Gap Year - 12. Chapter 12

January 25, 2004

Hayman Island, Australia

Will

I heard footsteps, and that prompted me to push Tom away. He looked alarmed and a little offended by my abrupt gesture of rejection until he heard the voices to go with the footsteps. We started walking, and when a couple walked by us, we tried not to look sheepish. “I’m really sorry about that. That was really unprofessional,” he began to gush as soon as they were out of earshot.

“I thought it was really nice,” I said. He grinned back at me. “You know, even if you did work for me, you don’t have to fuck me.”

“What if I want to?” he asked, flirting with me, and showing me he had some game.

“Well than that certainly is a possibility,” I said, chuckling. We paused in a secluded spot and did a few more hits from my dugout, then started heading back to the beach house.

“I didn’t know if you were, if you and Connie were, I mean, if I was interfering…” he said nervously.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, more to stall for time. I had a realization flash that I had just done the same thing my father did when he was backed into a corner. I thought he’d always done that just to see how much the other person knew, but maybe some of the time he was doing what I was doing now, stalling for time.

“Come on, mate,” he said. “You two are so obviously together.” I could deny it, but I was pretty sure that would insult his intelligence, and I didn’t think I could lie that well when I was stoned.

“What gave it away?” I asked, more or less admitting he was right.

“The way you look at each other, the way you act when you’re together. You act like a couple, not two mates,” he said.

“Is it really noticeable?” I asked, completely paranoid now.

“Look, I’ve been spending the past few days with the two of you, and I was around you both when you were fucked up,” he said. “Most people aren’t going to see that, and if they do, they’re not going to see it for that long.”

“I thought I was being so careful,” I lamented.

“You probably were,” he said. “To be honest, it’s not you that gives it away, it’s Connie.”

“Seriously?” I challenged. That did not seem right. I mean, I was the dude who was out, and he was the one in the closet.

“He looks at you and treats you like he’s totally into you,” he said. “My sister would give her left tit to have her husband pay attention to her like that.”

“If she gave away her tit, he probably would pay less attention,” I joked, making him chuckle. “He’s a really sweet guy, and I’m enjoying our time together.”

“But you’re leaving soon, and you know it can’t be more,” he concluded.

“That was the line I used when I got him to go out with me on a second date,” I said.

“What?”

“He had a rule, that he only hooked up with someone once, and that was it,” I explained. “That way he didn’t get too into a dude and end up being outed.”

“That’s pretty raw,” he said, shaking his head. I let him think about it for a bit, hoping he’d be able to put his judgmental attitude aside. It worked. “Based on the way he acts around you, I can see why he would need to keep another bloke at a distance.”

“I was safe, because I was only here for a while, and he could actually have a relationship with someone without worrying I’d stalk him or some shit like that,” I said.

“I’m really sorry,” he said. I looked at him, confused. “I mean about the kiss. I didn’t mean to interfere with the two of you.”

I nodded. “I think for right now, I’m going to remember that kiss and smile, and enjoy what I have with Connie. It’s been good for me, and I think it’s good for him.”

“How is it good for you?”

“I was with this dude for a long time, and we had a very intense relationship,” I said.

“You still love him,” he accused.

“I’ll always love him,” I said. “There is so much more to us than being a couple.”

“I don’t get it,” he said, confused. I almost laughed at how my relationship with Zach was so complicated it was hard for me to understand it, much less anybody else.

“Probably because I’m stoned and not explaining it well,” I said, and chuckled with him. “He’s at college playing football, the American kind, and he’s got a hot girlfriend.”

“You think he’s really straight?” he asked.

“I think he’s gay, but he’s trying to convince himself he’s bisexual, and he’s trying to convince her he’s straight,” I said. “Until this trip, when Connie and I got together, I would agonize when he didn’t call or email me. I haven’t heard from him since I got here, and it doesn’t bother me at all.”

“So this thing with Connie helped you get over him,” he concluded.

We got back to the beach house, my cue to end this conversation. “It’s not as simple as that. Next time we’re hanging out, ask me about it again.”

“I’ll do that,” he said.

“What about you? I mean, I’ve been trying to figure out if you’re gay or straight since I met you. You don’t give much away,” I said.

“Because like Connie, I played rugby in school, only I wasn’t good like he is, so that’s where it ended,” he said sadly. “And probably like him, I’ve trained myself to look at women when I really don’t want to, and to ignore men when I want to stare at their bodies.”

