Coming Home [Completed]

Ch. 6: The Talented Mr. Wright

The team parted ways for each to go retrieve whatever they'd need for the rest of their day from their respective houses. This would be the first opportunity Charlie had all summer to wear his new swim trunks, which fell just above the knee but felt scandalous in comparison to the longer, straighter-looking ones he was used to. The trunks he was wearing, conversely, had a bit of style to them. Charlie fretted for a moment whether his attire would be the subject of mockery by his teammates, but quickly decided to ignore that fear.

Charlie arrived at the local pool around noon seemingly just as everyone else did as well and a whole pack of them loudly made their way in together, no doubt causing some consternation for the elderly front-desk lady. Charlie had missed this, being part of a team and actually feeling some semblance of a bond with them. It made him realize he hadn't felt this type of camaraderie and companionship in years, ever since he became aware of a separation between himself and his peers. Now, though, none of that seemed to matter to his new teammates and he felt like a kid again, which technically he still was.

"You notice why I insisted that you come with us?" Jude asked, leaning over as the group was marking out territory with towels on pool chairs.

Charlie looked at Jude curiously for a moment, then the other boy pointed toward the lifeguard stand down by the other end. He noticed the lifeguard in the distance to be none other than Lucas, his hair still styled like nineties Matt Damon. In his small, tight-fitting green swim trunks he looked like him in that one beach scene The Talented Mr. Ripley, too.

"Ha! I called it!" Jude exclaimed, before turning back to whatever debate the guys were having over what to do first.

A little while later, after they'd had our fun in the pool, Charlie and his new teammates made their way to the snack shake. Charlie noticed on their way past the lifeguard stand that Lucas was nowhere to be found. He'd been sneaking glances at the boy all afternoon but had now lost track of him.

The guys monopolized a long picnic table and sent Charlie up to deliver their orders, which they joked would be the extent of their "hazing." He was fine with that, although it was a bit much for one guy to get the orders of ten others.

When he made his way up to the front of the line at the snack shack, though, he realized the hazing wasn't about a menial task but maximal embarrassment, because Lucas had traded his lifeguard duties for food service, taking the orders at the snack shack. He hadn't bothered to put a shirt on so he was still as scantily clad as before.

"Hey, man!" Charlie internally chastised himself for both the enthusiasm and straightness of his greeting.

Lucas appeared amused by Charlie's ineptitude. "Welcome to the snack shack, may I take your order...?

Did Lucas not know his name, Charlie cringed at his hubris for thinking his reputation preceded him. "Yeah, I've got a whole list just give me a sec," he got out before opening his phone and running through a rather extensive list.

"That'll be $45.50, Charlie."

"You know my name," he was so stunned it came out more as a statement than a question.

"Hard not to. I hope the guys will be reimbursing you for all this."

"Apparently, it's part of my 'hazing.'"

"Swim team usually just bleaches your hair, but I guess you already beat them to that one."

Charlie laughed a little too hard at that. The line behind him was getting annoyed, so Lucas got his drinks, and Charlie brought them back to the table as they waited on their food orders.

"How did it go with Lucas?" One of the guys asked. Charlie was terrible with names, but he was pretty sure the questioner was named Kenny.

"So y'all did know about that."

"It was Nolan's idea," Jude explained, with a pretense of defensiveness.

"Can't have our star player be mopey," Nolan said curtly, before cracking into a smile, "Nah, I'm just playing. I thought you too might vibe."

The past few minutes had been surreal for Charlie, from the relative ease he felt flirting with Lucas, in public no less, to his new teammates' support and even encouragement of said flirting. He felt like he was in some parallel universe where thousands of years of social norms were completely reversed.

"Order up, guys," Lucas announced, carrying two large trays of food, mostly fries, and burgers. "Now, remember, don't go back into the pool for thirty minutes after eating."

"Alright, mom," Jude teased.

"How's the swim team shaping up this year?" Nolan inquired. Interesting, Charlie thought, the guys seemed to actually be friendly with Lucas, not just tolerating.

"Better than y'all, I think. We had like no seniors graduating so we should make a deep run at states."

"Have you heard, Lucas?" That was Kyle, another teammate. "Mr. All-State Running Back over here's supposed to be our savior." Charlie knew by now this was a playful tease, not meant with any animosity.

"Is that so?" Lucas looked amused. "If that's the case, I hope you keep him happy. Maybe you can start by repaying him for this food."

"Me? Mooch? Never!" Jude protested.

"Judas, dear, you still owe me $10."

"I'm good for it. I'll venmo you and Charlie both right now."

"Do that. And, Charlie, maybe you can use all that money they owe you and we can do something sometime."

Charlie was gobsmacked as he watched Lucas walk back to his job, eyes glued on the boy's firm butt in those small, green trunks.

"Hate to see her go, but I love to watch her leave/but I keep her running back and forth, soccer team," Jude sing-songed off tune.

"You did not just quote 'Bedrock' to me. That shit's like a decade old, man."

"What can I say, I love the classics!" Jude exclaimed, before getting a devious smile and inquiring, "so, when can we start calling your Mr. Flintsone, Charlie?" The poor joke elicited groans from the rest of the group.

The team stayed at the pool for a while afterward. Instead of going back in the pool, they played some pick-up basketball at the court just off to the side of the pool grounds until the sun started setting. They made their way back to the pool area and Charlie scanned the whole scene for signs of Lucas, but he couldn't be located, probably on account of his shift being over.

"Did you text him yet?" Nolan inquired privately, just out of earshot of the others.

"Text who?" Charlie played dumb.

"Lucas, of course."

"I don't even have his number."

"I'll give you it if you want."

"Nah, man, that's probably too forward," Kyle interjected, the others having picked up on their conversation.

"He's probably right," Nolan conceded, "but you're mutuals on Insta, though, right?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, absentmindedly nodding.

"DM him then." Nolan's advice was met with enthusiastic approval from the group."

"I don't know... what would I even say?"

"'Let's bang," Jude offered, which was summarily rejected by everyone.

"The trick is," Nolan began, "you have to show you were paying attention, something about the money we owe you."

"Do you really think bringing you guys up will elicit any romantic feelings?"

"No, no," Kenny started, "Noles is right... I got it! Send him a screenshot of all us venmo'ing you."

"With something like 'any idea how to spend it' as the message?" Charlie asked.

"Perfect, I knew we could think of something," Jude proclaimed.

"You had nothing to do with this, dude," Nolan cut in, "but he's right. It's the perfect tone."

The guys all venmo'd Charlie, who took a screenshot, and DM'd it to Lucas with the accompanying message. Lucas soon messaged him back and they began planning a meet-up in between flirtations.