I tossed my boxers in the laundry basket, grabbing my swimming shorts from the towel rack and quickly pulling them on, wincing as the cold, damp fabric touched my skin. I was still getting into them, and I stumbled slightly as I came out of the bathroom.
"For fuck's sake." I muttered under my breath as I hitched them up the rest of the way, grabbing my keys and heading out the glass door and on to the gate. Jamie and Ellie were already waiting outside - her with a big grin and her hands casually on her hips, him holding a large bundle of something plastic under his left arm, and hauling a cooler box in his right.
I frowned at her as I unlocked the gate. "I guess we're not doing that whole 'invite and agree' thing any more, huh?"
I'd slept like the dead, after my surprising evening with Jamie, so I was quite well rested. But I'd just been woken up by the phone call from Ellie, informing me that the two of them were already here, and we were having another day around my pool. Though still groggy from waking up, I'd had a bit of time to start feeling annoyed with her.
"It's an honour that we've grown so close." She laughed, barging past me, heading down the path. "Jamie brought something fun."
"Drinks?" I turned to Jamie, who appeared to be his normal, easy-going and confident self.
"That too. But also, pool loungers. They'll need blowing." He held up the bundle and winked.
"Oh, cool." I blushed violently and stepped back to let him pass.
I locked up the gate and made my way slowly up the path, giving myself time to calm down. As annoyed as I was with Ellie for just springing this on me - and I was annoyed, even if I'd missed a call from her and slept till nearly midday - it felt like I had bigger problems. Interacting with Jamie the night before, after what had happened, had been very difficult. But managing that in broad daylight, in front of Ellie, felt impossible.
They were already preoccupied with unfolding the loungers, so I ran inside to get the foot pump from the garage and handed it over to them. I went back inside to stubbornly make tea - they could start drinking if they wanted, but I'd just woken up. By the time I'd finished, they'd managed to successfully inflate two of the loungers.
"Jamie says you told him about Eric." Ellie said, while Jamie worked the pump on the third. "Thank God. Now we don't have to tiptoe around it."
"Yeah, we weren't doing a particularly good job at hiding it." I shrugged and smiled.
"Did you guys talk much about it?" she asked. "You've both had breakups. Hey, you both started dating them at the same time - That's so cool!"
"Ellie finds joy in the strangest of places." Jamie grinned at me.
"Sorry." She turned to Jamie. "Did you guys commiserate? He's even worse at opening up than you are."
"I got some stuff out of him." He winked at me again - this time in full view of Ellie.
I blushed again, and turned towards the cooler. Damn. Could you die from so much blood rushing to your face that your vital organs were drained? I hoped not. My skin felt like it was on fire. I hadn't even really had time to come to grips with the situation - whatever the hell it was. I'd crashed pretty much immediately after he'd left, and Ellie had texted me awake this morning. There hadn't been even a second in which I could really start to process.
I set down my tea on the table. "Do you guys want drinks?"
"Yes please." Ellie said. "We'll need cups or something - we only brought vodka and lemonade."
"Uh, sure." I ducked back inside, and opened my kitchen cupboard.
Lingering there for a moment, I took a deep breath - I needed to get a grip. Jamie was probably going to be doing this all day, since he seemed to be enjoying it so much. I grabbed some plastic cups, but before I went out to join them again, I picked up my phone from the bedside table and sent him a quick message.
The response was immediate.
Well, at least that was... something. I went out to join them. Ellie had already launched herself into the pool - her lounger was shaped like a pineapple - and Jamie was standing waiting with a bottle of vodka. I handed him the cups, and he poured drinks out for himself and Ellie.
"Hand that to Ellie, and I'll help you get in," he said. I took a second to make sure there wasn't a possible innuendo there, and then nodded.
Jamie held the big, inflated watermelon slice steady, while I balanced myself on top of it. He let me go, and walked back to the table to retrieve my tea, which he carefully passed to me. He set his drink down on the edge of the pool, near the deep end, and then put the final lounger in the water - his was a banana. Because of course it was.
Ellie and I cheered when he jumped onto it, and landed without toppling over. The three of us floated around in a calm silence, sipping at our drinks and enjoying the quiet gurgle of the water as it trickled back in at the rock formation at the far end after its circuit through the filter. My tea was still a bit hot, so I had to awkwardly balance it in my hands until it became cool enough to drink.
"I could just do this every day until school starts again." Ellie said, trailing her hands across the pool's surface.
"It's going to be cold next week." I said.
"Stop ruining my relaxation fantasies." She nudged my lounger with her foot.
