In Safe Hands - 11. Chapter 11

In Safe Hands
by Riley Jericho

Chapter Eleven

It was the most beautiful of mornings down on the beach. A light breeze blew, enough to make it comfortable, without stirring up the dry sand. Wherever waves came from, they’d missed the boat that day and the water was still enough for Natty to paddle in, though not so exciting for the boys, with few crashing rollers to jump.

After the previous evening’s conflict, Elliott had slept like a log, waking early feeling energetic and expectant for what the day might bring. Sam had been uncharacteristically quiet over breakfast but, as they drove their usual route down to the beach, he was quickly getting back to his normal, irrepressible self.

Down on the sands, everyone was in a good mood. Natty was splashing in and out of the shallows, filling her bucket with water for the moat around her castle. She didn’t seem at all discouraged by the discovery that, every time she returned, the previous bucket’s load had sunk away! To make up for the lack of action in the surf, Elliott and Miguel had decided to bury Sam.

A normal family on holiday, it was as typical as it got!

“Mind his face, Miguel!” warned Isabella Ortiz as, from the comfort of their deck chairs, she and the other three watched the internment with amusement. Sam took it well and shook his face to dislodge the sand that Miguel, bending over and rapidly scooping sand and pushing it back behind him, had deposited there.

Miguel looked back between his legs towards the adults, and grinned. “Sorry.”

“Bad boy!” Elliott sniggered, walking by and finding it quite easy to smack him, playfully, on his protruding bottom. A few minutes later, all that was left was Sam’s disembodied head. Everyone was looking at him and laughing with delight.

The centre of attention again, Sam loved it!

"I'm throwing Elliott out!" the head unexpectedly declared to Miguel. "He snores!" All four adults laughed, though only half of them had any clue what Sam was talking about.

"Just ignore him," grinned Elliott. Taking Natty’s discarded bucket, he placed it over the head.

“Help…” squeaked a rather lost voice.

“Elliott – take it off…” commanded his mom evenly, though she was grinning too.

“Sam!” squealed Natty. She came running across and started banging the large bucket with her spade. “Come back!”

Within a few moments, Rose Carter was almost crying with laughter. She knew she had Elliott to thank for turning around the nasty situation of the previous night. What would this morning have been like if they’d all come down here brooding and angry? Not like this, for sure.

“OK, Elliott, we should probably let him out now,” decided his dad finally, and Elliott complied, lifting the bucket to reveal the flushed and grinning face.

"Anyway, what Sam meant – and if it's alright with you,” said Elliott, turning to Miguel, “and with your mom and dad,” he added looking over to Miguel’s parents, “is that I was wondering if I might bunk up in your place for a few days. Anything to escape this little sand worm! What d'ya think...?"

Miguel bit his lower lip, thoughtfully. "I dunno. Does he really snore Sam?"

The sand worm sniggered. "Awful! I'll give you a euro if ya take him!"

"It'll have to be two," countered Miguel.

"DEAL!"

"It's a yes then,” grinned Miguel finally after getting a small nod from his mum. “We can pull in the mattress from the spare room when we get back this afternoon, if you want?"

“Are you sure that it’s okay with you to put up with Elliott like this?” Rose quietly asked Isabella.

“Of course it is Rosa – and it will be more fun for the boys, don’t you think? Elliott spends most of his time up with us anyway, and I’ll make sure they don’t stay up till all hours.”

And so it was decided. What really surprised Sam was, some days later towards the end of the holiday, Elliott and Miguel pooled their cash and paid up!

“HOLA!”

Elliott turned to see the familiar figures of Alejandro and Estela coming down the beach. The lanky teen was wearing his usual red shorts and Estela her black two-piece, but still surprisingly demure, bikini. It was covered up with a nice colorful sarong. He waved. Miguel was a little less enthusiastic, but still greeted the pair as they approached.

“Hello again, Alejandro,“ welcomed Rose, recognising the boy. She wondered who the girl was, but got her answer soon enough.

“Mom this is Estela, we’re going to her…errr…oops…” Elliott faltered.

Estela laughed. “You’re coming to my birthday party this evening, is what I hope you were going to say Elliott – and what did you do to Sam?” All eyes turned back to the disembodied head, which grinned back.

