Standing In Shadows - 36. Chapter 36

SIS 36

Looking around my room, I wondered if I packed enough clothes. Going to Andy’s cabin had been a rare thing for me growing up. Mom would convince Dad to let me go only a handful of times and I always went with him, Keith, and his parents. Not having any adult supervision this time sent a small thrill through me. Being only the people I trusted most, made it easy as well. I was only slightly worried about how Keith and Andy would act around Clinton and I for the three days that we were allowed to stay there. They had already joked to keep our hands to ourselves until we were alone. They accepted that we were a couple, but didn’t want to see any of that funny business. They picked the wrong time to say it, since Dad had just entered the room. He had dropped the beer that he was drinking. Keith and Andy looked like they were about to piss their pants when he shot them a glare as he cleaned it up.

We had to promise not to bring girls or alcohol. Andy and Keith pretended to listen as Andy’s Mom lectured us on keeping the place relatively clean. Not to break anything and not to be out on the lake past the designated private swimming areas, which were roped off. It was a lecture she gave us as kids, but she looked like she was regretting her decision already. She was only comforted by the fact that she knew all three of us well and had heard that Clinton was usually on his best behavior, which had made him blush furiously as Merie told everyone. It took some convincing from Richard and Mom to allow him to come. Hearing Andy and Keith snicker and groaning when I elbowed them only made his face flush a deeper shade of red.

After the family meeting ended we were all sent off to pack while the adults went grocery shopping for the things that we’d need. As long as we didn’t burn the place down, we were allowed to use the grill outside and the electric stove in the kitchen. Not knowing how to really cook anything I hoped one of the other guys did. They also didn’t let us choose what food to take. Dad didn’t want us full of junk food right before camp started, so we were at the mercy of our parents. I was already dreading all the vegetables, Dad liked us on a healthier diet during the season, although he never really could enforce it.

“I don’t know about this Corey,” Mom said as she entered my bedroom to inspect the piles of clothes I had laid out on my bed. I was about to start stuffing them into my bag, but she looked through them.

“Come on Mom,” I said smiling as she refolded some of my t-shirts.

“It seemed like a good idea when we were afraid of how people would react to you,” she said as she started packing my bag. It was an older football bag that I kept before the boosters bought us new ones. It had to be washed a couple of times to get the funk from my football equipment out of it and it was getting pretty beat up, but I never could bring myself to throw it away.

“You know us Mom,” I said, “we won’t do anything too crazy.”

“You need more underwear,” she said looking over my underwear pile. “You never can have enough.”

“Thanks,” I said, my face flushing as I went over to my underwear drawer and grabbed a couple more pairs of boxer briefs.

“And I slipped away from your father to buy you something else,” she said and I looked over my shoulder to see her fishing stuff out of a small plastic bag.

“What is it?” I asked, turning around, then I saw the bottle of lube and a pack of condoms. When she went to hand them to me I grimaced my hand shaking slightly as I took them from her.

“I wish one of us would be going with you so it wouldn’t feel like, well you know,” she said, “but since we aren’t I want to make sure you’re well stocked.”

“Mom,” I whispered, my throat too constricted to speak.

“I know,” she said smiling, “you don’t want to talk about that with your mother, but Corey, I want you safe.”

“Okay,” I squeaked, shoving the lube and condoms to the bottom of my bag. “You know if Andy and Keith see these they’ll ride me all three days about it.”

“Maybe,” she said laughing. “But pretty sure it will happen anyway.”

“I’ll try to be good,” I said, “you know that right?”

“You always try to be,” she answered smirking as she wrapped me in a hug. “I’ll leave you alone now, I need to get back to work.”

“I love you too,” I said and she walked out of my room. Shaking my head I put the rest of my clothes into the bag and zipped it up. After the embarrassment wore off I smiled thinking Mom was adjusting to everything well. A bit too well, I thought. Knowing it could have just as easily went the other way though, I felt lucky to have her. Dad’s acknowledgment and acceptance seemed like a bonus, but I definitely didn’t want to push my luck with him. It took a lot of convincing to let Clinton go with me.

After checking everything off in my head I grabbed my bag and walked out of my room to the living room. There were a couple bags of food and a twenty-four pack of water sitting by the door so I dropped my bag next to them. Dad was sitting at the table eating a sandwich. I looked up to see him staring at me.

