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Dedication: _clala_ for the amazing banner! Thank you!

Recap:

That was our last kiss.

Once I was outside, I inhaled a lungful of the fresh, night air. My body was trembling. I walked from the doorway and leaned against the brick wall. I rubbed my face wearily.

I don't know what to do.

I'm doing training for my new job, which requires me to travel two hours a day and I seriously need some new music to listen to! Can you help a girl out?

[Insert your favourite songs and/or playlist here. Thank you!]

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"Um, no."

"Um, yes."

"There is no way, I am getting on that thing."

"You are such a wuss."

"I value my life, thank you very much."

"Ugh!" I groaned, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "It's a skate board... It's seriously not that scary."

"I have no balance!" Harvey argues, folding his arms across his chest, a pout forming on his lips.

"I'll teach you how to ride it."

"No!"

"Harvey!" I exclaim in annoyance, gritting my teeth. "Can you take a risk once in your life?"

"The last risk I took almost cost us our friendship," he mutters and I stiffen.

He wasn't letting what happened at my house, go easily. I understand, but it makes things that much more tense and awkward between us. We were Harvey and Grace. Best friends. There is meant to be no awkwardness.

The shops at Byron are a popular tourist destination, meaning it's near impossible to get a car park in close distance, on the weekends. Therefore, I suggested we skate to shops, to save walking.

"That's not fair," I point out with a frown. "Very different situation."

He let out a sigh. "Fine. What do I do?"

I grin, rolling the skate board towards him.

"Place whatever foot you feel comfortable onto the board," I instruct.

He did as so and began to wobble. I press my lips together to stop myself laughing at his dis-coordination. I gently place my hand on his arm, in case he falls.

"Once you feel ready, you put your weight onto your foot and push on the ground with the other. When you've picked up momentum, rest this foot," I say, slapping his leg slightly, "behind the other. Keep using that leg to push on the ground when you need more speed."

"This is complicated," he mumbles.

"It's really easy once you get the hang of it," I assure him. "Ready?"

He let out another sigh. He pushes off the ground and I begin to walk fast beside him, my hand resting on his bicep. He is wobbly and skating extremely slow, but he seems to get the gist of it.

"Try not to look down so much," I say to him, slightly breathless as I change pace into a jog.

"Easier said than done!"

"Just try!"

Once I felt confident that he was standing upright and wasn't going to tip over, I let go off his arm. He continues to skate and I jog back to my own skate board, before jumping onto it and catching up to him.

"This is awesome!" he breathes as we skate down town together.

"Told you! Just take it slow, okay? Don't get over-confident."

He hit a rock, causing the board to shutter slightly. I reach out and grip him, as he rights his balance. He gives me a grateful glance as we continue to get further into town.

We reach the first line of shops and I dismount my board, placing it against the wall of the shop. I smooth over my hair and wait for Harvey to get organised. His hair is wind-blown and his cheeks flushed from the exertion.

"So?" I press, a small smirk on my face. "You loved it, didn't you?"

He ducks his head, avoiding eye contact with me. "It was okay."

I roll my eyes.

We walk into the surf shop and I instantly go to the wall where denim shorts are lined up. I am planning to get Harvey a pair of blue, maroon and two different shades of brown denim shorts. That way he had some options when I found him some shirts.

"This is ridiculous!" he exclaims, staring down at the price tag. "I could get two video games for this price."

"Yeah, if they were second hand or on the discount list," I say sarcastically. "This is the price you have to pay for brand clothes. They're good quality. Quit your whinging!"

"Ah, taking your boyfriend shopping day, is it?" the lady asks with a small laugh as she strolls over to us.

"More like my hopeless best friend who has never shopped a day in his life," I explain to her, trying to diffuse the awkward "boyfriend" remark. "He needs help."

"Oh," she says, giving me a knowing look. "That's what I'm here for. What can I do?"

"I'm not a charity case," Harvey huffs to her. "I have style."

