Jamie - The Journey Begins - 10. Chapter 10 Time to cool off.. Maybe

It only took about twenty minutes and a coffee to get me all signed up and insured. Josh offered to show me through the truck afterward - I wasn't going to say ‘no’ in a hurry.

“So where are you staying, Jamie? Close by somewhere?” Josh pulled a business card from his shirt pocket. “But please, if you get stuck with anything on the truck, feel free to call our 1-800 number on the back of my card or my cell here.” Pointing to the number, he said “I’d be happy to help out.”

"Thanks, Josh. I've got an F250 at home, so hopefully, I shouldn't get too stuck, but thanks, buddy, for the offer.” I half-laughed for no reason. “It’s very kind.”

We looked over the truck for fifteen minutes, the three of us chatting away. Lucas was telling Josh about our trip while getting some tips on where to go along the way. Josh was originally from the Midwest, so my hunch about hard-worked hands… got me some corn-raised-farm-boy-gone west.

I was about to jump in the truck when Lucas signalled for me to come over. “Jamie, what the hell is Josh doing? It’s like he’s examining the truck, looking over it.”

“Oh, here we go, Jamie, look. Josh has found the smallest mark on it.”

Now he was busily getting one of the detailers to go over the truck again. “Mate.”

I couldn’t help but laugh to myself.

“Lucas, I know these guys take pride in the presentation but, it’s going to get dirtier driving up the 405 in about five minutes but… what the hell.”

“Josh and his team seem to take great pride in service and putting you at ease. He’ll go far, that’s for sure.”

Lucas leaned in close whispering. “Are you like in a committed relationship or something?”

“Ah, no,” I replied with a sense of confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?” I looked at Lucas as if he’d just grown a second head from his neck.

“That guy has been hitting on you the whole time, and you’re being like a total oblivious geek. What’s up?”

“Seriously? I hadn’t…”

“Look, if you’re going to just pine for ‘Sam’ while you’re here, maybe you shouldn’t have come or you’ve got to work out what you want, Jamie. And look - if I was in the market for a hot guy, Josh would be right up there. Aren’t we going swimming after? Ask him along.”

Lucas had a particular skill since we were kids. He could always offer the bluntest truthful assessment of stuff, but without offending the subject. He had this way of looking honest and vulnerable at the same time. It was a skill the bastard had for sure - I hated and loved him for it too.

I let Lucas' words wash over me and took his advice. I needed to shake myself out of this funk. Not that I wanted to be the biggest man-slut around, but no reason why I couldn't take a sample off the menu, I guess.

“Um, Josh.”

Josh popped his head up from pointing out something to the pre-delivery detailers - I’m guessing another microscopic mark that was going to end the world if not cleaned off. His sexy eyes followed me as I walked back around to the front of the truck, and that warm as sunshine smile met me when we met up back at the driver’s front door.

All I could think was ‘Goddamn - he’s a hot looking guy - really hot…’

“Josh? I’m not sure if this is okay-or you’d be interested -but a little later today, we’re,” as I pointed between myself and Lucas who was chatting to someone on his cell, “heading out to Lake Castaic for a swim and maybe some water skiing, if you, you know, want to…”

There is was again, that killer smile.

“Sure, that’s awesome Jamie. Would love to.”

“Okay, great.” I could feel my face flush red for a second.

Josh saw it and smiled.

“I’ll text you the location of where we are, make sure you bring your swimmers, okay?”

“Swimmers?”

“Oh sorry, trunks, shorts, swimming gear,” I laughed. “Swimmers… that’s so Aussie. Sorry, mate.”

“No problem. I get off at about five today. I’ll head straight up.”

It was that easy. Josh looked happy - Lucas had that cat-swallowed-the-canary look and I was a little apprehensive but okay with it.

"Come on Lucas. Let's get going."

I shook Josh's hand and climbed into the truck. At that, we headed out to 405 and on to Castaic.

The miles seemed to just evaporate in front of me. While this truck was only eighteen months or so newer than mine, it seemed so much nicer on the road. Josh had paired my cell to the truck and using the voice stuff, I'd managed to get my favorite ‘Spotify’ playlist going.

‘Goddamn, that guy knows his stuff. Look how this truck is set up.’ Okay Jamie, you’re talking to yourself now. Put simply, I was cruising along the highway, my mind was starting to relax.

The satnav on the truck started to chatter away at me: I had to turn on to route 5 and on northwest for a few more miles. Tom had given me some pretty simple instructions to find his station. Apparently, if I drove past a big lake, I'd gone too far… just look out for Lake Hughes Road.
..o0o..

Within moments we'd pulled up out the side of the station and wandered across. Wow, he wasn't joking about being near a lake!

“Son-of-a-bitch.”

“Hey Lucas, Tom wasn’t kidding - work less than 5 minutes away from the lake. Guess that's why he keeps his boat at that yard across the road.”

“This place looks so different in the daylight,” Lucas laughed. “Tom showed me where the other door is. Follow me.”

We ducked around back and walked into the engine room of the station. The first thing that hit me was the size of their appliances, like, “Wow.”

