Prompt Rides - 19. Prime Time

“What time are we supposed to be there?” It was the beginning of fall, about the best time to be surfing off Monmouth, New Jersey. I’d been staying at my grandfather’s beach house, spending daytimes riding waves, and partying the nights away.

“He said to meet him there for drinks at six, Tony. Grandpa promised to buy us dinner after we checked the place out.” Cousin Dante had come to spend the week at the shore with me. We’d grown up together, and even though I was almost six years younger than him, we were the best of friends. He’s not the brightest bulb in the family chandelier. Dante’s a good, solid, dependable guy, he’s always had my back. I was a small kid, hanging out with the older ones, and he made sure no one picked on me.

“Come on, bro, let’s go rinse the boards and wet suits. After we store them, we need to get ready to go see Granpa Mertellini, you know he doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Wanna shower together? We can wash each other’s backs.” I glanced at my cousin out of the corner of my eyes, smirking as I watched him blush.

“Aww, Tony, don’t do that man. You know I love you, I’m okay with you being queer, but I ain’t that way.” It was always fun to watch him turn reddish and get flustered, whenever I made any sort of comment with gay undertones.

“You know what, Dante? You’re a perv, and I think you secretly wanna get in my pants. All I said was we could wash each other’s back, if we showered together. I didn’t say a word about playing with our bits!” We’d seen each other naked a million times, my cousin was a hot man, with a carpet of hair on his chest, and a line of the same dark fur running between sharply defined abs. His treasure trail ended in a thick bush, above an above average size endowment. I had as much interest in him sexually as I had in women―none. He was the older brother I never had, and most importantly, he wasn’t my type. I drool over blondes. Put a golden-haired muscle boy in front of me, you’ll see me bone up in no time flat.

“Fuck you, cuz!” He’d finally realized I was teasing him. As I said before, Dante wasn’t the smartest guy around, he wasn’t stupid, just a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. We both worked in one of the family businesses, and although he was older, I was his boss. He might be older, but sometimes it felt as if he was the kid, and I was the adult.

I’d started at the bowling alley, almost seven years ago, the year after graduating from high school. Cleaned the place, checked customers in and out, ran the register, ran the café, ran the lounge; learned the business from the ground up. Worked my way through the ranks, and two years ago, I’d been put in complete charge of the place. I was given a free hand to run it the way I saw fit. The first thing I did was steal Dante away from another of the family’s venues, to be my second in command.

During our two years working together, we’d remodeled the old place, upgraded the equipment, improved the menu at the café, and marketed to a younger crowd. The bowling alley was now an entertainment venue for hipsters, a cash cow for the family, with profits having gone through the roof. My cousin and I were the darlings of the Martellinis, we could do no wrong.

“No thanks, cuz. No fucking, I’ve told you before, you’re not my type. But we better hurry up, wouldn’t do to keep the old man waiting.” Grandfather was a heck of a nice guy, but he commanded the respect of the entire family. If he called for you, you showed up, no questions asked. He’d asked us to join him at some dive bar in Chelsea, so we were meeting across the river, in the city. “You have any idea why he asked us to go there?”

“Dad said the family owns the building the bar’s in, and grandfather wasn’t happy with the guy running the joint. As a matter of fact, I think we own most of that block on Ninth Avenue”

We’d stripped naked, and rinsed off the sand using the outside shower, before walking inside. Dante went towards the kitchen, to get us both some beer, while I headed to the bathroom. I was shampooing my hair, when he walked into the large shower stall, asking me to move over so he could get wet. So much for showering separately, guess he knows he’s safe with me.

“Hey, to answer your question from before, I have no idea what tonight is about. All he said was to dress casual, and to meet him there, that he thought I was ready for prime time.”