"Fine." I sighed happily, as we floated away from each other. It was pretty relaxing - even with Jamie here, acting the way he was.
He twisted around to face Ellie. "So did you talk to Gary last night?
She gave him a tight smile. "You've heard this before, but that's none of your business."
"Hey, why not?" Jamie twisted on his lounger.
"Because." Ellie sighed. "It went well, and you're going to ruin it."
"What does that mean?" Jamie frowned. "Were you expecting it not to?"
Ellie raised her eyebrows at him.
"None of my business?"
"Correct." She beamed. "You are so smart."
He laughed. "I know right? I guess Jay's rubbing off on me."
My eyes snapped towards him sharply. He shrugged, smiled and mouthed the word 'oops'. I shook my head and looked away. Fortunately, Ellie had spun around on her pineapple and was facing the other direction, and he hadn't made it sound too much like an innuendo. We carried on drifting around quietly for another few minutes.
Ellie grabbed the paving at the edge of the pool, and slowly turned herself around to face me. "Jay, you should order a pizza."
"I thought you were anti-pizza." I said.
"I wanted to do something yesterday. Today, I just want to have food brought directly to me without having to move."
I laughed. "Okay, fine, what sort of toppings do you guys want?"
"Don't ask Jamie." Ellie splashed some water half-heartedly in his direction. "He's pro-pineapple."
"Pineapple's great." He looked at me as Ellie kept slowly turning around, facing away from him, and he winked. "It makes some things taste sweeter."
"Yeah, well, those things shouldn't be pizza." Ellie said curtly - either missing the joke or ignoring it.
"I'll just get a margarita and a meat lover's." I shot Jamie a glare - half expecting a line about 'extra sausage'. But he grinned, and stayed quiet.
"Sounds good." Ellie said.
I hopped out into the water, and went to grab my phone. As I picked it up, I considered sending Jamie another message. But he wouldn't look until he was out of the pool, so I didn't think there was much of a point. I ordered the pizza and went to retrieve my mug from earlier, depositing it in the kitchen before I poured us more drinks, and waited for the food to arrive.
After it did, I helped Ellie get out in the shallow end. Despite Jamie bumping her lounger jokingly, she still managed to escape the pool mostly dry. He tried to dismount his on his own, and ended up slipping into the water and going under, popping up with dripping hair and a big grin. We settled down at the edge with our feet in the shallow end, passing the pizza boxes around, staying mostly quiet as we ate.
"I'm sleepy." Ellie yawned after she'd finished eating.
"Then go take a nap. Bed's right in there." Jamie pointed at my glass door.
"No," Ellie pulled her feet out of the pool. "I mean, yes, I'm going to. But my own bed's not far. I'll see you guys in a couple of hours."
"Okay." I glanced at Jamie, but he was still acting fairly normally.
"Sleep well," Jamie shouted at her retreating back, and she pumped her fist in the air as she walked away from us down the path to the gate.
"You want the last slice?" He held out the pizza box.
"Nah. Go for it." I took a sip of my drink.
When he was done, he got up to throw the boxes in the trash, then casually sauntered back to me, grinning.
"I'm going to head inside. I kinda of need a nap too. Or something else relaxing." He winked.
I turned to watch him walk inside, feeling less guilty about studying the toned muscles of his shoulders and his back than I usually did. My eyes lingered on the light scattering of freckles that dotted his skin, and the small dusting of hair on his lower back.
His swimming shorts had slipped, revealing his tan line, which neatly highlighted the top portion of his ass while it bobbed away from me. As he got to the glass door, he turned to look back at me, and bit his bottom lip. Then he slipped inside.
Fuck.
I got up quickly from the pool, adjusting myself so that I wouldn't be comically stumbling into my room in a tenting pair of swimming shorts. Jamie was standing just inside, next to the glass door, waiting. I walked past him to the other one, shut it, and turned the key.
"Lock that, and close the blinds." I said.
"No one else is here, man."
"Just lock it."
"Yes, sir." He laughed, sliding the door closed and locking it. "So forceful. Like you weren't going bright red a couple of hours ago."
I walked up very close to him as he finished closing the blinds. "I don't have to do this, you know."
"Sorry, I'll be good." He bit his lip again.
I exhaled sharply and nodded.
I grabbed the hem of his t-shirt, and lifted it up, revealing his abs. He got the hint, and lifted it the rest of the way himself. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips against his collarbone. He smelled like chlorine and suntan lotion, and his skin felt unnaturally warm under my lips. I kissed and licked my way across his chest, and down along the side of his treasure trail. He moaned slightly as my hands reached into his waistband and began to undo the string.