Their patrol vehicle was an F-550 with something like 300 gallons of water on board. Our light tankers or slip-on hold 600 liters, a 160 gallon difference. “I can see why Tom likes this stuff.”

I could hear some voices in the distance, and Tom’s voice drifted across.

“Oi!” I yelled out.

"Sweet Jesus … it’s Spence!" the voice answered back, and I could hear some hurried footsteps. Tom came bursting around the corner just aside their other truck, and I pulled him into a huge hug. I hadn't seen Tom for almost three years. The sunshine and life change hadn't done him any harm at all.

"Shit, Spence, you’re all hard and muscled up," remarked Tom, as he pulled back from me for a moment.

“You’d give Yates a run for his money these days, ha-ha.”

“Looking good, Jamie. You’ll have guys falling from the trees to get their hands on some Aussie Firefighter.”

I laughed at that. “Yeah, we'll see. Hey Tommy, I ran into Adam the other day, he’s full-on into this building development stuff. He’s a bit less on the weights now, but still got me covered in the built stakes I reckon.”

Tom pulled me into a sideways hug. “Looking good, buddy. Single life suits you. Come on let’s get you through to the guys.”

Tom turned around to Lucas. "How did it go at the airport, Lucas?"

“Fuck’n awesome. Thought Jamie was going to piss his pants at one point."

They both started to laugh. “What… you knew, Tom?”

“He helped,” Lucas chimed in.

“Son-of-a-bitch, both of you.” I couldn’t help it and started to laugh at my own expense.

We stepped through the doors into the muster room. "Guys, this is my buddy from down under, Firefighter Jamie Spence. We went through college and recruits together.”

The guys all stood up and made their way over, shaking hands and introducing themselves.

“Matt! Thanks a million for the loan of your truck buddy.” Lucas yelled out as a set of keys flew past me towards Matt.

“No worries, Lucas. Happy to help the boss-man’s mates out.”

“Boss?” I said in shock looking back at Tom.

“Yeah - acting Captain at the moment. Waiting for a permanent post to come through, Jamie.”

“Well done, fuck!” I congratulated Tom, slapping him on the shoulder. If anyone deserved it, it was Tom. He was always the head of the class, Dux and College, and our recruit course, too.

“Come on, Jamie,” Tom tilted his head. “Let’s grab a coffee and you can fill me in on all the gossip. So is Simon Kelsy still being the biggest prick that lived?”

“Oh,” I replied, rolling my eyes at Tom. I saw Lucas shaking his head too. Clearly, Mom had been keeping the gossip fresh with the fam. “Don’t get me started, but let’s just say, Assistant Chief Officer West has Simon’s ass in the sights.”

“West, is she an ACO now… really?” Tom had a look of total disbelief on his face.

“Yep Tom, she sure is, and killing it. Best thing that could happen to the service is her getting that promotion.”

“That’s fantastic, Jamie. She was my first District boss out of recruits. You got stuck with your future father-in-law straight up, didn’t you? You know, she’d make a fantastic chief one day.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Tom. That’s why you made District Manager whilst I was still crewing trucks. Wonder if the service will ever be ready for that, Tom?”

I shook my head in despair. “It’s such a boy’s club sometimes at the top end, Tommy, still!”

“Nice crew you’ve got going here, Tommy… nice.”

Looking straight past Tom, I asked, “So boys, has our Tommy boy lost his skill for causing trouble or laughs along the way? Anyone been cling wrapped to their cots yet?” To that a load of laughter broke out with Tom going bright red in the face.

“Yeah, he got Mike last week with that one,” Pete replied while almost falling over laughing so hard. “Poor Mike didn’t know what the hell had happened. They set the bells off and he tried to jump up. It was like watching a turtle on its back flailing around.”

That started off another round of Tom vs the rest of the shift stories. One thing never changes - no matter where you are, don’t let fireman get bored. Nothing says trouble like idle fireman.

I was intrigued really - these guys are at a similar level of training and development to us at home, if anything though, maybe a bit more constrained inappropriate behaviour. Some of the older guys back home, well, they're still in the nineteen fifties and that day has gone.

Although I was entertained, I could feel the sleep and time change hit me. Tom had spotted it too. I’d started to yawn a bit and was starting to really feel it.

“Hey Jamie? How about you guys go back to mine for a little sleep, and we can all go skiing when I come off shift.”

Tom looked around and Lucas had fallen asleep in one of the recliner chairs.

“Someone had an early start, plus he didn't get in till 1 am. The flight was delayed out of Dallas, TX.” Tom looked over at Lucas.

One of the other firies spoke up. “I'm happy to drop them off, if that's ok, boss? I’ve got to go and do a building check. I’ll take one of the recruits with me to drive their truck over and we can do the job on the way back.”

“Thanks, Ryan,” Tom said as he headed across the room to wake Lucas up.

I stood up a little too quick and went dizzy for a second. Ryan reached over and steadied me.

“You okay, Jamie?”

Wow, what is it with all these hot guys today. “Um, sorry… just a little tired, I guess, Ryan.”

