Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:12:25 +0100 (BST) From: Ryan West Subject: Diving In: Chapter 10 Chapter 10: Into the Blue "Baby Steps" were the way to conquer anything, according to Cameron's mother. Take everything slowly and it'll let you accomplish anything. This life strategy works has worked in many situations; however, every time he tried doing this with swimming, it would fail miserably. So, in all honesty, Cameron did not see how James would help him confront this fear, but it was an excuse to spend time with him. Cameron had been looking forward to Friday afternoon all week. It was the one day where James was off from practice, and that Cameron didn't have anything to do for Student government. But, on Friday morning, he realized that he actually would have to go in the water. He hadn't even thought about that part. As he walked through the hallway, he tried to think of excuses for getting out of the event that had occupied his mind the past week. He tried to think of other ways he could spend time with James, but nothing came to his head. His thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Matt smiling at him. "Hey," Matt smiled. "Oh hey," Cameron replied. "I was waiting at your locker," Matt said. "Oh, we must've just missed each other," Cameron shrugged. "Right," Matt said skeptically. "I need to ask you something, I was going to last night but you hung up so quickly..." "What's up?" Cameron asked. Matt and Cameron had been somewhat distant lately. They still spoke on the phone every night, but it wasn't the same as it had been in the first couple weeks. Cameron told himself that it was Matt's constant prying into his life, but Matt really hadn't pried that much lately. "Okay, so, every summer my family goes out to our summer home in Maine," Matt started. "I was wondering if you wanted to come." "What?" Cameron asked. "My parents said it would be okay, they love you," Matt said. "And, I don't know, I think it would be a nice getaway for us." "Yeah, but all summer?" Cameron asked. He was surprised that Matt was so casual about this. It was like three months with just Matt. "We could come home whenever we want. You could visit your parents, and Alex and Travis," Matt explained. "They could even come up for a week or something. It's beautiful up there." "Right," Cameron nodded. He wasn't really sure how to respond. "Can I get back to you? I have to get to class." "The first bell hasn't even rung yet..." Matt laughed. "Yeah, but I have to go early for...some stupid project...thing." Cameron mumbled. "I'll see you later." Matt watched as Cameron ran down the hallway and began to wonder if he had just scared him away. ... Max Greco had been with many girls. Megan O'Halloran, Victoria Manning (before her nose job), and Darcy Granger were only a few notches on his belt. However, recently the only sexual experience that had been on his mind was his masturbation session with James Winters. Max knew he wasn't gay. He had been with too many girls to be gay. However, the past two weeks, he could not get James Winters off his mind. He found himself trying to get a showerhead next to James in the showers, and also watching him get out of his lacrosse uniform. He didn't know what it was, but he just couldn't erase that experience at the lacrosse sleep away weekend off his mind. He constantly replayed it in his mind, except in his fantasy he would reach other and start sucking on James. However, every time Max caught himself thinking about this, he would quickly replace James with and image of Darcy Granger. Max had spent the last week trying to get James out of his mind, but nothing was working. Instead, he found himself thinking about James more and more. So, finally, he decided that he should just hang out with James more and not do anything sexual and maybe it would go away. So, Friday morning, Max waited at the end of the hallway that James' locker was on. He was going to walk by casually and pretend that it was a coincidence that he bumped into James. Almost on cue, Max started walking towards James as soon as he saw him appear at his locker. Max had brought his school books to add to the illusion that it was all a coincidence. James was entering numbers into his locker when Max literally bumped into him, making all of Max's books fall to the floor. "Winters, watch where you're going, you fucking idiot," Max blurted. "I was just standing here. You walked into me..." James replied as he helped Max pick up his books. . "You klutz," Max laughed. James looked confused, but handed Max his books and turned towards his locker. "Did you hear that Katie Monroe's party was canceled?" "Yeah. Sucks." James responded as he opened his locker. "So, what are you doing tonight?" Max asked. "No idea," James shrugged as he put his books in his locker. "Yeah," Max said then looked away. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two of them, and James was wondering why Max was still standing there. "Well, if you're not doing anything, maybe we could hang out." "What?" James asked out of surprise. He didn't understand why Max would want to `hang out' with him. "Maybe we could hang out," Max repeated. "Oh, yeah. Sure." James replied. "Okay, cool. I'll call you later or something." Max said and then quickly walked away before James could say anything. ... Travis McCarthy and Marissa Tampa had been seen together everyday throughout the hallways the past week. People were speculating: Were they dating? Was Travis corrupting Marissa? Was Travis Marissa's cousin? However, neither one of them cared about what people had been saying. They just were happy that they were together. Friday morning, Travis picked up Marissa for school and they went together just as they did every morning. However, this morning, Marissa had something specific on her mind. She had wanted to ask Travis something for a long time, but she was afraid that he would think it was too soon, but this morning she had decided that it was time to ask. "Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?" Marissa smiled. "Um, sure, I guess." Travis shrugged. "Okay, because my mom said that she was making stake tonight, and I thought it'd be nice to..." Marissa was interrupted before she could finish. "Wait, your parents are going to be there?" Travis asked. "Yeah," Marissa smiled. "No, no, no. I'm not doing that." Travis stated. "What? Why not?" Marissa frowned. "I don't want to do that stupid thing. The awkward silences, the stupid questions, the fact that I have to make a good impression, all of it. No, I'm not going." Travis said. "Okay, first of all, the awkward silences will probably be filled by my mom and dad's arguments. Secondly, yes, there will be stupid questions, but they're easy. Just pretend to be highly motivated and they'll love you." Marissa explained. "We've been dating for like a week," Travis said. "I don't understand why you're moving so fast." "I'm not," Marissa was somewhat offended by Travis' accusation. "My parents just want to know who the boy is that's been picking me up every morning. I thought it'd be nice if you came over, God." "Yeah, well it wouldn't be." Travis said. "Okay!" Marissa barked. "Sometimes you're so freaking impossible. I was just trying to do something nice, and you blow it way out of proportion. It's not like I'm asking you to marry me or anything. I'm just asking you to come to fucking dinner." They drove in silence until they reached the school parking lot. As soon as Travis parked the car, Marissa immediately reached for the door, but Travis stopped her. "Look, I'm sorry. I'll come to dinner." Travis said. "No, whatever, it's fine." Marissa muttered. "No, it's not. I want to come to dinner," Travis explained. "It's just that...I don't have the best family life. And I don't want to feel pressured to have you meet my mom and have me tell everything about myself." "I never said that," Marissa said. "I know, I just...look, I'll come to dinner." Travis said, which made Marissa smile. ... Alexis hadn't really known what had come over her in the past week, but she had suddenly become incredibly depressed. She didn't know if it was Kevin's immaturity or if it was her parents divorce, or if it was just everything that had happened to her recently all rolled into one. Either way, she was feeling horribly alone. She had originally thought that moving out on her own was an amazing blessing, but now she had discovered that it was a huge mistake. She had not done laundry in a week, and she had not cleaned since last Friday. So, needless to say her apartment was a little messy. She had also not attended school the past week, which was very uncharacteristic of her. The worst part about all of this was that she felt no one had noticed. Cameron had asked her if anything was bothering her a couple times, but he hadn't pursued the issue when she said that nothing was. Travis was too busy making out with Marissa Tampa, and Kevin had tried to call her but she threatened to break his nose if he ever tried to talk to her again. Alex was lying on her couch with all the blinds drawn shut when she heard a knock at the door. She didn't feel like answering it. She figured it was Pete the sketchy neighbor who had repeatedly tried to hook up with her even though he was 57. After five minutes of knocking, she realized that this person was not going away. She got up and swung open the door, and had to put her hand up to her eyes to shield the light to see that it was Cameron standing in front of her. "Hi," Cameron smiled. Alex just groaned and