The ladies' eyes dipped over him, her face wrinkling slightly. She glances at me and I give her a hopeless look.

"See what I have to deal with?"

She softly laughs. "Okay, let's see what we can do."

I explained to her my idea of what I wanted him to wear and she basically dragged him around the shop, shoving clothes up to him, to see if the colour worked and whatnot. I laugh at the overwhelmed look on Harvey's face as she dragged him around the shop, as if he was her personal rag doll.

I lean on the counter as Harvey took to the change rooms, to try on some outfits. I glanced down at my watch. We were doing well with time.

"Excuse me, are you in line?"

I glance up to see a familiar looking red-head girl standing in front of me. She has smooth, pale skin. Her cheeks are tinged a hue of pink and she ducks her head, clearly a little embarrassed addressing me. She must be shy.

It was like looking at a female version of Harvey.

"Oh no, I'm just waiting for a friend," I say to her, moving to the side.

She offers me a small smile, before moving to the counter. As the lady was still busy working with Harvey, she hadn't noticed the girl lined up.

"Hey," I suddenly say. "Do I know you? You look really familiar."

"I go to Byron Elite," she says quietly.

"Ah, that must be where I've seen you," I nod.

She opens her mouth, before abruptly shutting it and turning from me.

"What?" I ask her.

"I-er, hung out with your friend once. At a party."

"Oh! Yes!" I exclaim with sudden excitement. "You're the Game of Thrones girl, aren't you?"

"Y-yeah," she stutters, ducking her head.

"Harvey wouldn't shut up about you," I say to her with a friendly smile. "He was really beating himself up for not having asked for your number. It's not that he didn't want to ask for it, he's just shy and never walked a girl home from a party before. I'm sure he would love to hang out again, if you're interested."

The words flowed fast from my mouth as I get a little too excited about the prospect of setting Harvey up. Subconsciously, I knew I was doing it out of guilt from not returning Harvey's feelings.

"Really?" she mumbles quietly. "I would... er-I would be interested, yeah."

"Awesome! I'll get him to give you his number when he comes out."

Her cheeks turned beetroot colour as she stares pointedly down at the violet-coloured singlet that is on the counter.

"Thanks."

"No problem," I smile.

Harvey wanders over and the lady quickly apologises to Game of Thrones girl for the wait. As she serves her, I hurry over to him.

"So, I'm buying-"

"Go ask for her number," I interject. "That's the girl from the party that you walked home, remember? She goes to our school, apparently. She wants to hang out with you again!"

"What?" he whispers, his eyes widening. "What the hell did you do? I was gone for, like, five minutes!"

"Never mind all that," I say with a wave. "Quick, before she leaves!"

I notice that she didn't leave straight away. She began to browse again, despite having already purchased an item. I give Harvey a shove and he shoots me a panicked glance, before walking over to her.

I dump all his stuff onto the counter and the lady began chatting away as she scanned and bagged his clothes. I only half paid attention, as I was too focused on trying to see Harvey in action.

When he returns, he doesn't dare meet my eyes, as he pays. I can't wipe the smirk off my face.

His cheeks are tainted a dark red, his skin clammy. As we exit the shop, he picks up his skate board, not saying a word.

"So?" I ask. "How did you go?"

"Good."

"Define good?"

"I got her number, okay?"

"Yes!" I shout, throwing my fist into the air. "I'm so proud of you!"

His lips twist into a shy smile.

"Now, what I would do if I was you," I say to him as I throw my skate board onto the ground. "Text her when you get home from shopping and just have casual chit chat and get to know each other. If that goes well, I would then ask her if she would like to hang out. Movies, bowling, just something simple."

"You're a pro."

"I'm good at what I do," I state seriously with a nod. "Come on, keep up!"

I propell myself forward and begin to weave through the other people on the path. I glance back a few times, seeing Harvey slowly skate behind.

We arrive at the next shop. As we enter, I glance over to Harvey.

"What's her name, by the way?"

"Caitlyn," he replies, his cheeks still bright red.