I could feel my face going red again. I swear I need to learn how to control that.

Tom finally woke Lucas. He looked like he was ten years old being walked to bed asleep, but moving as Tom guided him out of the muster room to my truck. I followed Ryan out and gave him the keys. “I think it’s better if you drive.”

“I was planning on it.”

..o0o..

I woke up, feeling like what seemed to be only minutes later, had clearly been hours.

The sun was in the western half of the sky now, and it looked beautiful outside. The warm sunlight streaming in the high windows on me had finally awakened me. I felt like a cat that had been sitting in a window almost - you know - all warm and sleepy.

I pulled the cover back and walked out of the bedroom along the hallway half dazed, scratching my head, okay and balls too, just trying to work out where the hell I was, or what was the floor plan of the place.

Passing another bedroom, I looked in and it was all tidy with a huge picture of our graduating class on the wall. ‘Must be the master bedroom.’

I followed a little further as the hall opened out into a living-kitchen space, with the room divided off by the placement of the two Ivory white three-seat couches - one was a pull out. It was a very modern looking place: large clear counter tops with a huge center island that you could seat ten people around and a commercial grade looking kitchen.

‘Shit Tom, how much are you on over here?’

The whole area was bathed in natural light, with large floor to ceiling windows on three sides, double-glazed by the looks of it, and then the biggest flat screen I've seen since, well, the last one Tom had at his place back home. He loved those huge screens.

The gentle soft sounds coming from the pull-out meant that Lucas was still sound asleep on his side, totally at peace with the world and feeling safer with a hand resting on his hardness that I could clearly see through his boxer briefs.

I smirked for a moment. ’It’s not going to run away Lucas.’

He's always slept with his hand on it. I would give him crap for it when we were kids, well nah, even now. His response was always the same, “It’s mine and I like it.”

Only then did I notice that I was standing in my blue Calvin’s. I must have gotten undressed, somewhere, but I don’t even remember getting here.

‘Thanks, Ryan you're a lifesaver.’ My chatting away to myself didn’t even make Lucas stir.

I heard my cell beep a few moments later. I turned around and headed back down through the house looking for the bathroom. I think a shower might go well.

Looking in each room I passed, I was a little lost trying to work out which room I’d just been in.

Finally, I heard the chirp of my cell. ‘There you are, you little bastard.’ I said to know one in particular.

Opening the message screen up on my way out of the spare bedroom, I saw it was from Josh. He’s about to finish up and wanted to know where to meet up.

Shit, I had no idea where the hell I was. Okay, I roughly knew the area, but not Tom’s address. Flicking through my contacts, I quickly called Tom.

“Jamie, you’re awake.”

"Yeah, thanks. I so needed that sleep, buddy. Hey, nice place you've got here too, Tom. If it’s okay, I might jump in the shower and freshen up. I think the whole time-zone-long-flight thing and sleep have made me a bit worse for wear, if you know what I mean.”

“Sure, mate in the closet in the second bedroom, right hand door, there are towels for you and Lucas. Also some assorted toiletries if you need them. Help yourself."

“Thanks, Tommy. Oh yeah, Tom. Josh from the dealership shot me a text. Wanted to know if we were still going for a swim. I kinda invited him to come along. It’s ok for him to meet us, yeah?”

Tom started to laugh.

“I’m guessing by your voice, Jamie, you don’t even know where you are.”

“Ah-no.” looking around like I was about to suddenly discover a lost landmark. “No idea as to where the hell I am.” I was starting to feel like a total dick, promised myself on the flight I was going to stop this childish shit. “Sorry Tom, can I ask, what’s your address?”

I quickly scribbled down the address and simple directions Tom was relaying for me.

Tom let out a laugh. “Jamie.”

“Ryan did say you and Lucas had passed out before the truck had even left the station carpark.”

“Tom, I was so exhausted even after sleeping on the plane and all, you’d think I’ve never flown before.”

“Yeah, all good Jamie.” I could feel the smirk on his face thru the phone. “I find that coming from the cold to warm takes it out of me for a day or too. Last time I flew back to Australia, it was summer, remember?”

“Jeez, I was sleeping on my folk’s couch for two days till you and Gav came over and dragged me off to go paint balling in 98-degree heat.”

Chuckling along, Tom replied, “Yeah that was fun. You looked like a freshly cooked lobster.”

Tom laughed, “Okay, so you know where you are now and how to get Josh? To find us right? I’ll text you when I’m about to head out from work and grab the boat out of the yard near here. So, we can just go skiing after I finish up. You and Lucas can just walk down from my place to the water - it’s like five minutes tops to the lake, okay? And tell Josh I’ll be there with the boat at Park 5 in the recreation area off Castaic Lake Drive. I’ll be there at 18:15. See yah, bud.”

“Okay, Tom. Sure. So how do I get to the lake from here?”

“Buddy, just head out front to the end of my street. You’ll see the signs. It’s like a 5-minute walk or you can drive it. Your truck is parked in the drive.”

“Awesome, I’ll walk it, see you in an hour.”

I quickly texted Josh with the directions and then proceeded to wake up Lucas.

