She stopped when she heard the lower voice emitting from across the street, and zipped around. The song by this point had ended, so she hit pause, and slowly looked them up and down. She nodded once, and sat on the edge of the roof. From the roof to the ground, it was a pretty long distance, enough to sprain an ankle if one didn't land right. She hopped right off, and then curled up, landing on her butt. She then got up, dusted herself off, and after checking her phone to make sure it didn't crack, walked right on over, and sat down. "I like your voice." She said with a smile. "It's rich, like chocolate cake. Anyways hi, I'm Evelyn. And you are…?" They were handsome. Extremely handsome.
Jamie's eyebrows shot up. "I'm…thank you." They took another sip of their drink. "Jamie. Nice to meet you." Up close, she was just as vibrant as she looked on the roof. Their eyes flicked up to her hair. It really was bright, almost glowing. "You sounded nicer than me, though, my voice is kinda shit. I like the way you sing. It's really…you don't restrain yourself."
"If you've gotta voice why bother hiding it? Bright and loud, it's just how I am." She smiled brightly. "You new here? I've never seen you before and, I know everyone here." She said this while sticking her hand in the sour candy and taking out one, and sticking it in her mouth. "I only want the one, don't stress about it. Also! I have a band. So I guess, I better sound good." She said this while rocking back and forth on her butt, full of pent up energy.
Jamie smiled slightly. Her energy reminded them of a few of their own friends. "Yeah, I'm not from around. I live a few miles away, across the river. I wander around a lot during the day." They paused, finishing the last of their drink and flattening the can between their hands. "You're in a band too? I'm in kind of an unofficial one right now, as the bassist." They subconsciously traced a tattoo of the nonbinary flag on their forearm. "You have a good taste in music."
(I swear I responded it musta not sent) "Damn all the way across the river? Shit that's far. Why are you all the way on this side of town? Also yeah. We play about every weekend ish, wherever we can." She shrugged.
Jamie's face flushed slightly and they glanced down at their fingers, which were currently running along the outline of a swan tattoo on their wrist. "I, ah, usually try to get away from my mom in the evenings. Actually, today, I was with some friends of mine in a neighborhood near here, and I wandered into this area just out of curiosity after I left."
"Ah I get that. Mind if I wander off with ya?" She said, glancing at her crazy house, before taking out a small weird looking little tool, which helped to pop the wheels out of the bottom of her shoes, which folded into it, turning her red and white sneakers into a pair of quad rollerskates.
Jamie stared, wide-eyed, for a few moments at the Chuck Taylor roller skates, then shook their head. Their mass of curly hair bounced and they said, "Sure," and smiled. They stood up, pocketing the flattened can, and handed the pack of candy to Evelyn. "You can have the rest." They dropped their skateboard, put a foot on, looked back at her, grinned, and sped off.
Evelyn sped off after him, and rolled along, eating the candy. She waved at kids as they passed boy and an older boy yelled. "IS THAT YOU'RE NEWEST BOYFRIEND!" "NO! AND STOP ASSUMING GENDER BASED OFF APPEARANCES JAMIE! WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS!" She sighed and kept going, shaking her head. "Sorry. People are assholes. Plus these kids all know me. They can only assume. That's also sexist though assuming that girls can't be friends with guys, or nonbinary, or girls for that matter, without dating them. Like. Transgirls and such. I dunno. People are rude." She sighed.
Jamie turned around and started skating backwards, balancing precariously, so they could look at Evelyn. "It's fine. I'm used to people calling me whatever, it doesn't really irk me anymore at this point in my life. Thanks for that, though. Did I actually ever tell you…?"
"Naw. I'm just a huge advocator for not judging based off looks. And from the way you're acting, you are agender. Don't bother me none. My twins a fem boy, and half of my friends are trans or something. I'm used to screeching at people to stop being stupid. It's like my destiny or something." She laughed and rolled up next to them. Since they were facing backwards they didn't see the huge hill. But Evelyn did. So she got low to the ground and rode down it, wind in her hair and a smile on her face as she sped off.
"Oh, shit!" they yelled, as they lost their balance and tripped off onto the side of the road. Their skateboard, however, continued rolling down the hill, and Jamie ran, laughing, after it. They didn't notice until they'd caught it and gotten back on that their fall had ripped a new hole in their already ratty jeans covered in scribbled Sharpie notes. Their knee was slightly skinned as well, but it didn't bother them.
Evelyn sighed and put her wheels back in, then walked up the street and met him. "Hey you alright dude? Also I view dude as agender if there's any nicknames I call you that bother you. Tell me. I know you're used to people disrespecting you but. I'm not people. I'm me. And I respect people and their opinions and emotions so. Always tell me if I do somethin' wrong. Anyways. How's your leg?"
"I'm okay, it's no big deal. Just a little scrape. And, like I said, it doesn't make a difference as to what you call me, I'm fine with any nickname. I honestly don't care." They smiled gratefully at Evelyn.
"Alriiiight. Oh yeah, it isn't even bleeding. You're good. Just wanted to make sure you didn't break your arm or something. I've done that going down this hill before. No fun." She grinned and popped out her skates once more as she talked, before she rolled down the hill, now only at half the height of the hill. She slowly rolled down the sidewalk and hummed softly to herself. "Where we going now? I know this whole neighborhood so I don't really care."
Jamie hopped back on their board and followed, their hair pushed back by the breeze to reveal a pale, raised scar running from the middle of their forehead to their left temple. "I've never really been over here before, so. Lead the way."
She nodded and turned down a corner. "We'll head to the park then, Harry Potter." She said in a joking matter about the revealed scar. She knew that sometimes injuries like that people didn't like to talk about so she made sure to mention it in a kind way, but not make it obvious or pressing that they have to tell the story.
Jamie raised their eyebrows and put a hand up to their forehead. "Oh—never heard that one before." They smiled and brushed their hair back in front of the scar, leaning to steer their skateboard around the corner to follow her.
"Oh? Well good I'm still full of surprises! I'm surprised you haven't heard that one before though. Hi Adrian!" She waved and the guy glared at her and flipped her off. "LOVE YA TOO CHEATER!" She then sped up and rounded another corner, before going own another hill.
"You sure know a lot of people here." Jamie crouched as they approached the hill and grabbed the front of the skateboard to keep their balance while it wobbled from the speed.
"Well yeah I've been living here since I was 8. Dated a lot of the people in this neighborhood too." She shrugged. "Most of the people here suck at relationships though so I wouldn't do it. Not me though. At least I don't think so anyways." She shrugged as the rolled up to the small park. All it had was a swing set, and a tiny wooden playset, that only had a slide and some monkey bars. She popped in her wheels once more and walked over to the swing set, and plopped on the swings.
Jamie kicked the board up into their hand and fluffed their hair, which had been blown back from their face. "I've…never really been like that in my neighborhood. Most of the people living over there are old and they don't leave their houses very much." They leaned the skateboard against the side of the swing set and sat down on the other swing, letting their legs stretch out in front of them.
She began to move back and forth. "Yeah? These are all working class families. Lotsa trouble in these streets. Myself included, and that's a guarantee." She winked at them with a grin on her face.
They laughed, burying their dusty white Converse in the mulch underneath the swings. "Sounds fun. Maybe I'll come back here more often. If the rest of this place is as interesting as you, I sure regret not coming here earlier."