collapsed back onto her couch. "Okay, Alex. This is not healthy. Seriously." Cameron looked around her apartment and saw old McDonald's wrappers, milk cartons, dirty clothes, and a few insects. "Oh, fuck off," Alex groaned from underneath a pillow. Cameron started to open up all the blinds. "What are you doing?!?!" "I'm turning you into back into a normal person," Cameron said. "I am normal!" Alex shouted. "No, you're a freaking vampire," Cameron shouted back. Alex couldn't help but smile at the seriousness with which Cameron said that. They both started to laugh a little bit. "Seriously though, Alex, whatever you're going through, you need to stop or else it's going to have serious repercussions for your future." "Shut up!" Alex moaned from underneath the pillow. "I moved out to get away from my parents! I don't need you acting like them!" "Alex, you've missed like three days of school this week," Cameron said. "And you're lucky that you have a friend that's willing to miss his lunch hour to help drag you back to reality." "Cameron, seriously, I'm fine. Please, just let me...just let me do this right now," Alex said. "No," Cameron replied simply. "I'll make you a deal," Alex said. "Come back tonight, and I promise we can go through whatever stupid thing transformation or whatever." "Fine," Cameron agreed. "But if you don't answer the door, I won't ever speak to you again." "Oh, maybe I won't answer the door then..." Alex joked. "Funny," Cameron said and then left. Alex then collapsed back onto her couch and went back to thinking about how lonely she was. ... James sat on his deck dipping his feet into his pool. His parents built the pool to encourage James and his sister to have friends over. It was ironic because he now had a friend over, but neither of his parents was there to see it. His parents had gone away to accepted day at Georgetown University with James' sister. James liked having the house to himself, especially when it was only him and Cameron alone in it. Cameron was changing into a bathing suit in James' bathroom, and James was waiting in anticipation. He had never seen Cameron without a shirt on, and although he surely had imagined what Cameron's chest would look like, he was excited to see it in person. James was also excited to show off his own body that had become much more muscular in the lacrosse season. James had no hair on his chest, except the hair under his arms, and was relatively built. He was slim, but he was muscular. He inherited the same skin as his mother that didn't tan well, and James blamed his Irish heritage. James was too busy looking at his own chest to realize that Cameron had walked out onto the patio. James looked up and was disappointed to see that Cameron was still wearing a t-shirt. "Hey, you ready?" James smiled. "Not at all," Cameron said. "But, I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to be." "You know, we don't have to do this." James reminded Cameron. "I know. I just want to conquer this thing." Cameron said. James watched as Cameron slowly removed his shirt. Underneath James saw that Cameron had a pretty nice body. He wasn't extremely muscular, but he wasn't scrawny either. His chest was tanner then James', and James noticed the light brown hairs that led from Cameron's belly button down. Other then that Cameron's chest was bare. "So, where's Matt going to college?" James asked. "That's a random question," Cameron laughed. "He's going to UCLA in California." Cameron sat down next to James, Indian style, making sure his feet didn't go in the water. "That's far," James said. "Are you guys going to stay together or..." "Honestly? I'm not really sure." Cameron admitted. "We haven't really talked about any of that serious stuff. Well, unless you count the trip he just asked me on." "What trip?" James asked. "Matt and his family go out to his summer house every summer, and he asked me to go with him." Cameron explained. "That's sounds cool." James said. "...all summer." Cameron finished. "What do you mean?" James asked. "He wants me to spend all summer out there with him and his parents." Cameron explained. "All summer? That's crazy." James said. "That is crazy, right?" Cameron was happy James had the same opinion. "I mean, I really do like Matt. Obviously. But, all summer? I don't know. I just feel like that's such a long time, and we've only been going out for a couple weeks." "Yeah, I agree." James sympathized. "But, Matt just wants to spend time with you before he leaves for college. I understand that too." "Yeah," Cameron said. Cameron's eyes then focused on the pool and he remembered what he had come here to do. "Okay, I think I'm ready." "All right," James said as he got up. "Let's go over to the shallow end." Cameron followed James around the side of the