“Don’t do anything stupid Corey,” Dad grumbled between chewing.

“I won’t,” I said watching him swallow then take a drink of milk.

“You’re damn right you won’t,” he said, picking up the sandwich again. “You’ll respect Lorie’s property and her rules or I’ll haul your ass back home.”

“I will,” I said smiling despite myself. It was sort of nice having Dad back to his old self. It at least meant that he wasn’t treating me different from what I was used to. As long as he didn’t overdo it, I could take him like this. I knew that it was just how he was.

“No girls,” Dad said and I rolled my eyes.

“Dad,” I said, “we already had that lecture early this morning.”

“Some shit needs repeating, I know you all don’t listen much,” Dad countered, “I’ve been a teacher and coach long enough.”

“Okay,” I said, trying not to let my temper get the better of me. It was getting really close to everyone showing up.

“We will check on you sometime this weekend,” Dad said, but Mom already told me that she would hogtie Dad before she’d let him drive over and spy on us. Knowing she had to work though, made me wonder if Dad wouldn’t be showing up at least once a day to make sure we weren’t up to anything. Knowing him and the guys we most likely would be, I also knew his threat to haul my ass back home was a solid one.

“What happened to texting you every night?” I asked, stepping into the kitchen and leaning against the counter.

“That was just to pacify your Mother,” he answered waving his hand.

“Are you going with me to college when I go?” I asked, smirking when he shot me a glare.

“No, but you’ll be eighteen by then,” Dad said, “and if you think that gives you a free pass to become a fuck up, you know I can kick your ass for that.”

“I know,” I said rolling my eyes when he looked down at his empty plate. I heard someone walking up the metal stairs I turned to look at him. “I love you Dad.”

“Yeah, sure,” he snorted and stood. I walked around the counter and opened the door to find Clinton followed closely by Richard. Then I heard the sound of Andy’s slowly dying truck coming down the road and pulling into the parking lot next door.

“Hi Richard,” I said looking past Clinton who looked annoyed.

“Hi,” Richard greeted, shouldering past Clinton to shake my hand. I stepped out of his way and let him into the apartment, trying not to feel embarrassed about having people here. It was something I would just have to get used to.

“Hey loverboys!” Andy yelled from somewhere outside. I heard Dad cuss and saw Clinton jump. “Let’s get on with it, we’re burnin daylight.”

“Remind me to run his ass to death next week,” Dad said and I turned to see his face pinched. Richard was trying not to smile as I reached down and grabbed my bag. After looping the strap around my shoulder I grabbed two bags of groceries. Clinton quickly grabbed the other two and I followed him down the stairs glaring at Andy, but when he saw Dad fall in line behind Richard carrying the case of water he looked down at the ground, his smirk completely gone.

“That everything?” Keith asked from the passenger side of the truck when we got to the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah,” I answered and I walked over to my car and awkwardly opened the back seat with my left hand. Then I put the groceries into the back seat and let Clinton put the rest of the bags in next to the ones I carried. Dad shouldered past us and shoved the water into the floorboard of the back seat. Then Richard opened the car and helped Clinton with his own groceries and bag.

After Clinton and I packed our things into the car I looked around to see Richard and Dad beside the staircase talking. Richard was trying not to smile as Dad told everything we’d likely get up to. That cops would likely be called over to the place.

“He’s already heard it all from Mom,” Clinton whispered after I shut the door.

“We’re leaving now,” I said, grabbing my keys. I quickly opened the door and slid in. I wanted to be on the way before Dad could change his mind about the entire trip. He looked to be about ready to stop us any second since Mom wasn’t here. If he had known what she bought me he would have locked me in my room until camp started.

“Good thing my Dad didn’t marry your Mom, I’d feel sorry for the kid,” I said, putting on my seatbelt and starting the engine. I watched Andy slowly back out of the parking lot before I put the car in drive and followed him.

“Yeah and they dated for a couple weeks,” Clinton said and I swerved slightly before I looked over at him.

“They did?” I asked, glancing at him.

“Yeah back in high school,” Clinton answered smiling. “She dumped him for making a move on her.”

“I don’t want to think about Dad making moves on girls,” I said grimacing. “We could’ve been brothers then.”

“Yeah,” he said laughing. “Good thing she’s so uptight.”

“And Dad rode my ass about being with girls,” I said, shaking my head.

