Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:53:20 -0500 (CDT) From: Ryan West Subject: Diving In Chapter 8 Diving In Chapter Eight: Sail Away With Me Cameron enjoyed romantic movies. What he loved more then romantic movies were romantic movies that ended happily. He loved endings where the two lovers sailed off into the sunset, and he wanted to have that for himself one day. He was beginning to wonder if he had found that with Matt. Ever since the fundraiser last week, he had been acting distant. Cameron hadn't said anything, but it was beginning to get on his last nerve. So, he had made a pledge to himself Thursday night that he would talk to him about it on Friday morning. However, when Friday morning came, Cameron found himself more nervous then he had expected. As he approached Matt's locker, he made sure no one was within hearing range. "Hey," Cameron smiled. "Hey," Matt said and looked up only for a second, and then continued putting books in his locker. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Cameron asked. "Yeah, what's up?" Once again, Matt didn't look up from his locker to answer Cameron. "Okay, look at me." Cameron ordered, getting somewhat annoyed with Matt. "Look, for the past week, you've been acting really strange. I don't know if it's something I did, or what, but it's not fair. If I did something wrong, just tell me." Matt paused for a moment, and looked at Cameron. "Look, it's nothing you did. It's just..." Matt looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Remember that boy? Jeremy? We met him at the fundraiser." "Yeah..." Cameron said. "We used to be best friends. Inseparable. We never left each others side." Mat started. "Then one night, we got really drunk. Really drunk. And we..." "You had sex?!" Cameron blurted. Matt gave him a look, and Cameron realized how loud he had just said that. "Sorry, you had sex?" Cameron whispered. "Yeah, well sort of. I don't want to go into the details." Matt said, embarrassed. "I really thought that it was right. I was in love with him. And then, we stopped talking. And I don't have any classes with him. And when we saw him the other night, he talked to me. Which was weird, you know? And, I don't know...It just brought back a lot of old feelings." Cameron had mixed emotions. He was happy that Matt was opening up to him and then his avoiding Cameron had nothing to do with him. But at the same time, he was jealous. "I understand," Cameron smiled, rubbing his hand on Matt's arm. "I just wish you came to me." "I know, and I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise." Matt smiled. "What are you doing tonight?" "I don't have any plans," Cameron smiled. "Okay good. I'll pick you up around nine." Matt smirked. Suddenly Cameron forgot the name Jeremy, and was only thinking about how cute Matt's smile was. ... Travis McCarthy overslept a lot. He usually missed everything that happened before twelve on the weekends. He usually managed to make it to school on time everyday. However, never once had he woken up at twelve on a school day lying next to a naked Marissa Tampa. Travis really hadn't remembered much that had happened the night before. But he looked under the covers to see that he was naked as well, so he put two and two together. He really wasn't sure how to react to their present situation. She was still sleeping, and slightly snoring for the matter. Travis got up from his bed and grabbed boxers from the pile on the floor. As he tip-toed around, he suddenly saw what time it was. He cursed silently and walked over to Marissa and shook her gently. When she didn't wake up, he shook her a little bit harder. After a few moments she slowly opened her eyes, to see Travis smiling right in front of her. She jumped back, surprised to see him. She was more surprised when she realized she was naked. She quickly covered herself him, embarrassed about her current state. "Hey," Travis smiled. "Hey..." Marissa awkwardly said. "What time is it?" "Twelve, we got to get to school." Travis smiled. "Twelve! Are you fucking kidding me?" Marissa shouted. She stood up, wrapping the covers around herself and searched around the room for her clothes. "Don't you have an alarm or something? What the fuck Travis?" "I do, but I forgot to set it, because you we were...you know..." Travis smirked. "You don't remember a thing about last night, do you?" Marissa grumbled. "Not really," Travis admitted. "Yeah, I didn't think so. You had so much shit in your system, I'm surprised you remember who I am," Marissa sneered. "What is your problem? You were just as high as I was," Travis shouted back. "Yeah, well, I didn't know that you would be such an idiot and not wake up for school on time. My mom's going to kill me. She thinks I slept at Meghan's house." Marissa said as she finished getting dressed. "It'll be fine, I go late all the time," Travis smiled. "Some people want to go to college and do something with their lives besides getting high all the time, Travis." Marissa ridiculed. "What is your problem with me?" Travis