Daydreamers - 1. Chapter 1

It's summer, finally, in Stone Lake, California. June 1st, 2010. School just got out and I couldn't get to my car fast enough. I almost peeled out and left all the high school drama that was my junior year in the dust. But, then I remembered I had two younger brothers to think about.

I waited in my car, looking at all the popular kids walk by my car. They laughed and joked with their friends as they walked through the parking lot to their BMWs and SUVs. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw my brothers walking towards me, a throng of girls at their sides. Why couldn't I be more like them? Why couldn't I be straight? I guess there's nothing I can do about that.

My two younger brothers are Tyler and Alex, or Ty and AJ as I like to call them. Where each just a year apart, so we're all really close. I don't know why. We have next to nothing in common. But we're all each other's best friends.

AJ is tall and a bit thin, but like all of us Sullivan boys, he has wavy blond hair. He has dark eyes that girls are always fawning over and a sense of style that could blow away any top male model. As for Tyler, he's the pretty boy of the family with highly groomed blond hair, piercing in both ears and ocean blue eyes.

Anyway, they ditched the girls as soon as they got to my car and got in, both of them fighting for the front passenger seat. AJ won. He got into the front seat with a big smile on his face. Ty's expression was almost the complete opposite.

"Sup, Sam. What're you waiting for? Let's ditch this shit hole!" Alex exclaimed, putting his feet up on the dashboard.

"We're not going anywhere until you put your seatbelt on." I said, peering at him from above my black framed glasses. They're prescription, but unlike most people, I quite like them.

"Whatever, mom," groaned Alex. He rolled his eyes, took his feet from the dash, and buckled his seatbelt.

Once I heard Tyler click his belt, I started the car. The radio blared loudly. I turned it down just a bit and put my car in reverse.

We sailed out of the school parking lot. AJ bobbed his head to the music and Tyler looked out of the window at our hometown as it passed by.

"Hey, you guys, Abby Grace asked me out today," said AJ.

"No, shit...she's like super hot. Way to go, little brother!" said Ty, patting AJ's shoulder from the back.

"I didn't say yes," said AJ. "But I didn't say no either."

"Well, what did she ask you?" asked Ty.

"She asked me to go to the lake party with her."

"Well, we were all going to that party anyway right?" I asked.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure I want to be pasted to some girl's hip for decoration. I want to have fun, ya know what I mean?"

"You don't have to say no if you don't want to," I said.

"What kind of big brotherly advice is that?" asked Ty. "Alex, she's one of the hottest girls in school. She wants to go out with you. Of course you should say yes!" I rolled my eyes and Tyler went on. "Did she give you her number?"

"Yeah," AJ answered.

"Well, call her tonight before the party and tell her to meet you at the dock."

"But the party is at the other side of the lake," said AJ.

"Duh, you retard. You want to meet her alone before you go into the party so that way you can walk to the party together."

"Tyler, we're not dating or anything. She asked me out once. Other than that, I barely know her."

"So, what's to know? She's into you. You're into her. It's perfect," said Ty.

"Who said that I'm into her?" asked AJ.

"Ty, leave him alone. He doesn't have to go out with her."

"Whatever man, if you won't go out with her. I will," said Ty, with a smirk.

I pulled my car in front of our house. It was barely turning into summer and our small Northern California town was already getting extremely warm. My brothers walked into our small four room house. I had to grab my messenger bag from the back seat.

When I walked into the house, my brothers were already fighting over the television remote on the living room couch. I walked passed them and into the kitchen, where I found my mom reading on the kitchen table.

"Hey, mom," I said.

"Hi Samuel," she said as she put a hand through her short blond hair. "How was your day?" she asked as she put her book down.

"Okay," I said. I walked to the fridge, hoping to find some kind of snack to eat. All I could find was an apple from Albert Orchards; the local orchard that's proudly run by the Albert family. I grabbed the apple, closed the fridge and leaned against it.

"Yours?" I asked.

"Oh, I got some gardening done today and I helped Nancy Peters with some shopping she needed to get done. You know, her nephew is moving in with her this summer. He might even stay."

"That's cool," I said, taking a bite of my apple.

"I told her that you boys could show him around town. He's never been here before."

"Mom, I don't know. I have tons of plans this summer." I said, shaking my head. I lied. I didn't really feel like spending my summer showing some kid around town.

"Come on, Sammy. He's your age and he won't know anyone in town. What can you possibly have planned that he can't come along?"

"Well, I planned on getting a job." This time I wasn't lying.

"Well, if you do this, you won't have to. What if I pay you?"

Now I really felt guilty. I couldn't let her pay me to show this kid around. That's just wrong. I guess I might as well do it. How bad could it be right? Besides, it wouldn't take him the entire summer to get to know Stone Lake.

"No, mom, you don't have to pay me. I'll do it."

"You don't have to do it alone. I know you, Ty, and AJ spend a lot of time together. You can split up the time."

"When's he getting here?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, he'll be here tomorrow. He's coming from LA, so he probably won't be here until the afternoon."

Good. I can get smashed tonight and not have wake up until, like, three. Anyway, I nodded at my mom and then walked out of the kitchen, but my mom had to call after me. I was really disappointed. I was looking forward to throwing myself onto my bed and staring at the ceiling for hours until it was time to get ready for the lake party.