“I think in a way he doesn’t want you to be like he was,” Clinton offered taking my hand he started massaging it the way Jenny always did. His hands were larger and he applied more pressure, but it felt nice. Also unlike Jenny, it sent a jolt through me straight to my cock.

“Do you think Andy and Keith will feel weird around us like this?” I asked and he stopped massaging my hand.

“You know them better than I do,” he answered shrugging. “Do you want to keep a distance between us?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I don’t.”

“Good,” he said and I felt my face flush.

The cabin was a short drive past the public entrance to the lake. The cabin had been in Andy’s family for decades, but it had been remodeled by them when they were handed the keys to it from Andy’s Grandpa. It was better than most peoples’ houses by now. For a long time Andy and Keith would spend a lot more time up here, but as they got older being constantly supervised by Andy’s parents it wasn’t as much fun for them. So the trips were always shorter and I was surprised no one had been there yet this summer. Andy’s older brother, the military brat, was married here a couple of years ago. Now he lived in Maryland. If I had been honest with myself back then, he would have been my first crush, before I knew what all that had meant. He was just old enough to find us annoying though and didn’t stick around when we got up to our usual meanness. Keith, like me and Clinton, was an only child. It is probably why we all became friends so quickly. Being the same age and with no one to play with at home. As soon as we hit it off in kindergarten we were set for life. It was me that got them both into football, since Dad had me playing it so much anyway.

When we got there just behind Andy I looked up at the large two story cabin. It had a finished basement as well. More than enough bedrooms for everyone. Lorie had told us to stay out of the master bedroom, since a lot of her old family antiques were in there.

“Remember they’ll have my nuts if we break anything,” Andy said as he came to stand by my window.

“Keep telling yourself that,” I said, “I think you and Keith were the two she was talking to anyhow.”

“I know she loves you,” Andy said, rolling his eyes. “Thinks you’re a little angel or was until she saw that hickey on your neck.”

“Fuck off,” I groaned opening my door making him jump out of the way of it. Keith was already unloading his stuff.

“Andy get your ass over here and unlock the door,” Keith yelled as he started up the stairs to the wrap around wooden porch. It had a hot tub in the back, but it was likely still covered.

“I’m coming,” Andy said fishing the keys from his pocket as he jogged past Keith and opened the door. I slid out of the car and opened the back door. I grabbed the bags of groceries and Clinton grabbed the two bags that had our clothes we had crammed in the back of the car. I was just about to start walking when I heard another vehicle coming up the short gravel road. I expected Dad’s truck, but when I saw Jenny’s car I grimaced.

“Hi boys,” she yelled through her open window before she got out. It was then I noticed that all four doors flew open with Amber getting out of the front seat and Bryan from the back seat behind her. Cameron was sliding out of the back seat behind Jenny and he held his hand out and helped Katy slide out of the middle.

“Jenny,” I said and noticed all of them taking in the cabin.

“Surprise!” She said giggling. She was wearing a light pink shirt and a pair of white shorts, both of them thin enough to see her green bathing suit under it.

“We’re dead,” I said glancing over at Clinton. He shook his head smiling.

“I didn’t say anything,” Clinton said shrugging, “I thought I saw her packing, but I wasn’t sure.”

“We brought the junk food,” Jenny said and she popped the trunk. I turned my back to them and walked up the gravel driveway to the front porch and up the stairs with Clinton following behind me. When we walked into the living room I saw Clinton look up. The ceilings were high and vaulted with the staircase leading to the upstairs bedrooms on the left hand side.

“When y’all said cabin I was thinking about something less expensive to wreck,” Clinton said his eyebrow cocked, “our parents are idiots.”

“I know, my ass is as good as kicked,” I said laughing.

“Dad made sure the electricity was on and everything was working yesterday after your Mom called,” Andy said, “so it’s all good to go.”

“Alright,” I said, “and you invited Jen, right?”

“Fuck right I did,” he said, “you two might not be the only ones getting some ass.”

“She brought Amber and Katy,” I added and his eyebrows creased.

“And they brought Cameron and Bryan,” Clinton added and I saw Andy frown and walk past us to the front porch.

“I’m fucked,” he hissed.

“We won’t trash the place,” Keith said from the top of the stairs looking down at us. “I claimed the one farthest down the hall on the left, I love you, but I don’t want to know what you sound like when you’re shooting one off, so.”

