The Cockney Canuck - 91. Chapter 91 Feeling the Heat

It was a sunny day in Cobourg and the beach was busy for the final Saturday of August and the last week of the summer break. I had finally plucked up the courage to go for a swim in the lake and was wading back to the beach when a girl jogged towards me in the shallow surf. I recognised her from a few of my classes at school and said hello, but as usual, her name eluded me.

“Hey Robbie, I heard you got out of the hospital.”

She had a pretty face and a slim body which was barely covered by a flimsy bikini. It put me on edge. I wasn’t comfortable being so close to exposed female flesh and did my best to avoid looking at her, even though she made no secret that she was checking me out.

“You look well,” she said after I had answered the usual questions about the accident, hospital and coma. “Just a little pale, but I suppose you haven’t been out much during the summer. You need to get a tan on that hot body of yours.”

I was usually happy to accept praise from any source but this kind of interest from the opposite sex was guaranteed to make me jittery and I was already searching for an excuse to leave.

“I’ve been stuck indoors a lot.” I was certain that she caught me looking at her breasts and I was, but not in a rude way. They were just there in front of me, almost hanging out of those tiny cups, it was impossible not to stare. She needed to cover them with something more substantial.

“Aw you poor thing, you missed most of the summer. It’s been fun here at the beach. Do you swim a lot?”

“Not much lately.”

“You look like you do.” She pointing to my chest.

“Used to.”

“So you're not with Fran anymore?”

“No, we.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mean to pry.” She did though and I knew why.

“It’s not a problem we split up, it’s no big deal.” I smiled and kept my eyes on her probably longer than I should have. It was a mistake, which only encouraged her and she gave me a blatant look up and down as we approached the shore with the water now just ankle deep. We had talked in school occasionally but she had never been this friendly to me and this was already the longest conversation we had ever had.

‘If only I could remember her name’?

“Who are you with?” she asked.

“Sorry?”

“Who are you here with today?”

I didn’t think she would be wasting her time flirting if she knew about me, so the gossip obviously hadn’t reached her yet. I saw it as another opportunity to strike first and see her reaction.

“I’m with my friend over there,” I said pointing towards Nathan. He was sitting about halfway up the beach talking to Ginny but it would have been impossible not to notice him dressed in an emerald green t-shirt and matching cycling shorts.

“You mean Nathan?”

“You know him then?”

“Not really, but I know of him. Isn’t he the?”

I smiled at her. “Yeah, he’s the gay guy.”

“Oh, I see.” She stopped and looked me in the eye. “So are you?”

I had to put her out of her misery, it was dragging on for too long. “He’s my boyfriend.”

“Oh, wow. That’s really cool. I didn’t know about you. I mean that you were?”

“Gay?”

“Yeah. It’s a Pity though, I was trying to hit on you.”

“I noticed. It was fairly obvious.”

“Really?” She winked at me. “Sorry, I can’t resist a good-looking guy.”

“Neither can I.” We laughed but I was quite flattered that she found me attractive even if it wasn’t reciprocated.

She seemed more relaxed now she knew and I was too. With the mating game out of the equation, I was no longer nervous and I could have happily talked to her for ages. I could even look at her without worrying about her thinking I was perving on her.

“My brother’s into girls though, and he’s better looking than me, if you're interested?”

“You’ll have to point him out to me in school?”

“Yeah, I will.” I could see Nathan looking over at us. “I gotta go and dry off, you can come and say hello if you want?”

“I can’t, sorry, I’m with my friends but I’m glad you're okay. Oh, and one more thing.” She smiled before leaning forward to kiss me on the lips. “I hope your boyfriend isn’t the jealous type.”

“Insanely.”

“Well, that’s a taste of what you're missing. Let me know if you decide to change teams.” She ran off to re-join her friends leaving me licking my lips and watching her ass. I could even feel the first twinges of an erection.

‘Blimey, maybe there is a hint of heterosexual in me after all’?

I put it down to her butt which reminded me of Nathan’s, only a lot less perfect.

His curious expression and the hot sand on my feet was enough to banish any girl thoughts from my head and send me running for the towel.

“You’re such a flirt Robbie Fullerton.”

