90s Girl Read online

  I was more at home than I think I’d ever been since moving in with aunt Olivia. I definitely hadn’t noticed any of this cool stuff when I came here with my mom years ago, but back in those days I’d been too young to appreciate the finer things.

  “Seriously?” Candace said, pulling me way from the contemplation of all the cool retro stuff they had on display. “Five bucks is it?”

  “Is something wrong?” a voice said from the other side of the glass ticket booth.

  “No, nothing’s wrong,” Candace said. “I’m just surprised it’s that cheap.”

  “Well I could charge you more if you’d like,” the voice said.

  I moved up to the ticket booth and looked inside. The moment I did the older woman standing there went bug-eyed and then smiled. Like she recognized me or something.

  Weird. Very weird. Then again maybe she did that to everyone who came through the place in a creepy attempt to be friendly or something. Or maybe she’d been here long enough that she remembered the old days when my mom and aunt Olivia tore the place up, and seeing me was like a blast from the past.

  In either case it was creeping me out. Like a lot.

  “One ticket please,” I said.

  “Of course dear,” she said. “Here you go.”

  The ticket slipped through an opening at the bottom of the small window. They were the kind of tickets you’d expect for a school raffle. The kind of thing you could get by the foot for cheap at a school supply place.

  “Um, thanks?” I said, still a little weirded out by the lady’s creepy stare.

  “Oh no,” she said. “Thank you! Have a wonderful night!”

  Felicity came up next, and I watched the lady to see if her reaction was the same with Felicity as with me. I figured that would prove whether or not that was something she did with all the patrons, or if I was a special case for some weird reason.

  She was all business for Felicity. I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse.

  “Hey, if you can’t find any girls your age who’re interested then you might be able to get some help from grandma there,” Candace said, elbowing me in the side.

  I flipped her off. It was the least she deserved. Even if it was nice to have a friend who was equal opportunity in making fun of people. She would’ve said the same thing to Felicity if it was some old dude creeping on her.

  “Hey, just trying to give you some pointers. I know you haven’t been doing so well in matters of the heart lately,” Candace said.

  “And I don’t need advice from a straight girl on how to pick up girls. Especially if your advice involves hitting on grandma over there. That’s not my thing, thank you very much.”

  Though that old woman was still shooting me weird looks. I shrugged it off. It’s not like it was my problem as long as I was out here and she was stuck in there where she couldn’t bother me.

  Whatever. Felicity paid, and I pushed thoughts of the weird old lady out of my mind. It was time to concentrate on the fun I was about to have with my friends.

  “We ready to do this?” I asked.

  “I think we are!” Felicity said.

  “Might as well get in there and see what there is to see,” Candace said.

  Damn right we were going to see what there was to see. I could only hope and pray that “what there was to see” included some girls who might be comfortable enough to admit who they were. Or at the very least there’d be some girls in there who were interested in playing a little experimental game.

  “Let’s go ladies!” I said. “Time to see how they partied like it was 1995!”

  “Isn’t that supposed to be 1999?” Felicity asked.

  “Pretty sure it is,” Candace asked. “A cautionary tale about singing a song about the future but making it close enough that the future becomes the past.”

  “Whatever,” I said. “We go skate. Have fun. Let’s go!”

  So we stepped through the doors and let the music wash over us as we were bathed in the neon lights of the most retro thing I’d ever seen in my life.

  3

  Retro

  “This is it?” Candace said.

  I looked around the place. It wasn’t nearly as nice as I remembered, but it was one of those things where I couldn’t tell if it wasn’t as nice as I remembered it being because the people who owned the place hadn’t been maintaining it, or if it was that I’d been young the last time I was here and I didn’t notice that the place was a little run down around the edges.

  The neon lights were a good example. There were a few of them that were just off. There was one that flickered bright pink, and I couldn’t tell if that was because it was supposed to be flickering or if it was on its last legs.

  I looked around the rest of the place. There was a wall against the front entrance that was full of pictures from what I assumed were the good old days. They started in black and white close to a concession stand at one end of the place, and then moved along the wall until they started being colorized in what I assumed were the ‘80s.

  I stopped when I reached a part of the wall that looked like it was from the early ‘90s. A part of the picture wall that was conveniently located near the door we’d just walked through. My breath caught.

  “What’s wrong?” Candace asked. “Seeing something in the picture wall that freaks you out?”

  “Something like that,” I said, pointing to the picture.

  It was a bigger picture than most. It was also in black and white which made it stand out from the rest of the color photos around it.

  “What are you talking about?” Felicity asked, coming up on the other side. “I don’t see the big deal. It’s a bunch of old people dressed like dorks back when they were still young.”

  “They thought they were the height of fashion when they dressed like this,” I said. “Someday there are going to be future teenagers who look back at the way you’re dressed and think you look like a huge dork, you know.”

  “No way,” Felicity said. “We don’t have bangs like that, for example, or shoulder pads. It just looks old.”

