Did I finally learn how to ride one? No. But I mustered up the courage to sit on the back as Y pedaled me along for the ride. The world whizzed by me and all I had to pay for it was a slight cramp that developed in my calves. Honestly it was quite exhilarating and novel. I guess I should fess up now - I love speed. I remember in particular this time that I was jet skiing and the feeling of going fast and being in (semi) control led me to laugh aloud in delight. Now that's something that hasn't happened since my Wacom intuous 3 tablet arrived through my front door and into my grabby 9th grade hands. This instance might just motivate me to learn how to ride a bike - or at least continue to bum rides off of other people.
But the best part was probably when it started to rain. The mixture of wind and rain whipping past my face as we raced downhill just can't be beat. (& cue thunder for cool bg sound effect)
Sopping wet we arrived at an Asian market called Reliable. Asian markets sure know how to reassure me best (perhaps only because they know I'm skeptical in the first place). There we found: sushi salmon, rice, soy sauce, avocados, nori, a sushi roller, mango ginger sake, ikura, and a host of other goodies.
Dinner was home made and delicious! Y made a dish from his childhood and I made my (imagined) childhood (where I was 3 times richer & Japanese... I can imagine R shaking his head here in bemused disappointment - "you just want to be Japanese don't you" - not so, I like being Chinese). We then reminisced on humorous things we did as kids.
When I was in the 4th grade I had these little booklets where you had your friend fill out their personal information on two pages. Things like "name, age, date of birth, favorite music, least favorite music, worst nightmare, favorite hangout spot, favorite people..etc". At that age my friends and I all decided that our "worst nightmare" was rape. Not that any of us understood the concept of sex, but we had heard the word rape and it was very very bad indeed. Thus page after page my friends and I put that down as our worst nightmare.
As for Y, his story can only best be put in his own words, "there was one night I cried myself to sleep listening to Backstreet Boys because I thought I would never find true love."
After confession time we relocated to the roof of Y's apartment. It was a great location for catching planes as Boston Logan was within sight and I easily doubled the amount that I had before that evening. Mm, I love high places, especially at night. Snuggled up in an old blanket lying down alternating between looking at the night sky and the skyline was quite nice - yet at the same time it made me feel old.
I'm not all too certain why but there was a feeling at my core that as I approach 20 that I'm growing considerably older. I guess just thinking about all the night time skylines I've seen over the course of my past 19 years and 355/365 days it just felt like.. a lot. I don't know how to state this more poetically.
Maybe I'll figure this out in the next 20 years to come.
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