“It’s Robbie Taylor.”

“Not yet it isn’t and I saw you kissing that girl.”

“She’s in a few of my classes at school,” I said shaking my wet hair and sitting down in front of him on the towel. “I just can’t remember which ones.”

“What’s her name?”

“I can’t remember that either.”

“You don’t even know her name and you were kissing her.”

“She kissed me, but only for fun.”

“Why else would you kiss someone?” said Ginny.

Then it came to me. “Kirsty! That’s her name, it’s Kirsty.” I looked around feeling proud. Some of the boys at school called her ‘Thirsty Kirsty’, although I had no idea why. “What’s wrong, I was only trying to get Daniel a date?”

“By kissing her, that’s a new one? Trying to get yourself a date more like,” he said.

“I’m not interested in her,” I said and folded my arms, but my sulking only made them laugh.

“I was only joking, cry-baby.” I could feel his feet on my back, trying to give me a massage. It brought a few odd looks from people sitting close by, so I hid behind my sunglasses and ignored them.

“I was gonna dry you, but you can do it yourself now.”

“Oh, come on. It’s always better when you do it for me,” I said. “You have such soft hands.”

“Can you keep your hands off each other please?” said Ginny.

“I doubt it,” I said and she threw a handful of sand at me as Nathan covered my head with a towel.

“I need to dry your hair or the sun will make it go all frizzy.”

“Okay, but don’t rub it too hard,” I said as his hands massaged my scalp through the towel.

“I won't, don’t worry. I’ll go real slow, that’s how you like it right?” Ginny tutted and went back to reading her book.

“Oh yeah, that’s perfect.”

“Is that nice, baby?”

“Umm, you better believe it.”

“Does it feel good.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Really good?”

“Oh yeah, don’t stop,” I said grabbing the bottle of sun block.

“You're disgusting,” said Ginny. “Stop it!”

“It’s too late Ginny,” I said and squeezed the bottle as hard as I could, sending a long stream of factor ten into the air above our heads. I heard Nathan shout and Ginny screamed as I rolled onto my side laughing.

I lifted my head to survey the damage. My boyfriend had a big glob of sun cream on the side of his head and several dollops down the front of his t-shirt but poor Ginny was covered.

“You look so hot,” I said to Nathan as he wiped his face. “Can I get a picture?”

“YOU ASSHOLE!” shouted Ginny and I roared with laughter as she wiped her face and arms. I couldn’t believe how much damage one squirt of cream could do. It was everywhere; except of course, on me.

“Oh my God, Ginny, you look like you’ve just finished a porno,” said Nathan as he joined me in fits of laughter.

We were already creating quite a scene on the beach when Ginny picked up the nearly empty bottle and squirted the last of it over me. Then, for good measure, she grabbed a handful of sand and threw it over me, but it still didn’t stop me from laughing.

“You little shit, that wasn’t very funny.” It was though and most of the people around us seemed to think so too. “It’s all in my hair,” she said and that started me off again.

“It’s Nathan’s fault,” I said. “He shouldn’t have got me so excited. That’s never happened to me before.” I was on my back in the sand holding my stomach and people were laughing at me, but I couldn’t stop.

“I have to admit, it was quite impressive,” said Nathan.

“Yeah, keep dreaming,” said Ginny as she spread it over her legs and arms. “At least I won't get burnt.”

“Here have some of it back,” said Nathan wiping his hands on my chest, but it only encouraged me.

“You know I like that baby.”

“You two really need to get a room.”

“We would if we could,” said Nathan.

“Well, you only have to go to the motel by the four-oh-one.” She looked surprised when we both turned on her. “Didn’t you know about that place? I thought everyone knew. You can get a room there for forty bucks a day, no questions asked. As long as you pay cash the old guy never asks for ID and leaves you alone. Some of the kids in school use it all the time.”

“Nobody told me,” I said.

“That’s because nobody talks to you, shithead.”

“I didn’t know either,” said Nathan.

“It saves having your brother walk in on you,” she said to me and pulled a face.

‘Does he have to tell her everything’?

“I told her about Daniel walking in on us,” said Nathan.

“I guessed that.”

Ginny smirked and looked over her eyes at me.

