Log: Rolling in the Rink
Who: Artie & Tina
When: Friday, January 13
Where: the roller rink
What: hanging out
The roller rink was possibly not the place where people might expect Artie to hang out, but this was Lima, OH and there were not a ton of places to hang out. There was the mall, which didn’t cost anything to get into, but had that whole shopping thing attached, then there was the movies, which cost an arm and a leg. The roller rink and bowling alley both cost money, but they were less than the movies and didn’t involve shopping. Plus, it was fun with the lights and the music and all that.
The only thing that Artie wasn’t a fan of about the roller rink was that they made him buy skates even though he obviously wasn’t going to be using them. It was sort of goofy in a way, wearing roller skates with his wheelchair, but whatever. He did it.
Tina liked the roller rink. She was actually pretty good at roller skating and the music and everything made it a fun place to be. They’d been here before and she liked that Artie never really seemed bothered by the fact that he couldn’t actually roller skate, he made his own fun and they always did have fun. She spun in a circle before grinning at him. “This was an excellent idea.”
Spinning his chair in a double spin, Artie smiled up at Tina, “The music here is...special,” he pronounced grinning widely. It was apparently teeny-bopper music time. Well, it was also still early. “I like it!” Okay, he hated it and he was pretty sure it was Justin Beiber, but he was trying to pretend like he liked it. He had met up with some of his birth mother’s family briefly over the break and the disconnect had been jarring.
Tina raised an eyebrow at him, “You like it?” Part of the appeal of the roller rink was how comically bad the music generally was, it just made the experience better in her opinion. Roller skating to teeny-bopper music was just a must but she knew it wasn’t Artie’s type of music. “Are you sure you’re actually feeling better?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Artie couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The music got better the later they were there, but his dad usually came to pick them up about that time. “The music is as awful as always, but that’s part of the appeal. Anyways,” he sniffled juicily, “I’m fine.”
“Grrross,” Tina giggled as she skated backwards slowly. “So on a scale of one to ten, how happy are you that it’s Friday?”
“Is ten best or worst?” Artie asked, pushing himself forward and staying with the flow, “Because I gotta say....a ten. Definitely. As much as I like school, you know...gotta work it for the weekend.”
“Ten is best. Ten is always best.” Tina nodded her approval at his answer. “See, this is why we’re friends. People who like school more than weekends weird me out. And song references always win you bonus points,” she flashed him a grin.
Artie was a nerd and he liked school, that was weird and he knew it, but he loved the weekends. It was a nice break, even if he still had to do homework. “You always love song references,” he remarked, pushing his chair faster and popping a wheelie to go up the step leading off the rink. “Let’s get food. I’m thirsty,” which made no sense, but whatever.
“Food sounds good,” Tina agreed following after him. “I want fries.”
“Ohh, yes,” fries were a requirement here. “And soda. I never get soda,” Artie wasn’t supposed to drink it, but he figured one small one when skating wasn’t so much. “The question is...’which one,’” that was an important question too.
“Which one, which one...” Tina tapped her finger against her lip as if deep in thought. “Geesh, you always ask the hardest questions. But...” she actually thought about it a minute before deciding, “Sprite. I’m definitely having Sprite. Or maybe Coke. Hmm...maybe I should get Coke and Sprite and like mix them together?” she laughed at the thought, wondering how gross that would be.
“I want...” Artie stared up at the list of options. “I want rootbeer or Mt. Dew. I can’t decide. And I definitely do not want to mix them,” that would be disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. “And the hard questions are what makes us grow as people. These are the questions that define us, T.”
“Ugh. Stop talking now,” Tina teased. “This is Friday night, leave the deep thinking questions for Monday. Or at least Sunday.”
“I think rootbeer,” it wasn’t caffeinated and while the caffeine issue wasn’t important, it would be easier to hide having had a soda if he wasn’t hyper and bouncing off the walls from it. “And fries,” Artie continued to stare at the menu, “Two orders of fries. You don’t share very well.”
“Hey...” Tina narrowed her eyes playfully before shrugging. “Sharing is over-rated and fries are delicious.”
The last time they had gotten fries she had informed him that they tasted better when stolen, so this was a marked improvement. Placing his order, Artie paid, then waited a moment for the food. “I cannot argue, woman,” he agreed.
“It’s always best not to argue because I’d win anyway,” Tina informed him before placing her own order, paying and shifting to wait for the fries to come out. She wasn’t starving, she’d had supper, but she was looking forward to the fries. Fries really were delicious and they hardly ever had them at home.