I felt a twinge of satisfaction as I lowered his shorts and his dick sprung out at full mast. My eyes locked onto it. It occurred to me that I hadn't thought to mention, when he was asking me about why I liked giving blowjobs, that there was also the awesome part at the beginning where you just got to study the other guy's dick up close.
I'd pretty much been training myself my whole life to NOT do that. Even when fooling around with Eric in other ways, I noticed that I subconsciously stopped myself from ever looking directly at it. During a blow job though? It was encouraged. Required, even. You didn't want to miss it, after all.
His didn't taper like mine or curve like Eric's. It was just very neat and straight, and I found the effect quite satisfying. His pubes were damp, and matted against his skin. The vague, musky scent of his sweat was dimly detectable underneath the smell of chlorine.
He'd already started to leak precum, and I extended my tongue towards the tip, making him gasp as I made contact. I took in the faint saltiness of the clear liquid - it tasted pretty neutral, and similar to Eric's. Taking the plunge, I forced my mouth down over his shaft, and he let out a low moan as I engulfed him.
I began to bob up and down, struggling to take his entire length all the way down to the base. He tentatively put his hand on my head, although he didn't try to force any sort of motion. I ran my hand up his side, across and up his abs and felt towards his chest, my pinky grazing his nipple.
His breathing started to become heavier, and increased in pace. It got me pretty excited - I was leaking precum quite heavily in my own shorts. I began to bob my head up and down faster, being careful not to make myself gag. Somehow, I was still conscious of the fact that I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Jamie.
I didn't realise how close he was, until a warm rush of salty liquid filled my mouth. It caught me by surprise, and I sputtered, his dick slipping out of my mouth and some of his load dribbling down my chin. His dick gave a few more squirts, spattering cum over my chest.
"Holy fuck." He was breathing heavily, and looking down at me. "That's so porno."
"Yeah, a little warning might have been nice." I said wryly, wiping at my mouth with my arm.
"Sorry." He panted, smiling.
"I'm going to have a shower." I got up carefully, made my way to the bathroom, and turned to him. "You can join me, if you want to."
He did want- following me in, and climbing into the tub after me. I turned on the water and rinsed off his cum, and then shrugged out of my shorts, letting my erection spring free. He put his hand on my shoulder, spun me around to face him, and wasted no time in getting immediately down on his knees and taking me into his mouth.
He was just as enthusiastic as the last time, and nowhere near as timid as he had been - which wasn't very timid, in any case. The combination of the warm water at my back and his hot, wet mouth on my dick had me quickly moving towards climax. He was also fully hard again, tugging furiously at it with his right hand while he balanced himself against the wall with his left. The fact that sucking me off got him horny again this quickly was a major turn on, and it wasn't long before I felt a familiar build up of pressure.
"Fuck. I'm going to cum." I gasped.
He increased his pace, and I let loose in his mouth, feeling the warm liquid swirl around my dick's head. He looked up at me and gave me a closed-mouth smile, and his head tilted back slightly as he swallowed. I stood there for a minute, panting, while he continued to jerk himself off. His body stiffened, and his cum dribbled into the flow of water at my feet and washed down the drain.
After that, I quickly finished washing up and got out. I toweled off, not looking directly at him as he carried on, then I left the bathroom and changed into a dry set of clothes. I unlocked and opened the doors that we'd shut, and grabbed a book to settle down on the couch and wait for him.
He eventually emerged, naked, and confidently marched over to his swimming shorts, giving me a view that was borderline pornographic as he bent down - facing away from me - to pick them up. With a mischievous look over his shoulder at me that told me he knew exactly what he was doing, he slipped into them and casually threw himself down on the opposite end of the couch.
He grabbed the controller and fired up Tomb Raider, and I set my book down when he died in the game and passed it to me. I kept fumbling, and letting Lara fall - I was struggling to concentrate. It wore away my patience, so when he died after a very long and otherwise successful run, I just deferred my turn and let him keep playing. After quite a while, Ellie glided through the glass door, and sat down regally between me and Jamie.
"Good nap?" Jamie asked.
"Lovely, thank you," she said. "Did you two have fun?"
"Yep." Jamie was still engrossed in the game. Thank god he was too focused on it to wink at me.
"You okay?" Ellie said, nudging me in the ribs.
"Well, OW." I rubbed where she'd made contact. "But yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"You just look a bit lost in thought."
"No, I'm good. Just relaxed."
"Well, good." Ellie said. "That's what this break is for. We should go back to school very relaxed."