shouted. "You just don't care about anything, at all." Marissa said. "You didn't have a problem with me last night," Travis smirked. Marissa rolled her eyes and muttered to herself. "Can we go now?" Marissa said impatiently. "Yeah, it's a long walk, so we better get started." Travis said. "You don't even have a car? Are you kidding me? I am not walking!" Marissa shouted. "Relax, it was a joke," Travis smiled. "I got my car off E-bay for 200$." "Great, it must be really safe," Marissa groaned. ... James sat looking out the window on the Varsity Team's school bus after school on Friday. . The lacrosse team was on there way to a weekend retreat where they would spend all day practicing harder then they ever have before. Needless to say, James was not very excited. However, many of the other kids on the bus were. The remainder of the ride, James listened to Kevin, Ricky, and Max Greco yell and scream and pound on side of the bus. As the bus came to a stop and the doors opened, the boys on the bus rushed off to see their couch telling them to `get on a knee'. They all listened as the coach gave them cabin assignments. James was with Kevin and Max, but his other friend Ricky was stuck in the other cabin. "After you guys set your stuff in the cabins, I want you to get geared up and meet me out here," Coach Jones shouted. James followed the coach's instructions and went into his cabin. The bed's in the cabin were larger then were last year, but still by no means very large. He set his bag down on one of the beds. "No way, Winters," James heard from behind him, and he turned around to see Max Greco. "I slept in that bed the past two years. Move your shit." "You're kidding, right?" James asked, contemplating if Max was seriously being this much of an asshole. "Just move your shit, you can take the bed next to mine." Max said. James didn't want to start anything, so he decided to just move his bag. He set his stuff down on the bed right next to Max. He looked over to give Max a look, but Max was already getting undressed. Even though Max was a complete asshole, he did have a really good body. He was jacked, but not disgustingly so. James couldn't help but admire his perfect biceps, which were matched only by his smooth chest. James quickly looked away, scared of getting caught. He started to undress and put his equipment on. He finished getting all of his gear on, buckled up his helmet and grabbed his stick and went outside. When he arrived outside, the team was still gathering. After a few minutes, the rest of the team got there. Kevin and Ricky stood next to him. The coach waited patiently until everyone arrived, and then started speaking. "Okay, today we are going to start off by running the mile...with full gear." Everyone groaned when he said that, but quickly stopped when Coach Jones gave them all a look. "Then, you'll have one of the hardest work outs of your life. Some of you who were here last year might remember this." James, Kevin, and Ricky all rolled their eyes, because they all did remember that. "This year, we're doing something different. The people with the top two mile times get the rest of the afternoon off." The smell of competition filled the air. ... Alexis Lucas was bored. It wasn't often that this happened to her, but right now she was off from work, and Kevin Trainer was out on some stupid lacrosse thing. She hated the fact that his absence made her upset. She had a good time at the fundraiser, and even though she didn't talk to him that much, he definitely occupied her mind later that night. She had come to admit that she did have a little bit of a crush on him, but that's all it was. It's not like she planned to act on that or anything, it was just a little crush that entertained her through the week. She thought it was cute when he gave her the silent treatment the first couple days that week. Apparently he was mad that she hadn't talked to him at the fundraiser. However, he decided to drop the silent treatment when he soon discovered that she didn't seem to notice. She was now, however, noticing his absence as she sat on her couch thinking of things that she could do to pass the time. After trying to sign up for more hours at The Downtown and being denied, she decided to get in her car. It took her about ten minutes to arrive at her destination, and when she did she just sat in her car, watching. She was at her house or old house rather, trying to see what her family was up to. Her mother had put up these big elaborate tacky windows that showed what was going on in the kitchen. At the time Alex really hated them, but now they served a much greater purpose. She watched as her father poured a glass of vodka and drank it by himself. Alex did miss her father. She loved him a lot; he was actually the only reason she stayed in the house as long as she had. So, Alex looked around to make sure that her mother's car was not in the driveway, and got out of her car. She marched up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Her father answered, somewhat