  “They called it the Rachel haircut,” I said. “From Friends?”

  “That show on Nick at Nite?” Candace asked. “The one with all the annoying people in the city who never actually work at their jobs?”

  I turned to stare at her. Felicity did the same.

  “You know an awful lot about that show for someone who seems to hate it,” I finally said.

  Candace shrugged. “My sister was obsessed with it for some reason, and I was forced to absorb some of it because it was on the TV all the time. Doesn’t mean I like it.”

  “Uh-huh,” I said.

  I turned back to the picture. Pointed to someone right in the middle. A pretty young girl who bore more than a passing resemblance to me. If I’d decided to deck myself out in the sort of clothes that would make me at home at a party themed on the late ‘80s or the early ‘90s, that is.

  “That girl right there,” I said. “It’s my mom.”

  “Oh,” Candace said. “She was pretty.”

  “Well duh,” I said. “She gave me the wonderful genes that gave me this beautiful face and this bangin’ bod. Of course she was pretty!”

  “Nice to know you have a grounded sense of yourself,” Felicity said.

  “Hey, what can I say?” I asked. “I learned early on that the only person out there who’s going to love me for who I am is me.”

  “And us,” Felicity said.

  “Yeah, don’t discount us. We’ve got your back, you nut job.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You girls are ruining my moment of gay empowerment here.”

  “Because it’s a stupid motto for empowerment,” Felicity said. “You have friends and you’re loved. No need to act like you’re an island or you have a hunchback and no one wants anything to do with you or something.”

  “Whatever,” I said. “The point is I’m awesome. You’re awesome. We’re all awesome!”

  “Yeah
, but less awesome is this place,” Candace said. “Can you believe this? It looks like a dump.”

  I looked around the place again, peeling my attention away from that picture that featured my mom, but oddly enough not aunt Olivia.

  Candace did have a point. I wouldn’t say the place looked like a dump, but it did look like someone had done the bare minimum of upkeep over the years to try and make the place passable for teenagers who wanted to come in and skate and maybe suck face in a dark corner where they didn’t have to worry about prying eyes interrupting them.

  Because of course sucking a little face was the ultimate reason why anyone ever came to a place like this. I looked around and sure enough there were a few dark spots that looked like they’d be perfect for that sort of thing, but there wasn’t anyone in those dark spots right now.

  As a matter of fact it didn’t look like there was much of anyone out there on the skating rink right now, which was odd considering all the cars that’d been out in the parking lot.

  Where was everybody?

  “Not many people out there,” I muttered. “I remembered this place being a lot busier.”

  “Well duh, but didn’t you say that was for a skating party or something?” Candace said. “If the whole school is coming to a place then of course it’s going to have a lot of people hanging around.”

  “Well yeah,” I said. “But still. I remember there being a lot more people hanging around here when I came with my mom.”

  “But that would’ve been more than a decade back,” Felicity said. “Maybe smartphones have killed this place or something.”

  I looked down at my watch. Yeah, maybe that was the case. Or maybe we’d arrived fashionably early or something. Maybe all the cars out there in the parking lot were there because the place stayed afloat by renting their parking lot to a church we didn’t see or something.

  Whatever the reason, we were here and I was determined to have a good time. I didn’t care if there weren’t that many people out there enjoying that good time with us.

  I didn’t care that the lack of people meant there probably weren’t going to be many girls who were interested in going to one of those aforementioned dark secluded corners with yours truly, for that matter. At least I told myself I didn’t care.

  “Looks like we get our skates over there in that corner,” Candace said, pointing to an opening in the wall where there was a counter and some benches out in front of the thing for people to sit and put their skates on.

  “Skate rental?” Felicity asked, reading the neon sign hovering over the little kiosk. “Didn’t we just pay to get in?”

  “Maybe that’s why the tickets were so cheap,” Candace said. “I knew that price was too good to be true.”

  “Pretty sure that ticket was all-inclusive. We’ll just have to go over there and have a look,” I said.

  “Yeah, and I’m going to raise hell if they’re charging us for skates after they charged us to get in here,” Candace growled.

  “Come on,” I said. “Try to be positive. This is going to be the most amazing night ever. Just you wait!”

  “Keep telling yourself that and it might come true,” Candace said.

  “Yeah, there are a few guys who might meet Candace’s exacting standards,” Felicity said, looking out at the rink. “I see a couple of guys out there who are the right age and have a pulse, after all.”

  “Shut up,” Candace said, glancing out at the guys skating. “I do see some cute guys out there though. This night might not be a total bust.”

  I glanced out at the rink as well. Sure there were girls out there skating, but most of them were skating with guys. There were a few who were in groups, but that was probably just your garden variety girl friends, two words not one thank you very much, enjoying the night with each other the same as me, Felicity, and Candace.

  Not exactly the most promising beginning to the evening, but whatever. I wasn’t going to let anything get me down.

