Two scrawny teenage boys approached Elizabeth Mims and Jason Tippet at a skateboard park in Southern California a few years ago. The boys had found a set of keys to a Jaguar and wanted to know if they belonged to Mims and Tippet. The early 20-somethings, dressed casually and looking decidedly not like owners of a Jaguar, laughed at the question. They also marveled at the honesty and earnestness of the two fresh-faced skate punks.

Then, after Mims and Tippet denied ownership, a small but wonderful thing happened. The two boys, Garrison Saenz and Kevin Conway, started arguing with one another, cracking jokes at each other’s expense and fading into the short-hand trash talk of best friends. It was as if Mims and Tippet had disappeared.