Camp Lore - 25. Chapter 25

“Got another Nate story for you,” Andy told me one afternoon.

“When did this happen?”

“Last night, after you left.”

“Still hot news,” I joked.

“Yeah – if anything about Nate is hot.”

“You must think so.”

“Nah – it’s what I said on the train – he’s interesting. Other guys’re hot.”

He just looked at me and didn’t offer a compliment. But I knew he was playing.

“Tell me your story,” I said.

“You make it sound like punishment.”

“Oh, please, Andy. Tell me your funny story.”

And we both laughed.

“He is hot, in a way,” he admitted. “He caught my attention with just a nod toward the woods as we were all dancing. A couple minutes later, he left as if to go to the bathroom, and I doubt anyone else noticed. Then I let him wait for ten minutes – as if I wasn’t going to show up. Then I simply said I was gonna knock off for the night and went after him.”

“How late was it?”

“I don’t know – I don’t keep track. When other people leave, I do, too.”

“There’s a big clock on the wall.”

“Why look at it?”

I grinned.

“Yeah – when there are so many other things to see.”

Andy admitted that.

“Anyway, when I got to the bench, he was waiting. And prepped.”

“Probably always is.”

“Let’s say he’d been helping.”

“Maybe he figured you weren’t coming and didn’t want to be disappointed.”

“He wasn’t.”

“So you say,”

“I have a way of telling.”

And we laughed again.

“Anyway, we got a little further than we did the last time.”

“How?”

“Well, when his attention was focused one place, I slipped my hands under his T-shirt. It was hanging loose.”

“And?”

“And he wiggled a bit – especially when I was feeling for sensitive places.”

“They shouldn’t’ve been hard to find.”

“Yeah – but there are a couple of places he really likes. And when I glanced up, he was smiling.”

“Not howling?”

“He has more control than that.”

“I’m surprised.”

“He has a lot of control, actually.” Andy hesitated. “And we weren’t that far into the woods. You can see the lights from Linden’s house.”

“I’m amazed the place isn’t patrolled.”

“There are usually parents around. And who else but Nate would take the risk?”

“Almost any two people?”

He grinned.

“There is that.”

Then he paused – as if to find his place in the story.

“Anyway, as I explored, he responded – even if he didn’t intend to. And when I finished – when he was leaning back, head loose, arms spread across the top of the bench – I kneeled on either side of his legs – my knees on the seat – and kissed him.”

“He was okay with that?”

Andy made me wait. Then he whistled.

“The way to that guy’s body is through his mouth.”

“So he kissed back?”

“Oh – yeah! He’s one of the best kissers I’ve known.”

Again, I waited. And I knew Andy didn’t mean to insult me. But he wasn’t thinking about me, and I shouldn’t have been, either.

“If we ever get further,” he went on. “That’s how it’s gonna start.”

I tried to picture Nate and Andy on the bench.

“So you didn’t push?” I asked.

“There wasn’t time. He had to get back to his bunk, or there’d be explaining to do.”

“I don’t think the guys really care. They expect him to roam.”

“With men, too?”

“I don’t know. They say a lot of things to each other. Nothing’s off limits when it’s good for a joke. But that might be too private.”

“Interesting.”

And he tilted my chair back and kissed me.

“You still there, Rob?” he finally had to ask.

“Yeah,” I said.

Then he managed to make me forget.

Sex with Andy was kind of casual. Though I didn’t depend on it because I knew he liked to roam, too – occasionally. And who was I to say “No?” Or completely want to.

Was I jealous of the other guys? I wasn’t sure how many there were. But I knew it was more than Nate because Andy had told me about at least one counselor.

“Easy picking,” Andy described. “He’d been after me on bunk watch. So we finally slipped into the shadows, and I let him play.”

“And?”

“No experience. Little technique. Hardly worth explaining.”

I laughed. Which was both what he wanted, and rude – but what the hell?

“You know I’m not interested in other guys,” I told him. “At least, not this summer.”

“I knew that.”

“And that’s okay?”

He seemed to consider.

“As long as you’re not really in love.”

“Andy – I aced AP bio. I know which one’s my heart.”

He laughed at that – as I intended. But what I didn’t tell him was how much I was learning from him and Nate.