The Day Billy Owed Me Five Bucks; A Sammy Keyes Fanfiction

I hadn't known Casey all that long.
Compared to Marissa? Mine and Casey's friendship was like nothing in comparison. But sometimes I felt like I had known him all my life.
We didn't complete each other's sentences or have any sort of flirty dialogue or any of that lovey-dovey-Valentine's Day-crap. To me he was just Casey, the boy who I sometimes hung out with.
When I was in seventh and he was in eighth grade, we were just "skating buddies" as I liked to say. We skated around town every now and then. The summer between seventh and eighth grade was when we really actually started connecting, but in eighth grade, when Casey was in high school, we suddenly didn't have time for each other. High school kept Casey busy, and I had my own problems with Heather hanging over my head.
I saw him less and less as the year went on. He started to fade from my memory. It got to the point where we would just casually wave in passing, or more likely, make eye contact and then awkwardly look away. The sudden end to our friendship had left a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of loose ends that had never been tied.
I would see him at the mall with girls, maybe they were just friends, maybe they were dating, I don't know. What I do know is that I couldn't deny the twinge of jealousy. I felt so easily replaced.
With all these feelings spinning through my head, I was as surprised as anyone to get a call from Casey himself one day, midway through my eighth grade career. Casey had neglected to call me for almost four months now.
"... Hey..." he said slowly.
"Hi." I fiddled with my shirt sleeve nervously.
Marissa was lying on her stomach on her massive bed, reading a magazine. She looked up mouthing, "Who is it?"
"Casey." I mouthed back.
Marissa's eyes widened like saucers. I shrugged.
"What's up?" I said into the phone, since Casey still hadn't said anything.
"Oh nothing, really." he said casually. "I was just wondering if you and Marissa and maybe Holly and Dot wanted to check out the new skate park off of Broadway. I was thinking of getting Billy and Danny to tag along too. You know, reunite the group. And I want you to meet my girlfriend."
Ouch, Girlfriend. "Sure, sounds... fun." I wrote down the time and place, said a quick good-bye, and then hung up the phone. I sighed dramatically, not sure what to do.
Marissa flipped a page of her magazine. "So what did Casey want?"
"He wants to hang out with me. And you, and Holly, Dot, Billy, and Danny. And his girlfriend."
Marissa swallowed the gum she had been snapping on, coughed insanely, then rolled of the bed and onto the floor. She threw her hands up, facing the ceiling. "His girlfriend? Why does he have a girlfriend?"
I shook my head. "I don't know, let's just go tomorrow and get it over with. Then hopefully we never have to see him again."
Marissa looked at me pointedly. "But you know that's not true. You want to see him again."
I rolled my eyes. "Shut up!"
The next day, we all headed to the skate park. Casey's girlfriend was with him, just as promised.
Her name was Natasha. She was blond, tall, pretty, and a little vague. Not at all the type I thought Casey would go for.
Well, you learn something new everyday.
Billy and Danny started goofing off immediately while Marissa and Dot watched them do all kinds of ridiculous tricks, laughing. Casey and Natasha seemed to be having a deep conversation about something. Casey was probably teaching her how to breath.
Holly nudged my shoulder. "C'mon, you don't need to see that." She jutted her chin at the two lovebirds. "Let's check out that half pipe."
I started to follow her when Billy, desperate for more of Marissa and Dot's attention, called over to me, "Hey Sammy Keyesta! I'll bet you five bucks you can't ollie over that rail."
I scoffed. "Easy, Pratt, at least challenge me a little. You're about to lose five bucks."
"Sammy, I don't think-" Casey started to say, but I ignored him. He needed to finish teaching Natasha how to keep her circulatory system in motion, otherwise we'd all be in trouble.
I kicked up my board and then-
Pain.
Lots and lots of pain, shooting up and down my right arm.
What just happened?
Casey and Billy were over to me in a flash. Billy knelt by my head and started babbling, "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry Sammy! Here, does it hurt-" He reached over and grabbed my right arm.
"OW!" I screamed.
Casey shoved Billy in the chest. "What are you doing? Don't do that!"
"Hey, I don't see you doing anything."
"You were the one who dared her to do this in the first place."
"You could've stopped her if you knew it was so dangerous!"
"I tried!"
And then I passed out.
When I woke up again, I was in Grams apartment, in her bed.
Confused beyond belief, I sat up and looked around. My arm was bandaged at the wrist, and bouquets of flowers and get well cards littered the foot of my bed. Standing in the corner awkwardly was Casey.
"Hey." I said.
"Hi."
I scrunched my eyebrows. "Why are you here? Where's Grams? What happened?"
Casey took a deep breath. "Your grandma went to the store. I'm here to watch you. You know, make sure you don't jerk out of bed in your sleep. I've been here all night, actually."
"What happened?" I repeated.
"You broke your wrist. I told you you shouldn't have-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
He smiled. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, shaking his head. When he looked down, he saw my shoes resting by the bedside table. He smiled again and walked over. He picked one up and pointed to the little horse shoe charm.
"You still have it."
I struggled out of bed. "Yeah!" I said when I was finally standing. "Never really thought about taking it off. Even after...." I stopped, referring to that awkward period of silence between us.
"Why did you never take it off?" Casey asked softly, still fingering the laces, refusing to look at me.
I was silent for a moment, thinking about my answer. "I don't know," I finally said. "Like I said, I never really thought about it. But I guess it was because I... missed you."
Casey looked up from the shoe, shock etched across his face. Afraid I had said something wrong, I started to apologize, but before I could say anything past "Whoa, dude, just kidding." He was kissing me.
It was surreal. All the moments we'd shared together, all the ones we'd missed out on during our time apart, all the raw emotions we both had seemed to be squeezed into this one everlasting kiss.
When we broke apart, a smile twitched at my lips. Casey smiled too. "What?" he asked.
"Well..." I said thoughtfully, "I was just thinking that Natasha might have to find a new boyfriend."
"Oh, definitely," Casey leaned in for another kiss, but I dodged it.
"I was also thinking that Billy owes me five bucks for that ollie."