“So now, if someone looks at you to see if you’re interested, all they see is a blank slate,” I said sadly.

“It’s not that bad,” he said defensively. I raised an eyebrow to challenge that argument. “I understand what he’s dealing with. I’m amazed he can handle the pressure.”

“So am I, but he’s a pretty incredible guy, so that’s probably how he does it,” I said, and realized that I was sincere, and I meant it.

“Probably,” he said. “I’m going to get cleaned up for dinner. If an opportunity comes up, I’d go for a threesome with the two of you.”

“That is fucking hot,” I said, and felt my dick start to get hard. He stared at my crotch and chuckled, then leaned in to give me another kiss, only this one was much quicker than the first one, but no less intense. I calmed myself down by calling Cecil and letting him know we’d arrived safely and thanking him again for all that he’d done.

I was about to get in the shower when Connie came strolling in carrying an envelope. “Found this taped to the door,” he said, and gave me a nice kiss.

I ran my fingers over the stationary and smiled. “This is from my grandfather. It’s his stationary.”

“Well why don’t you see what he has to say?” he asked, prompting me to stop fondling my correspondence.

I opened the envelope and pulled out a card, where the words had been written by someone who was a good calligrapher.

The Captain of the Tonto, per Mr. Stefan Schluter’s request, hereby extends an invitation to you and your party to dine aboard Mr. Schluter’s vessel this evening at 6:00 pm. No RSVP is required.

“Looks like that’s where we’re eating dinner,” I said, then looked at my watch. “Shit, we have to get ready.”

“I’ll warm up the shower,” he said, winking at me. I laid out my outfit for the evening, casual white pants with a resort shirt and a blazer, then stripped off my clothes and got under the steamy water with Connie. We had a quick but satisfying fuck, got cleaned up, then got out to get ready.

“Tom asked me if we were together,” I told him, as I was putting gel in my hair.

“What the fuck? Did you tell him?” he demanded.

“He already knew,” I said. “He said he could tell by the way we were when we were together.”

“I told you we have to be careful,” he said, blaming it all on me.

“He told me he figured it out by watching how you treated me, how awesome you were,” I said, smiling to take the sting out of it. “He told me all this after he stuck his tongue down my throat.”

He stared at me, a bit surprised. “Sounds like your walk was more interesting than my workout.”

“I told him I appreciated the awesome kiss, but I was happy with things just the way they are,” I said, and gave him a loving kiss. It bothered me that I flashed back to kissing Tom when I did.

“That’s why I treat you so well,” he said after he broke off our kiss.

“He told me that he’d be up for a threesome if we were into that,” I told him with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s an interesting proposition,” he said, grinning.

“It is, but right now we have to go visit the ship and plan our trip to the Reef,” I said. We walked out to find Tom dressed up a bit more than either of us, in that he was wearing a tie. “Lose the tie. You won’t need it.”

“The restaurant here is pretty formal,” he objected.

“It’s not that formal,” I said. “Besides, we’re not eating there.” I handed him the invitation, he read it and grinned, then ripped his tie off, cracking us up. We walked to the marina while Connie told Tom about all the equipment in the gym.

When we approached the boat, I saw one of the deckhands vanish, and by the time we got there, the Captain was waiting for us. “Welcome aboard Will,” he said with a huge grin, and when he went to shake my hand, I turned it into a brief man hug.

“Good to see you, Skip!” I replied. Skip’s wife appeared, a blonde that looked like she could be Skip’s cousin. “Good to see you too, Martina.” She’d been a model in the past, so I greeted her as if I were at a New York fashion show, with faux kisses on the cheek.

“You’ve gotten so much bigger since I last saw you,” she said, patting my cheek and making me feel like a little kid. I got out of that by introducing them to Connie and Tom.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get us underway,” Skip said. I didn’t object, and no one else did either.

“Come out here to the back deck, where we have some drinks and hors d’oeuvres for you,” Martina said. We made our way there, ignoring the commotion as lines were cast loose and the massive yacht began motoring backward, and then forward out of the marina. I glanced inside at the dining room table where there were three place settings.

“Martina, will you add two other places at the table so you and Skip can join us?” I asked.

She hesitated a bit, then smiled. “Certainly.”

“Do you think it would be alright for me to go up on the bridge?” Tom asked.

“Of course,” Martina answered. “I’ll show you the way.” They vanished, leaving Connie and me alone.