Jamie glanced over at me while Ellie was looking down at her phone, and of course, he winked. After having done what we'd done for a second time - and with it becoming increasingly clear that Ellie was oblivious - I wasn't reacting with such visceral embarrassment any more at the way he was acting. But that didn't mean I wanted him to keep at it.
"You guys doing anything tomorrow?" It sounded like I was making plans, but I really just wanted to move the conversation along.
"Maybe, but it's none of Jamie's business." Ellie grinned.
"Whatever." Jamie laughed. "I'm hanging out with Ryan and Drew tomorrow. Maybe Matt. You guys can come if you want. We're playing paintball."
"I'd rather sit around smashing all the vertebrae in my hand with a hammer, thanks." Ellie had grabbed my book and was looking at the cover.
"Whatever. Jay?"
"Yeah, not my thing." I shrugged.
"Yeah, we're probably going to get going pretty early anyway." He checked his phone. "Maybe I should actually head home."
"We'll miss you." Ellie smiled. "Tell Ryan I still think he's a rotten person."
"He knows. But I will." Jamie smirked and set down the controller, getting up. "Okay, I'm going to go then. Jay, I'm just going to leave all that stuff here until next time."
"Good idea. We'll probably come back to do this a few times." Ellie picked up the controller, and started cautiously navigating the game.
"Yeah, loads." He put an emphasis on the last word and winked at me, and I realised I wasn't actually done blushing.
I got up and followed him out as far as the glass door - more just to hide my blush from Ellie than anything, and let my face return to a normal colour before I sat down. Jamie winked at me again as he turned and disappeared into the path to the gate. I grabbed a bottle of water and went to sit down on the couch next to Ellie.
She paused the game, and turned to face me. "So I talked to Gary."
"I thought so." I nodded. "Did you ask about Jess?"
"They're COUSINS." Her eyes were wide. "I don't know how to feel about that."
"I hope that rules out the two of them dating."
She chuckled. "Yeah, me too. Although - if Jess wants to screw with gay guys..."
"Come on." I was as anti-Jess as anyone - except maybe Mel and Ellie - but that was a bit much. And I was also getting tired of explaining to Ellie that Eric was... well, whatever he was. I supposed that since he wasn't my boyfriend anymore, the exact definition of his sexuality was also no longer my problem.
"Sorry. I just get carried away." She smiled. "But I'm a lot happier, knowing that. I really doubt anything's going on there."
"I can imagine."
"Yeah..." She fiddled with her earring. "We're going on a date tomorrow."
I laughed. "Go Ellie."
"I know!" She grinned broadly. "I wasn't going to, but he asked and... you know."
"I do."
"We're going to go to the waterfront, and maybe go up on the Ferris wheel."
"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" I smirked, and then held up my hands at her annoyed expression. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
"No," she said darkly. "You usually can't."
I shrugged and smiled.
"Don't think this gets you off the hook from my interference though. I still have a whole plan for the renaissance of your love life. We'll work on it next week."
"I look forward to it." I kept a deadpan expression on my face.
She laughed. "What would you do without me?"
"Surely perish."
"That's exactly right." She smiled, and settled back on the couch, handing me the controller. "Here - play a bit. I want to see Lara Croft in action, but I kept making her fall off the ledges."
"Sure." I took it from her and started playing.
It felt like the moment to tell her about Jamie had come and passed, and I felt vaguely guilty about it until she'd left. No doubt she'd have wanted me to tell her, but it felt odd - I doubted that Jamie would want her to know, and because the three of us hung out together occasionally it felt like it could get very awkward.
***
Whatever it was that Jamie and I were doing, it carried on that whole break, which had almost exactly two weeks left at that point. Ellie and Jamie had come to my house again - after Jamie's paintball and Ellie's date. The three of us had carried on hanging around my pool for the next three days after that, but then the weather had taken a turn for the worse.
Anytime Ellie left the two of us alone, he'd basically just get in front of me and drop his shorts. Subtlety wasn't a strong concern of his. He got his car a day after the weather had gotten bad - clearly his parents had taken pity on him - so on days when he wasn't there, I'd get a text very late at night that was usually just a question mark. I'd respond with some version of yes, and he'd come over. It was exhilarating and steamy, even once we'd done it a dozen times.
Once, he'd come by earlier in the day when I'd had nothing else going on, and we'd each blown each other twice. He seemed to always make sure that he was the last one to suck me off. I wondered if he felt that, that way, I still 'owed him one' or something, and the fun could continue. We also showered together afterwards almost every time - whether we really needed to or not - and we'd jerk each other off in there as well.
