Summer Ended with a Storm - 3. Chapter 3

I parked in front of the hardware store. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for my first job, but I had to go in whether I liked it or not. I turned off the car and walked into the hardware store.

“Just on time.” said Norm. “Nick is in the back sorting out the new shipment. Why don’t you go help him out and I’ll clock you in.”

I walked over to the back. I heard clinking and rustling around, so I followed the sound. I saw some guy bent over towards the back of the room.

“Hey, I’m Dylan.”

“Hold on.” said Nick.

He stayed bent over and I heard some more clinking and rustling, but when he got up…nothing could’ve prepared me for what happened when he got up. He got up and it was like he was moving in slow motion. Nick is like a Greek statue. He’s perfect in every way. I felt feelings in my body that I’ve never felt before. Sure, I’ve seen hot guys before, but none of them made me feel like I felt when I saw Nick.

He brushed his hands on his jeans and stuck out his hand to shake. “Nick Fisher. You’re Dylan Summers right?”

I shook his hand, still mesmerized by his physique.

“Dude, are you okay?” he asked.

I let go of his hand before I crushed it and then I looked away.

“Um, yeah, I just spaced for a sec. Yeah, I’m Dylan. So what do you need help with?”

“Well, I can sort the rest. If you could just stock them in the right aisle. The aisles are marked so you’ll know where go where.” said Nick.

“Sure,” I said taking the first box into the store.

I stocked all day pretty much and before I knew it, it was lunch.

“Okay, you boys get and hour for lunch. When you come back, Nick, you’re on the register because I’m going home for the day.”

He handed Nick the keys to the store after he locked up.

“So where do you wanna eat lunch?” asked Nick.

“Well, you’ve lived here longer than I have, so you pick.”

“We can eat at Mable’s. They have great cheeseburgers there.”

“Oh, I haven’t had a cheeseburger in days. Let’s go.” I said.

Having worked with him for a few hours gave me time to get over my sudden crush. Though it was still very much there, I had gotten used to it already so it wasn’t as severe.

We walked about a block down Pine Avenue which was the main street in Meek and reached Mable’s. We sat down and were waited on by, of all people Andy’s mom.

“So, do you like Meek so far?” asked Nick.

“It’s cool. It’s very…charming. Have you lived here all your life.”

“Mm, I moved here when I was ten. Amanda was eight. My aunt moved here, so my mom wanted to move with her. She’s the only family my mom has left.”

“Oh,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“So, I here that you and my cousin kissed last night.”

“Amanda’s your cousin?”

“More like a sister. I don’t have any siblings and neither does she. She’s always told me everything. She called me last night over the moon. She really likes you.”

Great, this is just what I need. Now if I end up breaking Amanda’s heart, not only will she hate me, but Nick will too.

“I like her too, but it just worries me that she’s gonna get too close and I’m gonna have to leave at the end of the summer.”

“I see your point. You’re a good guy for worrying about my cousin. You don’t even know her. You could’ve just taken advantage, but…do you want me to talk to her. See if she can handle being just friends?”

“Would you? That would be so great. I just don’t know how to say it to her.” I said.

“I appreciate you telling me this. It was real good of you.”

We ate our burgers and after we decided to stay and hang out for a while because we still had half an hour left for our lunch. We were soon joined, to my dismay, Nick’s girlfriend Emily.

She was a bubbly, beautiful character with shoulder length brown hair and light hazel eyes. Nick’s blue ones were much better, though. She had a smile that lit up the room, though.

“Emily is Amanda’s best friend.” said Nick. “They became friend as soon as we moved here. Emily is the one that show Amanda and me around town.”

“It’s great to meet you. Amanda told me that you were cute, but I didn’t know you were this cute.”

“Hey,” said Nick, playfully jealous.

“Oh Nicky, you’re the only one that does it for me.”

“That’s better.” he said, kissing her. Oh, I wanted to be her. “Listen, we should get going. We have a shop to run.”

“Oh,” sighed Emily, pouting her lips.

“I’m sorry, babe. I’ll see you later at the lake though. I wanted to go for a late swim.”

Oh man, he likes late swims too. This is awful.

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” said Emily.

They pecked kisses and we went on our way, though Emily stayed to eat.

“Listen, I really appreciate you being so nice about letting down Amanda. You’re a big step up from Blake at least. He’s just a big douche.”