“Your world is so different than mine,” Connie said. We gazed off at the setting sun. It was hard to imagine a more beautiful or romantic sight. “Ships, suites at the best hotels, private planes…you can have anything with a snap of your fingers, and everyone will love you.” Leave it to him to kill the buzz of this idyllic scene.

“I can’t have anything I want, just most things,” I said, smiling at him. “And not everyone loves me, and the people who claim they do, I have to be careful that they’re not bullshitting me for my money.”

“Has that happened to you before?” he asked.

“Not really,” I said.

“That’s because you’re a good judge of character,” he concluded.

“I hope you’re right,” I said.

“I’m really going to miss you when you’re gone. I didn’t think I could be this happy with someone until now. And I’m not talking about all the stuff, I’m just talking about us, about the way we are together,” he said.

“I’m going to miss you too,” I said. “I’ve had relationships with guys when I was on holiday before.” I gave myself props for remembering to say ‘holiday’ instead of vacation.

“So I’m just another notch on the bedpost,” he grumbled, pretending to be annoyed.

“Hardly,” I said, and paused to give him a sensuous kiss. “There’s a guy in Italy who I was with for a couple of weeks. He’s got a boyfriend, a really nice guy, and we email about once a month keeping up with each other. We’re friends. It’s not like we’re completely out of each other’s’ lives.”

“I don’t want just an email a month from you,” he said.

“What you want, and what I want, can’t happen,” I said. “I’m starting college in September, and you start a whole new season in a few weeks. That’s why this was so perfect for us.”

“It’s not perfect if it has to end,” he said.

“It’s not an end, it’s a pause,” I said. He looked at me, confused. “You’ve got a rugby career to pursue. While you’re playing, you’re in the closet.”

“I guess it’s unfair to even ask you to put up with that,” he said.

“It’s not that I’m putting up with it, it’s just what Tom said. We’re too good together, and it’s bound to get out,” I said.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to be out and play rugby,” he said.

“Right now, you’re a rookie who, as you said it, is expendable. When you’re a well-known player, when you turn into Finchy, then maybe you can do it and blaze a trail,” I said.

“Maybe,” he said, as he pondered that.

“And maybe that will happen when I’m done with school and maybe we can try this again as a real relationship, not just a holiday fling,” I said.

“You’d want that with me? Like a real relationship?” he asked, stunned.

“I’d like to give it a try, based on the hands life deals us,” I said.

“You know, I’m still going to miss you, but what you’re telling me is that it’s not necessarily goodbye, it’s more of a see you ‘round,” he said.

“That’s what I’m telling you,” I said. He put his arm around my waist and I put my hand on his shoulder, and together we watched the sun set.

“Was that not beautiful?” Martina asked, ending our moment right as the last piece of the sun slipped below the horizon.

“It was,” I agreed.

“That is why I love being on this ship,” she said. “Dinner is ready.”

“Awesome,” I said. She led us down to the dining room and we sat at the round table. Skip joined us just after we sat down. He hated to be away from the bridge when the ship was at sea, so it was kind of fun to push him into this kind of a situation where he had to delegate command.

“So Stef had you sail all the way to Australia just so he could meet up with you?” I asked.

“Well, that was his directive, but we made the most of it on the way,” he said.

“Really?” I didn’t think there was all that much in between here and the US.

“We started out by doing a charter out of Peru to Easter Island,” he said. “First time I’ve been there. Pretty incredible.”

“I had no idea how stunning and unspoiled it would be,” Martina added.

“After that, we took a group from Chile to Tahiti, and cruised around French Polynesia. They flew home, but we were able to pick up a group from New Zealand. Did a similar cruise around Papeete, then took them home. After that, we sailed here. Got in two days ago.”

“Wow, you keep busy,” I said.

“We do,” Martina said.

“When your grandfather was threatening to sell the ship, I told him that we could do a good charter business with it, but that it would take time,” Skip explained. “Most of that has to do with reputation, and now that we’ve built that up, we get a lot of business.”

“That’s really impressive,” Tom said.

“You’ve met his grandfather?” Skip asked Tom.

“I haven’t,” Tom answered.

“When you do, then you’ll really be impressed,” Skip said, with a combination of admiration and affection in his tone.

“To Stefan,” I said, raising my glass in a toast. They all mimicked my words and we drank to the awesome man I knew and that my two Australian cohorts would meet in a few days.

“Stefan said you would probably want some American food,” Martina said, as the staff brought out dinner. “So we will start with salads, then we have beef filets we have brought just for this purpose.”

