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Geoff anxiously spins the wheels of his skateboard as he sits on the steps of the Goldbergs’ back porch.
He thinks he may be more nervous about this than Erica is, though that feeling still comes with the territory of being alone with her. It’s new, and it’s exciting, and it’s better than anything he’d hoped for, but he can’t shake the fear that he’ll say or do something to mess it all up.
But right now, it’s more than just that. He’d agreed the night before during a late phone call to help her learn how to skateboard, and he’s not sure of how it’s going to go. She had mentioned in passing that it was something she’d always wondered if she’d be able to do and Geoff, in his signature fashion, earnestly volunteered himself as a tutor before she could even think to ask.
“We can start tomorrow,” he blurted, and regretted it instantly. Too eager. He was expecting a long pause of awkward silence to fill the airwaves between them.
But Erica laughed instead. “Okay, sure. If you don’t mind.”
Geoff is busy replaying the rest of their conversation in his mind when the back door swings open and Erica steps out wearing a pair of red shorts and a Journey t-shirt he hadn’t seen before. He stumbles to his feet and steps toward her. With his skateboard still in tow, he wraps his free arm around her in an awkward half-embrace. She returns his affection with a peck on his cheek.
“I am ready to tear up some turf,” she says, and sounds way cooler saying those words than she actually should.
“First thing’s first,” Geoff says, placing a pink helmet on top of Erica’s head. “I bought it on my way over here. Just for you.”
“Dude! My hair,” she complains, readjusting the helmet to suit her own comfort. “Are you sure about this? I look lame.”
“You could never look lame. And we can't have your brains splattering all over the ground, can we? Precious cargo.”
“How hard can this really be if Barry does it?”
Geoff laughs. “What makes you think Barry doesn’t, like, regularly hurt himself?”
“You have yourself a good point.”
Geoff leads them out to the driveway and puts his skateboard on the ground in front of Erica. He puts his foot on top of the board, demonstrating to her how to stand.
“You want to make sure you have a good center of balance, obviously.”
Erica nods. “Like riding a bike, basically.”
“Kind of. Not really.” Even though her wit is one of his favorite things about her, he has to admit that she’s kind of cute when she’s clueless.
He steps off the board and gives her space to stand on her own. She struggles a little at first, but manages more or less to get it right on her own.
“So now I start kicking the ground, right?” she asks, stumbling a little.
The nerves from earlier that he felt about teaching are back, and now he can’t shake the image of Erica losing her balance and crashing into a tree and breaking her ankle or nose and never speaking to him again.
“Why don’t we just,” he begins, standing behind her with his feet on the board. He tries not to think about how close he’s standing to her, or how their bodies are touching, or that she smells like fresh linen and flowers. Instead takes her hands in his, using his body weight to support hers and then carefully kicks against the ground, pushing them forward slowly.
“Just like that,” he says, holding his breath.
“Fun!” she says when he brings the board to a stop at the end of the driveway. “Now let me try by myself.
He steps off the board. “Why don’t we go down the street together first and then-”
She cuts him off. “Geoff, let me do it. I think I’ve got it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Down the street together first, and then you can try riding back to the driveway on your own,” he offers.
“Deal.”
He mounts the board again, assuming the same position behind her, and begins to guide her down the street, picking up speed as they go.
Geoff watches on nervously as she wobbles a bit trying to find her balance on the board, but returns her grin when she shoots a thumbs up in her direction, trying hard to seem as cool and unbothered by all of this as Erica is.
He trails behind her on foot as she begins to steadily move herself across the pavement. All is going seemingly well; Erica rides like she’s done this before, and watching her is like watching music in motion.
Geoff is a little lost in the moment and doesn’t notice in time when she veers off the road a little bit and crashes into the curb, stumbling off the board and onto the sidewalk. He rushes to her side and offers her his hand.
“Ouch,” she says, using his arm as support to lift herself.
“Are you okay?” he asks, though she doesn't appear to be too injured.
She shrugs and brushes herself off. “Yeah. No bumps or scrapes. I’m fine. Get behind me on the board again.”
“See? I knew you weren’t ready yet. Patience is a virtue, Erica Goldberg.”
She crosses her arms against her chest. “What do you know? Maybe I just like having you behind me.”
It isn’t lost on him that she’s flirting with him.
“I think I know plenty about patience, Erica,” he replies, placing his foot on the skateboard. He probably looks a lot more nerdy than confident or cool, but that’s never been an issue to him. “And, I know that you like me.”
She laughs at him. “You are such a dork.”
“A dork that you like having behind you.”
She presses her lips together and narrows her eyes and his face reddens. That didn’t come out the way it did in his head.
“Yeah, I heard it. That sounded better when you said it.”
She shakes her head and smiles and kisses him and it's his favorite thing in her world. “No, it didn’t,” she reassures him.
A deeper shade of red colors his cheeks. He clears his throat and steps back, making room for her to stand on the board with him.
“Alright. Let’s make sure I don’t fall this time,” she says, finding his hands for support and squeezing them tight.
“Never,” he says, squeezing hers back.
He’s not sure that he can make himself that same promise. In fact, he's pretty sure he never even stood a chance at not falling, but for the first time, he has something to hold onto for safety.