surprised to see her. "Alexis! What are you doing here?" He said, still holding his glass. "I don't know, I just thought I'd check in," she smiled. "Oh, oh," he forced a smile. "Where's mom?" Alex asked as she waltzed into her old house, walking directly towards the kitchen. "Oh, um, yeah," he suddenly became flustered. "She's out of, uh, town for a few days. Visiting your Aunt Valerie." Alex found herself becoming suspicious. "Dad, come on. You're a better liar than that." Alex said. "We both know Mom would not go out of her way just to see Aunt Valerie. She hates it when she's obligated to see her at family events." Her father became flustered again. "Oh, right." He nervously laughed. "Look, um, pumpkin. Your mother and I...we're going to just take a little, eh, uh time apart." "You're getting divorced?!" Alex shouted. "That's great!" "Well, not getting, eh, divorced." He laughed just as anxiously as before. "She, uh, told me that she'd be back on Monday, and for me to be out of the house by then." "Dad, that's awesome! You can stay with me!" Alex smiled at her new found situation. "We can hang out! Do some serious father daughter bonding time! I can take you to a few shows; hook you up with some hot girls..." "Look, eh, uh, sweetheart," he started. "I'm going to stay with my brother, Uncle Al, down in Texas for a while..." "You're kidding right?" Alex smile dropped. "Well, he said that he can give me a job at his office for a while," He looked down at the ground as he told her. "Look, I'll be up to visit a lot..." Alex paused for a moment, and then walked past her father and out the front door. ... Cameron waited patiently in his room for Matt to pick him up. He didn't have any idea as to what the surprise was, but it had to be good to make up for Matt's attitude the past week. He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, and picked it up just in time for him to hear Matt to say, "I'm outside." Cameron rushed down the stairs and out the front door to see Matt waiting in his black Mercedes SUV. Matt smiled as Cameron jumped in the car. "You ready?" Matt smiled. Cameron looked at him, and was happy that he was back to his normal self. "Yeah," Cameron smiled back. Matt started up the car and began to drive down the block. "Oh, by the way, in like five minutes, I'm going to have you put this blindfold on," Matt said, reaching into the back. "If this is some kinky sex surprise, it's not going to get you out of being an asshole to me the last week," Cameron warned. Matt thought for a moment then smiled. "Okay. Well, Plan B also requires the blindfold," Matt joked. Cameron laughed, and took the blindfold and put in his lap. "So, tell me something," Cameron started. "Is Jeremy gay?" "Why, are you jealous?" Matt teased. "No," Cameron lied. "So tell me, is he?" "I honestly don't know. If he is, he's pretty far in the closet," Matt explained. "It's cute that you're jealous though." Cameron let his jaw hang low, and then jokingly hit Matt's arm. "I'm not jealous!" Cameron smiled. "You're the jealous one. Always asking about how much time I'm spending with James." "Well, that's different," Matt mumbled. "How is that different?" Cameron asked, feeling that Matt was being unfair. "You're allowed to be jealous, but I'm not?" "No, no. I was perfectly content with you being jealous." Matt explained. "And it's different because James is in love with you." Cameron found himself turning beat red. James? In love with him? "What are you talking about?" Cameron said, looking out the window to cover up his reaction. "He's in love with you. I've seen the way he looks at you." Matt said. Cameron's face was getting even redder. The thought hadn't crossed his mind. Cameron knew that James had asked him out that one time, but he said no. He thought that it was just a little crush that stopped when James found out that he had a boyfriend. "You're being so paranoid right now," Cameron said. "Am I?" Matt asked, looking at Cameron. Cameron couldn't look at Matt. He didn't want to be caught blushing. "Let's see what's on the radio," Cameron tried to cure the awkward silence but changing the subject. They listened to the radio for the next couple minutes until Matt instructed him to put his blindfold on. Cameron did as told, and despite his efforts, he couldn't see anything through the blindfold. He tried to figure out where they were going by the turns Matt made, but he eventually got too confused by it and gave up. Eventually the car came to a stop, and Matt got out and opened Cameron's door. Cameron noticed that it was a little windier where they were, but he still had no idea. He had given up already, and was just anxious to find out what this big surprise was. Matt took his arm, and guided him for a little walk. Finally, Matt instructed him to take off his blindfold. When Cameron took off his blindfold, he saw a very romantic site. Matt made a small picnic on the floor of a sail boat. Cameron was so filled with happiness that it took him a while to realize that he was on a boat. He suddenly