Spring Break Cruise

Spring Break Cruise (4)

--TUESDAY: DAY FOUR--

Tuesday was the first day that we were finally going to arrive anywhere. Specifically, St. Maarten. My Mom eventually agreed to let me spend the day with Travis, Kristin and Susan. We met up at about nine o'clock and realized that we had no idea what we were going to do on the island. The girls wanted to go to the beach and I could tell Travis wasn't real excited about that idea. As luck would have it, Brad and Mark walked right by us as we were discussing our plans.

"Brad!" I said excitedly. "Can you help us?"

"Sure Andy," he said, "What's up?"

"Well," I replied. "We're going over to St. Maarten today but we don't really know what to do when we get there. We didn't sign up for any of the excursions or anything. Any advice?"

"Um, well sure," he said. "There's tons of stuff to do there. You could hike up to one of the old forts or rent snorkeling equipment. The island is only like 40 miles square or something so its really easy to get around. You might check about renting some bikes or mopeds for the day. You could tool around the whole island or go to Orient Beach. There's lots of options."

"Awesome!" said Travis. I couldn't believe how excited he looked. "I totally want to rent mopeds."

"Just remember guys," said Brad. "The island's not dangerous or anything but keep your wits about you, OK? Be careful and keep track of your belongings."

"Jeesh," I said joking. "You sound like my mother, Brad."

"Sorry, man" he said laughing. "Just doin' my job. By the way, we missed you guys last night. I saw Kristin and Susan up at The Stack but where were you two guys?"

"Oh, ya know," I said, trying not to look at Travis. "We wandered the ship a bit. Don't worry, we'll be back. C'mon guys, you ready to head?"

"Thanks Brad," Said Kristin.

"You're welcome" he replied smiling. "Have fun!"

We started walking toward the gangway.

"God," Kristin said. "Brad is really cute, dontcha think, Travis?"

She had caught him totally off guard. He looked a little startled and then quickly recovered.

"You are so right sister," he said totally hamming it up. "He could butter my bread any day." We all stopped for a moment and then burst out laughing.

The ship was docked at Philipsburg which wasn't very big. We decided we'd walk through town for a while, although looking around I wasn't sure we'd need more than about 30 minutes or so checking this place out. There were lots of stores selling jewelry and liquor--not exactly what we needed. We wandered in and out of shops, teasing and joking with one another as we went. The girls had fun looking at the jewelry while Travis kept pushing the loudest most obnoxious tropical shirts he could find on me. Somehow, I resisted his fashion advice. The town was crawling with people from our ship. At one point we ran into Susan's family so we all got introduced.

We ate some lunch and then decided to get mopeds. We found a shop that would rent to us (thanks to Kristin's Dad's Visa card) and asked for directions. The guy at the shop laughed and gave us a little map. It turns out St. Maarten pretty much has one road which makes a loop around the island, so it's kind of hard to get lost. Of course the girls wanted to go to Orient Beach which they had heard was incredible. The man at the Moped rental place looked at Travis and me and told us with excitement there was a topless section to Orient Beach.

Woo. Hoo.

Travis couldn't wait to ride the moped. It was great to see him so excited. We decided he would drive Kristin and I'd drive Susan. Travis took off and I followed. It was a little scary at first getting our balance on some hilly curvey roads, but after a little bit I pretty much got the whole moped driving thing down. A lot like riding my bike only faster. And a whole lot more fun.

The island was beautiful, green and lush. After about 30 minutes or so, we arrived at the beach. It was completely packed. You actually have to rent your beach chair at this place! Eventually we were able to find four beach chairs together. The girls immediately wanted to go in the ocean.

"C'mon," said Kristin taking off her sandals. "Don't you guys want to go swimming in the Caribbean?"

"I'm gonna wait just a bit," said Travis stretching out in his chair and smiling. "All of a sudden I feel an overwhelming urge to fall asleep."

"I'll hang here to watch our stuff," I said. "You guys have fun."

The girls ran through the white sand and headed into the water.

"So," Travis said looking over at me. "Are you enjoying your day on de island, mon?"

I laughed at his silly accent.