“Keith,” I groaned walking across the large living room to the equally large kitchen. Everything looked spotless, not even any dust had settled on the flat surfaces. I wondered if Lorie had come up with Andy’s Dad to clean the place for us. Knowing that she could have made me feel worse about what was about to happen here. I had expected Andy and Keith to trash it pretty bad themselves, but now I wondered just how many more people would show up.

Clinton helped me unpack the groceries and put them into the fridge. After we finished I stepped back and it looked like we had more than enough food for us to eat on the next three days. None of it Dad would consider junk food, so he at least got his way on that.

“The water’s still out there, I’ll get it,” Clinton said, “you can go claim our room.”

“We sharing?” I asked not really knowing if we were or not. The thought made my heart pound harder in my chest.

“Yeah, I thought we would,” he said and I nodded, grabbing my bag and throwing it over my shoulder then he added his to my other shoulder. Then I followed him out of the kitchen and just as I started up the stairs Jenny stepped into the living room and whistled as she looked around. She was carrying four plastic grocery bags of food.

“Why would you live in town when you could live here?” Jenny asked, inspecting the flat screen hanging above the wood fireplace.

“We share this place with my cousins,” Andy said, stepping inside just behind her. He was carrying what looked to be the bags she brought with her. They were big and more of them. He awkwardly turned and walked around the couch nearly knocking over a lamp on his way and sat her bags down on the floor in the living room. There were a couple more bedrooms down a narrow hallway that led to the master bedroom. There were two in the basement where the game room was and all of the couches were pull outs. So there was enough space for everyone to have a bed to themselves, if they wanted one. Sighing I walked up the stairs excited and worried at the same time. I didn’t know how Cameron or Bryan reacted to the text Cj sent out, I knew that Cameron hadn’t quit the team though, so I hoped he was okay with me. The last time we were together we had played a game of spin the bottle. It had seemed innocent then, but now I wondered what Jenny had up her sleeve that night.

Picking the first room I came to, knowing that they were all nice from staying here before. It had a large floor to ceiling window that let in a lot of light. The view of the lake was on the other side of the hallway, but it wasn’t likely that we would be spending much time in here apart from sleeping. I put both bags on the bed and walked out of the room closing the door shut behind me and walked back down the stairs to help carry in the rest of the stuff Jenny brought with her.

After the food was put away the couples and Jenny picked out their rooms. Andy had tried to convince Jenny to pick the room next to his, but instead she picked the room across from mine. Andy had picked the room we usually stayed in, with the large window and the balcony overlooking the lake. He probably planned a nice romantic evening sitting out there as the sun set. It probably would have worked on Jenny if she was into that sort of thing, if she didn’t already think he was a goofball.

“First,” Andy said, “y’all didn’t invite anyone else right?”

“No,” Jenny said, rolling her eyes. “But you didn’t expect me to be up here with all you guys, right?”

“Well yeah,” Andy said, glancing at me. “I mean Corey would be here, so.”

“I checked this morning and I still have my junk,” I said and everyone laughed.

“Well it’s not like you can hide my car,” Jenny said, crossing her arms. “So you’d be in shit anyway if they didn’t want girls here.”

“Don’t see why it matters much,” Amber said looking at me. “Corey and Clinton are nearly married and you two probably buddy jerk.”

“We do not!” Keith groaned, but his face flushed and he looked away.

“So it’s true then,” Cameron said looking over at me. Clinton was standing beside me, our shoulders touching.

“I already told you it was,” Katy said, rolling her eyes. “I told you when you got that text.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years,” Cameron said, shaking his head. “The football star.”

“Happens,” I said shrugging, “I’m glad you didn’t quit.”

“I wasn’t about to give up a chance to start,” he said shrugging. “Been second string to you all my life, we’ve been on the same teams since little league.”

“I told you not to be weird Cameron,” Katy hissed, elbowing him. Cameron seemed to snap out of it and smiled.

“Sorry, it’s just weird,” Cameron offered, walking up to me offering his hand. “I’m fine with it, but if I catch you looking at me in the locker room I’ll kick your ass.”

“You don’t have much,” Andy countered and Cameron let his hand fall back to his side, “and you’ll have to kick my ass, cause I done looked.”

