Chapter 33

Noticing a shadow walking into the doorway, Richie looked up from where he was playing with Daniel on the floor of his bedroom.

He smiled up at Noah. "Everything okay?" He asked.
Noah nodded. "I was wondering..." He didn't end his sentence.
"What's up?" Richie got up from the floor, making sure Daniel was okay sitting on his own.
Noah hestitated but continued. "I was wondering if you could drive me somewhere."
"Sure, where do you want to go?"
"The skatepark."
"Skatepark?" Richie frowned, he had never seen Noah skateboard. Even surfing only happened once in a while. Not wanting to discourage Noah from something new, he agreed. "Just give me a few minutes to get Daniel ready and we can go."

Sarah had gone to write her final exam and Richie had stayed home with Daniel and Noah but going out was never a bad choice.

He quickly dressed Daniel in a nicer outfit, jeans and a cute tshirt. Even though he was a small boy, his closet was filled with tshirts. More than he would ever wear.

Fifteen minutes later they were in the car, on their way to the skatepark. He hadn't exactly been to the skatepark before but knowing where it was was good enough for him.

"How come you want to go skateboarding?" Richie asked carefully.
Noah shrugged.
"Just something you want to try out?"
"Sort of."
Richie frowned and looked over at Noah, seeing a light blush on his cheeks, then he smiled. "A girl?"
Noah's head turned in less than a split second, disbelieving that Richie had figured him out that quickly. He sighed. "Yeah."
"A skatergirl." Richie said. "Very cool."

Arriving at the park, Richie was glad to spot a Starbucks restaurant across the street. At least he could get a cup of coffee while he was there.

Before getting out of the car, Noah turned to him again. "Could you wait around here?" He asked nervously. "In case I really suck at skateboarding."
Richie smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'll be here." He answered, feeling like he said give girl advise.
"Thanks." Noah said and made to get out of the car.
"Wait," Richie said, "You don't need to impress her with skateboarding you know, just be you."
Noah looked away, then shook his head. "I'm not good enough."

Before he could say anything else, Noah had gotten out of the car and was walking to the skatepark. Richie couldn't believe it. Of course he was good enough, for any girl or any person. Not being able to do anything about it right now, he looked back at Daniel. "Lets get some coffee buddy."

Starbucks offered a not too bad view of the skatepark and the park behind it. Sadly no playpark for small children, Daniel would be too small anyway. Instead, Daniel sat next to the table in his stroller as Richie enjoyed his coffee, Daniel had a cup of juice.

From his point of view, he had made out which skater was Noah. While watching the others, he realized Noah didn't nearly have enough protection gear. A helmet was all he had but all the other skaters were wearing more protection.

Sudden crying from Daniel had him distracted but the smell easily made him realize what had disrupted his son's peace. Leaving his coffee on the table, he got Daniel out of the chair and took him to the washrooms to change him into a clean diaper.

As he returned and got Daniel back into the stroller, he sat down to take a sip from his coffee again. A little colder but still full of flavour.

Enjoying his drink, he looked out of the window. He frowned as he saw most of the skaters group up in a circle around somebody, skateboard disregarded everywhere. He leaned on the table to see closer but couldn't make out where Noah was.