“Very cool!” I said. “Australian beef tastes a little weird to me.”

“Nothing wrong with our beef,” Connie groused, cracking me up. When the filets came out and he took a bite, he had to acknowledge they were pretty damn good.

“Now let’s talk about diving,” Skip said, and we proceeded to plot out the next few days of aquatic activities.

January 27, 2004

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Will

Today we were snorkeling, which seemed pretty pedestrian after diving for the past few days, but it was a whole different experience, and it was actually a lot more relaxing. I drifted along in the water, amazed at all the sea life around me. From the vivid coral to the multi-colored fish, this was an aquatic paradise. It was so awesome that I didn’t even mind being in the ocean and not being able to surf.

I had drifted off on my own, about 100 feet away from Connie and Tom, when I looked up and saw a very large and very fierce looking fish about twenty feet away. I knew enough about marine biology to know this was a barracuda. I stopped my movement toward it and slowly started backing away, even as its eye seemed to focus on me in a very sinister way. Its sharp teeth protruded from its mouth, reminding me of why I should be respectful and a little afraid of this fish that could seriously fuck me up. I scanned my brain, trying to call up what I knew of these things, and remembered that they were usually very territorial. I must have wandered straight into its turf. I continued to slowly back away from it, while it watched me and I watched it. After I was about fifty feet away from it, it seemed to move off a bit, and I took that as my cue to accelerate my speed and head back to the others.

As soon as I got back to where Tom and Connie were, we heard a shout from the ship, telling us to come aboard. I went back underwater, looking back to see if the fearsome barracuda had decided to charge after me, and when that didn’t happen, I looked around, wondering if there was a shark in the area. I didn’t see one of those either. I nudged Connie and Tom, and when they surfaced, I told them we had to go back aboard the ship.

“Holy shit, dude,” I said. “I came face to face with a barracuda!” I told our diving guide when we got back on board.

“Nah,” he said in his lackadaisical Australian way. “Probably a gar.”

“Dude, I know what gar looks like, and gars don’t have sharp fucking teeth like that fish did,” I said, unwilling to put up with his bullshit.

“Well then mate, you got lucky for two reasons. First, that’s a rare sight, so good on ya. Second, you got lucky because it didn’t eat you,” he said.

I shook my head and walked over to talk to Skip. “Why the recall?” I asked.

“Just got a call that Stef is landing in Hamilton soon,” he said. “We need to be there to pick him up.”

“Sounds good,” I said. I told Tom and Connie, who both looked very nervous, then we took advantage of the wonderful showers aboard this ship to clean up. Even as Connie and I were in the middle of having shower sex, I could hear and feel the engines from the ship kick up as we cleared the reef and headed for Hamilton.

I’d seen Hamilton Island from the air but sailing into the marina I realized what a beautiful place this was. There were a bunch of boats here, many of them huge, so Stef’s yacht didn’t seem out of place. The airport was adjacent to the marina. As we were docking, a large plane flew over us, making me smile.

“Big ass plane,” Tom said.

“That’s Stefan’s plane,” I told him. He and Connie just about let their mouths fall to the floor. “Good timing Skip,” I called to him up on the bridge.

“Made it just in time,” he said. That turned out to be true, since it took them about half an hour to fully dock the ship. As soon as they finished tying up the ship and putting down the gangplank, I strolled down it to the pier and waited for Stef and Grand. Tom and Connie opted to stay aboard.

A big Chevy Suburban with blacked out windows drove up and stopped next to me. The driver got out to open the door but I beat him to it, and as soon as I did, Stef jumped out. “It is so good to see you!” I said in French, and enveloped him in a big hug.

“I have missed you,” he said affectionately in the same language, and embraced me back just as warmly. I held the hug for a long time, as did he, as I gathered strength from this man who was such an icon in my life. We pulled apart and I looked at him.

“You look fabulous!” I said. He’d had some more plastic surgery done, but so far he’d managed to do it so he still seemed somewhat natural. He was wearing a light blue outfit that complimented his strawberry blonde hair perfectly.

“You are looking quite tanned, while JP and I look like pale ghosts,” he said. They did not look like pale ghosts, but he drew my attention to this other man who was such a rock in my life.

“And welcome to you as well,” I said with a big smile, and embraced him just as warmly as I’d embraced Stef.

“Things have been remarkably quiet since you’ve been gone,” he said, giving me shit and telling me he missed me at the same time.

