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Riding the Waves By: Sean Roberts
-- Chapter 6 --
They had continued to study together. On the nights they had scheduled, Dylan would walk down the street from his house where he could be picked up without his parents seeing. They tried a few different coffee shops until they found one they liked.
After practice one day, Lisa asked Dylan if he wanted to study. There was a big math test coming up which everyone was having trouble with.
"There you are! I've been texting you. Can I drive you home? I thought we could go over some of the math problems together. I was supposed to study with Alice, but something's come up with her and Tyler," Lisa said to him.
"Yeah, sure." Dylan checked his phone and saw that the battery had died. He threw it back into his knapsack and forgot about it.
They went to the kitchen to get a snack, where Dylan found a note saying his parents would not be home. Dylan adopted the same, patient tone he had started using when helping Tyler with schoolwork. The sun lowered in the sky and pierced through the kitchen window as Dylan leaned towards Lisa, showing her the trick. Her mouth took on a small smile of recognition; it had clicked. She turned towards him.
"You're amazing. This would have taken me hours to figure out," she said. He was about to say you're welcome, but he felt her lips. This time he did not back away. He closed his eyes and allowed her kiss to wash over him.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I know you said that you—" Dylan interrupted her with another kiss. Dylan thought about Tyler, like he had the time before, but Tyler was spending the evening with Alice. If Tyler could see someone, why couldn't he? They stared at the books on the table after the kiss, smiling to themselves.
"Do you want to order a pizza or something?" Dylan asked.
"Sure," she replied. Dylan stood up quickly (as quickly as he could with the crutches) to call in the order.
"I think I'm all studied out," Lisa said.
"Me too. Come on." They went into the living room and settled into a couch, their lips meeting again. The doorbell suddenly rang frantically. She let him go slowly.
"They deliver quickly," she said.
"Not usually," Dylan replied. They walked slowly towards the ringing. Dylan opened the door to see Tyler wearing sandals, shorts and a t-shirt.
"You aren't answering your phone!" Tyler said as he looked over and realized that Lisa was there too. "Oh," he said, "hey Lisa."
"Hey back," she said. "What happened to Alice?"
"Alice? Oh, she's, umm—"
"What are you doing here?" Dylan interrupted firmly, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.
"I'm—well—I came to see how you—are you wearing lipstick?" Dylan glanced over at Lisa, who had turned red.
"Of course I'm not!" Dylan said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "What do you want Harris?"
"Well, if you must know, I don't want anything. Alice told me you two were studying, and, well, we're both stuck on these ridiculous math problems, and hoping that you had made some progress."
"Where's Alice then? And why didn't you call me if you couldn't reach Dylan?" Lisa asked. Dylan looked at Tyler and smiled, as if to say, good question.
"I don't know what the point of these questions are!" Tyler was flustered. He took a step backwards, and was looking daggers at Dylan. "I mean it's very simple! I just wanted to know if—"
"Yes, we got them done," Dylan said.
"Good. And it wasn't just that! I need to talk to you about, about the team," Tyler said. "And—"
"That's really all you boys think about, isn't it?" Lisa said. "Dylan, I'd better go check on Alice. Can I take a rain check on the pizza?"
"Of course," he said to her disappointedly. She went back to the kitchen to get her books; Tyler came inside the house. Lisa gave Dylan a very long kiss before she left. Almost as soon as they shut the door behind her, the doorbell rang again and Tyler's eyes lit up.
They went to sit by the pool. Dylan had lost his appetite, but Tyler piled three slices onto a place.
"Why are you here, Harris? And what if my parents were home? Speaking of which, I have no idea where they are. So can you hurry this up? Whatever this is? The last thing I want is for my dad to find you here when they aren't home."
"Alice and I really are having trouble, and I was trying to get you to come out and study with me. But apparently you had other plans. Are you and Lisa--"
"The deal was twice a week, and this isn't—"
"I know. But I need more. Can we, you know, substitute or something?"
"No. And we're not meeting up tomorrow either—I have to go get my cast off."
"Really? That's great news!" Dylan rolled his eyes. Tyler took another bite of pizza.
"I've got an idea. We have a beach house and nobody's using it this weekend. Why don't we go up there? That way we won't have to sneak around. There's a huge pool, so since you're getting your cast off, you can try the water, and you can help me study. How does that sound?"
"It sounds ridiculous. You just asked me to go away with you for the weekend."
"Lewis," Tyler said, taking another large bite of the pizza. "If the team does well, it helps us both get into college. That's why you're helping me not get kicked off."
"And I plan on continuing," Dylan said. "But that doesn't involve entire weekends."
"Lisa won't let you, huh?" Tyler made a whipping noise, and took another bite of his food.
"It's as good a reason as any," Dylan said, happy that he did not have to keep arguing. "Now can you please go? My dad's going to get pissed if he finds you here."
"Fine," Tyler said, stuffing the last bit of pizza into his mouth. At the door, he said that he would be there to pick up Dylan on Friday evening. "Just tell your parents you're staying at Ethan's, he'll cover for us." Tyler closed the door behind him before Dylan could object.
--
On Friday evening, Tyler was parked down the street as planned. Dylan walked up to the car with an overnight bag and went up to the driver's side window.