“Lucas, I’m going to grab a quick shower. There are towels in the closet in the second bedroom if you want to go after me.”

Lucas was looking at me all dopey eyed.

“Come on man, wake up, then we can boot it down to the water. It’s like a five-minute walk, Tom said.”

“Okay you go shower. I’ll jump in when you’re done.” Rolling back over, he groaned, “Just yell out when you’re almost done, and keep the shower running, Jamie.”

“Okay.” I turned and headed to the other end of the house. What a surprise I discovered when I went into the bathroom: nice place all around! The shower was a walk-in - easily could fit two people in here.

I slipped my clothes off and turned the water on. It only took seconds to get the right temperature and I slipped under the shower. ‘Oh god, this is nice.’

I’d finished up pretty quickly, all I wanted to do really was a quick freshen up. I’ll have to shower after swimming anyway. “LUCAS, you’re up!”

We passed each other in the bathroom. I was just having a quick shave and brushing my hair. It was totally comfortable between us. Lucas had walked in slipping his boxers off one-legged and not falling over. “Nice effort, buddy.”

“Yeah. You’re the clumsy ninja, Jamie, not me.”

“Smart ass.” Lucas slapped his butt and climbed into the shower without losing step, as we’d seen each other naked a million times since we were kids - even did the whole shared-bath thing when we were little - so it was nothing.

“Fuck, Jamie,” I looked at Lucas.

“Wha?”

“How hard have you been hitting the gym? You're looking good buddy.” Lucas stood there sucking his stomach in and smacking his ass, looking at his reflection in the mirror, while half under the shower still.

“Hmm, maybe a few more crunches for a few weeks.”

“Oh really, Lucas. What - I’ve finally caught up with you.” We looked at each other and laughed.

“Okay, I’ll be two minutes,” Lucas yelled and disappeared back into the shower.

..o0o..

We grabbed my backpack.

“Come on - what do you want to take? Sunblock and water bottles, got a hat?”

Shit, I sound like my Mom.

“Havaianas-well flipflops” as Lucas has reminded me.

Heading out the door, it was “beautiful 90-92 outside, feels like summer to me.”

We walked down Tom’s street following the simple directions, and just talking smack all the way down. Before we knew it, we were at the carpark.

“Yes!” and I made a beeline for the water.

Dropping my backpack a few feet back from the waterline, I slipped my shirt and haviies off.

“Last one in has to talk to my Mom tonight, Lucas.”

We went sprinting into the lake.

"Oi! No fair" Lucas called out just as I plunged into the water. Damn, the water felt nice washing over me as I sunk under.

Surfacing a few yards along, my head just broke through. Opening my eyes, and sweeping the water off my face, all I saw was Lucas flying through the air and bombing right next to me, water went everywhere.

Round one of the water fights started.

I stood up - the water was about nipple high - looking for Lucas.

“Ahh” I spotted him a few yards to my right. I think he was trying to circle around behind me. Just as he broke the surface I gave him three seconds to catch a breath and pounced on him.

“Gotcha, buddy” I shouted, dragging him back under, twirling around under the surface and drifting into shore a bit. We popped back up a few seconds later. I grabbed him and tried to deadlift him out of the water. Lucas caught on quickly and waited till I had lifted him almost clear of the water - then he pounced.

“I gotcha now, Jamie.” Lucas grabbed me by the neck and pushed off in one swift movement, causing me to lose balance. We both crashed back into the water with Lucas screaming “Victory” as we went under.

“Shit, buddy,” I turned to him. “That was the same old trick you pulled when we were kids. I should have known better.”

We went back and forth for a while till exhaustion started to kick in. We both surfaced and held hands up in surrender at the same time.

“Come on, Jamie,” said Lucas, both of us puffing and panting from trying to half drown each other. “Let’s see if the guys are here.”

As I turned towards the beach, well, the sight before me was… breathtaking. I stopped dead.

Josh had turned up and was in a pair of very firm fitting shorts, a Converse singlet, and chucks, with just enough of his body visible through the gaps in the singlet and his defined legs to get my heart racing.

And what a smile too!!

“Hey, Jamie. See you’ve already been in. Is it nice?”

“It’s awesome, man. Come in.”

He didn’t need any further invitation, his top and sneakers were off in seconds and a sexy body flashed past me. I took chase after him, diving in near where he'd plunged seconds before.

I nodded my head in Josh's direction at Lucas. “Let’s get him.”

Round two of the water fight started two-on-one, and Josh damn near beat us.

I circled around beside him, while Lucas had distracted him from the other side. We were like lions stalking our prey. Unfortunately, my clumsy ninja skills extended to water, tripping on something and making a splash.

Josh turned side on to face me with a sexy ass smile to distract me. In a split second I leapt up on to him landing with my legs wrapped around his body, pulling me against that rock hard six-pack wall of muscle.

“Oh fuck,” escaped my mouth quietly. Josh just smiled back.

My legs crossed behind him and my ankles locked above his butt crack. I wasn’t going anywhere fast.