‘I wonder if he told her what he was doing at the time’.

“Nathan told me you're trying to fix Daniel up,” said Ginny wiping her face with a towel as I had one last giggle.

“We feel sorry for him. I think he feels a bit left out when Nathan visits. It probably wouldn’t bother him so much if he had something going on himself if you know what I mean.”

“So you don’t feel so guilty,” she said and she pretty much hit the nail on the head.

“We’re only doing it for him,” said Nathan. “We want him to have some fun.”

“It’s the least we can do,” I added.

“Why don’t you let him decide if he wants to screw around; I’m sure he’s capable, he doesn’t need you guys doing it for him?

“He’s a little shy when it comes to stuff like that,” said Nathan.

“Daniel’s hot,” she said. “He won't have too much trouble finding someone around here. Hell, I may even take him myself.”

I turned to share a look with my boyfriend.

“I thought she was a lesbian’.

I also thought that Ginny was probably a little old for him but if she was willing to put herself in the frame then who was I to stop her.

“Okay,” said Nathan. “Can we book you in for next weekend.”

“Fuck you, asshole. I’m not a prostitute,” she said. “You can’t just book me in. Who says I wanna go with a fifteen-year-old anyway.”

“You just did Ginny.” Then he turned to me and whispered. “Shall I tell her about his willy?” It made me laugh. I could only assume that he was talking about his slightly longer than average size.

“No, of course not. She doesn’t want to hear that.”

“What don’t I wanna hear?” she said. “Come on, spit it out.”

“We were talking about his penis,” said Nathan and smirked as she shook her head disapprovingly.

“You’re like little kids, you know that? What’s wrong with his penis?”

“Nothing, it’s just a bit big,” he said and laughed.

“And you think that’s funny?”

“No.”

“How big?”

Nathan held his hands about eight inches apart like a fisherman describing his catch and I did the same only a bit wider. We were both wildly exaggerating, generously adding inches to our friend’s appendage and Ginny laughed.

“Really?”

“Uh huh.”

She looked at me and I nodded to confirm.

“Have you seen it?”

“Of course,” I said. “I share a room with him.”

She thought about it for a while before laughing and agreeing to help out.

“I’ll do it providing he’s definitely a virgin,” she said. “I don’t want any SUV’s.” I looked at Nathan and he shook his head to tell me not to correct her.

It was that easy, Daniel, would be losing his virginity and Nathan high-fived me. There were a few minor details that still needed to be sorted out, like how we were going to get them together, but the difficult bit had been arranged.

“Daniel will probably go all night,” said Nathan.

“Crap,” said Ginny. “Five minutes more like.”

“He’s a real stallion.”

“You're not his agent by any chance are you?” she said. “You're not on a percentage?”

“We’re just trying to help him out,” I said.

“That’s nice of you guys; I wish someone would help me get laid once in a while.” I looked at Nathan and he shrugged his shoulders.

‘Isn’t that what we just did’?

*  *  *

The more thought I gave to it though, the more potential problems I could see. I got a chance to talk to Nathan on his own when we walked to get some ice cream.

“I’m not sure if Ginny is the right girl for Daniel.”

He laughed. “They’re not getting married or anything. It’ll only be one night; Ginny will definitely show him a good time.”

I still had my reservations. She was, after all, on some fairly heavyweight meds and her moods were a little unpredictable. There was another problem. Daniel had made it clear to me in the past he didn’t like Ginny. He had accused her of taking his best friend away. Although that was probably my prerogative now.

Nathan seemed to think everything would work out fine; that was always his philosophy. “And I have a plan,” he said, but whatever it was, he seemed reluctant to share it with me.

On the way back, he lifted his sunglasses to take a look at my shoulder. “You're starting to burn. You’ll have to put your shirt on when we get back.” I was only wearing my swimming shorts, which were still damp and covered in sand but as soon as he mentioned it, I could feel a little discomfort. My pale English skin wasn’t used to being exposed to the sun and neither were my tender feet. I was anxious to get back to the beach and off the hot concrete of the surrounding boardwalk.

