Pip heard the click rattle tap of skateboard wheels on concrete behind her. It was early evening, a warm night, and she was walking home from work.
She stepped sideways to let the skater past.
She usually moved over. She used to skate, years ago, and remembered the frustration of being stuck behind a pedestrian and unable to get past. At this time of night it was probably just another commuter on the way home, but even commuters should enjoy themselves. Pip would have enjoyed it, if she'd been brave enough to skateboard to work, so she stepped sideways, and got out the way.
She glanced up, slightly curious, as the skater went past, and was surprised to see it was a woman in a long, purple, backless, strappy gown.
It was an odd thing to be wearing, this early in the evening, and it was spectacularly overdressed for someone on a skateboard. The overdressed wasn't just the gown. The woman's hair twisted into an elaborate up-do, and she had silver bracelets on one arm, and the bag around her shoulders, slung right around her so her arms were free, seemed sleek and elegant too. The gown seemed long, like it would reach to her feet if she let it go, but she was holding it up with both hands, keeping the hem well clear of the skateboard and the ground. She was skating well for someone so wrapped up in fancy clothes. She was balancing easily, standing carelessly. She was wearing canvas skate boots, Pip suddenly noticed, which probably helped. She had skate boots, and nice legs, fit skater's legs.
Legs Pip suddenly wanted to stroke.
Pip stared. She stared, and the woman on the skateboard glanced up, and noticed, and grinned. She grinned, and then was past, moving fairly quickly. She put her foot down, and pushed twice, and then glanced back at Pip, from a little further down the street.
She glanced back, so for a moment she wasn't looking where she was going.
One wheel of the skateboard hit something, a bump or a crack or a stone. The skateboard stopped, and skidded, and flipped, and woman didn't realize for a little too long.
She fell. Pip watched, horrified.
The woman fell completely over, right onto the ground. Her legs were trapped by the gown, Pip thought, so she wasn't as able to jump clear as easily as she would have if she'd been in normal clothes. She fell, landing hard on her hand and one knee, and said, "Fuck," loudly, then, "Ow."
She sat on the ground. Her dress was on the pavement, getting dusty, and for some reason Pip was worried about the dress as much as the woman being hurt. The fall was Pip's fault. It wasn't, but it was in a way, because Pip had been distracting.
"Are you okay?" Pip called, worried, walking closer.
The woman nodded. She brushed dirt off her hands, then looked at her forearms, and then her legs. She was checking herself for injuries, Pip realized, and suddenly remembered doing that herself. The woman saw her knee, and looked at it carefully. It was grazed, what looked quite badly to Pip from a few steps away. It was smeared with blood, and dirt and gravel was squashed into the wound.
Pip didn't know what to do. She stood there, helpless, staring at the woman's knee. At her knee, and at her legs. At legs which Pip liked.
Pip made herself stop. She looked at the woman's face. The woman wasn't looking at Pip, she was still concentrating on her knee.
"I'm so sorry," Pip said. "I didn't mean for that to happen."
The woman shook her head. "It wasn't you."
"I was trying to get out the way," Pip said. "I'm sorry."
"You did. You were. It was me, I just... looked at you. It was stupid, that's all." She poked at her knee.
Pip looked too, better able to see now she was closer. The knee was bleeding. It was scraped and bloody and raw.
"Ouch," Pip said. "That looks bad."
"Nah, it's fine."
"I don't know," Pip said. "I used to skate, and it looks kind of bad."
The woman shrugged.
"I live just down there," Pip said, and pointed. "Come in, and at least wash it out and get a bandaid or whatever."
The woman looked up at Pip. She seemed to be thinking.
"For your dress at least," Pip said. "You'll bleed all over it."
"Yeah," the woman said. "Okay, thank you."
She started to stand up, and got tangled in her gown. As though she had one way of standing up when she was skating, and another way of standing in an dress, and somehow, hurt, distracted again by Pip, she forgot which one to use. She half-stood, then started to topple over. As if her feet were in the wrong places, and her legs were stuck too close together, and her knee didn't want to bend quite as much as she expected after getting a thump.
It seemed for a moment like she was going to fall. She wobbled, but Pip grabbed her arm, and held her up.
"Thank you," the woman said, and found her balance.
"No worries."
"My hero."
Pip looked at her, and couldn't decide whether to laugh or what.
The woman grinned. "I'm Billie," she said.
"Pip."
Billie took a step, and seemed to be able to walk, so Pip let go of her arm, oddly reluctant. Reluctant because she was still thinking about legs. She stood there, and watched, as Billie walked ten steps, limping slightly, and picked up her board.
Pip watched the limp, and Billie's legs, and hoped Billie was all right.
*
Pip's apartment was a half block down the street, and Billie seemed to be walking normally again by the time they arrived. Pip unlocked her front door, and pushed it open, and Billie put her board down just inside the hall. Her board, and then her bag. Pip thought that was interesting, although she didn't know what it meant.
"Down here," Pip said, and walked down the hall. She got a couple of washcloths out the airing cupboard, and then opened the bathroom door. "There's antiseptic and bandaids and stuff in the cupboard, just grab what you need."
"Thank you," Billie said, and took the cloths. "This is nice of you."
Pip shrugged, still feeling a little guilty. "Don't worry. Do you want a drink or anything?"
Billie hesitated.
"Just if you want," Pip said. "I will."
"Okay, then yeah."
Pip went into the kitchen, and looked in the fridge. She had beer there, and also warm wine in the cupboard. She was deciding whether to ask what Billie wanted, or just assume cold beer, when Billie called out, "Hey, um sorry. Could you help me please?"
Pip went back to the bathroom, and looked through the open doorway. Billie had taken off her shoes, and her foot was up on the side of the bath. She had pulled her gown up to get to her knee, and was holding it with both hands.
"I can't manage everything," Billie said. "Not at once."
She let go of the gown, as if to demonstrate, and the hem slid down her leg. The cloth was soft and floaty, Pip realized, not stiff enough to stay up on its own when it was only being held from one side. Billie needed two hands to keep the hem up, but then she didn't have one free to wash out her graze.
"Yeah," Pip said. "Of course. What should I do? Should I hold the dress or do your knee?"
"Well, you don't need to do the medical stuff, if you'd rather not..."
Pip thought about blood, and decided she didn't care, even though that probably wasn't very clever. She didn't care, not when she was busy staring at Billie's legs.
"I don't mind," Pip said. "Whichever's easier."