pool. He looked at the water cautiously and made sure to keep a safe distance from the edge. As soon as they reached the steps leading into the shallow end, James turned to Cameron. "Okay, now, we're going to slowly take little baby steps into the pool. We'll go step by step." Cameron nodded and watched as James stepped down onto the first step. The water only covered James' feet, but it still scared Cameron. James noticed Cameron's hesitation and held out his hand. Cameron looked at his hand, then back at the water, then back at his hand. Cameron reached out and took James' hand and as he did he felt chills through his body. He held tightly as he made his first steps into the blue water. James noticed that Cameron was breathing heavily, and he squeezed his hand to let him know that he was still there. The next step had water that would approximately be up half-way to Cameron's knee. James took a step down, but kept Cameron's hand in his. Cameron continued to breathe heavily as he looked at the water, but when he met eyes with James his breathing subsided and he took the next step down. The next step would bring water up to Cameron's knees, and with James' help he made the step much easier then the last two. The final step would bring the water up to Cameron's waist, which was the most frightening step for Cameron. This step would leave him with no more steps, and only the pool in front of him. James took the step down, leaving Cameron frightened. Cameron cleared his mind of everything and took the final step. Once Cameron felt the water go up to his waist, he began to freak out. Memories flooded back into his mind, and he pulled himself close to James. Cameron wrapped his arms around James and closed his eyes, trying to block out the memories that were reappearing in his mind. Suddenly he heard James' voice calling him back to reality. "I got you, Cameron." James whispered. "I got you." And suddenly, Cameron felt safe in James' arms. ... Travis waited patiently in front of Marissa's door. He was wearing his only suit which he had bought two years ago and was now too small for him. He rang the doorbell that stood patiently; somewhat nervous about what the rest of the night would hold. Travis assumed that Marissa's parents were the typical wasps. He knew how to deal with them. Marissa's twelve year old sister opened the door. Travis smiled at her, but before he could open his mouth she ran away. Now, with the door open, Travis wondered if he should wait outside or venture into the house. He decided the later, and he entered the house cautiously. He could smell the steak cooking in the kitchen, and he looked to his right and saw a dinner table already set. Travis pranced into the kitchen as if it was his own house. He found a man and woman, who Travis figured were Marissa's parents, arguing. "Well, maybe if you would've picked me up in time..." Mr. Tampa said. "I told you, I was busy cooking," Mrs. Tampa explained. "Busy my ass-oh hello there," Mr. Tampa stopped himself as soon as he noticed that Travis had entered the kitchen. "You must be Travis," Mrs. Tampa smiled. The whole environment had suddenly changed into a pleasant one. It was as if the argument had never occurred between the two. "I'm Marissa's mom. She should be down any minute now." "Okay cool," Travis nodded. As if on que, Marissa entered the kitchen and saw that Travis had already met her parents. She felt somewhat embarrassed of her parents but decided to get on with the dinner. "Ready to eat?" Marissa smiled. Travis kissed her hello on the cheek. They proceeded into the dining room and sat down to eat. Mr. Tampa sat at the head of the table, Mrs. Tampa sat to the right of him, Marissa's sister, who Travis learned was name Devon, sat across from Mrs. Tampa, and Travis and Marissa sat across from each other. "So, Travis, how do you like your junior year?" Mr. Tampa said. "It's okay. Honestly, I just think that I'm ready to move on to bigger and better things then high school has to offer." Travis lied. Marissa smiled at the way her parents seemed to completely buy into it. "Really?" Mrs. Tampa said. "I bet you're glad that school will be ending in two weeks." "Yeah," Travis smiled. "Except the whole finals thing." "Yeah, gotta love those finals." Marissa smiled. "So, have you thought about college at all?" Mr. Tampa asked. "Well, I'm going up to visit Harvard after school ends, see how I like it, but other than that I'm not really sure." Travis lied once again. "Very interesting," Mrs. Tampa smiled. She winked over at Marissa, and Travis knew that he had already won their hearts and minds. ... Cameron knocked at Alex's door at nine o'clock. He had left straight from James' house. He was still dressed in his T-shirt and was still sporting his bathing suite. When