23
Anthony
Knock Knock – Mac Miller
I Lo...
Not I Love You, but I Lo.
What. The. Hell is wrong with me.
I wonder why I don't have the courage to tell her I love her. She probably just laughs about it once I'm away from her. And honestly, I couldn't blame her. I laugh at myself for how ridiculous it is.
Absorbed in my thoughts, I don’t notice that Jax has come over and sat next to me. He waves his hand out in front of my face to get my attention, and that finally pulls me out of my head and back into the real world. “I said your name a couple times, but you just ignored me. Must have something heavy on your mind!”
Shaking my head, I tell him, “I have almost told Ashlynn ‘I love you’ twice now, and each time, I have stopped myself from fully saying it and I don’t know why.”
Jax caresses his chin, like some type of scholar, “Maybe you are stopping yourself because you feel like it’s too soon? Like you want to say it, but don’t because if something were to happen, then you put your full feelings out and won’t get them back.”
I am dumbfounded by what he just spat out at me, “What the fuck, dude?! I am not afraid to say it, I just don’t know why I keep stopping! Have you ever told a girl that you love her and not to just get in their pants? I’ve seen those games from you a few times at parties!”
Rubbing his forehead and throwing his head back on a long sigh, he says, “Yeah, I have. Her name was Kayla fucking DelMonte. We dated on and off throughout high school and a little after, too. When I told her–you know–‘I love you,’ she just looked at me and was like, ‘Sorry, I don’t love you.’ Damn! Right about now, I wish I didn’t ask him that. “Soon after that, I found her at a party in bed with a fucking football dude. So, that was the end of that. That’s why I only hook up with chicks, and that’s it. Though, I could have gone for the long haul with Neha–damn, she is beautiful. Nick is a lucky dude.”
Jax gets up to go back to ride around, but before he goes off, he turns to me, and says, “Just tell her, dude. I guarantee Ashlynn feels the same. I could tell just by the way you both act with each other. It’s all there! You lucky bastard!”
We made it into Portland and pulled over because Mateo found some random dirt jumps to ride. We have been here for a few hours, and I am blown away by how comfortable Mateo is with riding dirt after only doing it out in Austin for a few hours. I start toward a jump and do a superman, and the next jump is just a casual barspin in the air. Burnside is next, and we are all riding, so I am keeping a trick under wraps that I have been thinking of trying for a while. It will be a good fit for the finishing touches on the video. That is, if I decide I want to do it before some upcoming competitions.
Still at the park, I pull both Mateo and Noah aside to talk to them about an upcoming new competition that is going to be held in Santa Cruz, California, at the start of June. “So, I got word of an upcoming competition next year in California. It is a sort of sponsorship viewing if you will. You have the chance to be picked up by additional companies along with my sponsorship from Overbear. I want to enter you both for the rookie pro class. What do you say?”
Noah speaks first. “Are you kidding me? A chance to get additional sponsors? Hell, yeah, I am in!”
Then, I turn to Mateo to see what he thinks. With a cocky smile on his face, he says, “Put me down for my first dirt riding and win!”
I burst out laughing at him for that. “You better watch yourself! It is my understanding this is going to be big! You both better bring some top tricks for this shit. I, myself, will be riding the second day, which is for the pros–not sponsorship, but a straight competition. I have already been working on new combinations in my head to try out!”
Once done at the dirt jumps, we are finally headed to burnside. All of us are excited to get there. Chase has me drive us over so he can do a live stream for the Instagram page, letting people know we'll be there and to come out and ride with us! And it works because once we pull up to the park, it's crowded. Getting out and grabbing our bikes, a few people stop us to ask for pictures, and we are all happy to do so. I even let everyone know to keep an eye out for Mateo and Noah as up and comers in the BMX world.
After making it into the park, we all set off to start our riding. At first, a few of us just flow around and do easy tricks just to warm up. Nash and I even stop to help out a couple of smaller kids, who could only be about 6 years old, trying out their new bikes! Chase finally has the camera and rides over to where the team is standing to start filming. We all do one last introduction for the end of the park tour, along with a quick trick. After that, Grady heads out to pull off a nice toothpick off a rail. Still flowing around, I come up and do an alley-oop on the vert wall. Nash does a downside whip over a hip. I start to flow back throughout the park and notice that Mateo, Noah, Nash, and Clay are following along, doing a train.
After a few more hours at burnside, we are just about wrapped for the video tour. Jax goes off to do a turndown over a gap, followed by Nash with a tabletop over the gap. Finishing up with a close up shot, is Mateo with an icepick on the vert wall. Continuing with the tradition while we finish our riding, the whole team comes together and does a train throughout the whole park. Each rider pulls off our own tricks before finishing up. At the end of the day, we have completed the full and longest video tour Overbear has done in the three years since I started up the company. In total, the team rode eight parks, and we filmed over one-hundred-and-fifty hours of footage and gave away several pieces of Overbear apparel at each park for the demos. All in all, I would say this was a huge success.