  The more time I spent here the more I got the feeling that there was something awesome going on here tonight. Something that was going to be amazing. I didn’t know what that something was, and I couldn’t explain why I had that feeling. Just that it was there and I couldn’t wait to see what the night might bring.

  Even if, for the moment, it looked like the night was going to bring me over to a booth where I could pick up some smelly rental skates that’d been attached to the sweaty feet of teenagers going back several decades. I wondered if any amount of spray would be able to take the smell out of them, but at least they would be down on my feet where I wouldn’t have to worry too much about the smell.

  “Let’s do this ladies,” I said.

  “You say so,” Candace said, still looking out across the rink.

  “Might as well,” Felicity said with a shrug.

  And so with that ringing endorsement we made our way over to get our skates that I was pretty sure they weren’t going to charge us for a second time.

  4

  Skater Girl

  The first thing I noticed when we got to the skate rental was the woman behind the counter. She looked like a woman I should’ve known from somewhere. Like she was tickling some vague memory out of the distant past.

  Also? This woman might be older, but she was a total hottie. Like my mouth went dry as I thought of all the things I wouldn’t mind doing to her.

  Then I shook my head and wondered what the hell was wrong with me that I was thinking like that. I mean seriously. This girl looked like she was easily twice my age. Sure she looked good for her age, she wasn’t exactly the little old lady working the front room, but I shouldn’t be thinking things like that about a girl who could be my mother.

  Which made me sad all over again. It was almost enough to make me ask this lady if she knew my mom way back when, but I pushed down on that urge. That might get me into a long conversation with this lady, and I was here for fun. Not a sad mopey trip down memory lane followed by Felicity and Candace giving me crap for going after the local cougar population.

  Though that lady in the front entrance wasn’t really a cougar. No, she was more of a sabre tooth tiger, thank you very much.

  The woman smiled, and I melted. It wasn’t fair that her smile could light up the room like that. It wasn’t fair that I was about to graduate high school and she probably wouldn’t be interested in me even if I did try to hit on her.

  Which I totally wasn’t going to do. No way.

  “Hello there,” she said. “Can I help you?”

  My mouth worked and I tried to get something to come out, but it was like my brain was telling my mouth to say something, anything, but my mouth was having trouble coming up with that something, anything, and so I stood there acting like an idiot dazzled by the pretty.

  The lady probably wasn’t even into women. That seemed to be my luck whenever I met someone I was interested in.

  Though there seemed to be a slight twinkle to her eye. Again I was struck with the overwhelming feeling that I knew her from somewhere, and again I pushed it away.

  Maybe I saw her working here back when I came here with my mom or something. Maybe back then I’d even felt the beginnings of a girl crush that I didn’t quite understand because back then I hadn’t come to terms with the idea that I was into the ladies and I wouldn’t know how to process those feelings.

  Yeah, that made sense.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Candace asked, coming up next to me.

  “Seriously. You’re acting tongue tied,” Felicity said.

  The way they both looked at me sent me into a panic. Like they suspected the reason I was suddenly getting tongue-tied. I didn’t want them to suspect the reason, and that panic finally got my tongue working.

  “I need some skates,” I said, nodding to the wall behind her. “Preferably in-line.”

  “And these better be free,” Candace said. “I’m not paying for renting skates when I already paid to get in here.”

  The woman chuc
kled. “There’s no fee for renting skates on top of admission,” she said. “And I’m sorry, but we don’t have any in-line skates available tonight.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but this time the lack of words coming out of my mouth had less to do with being tongue tied by the pretty lady in front of me and more to do with the fact that they had a whole assortment of in-line skates, otherwise known as rollerblades to those who were in the know back in the ‘90s, listed as available for rental.

  “Um, right,” I said. “I totally see a bunch of those available behind you.”

  “Don’t have any in your size,” she said.

  “But I didn’t even give you my size,” I said. “How on earth can you know that you don’t have any in-line skates in my size tonight if I didn’t even tell you what that size was?”

  “Trust me,” she said, leaning forward just a little and revealing just a touch of cleavage under her very tight tank top. Which had my mouth going dry. “We don’t have any in-line skates in your size tonight. It’s just not possible. Better for you to pick something else, right?”

  “Come on Liv,” Candace said. “Clearly they don’t have what you’re looking for. Just go with regular skates.”

  “Whatever,” I said. “I’ll take a regular pair then.”

  Each of us gave the lady our size and she disappeared into a back room where I suspected they probably did have in-line skates in my size. I wasn’t sure what her problem was that she was being such a bitch.

  The skates she brought out looked like they’d been sitting back there for a good long while, and had seen a few years of wear. I was the same size as my mom and aunt Olivia, so it was entirely possible I was wearing something that was a pair one of them wore back in the day.

  As sparsely populated as the place was tonight I got the feeling the skates probably hadn’t seen much use in recent years. Even if they had obviously seen some wear and tear once upon a time.