Alex swung open the door, she was surprised to see a very wet Cameron standing in front of her. "Why are you all wet?" Alex remarked. "Why are you still wearing those pajamas?" Cameron commented back as he walked into her apartment that was just as unclean as when he visited the morning before. He wasn't very surprised. She lay down on her couch, and he lifted up her feet and set underneath them, resting her feet in his lap. After a few moments of silence, she sat up. "Wait, why are you in a bathing suit?" Alex asked. "Can't you not swim?" "I learned," Cameron smiled. Alex shrugged as if it were no big deal. "So, how's everything going with Kevin?" "It's not. Whatever. I don't really care." Alex lied. Cameron could tell she was lying but decided not to push the issue. "What about you?" "What about me?" Cameron smiled. "What's your deal with girls, Cameron?" Alex realized that Cameron rarely ever got with girls. The only girl she'd ever seen him with was her cousin and they only hooked up. "What do you mean?" Cameron felt his face getting red. "I don't know. I just don't really see you with many girls. Any girls actually." As Alex spoke, Cameron could feel himself getting more and more nervous. "I...I...I guess I just am waiting for someone special," Cameron stuttered. Alex suddenly put her hand on Cameron's leg and moved close to him. She put her face right in front of his. Cameron felt sweat forming on his palms. "Maybe that person is me..." Alex whispered right before she kissed him. Cameron felt his spine go rigid and he didn't move at all while he felt Alex's tongue move around in his mouth. She suddenly pulled away and looked at him for a moment. She stood up, embarrassed of what she had just done. She started to laugh at herself, but that laughter slowly progressed into tears. She started crying hysterically, which surprised Cameron extremely because Alex rarely ever showed emotion. "Alex..." Cameron stood up and tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away. "Don't Cameron," Alex cried. "Am I really that unappealing that every guy keeps rejecting me? Travis, Kevin, and now you?" "No...Alex..." Cameron didn't know what to say. "Forget it Cameron, just go." Alex muttered. "Alex...I'm...I'm gay." Cameron blurted. Alex immediately stopped crying and looked up at Cameron in shock. "What?" Alex asked. "I'm gay." Cameron was nervous, but he had already said it so there was no point in denying it. Alex collected her thoughts for a moment. "Really?" Alex smiled a little bit. "Yeah," Cameron smiled back. He was glad to see that her reaction wasn't a bad one. He felt comforted that she had stopped crying. "That actually makes a little bit of sense," Alex whipped her nose with her hand. "Thanks," Cameron laughed. "No, not that I could tell," Alex said. "I don't know. You just never really took initiative with any girls." "Yeah," Cameron agreed. "So, who else knows?" Alex sat down next to Cameron on the couch. "No one, and you can't tell anyone. Seriously, Alex." Cameron warned. "I won't tell anyone. Jeez." Alex smiled. She looked at him for a moment, thinking about what he had just told her. Questions filled her mind. "So do you have a boyfriend or anything?" "Um, well, remember that kid Matt?" Cameron said. "Yeah, he's hot!" Alex smiled. "Wow, good job!" "Thanks," Cameron laughed. "I thought you were going to say you were dating James Winters." Alex laughed. "What?" Cameron felt his face getting red. "I don't know. You guys spent all that time together on the math project..." Alex reminded him. Cameron hesitated for a moment, whether he should tell Alex about James or not. "Well...actually..." Cameron started, but then stopped himself. "What? No! Now you have to tell me!" she encouraged. "Okay, well...James is gay too." Cameron told. Alex looked surprised. "Really? I was totally just kidding when I said that I thought you guys were dating!" Alex was shocked. "Are you sure? He gets with a lot of girls..." "Yeah, I'm sure." Cameron nodded. "Wow, you certainly got the pick of the liter there..." Alex smiled. "Yeah, but I mean me and Matt are working out well, so..." Cameron explained, but then stopped himself mid-thought. "Holy shit, I forgot my clothes at James' house." "Wait, you were at James' house swimming?" Alex asked. "Yeah," Cameron said but was thinking to himself. "I guess I can just stop by tomorrow and pick them up." "Matt's probably a little jealous that your spending all this time with James, right?" Alex asked, which made Cameron feel guilty. "Yeah, but me and James are just friends." Cameron assured. Alex gave him a look. "What?" "Just friends? Going over to each other's houses twice a week? Swimming together? I don't know, man..." Alex said. "Okay, first of all, we only went over to each other's