“What time do they need to be there Estela? It’s at your house, I assume?” Isabella didn’t expect it would be too early – this WAS Spain of after all!

“My friends are coming for anytime after eight, Senora Ortiz,” replied Estela, before turning back to Elliott and Miguel. “It’s going to be a pool party, so you should bring a towel, and swim things to change into if you want to go in the water. There’ll be plenty of food, so don’t fill up before you arrive.”

‘We’ll be there!” said Elliott enthusiastically.

Estela smiled, but with that smile, she felt a slight twinge of... something. Regret? What she hadn’t admitted to either Alejandro, or even herself up until then, was that she quite liked Elliott too. He was intelligent and well travelled, yet played volleyball better than all of them. OK, he was a bit shy, but there was nothing wrong with that…actually she quite liked it. Maybe Ale would be right and Elliott liked guys. But if he didn’t…well…

She shook her head. She was being as ridiculous as Alejandro, who interrupted her musings. “We just came down to tell you that everyone is up at the nets.” His eyes were on Elliott. “But they’re not free yet. We were planning on going over the road to the café for a while. Well, we wondered if you wanted to come?”

“Dad – can I have some money?”

“If you take Sam with you, yes.”

Elliott pretended to look horrified, but he didn’t mind really. Not today. Not when he had a room swap to arrange and then a party to go to! He examined the worm. “I dunno. You drive a hard bargain,” he sniggered. “Come on then, worm-boy…” He leaned over his brother, planted his feet on either side and drove his hands into the mound of sand covering him. Finding two wrists, he grabbed them and heaved. The vast heap of sand flowed off Sam as his body reappeared.

If Miguel hadn’t been a little distracted, he would have probably been quite uptight about where Alejandro’s gaze was fixed during this operation, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

Elliott wanted to bunk in with him in his room; tonight and, presumably, for the rest of the time they were here. He wished that that were more days than it was. He’d kept the elation out of his face when Elli had suggested it, but it still bubbled underneath. They would get the spare mattress and put it on the floor – even better, why not bring in the whole bed? It wasn’t much bigger. They might have to move the room around a bit, but that didn’t matter; they’d be able to talk and…and…and…shit, the whole idea made him as nervous as hell!

Sam ducked into the water to wash off the clinging sand, while Elliott pulled on his new, cream, beach shorts. After a moment, Miguel did the same. Benedict Carter started rummaging in his wallet and, on cue, Manny Ortiz reached for his too.

“No need - I’ve got it, Manny.” Benedict extracted a ten-euro note and, as a generous afterthought, added another five. “If there’s change, I’d love to see it!” He was being hopeful as his eldest son snatched the notes from his outstretched hand.

“Benedict Carter – last of the big spenders,” Rose teased, but he took it well as the parents watched the five kids began to make their way up the beach. "Elliott, watch Sam when you cross the road please," she called after them.

Elliott turned and waved in acknowledgment, though it was a good thing she didn’t hear what her youngest muttered. As the group moved on through the sea of bodies, they observed the girl, Estela, insert herself between Miguel and Elliott and snake an arm comfortably around each waist.

“Oh – God help us!” groaned Benedict theatrically, earning a laugh and a silent prayer from the rest of them.

“Pretty girl though, don’t you think?” mused Rose as the youngsters disappeared into the forest of parasols. She lost sight of Sam’s new red speedos as he padded behind them.

How she quite got there, Elliott couldn’t quite figure but, before they knew it, Estela had her arms around both him and Miguel. The spaces between the parasols narrowed and the pathway with it. She held onto Miguel and let go of him, allowing him to drop behind to where Alejandro and Sam were trailing. He found himself walking alongside Alejandro as they stepped up off the sand and onto the long wooden walkway that extended some distance from the promenade. To their right, the volleyball nets, where they still hoped to play, were busy.

“So – have you been having a good holiday here?” Alejandro asked, trying to kick start some conversation.

“Really good – yes.”

“Nice…”

Nice, fretted Alejandro. Is that the best you can do? He berated himself and tried again. "Those shorts are cool. Did you get them yesterday, too?"

Ahead, with her head turned towards the nets and an ear on the conversation behind, Estela squirmed at the unwieldy exchange.

“So, do you think you might all you come back again?” added Alejandro, trying his best. What the hell is wrong with you, he muttered silently. Act normally!