"Cute."

I look at sunglasses and watches, as Harvey looked through the shirts. The more we shopped, the easier it got. Harvey's mood had considerably lifted and he actually picked out some decent clothes himself, with no help from me. We ended up getting him a pair of designer sunglasses, a few more shirts and a pair of new Vans.

He was going to look hot by the time I was finished with him.

"Should we go get some lunch?" I suggest.

"Please, I'm starving."

"Burger shack?"

"You read my mind."

I shot off, gaining speed quickly. Harvey is keeping up with me a little better now. As I skate towards the shack, I notice a large crack in the pavement. I quickly maneuver myself around the jaggard edges. Before I have time to turn and warn Harvey, I hear a yell, a clatter and then a thud. I skid to a stop and rush over to Harvey. He landed on his head, straight on the cement. I quickly grab his board as it had shot off towards the road.

"Dude, you okay?" some guy asks as he walks past.

Harvey just groaned, gripping his head. I drop to my knees.

"Harvey!" I exclaim. "Where does it hurt?"

He lifted his head and removes his hands. Blood rushes from the cut on his forehead. It looked pretty deep. He has grazes on his left cheek, the left side of his chin and both his knees skinned.

"Oh shit," I breathe.

"It stings," he whines.

"Do you kids have a car?" the guy next to me asks. "He's going to need stitches."

"Only these," I reply gesturing to the boards.

"Come on, I'll drive you guys to the hospital," he offers. He helps Harvey to his feet.

"Thank you," I say earnestly.

As I slide into the back seat, beside a groaning Harvey, guilt pools in my stomach. He wasn't comfortable skating and I pushed him to do it anyway. This was my fault. I focus on Harvey and ignore the feeling off unease that is creeping up on me.

"Sorry," I whisper to him. "This is all my fault."

"Kind of," he agrees with a moan.

Typical.

"You guys had a good day, anyway?" the guy asks, obviously attempting to make casual conversation.

"Yeah, we got some shopping done," I say to him, my tone a little too forced. "Yourself?"

"Not too bad. Bit warm out there today."

"Mmm," I agree awkwardly.

It doesn't take long for us to arrive at the hospital, thank God.

"Thank you very much," I say to him.

"No problem. Good luck!"

I placed my arm around Harvey as we walked into the hospital. I hadn't got the chance to visit my mother's work place since we moved. In all honestly, until now, I forgot that my mother would be in the same building as us.

We walk inside, the intense air conditioning hit us straight away. I breathe a relieved sigh as I feel my body cool down.

"Hi," I say as I go to reception. "My friend and I were just skateboarding and he's had a fall. He's bleeding from his head wound and is going to need stitches."

I slip into wannabe-doctor mode. My mother always told me to state the issues upfront and always make the issues out to be more problematic than it really was. Otherwise, we could end up in the waiting room for hours. In this case, Harvey was bleeding profusely from a head wound and he will need stitches.

"Oh dear!" she exclaims, noticing the blood. "We will get someone to see you as soon as we can."

We wait about twenty minutes, before Harvey is called into a patient room. I was asked to wait outside, much to my annoyance. I decided to go get us some water, as it was hot outside and we hadn't really eaten much today. Last thing I needed was Harvey to pass out on me.

As I wander through the halls, in search for a vending machine, I turn a corner and recognise my mother's messy bun piled on top of her head. She is leaning against the wall as a man stands in front of her, talking down to her. I cock my head to the side as I notice their proximity.

He leans down to her, tucking a loose tendril of her hair behind her ear, before pressing his lips briefly to hers. My mouth falls open. My mother just kissed someone, out in the open halls.

She was kissing other people?

Was she dating them, too?

I feel my face pale as I grip the railing beside me.

I was not prepared to see that. At all.

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Harvey got Caitlyn's number! Who's shipping team #Carvey or are you still wanting Harvey and Grace to get together?

And what do you think of Grace's mother possibly dating? Do you think this will cause some tension between Grace and her mother?

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