break it.” I say and climb up one of the sides. I warn everybody out of the way as I sit on the board and use my feet as leverage to keep the back wheels pressed against the curbed side, I grab the front of the board for balance and quickly tuck both of my feet onto the board as it goes speeding down the side. As I hit the curved bottom I shriek and the board and I go rocketing up the other side until it come to a rest at the bottom of the bowl.
“Holy shit!” Mike yells as I laugh and fall off the side of the board. “Let me ride with you!”
“Well I’ve never done it with two people before, but sure lets go.” I grin and we both climb up the side of the bowl to reset. When we both lift our feet onto the board we go flying down the side like a bat out of hell and Mike yells like he’s on a goddamn rollercoaster. As we hit the bottom of the bowl the board goes flying out from under us, landing us hard on our asses and sending the board flying out of the bowl.
There’s a dead silent moment before Tony doubles over with laughter and the rest of us follow.
“So Tony where exactly are we going?” Jaime asks leaning into the front seat from the middle of the back.
Mike, sitting in the passenger seat, blows the smoke from his drag into Jaime’s face. “Maybe if you sit the fuck back he’ll tell you.”
Jaime sticks his tongue out, “Like smoke bothers me anymore after sharing a van with you for six years.” Mike laughs.
“So Tony seriously, where we going?” Jaime asks leaning waaay into the front seat, putting his face as close to Tony’s as he could without touching.
Tony laughs and paws at his face, “Sit the fuck back Jaime, I will wreck us!” he threatens.
Jaime laughs and flops back against the giant back seat back seat that he managed to squeeze into with Vic and I and almost hits me with one of his ridiculously wide shoulders. “Does that mean I don’t get to know?” He whines.
“You’ll see when we get there. It’s a surprise, I promise it’s cool.” Tony insists into the rear view mirror.
“Usually when we get a night where we can just do whatever each of us picks a place we want to go and we try to go to all of them in one night.” Vic explains to me, “Last time we didn’t get to Tony’s so he goes first this time.”
“Ohh,” I reply, “sounds fun.”
“Yeah. Mike has this magic talent of finding the best hookah bars in any city we go to.” Vic laughs, “Don’t you Mikey?”
“It’s a gift.” Mike replies turning around in his seat.
“Oh the best one around here - ”
“No!” Mike hold up a hand. “You mustn’t tell me, I must find it on my own.” He waves his hand in a circle in a dramatic gesture that makes everybody else laugh and me giggle a little bit.
“I still think that’s a point for Hufflepuff man.” Tony adds glancing out of the corner of his eye.
“Dude, it is a not actually true in the books that Hufflepuffs are good finders okay! I’m Slytherin and you’re going to have to accept that one day.” Mike points a threatening finger in Tony’s direction making everybody laugh again. It’s this comment that makes me laugh a real genuine laugh for the first time in a while, and for once, it actually feels nice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you take us to a fucking parking garage? Is this your place?” Mike asks exasperatedly as we pulling into a building with a giant Cheetos ad on the side.
“Of course not you idiot. We’re in New York it’s not like there’s a fucking parking lot in front of everything.” Tony relies putting the van in park “Now get out you hooligans.”
Once Tony grabs his board out of the back of the van and we get out of the garage and onto the sidewalk I realize that I recognize the tennis court across the street, and the terribly designed intersection we have to cross. “Wait, are we, we’re at Pier 62 aren’t we?” I ask whipping my head around to Tony.
He smiles, “You’ve been here before?” He asks.
“Yeah, I used to come here all the time with my dad.”
“You’re dad skates? That’s cool as fuck!” Tony exclaims.
“Yeah, I mean he did I least.” I say shrugging.
“Did he get too old?” Jaime jokes elbowing me.
“Something like that.” I answer.
“Wait, we’re going to a skate park?” Mike asks sounding vaguely annoyed.
“It’s my spot man, and this skate park is supposed to be fucking awesome.” Tony answers grinning as if Mike’s annoyance doesn’t bother him in the slightest.
Traffic stops and we all jog across 12th Avenue towards the sign pointing us towards Chelsea Piers.
“Dude what are the rest of us supposed to do at a skate park?” Vic questions as we cross onto the Hudson River Greenway.
“I don’t know man, enjoy yourselves?” Tony answers shrugging, “It’s an empty skate park, the possibilities are endless.” He grins.
“It’s almost two thirty, there’s no way in hell the park is still open. How the fuck are we supposed to get in?” Mike asks spotting the high fence around the skating area.
“We go over it of course.” Tony answers. There is a collective groan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Getting over the fence turns out to be easier said than done. About 15 minutes after we arrive the only one who’s managed to making it into the park is Tony’s skateboard. It does, however, turn out to be just as entertaining to watch Tony and Mike try to boost Vic up high enough to grab the top of the fence though. Jaime and I have been sitting under one of the many trees around the fence and laughing to ourselves for about ten minutes when he asks, “So what did you mean by ‘something like that’?”. I give him a confused look and he elaborates, “When I asked if your dad got too old to skate you said ‘something like that’.”