At the same time, I wrapped my arms around his shoulder blades and pulled his head in against my chest, it was a well-rehearsed move, refined over years of play fighting at the beach.

Then, I just leaned over him.

“Oh are you falling for me Josh.”

Corny, but funny, as we tumbled backward into the water, the look on his face was somewhere between surprise and a smile as we hit the water.

We both came up for air, still all tangled together. “Okay,” he grunted flipping us over.

He's only two inches taller but the same weight as me I think, so it was like climbing a sexy muscle pole.

“Jamie.” We shared a lingering moment as we slowly slipped under the surface again.

Lucas dived in back beside us and broke us up as we resurfaced. I was kind of glad of that. I’m so conflicted - not sure what I should be doing or feeling with Josh, seeing I’ve only me him, and left Sam like, twenty-six hours ago.

I’m not a slutty guy, but damn, Josh is hot! I couldn’t help myself leaning in and gave him a peck on the cheek.

In the distance I could hear a boat approaching. Both Josh and I looked over towards the closing sound of Tom’s boat.

“Yes, Tommy’s here with the boat,” I almost squealed.

"Fucking fantastic! It’s time to go skiing.”

“Hey Josh, do you water ski?”

“Yeah, I’ve only just started on a Slalom last summer.”

“Cool, we should go doubles. Come on.” I climbed down off Josh and feeling his semi, I looked up at him and smiled. I was a little embarrassed, I think, so, to ease the tension, when I grabbed at his hand, I accidentally brushed past his package.

“Nice,” I thought to myself.

Clearly, my face was reflecting my thoughts and Josh busted me. I shot back an ‘oops - my bad, cutie face'. He replied with a sexy smirk - winner move Spence.

Tom had slowed the boat and was pulling in to the beach, leaning over the side.

“Hey, a few of the guys from work are coming up too. Let’s go for a ski before they get here. Jamie, you want to go first, Lucas second?”

Tom stopped when he saw Josh, more surprised than anything else.

“Sorry Tom, this is Josh from the dealership.”

“Josh, this is Tom, the new LACOFD Captain out here. Tom and I went to college and worked together till he relocated to the States.”

Tom was still the easy-going guy from college. His face warmed with a smile.

“Nice to meet you, Josh. Jump in.” The boys shook hands as Josh was climbing into the boat, with Lucas following in after pushing the boat back out.

“Hey Tommy, you got a barefoot suit in there? Wouldn’t mind a barefoot after a slalom ski.”

Tom dropped out of sight for a second and had quickly found his barefoot suit, throwing it out to me.

“Let’s go, Jamie.” Lucas threw me the ski rope.

“Hey, Tommy - where’s the ski?”

"Come on Spence, you don't need that, the water is flat like glass. Step off the first, mate. You can do a deep water start still, can't you? Or are you soft now?” he teased with a mile-wide smile.

“Come on, Jamie,” Lucas started chanting.

“Okay, you’re on. Let’s do this."

And with that, I was floating in the water all suited up with the tow rope tucked under my right heel.

“GO!” I threw my head back taking a breath and arching my back. The boat dragged me for a few yards and I popped up bouncing above the water on my butt. Tom waited for me to nod once I’d got settled, then he stepped up the speed for me to stand up.

"Go, Spence!” was all I could hear over the engine, oh and Lucas saying “I was soft."

Standing up almost instantly, I looked a little over my shoulder. ‘Hmm… throwing a nice butterfly shaped spray behind me. Nice flat wake’, I thought to myself. Let’s try this out. I cut the wake then crossed back and forth a half dozen times easily.

I could see the guys on the boat enjoying the show I was putting on, so I slipped a little further out to the side in the clear water, skiing along outside the wash lifting one foot out at a time. I was the biggest show off I could be … I was having an absolute ball.

Tom signalled they were going to stop, so I let go and skidded around onto my butt for a bit, then stopped without too much fuss. Man, I earnt some bruises when I was learning to barefoot and dismounting, but a sore ass was better than a black eye, which I did when landing face first a few times.

The boat looped around and Lucas had pulled on a second suit. He’d given Tom the one he had on this morning before heading out to get me from the airport, as I recognised it.

Well, I did say to Lucas that Tom had a boat now and apparently there was a lake almost on their backdoor step.

Pulling alongside me in the water, Lucas cried out, “Hold on brother, let’s go double,” and dived in with rope in hand. Josh was smiling and talking away to Tom when he looked over at me for a second. I gave him a splash of water.

"You’re next, Josh.”

“Yeah, I’d love to have a ski.”

The reply came fast and emphatically. I wasn’t sure who was more excited.

“You ready, Lucas?” The big goofy grin was the answer.

“Tom! 3-2-1 GO!”
The roar of the engine came to life. “Game on.”

We both arched back in the water, next minute we were on top zipping along.

“OK, Lucas, you call it.”

Lucas nodded a few seconds later, let out a “GO!” At that, the boat accelerated to skiing speed and we stood up skiing across the lake.

“Jamie, this is awesome! We haven’t double-skied for about, what, five years - the last summer I came down under and we took Uncle Rob’s boat to the river every day for those awesome two weeks.”