"Yeah mon," I replied. "Although in case you haven't noticed, it seems like most of the folks around here have a French accent."

"Oui oui," Travis answered quickly. We both sat for a while longer looking out at the gorgeous beach. Even with all the people there, it was still a pretty amazing site.

"I really had a blast last night Andy," Travis said kind of out of the blue. He was looking straight ahead.

"So did I," I said. "Hey, did your Mom say anything to you?"

"No," he replied with a sneer. "I think she had a few drinks or something when she came into the room. She didn't say a thing to me this morning even if she did remember running into us."

"Are we gonna be able to do that again tonight?" I asked

"I sure hope so. You haven't made plans with the girls, have you?"

"Nope. But you know they're going to want to go back up to The Stack."

"OK," he said. "Well, whaddya say if we meet them up there late, like 11 or so. Then between dinner and eleven we can, well, continue our studies."

"Sounds good to me," I said laughing. "It's just, what will we tell Kristin and Susan we're doing between eight and eleven?"

Travis didn't say anything for a while. I could have sworn he was staring at one of the college frat boys walking in front of us.

"We will tell them," he said slowly, as the guy finally moved out of our sight, "that we have to go to the show tonight with our folks. There. Simple."

"OK," I said. "Does he butter your bread, too?"

"Huh?" Travis said surprised.

"The guy who just walked past us," I said smiling. "The one who looked like he belonged in the Frat-Boys-R-Us catalog. The one you couldn't take your eyes off of."

Travis looked at me and then cracked a smile.

"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't help myself. By the way, how can I get that catalog? I think I might want to order something."

We both started laughing just as the girls returned. They looked tan and rested and wet and happy.

"Now what's so funny?" said Susan.

"Travis was just telling me about his favorite store," I said with a broad smile.

"What's funny about that?" said Kristin as she was drying herself off.

"Never mind," said Travis trying to get his giggles under control. "It was stupid, really. How was the water?"

"Terrific!" said Susan. "It's so clear and refreshing. And, I don't know if you noticed or not, but this place is crawling with gorgeous guys."

Once again Travis and I burst into hysterics. The girls looked at us like we were aliens from another planet.

"Whatever," said Kristin dismissively. She started applying her sun tan lotion. "Travis, could you help me," she asked handing him the sun tan lotion bottle.

Travis smiled and stuck his tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes as he carefully applied the lotion to Kristin's back.

"Ooooh," said Kristin, "You have a great touch Travis. Somebody somewhere is in store for a treat."

We stayed out at the beach for another couple of hours. Eventually Travis and I did make it into the water which was totally calm and refreshing. At about 3:30 or so we decided to head back. Travis said he wanted to go the long way back via Grand Case and Marigot. He pointed out on the map that if we did that we would have made it all the way around the island. I don't think the girls were too excited about this idea, but we all knew that Travis was still pumped up about his little moped adventure so there really wasn't much point in arguing.

The loop around actually took quite a while. Even though we were only going like 20 miles or something, we were never able to go very fast. But it was fun to see the rest of the island. If there had been more time I would have stopped at Marigot which looked a lot cooler than all the touristy stuff at Phillipsburg. By the time we got back to moped rental shop it was already five o'clock. As we walked back to the ship, Susan started talking about her plans for the evening.

"You guys," she said, "I have to go to the show tonight with my parents. They were like totally insistent that we spend time together tonight, so I'm not sure I can do anything."

Cool!

"Yeah," said Travis. "I know what you mean. My parents were sort of giving my a guilt trip about not spending more time with them this week, too." Bad Travis. Bad lying Travis.

"Well," said Kristin, "we did spend all day together. I think we can survive without seeing one another for a few hours. I might just head up to The Stack later on my own."

"What time?" said Susan.

"I dunno," replied Kristin. "Like eleven or midnight or something. I did have fun last night."

"I thought so," said Susan giggling. "You want to go and see if Ryan is back tonight don't you?"

"Mere speculation," said Kristin dramatically. "Personally, I'm just fond of the view up there."

We all laughed. I was glad Kristin had her eye on somebody.

