|
Morning came, but we ignored it. We slept late, lolly-gagging in our sleeping bags and pretending to be asleep when the other awoke and considered rising, until finally coming to a mutual decision to start our day. �Ughh,� Roger moaned, holding his forehead. �Hangover.� �I�m not surprised,� I remarked smugly. �You had quite the one-man party last night. Do you even remember?� �Yeah, sure, I�� he stopped and thought hard for a moment, hand on his head and eyebrows furrowed. �Did I� go swimming?� �If you want to call that swimming, sure.� �Do I want to know?� �You went skinny-dipping, chico.� Roger covered his face with his hand, chuckling sheepishly. �Well, THAT explains all the interesting places I have mosquito bites! Gawd, that�s a new one for me, though. And what did you do, eh? D�you join me?� I smirked deviously and replied nonchalantly, �Oh, no, I stood on the beach and snapped a few good photos to pass around at school.� Roger�s face went white. �You�re kidding,� he said, and I giggled. �Right? You�re kidding right?� �Maybe, maybe not,� I teased, skipping away to leave him wondering. �You�re not funny! You�re really not funny!� he cried, getting up to follow me. Shrieking, I started to run and he chased me around the campsite crying, �YOU�RE NOT FUNNY!� I let him catch me and he seized me by the middle, knocked me to the ground, and leaned on top of me�a typical wrestling move among the guys. On my back in the dirt and giggling madly, I gasped, �Oh, of course I didn�t! If I had a camera, I would have much better things to photograph than your scrawny ass!� �Oh, pssh,� Roger buzzed, getting off me and helping me up. �You�re really weird when you�re drunk, you know that?� I said as he dug in the truck for a box of Fruit Loops for breakfast. �So I�ve been told,� he confessed. �Future reference, Arik, my man: any party we go to, I�m trusting you to make sure I don�t do anything too stupid when I�m drunk, �kay?� �Why do I have to baby-sit you?� I asked, wrinkling my nose at the distasteful thought of the social scene and alcohol together. �Because,� he admitted, �you�re the only one I trust with the job.� We stayed until early in the afternoon before packing up and heading out. We stopped at a diner for dinner, wanting to waste as much time on the open road before surrendering to the rule of our parents again. By evening we were back in our familiar hometown, tired, and antsy to get out of the car after so many hours. Roger dropped me off and helped me unload my things before driving off with a wave and a toot of the horn. My parents and Harry embraced me with such ferocity that they apparently had feared that they would never see me again. They wanted to know all about the trip, and as is a sign of being a teenager, when I tried to recount it, it occurred to me how little I could tell them. �Yeah, we had SO much fun!� �Oh? What did you do?� ��Stuff.� I skipped up the stairs, still elated and smiling, feeling a warm glow surrounding my body on the inside and outside. We had to do this again, I decided. Spending time alone and one-on-one with my favorite person had been so fun, so freeing, so relaxing. Even in his stranger�or more reckless�moments, being with Roger was still comfortable and pleasant. I didn�t feel as insecure and stupid around him as I did everyone else. We teased each other something awful, but we never intended to hurt the other. I had no fears whatsoever of him telling the school that I was a wimp for not drinking�he wouldn�t do that to me. I could be myself around him and that was okay with him�he wanted to be my friend�he liked and trusted me more than anyone else. And he looked good naked, too. I was smiling when I entered my room and dropped my bags on the floor. I closed the door behind me and whistled as I pulled off my shirt and kicked my shoes into the corner. I caught my reflection in the full-length mirror on my door. And my blissful cloud I�d been living in for the past day dissipated and vanished, until it was only me and my thoughts in the room�no aura of Roger left to delude me, no hyper ecstasy to keep me in denial. As I stared in the mirror, a dark realization overtook me, slithering like a dark mist in clammy tendrils that rose from the carpet and curled around my body. I sank to the carpet, my back against the mirror, my heart pounding painfully, my body hot and sweating, my face hottest of all. My eyes were burning, and I pinched them shut. I clutched my face and slumped over my knees, my breath shuddering in my chest. You fucking faggot, I thought. |