Out Of The Closet - 7. Chapter 7: Summer Without Cody :(

June 24 2019

Summers for Toby and I were never as relaxed as we wanted them to be. We always had activities to keep us busy, so at least I was never bored during summer like some teens are in cities. We took our final ACT and SAT tests last week to have for college applications in fall. And we were taking the last bit of driver’s ed at the local DMV this summer. Well, the last bit for me. Toby still will have 6 more weeks to make up after this summer. He’s way busier than I am in summer and at school with band stuff to deal with. Band stuff didn’t start until mid-July so he had half of summer to get some other stuff done on top of our karate sessions on Saturdays. Toby and I are going for our black belts this summer. We’ve been doing Karate since we were in fourth grade. We currently have brown belts that we got last summer and have earned betts together growing up. This summer, I am also thinking about getting a job, since I won’t have Cody to hang out with. He’s my best friend and my boyfriend and I haven’t missed him this much EVER. Why does he have to be so far away in freaking Montana?! No one lives up there anyways except bears, buffaloes, and moose. Anywho, today was a Monday and we didn’t have anything going on. I had applied over the weekend at the video game store in our tiny ass town and waiting to hear back from Nathaniel, the manager who I know from buying stuff from his store over the years.

Anyways, today, I was relaxing by the pool at the country club working on my tan. Toby was in the pool playing with his girlfriend, Madison. The pool was fairly crowded despite Jasper County only having a few thousand people. I heard giggling and noticed some preteen girls staring at me. Ughh… I rolled over onto my stomach to ignore them. Girls are so annoying, especially the younger ones who drool all over me like they never saw a teen boy before. I took a long sip of water and jumped into the pool to cool off. Most of the people here were in elementary school or the parents of those kids. One or two of the lifeguards I recognized from school. I swam over towards Toby and Madison, swimming under some kids.

“Hey, Oliver,” Madison smiled. I waved back with a smile, and pushed the bangs out of my face.

“Get outta here, bro. I’m hanging with my girl.” Toby scoffed and shoved me playfully. “I’m not as hot as you, and you’re making me look bad.” I flexed my arms and that earned a chuckle out of Madison as Toby tried to tackle me in the water.

“Fine, I’ll leave you alone,” I scoffed and swam to the other end of the pool. This would be a hundred times more fun with Cody. I should be teaching him how to swim so we can hang out at the pool more often!

I climbed out of the water and went to get a hot dog to eat for lunch and I sat back at my chair and I tried to avoid getting ketchup on my green and grey striped shorts as I got a text from Cody. We tried to video call once a week and I got texts from him from time to time. I sent him a quick shirtless picture of me in my swim shorts and he replied with a hot sweaty face emoji, which made my cheeks flush. He was on lunch break and was telling me about the goats he was herding, milking, and taking care of all morning. There was another guy in the background in some of the goat pics. He looked a bit older than us, maybe 18 or 19. Cody said his name is Dawson and also works on the ranch. Dawson made me a little jealous. He’s way better looking than me, and Cody might fall in love with this Dawson dude. UGH!!

After spending a large chunk of the day at the pool, Madison drove us home and Toby and her began preparing for their weekly DnD session that started up earlier this month. Meanwhile, I was preparing dinner while Mom and Dad relaxed in the living room watching the news. I made a lot for dinner since Toby’s nerdy friends will need to eat too.

Logan was one of the first people over and helped Toby set up. My freakout a couple months ago meant I wasn’t playing DnD. Some of it seems fun but it’s too much thinking, math. and nerdiness for my liking. I didn’t talk to him much, and it was awkward as hell when I brought food down to him and Toby in the basement. They had a pretty cool looking setup going for the game. Toby really gets into this stuff and it turns out well for him even if I don’t get any of it. “Thanks, bro,” Toby said, grabbing a plate of food: roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and stir-fried vegetables.

“Toby, you have the enemies set up on the board, right?” Logan asked,putting his hands on his hips.

“Yup,” my brother nodded. “Madison, Clara, Dustin, and Richard will be here soon.”

“I’ll leave y’all to it,” I smirked and walked up the stairs out of the basement. I sat with my parents in the living room while waiting for my food to settle before going to my room to grab my basketball. I put on my sneakers, and headed out to the driveway to shoot some hoops. After a while, I started getting sweaty from the summer night air and my shirt came off as I continued practicing basketball.

“Hey, cutie,” Logan’s voice said as he came outside.

“Cutie…” I smirked. “Aren’t you supposed to be playing with my brother?”

“We’re taking a break,” Logan responded.

“Uh huh,” I shot a free throw and it bounced on the rim a bit before sinking in. “So why are you out here? You haven’t exactly been friendly for months…” I dribbled the basketball a bit.

“Wow, Ollie. So hostile,” he scoffed before I bounced the basketball to him. He caught it and blushed.