“Too bad you had to waste all of the sun cream on Ginny.” It was funny though and I was still laughing about it to myself as we turned onto the beach. I took a mouthful of ice cream, without looking where I was going and nearly bumped into a boy walking in the opposite direction.

I recognised him from school. He was a year older than me and was with a group of friends. I apologised but he grabbed my arm to stop me from walking off.

“Hey, it’s the English guy. We heard you were dead. What happened, did they bring you back to life?”

I smiled, it was a well-worn joke, but one I could live with and preferable to the gay slurs I was expecting. My relief though was short lived.

“So is this guy your boyfriend?” The moment I heard his friends laughing; I knew there was going to be a problem. The boy looked around at his pals and smiled. He had his audience and two helpless victims on which to feed his ego.

I denied his accusation but he took it as a yes.

“Yeah, I thought so. Fucking queer!”

“Come on Robbie, let’s go,” said Nathan but as I tried to follow his lead the boy stepped in front of me to block my path.

“Look at this guy,” he said pointing at me. “Don’t you think you should put some clothes on, this is a respectable beach. We don’t wanna look at your fag ass body.”

I could hear Nathan sighing and when I met his eyes he looked scared. It made me angry but I knew I had to stay calm.

‘Where’s Alex when I need him’?

I looked around hoping to see someone who could help but his friends were standing around us laughing. They knew what they were doing; to anyone watching, it would have looked quite harmless.

“Can you move out of the way please?”

“No, this is my beach, I’m not moving out of the way for some queer fucking English fag.” He wasn’t any taller than me or particularly well-built. His bravado came mostly from having his friends around him, but I was still scared.

“Leave us alone,” said Nathan. His voice was loud and firm but had little effect and they just laughed.

“Your boyfriend wants to suck your dick.”

“Yeah, he wants it bad,” said one of the other boys.

“Whatever,” I said and I tried to step around him.

“Your ice cream’s melting,” he said as he moved to block my path once more.

“You’ve had your fun, can you let us go now?”

“What do you mean? I haven’t even started to have fun yet, queer boy.”

“Fine, what do you fucking want?” I was sure that I didn’t speak those words, they just came flying out on their own, laced with anger as my eyes tore into him. I was shaking partly with fear and partly through temper. It was enough to quell the laughter from his friends and change the mood, but when Nathan tried to grab my arm he pushed him away.

“Fuck off, fag boy, I’m talking to your boyfriend.”

“Don’t touch him!” I said, spitting the words into his face. Once again, it was as if I were on autopilot, but I knew losing my temper would only make things worse.

“Why, am I gonna catch something?” He moved closer to square up to me, but I stood my ground and kept my eyes on his, almost daring him to do something. Whatever happened next, I knew would be beyond my control and he must have realised it too. “Look at this guy,” he said. “He wants to fight me.”

I was hardly dressed for a fight and felt exposed and vulnerable, but if he hit me, I was going to fight back, no matter what, and I wanted him to know it.

“I don’t wanna fight you. But I will if you make me and I’ll definitely hurt you.”

There were a few mumbles from his friends and they licked their lips and took a step back expecting a fight. I braced myself for a possible strike but my assertive approach looked to be working and I began to sense a little hesitation from the bully. I was relieved when he eased off the throttle and tried to turn it into a joke, but was determined not to let it show.

“Did you hear that,” he said laughing, but he was the only one and I held my stare as he looked to his friends for support. “This queer boy is threatening me. What are you looking at? Do you like me, is that it? Do you wanna piece of my ass?”

“No, I want you to get outta my way.”

He sneered at me. “You are so lucky fag boy, I don’t wanna fight you, I might catch something.” He smiled but it was nervous and awkward and his friends had already lost interest. One of them grabbed his arm and pulled him to one side, saving his reputation but giving his name away.

“Hey, come on Mitch,” he said. “This guy’s Nicola’s brother.”

I was aware of Nicola’s reputation at school but I doubt if water cannons could have dispersed a crowd any quicker than the mere mention of my new sister’s name. It was almost scary to watch.

‘Why didn’t I think of that’?

“Stay away from me at school, fag boy,” he said as he walked off.

‘Mitch huh. We’ll see’?