"Well," she continued, "I guess that's the plan, then. If anyone can free themselves from their parental units and meet at The Stack tonight around midnight or eleven, have at it. Otherwise should we meet by the excursion desk again tomorrow at nine for St. Thomas?"

"Sounds great," I said. "Thanks for a fun time, guys."

"Yeah," said Susan. "This was fun."

As we got on board the ship we headed our separate ways.

"Travis," I said once the girls were gone. "Would you walk me to my cabin?"

"Of course," he said with a sly smile on his face.

I opened the door and was relieved to find that my parents and Ruthie weren't back yet.

"Cool," said Travis as he walked in. "You guys have an awesome room."

"Well," I said a little apologetically. "With the rollaway for Ruthie and the pull out couch for me Dad figured we needed the extra space of a suite. Come here."

I walked out to the verandah. Travis came up right behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned my head back against his chest and closed my eyes.

"You smell so good," he whispered, putting his nose in my hair.

"You feel so good," I said rolling my head gently against his chest.

Travis moved his head down and slowly started kissing the back of my neck. I rolled my head forward. His hands slid under my t-shirt and started rubbing my stomach. After a few moments, I turned around and faced him. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Travis," I said after a minute or two. "We can't. I mean, my parents could be here any second."

"I know," he said, planting small kisses on my neck. "I'll stop."

He didn't stop. And I didn't really want him to stop anyway.

Finally I pulled away slowly.

"We have to wait," I said.

As soon as the words came out my mouth, I heard the lock on our door click and the door burst open. Travis dropped my hand and rolled his eyes at me.

"What were you saying?" he said softly.

I laughed as I headed back into the room.

"Hey guys," I said.

"Oh!" My mom practically screamed. "You startled me, Andy!"

"I was just showing Travis our room and the Verandah," I said. "Mom, this is my friend Travis. Travis, this is my Mom."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Mitchell," said Travis politely. "Hey Mr. Mitchell!" he waved at my Dad.

"Hey Travis!" Dad replied, bringing in an armload of shopping bags.

"Oh," my Mom replied. "You must excuse me. I was just a little flustered when you guys appeared. I didn't expect anyone to be here when we got in. But it certainly is nice to finally meet you, Travis. I've heard a lot of wonderful things about you from both Andy and Mr. Mitchell."

"No need to apologize, Mrs. Mitchell," Travis said. "I was just headed out. It was wonderful meeting you. See ya, Andy."

"See ya, Travis," I said grinning from ear to ear.

"You certainly seem to be in a good mood," said my Dad. "Did you guys have fun today?"

"It was awesome!" I said, gushing. "We wandered around downtown and then we rented mopeds and went off to Orient Beach and hung out there for a while and then we tooled around the island a little longer and we just got back about five minutes ago. I had such a good time today."

"Isn't Orient Beach a nude beach," my Dad asked grinning.

"What?" my Mom perked up. "You rented motorcycles in a third world country and drove around to a nude beach??!"

"No, no" I said laughing. "There's a section of it that is topless or something and believe me, we didn't even get near there. I don't even know where it is. It was Kristin, Susan, Travis and me and trust me none of us wanted to go to the topless beach."

"No," said my Dad playfully. "If there's one place that two sixteen year old boys have no interest in, it's a topless beach in the middle of the Caribbean. That'd be the last place they'd visit I'm sure."

"Dad," I said a little annoyed. "Honestly. We didn't do anything. It was a great day."

"I'm just teasin' ya, champ," said my Dad.

We got ready for dinner and the phone rang. My Mom picked it up and said it was for me.

"Hello?" I said a little surprised.

"Hey hot stuff, it's me," said Travis.

"Whazzup?" I said.

"Um . . . well, I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you," he said kinda nervous. "My folks are totally screwed up. They made reservations for the fancy restaurant, you know, Paco or Palo or whatever the heck it's called and, well, it's like adults only. They thought we had some group activity or something tonight, which, if they'd ever bother to ask me about my life they'd know wasn't the case. But anyway, do you think, I mean would you mind asking your folks if I could join you guys at dinner?"