Ahead, Miguel, still walking with Estela was straining his ears too. Elliott shrugged. “Back here to Spain, you mean? Probably not – I mean we’re going back to the States soon. It would be a long way for everyone to travel."

Alejandro hid his disappointment. The States? He'd never been much further than Malaga/ How the hell would he EVER get the chance, or the money, to go somewhere like that? The seconds ticked and with them his silly stupid little infatuation began to sink into oblivion. He stared at the boards and just kept putting one foot in front of the other.

“I might though,” beamed Elliott, glancing towards Alejandro, oblivious to the carnage he was creating. It was just his nature to be nice. "Come back, I mean. I doubt we’ll all come back, but I might I really like it here. I've made friends - some really good friends. I think I'd want to come back if I could," he added again. His shy, but beaming, smile caught Alejandro full on, and slaughtered him.

"I'm coming too," put in Sam from behind, breaking the moment, but also giving Miguel an opportunity to turn to join the conversation. "If you come back Sam, you can stay at our place for sure!" said Miguel, feeling he had to say SOMETHING.

"There you go," laughed Alejandro. "If Sam's with Miguel, then you're always welcome to stay with us, if you want, Elliott. It's not a big place, but there's always room for friends!"

For Elliott, it wasn't something he would even consider. If he came back, it would be to stay with Miguel. End of. But, just to be polite, he still smiled nicely and nodded. "Sure - sounds great!"

By the steps, on the wide promenade, most of the rest of the usual gang were already waiting. The beachfront road was busy, filled with cars cruising for non-existent spaces. Like most southern European countries, the concept of formal crossing points or rules didn’t fit well with the culture and, one by one, the teens darted through the traffic to make it to the other side. Estela kept her eye on Sam, even though Elliott had completely forgotten – which Sam was quite happy about, and offered him her hand – which he was even more happy about!

Safely gathered on the far side, Elliott assumed they would go straight into the place opposite - one of the many extended pavement cafes, set all along the promenade. There was certainly plenty of space in it. However, the group turned and walked fifty metres along to the right, to get to where they seemed intent on heading. To him it seemed a bad call, as the cafe they came to was jam-packed, serving tourists and locals alike with a mixture of late breakfasts, early lunches and midmorning coffees.

"Emilio!" Estela called to a waiter as the entourage began to thread their way through the busy, closely packed, tables. "Can you get us some tables and more chairs? There's..." She did a quick head count."...eleven of us!"

Elliott was a bit shocked. He'd never dare make demands like that!

The waiter could only find two small tables, and the group wandered around, scooping up any unused chairs they could find, pushing the limits of the barrier to squeeze into the top corner, nearest the sea. Juggling the chairs together as best they could, Sam plonked himself down in the most central seat. Elliott slid in next to him, to try to keep him out of trouble. Next to him, Alejandro pulled in his own chair.

“Budge along a bit, Ale,” demanded Miguel, quickly pushing part of his chair into the space between Elliot and the Spanish teen.

Alejandro froze, and his eyes flicked to Elliott uncertainly. He wanted to say ‘piss off, I’m sitting next to Elliott’. But, they all knew he was gay and would guess the obvious. He would just get ribbed – and worse, Elliott would get it too. His eyes locked with Miguel’s, who stared back stonily. Why did it always seem that Miguel was out to give him a hard time with the American kid – excluding him and putting him down all the time? Wasn’t he good enough? Or was he just so dirty that he might contaminate the fair-haired guy? Feeling powerless, he dropped his gaze. He shrugged, pulled his chair along and backed out of the way.

Sam grabbed for a menu and scanned it quickly. “I want THIS!” he demanded, pointing to an enormous ice-cream sundae that would take much more than half their money.

Elliott scanned the menu too, and shook his head. “You can’t have it, sorry. The money has to go equally around the three of us. It’s only fair.” Sam screwed his face up but, to his credit, successfully appeared to make a stupendous effort NOT to tell everyone what a complete and utter GIT Elliott was.

Estela, who was seated directly across, picked up a spare menu too. “As you’re visitors and it’s your first time here – and it’s my birthday and I can do what I like – you two guys are on the house. The usual 50% off for everyone else.”

