who: lucas charles sinclar & uncle @bluecollartaylor where: the skate park what: probably an interrogation tbh
ever since max’s uncle had come to town, lucas felt like he was sneaking around town to steal alone time with her. no one had ever explicitly said they couldn’t keep...doing what they were doing, but every interaction lucas had had with jack taylor had heavily implied it. so, after his shift at the pool, lucas headed over to the skate park hoping to find max only to hear from some of the regulars that she wasn’t there. that only left a handful of places. lucas thought he’d stop by the hawk first and then head to the palace. even if she was tied up with work (did she even work on fridays? lucas didn’t think so, but maybe she’d adjusted her schedule due to the company at home), he could waste his afternoon on asteroids and bugging dustin.
just as he was about to head back to his car, though, lucas noticed uncle jack over by the bike rack on the edge of the park. he was vividly reminded of leaning against that same bike rack after ditching thanksgiving dinner in november of 1985, listening to kate bush and being broken up with for good this time. he shook off the memory and considered his options.
if jack hadn’t seen him, he could sneak off without the potentially awkward conversation. but if jack had seen him, lucas knew that slinking off without a word would make him look even worse. or he could just latch on to one of these groups of mostly high schoolers and pretend he was here to hang out with friends, but that would be risking life and limb, knowing his skateboarding skill. ultimately, he didn’t have to decide at all, because jack was staring at him. at least, to lucas, it felt like he was. he lifted his hand in an awkward greeting before reaching back to scratch the back of his neck. “fuck me,” he muttered to himself, forcing his feet to move and approaching jack with what he hoped was a neutral expression. “hi.” a beat. “max isn’t here.” thank you, captain obvious.