“Funny that you say that. I actually called him a douche to his face the other day.”

“Shit, you called Blake Jensen a douche and lived to tell the tale. Boy, you sure are special.”

* * *

Andy came to the store at six just like he said he would. I met him outside when while me and Nick were locking up. Andy walked up just as Nick has just finished telling me a joke and we were both laughing.

“So, hiya Dylan.” said Andy.

“Oh, hey Andy.” I said, still laughing.

“Hey Nick.” said Andy.

“Hey Andy.”

“So, Dylan, do you wanna hang out?”

“Actually, we were just gonna head to the lake. Do you wanna come?”

“Um…no it’s cool. I’ll, I’ll just find something else to do.” said Andy with his head down. He made me feel guilty.

“Like what? Come on. You’re invited too.” I said, trying to pump him up.

“Yeah, there’s a bunch of us going. It’ll be a blast.” said Nick.

“Nah, it’s cool.”

Andy walked away and Nick just shrugged his shoulders and motioned me to follow him, but…I felt down now. I wanted to go to the Lake with Nick. I had to admit that seeing him with his shirt off all wet was extremely appealing, but it just seemed wrong to go without Andy when he was expecting to hang out today. Anyway, there was nothing I could do, Andy was out of sight already. So, I followed Nick.

On the way to the lake, Nick and I stopped at my grampa’s so I could get my board shorts.

“Don’t you think you’ve swam enough mister?” asked grampa. “I told you that this wasn’t a vacation.”

“Well, do you have any work that I have to do?”

“Well, no, but that doesn’t mean that you can go to the lake every night.”

“What else I’m supposed to do grampa?”

“Well, I guess since you worked hard today. But, be back by eight thirty.”

“I promise.” I said.

I took quickly changed into my board shorts and threw on an old t-shirt and raced out the door to meet Nick.

“Let’s go,” I said.

We arrived parked at the lake and most people were just leaving.

“I’m gonna lay out in the sun for a while, but you can jump in if you want.” I said to Nick. This really was just an excuse so I can watch him from afar.

“Cool, call me when Emily gets here.”

Nick took off his short, revealing an extremely tantalizing set of washboard abs combined a pair of pumped pecks. His board shorts rode just below hip bones. He was the only other guy here that I’ve seen wears his clothes like me.

Nick ran into the lake and I avoided getting a little too excited by closing my eyes, laying back with my hands behind my head and taking in the sun. I took off my t-shirt to try and get a late afternoon tan.

“Hey Dylan.” I heard softly beside me.

I squinted my eyes open and saw Andy standing above me. I got up, excited to see him.

“Hey! You came!” I wrapped my arms around Andy in a friendly hug. “This is great. Do you wanna get in the water?”

“Nah, not right now. Let’s wait until the sun goes down.” said Andy. He seemed a bit funny.

“Dude, that’s not for like another hour or even more.”

“I know.” He was looking down, kicking the dirt around with his foot.

“Well, if that’s what you wanna do, cool.” I said. I sat back down on my towel. He lay his towel next to mine and sat on it. “So what made you change your mind?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t want to be all emo about not coming, I guess. So, I came.”

“Well, I’m glad you came. You’re like my only friend here.” I said, patting Andy on the back.

“It looks like you’re getting pretty tight with Nick.”

“Nick is my co-worker. I get along with him because it’s good for business. You’re my real friend here in Meek.”

“He’s Amanda’s cousin, you know?”

“I know. He told me over lunch today. He said he would talk to her about easing off of me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to hurt Amanda. I’m leaving at the end of the summer. I don’t want her to get too attached to me. It’s just gonna hurt her in the end.”

“Right, that’s why you only wanted to be friends with her. And I pushed you to be more. Dude, I’m so sorry. I’m such a horrible friend.”

“No, you’re not. You couldn’t have known. It’s just…it’s probably best if you just back off of that subject.”

“Cool, so you’re not mad at me?”

“Dude, I’m not mad.” I said. I sighed and went back to the position I was in when Andy got there.

“Three men with their shirts off. How did I get so lucky?”

I opened my eyes. Emily was standing above us now.

“Hey Em.” said Andy.

“Hey, I’m getting in. Are you guys coming?”