started breathing very quickly. He saw the water on the side of the boat and panicked even more. "I have to get out of here. I'm sorry." Cameron managed to get out. He then proceeded to jump onto the dock and run away. This was not the reaction that Matt had expected. ... James swung open the door to his cabin with a feeling of victory. He was still extremely tired from the hard mile he had just won, but he was incredibly happy that it would be the end of work for the day. Unfortunately for James, the person who got in second place was Max Greco. Literally the last person James would be able to relax around, but it was better then doing the work out with the rest of the guys. After James and Max stripped off there equipment down to a t-shirt and lacrosse shorts, James collapsed onto his bed, ignoring Max. James just wanted to take a long hard nap. As he closed his eyes to go to bed, he heard Max ruffling through his bag. This annoyed James, but he didn't want to start anything. "James," Max said. James was contemplating whether or not he should answer. He decided that he would not get rid of Max unless he answered him. "What?" James groaned, not opening his eyes. "Look," Max ordered. James opened his eyes and rolled over to see Max holding a porn magazine. "I snuck it in my bag. I didn't think I'd get a chance to wank it, but now we got all afternoon." James liked the idea of Max `wanking it' but he really didn't want to pretend to look at a porn magazine and then go into the bathroom for fifteen minutes and pretend to jerk off to it. "I'll pass. I'm mad tired," James responded simply. "Oh, come on, don't be such a faggot!" Max said. "Come on to my bad, we can look at it together." James didn't like the idea of Max calling him a `faggot'. He didn't want him telling the other guys that he didn't want to look at naked women. So, he got up and went over to Max's bed. He sat side by side with Max, pretending to be enthused, while Max flipped through the pages. James noticed that Max had a growing bulge in his lacrosse shorts. "Wow, I think this is the one," Max said as he stopped at a page showing a girl giving a guy a blow job. Max then proceeded to put his hand down his pants and presumably rub his dick. "She's so fucking hot, man" "Yeah," James said. He too was beginning to get hard, with just the idea of Max pleasuring himself beneath his shorts. Suddenly, Max pulled down his shorts a little exposing his throbbing erection. James was shocked that Max was going to jerk off right in front of him. To be fair to Max, they had seen each other naked numerous times in the showers, but never had they done anything like this together. But there Max was rubbing his dick, right in front of James. So, James too reached beneath his own shorts and started to rub his dick. Max took off his shirt and pulled his shorts down a little bit lower, giving James a better view of his package. Max was thick and relatively long; probably about seven inches. His pubic hair was light brown, which matched his brownish-blondish hair, and was neatly trimmed. James followed Max's lead and proceeded to take off his own shirt as well. He then, lowered his shorts, exposing his own erection. James' dick was thinner then Max's, but just as long. James' brown pubic hair was not trimmed, but he was not naturally that hairy. Max stroked his large erection harder and faster, while James pretended to look at the picture while watching Max. Max let out a few soft moans, while he was nearly about to cum. Finally, Max came and he let out a louder moan. James closed his own eyes, and tried to think about Max jerking off. He could no longer look at the actual thing, because he was scared of getting caught. He felt himself about to come, and then finally he did. When he finished, he noticed that some of his cum had fallen onto Max's chest. "Oh shit, I'm sorry..." James managed to get out. Max looked down, and wiped it off his chest. "No problem," Max smiled. They both then got dressed, and James went back to his own bed and tried to sleep, as if nothing had just happened. ... Travis McCarthy had been trying to talk to Marissa all day Friday and all of Saturday morning. However, every time he tried to call her, she either ignored the phone call or it went straight to voice mail. Travis had no idea what he had done wrong. He got that she was freaked out by the fact that they had slept together, but that didn't mean she had to cut him off completely. So, Travis did the only thing he could think of; he drove over to Marissa Tampa's house. He remembered her address from driving her home the week before. When he drove up to the house, he decided to park across the street. He thought about what he was going to say, and he suddenly realized that there was nothing he could really say. She was upset because she made the mistake of sleeping with him. He was the mistake, so going to her house and ringing the doorbell wasn't exactly the best idea. Travis was about to drive away when Marissa Tampa jumped into the passenger seat. She did not