Chapter Text
Amaya rolled up to a large concrete slab of a decorative planter and kicked up their skateboard. Sue was already sitting there on top of the slab, her legs crossed. Even before her friend stopped, she reached for a bottle of water in the open backpack and offered it to them.
Amaya gladly grabbed it and drank probably a quarter of it in one go.
“You were amazing!” Sue exclaimed, smiling at her friend. “Those were some really crazy moves. I almost thought you'd break your neck.”
Amaya smiled humbly, putting the bottle on the slab, and hopped to sit next to it.
“I mean, I know I got rusty, but you really leveled up. Left me in the dust!” she shook her head.
“Heh… thanks,” they responded eventually in a quiet voice. “I’ve got some practice in college.”
“Lucky! I’m only using a longboard now. There is just not enough space and willpower for tricks. But at least I get around the campus fast!” Sue chuckled, rotating her old high school skateboard in her hands. It was pretty beat up, with a large scratch on the underside and its wheels fuzzy with wear. She took the old thing out today to remember their glory days, but quickly learned she couldn’t keep up with her best friend. She shook her head and looked at them: “Are you sure you’re not some cartoon character, and just a mortal being with normal muscles and joints?”
Amaya smiled again in response, looking at Sue with warmth and a humble gratitude for the praise. The two friends sat for a moment in a comfortable silence, both feeling the heat of exertion slowly dissipating under a cool evening breeze from the distant ocean. The sun was setting over the Roseville roofs, painting the clouds in rich red and violet. Amaya traced the shapes in the sky with their eyes: the night will probably be rainy, like most days and nights this summer. Today was the only afternoon in a whole precious week of their shared vacation when they could go to the pits for a ride together.
Sue apparently was thinking the same thing. She sighed and said with frustration in her voice:
“Damn, I don’t like what’s going on with the weather here. It’s cursed. A hundred miles to the north, and it’s all sunny every day, but Roseville is soaking. I don’t want to miss the summer.”
“M-hm,” nodded Amaya, grabbing the water bottle again.
“It’s almost August. I fear if I just blink my eyes, I’ll be back at the campus again.” Sue groused, picking at the stray thread sticking from her sneaker’s seam. “And we barely had any fun together.”
“More time for Swordsvale is fine by me.” Amaya shrugged. “At least you had a chance to log in for the first time in months.”
Sue made a face.
“I… don’t feel like it anymore. Hey, I’m not saying we should stop playing. But you know. It’s just not the same.”
Amaya nodded, looking down. It really wasn’t. The guild shrunk, everyone was away now, and they felt a little bad for how far their character progressed compared to the rest, especially Sue’s. She got so far behind, her character barely was able to do anything in the game when Amaya was playing. They were considering if it’d be better to start over just with her, without the rest of the guild.
“You know what? I have a crazy idea.” suddenly said Sue after a long pensive pause.
“Hmm?” Amaya raised an eyebrow at their friend.
“I saw you’re good with the skateboard. But how are you with a bicycle?”
The tabby scratched the back of their head in thought, then shrugged.
“I know you have a decent bike. Have you touched it recently?” pressed Sue.
Amaya shook their head, remembering what their friend was talking about: their parents made them a birthday gift in high school Junior year – a very good bicycle with off-road tires and some fancy disk brakes. They almost never used it, and felt a bit bad about it, because it was clearly very expensive. But it was just too unwieldy compared to a skateboard. A huge heavy thing that needed constant maintenance, and a supervision – they were absolutely paranoid about leaving it locked anywhere in the streets. School’s bike rack was not too large and constantly packed, so the always deeply self-conscious tabby was very uncomfortable taking up some other kid’s space there. After the school ended, they couldn’t take it with them to college, or so they thought before actually getting to know the place better. After a whole year they learned that it was not a bad idea to own a bike in that college town… but they just didn’t have a chance to get it from home.
“Well, maybe it sounds a bit extreme, but what do you think about a little road trip?” Sue was smiling a bit mischievously, clearly proud of her idea.
“Road trip? To where?” Amaya asked with doubt in their voice.
“You know what’s there, those hundred miles to the north of Roseville, where it’s always sunny now?” Sue was pointing her thumb in the vague direction behind her back.
The tabby shrugged.
“The Granite Lakes. It’s not big enough to be called a national park, but it’s a good place. All open for camping, and pretty clean and quiet. I went there with my parents a while ago.”
“Huh,” Amaya frowned, trying to remember. “I think… I think I heard something nice about that place. Can’t remember where. But that sounds fun. I... guess we can try.”
“Great!” Sue hopped down from the slab, immediately excited. “We need to get things ready, pack for the trip. I have a spare sleeping bag and my old tent I can give you. It’s small, but it’s not too bad.”
“Wait…” Amaya reached their hand towards Sue, a little dazed by her excitement. “You mean, we’ll ride all the way there?”
“No, I’m not that crazy, ha-ha. The train passes by the station nearby, and we can return back by the bus from the other side of the park. It should take us about three nights.”
“Wow. That’s… a lot. I only had single night hikes before. And… it was, like, once,” Amaya suddenly felt apprehensive. “Are you sure we can do this?”
“Hey, don’t worry. I have some experience, I’ll help you!” Sue looked very pleased with herself.
The tabby pulled their legs up to their chest and, folding arms over their knees, absentmindedly tapped their nose with a thumb. It would be fun to try something like that, they thought. And Sue really is experienced. She has been hiking with her parents since childhood, a couple of times with Lucy too. She really got into outdoors stuff last summer in High school. I’d rather play something calming or skate, but… that sounds curious.