“You’ve been a jerk to me and Cody for months so sorry for being a little cautious,” I said as I watched Logan miss a shot.

“Speaking of Cody,” Logan began as I caught the ball that bounced off the backboard. “You saw his Instagram post right?”

“Naw. I haven’t checked Instagram today. I keep getting inappropriate snaps from girls trying to rizz me up.” I dribbled the ball between my legs a few times before setting it down. Logan laughed as I walked over to one of the outer window sills near the driveway and grabbed my Pear Phone XT that was playing my music. I logged into Instagram and went to Cody’s profile, ignoring the numerous thirst traps in my notifs from the slutty girls at our school. Cody’s latest post was a thirst trap I was much more interested in, and gave it a like immediately. Seeing him shirtless in a river, buff, and a little tanned was starting to make my cock twitch. He was growing out his hair too, and was kinda shaggy looking like mine except the color of course. GOD, I miss this blond hunk so much! I need him back! I’m gonna go crazy. In the background, I saw Dawson too. UGH why is he shirtless too? Were they on some river date? Is he rizzing my Cody away from me?! Not on my watch! “Oh my God…. Cody’s got another guy!”

“I figured you’d want to see it,” Logan shook his head. “I gotta get back to the game.”

“Thanks for telling me.” I nodded as Logan returned inside the house. I quickly screenshotted the post and texted it to Cody, asking him “What the fuck is this? Who is Dawson?! WHY IS HE HOT?! And why are you hanging out with him so much?! — Love Oliver <3”. I then pocketed my phone, grabbed my shirt and ran inside and upstairs to my room where I shut the door, locked it, and collapsed onto my bed, not caring that I was quite sweaty. I threw my phone to the floor not wanting to see any texts from Cody right now. I heard a knock on my door. “Who is it?” I growled.

“It’s mom. What’s wrong, baby? And why is this door locked?”

“It’s Cody. He found another hot boyfriend in Montana!”

“Well, look on the bright side. Maybe you can get a girlfriend now.”

“Mommm!” I whined. “You know I don’t like girls at all! Toby can give you grandkids cause I know you and dad are obsessed about that!” I took a deep breath. “Just leave me alone!”

“Alright, baby. I made some cassava cake downstairs if you want some.”

“Save some for me. I’ll eat it tomorrow,” I sniffled.

“You don’t want some tonight?” she asked, concerned. “It’s your favorite dessert.”

“I’m not really in the mood. Sorry, mom.” I rolled over onto my side to get comfy for sleep.

July 17 2019

I was playing Pirate101 on my laptop in the basement den waiting for my laundry to finish. I had been in a pretty foul mood lately since I made a fool of myself nearly a month ago jumping to wild conclusions about Cody cheating on me with Dawson. Dawson’s actually his COUSIN. That really upset Cody and he’s been giving me the silent treatment since. All my apology texts have been unread. “There you are,” I heard Toby come down the stairs. “Dude! Why aren’t you dressed?” I looked down. I was in nothing but a loose pair of boxers.

“Today was laundry day. And I’m finishing up this dungeon in Mooshu,” I responded. “What do you want?”

“We’re going over to Logan’s birthday party. He’s turned 17 today.”

“Go without me, I guess.” I sighed. “Logan and I aren’t exactly on good terms.”

“Dude come on. He’s been our best friend for, like, 6 years. Besides, there’ll be cake there.”

“I don’t care. Logan’s an asshole.” I sighed and focused back on my game. I’d have to be careful not to lose this tough battle. Would be pretty embarrassing if I did lose, being a tanky buccaneer. “UGH finally I won!” I sighed when my character took down the final boss with a Blade Storm.

“Oliver, just get some clothes on and come over. I’m going over now, okay?” I nodded and went up to my room where I grabbed a polo shirt and some cargo shorts. I’m only going cause Toby cares a lot about this. I gelled up my hair and put on my slides before making my way next door. All of Logan’s friends from school were here for the party. Most of them were from the theater department, so they were a bit outside of my small social circle.

“Hola, Oliver, glad you could make it.” Rosa, Logan’s mom, greeted me. “There’s fajitas on the back patio if you’re hungry.”

“Thanks,” I smiled at the middle aged woman. “Have you seen Toby?”

“No, sweetie, but go eat, por favor.”

I greeted some friends outside as I got a fajita, some rice, and some black beans on a paper plate to eat. The food was good as usual. I missed the simpler times when I’d hang out with Logan all day, eat a bunch of food, and have a fun sleepover playing video games in the basement without all this awkward junk ever since I came out. When I finished my food, I spotted Logan talking to his friends by the large juniper tree. I figured I would at least tell him happy birthday. I walked down to the juniper tree that my friends and I spent a lot of time climbing and hanging out in the shade of.

