The Four Seasons – Summer

Author's Note - Um. Sequel to "The Four Seasons - Spring". It's slash (boy/boy). Um, yeah, that's all.

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Cupid Fucked Up, Big Time

“Done swimming already?” Nick asked when I started swimming towards shore. I nodded, and gestured to Mitch and Tom, who were making mushy-puppy-dog eyes at each other, having a little water fight. Nick looked over at them and joined me on the shore. I grabbed my towel and laid it down on the sand, lying down on it and closing my eyes. Nick joined me.

“You know, Julius, you don’t need any sun. You already have a great skin tone,” Nick commented. I glanced over at him, raising my eyebrows.

“Are you hitting on me, Nick?” I asked. He shook his head.

“No way, dude,” he replied, “I just wish I had your skin,” he said.

“Okay, if you say so,” I replied, and leaned back once again, closing my eyes.

“I’m hungry,” Nick said, a few minutes later.

“Yeah, so?” I said, keeping my eyes closed.

“So, go get some snacks,” he told me.

“Why do I have to do that?” I asked him.

“Because I don’t feel like getting up,”

“Well, I’m using your money, then,”

“Whatever,” he replied. I finally got up and brushed dirt off of my shorts. I slipped into my sandals and pulled a shirt. I found a twenty dollar bill in Nick’s wallet and took that. There was a convenience store less than a mile away, so I walked.

Summer was my favorite time of the year, when lazing around and doing nothing wasn’t just allowed – it was required. As much as I tried though, I couldn’t keep Grant out of my mind. Grant Dumas was tall, attractive (picture this: deep, blue eyes, black spiky hair, and creamy pale skin) and muscular. It was this last attribute that irked me most. It meant that, whenever we got into a fight (which happened often) he would beat me. Always.

Despite that (or perhaps, because of it), I was still madly in lust with him. Many a daydream was spent imagining that, instead of fighting, we’d be kissing, touching, and…other things. Then reality would hit. There was no way that Grant would like me. He hated my guts – everything that I said or did to him made him hate me. Had Cupid messed up, or was he purposely trying to ruin my life?

I halted my train of thought when I reached the convenience store. Feeling hungry myself, I grabbed two bags of chips and a liter of Dr. Pepper. I paid, took the change, and left, eager to get back to the beach and get in the water. The sun, only warm before, now felt sweltering.

When I got to the parking lot of the beach, I noticed a familiar blue Mustang, license plate “DUMAS” – Grant’s car. What was he doing here at the beach? He didn’t seem like the type to enjoy any recreational activity – except, of course, the recreational activity that meant beating me up. I shrugged, and hoped that I would be able to avoid him – though part of me wanted to see what he looked like in a swim suit.

Mitch, Tom, and Nick were out of the water and sitting at the picnic table, playing cards. I brought the snacks over.

“Hey, guess who we saw?” Nick asked when I sat down next to him, “Grant and his little brother, Jake,” he added when I didn’t answer right away.

“Yeah, I saw his car,” I replied, opening one of the bags of chips.

“Well, are you going to do anything about it?” Tom asked me. I knew that he wanted me to talk to Grant, because he’d told Mitch about his feelings, and that was how they started going out. But I wasn’t as lucky as he was. Mitch and Tom had been close friends, and they’d been so obvious about their feelings for each other. Grant was obvious about his feelings for me – it was obvious that he hated me.

“No, I’m not going to do anything about it. I prefer to live, thank you very much,” I answered.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea, let’s play poker,” Tom suggested, grinning. What is he planning now? I wondered.

“Only, instead of betting money, we’ll bet something else,” he suggested, shuffling the cards, “the other three will have to come up with a truth-or-dare for the person who loses,” he added. Everyone agreed, so he dealt, and we played. Nick lost the first round with only a pair of twos, and he chose ‘truth’.

“Do you look at porn?” I asked. I already knew the answer to the question, but I wanted to make him blush.

“Sometimes,” he admitted, but wouldn’t say anymore. I knew the fact: he looked at porn, but he told me that it wasn’t because he wanted to jack off. It was because he compared himself to the other guys. Which I thought was lame. Obviously he wasn’t going to be as big, or muscular, or attractive as a porn star. Nick was insecure about his looks, which I didn’t understand. Sure, he was a little on the skinny side, but that wasn’t a bad thing. He had blond hair, and really nice green eyes – which I was jealous of. All I had were dark brown eyes. He was taller than me, too. To tell the truth, I’d had a tiny bit of a crush on him when we were younger.

Mitch lost the next round. He opted for ‘truth’ as well. This wasn’t turning out to be a very fun truth-or-dare poker game.

“Do you ever think about anyone besides Tom in that way?” he asked.

“Never,” he answered. Tom smiled, and they kissed on the lips.

“Okay, boys, let’s keep it clean, please,” I commented. Tom rolled his eyes at me.

“You’re the one who asked the porn question,” he informed me. I shrugged, and we played another round. Just my luck, I lost. I picked ‘dare’, but as soon as I said it, I regretted it. The look on Tom’s face told me that I wasn’t going to like this dare very much.

“For your dare, you have to go over to Grant and tell him,” Tom said, grinning from ear to ear.

“No fucking way,” I answered, “I told you, I don’t want to get into a fight today,” I added. Tom waved his hand at me, as if to say ‘yeah, whatever’.

“It’s a dare, you have to do it,” Tom exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Nick agreed. Mitch nodded. Were my friends that eager to see me get killed? I took a deep breath, letting it out in a ‘whoosh’.

“He’s right over there,” Tom pointed a short distance away, where Grant was sitting at a picnic table, watching his brother build a sandcastle.

“Do I really have to do this?” I asked, thinking that maybe they’d change their mind when they realized how much potential danger that I would be in.

“Yes. Now go,” Tom said, shooing me away. I stood up from the table and walked towards Grant.

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Author's Note - dun dun DUN!! Excited?