It was a gamble but it worked and all I lost, in the end, was an ice cream which had all but melted in my hand. I threw the cone in the garbage, took a deep breath and smiled at Nathan, while I waited for him to praise my courage.

“Are you crazy?” he said. “What were you thinking, they could have really hurt you. You could have died.” I could understand that he was a little shaken up, I was too, but I didn’t get why he was so angry at me.

“But they didn’t hurt me, they walked away.”

“You were lucky.”

As much as I loved him; I didn’t agree with that statement at all.

“He’s not that tough; he was just trying to act the big guy in front of his friends that’s all. He didn’t wanna fight me. He wasn’t gonna risk being embarrassed by a gay boy and there’s no way that I was going down without a fight. I had nothing to lose.”

“Except your life,” he snapped. “If I had wanted to date a tough guy then I would have gone with… I would have dated some other person who’s tougher than you!” He walked on ahead of me leaving me wondering where I had gone wrong.

‘Fuck you. I can’t win. It’s not as if I was looking for a fight or anything. I should’ve let them pick on us. Is that what he wants me to do’?

I wasn't trying to be tough or looking for a fight but I thought it was important to make a stand. If that Mitch guy thought we were gonna cower from him all the time, then I was sure he would try to make our lives hell. At least if he knew I was prepared to fight back, he would probably think twice about it. There would always be that seed of doubt in his mind, that maybe I would kick his ass and if I did, he would never live it down.

It was this logic that helped me through three years at a tough inner-city secondary school in England. Tom had taught me well; he was the master of bravado. He had a reputation second to none but I never once saw him fight anybody.

‘I hope he’s okay, I need to call him’.

Even after nearly eight months, at times like these, I still missed him and he was the first person I thought of whenever I was in trouble. Like he was going to somehow be able to swoop down and rescue me.

It was my first real fight with Nathan and it made me feel sick and even more angry with that asshole Mitch. If I had of bumped into him again, then, without doubt, I would have flown at him like a madman. They would have had to have dragged me off of his sorry ass in the end. I swear, I would have given him nightmares for the rest of his life and every punch I threw would have had Don’s face in front of it.

I had to sit for a while at the edge of the beach to calm myself down. I was shocked by the amount of hate and anger I felt and the sheer intensity of it. It felt like a dark cloud had come out of nowhere and tried to suffocate me. It wasn’t good; I knew it at the time but I pushed it away, like everything else I didn’t want to deal with.

‘I’m having a bad day that’s for sure. I need to go home; I’m starting to really burn’.

As I trudged through the sand with my head down, I heard someone calling me.

“Hey, wait up.” It was Mitch’s friend, the guy who had dragged him away.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing.” He stood facing me looking nervous and unsure of himself. “I just wanted to apologise for my friend.”

“Why are you sorry, he should be the one who’s apologising?”

“What do you want?” I was surprised to see Nathan walking back staring at the guy. “Come on Robbie, let’s go.”

I was interested in what this guy had to say though and why he felt compelled to come back.

“We’re not all like that. You know, homophobic and shit. I just wanted you to know, that’s all.”

“Fine; your friends went that way,” said Nathan pointing to the park.

“Right. Well, I’ll see you guys in school, I guess.”

“Yeah.”

“I think that you’re both very brave.”

I was confused but as he turned to walk away, Nathan called after him.

“It’s easier when you come out, you know?”

“What are you talking about, I’m not gay.” Then he ran away to find his friends.

“Yeah right,” said Nathan and he smiled at me. “Come on, we gotta cover you up before you burn and start fighting everybody. There are so many boys in the closet around here you wouldn’t believe it.”

I was just glad I was no longer one of them.

*  *  *

“It was that fucking asshole’s fault, he’s gonna pay for this, the fucking little wanker, shit bag, tosspot!”

“How is he?” asked Karen, she was standing in the doorway looking concerned.

“He’s fine,” said Nathan. “But you might wanna wear earplugs if you're coming in.

“I’m gonna fucking kill that bastard,” I said. “Ouch, what are you doing to me?”

“Keep still will you, I’m putting cream on you, this is for sunburn. It’ll help take the stinging away. Maybe you should’ve put your shirt on straight away when you finished swimming? The sun was hot today.”