“Boys,” Jenny said, “let’s drop the macho crap and have fun.”

“You have plenty,” Katy said when Cameron turned to walk back over to her. I heard Keith and Andy stifle a snicker and I shot them a glare. I knew that it would be different, but I wasn’t thinking about the locker room or the showers.

“My older sister is a lesbian,” Bryan said, “or at least we think she is, she hasn’t said anything about it.”

“What makes you think so?” Amber asked, but I didn’t turn to pay attention to him. I was still watching Cameron. He looked like he already regretted coming.

“She moved in with a girl about her age after college and she wants to adopt,” Bryan said shrugging. “I guess it would be strange knowing someone is gay in the locker room though.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Clinton said and I turned to see him looking at Bryan. Then it seemed to hit Bryan that Clinton was gay and both of them were on the baseball team.

“I wouldn’t have invited you guys if you were going to make Corey and Clinton feel weird,” Jenny said, crossing her arms. “You both said you were fine with it.”

“We are,” Cameron said, “it will take some getting used to.”

“Well how ‘bout this,” Keith snapped, “Corey’s been gay his whole life, right? What’s different in knowing?”

“I don’t even think I’ll need to shower and change in there anyway,” I said shrugging. “Not like I’ll be in uniform, just my jersey and a pair of shorts.”

“Is it true that we lost Dillon?” Cameron asked, turning back to me.

“Yeah, but he didn’t want to quit,” I answered feeling relieved that he wasn’t talking about me anymore, “or at least Dad said he didn’t look like he wanted to.”

“I just hate Cj for causing all this shit,” Cameron said, shaking his head. “We had a good shot at winning State, but then he broke your arm and now he’s outed you.”

“Fuck him,” Andy said, “let’s fire up a grill.”

“I’ll help,” Keith said and the two of them walked out of the living room to the kitchen.

“I’m going to go walk down to the lake,” I said and followed Andy out on the back deck not looking to see if anyone followed. He gave me a smile as he bent down to turn the gas on. When I was outside and starting down the wooden stairs leading to the private beach that every cabin had I felt Clinton slide his hand over mine. I looked over at him and he gave me a small smile.

“Sorry about that,” he said nodding towards the cabin.

“Who am I kidding?” I said as we turned away from the dock to the small sandy beach.

“It’s just their own hang ups,” he answered and I sat down looking out at the lake. Unlike the public beach, this area of the lake was deeper. Only a few yards out and it was over my head. We hadn’t been allowed to swim in it unsupervised until we were a lot older. Even then we had to wear life jackets. Now I guess they figured we were old enough not to drown and knew our limits when it came to swimming.

“I know,” I said, “I guess I figured after yesterday it’d be over.”

“It won’t ever be over,” Clinton said leaning against me. “They’ll always be someone with something to say about it.”

“Yeah,” I said, reaching down to pick up a pebble. I rolled it around in my fingers, my cast was increasingly becoming annoying too. Sometimes it was easy to forget about it, but being out at the lake, I knew what I would be doing would be limited to dry land. The heat caused my skin to itch and it was getting dirty. I would likely be due for a new one before long, I couldn’t see this one surviving through camp if I knew Dad.

“The best thing though is knowing you have friends and family lookin’ out for you,” he said and I turned around. I could just make out Keith and Andy arguing about how to best grill the burgers. Everyone else had made their way outside too. I could see Jenny and Amber setting the picnic table and I sighed.

“Yeah there’s that,” I said offering him a smile.

“I mean even Bryan and Cameron didn’t seem so bad,” he said and I shot him a look. He smiled and his hand tightened around mine. “So they don’t want you to jump on their dicks, as long as you don’t do that they’ll be fine.”

“I’ve been able to keep from it so far,” I said laughing despite the knot my stomach was in.

“Andy and Keith will keep most of them quiet anyway, they’re all scared of your Dad,” Clinton said, “by the end of this Cameron might come around more, you never know.”

“I remember having to talk some sense into you,” I said remembering those fights we had over Cj and him worrying about his own parents. “Aren’t you scared about the baseball team?”

“Not really,” Clinton said, “I mean if it’s bad, it’s not a big loss for me if I quit, I actually thought about it anyway.”

“Don’t quit because of this,” I said and he shook his head.

“I thought about trying football,” he said, “but I can do both, baseball is a spring sport.”