“YEAH!” cried Sam. Clearly he had no idea why he was getting it free and probably didn’t care anyway. Elliott, on the other hand, was confused.

Estela came to his rescue. “It’s one of the perks when your father owns the place.” She smiled demurely. “When I’m here with the guys, my dad let’s them have a 50% discount too.”

“Oh – thanks,” said Elliott still struggling to grapple with it. “But we’ve got some money…we…”

“Keep it,” interrupted Estela easily. “My treat.”

“No, don’t keep it,” pleaded Miguel. “Give it to me!”

“OK, guys, who wants what?” A voice behind Elliott boomed as he searched his pockets for the euro notes for Miguel. He twisted his head up to see the helpful waiter staring down at him amiably. “You must be Elliott!” the waiter noted. “Estela talks about you all the time!”

The majority burst out laughing and Estela went slightly pink. Talk about being blindsided, Elliott had no idea what was going on and floundered in deep water. How the hell did this waiter know who he was?

“This is my brother, Emilio, Elliott. You can totally ignore anything he says!” said Estela getting her composure back.

“I’m Sam,” beamed Sam. “I’m Elliott’s brother!”

“NO!” laughed Emilio lifting up a thick lock of the same long blond hair, from each sibling. “Who would have guessed!”

Sam giggled, entranced by the older teen, but Elliott flushed uncomfortably, awkward with this kind of attention.

“Okay Emilio, leave them alone and take our orders like a good boy…and put these two on our tab, can you? I’ll square it with dad later.”

“Your wish is my command, my Princess!” Emilio declared, bowing slightly. She rolled her eyes and they started adding to the order.

Sam got his ice-cream, though Elliott felt awkward that somebody else was paying and settled for an inexpensive coke to balance it. The breeze had dropped and it began to get sultry as the group exchanged news and talked about the upcoming party. Elliott didn’t say much, but was enjoying himself thoroughly. He had Miguel on one side and, on the other, he watched quite fondly as, much to everyone’s amusement, Sam got up to his usual antics and made himself the centre of attention.

Twenty minutes later, the friends returned to the volleyball courts to try to get a game.

* * *

“YEEAAHHH!” shouted Elliott excitedly, as they forced another point.

It was such a good match and everyone was riveted. Sam had trotted back down the beach some time ago and left Elliott and the others to play. They divided into slightly different teams of five apiece. Elliott was with Miguel as normal, but they also Hugo and his girlfriend Yasmin, as well as Alejandro.

Even though Miguel was down to his speedos, he himself had been a little too self-conscious to slip out of his shorts to show off his new ones. Despite that, he was into his stride and, as they played furiously, he and Alejandro were making up for the others.

Normally they would win easily, but Yasmin wasn’t much good and Miguel seemed all over the place too that morning. Alejandro had just saved them, yet again, and pulled it level. Taking a deep feed that Elliott had gathered inches from the ground, at a diving stretch, he’d used his height to smash the ball down into the opposing court. He grinned and his eyes glinted with pleasure at the high-five Elliott gave him.

Elliott was then a little surprised when that high-five hand followed through and unexpectedly made contact with his backside in passing. He turned and smiled—slightly awkwardly—at the more confidant teen, before taking his place at the back of the court once more.

“I think he likes you!” insinuated Yasmin, rather bitchily and loud enough that everyone—at least on their side of the net—could hear.

The team faltered.

“Yasmin!” warned Hugo. He looked quite embarrassed. “Don’t..!”

She shrugged. Say it how it was, was her motto. On top of that, she’d never really got over the fact that Hugo had been with Alejandro before her, even though the three of them were the only ones who knew about that.

They got back to the game. And lost abysmally.

Alejandro was all over the place, Elliott lost focus as he tried to make sense of what Yasmin had meant, and the final, desperate shot of the match - Miguel's - went completely the wrong direction! While those on the other side of the net celebrated, they stood alone, dejected by the breakdown and their sudden defeat.

Waiting a few minutes for the other team to enjoy their victory without it looking like he was sulking, Miguel suggested to Elliott they should go back to their parents.

"A rematch?" called Estela from the other side of the net before they could move.

"Not for us," returned Miguel. "We should be getting back down to the others. I’m not sure when they plan to leave today." Not completely honest, but it would do.