“You’re probably boring Stef to death,” I said.

“An adventure was certainly in order,” Stef said. I followed them up the stairs where Skip and Martina were there to greet them. I glanced back and saw the driver and a couple of crewmen unloading the enormous amount of luggage Stef had brought with him, which explained the need for the Suburban.

I motioned for Connie and Tom to come over and I introduced Connie first. “This is Connie. He’s a professional rugby player,” I said.

“How nice to meet you,” Stef said, once he was done ogling him. “Rugby certainly does keep you in shape.”

“It does,” Connie responded shyly.

“JP Crampton,” Grand said, and shook Connie’s hand.

“I’ve heard so much about both of you, I feel like I’m meeting royalty,” he said.

“I think he’s calling you a queen, Stef,” I joked, and got a dirty look from him.

“He can call me whatever he wants, as long as I get to see him sunbathing without his shirt on,” Stef replied, making everyone laugh.

“And this is Tom,” I said.

“I think the planets have perfectly aligned to give me such pleasant young men on my vacation,” Stef said.

“Here it’s called a holiday,” I corrected. Stef rolled his eyes at me, while Grand introduced himself to Tom.

“Come out on the deck,” I said, and led them aft. “It’s so beautiful here.”

“It is indeed,” Grand said. I saw the driver of the Suburban looking for Stef, but I went over and signed off on the invoice for him. By the time I got back, Skip was already casting off the lines and firing up the engines.

“It was such an awesome surprise to find your ship here,” I said.

“I thought it would be convenient,” he said.

“They made us dinner the first night we were here, and we’ve been out diving and snorkeling on the Reef every day since,” I told him.

“I am not sure I am willing to get in the ocean with all those various creatures, one which will surely want to eat me,” Stef said.

“You’re so skinny they’d pass right by you,” Grand said.

“You do not appreciate my thin body?” Stef challenged.

“I did not say that,” Grand said.

I noticed something was missing, and it took me a few seconds to realize it wasn’t a thing, it was a person. “Where’s Julian?” Julian was Stef’s assistant, the guy who organized and supervised his plans much like Tom had been doing for me.

“I am hoping he is at the bottom of a well screaming out for help that will never come,” Stef spat. I raised an eyebrow and looked to Grand to explain.

“There was a falling out and Julian resigned his position,” Grand said.

“And then that little shit tried to blackmail me by threatening to write one of those tell-all books about me and my life,” Stef said. I gave Tom a knowing look, and he swallowed hard as he saw Stef’s nasty side.

“So is he going to do that?” I asked. “I’ll bet that’s one awesome read.”

“I am barely here an hour and you have already grown tiresome,” Stef said, pretending to be annoyed.

“Some gentle threats along with a nice severance package induced him to change his plans,” Grand said.

I turned to Tom and Connie. “You guys should go work on your tans,” I teased, just to get them to leave us alone for a bit.

“Good idea, mate,” Tom said. We watched as he and Connie walked over to a couple of lounge chairs and stripped off their shirts, exposing their well-defined torsos.

“They are quite attractive,” Stef said.

“Let me know when your eyes are back in your head,” I teased.

“That may not be for a while,” Stef said. “You have excellent taste in men.”

“I do,” I agreed. “Tom may be a good replacement for Julian.”

“I don’t think you should consider that until he has his shirt on,” Grand said, making us chuckle.

“Nonsense,” Stef said to Grand, then turned his attention back to me. “Why do you say that?”

“He’s been with me since we went to Uluru, and has been taking care of most of my arrangements,” I said. “We went for a walk and he told me that he liked doing that, and that he wanted to find that kind of a job.”

“Indeed?” Stef asked.

“I think he’d work out well,” I told him. “And he’s a lot less bitchy and a lot stronger than Julian.”

“That is not a hard level to beat for anyone,” Stef said with a sneer. Tom saw the three of us staring at him and Connie and leaned in and whispered something to Connie. They laughed, then they both stood up and took off their pants as well, then lay back down on the lounge chairs. It was the first time I’d seen Tom without his pants on, and like most guys these days he shaved his pubes down a lot, but they still made a really sexy light brown halo around what was a pretty big dick.

“He certainly knows how to impress during his interview,” Grand said.

“He certainly does,” I agreed. “He wants to have a threesome with me and Connie.”

Stef stared at me, and his pants began to plump up a bit, while Grand just started laughing.