Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:22:27 -0400 From: Kevin Pasion Subject: Summer Situations Chapter 1 Chapter One ********** By Kevin Pasion I questioned my sanity throughout my childhood and all the way to my present-day tender age of twenty. Several of them were when I intentionally hurt someone, and had no particular reason why. It was just something I needed to do, even if I thought I could stop myself. I just did it. Yet, throughout all my introspective currents of thoughts, I find that a teenage boy offering himself to me was a jump, skip, and a gallop through the tundra. And not too soon after that, lay my bone-chilled psyche in crumbled heaps as sharp shards awaiting me at the end. Andrew Scripps entered my world through a best friend of mine. He was her younger, developing, and just shy of seventeen, little brother. Slender and a little lanky, he stood two inches shorter than me. Hair like a mouse, short enough to be considered lightly buzzed, fine, and brown with amber streaks, his gaze always struck a chord against his fair, ivory skin. Emeralds glisten within the blue of the midnight sky, as he stares aggressively and smiles as genuine as his intentions. His supple, garnet lips seem to be a full brushstroke of paint against his pale skin, making people take assumption that he wore makeup; no matter if it be true or not. I almost lost myself in his presence when he ran a pink tongue to moisten his lips. Tiny droplets of sweat accumulated on his upper lip and twinkled in the light on his nose. He was nervous. I was nervous. He cleared his throat. "Well? Are you gonna say anything?" "What do you want me to say?" My voice sounded gruff, a hint of irritation masked underneath the gravel that gathered in my throat from sleep. "`Could you repeat that, please?', or `Sure, that'd be great!', or my personal favorite, `What the fuck are you thinking? Your entire family will kill me if they find out!'" That grin blossomed for the second time in five minutes. "Whatever, man." He took off his gossamer white button-up shirt and tossed it in the wind. Warm breezes wrestled around with the see-through cloth, blowing it upward and then back to the shore. I forget how nice it is during early fall at the beach. Seagulls cawed and flitted around our heads as I tried to fully awaken. "Okay, so you wake me at seven, knowing fully well that I don't have to be up till nine, to tell me what again?" His smile melted at the sides. Good, he could sense the irritation in my voice. "Don't make me say it again, alright? It took all I had just to go inside your room this morning." It was just so painfully pathetic that I couldn't help but smile. "Really?" "Yeah, don't laugh, but I stood there for like thirty minutes before I even reached for the door knob." "And now you're tell me you wanna play with my knob?" At least he had the decency to blush. But that fresh blood rushing across his face made the green in his eyes pop out, stunning me in their brilliance. Soon, the sweet red danced along his shoulders, mingled on his chest, and finally circled his hardening nipples--of what were the same color as his lips. However, even though my mind was still half asleep and the other half in denial, my physical body began to lift and live with more blood rushing to finish the path that Andrew's body started. It's a dismal thought that in a fight, all he had to do was take off his clothes and I'd immediately fold and give in to his wishes. But since he still had his black board shorts on--startling against the ivory of his sand dusted shins--that kept me for agreeing until I understood exactly what he asked of me. When he regained his usual demeanor, arrogant with a hint of innocence, he spoke urged me with a, "Did you forget that you've tried to get me to have sex with you three times already?" Yup, only innocence can hinder him like that and let him speak so bluntly. "Yeah, and I also remember that you've declined all of them. Which brings us to where we are now." He nodded. "Yeah, but this time I've asked you." "Asked me what?" He laughed and it sent tingles down my spine. I kept reminding myself that it was just a laugh, not exactly his fingers scraping at my back with painful ecstasy. "You're really going to play like that?" "Hey, if you turned me down three times. I want to hear it again, now that I'm wide awake." I remembered the rude wake up call he gave me. "Oh, thanks by the way. I loved having you pull me off the bed." I rubbed my hip. "I may actually be bruised." "You know you like it." That sly grin . . . I stole his phrase. "Whatever, man." We shared a smile for a minute, and he ruined it by focusing on me. "Stop that," I ordered. "Stop what?" His voice was as innocent as a lamb's. "Look, do you really want me to ask again?" I nodded. He sighed. "We're in for a long morning. Alright, well, Kyle, would you care to help me with a favor?" He paused, and I realized that I was supposed to play his game. "Fine, if that's how," I trailed off. "Okay, but what favor do you need done?" "I wanna explore." "Explore what?" Our smiles widen and we blushed even more. Andrew's entire torso gleemed red, a beacon of excitement and embarrassment in a