“Really?” I asked “You’d take Dad’s abuse just for me?”

“Better to let him think he has me scared of him, right?” He asked and I rolled my eyes and we both laughed.

“If you want to we probably have a spot for you,” I said knowing seven people quit. I was holding out hope that Dillon would win out against his Dad and be at camp in a couple of days.

“I’ll let football be your thing,” he said after a moment of looking out across the lake, “but it has crossed my mind.”

“Yeah, maybe my arm will be healed enough for baseball,” I said glancing down at my arm. “And I would play, since I can’t play football, it would be nice to try something new too.”

“That’d be great,” he said, “I bet you’d look hot in our uniforms too, they’re kind of tight.”

“Shut up,” I said nudging him with my elbow.

“Well we don’t get new uniforms every other season like you guys,” he said, “you might have to wear a size too small or something.”

“You’d enjoy that,” I said grimacing.

“A lot,” he said nodding.

“Horny ass,” I countered laughing.

“Hey pole dancers,” Andy yelled from the back deck. “Some burgers are almost done.”

“Fuck,” I said, “I wish he’d stop that.”

“No you don’t,” Clinton said as he stood and helped me to my feet.

“Well around Dad maybe,” I countered as we started up the wooden stairs to the back deck. When we got there Jenny patted me on the shoulder and Amber scooted closer to Bryan to give us space to sit down at the picnic table.

“I’m sorry Corey,” Cameron said as he placed a sliced tomato on his burger. “That I made you feel weird.”

“It’s okay,” I said shrugging as Clinton slid onto the bench beside me. I felt him push his knee against mine and when I looked over at him he smiled.

“Oh I forgot,” Katy said, grabbing her purse she unzipped it and pulled out a piece of newspaper. “Jenny made front page.”

“It’s an advanced copy,” Jenny said, “maybe something big will happen to knock me off the front page.”

“For what?” I asked as Katy unfolded it and I saw Jenny standing beside Dr. Pflum, the mayor on her other side.

“Cj’s Dad paid me back for all the vet care for the puppies,” Jenny said, “to try to get a good spin on the article.”

“Did he?” I asked, trying to read the paper upside down while Katy showed it to her.

“Like a paragraph at the bottom,” Amber said smiling. “Most of it is about Cj’s antics, even the text message made it in after it got out that it was him.”

“Really,” I said rolling my eyes. “I wonder who told them?”

“Small town bullshit,” Keith said leaning against the deck railing. He already had his burger fixed and was drinking a beer. “The world could be falling to shit and that’d still be on the front page.”

“Serves his ass right,” Amber said before she bit into her hamburger.

“It says that you are planning to go to Veterinarian school, Jenny,” Katy said, turning to study her. “That’s a change.”

“Well I guess so,” Jenny countered, shrugging her shoulders. “I mean I liked helping the puppies and Dr. Pflum said I would be good at it.”

“That’s nice,” I said when I saw that Jenny’s cheeks were beginning to flush. Then I grabbed a paper plate and started fixing my own burger. Clinton stood up and walked over to the cooler grabbing us both a water.

“Everyone got something to eat?” Andy asked, coming to stand beside Keith and read the article over Katy’s shoulder.

“What do y’all wanna do after we eat?” Keith asked, crushing his beer can.

“I want to hit the water while the sun’s still hot,” Amber said, “we brought some tubes.”

“Let’s get this shit started then,” Andy said as I took my last bite of my hamburger I stood and threw my plate into the garbage bag tied to the deck.

“I don’t do clean up guys,” Amber said, pulling her shirt off over her head revealing a black string bikini. I saw Keith trip over his own feet on the way to dump his own trash.

“We’ll get it,” Katy said waving her hand, “you boys go air up the floats.”

“Some of you should be good at blowing things by now,” Amber added and I saw Cameron and Bryan stiffen slightly.

“Didn’t see that one coming,” Jenny said, rolling her eyes as she helped Katy gather up the paper plates and uneaten food.

“Honestly guys I would lock your door and pull the curtains across the windows,” Katy said, turning to us.

“Katy,” Cameron groaned as he walked around her.

“It’s true,” Amber said, slapping me on the ass as she followed Cameron through the door. I glanced at Clinton to see him chewing his bottom lip to keep from laughing. I shook my head knowing it probably wasn’t true. Amber liked to push peoples’ buttons to see how far she could go. She always hated how calm I managed to be around her, even the short time we dated. She was too much for me to handle though and quickly got bored and moved on.