She was the woman, therefore, he lost automatically, “It is wholly unfair that I have to lose every argument simply because I am the guy. I am a guy! You should feed me my fries and rub my poor, tired feet,” or hands. Something!
“Ya, that’s not going to happen,” Tina informed him, picking a fry up and and tossing it at him.
Craning his neck, Artie tried to catch it and missed, “That was a waste of a perfectly good fry!” he chastised, amused. It was her own fry after all. “Anyways, rubbing my feet is mostly pointless. But at least they aren’t as gross as like...most peoples,” he assumed.
He was right, it kind of was a waste of a fry. But only kind of. She tossed another fry in his direction for good measure before answering. “Feet are just gross. But as long as you don’t have like green toe nails, then your feet don’t fall in the grossest feet I’ve ever seen category and that’s a bonus.”
Artie looked down automatically even though his feet were blocked both by the table he was sitting at as well as his socks and roller skates, “Um, no, I don’t think so. They weren’t green and nasty like that this morning when I got dressed anyways,” he wrinkled his nose, “Do people really have feet like that? Ew!”
“Unfortunately they do,” Tina made a face. “My Uncle Mike has the grossest feet ever. A couple of his toe nails have this like fungus and they’re green and disgusting. He always threatens to mail us the clippings. Joey thinks that’s hilarious.”
Suddenly, Artie didn’t want his fries anymore. Devilish, fiendish woman! He kept eating them anyways though, “See, I don’t get that. I mean, I gotta do some kinda gross stuff just to like, be me. But, it’s out of necessity and I do my best to make it as un-gross as possible. That just sounds like bad hygiene. Can’t he go to a doctor or something about it to get it fixed?”
“I don’t know. I think he’s tried to fix it before but he’s had no luck. He’s not like super gross in general or anything,” Tina shrugged. She didn’t really know. “Bad hygiene is definitely an unacceptable problem though.”
Still, gross. “I agree. There’s just no call for it really. Soap and water is pretty available except if you’re homeless,” then Artie figured you got a pass, sort of. Shelters still had showers and things. Popping another fry in his mouth, he grinned at her, “You up for more skating?”
“Definitely,” Tina grinned back. “Just a sec.” She shoved her last few of her fries in her mouth, chewing quickly and swallowing. “Okay, now I’m ready. I just couldn’t stand to waste anymore of these fries,” she winked at him. “Let’s do this.”
When: Friday, January 13
Where: the roller rink
What: hanging out
The roller rink was possibly not the place where people might expect Artie to hang out, but this was Lima, OH and there were not a ton of places to hang out. There was the mall, which didn’t cost anything to get into, but had that whole shopping thing attached, then there was the movies, which cost an arm and a leg. The roller rink and bowling alley both cost money, but they were less than the movies and didn’t involve shopping. Plus, it was fun with the lights and the music and all that.
The only thing that Artie wasn’t a fan of about the roller rink was that they made him buy skates even though he obviously wasn’t going to be using them. It was sort of goofy in a way, wearing roller skates with his wheelchair, but whatever. He did it.
Tina liked the roller rink. She was actually pretty good at roller skating and the music and everything made it a fun place to be. They’d been here before and she liked that Artie never really seemed bothered by the fact that he couldn’t actually roller skate, he made his own fun and they always did have fun. She spun in a circle before grinning at him. “This was an excellent idea.”
Spinning his chair in a double spin, Artie smiled up at Tina, “The music here is...special,” he pronounced grinning widely. It was apparently teeny-bopper music time. Well, it was also still early. “I like it!” Okay, he hated it and he was pretty sure it was Justin Beiber, but he was trying to pretend like he liked it. He had met up with some of his birth mother’s family briefly over the break and the disconnect had been jarring.
Tina raised an eyebrow at him, “You like it?” Part of the appeal of the roller rink was how comically bad the music generally was, it just made the experience better in her opinion. Roller skating to teeny-bopper music was just a must but she knew it wasn’t Artie’s type of music. “Are you sure you’re actually feeling better?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Artie couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The music got better the later they were there, but his dad usually came to pick them up about that time. “The music is as awful as always, but that’s part of the appeal. Anyways,” he sniffled juicily, “I’m fine.”
“Grrross,” Tina giggled as she skated backwards slowly. “So on a scale of one to ten, how happy are you that it’s Friday?”
“Is ten best or worst?” Artie asked, pushing himself forward and staying with the flow, “Because I gotta say....a ten. Definitely. As much as I like school, you know...gotta work it for the weekend.”
“Ten is best. Ten is always best.” Tina nodded her approval at his answer. “See, this is why we’re friends. People who like school more than weekends weird me out. And song references always win you bonus points,” she flashed him a grin.
