the boardwalk ; saturday afternoon

[necroslacker]

While parents and guardians alike were up at the school, visiting teachers, Sam and Ramon had grabbed their boards (if there was one thing Ramon was gonna take with him, it was his skateboard) so they could hit the boardwalk with Frank jogging behind them, whining about dangerous activities and not being able to keep up. Ramon had made a quip about Frank's chicken legs which just had Frank pulling up to a walk and pouting.

It was good to have his friends around again. Frank was leaning against one of the rails on the boardwalk, yelling things at Sam and Ramon whenever they rode past him. It was either stuff about the estate, stuff about money, asking about the Council and even asking about Brooke. Each time, Sam didn't answer and Ramon threw some other ridiculous insult Frank's way. It was a routine that was relaxing Sam even if he knew that he was gonna have to tell his friends something about his time here and what he was planning to do once he got back to Seattle.

But, that wasn't at the forefront of his mind. He was just so freaking glad that Ramon wasn't so sick Sam had been sure he was dying and that Frank was there, being his annoying but alive self. Yeah, they'd lost Brooke but she was even still around in her own way. He hoped she'd pop up and make an appearance so Frank could even go home happy.

"Race?" Ramon suggested, looking over at Sam and then down towards the end of the boardwalk. "First one down and back wins...well, a prize to be determined."

"Ramon, you know i don't -- " Before he could finish, he'd taken off on his board, trying to cheat to get a head start. He could hear Ramon protesting behind him but he didn't slow down. Hey, races were important even if the prize could be lame!

[It's an open boardwalk if you wanna chat with Sam and his friends or just use it for your own stuff!]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

Like she'd suspected she would do, Natalie had kept to herself yesterday, choosing to spend time alone catching up on a few anime and finishing a book she'd been reading. Today, though, she'd taken to the town, just walking around, hair in a messy ponytail and hands deep in her hoodie pockets.

She was probably not going to tell anyone whether she'd come to the boardwalk specifically looking for Sam and his friends, but she found them there, anyway. And it would've been rude to just ignore them, right? And she was curious.

While Sam and Ramon were racing, she walked up to Frank. "So. Which one are you?"

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"...which one am I?" Frank repeated, blinking over at Natalie. He'd seen her coming but he'd expected her to pass on by so when she stopped and asked that, he'd been caught off guard.

"Uh. Frank," he said, trying to recover from his moment of gawking. "Sam's friend. Here for the weekend to make sure he's not dropping out and working at a burger joint. Again."

Yeah, Frank was so smooth.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave him a ghost of an amused smile. He was mostly granted one only because he was Sam's friend.

"He says he's not intending to drop out again anytime soon," she shared, then inclined her head a little towards their two racers. "And that's Ramon, right?"

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Was she a psychic? Or...psycho? Look, Frank was a pessimist. He couldn't help it. Ramon could handle the optimism.

"So, gonna take a wild guess and say either you know Sam or you're from one of those psychic hotlines that I always thought were fake."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm Natalie," she introduced herself with another vaguely amused look. "Friend of Sam's."

'Makeout partner' just sounded weird.

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"I guess I should be glad that Sam's making friends and not enemies." Frank hadn't been that close to the Douglas thing but he'd still seen the aftereffects.

He'd seen Ramon. "Natalie, nice to meet you," Frank said, nodding and watching Ramon and Frank finally hit the end of the boardwalk. He couldn't tell who was winning. "And what does a friend of Sam's do out here? I'm like his...accountant friend."

[whenshewasnice]

"With the estate," Natalie nodded, because she remembered that much from what Sam had told her. "I don't know if I have a designation beyond being a friend."

It was all so private.

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"The estate, yeah," he said, crossing his arms and wondering how much she actually knew about Sam. He was under orders not to blab though. "Sam kind of fell into that. He was letting me and Ramon stay in a tiny apartment with him before that. Brooke stayed sometimes too before she, uh, died."

At least 'murder by decapitation' didn't come out his mouth. "He hasn't mentioned you."

[whenshewasnice]

"I figured." And it was a very good thing that she had such amazing control over her face, because even she wasn't sure how she felt about not having been mentioned. "He mentions you two often enough."

More than she talked about anyone from back home, anyway.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

...Hey. Toby totally knew that face. And unlike most everyone else, it wasn't because he'd known a certain girl from Kansas first. No, this was the getting-to-fourth-date girl Sam had been talking- thinking- whatever- about.

His eyes widened in recognition and he managed a "Hey," and a nod in her direction.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie raised an eyebrow at that awkward greeting. "Yes?"

It wasn't terribly polite but she also had no idea why this random guy was staring at her.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

This was a lot harder without actually knowing her name. "Sorry," he apologised, sounding a little sheepish. "...I'm trying to figure out a way to say I've seen you around school without sounding like a total creeper." Not a total lie, he was almost certain he'd seen her in the hallway at some point, and besides, it was easier to explain than 'Sam showed me a picture of you in his head'.

[whenshewasnice]

"... We go to a school where everyone lives in a relatively small dorm building. Pretty sure we've all seen each other at some point or another."

Which meant Natalie didn't really see his point. But at least she wasn't finding him creepy?

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Well, exactly," Toby said with a nod. "I'm Toby, by the way."

[whenshewasnice]

"Natalie," she replied, giving him a look like she was still expecting him to get to some sort of a point. "Charmed."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"I mostly just figured since you're here and I'm here, and," he shrugged, "I'm a friend of Sam's. Heard a bit about you. So I thought I should say hi."

[whenshewasnice]

So, Sam had bothered to mention her to someone after all. That was... something. Natalie still hadn't figured out what she felt about that, either way.

"Hi," she agreed. "I don't think I've heard of you."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

So Ray was off checking up on his teachers, leaving Toby to his own devices in the meantime.

"Friend of Sam's?" he- well, it wasn't really a guess, more of a deduction.

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"Y- yeah," Frank said, glancing down at his shirt like he might be wearing a label. "Has he been showing pictures of us around or something like a proud father?"

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"What would you say if I told you he had?" Toby said with a bit of a smirk.

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"I'd wonder if he fell on his head," Frank admitted with a slight frown. "And then I'd wonder when he turned into a photographer. I think the only pictures Sam has or of his mom and maybe of his skateboard."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Makes sense," Toby said. "I'm pretty sure his skateboard is very close to his heart. But no, he's talked about a couple of guys from back home, and I just assumed that was you and... whoever's racing him out there," he nodded in the direction of the race.

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's Ramon," Frank shared, nodding at the darker skinned boy who was currently schooling Sam in their race. "His mom couldn't come make it so we came out here. We didn't know he lived on some island paradise."

Hey, it rained all the time in Seattle.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Toby snickered. "Well, it's not raining ninety percent of the time," he admitted. "So it's got that going for it. Toby, by the way," he introduced himself. "Which I guess makes you Frank."

[plumpys-inc.livejournal.com]

"Frank, yeah," he said, extending a hand towards Toby. "You one of Sam's island friends?"

Well, it seemed like you had to make a designation now that there were people from Seattle here.