Estela looked disappointed and ducked under the net. "We'll see you tonight though, right?"

Elliott grinned. "Sure thing. We wouldn't miss it, would we Miguel!" He waited for Miguel to gather his stuff.

Satisfied, she nodded. "What about four on four," she called out to the remainder.

"I should go too," Alejandro muttered. "Got a few things to do..."

Estela bit her lip. She knew he wasn't right and, being close enough to the net to hear Yasmin's snide comment, suspected why. But what could she really do about it?

Miguel and Elliott made to leave but, as he turned, that hard-coded part of Elliott that needed to keep a team together by encouragement and consensus kicked in. He called across to Alejandro. "Better luck next time, hey, Ale? It's a pity we lost - we almost had them at one point - but you played great!”

From where he was standing, looking quite low, Alejandro smiled - a small spark of something returned to his eyes.

* * *

“Hello you two. Good game?” Rose Carter looked up as Elliott and Miguel returned and started by raiding the drinks cooler.

Elliott shrugged. “We lost…but it was okay.” He left it at that.

After taking a long swing at one of the cooled bottles, Miguel searched his pockets. “Here’s your money, Senor Carter. And thank you.” He pulled out over thirteen euros in change.

“You didn’t spend much!” Benedict noted, taking and then counting the change in surprise.

“Oh - Estela paid for us,” explained Elliott in-between gulps.

His mom sat up. “Estela paid? You shouldn’t have let her do that!”

‘I tried, honestly, but she wouldn’t let us. She paid for me and for Sam too, because she said we were visitors. I tried to pay our bit, but she wouldn’t let us.”

“Estela’s father owns the cafeteria, I believe,” put in Manny Ortiz in support. Elliott nodded vigorously.

“Well then, you should take that money and go and buy her a present for tonight,” Rose decided before Benedict managed to squirrel it away again.

In the end, Manny got some cash out too, and the boys were endowed with €20 to get a card and a gift, from both of them. When everything was packed up some time later, and they were ready to return to the apartments, Miguel and Elliott decided they would walk up through the market to try to find something.

* * *

“Crikey, it’s hot today!”

Having just watched the two cars depart, Elliott stood on the pavement, glad of the wide brimmed straw boater he’d bought on the first time he and Miguel had walked this route. The air was still and oppressive and, turning, Miguel looked out to sea to where a bank of ominous clouds was hovering near the horizon.

“Hope they stay over there,” he murmured. He turned back in time to catch Elliott emptying the only bottle of water that had been left in the cooler. “Hey! Leave some for me.”

Wiping his mouth, Elliott handed it over.

He took a swig and asked, “Should we get a card?”

“I dunno,” said Elliott, taking the bottle back and drinking most of the remainder. “Do people expect cards here?”

He shrugged. “Forget the card – she won’t really care anyway. Let’s have a look in the market – or we could always go into a store and buy some smelly stuff?”

“Do you know anything about girl’s perfume?”

When it came down to it, not a thing. Miguel grinned “No – not really. Hell, this is harder than it looks!”

Elliott chuckled. Then he paused before saying, “Miguel...”

“What?” He took the bottle back and finished it off. “If you’re thinking what I think you are, then yes. If we can find one, I AM going to put this in a bin.”

Elliott smiled. “No, that wasn’t it, but there’s one just over there.” They walked passed it and Miguel tossed the plastic into the correct container. Elliott continued. “About me coming up and sleeping over in your room. You don’t mind do you?”

Now that he’d had time to think about it, Miguel was rather more sure about this. He’d been elated at first, but then worried, thinking of all the pitfalls of such an arrangement. For God’s sake, he’d finally commanded himself, he’s only staying on a mattress in your room! It’s no different from the hours they hung out together there anyway. You’re not planning to jump him are you? Of course he wasn’t. Never. EVER! Only a stupid bastard would do something like that! Sleeping in the same room with another guy did have its complications though. Oten he woke up with a boner. Hell, all guys probably did. If Elliott noticed, well, so what…he wouldn’t let it worry him.

“Course I don’t mind! It’ll be great – we should have thought about it days ago!”

Elliott nodded as, shoulder to shoulder, the pair made their way up through the centre of town, and on into the familiar jumble of colorful stalls that made up the outdoor market.