It didn't occur to me to feel seedy about the whole thing. Not until the last Saturday of the break, at which point - by pure number of orgasms - we'd done more together than Eric and I ever had. Ellie and I had gone to movies with Melissa and Louis, and Jamie had messaged me afterwards, and swung by my house. Once we'd already both given each other blowjobs that night, and gotten into the shower, we'd soaped up and began to jerk each other off.
Something about his look of concentration while we were tugging at each other's dicks was so sexy - and endearing - that I found myself automatically leaning in to kiss him. But he flinched and turned his face away from me, and I sprung back, slightly shocked. I hadn't even noticed what I was doing, and I was only made suddenly aware of it by his reaction.
"I don't really want to kiss." His voice was gruff.
"Oh, okay." I said. "That's fine. Sorry, I got carried away."
He'd just grunted and we'd kept on. I thought it was ridiculous - kissing was one of the best parts. To me, anyway. But I wasn't exactly going to force the issue. We hadn't kissed yet, so it didn't feel personal. I liked kissing, and I definitely missed it. But Eric and I had started out with it, whereas Jamie had just gone straight for my dick. It felt like different rules applied.
We both came, although it seemed to take him a bit longer, and he quickly got dressed and made his way home, as usual. That time though, as I watched his car pull off, I felt a vague sense of guilt. It wasn't as if I thought I was hurting anyone, or doing anything wrong. But a small part of me wondered if it wasn't somehow demeaning - to do stuff with a guy who didn't want to kiss you.
By the next night, I wasn't sure I really wanted to carry on with him until I figured it out. But I couldn't wrap my head around it. I don't think I cared enough about the kissing to feel the way that I did, but when I thought about inviting him over I kind of resented him for being the one to impose arbitrary limits on our... arrangement. Especially when I'd just gone along with it from the start. When he messaged me that night, I wasn't even entirely sure how to respond.
At least he seemed like he was fine with that. But it was still something I'd have to puzzle out eventually. It occurred to me that I wasn't particularly attached to Jamie - I didn't mind him hanging around, but I wasn't missing him when he was gone. That realisation nearly made me send him a message to end the whole thing immediately. But a part of me - three guesses which part - kind of wanted to keep my options open.
Luckily, I had a reason to start avoiding him - the science fair was coming up, and I'd scheduled in time to work with Louis. Between having that as an excuse, and Jamie being drawn into the group work of his own project, it was easy enough to avoid him until school started again, and then for most of the first couple of weeks as well. We were in different groups for Physics, so we only had our maths and AP maths classes together, and it was easy enough to avoid him around those.
Louis and I met up one last time to put the finishing touches on our catapults, and I realised that he was probably the perfect person to ask for advice. Not directly - he knew Jamie too, and I didn't want him to guess who it was. But I could at least try asking for some generic advice.
There was a part of me that definitely didn't want him to know I was doing something like that. Like he'd be disappointed, or something. Louis had always seemed so mature and stable. I couldn't imagine a person like him fooling around with a guy who wouldn't kiss him. But it also seemed like he'd know what to do anyway.
We were waiting for our catapults to dry, so we could pack them up and take them to Angela - for safekeeping. I took a deep breath, and looked across at him. "Can I ask you a question? It's kind of awkward. About sex."
He laughed, pushing his glasses back up his nose and running his hand through his hair. "Wow, okay. Way to spice up the last day of working on this project. Sure. What's up?"
"Uh..." I grimaced. "Casual sex. What are your views on it?"
"Ah, okay." He nodded, and pursed his lips. "Well, I mean... I don't like this traditional thing of entangling morality and sex. So, provided everyone's a consenting adult, and you're being careful and safe - I think people should do things that make them feel good, right?"
"Sure."
"But at the same time, it's not for everyone." He shrugged, and went over to test the dryness of the trebuchet. He wiped the paint that came off on his fingertip on a piece of paper. "I think where a lot of people go wrong, with the feeling good part, is that they assume because the sex makes them feel good in the moment, that's all there is to it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well." He shrugged. "I fooled around with this guy once - and enjoyed it, even - but then afterwards I just felt... abandoned, and like I wasn't much more interesting than my genitals, you know?"
"Oh shit, sorry. I didn't want to bring up stuff for you."
"It's fine. I got over it. Pretty fast." He smiled and held up his hands. "But hey, that just means it's not for me. If you can have sex with a guy and feel good about it afterwards, then you should. Just don't..."
"Yeah?"
He scratched the back of his neck. "I don't really want to tell you what to do though."
"It's fine - I could probably use some good advice." As much as I could get, really.
"I just don't think you should fool around with someone just because you're feeling down about Eric."