look very happy to see him. "What are you doing here?" Marissa asked. Travis tried to think of an answer, but he couldn't think of anything. "I, uh, came here to say I'm sorry. For yesterday," Travis apologized. "It's fine," Marissa said. "I'm over it." "You're obviously not over it. You've been avoiding me all day yesterday and haven't been answering my phone calls," Travis pointed out. "Look, if it's about me making you late for school..." "It's not just about that, Travis." Marissa started. "Look, I like hanging out with you. I really do. I just feel like..." "What?" Travis asked when Marissa took long to get out what she was thinking. "I just feel like you're not ready for whatever this is turning into," Marissa said quietly. "What do you mean?" Travis was genuinely confused on two levels. He didn't understand what `this' was turning into, or why he wasn't ready. "I need someone who can...take care of me," Marissa started. "I honestly don't understand how you can do that if you can't even take care of yourself." "That's not fair, Marissa." Travis said. "I think I've been pretty good about taking care of you. Not once have you had to pay for weed, and I've bought you like five packs of cigarettes." "Okay, not drugs, Travis." Marissa rolled her eyes. "I don't get it," Travis plainly stated. "Forget it, Travis." Marissa muttered as she reached for the car door. "Wait, wait. Look, I know you got freaked out because we had sex. It's okay, it's not as big of a deal as you're making it," Travis said. Marissa smiled to herself, then turned around to face Travis. "Travis, we didn't have sex." Marissa tried to hide her smile. Travis didn't understand, and he opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by Marissa's explanation. "We got really fucked up, and then we thought it'd be funny to run around the block naked. Then we passed out in your bed." With that, Marissa got out of the car, leaving Travis confused, annoyed, and self-conscious. ... Cameron had been avoiding Matt all day Saturday. Matt must've called him fifty times Friday night and Saturday. Cameron wasn't mad at Matt; he just needed to be alone for a while. After Cameron ran away, he went back to his house, locked his door, and lay in his bed. Memories flooded his mind, and he started to shake. He tried to block the memories from his head, but he couldn't. His head was filled with things he had tried to forget. Cameron did not sleep at all that night. Cameron slept all day Saturday mostly, which accounted for his avoiding of Matt. He managed to block the rest of the memories, and now he just had to deal with his running away from Matt. It sucked because Matt was just trying to be sweet, and Cameron had ruined it. On Saturday evening, Cameron had his mom drive him over to Matt's house. He told her that Matt was having a few friends over. Cameron found himself ringing the doorbell before he had thought of anything to say. A man who looked exactly like Matt swung open the door, and Cameron realized that Matt might not be home. "Hi, is Matt home?" Cameron shyly asked. "Yes, you must be Cameron." The man smiled. Cameron had forgotten that Matt's parents knew that Matt was gay. He wondered if Matt told them about Cameron, and he suddenly felt a lot more awkward then he had before. "I'm Matt's father, nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too," Cameron smiled. "Matt's in his room," Matt's father said, pointing him up to the stairs. "Okay thanks," Cameron smiled. Cameron walked past Mr. Regan and waved to Mrs. Regan, then walked up the stairs into Matt's room. He was about to knock, when he paused to try and think of an explanation for his panic attack. After thinking for a moment, he opened the door. Matt was sitting on his bed reading a book. "Hey," Cameron said quietly. Matt jumped off the bed and walked towards Cameron. "Cameron! I've been trying to call you! I didn't know where you went; I realized that you didn't have a ride home. And you just ran away like that..." Matt's rambling was interrupted by Cameron's lips over his. Cameron pulled back and looked at Matt. "Look, I'm sorry." Cameron apologized. "Don't be sorry, I just didn't understand what I did wrong." Matt said. "You didn't do anything wrong...it's just...it's complicated." Cameron found himself feeling flustered. "How?" Matt asked "I...it's just complicated..." Cameron tried to get words out, but he couldn't. He collapsed onto Matt's bed. "Look, I really like you Matt. I really do. I think that we really have something special here. But, there are certain things, parts of my past that I'm just not ready to share with you yet. I need you to be okay with that." "Of course I'm okay with it," Matt smiled. "I just need to know that you're okay." "Yeah, I'm fine." Cameron smiled back. "Let's go for a drive," Matt said. Cameron loved romantic movies more than anything, and with Matt, he was beginning to feel more and more like he was in one. And although Cameron couldn't sail off into the sunset; he could settle for a drive into the sunset.