You and I against the World

one summer day

“Seeya later mom,” I muttered. 

“Seeya kiddo,” she responds. 

“You’re going out again?” I ask, taking in her appearance, the smell of her party perfume, as opposed to her work perfume. 

“Why else would I look fancy?” she joked. 

“Good point,” I shrug, “bye.” She handed me a twenty dollar bill without asking me where I was going. She never did. At least not before she was about to go on another date. Any other time she was a great mom, always trying to make up for dumping my dad and becoming a single parent. 

I sprinted out the door and into the moist summer night, well it was only seven thirty, but I just called it nighttime after five o’ clock. My friend Thomas had invited me to his bonfire party and insisted there would be cute guys there, knowing I was gay. 

I met Thomas last week at the skate park and when we got to talking it was like an instant connection, like we were bonded to best friends for life after just a half an hour of talking. But as soon as the butterflies started to arise in my stomach I realized he was straight, though that was nothing new for me. Just a big shut down, he was special. So that hope vanished as quickly as it had come, and I started to keep my eye open for other guys. It was just recently that I had come out, and I wanted to try dating. I’ve never dated a guy before and I’m nervous, but excited to try. 

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, reading Thomas’ name on my screen. 

“Hey bud,” I greet into the mouthpiece. 

‘Are you comin’? My brother wants to meet you,” he says, his voice slurring over the speaker and sound of peoples voices. 

“Yeah I’m coming. You never told me you had a brother!” I exclaimed.

‘Yes I did,’ he says. 

“No…you didn’t,” I insist. I would’ve known if he had. 

‘Oh well I do, haha,’ he chuckles. 

I laughed and hung up, entertained with Thomas’ ignorance. He was always getting himself into some sort of inescapable predicament, and yet he still gets away with it. It takes skill to get away from an inescapable thing. Like last week, he got caught sneaking into his girlfriend’s house, and got away with it. He somehow convinced her parents to let him stay the night and little Thomas got lucky that night. I always wondered how he could do it, lose his virginity at such a young age…I mean we’re only sixteen. To me that’s too young. Of course I wish I would do it someday, but just not someday soon. Sex has always been something special to me, and I want my first time to mean something. And I want to keep that person forever, not just give them my treasure and break up…

Oh jesus. I sound like one of those celibacy club girls who think their virginity is sacred. No, nothing like that. But I wanna make sure this person is remotely passionate, because if he's not then it's not a deal. It can't just be loveless. But it sure as hell isn't some sacred act of humanity, it's just hormones, and somewhere in there people squeeze love into the mix. I guess I have yet to find out how.

I rounded the corner at the sound of laughs and people. I had arrived at the beach and found a bunch of girls in short shorts running around playing volleyball, while their-boyfriends- I’m assuming- were sitting around the small fire pit, drinking. I studied each one first before I recognized Thomas. He stood and smiled, gesturing for me to come over. I sighed and rolled my eyes; Thomas was obviously already tipsy. 

“My bested friend in the entire world!” he announced, throwing his arm around my shoulder. I chuckled as did the rest of the guys. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, real funny!” We all laughed at his sudden snap. He was clearly the only one here who was anywhere near drunk.

“I think you need to sit down Tommy,” I laugh. I was the only one allowed to call him that. He gets pissed whenever someone else tries. It made me feel special. 

“Fine,” he grumbles. I sat down on the sand next to Thomas’ chair and waited. 

“Hi,” a boy smiled, “I’m Eli. You’re the famous Connlin that Tommy’s been talking about all night,” he says, and I smile awkwardly. He studied me as I did him, both of us ignoring the dirty look Thomas gave Eli for calling him Tommy. This must be his brother, I can see the resemblance. Blond hair, pale green/blue eyes, creamy ivory skin, and that smile…

“Oh…uh…yeah,” I chuckled nervously, “and you’re Thomas’ brother?” I question, hoping I was right. 

“Twins,” he answers, “he’s the evil one.” Eli laughs and gives me a warm smile, and I simply melt under it. God, he’s gorgeous. 

“I wish I had a twin,” I say, unable to think of anything else and his beauty messing with my body. I pulled my knees up to hide my sudden erection. Wow…two minutes and I’m already hard. Eli has to play for my team or I’ll die. 

“Not as fun as you’d think. At least I’m hotter now,” he chuckles, flipping his hair sarcastically in a gay fashion. Did he do that on purpose? No… He’s definitely gay though. I shall live.