“Yeah, that was some holiday, Lucas.”

I could see Tom directing Josh to get a cell phone out and video us.

We stopped after a few moments - I knew Tom was keen to have a go, like super keen. The boat had only just come to a stop and he dived over the side.

“Come on, Josh” I yelled out signalling him to jump in.

“This is awesome, Jamie. Thanks for asking me along.”

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

“Tommy here is a gun on the slalom.”

Lucas chimed in, “These two guys” pointing between Tommy and me. “were known for doing nude ski runs up and down the river in the middle of the afternoon a few times."

I shot Lucas a ‘shut up or die look’ when Tom piped up: “Think I’ve got some video of that at home if you’re interested, Josh,” Tom laughed.

“Funny thing was someone tried to blackmail me with the footage not too long ago. Sent me a copy. So, to thank them, I put it up on the big screen at my going away party. Remember, Jamie? Fail for them.”

“Hold on, that’s right! You weren’t there, Jamie, were you?” he chided, looking at me trying to remember why.

Then it dawned on him - the ex - she hated my friends - so we were a no show most of the time.

“Well Jamie, that’s in the past now. Happy days ahead. Right boys, Lucas-Josh?”

We had a quick deep water swim, then climbed back in.

“You know me, Tommy - I don’t care if people see me with my gear off. What the hell - you’ve got what you’ve got, and you’ve got to love it.”

“Ok, you’re on, Spence.” Tom stopped short of the boat and was fiddling around in the water.

Next minute his shorts flew up out of the water on the boat, quickly followed by Lucas'. The guys climbed back in butt naked.

Not to be outdone, I had my gear off in seconds and put them on my head as a hat as I started swimming back towards the boat.

Climbing up on the rear deck, I executed a perfect crouched front flip into the boat, to a host of cheers. “Clumsy ninja my ass!”

Tom pulled on the buoyancy suit and dived back in to the water as Josh climbed out, mind you, with his pants still on.

I was pulling mine back up as I looked up at him stepping off the rear deck.

"Sorry about that, Josh. Just, well, we've known each other since we were kids so… Sorry if it made you feel, you know... uncomfortable.”

Josh smiled back.

"No problems from me. I liked the dismount into the boat, Jamie," he replied, aiming a very sexy ‘eat shit’ grin at me.

"So, you know other gymnastic tricks?”

“Yeah, he likes watching people do some close-up pole dancing,” Lucas chimed in.

My face burned red - I could feel it. I shot Lucas a ‘shut the fuck up’ look.

“Really! don’t give all my secrets away dickhead, ha-ha.”

“Oi.”
“You two finished fucking about in there? I wanna’ ski. Throw me out the slalom. Let’s get this boat moving.”

“What - no barefoot, Tom? Come on, Jamie and I did.”

“I’ll just slalom. You guys will make me look bad behind my own boat.”

I towed Tom around for a bit. He can really work that slalom ski too - he was always a fantastic technical skier, where Lucas and I were more ‘fuck, let's have a crack, go at it hard and fast, see if we survive’. Tom was skill and poise, fantastic to watch.

..o0o..

We headed back in after towing Tom around for a good 15 minutes.

“Josh, you thirsty? There’s a drinks locker under that cover.” I pointed to the other side. “Help yourself.”

“Sure, thanks, Jamie. Can I get you something?”

“You’d better be careful asking him that, Josh. My cousin is free and single - you never know what he’ll ask for, bud.”

“Lucas!” I couldn’t believe he just said that. I’d only met Josh today and Lucas is already hitting on the guy for me. Cool it!

“Wha…” Lucas replied with a ‘what-did-I-do-wrong’ look.

Josh didn’t know which way to look for a second. I wasn’t sure if he was pissed at what Lucas was saying or a now a very scared, maybe straight-bi, guy getting hit-on by my wingman.

“Sorry, Josh. That was a little out of line.” Lucas offered with his best’ butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth’ look.

Not phased at all, Josh shrugged it off, and dug into the cooler pulling out a few sodas.

"Nah that's all good, Jamie. I can see you and Lucas are brothers, but friends too. A bit of smack talking each other, but in an okay way, all good. If me and my brothers did that I think we’d be punching on by now,” replied Josh, flashing a comical eye roll and smile, totally disarming us all.

Lucas chimed in again, this time standing closer to Josh. "Sorry, bud, didn't want to make you feel weird or anything. Just haven’t seen Jamie for almost a year, so probably operating without a filter. Anyway, we're not going to punch on. We did that as kids - no real winners there, hey Jamie?”

“Nah, even matched, Lucas and me, no winners. We’d say sorry to each other for days afterwards.”

“You see, Josh, Lucas here is the brother I wanted,” I said, nodding towards him with a genuine smile.

“Oh what, you don’t want Mason to join us?” Tom chipped in... “he’s such a fuck-wad.” Tom shook his head as he walked beside the boat tucking the ski into the side locker.

“Sorry, Josh,” who now had a totally confused look on his face. “Mason is my older brother and Lucas is my first cousin.”