"I'm driving," Dylan said with a smile on his face.
Tyler was sitting very straight in his seat, his hands fidgeting in his lap. Dylan tore off, expertly handling the clutch. Tyler seemed to relax a bit once they left the city. Dylan opened her up on the highway. He shifted and felt the engine's growl. They made it to the beach house quickly, their hair flying in the wind from the open windows.
The house was on a cliff. A large pool was built to the edge, overlooking the ocean. Dylan could hear the waves faintly as soon as he shut off the car engine. Tyler had grocery bags in the trunk, and the boys carried everything inside together.
Dylan climbed slowly into the water, weary of his ankle, remembering the doctor telling him to take it easy. Tyler climbed in with Dylan. They stood side by side, Dylan looking down the length of the pool, thinking about his leg. It felt good to be in the water again, but he was scared. After this much time, he felt like he could not remember how to swim.
"Go for it," Tyler whispered in Dylan's ear. There was no more hesitation. Dylan pushed off with his right leg, the one that had not been broken. It had been bothering him a little while walking, but the feeling left him once he was in the water.
Dylan felt the rush of his heart responding to his muscles' demand for oxygen. He reached the end, flipped around and came back. He was swimming slowly, but it did not matter. He was back in the water, and it was just a matter of time before he built up his speed again.
He saw Tyler underneath the water, standing still, watching him. He flipped around again and went back for the other end of the pool. He swam ten laps before he stopped.
"Not bad huh?" he said, popping his head out of the water and standing beside Tyler.
"Are you kidding me Lewis? I've seen rocks swim faster than that," Tyler said, smiling at him. Dylan smiled back. "How does your leg feel?"
"It's perfect. Come on, let's go together." They pushed off; Dylan pushed himself harder. Tyler tried to catch up, but Dylan maintained the speed, back and forth each way. He had the adrenaline he needed to keep it up. He wished he had been timing this. They swam twenty laps before stopping. Tyler had another lap to swim before he was caught up, which he finished while Dylan caught his breath.
They came downstairs wearing shorts and t-shirts. Dylan started to cut up a salad while Tyler grilled the steaks. They sat down to eat outside. Tyler poured wine as the sun began to set over the horizon.
"What about math?" Dylan said. "Maybe we shouldn't be drinking?"
"It's Friday night. We'll study tomorrow," Tyler said. Dylan, euphoric from having a long swim, welcomed the break. He took a bite of his steak.
"This is good," he said, sipping his wine.
"Thanks," Tyler replied. They drank two bottles of wine as they ate. It was amazing how little they had actually spoken since they met. There were so many things to learn about each other.
Tyler opened a third bottle and they moved to the cushioned beach chairs laid out at the edge of the pool. They drank half of the glass in silence as the sun made its final descent and revealed the beauty of darkness. The sky filled with stars as the ocean's tide came in, breaking hard over the rocky shore.
"I'm sorry," Tyler said quietly, breaking the silence.
"What for?" Dylan asked.
"Everything; you know."
"Yeah, I know."
Tyler reached over and found Dylan's hand. Dylan felt a gentle touch on his fingers and his breath froze in the evening's heat. It was just a flutter of a touch but it made him gasp. He could not let his breath out. He moved his fingers, hoping Tyler was still there, and only exhaled when he felt it.
They tasted each other for the first time under the stars. The ocean never left them; the sound of the water guiding them as their tongues caressed. Tyler ran a hand down Dylan's left leg, over his knee and down to his ankle. Tyler put his fingers over the spot that had broken, and squeezed. Dylan's face changed from bliss to pure agony. He breathed deeply to deal with the pain, but did nothing to make Tyler stop.
Dylan put his hand under Tyler's shirt, feeling the other boy's stomach. He moved it higher and took Tyler's nipple between his fingers. He squeezed hard, pulling on it. Neither boy let up, but their lips met again.
Dylan could not bear it anymore. He relaxed his grip from Tyler's nipple and used his hand to grab Tyler's wrist away from his ankle.
"How did you know?" Dylan asked in between kisses.
"In the locker room that day," Tyler replied, taking Dylan's ear lobe between his lips. "I felt it too. The way you were holding me against the locker; the way you were looking at me."
Dylan grabbed a handful of Tyler's hair in a fit of pleasure. The faint moonlight traced the shape of their bodies against the backdrop of black sky. They took off each other's shirts. They had seen each other in the locker room many times, but this was different. They were nervous. They were also drunk, and their shorts came off quickly afterwards.
Tyler was being cautious, caressing Dylan just below the stomach with his fingers, not daring to move them lower. Dylan did it first, wrapping his fingers around Tyler's penis. Dylan felt the other boy collapse upon him. They were having trouble breathing; neither had ever imagined that this level of pleasure could be possible. Dylan cried out when Tyler took hold of him. They stroked each other slowly, timing themselves to the ocean's rhythm as they pleasured each other with their hands. And then there was no sound; the wave was late. There was pure silence, and anticipation for the slow wave to hit the shore. Their lips parted and they stared into each other's eyes as they exploded. The wave crashed. Dylan and Tyler did not say anything to each other after that, retreating quietly to their own bedrooms.