Logan was talking to one of his friends. “Heck yeah, Oliver’s too fucking dense to…” the friend said.

“Dude…..” Logan pointed at me. My mouth dropped open. Logan’s friend turned around.

“Oliver… I…” Logan’s friend stuttered.

“Just….. Shut up!” I hissed. I’ve been called stupid before because of my dyslexia and poor grades in school, but it gets old after a while.

“Ollie, there you are,” Logan raised his hands in surrender. “I just want to talk to you… alone.”

“Um, okay…” I blushed and began following him to his bedroom. On the way, we met Toby, who was helping out in the kitchen getting the cake ready.

“You’re good?” Toby asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “If he tries anything, his face is highly punchable.” Logan grimaced. I followed Logan to his room and Logan sat on the bed. “So…?” I asked after a minute of silence.

“Look… Oliver. I’m really sorry about everything. I—” Logan stuttered. “I love you Oliver.”

“You have a real fucked up way of showing it….” I said.”You know that?”

“I kept it a secret for years. Tobes was the only one who knew. Don’t get mad at him, I made him swear to not tell you.”

“I get that,” I nodded. “But why did you become such a jerk the last six months?”

“When you came out. I was so happy. I thought we could be together. But you liked Cody instead of me.” Logan paused again. “I really fucked up though. You and Cody are my best friends along with Tobes.” Logan took a deep breath. “I was jealous of Cody for getting you, the one I’ve wanted since I was 13, and I was mad at you.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Okay.” I brushed bangs out of my eyes. “Well now Cody’s giving me the silent treatment. You tore apart our friend group. All because of your stupid jealousy?”

“Yes.” Logan leaned in and kissed me on the lips. Geez, that actually was a good kiss.

I grabbed his shoulders and kissed him again. “There. You got a kiss from me. Happy birthday, Logan. Now you can get over that revenge jealousy thing and just be friends with me again.” Logan’s hands went up to his now bleeding nose. His face was as red as a cherry. He ran to the bathroom to clean up.

August 10 2019

Toby and I were in the basement training for our black belt test coming up next week. The test consists of some pretty intense exercise and demonstrating the advanced level techniques. Thankfully, I’ve had basketball and baseball to keep me fit. We were practicing kicks when we heard the doorbell upstairs. “I’ll get it,” Toby volunteered and I nodded. I grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from my face. “Oliver! Get up here!” Toby called for me.

I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs, not caring I was in nothing but my karate pants. “Oh, God…” I muttered under my breath as I saw Logan at the door. “Why are you here?” I saw Logan’s eyes glance over my bare chest and abs. “Hey, stop it!”

“Don’t worry about me.” Logan rolled his eyes. “I got all that out of me last month. I got to kiss you at least once and I think that’s enough for me. Anyways, I need your help.”

“With what?” I scoffed.

“My parents are making me sign up for a school sport this year,” Logan rolled his eyes. “And I need your help picking something.”

“Wow… Uh…” I shrugged. “You’re not really fit for sports. You’re even skinnier than Toby here.”

“Hey!” My twin brother pouted and I laughed.

“Well he’s not as buff as you but he’s clearly fit enough for a karate black belt,” Logan shrugged.

“Well the two school sanctioned sports I could see you doing are wrestling or golf. If it didn’t have to be a school sport then I’d just say to do karate at the dojo.”

“Oh man. I haven’t done that since 7th grade,” Logan laughed. “I think I got my yellow belt and then stopped. But, yeah, maybe I’ll try golf. Wrestling’s not for me.”

“Why not?” Toby asked. He had participated in wrestling for a bit before we started high school.

“Getting tangled up with sweaty guys in tight uniforms would be a little too… stimulating for my gay brain.” Logan and I laughed. It took a moment for Toby to catch on.

“Well, I guess you’re trying out for golf then.” I sighed. “Come on, bro. We need to practice the Dancing Dragon Kick…”

“We trained enough today. I wanna help Logan learn golf.” Toby smiled.”We can go to the country club.”

“Ugh fine. I might just hang by the pool though. Watching golf is boring as HELL”

My dad ended up taking us to the country club since he wanted to golf as well. My dad is a veteran so he gets discount golf anyways. I had a pair of board shorts, a tank top, and flip flops on for going to the pool while they played 9 holes of golf. Unfortunately, the pool was closed because some kid puked in the pool earlier in the day, so I had to tag along with the other three.

“Are you sure you’ve never played golf before?” Toby asked Logan after the hispanic boy got his third birdie in a row. Logan shook his head. I guess he's a natural at something athletic after all. On the same holes, Toby had gotten triple bogeys and I probably wouldn’t have done much better. I played golf once when I was 15 and I sucked really bad at it. I opened my phone and checked for any messages from Cody. I had sent a dozen messages over the last month and a half and no response…

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