Artie was a nerd and he liked school, that was weird and he knew it, but he loved the weekends. It was a nice break, even if he still had to do homework. “You always love song references,” he remarked, pushing his chair faster and popping a wheelie to go up the step leading off the rink. “Let’s get food. I’m thirsty,” which made no sense, but whatever.
“Food sounds good,” Tina agreed following after him. “I want fries.”
“Ohh, yes,” fries were a requirement here. “And soda. I never get soda,” Artie wasn’t supposed to drink it, but he figured one small one when skating wasn’t so much. “The question is...’which one,’” that was an important question too.
“Which one, which one...” Tina tapped her finger against her lip as if deep in thought. “Geesh, you always ask the hardest questions. But...” she actually thought about it a minute before deciding, “Sprite. I’m definitely having Sprite. Or maybe Coke. Hmm...maybe I should get Coke and Sprite and like mix them together?” she laughed at the thought, wondering how gross that would be.
“I want...” Artie stared up at the list of options. “I want rootbeer or Mt. Dew. I can’t decide. And I definitely do not want to mix them,” that would be disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. “And the hard questions are what makes us grow as people. These are the questions that define us, T.”
“Ugh. Stop talking now,” Tina teased. “This is Friday night, leave the deep thinking questions for Monday. Or at least Sunday.”
“I think rootbeer,” it wasn’t caffeinated and while the caffeine issue wasn’t important, it would be easier to hide having had a soda if he wasn’t hyper and bouncing off the walls from it. “And fries,” Artie continued to stare at the menu, “Two orders of fries. You don’t share very well.”
“Hey...” Tina narrowed her eyes playfully before shrugging. “Sharing is over-rated and fries are delicious.”
The last time they had gotten fries she had informed him that they tasted better when stolen, so this was a marked improvement. Placing his order, Artie paid, then waited a moment for the food. “I cannot argue, woman,” he agreed.
“It’s always best not to argue because I’d win anyway,” Tina informed him before placing her own order, paying and shifting to wait for the fries to come out. She wasn’t starving, she’d had supper, but she was looking forward to the fries. Fries really were delicious and they hardly ever had them at home.
She was the woman, therefore, he lost automatically, “It is wholly unfair that I have to lose every argument simply because I am the guy. I am a guy! You should feed me my fries and rub my poor, tired feet,” or hands. Something!
“Ya, that’s not going to happen,” Tina informed him, picking a fry up and and tossing it at him.
Craning his neck, Artie tried to catch it and missed, “That was a waste of a perfectly good fry!” he chastised, amused. It was her own fry after all. “Anyways, rubbing my feet is mostly pointless. But at least they aren’t as gross as like...most peoples,” he assumed.
He was right, it kind of was a waste of a fry. But only kind of. She tossed another fry in his direction for good measure before answering. “Feet are just gross. But as long as you don’t have like green toe nails, then your feet don’t fall in the grossest feet I’ve ever seen category and that’s a bonus.”
Artie looked down automatically even though his feet were blocked both by the table he was sitting at as well as his socks and roller skates, “Um, no, I don’t think so. They weren’t green and nasty like that this morning when I got dressed anyways,” he wrinkled his nose, “Do people really have feet like that? Ew!”
“Unfortunately they do,” Tina made a face. “My Uncle Mike has the grossest feet ever. A couple of his toe nails have this like fungus and they’re green and disgusting. He always threatens to mail us the clippings. Joey thinks that’s hilarious.”
Suddenly, Artie didn’t want his fries anymore. Devilish, fiendish woman! He kept eating them anyways though, “See, I don’t get that. I mean, I gotta do some kinda gross stuff just to like, be me. But, it’s out of necessity and I do my best to make it as un-gross as possible. That just sounds like bad hygiene. Can’t he go to a doctor or something about it to get it fixed?”
“I don’t know. I think he’s tried to fix it before but he’s had no luck. He’s not like super gross in general or anything,” Tina shrugged. She didn’t really know. “Bad hygiene is definitely an unacceptable problem though.”
Still, gross. “I agree. There’s just no call for it really. Soap and water is pretty available except if you’re homeless,” then Artie figured you got a pass, sort of. Shelters still had showers and things. Popping another fry in his mouth, he grinned at her, “You up for more skating?”
“Definitely,” Tina grinned back. “Just a sec.” She shoved her last few of her fries in her mouth, chewing quickly and swallowing. “Okay, now I’m ready. I just couldn’t stand to waste anymore of these fries,” she winked at him. “Let’s do this.”