"Ah, right." I nodded. "That makes a lot of sense."
"I hope so. I probably shouldn't go around giving people life advice anyway."
"What?" I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "But you're like... perfect. You should be a life coach."
He laughed, and rubbed the back of his neck, blushing slightly. "It's all a ruse. Don't get taken in by it - I'm a mess on the inside. I promise."
"Noted." I chuckled slightly. "But thanks, anyway. It's good advice, I think. And I did ask."
"You did." He grinned.
It wasn't long until the catapults were dry, and we'd packed them away in a box. I dropped Louis off at his place, and then swung by Angela's house on my way home to hand over the precious cargo - she was the only one of us who we all trusted to look after them properly. Louis had given me some great advice, even if I had only approached the topic obliquely.
I felt like Eric hadn't been a consideration of mine at all with this Jamie thing, so that was at least good. But I also knew that - now that it was clear he wasn't going to kiss me - doing stuff with Jamie wasn't making me happy with myself one hundred percent of the time. Which probably meant it was a bad idea, and I shouldn't be fooling around with him just because I kept getting horny.
The problem was, though, that however good that reasoning was, my body wasn't exactly on board. After two weeks of constant sexual activity, the period of celibacy that followed was excruciating, and I felt my resolve begin to crumble. Worse still, my rational mind began to come up with all sorts of justifications. I wasn't in love with Jamie, so it didn't matter if he didn't want to kiss me. We were just two friends having fun. By the time I'd gotten home, I almost believed it.
***
It was only a couple of weeks - that rushed by, thanks to how busy I got with school work - and it was already time for the science fair. I basically only hadn't caved and seen Jamie again because we'd both been too caught up in our projects. Louis and I had spent some more time pouring through the construction plans of the project to make sure they were perfect - redundant, because Angela had put the whole thing together, and she'd already insisted we go over all of it beforehand.
On her orders - and under Sue's threats - we'd all had to make sure we'd familiarised ourselves with the physics, checked that our model catapult matched our equations, and brainstormed and quizzed each other all sorts of questions science fair attendees and judges could ask us, ranging from the idiotic to the impossibly difficult.
It was actually a really fun experience, although I'd never have admitted that to anyone - even the rest of them. I felt like the four of us had really bonded, which was something I'd never managed to do with Angela and Sue before, despite how much time we'd always spent together.
Louis was amazing. I can't believe I had once thought of him as that socially awkward North Grove guy. He was so nice, and charming, that even Sue was beginning to soften. I think Angela and I nearly passed out when Sue, unprompted, apologised for saying something rude and offhanded to him. The two of us had certainly never gotten the same treatment.
We'd met on Friday afternoon before the fair at the library, but we'd run out of prep to do, so we'd just gotten dinner together, and then I drove us to the hall so that we could set up. The fair itself went great - our preparation for questions kept paying off, and the project was quirky and interesting enough that it got a lot more attention than some of the dryer stuff. Our interactive element of allowing people to fire polystyrene balls at each other - under safe conditions, with goggles and lab coats, of course - was also a hit, and the judges seemed to be appreciative of the spectacle.
So our excitement was palpable that night as we waited for the judges to tabulate their results, although Sue was still feeling very anxious, pacing around and muttering under her breath. Angela was perfectly calm, because she was Angela, and Louis and I just chatted about irrelevant stuff. We already knew we were getting a good mark for the project, and that was enough for me.
The prize included lab equipment for your school and a free tour of a nuclear reactor, which we'd done before as a Top Three group outing. So the only interesting thing we'd get out of it were the trophies, which Sue lived for, but I didn't really care.
The chairman of the organisation took the stage, thanked everyone for coming, and told us about the importance of sparking an interest in science in 'young minds', and then introduced the head judge, a 'space scientist' - whatever that was - who would be delivering the results.
"The winner is group four, the winner is group four." Sue chanted manically under her breath.
The head judge looked at her clipboard, and then leaned into the microphone. "And the winner is - group four!"
Sue screeched in joy and ran up the stage, and the rest of us followed slowly with amusement. They handed us a large golden trophy with an atom on top of it, and then they took a few photos, and passed us each a smaller replica trophy. We were shuffled off the stage and the judge announced the runners-up, and winners of specific categories.
Sue was relieved of the big trophy as we came off the steps, and the look that she gave the poor volunteer was murderous. Angela grabbed her arm and dragged her away, and we all laughed, even Sue, at the absurdity of it.
"Do you want to celebrate?" Sue asked us all.
"How?" Alexa asked sceptically.
"There's a milkshake place down the road." Louis suggested.
