The Friend Lock

G; Sports Action

Location: University Place, Washington

Time: 1:03 PM, January 20, 2023

A snow day on a Friday. That was the dream.

At least it was for Wyatt and Martin. They hadn’t seen snow like this in years, as it rarely snowed in University Place, and when it did, it usually melted hours later. Yet the universe blessed them with a foot of snow and a three-day weekend to enjoy it. Whatever I did right, though Wyatt, as he ate the PBJ his grandmother had made for him, I have to remember what it was.

Wyatt bolted out of his house after lunch, with his saucer flying along behind him.

The 13-year-old raced to Chambers Bay Park, to the hills that were absolutely perfect for sledding. He spotted Martin almost immediately. It was hard; Martin was only 15, but he had to be 6’1” already, towering over Martin’s 5’ stature.

Wyatt ran up to Martin and jumped in his arms.

“Hey, Slugger,” Martin said slyly.

Wyatt chuckled.

“Hey, Mega-Mart,” he said.

Wyatt finally let go of Martin. He held up his giant, plastic, blue saucer.

“Your choice, Martin,” Wyatt said, “Rope or Handles?”

“Neither one’s the safer option, so handles.”

Wyatt put the saucer on the ground and hopped on. As he grabbed the rope, Martin got behind him. Wyatt glanced at Martin. He had known Martin for years, and they were best friends. But with Martin at the High School and Wyatt still at the Junior High, they rarely got a chance to hang out anymore.

Wyatt and Martin were different. He had to admit that. Wyatt was short, autistic, straight, brunette, introverted, and kind of a nerd. Meanwhile, Martin was tall, gay, blonde, extroverted, and one of the popular jocks. Of course, there was also the 21-month age difference. Wyatt had integrated himself into the coding club and film club, while Martin was varsity and theatre. However, they liked hanging out together, even though it was happening less often.

Wyatt and Martin took a deep breath.

“Ready?” asked Martin.

“Do you have to ask?” said Wyatt.

Wyatt kicked off. The saucer moved like a snail at first. Wyatt and Martin grunted. However, before Wyatt could stick his foot out to try again, the saucer zoomed down the hill, flattening the teenagers against it.

Their mouths flapped in the wind as Chambers Bay and the Golf Course morphed into blurs. Wyatt screamed, and Martin white-knuckled the handles. They both nearly wet their pants when they hit that rock, sending the saucer soaring through the air.

“I’m going to die!” Wyatt shouted.

“I’m already there!” Martin shouted back.

The saucer landed back on the hill and kept zooming towards the field. The boys’ eyes widened a tree popped up in their view.

“Lean!” shouted Martin.

“Left or right?!” Wyatt hollered.

“Just lean!” Martin screamed, yanking Wyatt to the right with him. The saucer narrowly avoided the tree.

The saucer kept racing down the big hill. Suddenly, the view of the field became clearer, and they saw crowds of people playing around, oblivious of the occupied saucer rocketing towards them. Wyat started to lean, but Martin put a hand on him.

“It’s our safest bet to keep going!” he shouted.

“How do you figure?!” Wyatt yelled back.

“If we lean left, we’ll crash into one of those concrete structures by the golf course! If we lean right, there’s a fifty percent chance we’ll go into the water! So stay still and yell at the people to look out!”

Wyatt sucked in a massive load of air and let out an intense scream.

“HEY, PEOPLE! LOOK OUT!”

A few people indifferently looked up from their activities but ignored the boy’s warnings. Wyatt screamed again.

“SERIOUSLY! GET OUT OF THE WAY!”

Before anyone could react, a rock- unseen by both Wyatt and Martin, tripped the saucer and sent Martin and Wyatt flying. The spectators gasped, and a few even took pictures. The saucer crashed down into an abandoned snow fort, only feet away from the cushy snowbank where Wyatt landed. He got up and brushed himself off.

“Are you okay?” a girl asked.

“Yes!” Wyatt shouted breathlessly. “But where’s Martin?! What happened?!”

Wyatt jolted upward when he felt someone poke his shoulder.

“WOO-HOO!” Martin exclaimed. “Bro, that was awesome! Let’s do it again!”

Wyatt held a finger up as he caught his breath. A few seconds later, Wyatt stood straight up.

“I don’t know, dude,” he said. “I need a few minutes. That was intense.”

“All right. Then grab your saucer, and let’s take a walk on the bridge.”

The “Bridge” at Chambers Bay wasn’t really a bridge, per see, as it was only connected to land on one end. It just rose above the beach and allowed people to walk out over the water.

“Yeah,” said Wyatt. “Let’s do that.”

The boys headed toward the bridge. But Martin noticed that Wyatt was looking a bit bothered.

“Hey, are you okay?” Martin asked.

“I’m worried about us,” Wyatt stated outright.

Martin stared confusedly at his friend. “What do you mean?”

“We’re so different. I mean, that didn’t use to be a problem until we started going to different schools. I mean, we hardly see each other anymore.”

Wyatt sighed. Martin went silent, a bit surprised by this revelation. But then again, he thought, is it really that much of a surprise?

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Why?” said Wyatt. “I’m not trying to blame you.”

“But I feel like it is. I don’t even know what you’ve been up to lately. The last time we saw each other was shortly before I left to spend Christmas in Reno.”

“Well, I haven’t exactly been doing much on my part, either,” Wyatt admitted. “I haven’t been interested in much else since I started dating Leilani.”

Martin jerked his head toward Wyatt.

“The new girl?” he asked. “I didn’t know that! Good for you!”

“Thanks, I guess. We’re just seeing where things go right now.”

“If they go good, maybe you guys can double with me an Oscar!”

“The captain of the swim team? Holy cow, dude!”

Wyatt high-fived Martin.

“Wow,” Wyatt said. “Remember when we met? Jimmy Fitz’s 7th birthday?”

“Oh geez,” scoffed Martin. “Don’t remind me. That mechanical band still scares me.”

“What about me? I was so overwhelmed by the crowd, I hid under a table!”

“Same table I was under. I was like, ‘who the heck are you?’”

“Yeah. But it either under the table with a stranger, or back out there with the creepy band and the field of hands and elbows.”

Martin laughed. “Oh man, remember…”

The boys were interrupted when they walked into the fence.

“Holy crap,” Wyatt remarked. “We’re at the end of the bridge already?”

Martin snickered. “Apparently so.”

“What were you going to say?” Wyatt asked as they turned to walk back.

“It’s nothing.”

Wyatt didn’t believe him.

“You were thinking about the 7th-grade prom, weren’t you?” He questioned.

“Hey, I was the first one to come out in my class. No one would go with me. But you stepped in.”

“Martin, it wasn’t a big a big deal.”

“It was. You’ve always been there for me. I don’t want to lose that. So no, you don’t have to worry about us drifting apart. But what we can do is make an effort to be with each other more.”

As the boys came to the curve, they noticed all the “love locks” on the bridge. Some of them years old, the locks had become a small attraction in U.P.

“I have an idea,” said Martin.

He pulled a padlock out of his jacket.

“This is the lock you gave me when we played Junior Hockey,” he continued.

“You carry that around anywhere?” Wyatt asked.

“I have. However, I would like to prove to you that I am going to make an effort to hang out with you more.”

He opened the lock and put it around one of the railing cables.

“Lock it if you promise to do the same,” he told Wyatt.

Wyatt smiled and closed the lock with a satisfying click.

“Did you really have to ask?” he said.

Martin smiled.

“Now come on,” Wyatt said excitedly. “Let’s do the hill again!”

Wyatt and Martin bolted back towards the hill, ready to face the adrenaline again.