“Tom or Tommy as we all call him - we went to high school, college and recruits into the fire service together, so he knows my family very well, and where the bodies are too.”

"Really Jamie, wow! I thought you and Lucas were brothers - there’s such a strong resemblance."

“Nah, I’m better looking,” Lucas shot back.

"Jamie's got a bigger cock," Tom offered and smacked Lucas on the butt while walking back past him.

“Jesus guys, really.” I shook my head and climbed out of the boat. I could feel that red heat building in my face again.

“Lucas’ dad, Reid, and my dad, Robert, are brothers. That’s where the resemblance comes in.”

“But I’m better looking than Jamie, don’t you think, Josh?” Lucas was trying his best to strike a pose.

“If you’re into that kind of thing, I guess, you know.” Tom hadn’t lost any of his quick tongue, not at all.

“Oh yesss! Burn Lucas, burn.” I couldn’t help myself. At that we all started laughing.

Tom and Lucas busied themselves with setting up all the gear on the beach. I don’t know what came over me, but in a rush I leaned in close to Josh, and placed a gentle peck on his lips.

”Hmm,” was his response.

..o0o..

The beach had filled with people, and Tom wandered off to say hi to the loads of new arrivals.

I took the quiet moment to show Josh the basics of how to barefoot sitting on the beach, and was desperately trying to convince him to have a shot on the trainer bar.

“Come on, Josh, on the Trainer bar it will be easy. I’ll be right there beside you to guide you.”

But, no joy. We settled for a two-up slalom ski together after Ryan and a few of the guys off shift had a ski and their kids too.

There were kids and partners everywhere. It was a fantastic atmosphere.

“Hey, Josh, let’s go and join the crowd,” I said while nodding towards the people along the beach.

“Sure.” Josh stood up a little quicker than me.

I think the skiing, flights and long day which really started over thirty hours ago, was starting catch up with me.

Josh held his hand out in front of me. “Come on, Jamie. It’s been a long day, my Aussie action man.”

I took his hand and pulled up on it, flexing a little too much maybe, as I ended up colliding chest to chest against him. We only had our shorts on. His warm skin on skin contact was, so nice to say the least.

“Um, sorry about that,” I offered and stepped back a little. This guy must think I’m the biggest whore around or what.

“No problem, Jamie. It was nice,” he flashed another one of those, fucking yummy smiles at me.

We wandered over and Tom started introducing us to everyone.

Josh was standing close to me, at times our arms were touching or we’d move about and our feet were against each other - so high school like, right, but it was nice.

He’s a nice guy, what little I know about him so far.
..o0o..

Tom gathered everyone around, pulling out a satchel with the biggest tablet I've seen.

Made me think back to the first television set I bought when I moved out of home. It was smaller than that tablet, way smaller.

"Josh, Tom’s always been the biggest tech head I've known. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a surround sound hooked up somewhere too."

Josh laughed, "You Jamie, are funny as…” pulling me into a side hug.

"Let's go watch the video, Jamie. Maybe Tom will put the one of you guys skiing naked," he remarked with a sly grin on.

I laughed and Josh took off running up to the others. He was a little in front of me looking back over his shoulder to see if I was following, which I was.

Although I was a little lost over Sam, it felt like waves smashing over me, like I was caught in the surf. I was feeling so confused. On one hand I was pretty sure, we, well I was sure, that Sam and I were not happening. But it still hurt, and I had this feeling that I needed to be faithful to that memory for a bit before jumping into the arms of the next hot guy that came my way. I couldn’t help but be totally taken with Josh - he’s so nice - charming and funny, plus okay, he’s fucking hot too. I’m human, right, not a saint.

“Argh!! What do I do.”

I quietly slipped up next to Josh and we exchanged smiles.

There was Tom in his element and he’d hooked the tablet up to the high speakers on the overhead rails of the boat. “Pretty amazing, Tommy”.

“What do you reckon, Jamie, pretty cool, huh?”

“You’ve smashed it this time, Tommy.”

“Fricken awesome, Tom.” Lucas agreed, as did half the beach nodding along.

Tom fired up the first video. It was of me and Lucas skiing, the stuff that Josh had taken of us going two up behind the boat. It looked good-really good. I looked good.

Josh moved a little closer, our bodies were touching from hip to shoulder.

“Shit Jamie, you’re looking good there, buddy.” Tom gave me the double thumbs up.

“My boat sounds pretty cool, too. Guys, what do you reckon - that 6.2L V8 Mercruiser has a nice note to it.”

Josh leaned in closer and softly said to me, “I think you look better than the engine sounds,” with a half sexy, half unsure smile.

“Thanks. I should hope so.” I gave him a gentle punch in the arm.

“You two need to get a room over there or what?”

“Shut-up, Lucas. I’ve got a room anyway. You’ve got the couch.”

“Oh what, no fair. You had the bed today that nap counted as a sleep.”

“No way, Lucas. I don’t even remember arriving at Tommy's, let alone remember going to bed."

“Shut it you two,” came from some unknown in the group.

I shot Lucas a eat shit look - he flicked me the bird.