“Miguel…?”

Miguel as paused at a stall that sold a variety of handmade leather items. He looked up “Yep? Have you seen these, by the way," he added, fingering his way through a basket that contained a range of different ornate leather wristbands.

Elliott came to look. He seemed to like them enough that he began trying on different ones. “What did Yasmin mean?’ Elliott asked again.

"About what?" Inside Miguel froze, though tried to stay nonchalant, continuing to shuffle leather bracelets in the large tub. “What do you mean?” he murmured, though he knew exactly what Elliott was referring to.

“I really like this one,” Elliott lifted out a simple, hessian-coloured leather band. “If I had some money, I’d get it,” he added wistfully. For a bit of leather, they weren’t cheap. He put it down and glanced again at Miguel enquiringly. “Yasmin. What she said…you know…about Alejandro…”

Even in the roasting heat, Miguel felt cold.

No – not like this. Not now.

He picked up a wristband, the exact partner of the one Elliott was holding; buying time as he examined it.

“So?” prodded Elliott.

So, Miguel repeated silently, staring at the ornately woven leather, without really seeing it.

Perhaps this would be where it all ended? They would still share a room - there could be no going back on that now - but he would lie there n the dark hiding the tears and shame if Elliott responded to what he couldn't help but tell him. In his head, he could already hear the cry of disbelief. 'Alejando is gay? A queer?’ Elliott would be beside himself with derision. ‘Fuck, that's disgusting! He touched me earlier on the court too...did you see that? That's so fucking gross. What a perv. How do you guys put up with it?' He would play along - he'd have to, just for appearances - laughing and sounding horrified. Inside, lying alone in the dark, he would have shriveled, just waiting for the days to pass, until he could be alone again.

"Do you want that? I'll give you a special price for the pair..." intruded the hopeful stallholder.

Miguel shook his head, dropped it and turned away, motioning for Elliott to follow him.

"Sorry - I guess you didn't know. Alejandro is gay."

There, it was done. Hard though it was, it was the right thing to do, and there was no turning back from it now.

He wanted to stop and study Elliott's expression; look into his face and try to get some sense of his reaction, but instead they just kept walking. There was silence for such an excruciatingly long time, that he almost screamed.

"Oh..." murmured Elliott quietly.

'Oh.' Was that it?

"Did he tell you?” Elliott ventured at last. “Does everyone else know too?".

"Estela told me, but I don't think it's a secret." There was a long silence again, and, during it, they walked out of the top end of the market. He was bursting and broke the silence. "Does it bother you?"

Under the shade of his straw hat, Elliott's neck prickled. "I dunno," he said without making eye contact. "Does it bother you?"

Yes, but not for the reason you think.

He shrugged. "Not really."

Elliott paused and looked around. The market was fifty metres behind them. "Perhaps we should go back. To look for a present I mean."

"Oh. Right."

"Do you know many people like that? Guys that like other guys, I mean," ventured Elliott again as they turned and retraced their steps.

Miguel shook his head and lied.

"Does it matter, do you think?" Elliott persisted.

"Matter? I dunno - in what way?" It mattered to him!

Elliott seemed to be trying to organise his thoughts, but then shrugged. "I dunno - it doesn't matter."

He couldn't help it, and smiled.

"What?" said Elliott, looking perplexed.

"First you ask if it matters, and then it doesn't matter. Make you're mind up, for goodness sake!"

Elliott saw the funny side of it and giggled as they both came out of the stupour that had consumed them. "Come on, it's getting late,” he sniggered. “Lunch will be soon. I’m getting hungry and we haven't found anything for Estela yet!"

In the end they decided on some matching jewellery. Blood red eardrops, and a single stone on an exquisite, gold, neck chain. Miguel knew the colour was right, though it took all their money, bargained down from €28, to get them.

“It's all we have, and it's for a beautiful girl,” Miguel finally said, putting €20 down. “Take it or leave it,” The trader reluctantly accepted the amount for the set and, as he wrapped up their purchase, the two of them looked back down the street and out towards the sea. Those dark, yellowish-grey clouds out over the horizon, were gathering – still distant, but pushing steadily towards them.

Trapped between the mountains and the sea, a storm was advancing on this small Spanish town. Building slowly, it would hit all too soon.