houses for the math project, and he offered to help me swim." Cameron explained, but Alex still seemed skeptical. For the rest of the night, they talked to each other like they hadn't in a long time. Cameron felt good that he could finally talk openly to Alex and talk about things that really mattered to him. He also was able to learn things about Alex that she rarely opened up about, like her parents recent divorce, and her recent drama with Kevin Trainer. They had found their friendship that had been lost recently. ... James Winters lay on his bed for a while after Cameron left. He was feeling happy and sad at the same time over his recent encounter with Cameron. He really felt an emotional connection with Cameron, not just in the pool, but every time he saw Cameron he felt himself more and more drawn to him. But Cameron still was dating Matt, and for now James would just continue being Cameron's friend. James lay on his bed when he heard his phone ringing. He crawled across his bed and reached for his phone which was on his desk. He looked at the Caller I.D. and saw that it was Max Greco calling. James didn't understand the interest Max had taken in him recently, and he wasn't really sure how he felt about it. He realized that Max must be lonely; everyone had gotten sick of Max's attitude recently. "Hello?" James answered. "Hey asshole," Max had a way with words. "Should I come over?" "What?" James had completely forgotten about their plans to hang out. "I said, `Should I come over?' what are you deaf Winters'?" Max repeated. "Oh, um, I guess. If you want to..." James didn't want to dismiss Max, but he honestly didn't want to hang out with him at all. In fact, he had just planned to take a quick shower and then go to bed. "Okay, cool. I'll be over in like ten minutes." Max said, and before James could protest, Max hung up the phone. James moaned to himself, and then lay down on his bed. He closed his eyes for what seemed like a second, but when he opened them again he heard his doorbell ringing. James got up from his bed, and quickly put a shirt on. He hadn't changed since Cameron left and he was still wearing his bathing suit. James walked down the stairs and opened the door to see Max holding a bottle of vodka. James just rolled his eyes. "What's that?" James said. "Vodka, dumb ass," Max said as he pushed passed James and into his house. "You said your parents weren't home, right? I thought we'd have a little bit of fun." "Yeah," James muttered. Max followed James up the stairs and into his room. Max had never been in James' room, although he had stopped by James' house once or twice to drive him to a couple practices. Max looked around the room and began to examine certain things. He looked at the pictures on his desk of James and his family, James and Kevin, and a couple other pictures. He looked at his collection of DVD's which consisted of mostly the classic's like Scar face, but a couple newer movie's like Varsity Blues and Fight Club. "You liked Fight Club?" Max asked. "Yep," James said aloud, and then muttered, "That's why I bought it..." "I thought it was way too confusing..." Max started but then accidentally knocked over all of the DVD's when he turned around to talk. He picked them all up, but this just made James more annoyed. After Max finished, he turned to James and said "You wanna take a shot?" "Absolutely," James snatched the bottle out of Max's hand. Many, many drinks later, the two boys lay on James' bed laughing because over the past hour Max had managed to knock over the DVD's two more times. James had lightened his mood, which had partially been because of the alcohol. Over the five minutes that they were laughing, Max and moved himself closer and closer to James. James hadn't thought anything of it, but when Max moved his arm across James' chest, James began to wonder what exactly was going on here. When he went to look at Max, he came face to face with him. They lay there for a moment looking at each other. Max slowly moved in and kissed James on the lips. James was surprised at first, but he was too drunk to care or resist. James back as he felt Max move on top of him and begin to explore the rest of his body. Max removed James shirt, and then removed his own. Max sat on top of James as James moved his fingers to feel Max's muscular body. Max rubbed James bare chest and then moved so he was lying on top of James. He kissed James' soft lips and then began to suck on his neck. James felt Max's erection through his own bathing suit, and both of their erections began to grind up against each other. "Turn around," Max whispered into James' ear. James did as he was told, and was surprised when Max quickly pulled down James bathing suit to expose James' nearly hairless ass. Before James could say