My stomach drops slightly, I look away. “Well if by ‘got too old’ you mean ‘got too dead’ than yeah he got too old.” I say as Mike tells Vic to lock his knees for the hundredth time.
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“I was three years ago.” I turn back to him and offer a small smile to try and make his blanched face less severe. “I’m over it.” There’s a loud clang and then a soft thump and when Jaime and I turn around Vic is (finally!) over the fence. Tony and Mike follow easily behind him a moment later.
“Looks like I’m gonna have to boost you myself short stuff.” Jaime teases ruffling my hair as he stand up.
“Who says I need a boost?” I ask raising an eyebrow at him but taking the hand he offers me to help me stand.
“You really think you can get over by yourself? You’re so tiny. Seriously how old are you?” He asks.
“I’m 19, and I’m not that small.” I assert.
“You really are,” He insists, “but if you want to try to climb up yourself be my guest.”
“You’re such an ass.” I laugh and walk up to the ridiculous fence reaching as high as I can and taking ahold. After I haul myself to the top and throw a leg over I bellow, “Somebody wanna catch me?”
Mike comes over and looks up at me, “I’ll do my best but if you hurt yourself it’s not my fault.” He warns.
I roll my eyes, “Just catch me it’s not all that hard.” I chide. I throw my other leg over the fence and shuffling down the fence as far as I can go without letting go of the top. “Okay, one, two, … three.” I leap and Mike grabs me by the waist as I almost slam into him.
“Jesus you’re light.” He points out, setting me on my feet. “Seriously kid, you’re tiny.”
“That’s what I said!” Jaime hollers from half way up the fence.
“I’m not that fucking small, I’m 19 for christ sake.” I sassed.
Jaime thumps down beside me, “Aw, don’t be insulted Jo. It’s okay to be small.” He throws an arm around my shoulder. “Doesn’t mean anything really. It clearly doesn’t hold you back, you got over the fence easier than Vic, and he’s bigger than you.” He leans down, “Vic is just a big baby.” He whispers.
“Hey! I heard that!” Vic shouts from inside the concrete bowl in front of me. We try to laugh quietly, but fail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony’s been zooming around and flipping off the sides of the bowl for a good twenty minutes while Vic and Mike play chicken as if Tony were a dangerous vehicle. Jaime and I are sitting on one of the curbed sides and letting out feet dangle over the steep edge.
“So do you actually have school tomorrow or what?” Jaime wonders to me.
“What are you on about?” I respond tearing my eyes away from a laughing Mike who just barely avoid an unflinching Tony.
“Why didn’t you want to come with us originally? Is it like Vic said and you have school?”
“Kind of.” I answer shrugging and letting my eyes slide back to where Tony is rolling down one of the sides at top speed towards a jittery Victor.
“Kind of?” He nags.
“Graduation actually.” I provide.
“Oh, I thought you would be in college. But that’s cool man, no shame in getting held back, one of my best friends in high school was held back.”
“I wasn’t held back.” I scoff.
“Oh?”
I sigh. “I spent a year in rehab.” I supply.
“Oh. . . . can I ask why?” He mumbles.
“Nope.” I counter popping my lips with the P. He doesn’t get a chance to respond because in a second I’m hopping of the curb and sliding down the steep side of the bowl with a small shriek.
“Holy shit, that looked fun as fuck!” Vic bursts and scrambles up one of the sides to try it for himself.
“You know what’s even more fun?” I grinned. “Can I borrow your board Tony?”
Tony kicks his board to a stop before looking at me speculatively. “As long as you don’t break it.” He worries and cautiously hands me the board.
I scoff. “I’m not going to break it.” I say and climb up one of the sides. I warn everybody out of the way as I sit on the board and use my feet as leverage to keep the back wheels pressed against the curbed side, I grab the front of the board for balance and quickly tuck both of my feet onto the board as it goes speeding down the side. As I hit the curved bottom I shriek and the board and I go rocketing up the other side until it come to a rest at the bottom of the bowl.
“Holy shit!” Mike yells as I laugh and fall off the side of the board. “Let me ride with you!”
“Well I’ve never done it with two people before, but sure lets go.” I grin and we both climb up the side of the bowl to reset. When we both lift our feet onto the board we go flying down the side like a bat out of hell and Mike yells like he’s on a goddamn rollercoaster. As we hit the bottom of the bowl the board goes flying out from under us, landing us hard on our asses and sending the board flying out of the bowl.
There’s a dead silent moment before Tony doubles over with laughter and the rest of us follow.
Notes
So basically I'm really sorry. Here's an update. I love you. I re-wrote this without a beta so please tell me if there's any mistakes so that I can correct them. And again
P.S. PLEASE DO NOT ACTUALLY TRY TO JUMP THE FENCE AT PIER 62. IT IS VERY HIGH AND YOU WILL GET HURT AND/OR ARRESTED. OMFG PLEASE DON'T DO THAT.
P.S.S. If anybody can correctly guess what Jo went to rehab for I will . . . I don't know. Mention you in the notes of the next chapter and give you a picture of a cake or something.
Love, Jasey
Silently cries because 11 months is too long xc
7/7/14