I didn’t like that it was my fault though, it was more satisfying to blame someone else and the homophobic idiot Mitch was an easy target. I was thinking of various ways to inflict an equal amount of pain on him when Karen came in and sat beside me on Nathan’s bed.

“Whoa, you can’t come in, I’m not wearing anything.” She thought it was funny and so did Nathan. I actually had a towel around my waist, but nothing else and I cupped my hands on top of my privates, just in case she could somehow see through it.

She gave my shoulders a quick inspection as Nathan knelt on the bed behind me gently applying the cool cream.

“Looks like you got it quite bad,” she said. “It’ll be sore for a few days.”

“Great, they’ll have to carry me into the courthouse on Friday on a bloody stretcher.” I could hear Nathan giggling behind me. “It’s not funny you know!”

“Sorry Robbie, but it is. Oh my God, you are such a drama queen sometimes. It’s only sunburn, I’m sure you won't need a stretcher.”

They thought it was funny but I was livid and to top it off, Don and Sue were coming over that night for dinner. It was the return leg of their getting to know each other tour of Cobourg, and Morgan and Elizabeth were playing at home.

It was fair to say the first meeting at my house ended with honours even and few hangovers, but I was expecting this encounter to be a lot more serious. They weren’t cut out to be allies; their views were completely different. Too different to be friends, so with the preliminaries out of the way, the real battle could begin.

I knew that we wouldn’t be privy to any discussion about our relationship, but I didn’t care, that’s not what I was there for. I was hoping they would get drunk again and have to stay over, that way I would have to stay over too, and while the adults were out for the count, it wouldn’t take a genius to work out what we would be doing.

The sunburn, however, put paid to everything. I was in too much pain to even consider doing anything naughty, and the adults must have realised it too because they gave us an extra wide berth that evening. We were allowed to stay upstairs undisturbed while Nathan nursed my wounds and took care of my every need. He even bathed me and when Karen left he dressed me in a pair of his boxer shorts.

I must have dozed off, but I could hear Sue leaning over the bed talking to Nathan. She thought I was asleep and I didn’t want to spoil the illusion.

“He’ll be fine here Sue,” said Nathan. “I can sleep in the basement.”

“Are you sure it’s no trouble?”

“It’s not a problem,” said Morgan. “If he wakes up in the night, we’re only in the next room, I’ll be wearing earplugs so I won't hear a thing.”

Sue, as usual, wasn’t even listening to him but I had to stop myself from laughing.

“That’s very kind of you Morgan. Call us in the morning when he’s ready and I’ll get Don to pick him up.”

“I’ll leave it a while,” he said. "Don will need most of the day to sober up.”

‘Oh my God, did I miss something? Did Don get hammered again? Shit, I wish I’d seen that’.

I wanted to ask Nathan about Don but Morgan and Sue were talking for ages in the hallway and in the end, I must have fallen asleep for real.

*  *  *

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

“Who me?”

“There’s no one else in here.”

Nathan was directly in front of me, his head on the pillow, smiling. I could feel his breath on my face and smell his sweet odour. I jerked my head up to look around the room and was reminded of why I was there by a stinging pain in my shoulders.

I was still confused.

“What are you doing here?” I said as I rested my head back on the pillow.

“I live here, remember?”

“I thought that you were going to sleep in the basement, I heard you telling Sue.”

“So you were awake; I thought so.”

“I didn’t want them to take me home. Did you sleep here all night?” He nodded with a big grin and put his hand on my waist. “Do your parents know that you're in here?”

“Uh huh.”

“And they don’t mind?”

“No. I’m here to look after you.”

“You are?”

“Uh huh.”

I could feel his hands moving slowly over my hips and under the waistband of my shorts. Then I watched as his eyes opened wide in mock surprise at his discovery.

“Hey, look what I found.”

“And what else was you expecting to find?”

“You’ve been poking me with it all night.” But I didn’t want to wake you up, you look so sweet when you're asleep.”

It was the first time we had spent the whole night together and even though I had slept through the whole experience, it was still a thrill to wake up next to him.

I rested my hand on the back of his neck and then gently followed the contour of his body down his back and over his smooth round butt.

‘It’s definitely better than Kirsty’s’.