anything, Max's arms pushed down James' back, and put his hands on James' hips, elevating them. He then inserted his thick penis inside of James. He began to forcefully thrust in and out. James was surprised at how much it hurt. He opened his mouth to protest, but Max didn't listen. "Ooo yeah," Max moaned. "Yeah, that's right." Max quickly pushed in and out of James. He thrusted himself into him, and James lay there taking each thrust. Max gripped James' hips tightly when he came and moaned loudly. James was beginning to enjoy it by the time that it was over. Max pulled out of James and rolled over in the bed. James rolled over the opposite way. Max quickly put his boxers back on, but then went under the covers and just lay there. James assumed that he was going to sleep over. James was about to turn off the lights when Max said, "I'm not gay." "Me neither," James lied. "We were just having a little fun." "Yeah," Max said. James then turned off the lights and they both fell asleep. James heard Max quietly crying as he drifted off to sleep. ... Cameron woke up around 8:00 with a different attitude. The sun was shining, literally, and he found himself confident about his future. One of his two best friends now knew the truth about him, and he was happy that he could talk to someone about everything to. He cleaned his room...twice, then showered and changed. He waited around his room for a bit then when 10:00 came around; he got on his bike and rode over to James' house. There was a part of Cameron that knew what he was doing with James was wrong. But the other part of him had no idea what he was doing. Cameron was in a relationship and he would never cheat on Matt. He really wouldn't. And with Matt he had a lot of fun, he laughed a lot, and he was happy. But with James...with James he found himself feeling safe. Maybe it was the way they met; in a crisis where both of them were scared, or maybe it was just who they were. And although Cameron told himself that he and James were just friends, part of him wished they were more. Cameron knocked for what seemed like an hour, but in reality it was only ten minutes. No one answered. Cameron was about to leave, when he remembered that James' parents weren't home. He was sure James wouldn't mind if he just snuck into his room and grabbed the clothes that he left the day before. The door creaked open as Cameron quietly crept into the house. He snuck up the stairs and tried to remember which room was Cameron's. He opened the first door on his left, and saw something he had not expected. James was lying with his arms around Max Greco, both of them were covered by sheets but they both appeared to be naked. Cameron felt his face get extremely red, and as he went to close the door, he saw Max Greco slowly opening his eyes. Cameron quickly met his eyes, and at first Max closed his eyes again, but then when he realized what Cameron had seen his eyes snapped open. He jumped out of the bed. "Oh...hi... uh..." Max began. He was still in his boxers, and he looked around the room for his shorts and shirt. As he looked around the room, he attempted to explain himself. "We...were practicing...and we worked out and we...uh...fell asleep..." James opened his eyes and started to stretch before he even realized what was going on. He quickly sat up when he saw that Cameron was in the room. "Cameron?" James blurted, shocked at his appearance. "I...I just came by to get my clothes from yesterday..." Cameron stuttered. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..." "No, this isn't what it looks like..." James started. "Yeah!" Max chimed in. "Right," Cameron said. Max had finished getting dressed and started for the door. Cameron moved out of the way so he could get by. "I'm not gay," Max said to Cameron as he walked passed him. "I..." was all Cameron could get out. Now that Max had left, it was only James and Cameron. James saw how hurt that Cameron looked, and he tried to explain himself. "Look, Cameron..." James started. "You don't have to explain yourself to me, James." Cameron forced a smile, and with that he left. He walked out the door, holding back tears that were about to come out. He hopped on his bike and then drove a few blocks, but then stopped. He parked the bike and pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello?" the voice on the other line said. "Hey Matt, it's me. I want to come with you to your summer house." Cameron said, and tried to find comfort in the idea that he would only have to spend three more weeks with James Winters and then he could forget about him for the rest of the summer. Thank you so much for reading my story. Please e-mail me at Ryanwest25@yahoo.com with any comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions. Thanks again for reading!