"No problem," I said. "Hold on. MOM! Travis and his folks got a little mixed up tonight so his parents are going to the adults only restaurant. Can he eat with us?"

"Umm I dunno honey," said Mom confused. "I mean I'd love to have Travis with us, I'm just not sure with the assigned seats . . . "

"Of course he can join us, Andy" hollered my dad from the bathroom. "I'll call the restaurant and make arrangements. Travis is always welcome at our table."

"You're in." I said into the phone.

"God I wish I had your parents," said Travis. "I'll come up to your cabin in a few minutes if that's OK."

"Perfect," I said. "I'll see you then."

"Andy," he said.

"Yeah," I replied.

"You're all I think about anymore," he said.

"Same here, Travis." I said blushing. "Now hurry up."

As promised, Dad called the restaurant and made sure there was an extra space at our table. Travis showed up minutes after I hung up and he looked awesome. He was wearing khaki shorts and a really cool, orange Caribbean shirt.

At dinner we sat with Uncle Pete, Aunt Lisa and their daughter Eliza. It was completely relaxed and fun. Mom and Dad, as usual, made Travis feel at home. And for his part, Travis charmed everyone's socks off. Especially Ruthie and Eliza when he asked them all about their day and which Disney characters they had seen on the ship so far. I was amazed at how comfortable it felt having him join our family.

We told them about our day on the island and everyone seemed very impressed with our ability to successfully complete our little moped adventure

After dessert the adults said they were going with the girls to the musical.

"Are you guys sure you don't want to join us?" asked Mom.

"Nah," I said. "We'll probably chill out for a while. Maybe check out The Stack."

"Lucky," said Dad quietly. "That sounds a whole lot better than yet another Beauty and the Beast medley."

"David!" my Mom scolded my Dad.

"Sorry, dear," he replied laughing.

Travis and I laughed. They headed off to the theater and we were once again left on our own.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked Travis.

"Oh, I dunno," he said. "I might go down to my cabin and read. Or go sit up at the pool. I suppose we could call Kristin and see what she's up to."

"Huh?" I said confused.

"You're so gullible," he said laughing. "I totally want to, ya know, pick up where we left off last night. The only question is your cabin or mine, big boy."

"Shhhh," I said laughing. "People will hear. How long do you think your parents will be gone?"

"Who the hell knows," he said disgusted. "They'll probably be gone all night. Not like they'd inform me of their plans or anything."

"Then let's go to your cabin," I said. "The show may only last an hour or so. And who knows what my folks will do with Ruthie after that."

"Hmmm." Travis said grinning. "You think we'll need more than hour, huh? I like the way you think, Mitchell."

We arrived at his room and as soon as the door was closed Travis wrapped his arms around me and kissed me hard. Still kissing, we started walking into the room. As we approached the edge of the bed, I pulled away and shoved Travis down.

"Oooh," he said. "Someone's feeling assertive tonight."

"Oh yeah," I said laughing. "And it's Mr. Assertive to you."

Travis laughed. I stood at the end of the bed and started taking my shirt off. He did the same thing, tossing it to the ground. I crawled onto the bed, holding his gaze and sliding my hands up his firm, fuzzy legs as I went. I rubbed my hands over the top of his shorts, barely brushing up against his crotch. My hands slid over the hairs on his stomach, up the center of his chest to his sexy little patch of stubble. I moved my hands apart, sending each across his pecs up into his underarms. I spread my fingers wide as I slid through the thick, silky hair and kept sliding up, stretching his arms as I went. I took his wrists and moved them above his head. We were mirror images of one another. Our arms stretched out above our heads, our eyes glued on one another.

I released his wrists and lowered my lips to his. He wrapped his arms around my back. We kissed one another slowly, passionately, tugging gently on our lips and tongues. I moved my mouth off of his and started kissing his cheeks, his chin, his neck. I slid down just a bit and put my mouth in the center of his chest, allowing my tongue to explore the rough space between his pecs. The prickly little hairs felt so cool. Travis moved his hands to the back of my head and he was continuing to pull me closer, encouraging me.