"I don't want to go to a milkshake place." Sue said emphatically, but quietly - because her parents weren't far away. "I want to go to a bar."
"I can't, I'm seventeen." Angela said calmly.
Sue waved her hand dismissively. "We could get you in, it's fine."
"Sue." Angela stared at her pointedly.
"Fine, we'll go to the stupid milkshake place." Sue stamped her foot.
"I can drive, if you want." I offered. "I'll even drop off everyone at home."
We all agreed, and went back to our parents to inform them of our plans.
"Well done." My mom said as I approached.
"Aw thanks." I said, grinning. She didn't hug me - we weren't big huggers, really.
She'd come alone, which I was fine with. Someone needed to watch the twins, and I loved those kids, but I was glad they weren't there with us. Everyone's science project would've probably looked like a toy to them. It meant more like this, actually, because my mom hated going places alone. If Ellie's mother wasn't there, she probably would have spent the whole event standing there, awkward and isolated.
"We're going to go out for milkshakes."
"Now?" She perked up. "Can I go then?"
"You can." I laughed. It was scary how much we were alike sometimes.
"I'm just going to say goodbye to Carlene." She nodded behind her. "Come with me and say hi, and then you can go."
"Okay." I wandered over with her to where Ellie was standing with her family.
Mr. Rae - who, unlike Carlene, had never insisted on being called by his first name - had the sturdy, reliable look of an accountant - Big glasses, brown hair, and a calm, formal manner. His wife always provided a stark contrast to that - she always wore long, flowing dresses in bohemian patterns, and her silvery blonde hair was always pinned up in a messy pile on top of her head. He gave me a firm handshake, and she gave me an excited - and mildly startling - hug. My mom engaged them in polite conversation, hinting that she was about to slip away.
"Hey, Congratulations." Ellie said, sidling up to me.
"You too." Her group hadn't placed well in the rankings, but they'd won the category prize for 'Eco-Friendliness and Sustainability'.
"Thanks." she grinned. "We're the 'Miss Congeniality' of project groups."
"I'm going out for milkshakes with the top two and Louis. Do you want to come?"
"No, it's fine. I don't want to intrude on the nerd victory." She glanced over with a coy expression. "I might see Gary tonight, anyway."
"Nice." I grinned. "I'll relentlessly press you for details tomorrow then."
"I've taught you well."
I said my goodbyes, and went to meet up with my group. Jamie was standing just on the other side of the hall, but I don't think he saw me. The four of us got into my car and headed down to the milkshake place, which was a fun, brightly lit tourist trap on Marine circle. It was completely empty aside from the four of us.
"Angela. You are my friend." Sue sighed, holding her trophy to her chest. "But you really kill my fun."
The rest of us laughed, and we all made our way over to the counter to place our orders. It was a cold night, so we didn't sit outside, but we grabbed a booth against the front window, which we could look through and see out onto the street, and past that to the choppy waves of the sea.
"That went very well." Louis said. "Who would have thought people would have loved flinging things at each other so much?"
"I think it was a pretty safe bet." Angela smiled softly. "I'm just happy we didn't have to be on stage for too long. Those lights were so bright, and I'm so tired."
"The trophies are pretty." Sue grinned, pushing hers out in front of her at arm's length and sighing. "I love it so much."
"They are quite nice, yes." Angela nodded. "I'm probably not going to go to the power station again, though."
"No," Sue said decisively, taking out her phone and tapping away. "It was so BORING. I'm not doing that twice."
Louis shrugged. "I've never been. I kind of wanted to go."
"Well, you can have my ticket, or whatever." Sue waved her hand at Louis without looking up. "Bore someone else."
"Mine too." Angela laughed.
"Maybe we can trick Ellie and Mel into it." I said.
Louis grinned. "Awesome. I'll set it up."
"Sue, who are you texting?" Angela asked.
Sue didn't answer - she held up a finger and, leaning forward, wrapped her mouth around her straw, and drained her milkshake in a few seconds. "Owww. Brain-freeze."
"What are you doing?" Angela giggled weakly, as Sue bounced up and down on her seat, scrunching up her face.
Sue waved her hand around in front of her a few times, and then gasped. "I have to go. Tom's picking me up, and he's nearly here."
"Who's Tom?" Louis asked, and Angela and I both shrugged.
Sue shook her head, and her expression returned to normal. She took in one last deep gasp of air, and then said, matter-of-factly, "Tom is my boyfriend."
We didn't have time to respond before we were all distracted by a guy outside on a motorcycle pulling up to the side-walk. Sue put some money down on the table, and headed outside with a little wave to us. He handed her a helmet, which she put on carefully before climbing up behind him. With another little wave from her, they sped off into the night.