“No, not yet.” I said. “Go head and knock yourself out though.”

“Cool,” she said. She ran into the lake and met up with Nick. I watched as they kissed. Jealousy, I could feel it in my gut.

“Listen, Andy. I’m gonna get going.” I said.

“But, we haven’t even gotten into the lake yet.” said Andy.

“I just remembered, I have to help my grandfather with something.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll see you later then.” said Andy.

I walked away, carrying my t-shirt on my shoulder.

“Hey Summers!” I heard someone call.

I turned around and suddenly, Amanda was in front of me with her arms around me waist.

“Amanda, h-hi.” I took her arms from around me waist.

“You look so hot with your shorts all low like this.”

“Amanda, there’s something that I need to talk to you about.”

“What?” she asked innocently.

“I like you, but this just isn’t gonna work. Like I told you, I don’t wanna hurt you. I can’t be with you.”

“I’ve been too forward haven’t I?” she looked disappointed. “I promise that I’ll slow down.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s, it’s complicated.”

“Please, tell me what it is.” Amanda pleaded.

“I can’t. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to, but I just can’t right now.”

I turned around and left, leaving Amanda in the middle of the street.

* * *

I hadn’t seen or talked to Amanda for the rest of the week. Nick told me that she was hurt, but he was also appreciative to me to let her down before she got too invested in me. He told me that it really helped to prove to him that I’m a nice guy.

Blake hadn’t been as much of a problem as I anticipated that he would. We just tried to avoid each other as best we could I guess.

I also tried not to spend too much time with Nick. I didn’t want my crush on him to spiral out of control. So, I started to spend more time with Andy. He’d became not only my best friend in this town, but the best friend that I’ve ever had.

We had a lot of things in common, Andy and I. We liked the same music and the same movies. We each lost our dads at a young age. I felt I could tell Andy anything and one Saturday morning, when my grampa was fishing and we were watching a movie, I felt that it was time.

“Andy, I have to tell you something.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well, you’ve been the best friend ever and…not just here in Meek. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. So, I think that you deserve to know something about me.”

“Shit, what is it? Are you a felon or something?” Andy laughed.

“No, just gay.”

Andy took a deep breath. “That’s why you didn’t want Amanda.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m sorry I kept it from you for so long, but…I’ve never told anyone before so it’s been really hard for me.”

“I’m glad you told me because there’s something that I have to tell you too.”

“Anything…” I said.

“Me too.”

“What? Oh shit! This is…this is crazy. Are you serious?”

Andy just looked at me.

“No, sorry, of course you’re serious. I just…this is unbelievable. I knew that we had a lot in common, but this…”

Andy laughed. “I was really afraid of how you’d react.”

I started to laugh with him. “I was too. Andy you’re the best friend I’ve ever had and this…this just makes it so much better.”

Andy and I hugged.

“So, I trust no one else knows about you either?” I asked

“I told my sister before she went away to college. She took it really well.”

“That’s good.”

“You should tell your grandfather.” I said.

“What are you crazy? He admitted to me that he flipped out when my dad wanted to buy Led Zeppelin records when he was my age. He won’t like the fact that I’m gay. He might even send me back to New York and I’m not ready to go yet. I like it here.”

“I see. Well, at least we have each other.”

“Until…until I have to go back in two months.”

“Right, there’s that.” Andy looked down and had the saddest face that I’ve ever seen on anyone in my life. It made me want to cry. But of course I didn’t. I had an image to keep up.

“Well, we can always right e-mails and call each other.” I said.

“Yeah, but it’s not the same. I’ve never had a friend like you either. Yeah, everyone here is nice to me, but…I’ve never had a best friend before and…I’m really gonna miss you.”

“Don’t say that. You’re gonna make me cry.” I said.

We hugged again.

* * *

“Hey, Dylan, I got a hold of this bottle of vodka and I need someone to drink it with. What do ya say?”

Oh shit, I can’t get drunk with Nick. I might let something slip, but if I don’t, he’s gonna think I’m a prude or something.

“Sh-Sure, why not?”

“We should drink it at the lake tonight. Be there at ten, okay?” said Nick. “It’s a good thing we don’t have to come here to work tomorrow.”

I paced back and forth in my room trying to decide whether or not to show up at the lake to meet Nick. I had to make a decision and fast.