Josh took distraction between Lucas and me to quietly slip his arm around my back, resting his hand on my hip, looking at Josh.

I could see he was a little unsure, so I offered a simple smile.

Bingo, he pulled me a little closer at that.

“Oh shit,” Lucas jumped off the railing he’d been sitting on, running back over to his bag which was now in the tub of Tom’s truck and pulled out his cell waving it at us.

“Look, almost forgot. Hey Tom, when you’ve finished that video, there’s the one of the Moomba master himself today.”

Tom plugged Lucas’ iPhone into the tablet and started the video of my first ski today.

“What’s a Moomba master, Jamie?” Josh asked.

“It’s a water-ski tournament they have in Melbourne each Easter, along the river that runs through the city itself.”

“The only problem is - the river isn’t the cleanest looking due a huge clay field it passes over, so it always looks muddy, but it’s good for skiing.”

“There also a huge city-wide fair,” Tom added.

“Lucas is just being a smart ass, Josh. I’ve never been good enough to be in the Moomba Masters.”

I looked at Lucas and shook my head and mouthing ‘you’re a dick’.

“I’ve got to say, I Iooked pretty good, too - not bad posture and spray coming off. See the spray behind me - it looked like the wings of a butterfly.”

“Doesn’t that hurt your feet?” one of the guys’ wives asked - Emily.

“You’d be surprised but no, it doesn’t. You’re almost just on your heels and the water breaks pretty easily.”

Lucas had wandered back to his seat looking pleased with himself after giving Tommy the video. I was totally suck-in with the video he’d taken first up today. I hadn't had the chance to get some footage of myself skiing in recent times. It was a nice thought of Lucas to do that for me – god, love that guy.

I smiled at Lucas. "Come here, you," I walked over to him and pulled him into a side hug. “Thanks, buddy."

“Jamie, I’ve got an idea. Each day we’ll do a video diary of the day, something we were doing or just talk about what we did, to keep as memories of the trip.”

“That’s awesome, Lucas, awesome.”

The afternoon was getting on and the sun was starting to set. Someone had suggested we get pizzas and head back to Tom’s house, help clean up the boat and maybe have an impromptu block party.

That was a “yes” from all.

So, we quickly packed all our gear away into the various trucks and cars while Tom, Lucas, and Ryan pulled the boat out. Then they were heading straight back to Tom’s place to wash the boat off before it got dark.

I was walking over to where we had been sitting on the beach, and had a look to make sure we’d picked up all the trash and towels, etc., that had been left behind.

After a few passes, we were all done.

Josh was helping a few people load the last of their stuff into their trucks, so I walked over towards him and stopped. Was I supposed to ask Josh if he wanted to come back? Was that being too forward or rude if I didn’t ask?

“Fuck it.” I changed direction and headed towards Josh.

He looked up at me with his now very normal smile. I think he was trying to work out if he should ask to come back to Tom’s or wait. Whatever was going through his mind disappeared as I stopped in front of him.

“Hi.” His face broke out into a smile – man, that is one seriously sexy smile.

“So, hey hot salesman! Want to come to a party with me?”

“I’ll promise to behave, maybe.” Ok, I'd had a few beers and coupled with sleep deprivation I was a little loose talking.

“Thought you’d never ask,” he replied, laughing a little. “I was wondering how to ask if I could come along or if I should when you were walking over.” We both laughed.

Smiling, I said, “Hmmm… well, let's go before everyone leaves and I forget where Tom’s places is."

"I'm sure we could find something else to do if that happened, Jamie."

And that smile again, damn it.

We jumped into his truck and chatted for a bit about nothing really, still sitting in the parking lot.

I must have been feeling a little cold, as a shiver escaped me.

Josh turned up the heat for me. “Hmm nice” was all I could manage.

“So, Josh, where are you from? You’re clearly not from California.”

“No, I’ve been here for about eight months now, but originally from the Midwest – Illinois - a little farming community about an hour or so from Chicago.”

By the time I’d stopped shivering and Josh had given me one of his sports jackets from work to put on, we finally started to head off.

“Shit, everyone else has gone,” I realized looking into the now empty lot.

“Hey,” I handed him my cell. “This isn’t going to work,” failing instantly as I started to direct him back to Tom’s house, but I was more fatigued than I thought.

“The address is in here. I’d feel safer if you use the satnav. I’ll get us lost for sure.” Our hands touched again. I felt something - they were warm, firm but soft.

Nice looking hands too, but there was something in his touch. I looked across at Josh. He’d clearly felt it, too, and smiled.

We pulled out of the carpark in silence. Josh spoke first. "Hey, Jamie." He pulled his truck up on the side of the road, turning side on to me.

I could see in the half-light of the dash lights he was biting his lower lip for a moment, cute as.

“Would you like to go out for a drink tomorrow night? There's a really cool sports bar about 15 minutes from here."

I had a million-thoughts rushing through my head, and Lucas’ warning to have some fun or go back home.

“Sure, I’d love to, Josh. That would be great.”

Josh pulled the truck out on the road and we headed towards Tom’s place, I think.

“It’s a date then.”