"She is full of surprises." Louis said.
"Did you know she had a boyfriend?" Angela asked me, her eyes wide.
I shrugged, and grinned - not as surprised as they were. "I don't know if it's still the same one, but last year she got sent to detention because she was skipping classes and sneaking out of school with some guy."
"What?" Louis asked incredulously.
"I had heard about some girl doing that. I did not know it was her." Angela laughed.
"She doesn't seem like the kind to skip classes." Louis said.
"Oh, she was only skipping accounting and maths, because she'd already read the textbooks and the teachers were 'boring her'."
"I suppose you can't argue with her results." Angela shrugged. "Sue strategises like a general."
"She does." I chuckled.
"God, I feel like the least cool member of this project group." Louis said.
"If you've been to a bar, you're cooler than I am." Angela smiled. "But then, I do have a year to catch up."
"Right. So you're seventeen? Did you skip a year?"
"Yes, in primary school." Angela focused on her milkshake. She didn't like talking about herself. "I already knew how to read when I got there, and it took them a couple of years to figure out what to do with me."
"Well, putting you in charge of science projects was probably the answer." Louis grinned.
Angela beamed up at him and blushed slightly. "Thanks."
He nodded. "What are you going to do next year? University?"
"Probably. My mom wants me to take a gap year, but I know what I want to do, so I'd just like to get into it already."
"And that is?"
"Genomics."
"Wow. That's specific. But good that you know already. I saw such a cool article about the evolution of that field the other day."
"I've always just found it very interesting." Angela smiled. "Are you planning on studying right away too?"
"Yeah," he said. "I just want to do a pure mathematics degree. Probably at UCT."
"Oh, wonderful. I'm thinking of UCT too. Their genomics lab is what got me interested in it in the first place."
I was being left out of the conversation, but I didn't mind at all. Louis and Angela were some of the best people I knew, and I enjoyed my front row seat to the two of them bonding. I quietly finished my milkshake while they chatted, and they were so busy talking that I sneakily managed to pay for the whole round without them noticing until it was too late. They were annoyed, but grateful.
Angela's house was close, so I dropped her off first, and then made the long drive to Louis' place, out towards Avalon. After Angela got out, we were somehow left in an awkward silence. It was a relief when he broke it by clearing his throat.
"I need to tell you something." He fidgeted nervously, turning down the radio.
"Oh?"
"Eric's dad is out of town again." He grimaced.
"Ah."
"He texted me last night," he said. "So I think it's really recent."
"Right."
"You okay?"
"Yeah..." I took stock of my feelings. "I think I'm fine, actually."
It almost surprised me how fine I actually was. Over the course of what was happening with Jamie, I'd been thinking about Eric less and less, and as far as I could remember, it had been over a week since I'd thought about him at all. And when Louis said his name, it wasn't twisting my insides the way it used to.
"I just figured I'd give you a heads-up, in case he phones you out of the blue or something."
"Yeah. Thanks." It was definitely good information to have.
"You sure you're okay?"
"I don't know." I shrugged, still not sure why I wasn't feeling something. "I guess I'll find out if he tries to talk to me."
"Should I tell him not to?"
"No, it's fine. But don't encourage him either," I said, and he nodded. I grimaced. "I'll deal with it when it happens."
We'd gotten to his house at that point, so fortunately the conversation didn't continue. I honestly wasn't sure what I was feeling. I didn't know if I wanted to speak to Eric, or if I never wanted to hear from him again. It would probably take me a while to figure it out.
"Have a nice night, Jay." He hopped out. "See you next week, maybe?"
"Probably." I smiled. "Goodnight."
"Night."
I watched him walk into his house, and sat there in the driveway outside the gate for a second. I pulled my phone out to check if anyone had messaged me while I was driving. Not 'anyone', I suppose - I was actually wondering if Eric had texted me already, as if Louis telling me the possibility existed would have been the signal for it to happen.
He hadn't - but Jamie had.
There it was - the thing I'd been avoiding since the holidays ended. I took a deep breath, wondering what to do. Part of me - the smart part of me - told me to send a polite response, informing Jamie that I was going to go home and sleep, enjoying my nerdy victory for the night. Then do exactly that.
But the smart part of me was tired after half a week of project preparations, and it was busy struggling with the question of what to think about Eric, so the other parts of me won out.
&color=03a154&style=for-the-badge&logo=google-chat&logoColor=white)
&color=125F9E&style=for-the-badge&logo=vercel&logoColor=white)