“I can wrap my arm and wade into the lake,” I said and Clinton nodded as we stepped back into the kitchen. I didn’t want to be left out or make people feel guilty about enjoying the water when I couldn’t. We passed the guys in the living room, they were starting to blow up all the floats. When they saw me I saw Andy smirk and I shook my head before he popped the small air nozzle out of his mouth to say something and walked up the stairs to change.

When we were in the room I walked over to my bag and unzipped it. I had packed some plastic and tape, but when I dug around for my swimming trunks my hand found the box of condoms and lube. I looked beside me to see Clinton already holding his swimming trunks in his hand.

“Do you need some help?” He asked as he kicked off his shoes.

“No I got it,” I answered, finally spotting my swimming trunks tucked underneath my t-shirts. I pulled them out and kicked off my own shoes sitting down on the bed I pulled off my socks. Then I watched Clinton pull his shirt over his head. The hair on his chest and stomach was a lighter shade of blond than his head. Now that he had gotten tanner it was starting to show better. When he caught me looking he smiled and I dropped my trunks on the bed and pulled my own shirt over my head. Then he unbuttoned and pulled the zipper on his khaki shorts and pulled his underwear down with them.

“Are you having fun yet?” Clinton asked not reaching for his swimming trunks.

“It’s alright,” I said smiling. “Are you? Is it weird?”

“Not really weird,” he answered, “I guess I’m still getting used to not being the asshole that followed Cj around.”

“Oh,” I said standing and pulling my own shorts and underwear down and stepping out of them. Unlike him though I pulled my trunks on and started wrapping my arm. When I reached for the tape to secure it he grabbed it from me and pulled a small strand from it then reached up and bit it so it tore easier. Then he put it where I was holding the plastic together.

“I’ll be down in a minute. I promised Mom I’d call her after we got settled in,” Clinton said after I inspected the plastic, it had to hold up for awhile, I didn’t know how long we would be out in the water. “Better not do it down there with the girls here.”

“Yeah,” I said smiling, “there’s no way we’ll get out of this without them knowing, right?”

“Not really,” he said laughing as I stood and walked to the door as he grabbed his trunks and slid them on. I watched him fish his phone out of his pocket and I opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hall closing it behind me.

When I got back down stairs the guys’ faces were flushed and they still had a few left to blow up so I grabbed one and walked into the kitchen, stopping short of the open back door when I heard my name whispered.

“Admit it,” Katy said, “Amber make her admit it.”

“I don’t have to admit anything,” Jenny whispered, I could tell she was upset.

“Why should she?” Amber asked her voice low and I wanted to walk through the door to save Jenny and break up the conversation. “We can see it when she looks at him.”

“I don’t love him like that anymore,” Jenny said, “I wish you guys would drop it already.”

“Then why don’t you date?” Katy asked, “I mean people ask you out, but you make up some excuse.”

“I don’t want to date yet,” Jenny answered, “I’m having fun, I don’t need anybody.”

“It’s because you’re always with him,” Amber countered, “he helped you with those puppies, you were gone all day with him the other day.”

“Well you two are always with Cam and Bryan,” Jenny hissed, “after that thing with Cj happened it’s all anybody wants to talk about.”

“Tell them to shut the fuck up about it already,” Amber said, “honestly why do they care if you dated a gay guy and didn’t know it.”

“It’s stupid,” Katy added, “it’s not like you knew the whole time.”

“But you shouldn’t have let him off so easily either,” Amber said, “I would have made him pay for it.”

“I wouldn’t have anything to do with him if it were me,” Katy added and I heard Jenny sniffle. “I mean I like him now, though.”

Not wanting to hear anymore and wanting to save Jenny I pulled a random drawer open in the kitchen and closed it. I heard Jenny tell them both to hush before I stepped through the backdoor and onto the deck.

“The guys have most of the floats blown up,” I said faking a smirk. “I think they need some lessons.”

“All teeth and elbows probably,” Amber said, shaking her head. Jenny was leaning against the deck and Katy was seated at the picnic table. Seeing me her eyes got really wide, but she was the only one that gave any hint of having been talking about me.