There wasn't a specific moment that I first noticed his cock. It just seemed to float into my awareness, swollen and hard under my chest, under his shorts. Without even thinking, I started moving back and forth in rhythm, pressing my whole body against his dick as he had done to me the night before.

My mouth slid over to his pecs. My tongue bathed his nipple, playing with the few, straggling hairs that surrounded it. Still gently rubbing against him, I put it in my teeth.

"Andy," Travis groaned. "Oh my God. You have to stop Andy. I'm so close I swear I could pop any second."

His hands were lifting my head off of his chest. I let his nipple go and looked up at him. He was so beautiful. His green eyes were looking down at me with such emotion. He smiled at me as his hand continued to stroke my hair. I smiled back at him.

"We'll have to see about that," I said quietly. I moved my hand slowly down his stomach to the top of his shorts. I kept looking at him as I undid the button. He was still smiling. I pulled his zipper down. My fingers were shaking a little bit. I was getting more and more nervous as we went on.

"This isn't too fast, is it?" I asked gently.

"No," he said. "And you're not doing something you don't want to are you?"

His question stopped me for a moment and I realized that I really really wanted to do this. I wanted to see his cock. I wanted to touch it. I wanted us to be totally lost in these feelings. My smile grew.

"No," I said.

I grabbed the sides of his shorts and pulled them down, throwing them on our shirts. Travis was laying there in his boxers, the firm outline of his cock jutting up and out to one side.

I put my hand on his hip and slowly slid it over the top of his dick. I felt it through the soft fabric and it felt perfect. Perfect. I slid my hands around to the sides of his boxers and pulled them off.

Travis lay naked on the bed. Everything about him was incredible. His face, his chest, his stomach, his cock, his legs--it was all one gorgeous complete whole that I couldn't get enough of. I put my hand on his stomach and slid it down through his thick mat of pubes until I grasped his dick for the first time.

It was a little smaller than mine, I guess. Not that I cared. When I wrapped my hand around it, just the head poked through the top. It was stiff and warm and yet it felt completely smooth. I started sliding my hand slowly up and down his cock. I looked up at Travis and he seemed to be lost in ecstasy. I could still feel his hand on the back of my head still encouraging me to move forward, to keep going.

I put my head down on his chest, staring at his perfect, hard dick. I moved my hand up and down faster as Travis was groaning in the background. I could hear his breathing increase, I could feel his heart pumping. His hand was pulling the hair on my head.

"Andy," he said, "Andy, I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come."

He shot three perfect arcs of come up into the air. One shot so far it landed on my cheek and nose, the rest landing right in front of me on his stomach. To watch him explode was the most amazing thing I had ever seen before. I was practically ready to burst myself after watching Travis do that. I held onto his dick as it continued to ooze more and more of his come over my thumb and into his pubes. I felt his come slide down my face.

I slid my head up to his face. Travis moved his arms a bit and pulled me up close to him. He started licking his own come off of my face.

"Sorry about the mess," he said giggling between licks.

I nestled my head next to his and closed my eyes as he continued to kiss and lick my face.

"Andy," he finally said. "That was incredible. You were so amazing. I can't believe what just happened."

"I hope it was OK," I said quietly.

"OK?" he said. "OK? It was great. You were great. You are great. Oh God Andy, I can't begin to tell you how happy I am right now. And not just because we . . . or I. . . not just because of the mess on your face. I am completely unable to describe how wonderful you make me feel."

He pulled me in close and held me for the longest time.

Then, softly, I heard him sniffling, as if he was starting to cry.

"Travis? Travis?" I said. "Are you OK? What's wrong?."

"Nothing's wrong," he said with a shaky voice. "I'm fine, really."

"Travis," I said. "You're not fine. Tell me what's wrong. Did I do something? Tell me so we can fix it."

He blubbered out a wave of tears. I held him and waited.

"That's just it, Andy," he said. "We can't fix it. There's nothing we can do to fix it."

"Travis, I don't understand. I'm confused. Tell me what's wrong."

"What's wrong is that in three days we go home." He said looking up at me, tears and panic in his eyes. "You'll go back to Chicago and I'll go back to California and it will be like this never happened.