"Yeah mom," I said.

"Could you go to your brother's soccer game? I've got to get dinner going. It'll take a few hours for the roast to cook."

I took a deep breath, trying not to groan, and then I agreed. She thanked me and then I turned around and left the kitchen again. I dropped my bag off in my room and then left the house again.

I have another younger brother, Kyle. He's thirteen and since my dad took on more hours at the hospital about five ago, when I was Kyle's age, I've been sort of like a dad to him. I go to his games and help him with his homework. I even play catch with him when he wants to.

I'm not complaining, I love my brother, but I just think that my dad should really be the one doing all of that. Whatever, it's something I can't really change. My dad's a doctor and he's really busy.

I arrived at Kyle's game and took my seat with all of the parents in the stands. I was one of three people in the stands, but it was early. I heard my name.

"Sam!"

I turned and saw Kyle walking over to the stands. I got up and went to hug him. I'm pretty tall, and Kyle is kind of short for his age, so his arms wrapped around my midsection.

"Ready for your game, kid?" I asked.

"I'm not a kid," he responded sharply.

I smiled. "No, you're certainly not. It's just an expression."

"Right, anyway. Of course I'm ready. We've been practicing for weeks."

Kyle's coach blew his whistle and Kyle shook my hand and ran to join his team. I joined the parents on the bleachers. There were now significantly more parents and spectators than when I left the bleachers.

The refs blew their whistles and the game started. The game went back and forth for what seemed like hours, but was really only one, ended with the score at 3-2. This was not in favor of Kyle's team. But at least Kyle did a great job, scoring one of his teams two goals.

After the game, he came walking to me, slouching as he walked. I patted him on the back. I didn't say anything. I couldn't think of anything that wasn't super cheesy and really worn out to say to him to cheer him up.

*                      *                      *

Ty, AJ, and I walked out of the car and were immediately hit with the loud music of the lake party. Stone Lake was a small town, but we knew how to throw a killer party. They were always full of bass thumping music, beer that could actually pass for good, and tons of hot guys. Say what you want about Stone Lake, but there are tons of hot guys. Unfortunately for me, not one is openly gay and I have the worst gaydar in the world.

When we got there, I met up with my best friend Cordelia, or Delia as she prefers. Call her Cordelia, and she'll kill you. Anyway, Delia is this tall and gorgeous brunette with dark eyes and an hourglass figure. If only I was straight. I would totally go for her. She's pretty fucking gorgeous. But, then again, she doesn't dress like she is. She covers up about ninety-nine percent of her body with baddy clothes. Jeans that are usually pretty dark and T-shirt that are usually pretty bright fill her closet. She also has an array of piercings on both ears; five on her right and four on her left. She wears multi-colored bracelets and necklaces every day and they usually match her earrings.

"I can't believe we actually come to these things. I can't believe there isn't something more...stimulating happening on the first day of summer," she said sitting on a rock. I sat next to her on the floor. We both had beers in plastic red cups in our hands.

"Why do you come if you're just going to complain?" I asked. "Come on," I said, getting up. "Let's dance."

"Oh shit Sullivan. If you weren't my best friend, I'd be blushing."

I took her by the hand and we started to dance to the bass heavy music. The only light in the whole area came from scattered torches, so it was pretty dark. I was starting to enjoy myself, until Delia started to grind on me. I didn't want to push her away. I didn't want to take a chance on offending her. But I was saved when I started to hear a scuffle. I looked over and noticed that Tyler was right in the middle of it. Typical Tyler, but hey, this time he's done more than just get into some stupid trouble. He's saved me from a really embarrassing moment.

I excused myself from Delia and ran over to Tyler. I pulled him out of the fight he was in. It was between him and Kevin Hartley; a baseball jock. Did I mention a super hot baseball jock with curly brown hair and muscles that seemed to rip out of his shirt? Tyler would've certainly gotten his ass kicked.

"Fuck you! Don't you say a word about him!" Ty was yelling as I pulled him away. He was still throwing his fists into the air, trying to get away from me.

Kevin was just smiling as I pulled Tyler away. He walked away as soon as I got Tyler calmed down.

"What the fuck, Tyler? What are you doing?" I asked, sort of furious that he killed my buzz.

"Nothing, let's just leave."

"But we've only been here for ten minutes," I said.

"Fuck this shit. This party sucks anyway," said Ty.

AJ came jogging into the crowd we were in. Asking about what happened. Neither of us said anything to him. I mentioned that we were leaving and the three of us just walked out of the party.

The drive home was silent with Tyler in the front passenger seat. Not even the radio was on. I thought about asking him why he was fighting, but he still seemed really pissed off so I decided against it.

We got home to a sleeping house, except for dad who wasn't home yet. I had my own room and so did Tyler, but Alex and Kyle have to share a room. That's something I don't envy, especially with my sexual dilemma. How would I have explored my likes and dislikes with one of my brothers in my room with me. I would have for sure been pushed out of the closet by now.

I fell asleep worrying about Tyler. I've never seen him so angry before. It was big, but I didn't know what. And who was the "him" that he was talking about? It all baffled me. I didn't get to sleep until probably about two am, because I heard my dad walking carefully through the hallway. That night, I dreamed of a simpler life. That's all I wanted, or at least someone that I could talk to about everything.