world of sand dunes and foul smelling seaweed. Just as the question slipped out of my lips, I saw Laura--Andrew's sister, and my best friend--walking down the sandy stairs towards us. As he started to say, "Explore my sexuality," I put my hand over his mouth to keep from finishing that final word. "Laura," I said, whispering the word into the wind. From his reaction, he either didn't believe me or didn't care, because next thing I felt was his soft tongue wedged between the fingers that hushed him. I yanked my hand away from him. "Stop that!" "Stop what?" he asked, smirking much like a Cheshire. I pulled out a pack of Camel cigarettes, retrieved two sticks and tried to light them both in the tunnel of wind. When both of the white cylindrical cancer causers flared bright orange, I handed one to him right before Laura stepped up to us. Laura's a few more inches shorter than her brother, but they both had the same delicate skin, brown hair with the shots of amber, and full lips, but Andrew's eyes held more trance-causing magic than hers. Her eyes were like a blue silk, ever flowing in color depending on how the light hits it. Even smaller than her brother, she clumsily maneuvered to us on soft, wet sand. "What're you two doing here?" she snapped. "Smoking that shit?" From her tone, I knew she only half joked. "No such thing," I said, flashing my smile, hoping to avert her. "Just regular cigarettes. I would never corrupt the youth of today." "Asshole," Andrew playfully said as he mock-punched my bicep. "You were the first one to smoke with me." I sighed and shoved him till he lost balance but didn't exactly fall. "We were fooling her, dipwad." He smiled. Laura didn't. "No, you weren't. Seriously, don't smoke that so close to the house. Walk along the shore and wait till tonight. Don't fuck with that just as soon as the sun comes." "Whoa," Andrew said, raising his arms in defense, "why all the hostility?" "Mom's awake," she said. "She's making breakfast, go and help her." Andrew nodded and started for the house. Behind Laura, he mouthed the words, "We'll talk later." Not even looking at him, she yelled back, "And don't forget your shirt!" He paid her no attention and kept walking, mists of smoke appearing now and again. God, I hated watching him walk away from me shirtless. It's happened too many times. I frowned at his back. I watched him leave until I noticed that Laura had eyes only for me while my eyes followed the younger Scripps child. "What?" I asked. "Nothing," she said. She traced Andrew's steps and left me alone. Damn it. I took a drag out of the forgotten tobacco and prayed that this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass. __________ I decided to stay in the dunes. The tourists poured into the beach, tanning or frolicking in the water, as the time passed. Surfers came first, claiming the farther waves and minding their own business. Dogwalkers held anything from three to eight leashes of varying breeds. Girls, dressed in skimpier outfits than what their underwear would actually be, patterned the dunes in full colors, strips, or floral bikinis. Children made sandcastles or chased away the last of the ghost crabs back into their holes. People-watching kept my attention so well that I became oblivious to Andrew's presence until he jumped on top of me. Since I didn't know who it was, I ended up flipping him off me and onto the sand before I could stop myself. He landed with a thud on the ground next to a puddle of saltwater. "Shit," I said, reaching out a hand for him, "sorry, but that's what you get for sneaking up on me." "Ow, ow, ow," he muttered over and over as he stood. He brushed off the stand on his elbows, which took most of the fall, and said, "Whatever, man! I called you all the way from the house. Mom said you'd better get up there before they finish all the food." Andrew's mother is almost like mine, with a bond to me that mimicked what blood forced. I loved her to death, and she seemingly likes me, but the lingering thought popped back into my head that left with his sister. What would she do if she found out that her son and I might be messing around. "Don't look so serious," Andrew whispered. "It's not like they know." I stared at him. "What're you? A mind-reader? Stay out of my head please." I attempted, to no avail, to hide my irritation. That only caused it to surface faster. "The look you had on your face was too confused," he said, sitting up. I sat down next to him, a nice safe distance of half a foot, and resumed my activity of watching humans en masse. "Too confused?" Tone a lot softer now, my words dribbled out in whisper form. "Yeah, and don't be. I want to do this." He laid his foot atop mine and the bare flesh meeting bare flesh made my lower parts of my stomach knot up. His hands were caked with wet sand after he lifts them up to inspect them. After he brushed the excess off, he held a thin layer of the grit and ran them down my calf. His touch sent shivers, but it was the look in his eyes that took me aback. Slightly uncomfortable, I remove his palm from my bare skin and set it down on his lap. "Don't do anything stupid." He frowned and he became a wax sculpture of disappointment. "You can't