On the next morning Amaya was sitting on their house’s driveway with the bike propped against a tree next to them. The bicycle was clearly long unused – the rich purple paint of the frame was dulled by a layer of dust, and its flat tires sagged on the ground under its weight.
Amaya reached one hand with a small squirt bottle of oil and slowly rotated the pedals backwards with the other. The ratchet inside the back wheel ticked, as the chain slowly passed under steady drops of oil, displacing old pieces of oxidized lubricant on the ground as dirty and chunky blobs. The tabby was holding their breath, careful not to waste too much oil and not to get any on the brakes.
At the second pass around the length of the chain, Amaya felt with the back of their head something blotting the sun. They turned around. There, right behind them, backlit by a hazy morning sun, stood a tall European Burmese girl with a huge bundle of plastic sheets and two compressed bags in her hands. She carefully put that shapeless pile next to the bike and leaned over her friend.
“Oh, you’re already on it! Cool.” She smiled, looking the bike over. “Yep, you really haven’t touched it for a while. I hope you stored it on the rack off the ground?”
Amaya nodded, returning the smile.
“Good! If the tires stood like that on the floor all winter, you might have a problem with cracks. But if it was hanging, then it should be fine.”
Amaya nodded again. They didn’t know that specifically, but it did make some sort of sense.
“Alright, so I brought you my old tent and my sleeping bag,” said Sue, lowering herself on the ground next to her friend. “They are a bit old, but not too old. All clean, all washed and stored in my room, not even in the garage.”
“Thanks. You don’t have to tell me. I trust you,” Amaya finally spoke in a quiet voice, touching Sue by the shoulder. They were incredibly grateful for Sue’s thoughtfulness, and expressed it as outwardly as they could, which was rare for them.
Sue noticed that and leaned a little into the touch. She didn’t show it outwards in any way, but it was clear to Amaya she appreciated this rare and measured affection. Noticing their look she immediately straightened, looking a little flustered. She started to quickly speaking again, as if trying to fill the silence as much as possible:
“Well, the floor of the tent is a bit damaged,” Sue lifted the smaller one of two compressed bags along with an even smaller narrow sleeve, and put it in front of her. “I’ve tried to repair it, and it should hold off the moisture if there will be rain, for example, but it’s a little shabby. Sorry. I think I got a cinder rolling under the tent at some point and it melted through the base sheet. And it’s a bit small. I’ve moved on to the bigger two-person tent, but I was hiking with that one for a while. Actually, maybe we should share my tent? That makes sense. Unless it would be too awkward. You know...”
Amaya hummed under their breath and smiled again, looking Sue right into the eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine with a small tent. I’m small myself.”
“Oh. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Amaya giggled. “I know I’m small. I like it that way. Don’t worry. But, yes, a separate tent is fine.”
“Of course.” Sue nodded. She looked away, and chewed on her lip as if wanting to say something else, but deciding against it. The expression vanished like a cloud on a sunny day, and she continued: “The sleeping bag is new, though. I sort of messed up my measurements… I can’t really fit into that one comfortably. So…”
Sue nervously adjusted the scrunchie on her ponytail.
“How much did it cost?” Amaya put out the lubricant bottle into the tool bag and reached for a pump. It was a very simple one, a cylinder with a piston on a handle and a short rubber hose.
“What? No! No, no I’m not taking any money from you. Tent, sleeping bag and the saddlebags are yours.”
Amaya paused, holding the pump like a baseball bat. They suddenly felt very confused. This was too much, too expensive of a gift to give just like that. And they didn’t even mean to ask if it was a gift. They were just curious. Frowning, they managed:
“I… I thought you’re just loaning them to me.”
“Oh. I… I guess we can do that instead. But I just thought that maybe you’ll have more use out of them. Sorry for the confusion. It’s okay if you return them to me, and it’s okay if you keep them. It’s good either way.”
“Thanks. You’re very considerate, Sue.” Amaya nodded with satisfaction, and went to attach the pump hose to the intake on the wheel.
With the hose secured, they started pumping the air – it was going easy at first, but soon, as the tire started to rise, they felt regret about not getting a powered pump of some sort. A few minutes more, and they had to pause, feeling the muscles in their arm seizing up. They reached for the tire and squeezed it. It was not there just yet, yielding to their fingers a little too easy.
In the meantime, Sue was busy untangling a mess of straps and flaps that were the saddlebags – two large plastic coffers linked together by a mesh of straps that was supposed to be attached to the rear rack and secured against the seat column. The bags were bright yellow with black flaps on top and trimmed with the reflecting strips all over the back side.
“Once you’re done, we should try your bike out, hit some shops too,” said Sue, finally getting the straps and velcro fasteners untangled from each other. “You don’t have a headlight, and no backlight too. You’re going to need them.”
“Hmm. I hope they are not too expensive,” hummed Amaya, starting to pump a second wheel. They switched hands, but the left arm was even weaker, and they had to make regular pauses.
“Nah, not really. You don’t need anything fancy for your first time anyway. But without a headlight it would be pretty dangerous if we have to ride late. And we should get some supplies too.”
“Okay. Let me just finish with the pump,” agreed Amaya steeling themselves for another bout of fighting against the piston. “Drop the bags under the desk in the garage. Dad won’t mind.”