“Amber honestly,” Katy said, finally recovering from the surprise. “You’re about as bad as the guys.”

“She’s worse,” Jenny added smiling.

“I’m just trying to have fun,” Amber said, sounding completely unapologetic. “If you can’t have fun out here you’re pretty fucked.”

“Yeah,” I said sitting down at the picnic table with my back to Katy and I started blowing up my own float. It was a large yellow doughnut shaped one.

“I’m going to go see if they need help,” Katy said as Amber sat down beside me and pretended to watch me and trying not to smile. Then she surprised me and leaned closer to me, her lips brushing my ear.

“Smooth move,” she whispered and I glanced at her between breaths. “I saw you through the door.”

“What are you doing now Amber?” Jenny asked her voice a mixture of annoyance and fake amusement.

“Complimenting his lip work,” she answered, “they’re so full and soft looking, I bet they look nice wrapped around a big…”

“Amber,” Jenny hissed, coming to sit on the other side of me. I pulled the nozzle out of my mouth and tested the firmness before I plugged it and held the float out in front of me.

“Judging by the hickey I’m sure he’s done it,” Amber said, elbowing me in the side before she got up and stepped back inside the cabin.

“So,” I said and I saw Jenny’s shoulders tense slightly. “Having fun yet?”

“Not really,” she said, “I guess it will get better after all the weirdness.”

“Like what?” I asked as she leaned into me. Sometime while I changed she had pulled off her shirt and shorts and was just in her green bikini and a pair of flip flops.

“With Cam and Bryan,” she said, “honestly if it was going to be like this I would have just come by myself.”

“So you still would have come and hung out with a bunch of guys,” I said offering her a smile.

“You’re my best friend now, so yeah,” she said, taking my hand.

“I beat out Katy and Amber?” I asked, glancing towards the door. “Is it because I’m gay?”

“No,” she answered laughing. “They’re dating and you know us girls, everything is a quiet competition.”

“I guess,” I said, not really knowing.

“Want to get a head start?” Jenny asked looking down at the lake. The large boats were causing waves to hit the beach. From here you could just hear the sound of them when it got quiet.

“Yeah,” I answered and we both stood. She didn’t let go of my hand as we walked down the stairs with the float tucked under my other arm. When we got to the beach she stepped out of her flip flops and I sat down the float out of the reach of the waves and looked at her.

“You’re a bad liar,” she said as she stepped into the waves testing out the temperature of the water. “You heard us talking.”

“I didn’t mean to,” I said, “sorry.”

“It’s alright,” she said, “they picked a shitty time to bring it up.”

“Do you still love me?” I asked, stepping into the reach of the waves myself. The cold water caused me to shiver, but it was a welcome relief from the hot day.

“Not like that,” she answered, “I’ve moved on.”

“Why do they think you haven’t?” I asked, turning to face her. She was still looking out across the lake, her eyes squinted against the glare of the sun on the water. She smiled and turned to look at me.

“They don’t understand our friendship,” she answered shrugging. “They think I’m lying to them about it.”

“When did you figure me out?” I asked relieved that she moved on. I knew she wouldn’t lie to me about it if she hadn’t.

“I think part of me knew before junior prom,” Jenny answered frowning. “Please don’t ask unless you really want to know.”

“I can handle it,” I said, “how did you guess?”

“It was how you kissed me,” she answered, “I would open my eyes and I’d find yours tightly shut, it bothered me.”

“I wanted to feel something with you,” I said, “I tried hard to change for you. I’m stupid though.”

“It’s okay,” she said leaning into me, her hand going around my waist. I held my arm behind her not wanting to comfort her with my arm wrapped in plastic. “Don’t make me hit you again, we’ve had this talk so many times.”

“I know, but it’s not my fault this time,” I said looking down at her smiling. “My bad timing.”

“I’m glad you saved me,” she said, “maybe if I sleep with Andy or Keith they’ll drop it.”

“You could do worse,” I said and we both turned when we heard laughing back up on the deck. Andy had stacked all the doughnut shaped floats on himself and was waddling down the stairs.

“We wasted our head start,” she said, stepping away from me she walked into the lake. I watched her muscles tense as the cold water washed over her and I reached down and grabbed my float and winced as I followed her in and hoped the rest of the trip was more fun than this. Hearing the laughter behind me as I awkwardly slid onto my float, made me at least feel better about our chances.