choose for me." "Yeah, but I've got the right to choose not to." The look on his face hurt me. "That's your choice." "Oh, don't be like that," I complained. "You've turn me down before." "You'll never let that go, will you?" "Not when I've tried so hard before and you just kept budging inch by inch, but never fully agreed with me." We sat in silence, terrible silence, and I was glad. Anything to keep from talking about it made it easier for me. After a few seconds, he stood up and brushed off rest of the sand on his clothes. "You coming?" he asked. "Where?" "I'm heading back in. I'm hungry. I waited for you." There were so many things wrong with those statements, but I understood why he had to say it. I've said my share of stupid things to him. "No, thanks, I'm just gonna go for a swim before I head back into town." "You're leaving?" I stood and removed my shirt, not even worrying about unbuttoning it. I shimmied out of my jeans, board shorts clothing me underneath them. "Yeah, I'm gonna take a drive around the island for a while." "Can I go with you to town?" The eagerness was raw on his voice. "I'm tired of those girls. They're annoying the shit out of me." He spoke of his mother's co-worker's family. Michelle's fine in small doses, but stuck with her twins and the fourteen-year-old became the tenth circle of hell that Dante forgot to veer into. "Twins getting to you?" I asked, a true smile finally gracing my lips. "Not her," he said, "the thirteen-year-old." That finally made sense. His "cousin" Jocelyn was adopted and she made me protective of Andrew, since I didn't want him to go to jail. It started with just playful, innocent touching, but lately, as the end of the summer closes in on us, she's been sluttier about her conquest. She says she's a virgin, but if she is, she was born without a hymen. I just don't understand what she's doing. He's related to her, and still she's acts like if she stretches her legs enough, he'll come around. "Well," I started, "I'm not going into town. I thought about driving around. Smoke a little something." A switch seemed to flip behind his eyes and I knew the normal Andrew was back. "Oh, can I come?" I grew wary of him, but I couldn't say no. Fortunately, I knew someone who would. "Alright, you can go." He beamed at me. "Hold on there," I said. "You can go, if your sister says it's cool." "Laura will be fine with it." He sounded so sure. I raised an eyebrow. "Trust me," Andrew said, "she'll be fine." "Just ask her," I snapped. Truthfully, I just wanted to get away from this house and the floating question. I think I'm entitled to more than just a little grievance. Not waiting for an answer, I turned and flew away to the ocean, not once looking back. Once in and the water splashed above my knees, I dove in and swam away from my conundrum. I kept at it, getting deeper and farther from the shore. The air in my lungs wanted out and little bubbles escaped my mouth in small trails until all the oxygen left me and I could no longer reach the bottom without a chasm of water between me and the sky. I floated within the deep waters, arms spread, and just drifted where the currents wanted to take me. My eyes open, slightly stinging from the saltwater, they followed the large school of mullet swimming happily ten yards from me. I became entranced, a nice lull falling over me. They worked as one, following the one before them. It appeared choreographed, but I took marine biology so I wasn't an idiot to think it. I wondered if fish could have the same emotions as humans did. Did that particularly dark one become angry when he tried to wander off but another one pushed him back in? What did that mean? I became too busy concentrating on the school when I saw them abruptly swim away. First they were a huge black cloud in the water and suddenly all I saw were their tails darting away. My vision wavered a bit, and I felt arms surround me. The shock of water rushing past me made me dizzy. I wrapped my arms around those on my waist and held on. Whoever the person that pulled me up kicked so hard that their legs kept connecting with mine. I tried to help them out but I found that all my actions just caused him to slow down. The strain on my lungs began to fade then, along with my vision. A creeping darkness sunk my pupils till I could not see. Breaking through hurt. It just did. My lungs gasped for the first scent of air and gladly engulfed it like food. I rested limp in his arms, for the voice that screamed obcenities at me when we surfaced was definitely Andrew. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!" I coughed up some water. I don't even remember breathing it in. "Fucking asshole," he cried as he dragged me up onto the shore and on my back. He also collapsed next to me, breathing heavily. When he regained his composure, he sat up and dripped water above me. He grabbed my face and looked at me. He faded in and out of my sight. I couldn't breathe. The sun felt good after the chill of the depth we were in. I coughed one more time and water gushed out of my mouth. Last thing I knew before sleep came over me was Andy on top of me, the sun like a halo of purity, and my name slipping through those cherry lips.