I head to the store to get some beers and food for the bonfire. Jax and Nash come with me, while the team heads to Astoria to get the fire started up. Once we are in my rental car, Nash turns to me. “Everything is set up for you to take Ashlynn out. My grandpa Dave will be the ‘Captain.’ Seriously, he will make you call him that! Also, my mom wants to do a cookout since you’ll be in town, and she hasn’t seen you in over a year. I swear that woman loves you like a second son!”
I smile at how quickly Nash was able to get everything setup for me and that his grandpa is willing to do this surprise for me, just so I can see Ashlynn’s face once she realizes what we are doing!
“Tell your mom, of course, I will come over for a cookout and see the family. Don’t I always whenever I am in Seattle for something?” Nash’s family opened their home to me the minute I met them. I consider them all family, along with my team. It’s funny, really–the families we are born into push us away and we end up making and finding our own. I think Ashlynn did the same with Neha and Heath.
“Well, she will be glad to see you and meet Ashlynn! I may have told her about your girl and how smitten you are with her!” Nash tells me.
“Smitten? Nah, our boy is in love with her! Jax chimes in.
“In Love, Love?” Nash looks shocked at what Jax just said.
“Yes, in love; is there any other kind I am not aware of? I ask, looking over at Nash.
“No other kind, just surprised since you have only been back with each other for a few months, that’s all.”
Walking up to the cash register to pay for everything, I turn to Jax and Nash. “I’ve known Ashlynn since high school and know she is my one–my everything. I have no doubts about us.”
I tell them both no more talking about girls, since we are supposed to be celebrating a good park video tour.
After an almost two-hour drive, we make it to the beach in Astoria. It takes no time to find the rest of the team. They have a raging bonfire, and it is probably a bit bigger than what it’s supposed to be.
Once we're down on the beach, we set the cooler and food down. Then, we all sit around the fire, just bullshitting with one another. We talk about the tricks some of us pulled off for the video and our drunken night in Louisville. “That shit was rough, trying to ride while drunk. Never thought I would have trouble pedaling my bike!” Grady says.
Looking over to Mateo and Noah, I ask them, “So, what did you guys think about the tour? Ready to do another one?”
Mateo speaks first. “Heck yeah, man. I would be happy to do another one. Do you have another one in mind already?”
“I was thinking Europe would be an awesome one for the next tour. What do you all think?”
Everyone is quiet, not sure if I am messing with them or being serious. Noah speaks before anyone. “I won’t have the money to go to Europe.”
Chuckling a little at him, I say, “It’s a good thing the sponsor is footing the bill, then!”
“Are you fucking shitting me, right now?” Jax says, his eyes wide.
“No, I am not shitting you guys. Chase and I have talked about it, and we can swing it. Maybe around the same time next year.”
Nash stands up, bottle in the air, and shouts, “Cheers to being a part of the Overbear team and to the upcoming Europe tour!” We all stand and cheer with him. I couldn’t be happier to be able to do these things for the team. Chase and I created a good one.
After stuffing our faces with hot dogs and brats, and drinking a ton of beer, we all fall quiet, just sitting and enjoying the fire. Eventually, the silence is broken by Noah. “So, what now?”
All of us look over at him, a little confused. “What do you mean, ‘what now?’ I ask him.
“What do we do now that the tour is over? Just go back home, until the next?”
Shaking my head, I say, “No, man. Now, we enter big competitions and kick ass.” With that, Clay and Grady high five each other.
The next day, we all head up to Seattle from Astoria. Nash talked all the team into going and crashing at his parents’ house and staying for the cookout in a few days. I am just anxiously waiting for Ashlynn to get here. She texted me that her plane had left Denver about an hour ago. It’s 4:45 here, so she will be here in less than three hours. I am smitten–fuck me. I go to the store to buy her flowers that she can’t even keep or take home with her. It’s finally time for me to head to the airport to get my girl. I tell everyone bye and head out.
Of course, I am stuck in Seattle traffic. I let Ashlynn know I will probably be a few more minutes out. All she writes is she is waiting on her luggage, so no rush. Traffic is moving at a snail’s pace. Good lord, I want to smack my head on the steering wheel, but I finally make it to the arrival area. It is also busy, but I spot Ashlynn right away. She’s looking cute as hell, with her hair in a messy bun, my giant overbear hoodie–that she took with her from our night in Colorado Springs–jeans, and a pair of checker slip-on Vans. It’s as if Ashlynn stepped right out of high school with what she is wearing, and I love it! Throwing the car in park, I jump out as quickly as I can and run up and pull her into the tightest hug. Once she pulls away, I slam my mouth to hers.