"This week, for the first time in my life I've been completely honest. Here I can be myself, I can be with you, I can be with your family. But it's all an illusion. Everything. In three days it all stops. And I have to go back to school where . . . where I'm a choir faggot and I have to go back to my parents who could care less about me and I won't, I won't . . . " once again he had burst into tears. "and I won't see you any more."

"Oh Travis," I said tearing up myself. "It's OK. It's OK. We'll figure something out, I promise."

"Like what?" Travis still fighting back tears. "You can't change my parents. You can't change my idiot classmates and you can't move to San Diego. How can we possibly fix this?"

"Travis," I said sniffling. "I don't know how we can fix those things. I . . . I don't. But . . . look, this is not an illusion. This is real. We're here right now. You and me and all the incredible things we've felt this week are real. And just because they happened way out here in the middle of the ocean, doesn't mean they can't happen again."

"What do you mean?" Travis said wiping his eyes.

"Well," I said, "I dunno. I guess I mean it's not like we'll stop being friends in three days, right? We'll e-mail and IM and call one another, right? And. . . and maybe we'll even figure out a way to visit one another. Maybe you'll be able to find a new group of friends at school like the ones you found here.

"And who knows what could happen in the future," I said excitedly. "Maybe we'll go to the same college and then we'll live together and we'll move to Denver and you'll become a famous singer and I'll manage your career and we'll be rich and famous."

Travis looked at me and sniffled.

"Denver?" he said with the little hint of a smile on his face.

"Um," I laughed. "Why not? It's like halfway between Chicago and San Diego."

"Will we will live in an old house or a new one?" He asked quietly, resting his head on my chest.

"Old," I said. "A big, old house but with all new electrical stuff with, like, cool speakers and TVs in every room."

"What about pets?" he asked

"A cat," I said

"Nope," Travis replied. "Sorry. No cats."

"All right then," I laughed. "No pets."

"Deal," he said quietly. "No pets."

Travis pulled me closer and burrowed himself in to me.

"I'm sorry I fell apart," he said. "I guess I have a lot on my mind."

"Ya know," I said slowly. "There's this guy I know who is, well, he's totally amazing. And I am just in awe of him all the time. And he keeps telling me the same thing over and over. He says that all he ever wants from me is honesty.

"You were honest, Travis. You don't have to apologize for being honest. At least not with me. Never with me."

I kissed him on the forehead.

We stayed nestled in the bed a while longer.

"It's getting late," I said. "Your parents may be back soon. I should probably go. Are you going to be OK if I leave now?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said looking up, "but we didn't finish, I mean you didn't um . . . "

"Don't worry about that," I said smiling. "We had more important things to do tonight. Besides, I was kind of hoping you'd give me a rain check."

Travis laughed. I gave him a sloppy kiss and rolled off the bed. I threw Travis his boxers, shorts and shirt and then I looked at him and laughed.

"You probably want a towel," I said.

"Ummm," he grinned. "Yeah. That would be nice."

After we both got cleaned up and dressed he walked me to the door.

"Travis," I said, "I wish I could make things different for you at home. I wish that at least we lived closer. I really do. And I know this is totally selfish of me, but, for now, I really just want us to enjoy every day we have left. Let's not worry about the rest yet."

"I'll try," he said. "I promise."

I pulled him in close for a goodnight kiss.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPRING BREAK CRUISE January 2004

This is a story in eight parts, which are all complete and will be posted in the next few weeks in accordance with Nifty's schedule. Part eight includes more information about the songs/lyrics used in this story.

This is a work of fiction. I hope you enjoy it! Comments and critiques are welcome at: billynkyle@yahoo.com .

I have one other story posted on Nifty and if you liked this one you might check that one out. There's definitely a lot of similarities between the two stories. Unfortunately, I never posted the end to that one. (Hence, the defined time frame of this.) Anyway, it's at: http://nifty.photozero.com/nifty/gay/highschool/summer-at-the-lake/ I do have a few more chapters of that somewhere (but still no ending!) and perhaps I'll get them posted. Let me know if you'd like to see them.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial License.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0/ or send a letter to:

Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.