Milo & Judah

Chapter 5 - Judah's First Beach Day

Judah dragged Milo across the sidewalk and down the wood plank walkway. He held onto Milo's hand all the way to the shoreline, even as they stood in the cool wet sand, awaiting the return of the swell.

As the water rolled in, rushing over their feet, halfway up their calves, Judah gasped and laughed, clutching Milo's hand tighter.

"This is amazing," Judah said, staring out at the horizon. The wind blowing off the ocean whipped his tawny hair every which way.

Milo didn't bother trying to contain his joy. He let it wash over him like the water flowing over his feet. "Yeah."

Although everything inside him screamed not to, Milo wrested his hand free of Judah's. "I'm gonna go put our stuff somewhere dry." He reached over and took the flip flops out of Judah's other hand.

As Milo turned away, Judah grabbed his arm. "Will you take this, too?" Judah stripped off his shirt and held it out.

Milo scanned Judah's body in awe. "Jesus Christ! You are unreal." Milo blurted without thinking.

An intense heat grew in Milo's face and neck. "I'm sorry. That wasn't... I didn't mean..."

Judah let out a boisterous laugh. "Glad to know all the hard work is paying off. So, you gonna take this?" He shook the shirt dangling from his outstretched hand.

Milo yanked the shirt and spun around, mumbling to himself about his stupidity. Having found a spot far enough from the water that their stuff wouldn't get wet, Milo removed the towels from his backpack and stretched them out on the sand.

He sat on his towel and watched Judah splashing through the waves. Judah beckoned him a few times, but Milo declined with a shake of his head. On the rare occasion that Milo visited the beach, he rarely swam.

"Milo!" someone called out.

Milo instantly recognized his ex-boyfriend's voice. He turned to see Hunter walking toward him, hand-in-hand with an attractive young black man, whom Milo didn't recognize.

Milo hadn't seen Hunter in a long time. Not since their high school graduation last spring. Last he'd heard Hunter was at Harvard.

Milo cursed under his breath. He hadn't expected to see Hunter. Hunter hadn't come home for Thanksgiving; Milo hoped he wouldn't be back for Christmas either.

Milo stood up and offered a tepid greeting. "How are you?"

"I'm great." Hunter looked him over. He turned to the attractive young man beside him. "Sweetie, this is Milo. The one I told you about."

The other guy examined Milo and nodded. "I'm Nicolas."

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah." Nicolas seemed uninterested.

"I thought you hated the beach, Mi." Hunter said, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes.

Milo shrugged. "People change." His words were a bit pointed. They were also the words Hunter used when he broke up with Milo three days before they graduated. Hunter's change of mind came in the form of deciding that he did not want to start college with a long distance boyfriend, even though they'd been planning for that for six months.

Milo jumped, startled by a pair of soaking wet arms that wrapped around him from behind, pulling him back against their waterlogged owner. "Hey, baby." Judah said, making Milo's heart nearly break through his chest from shock.

Judah pressed his lips to Milo's cheek. "I've been waiting for you to join me. I was starting to get lonely."

Hunter and Nicolas both gawked at the hot guy clinging to Milo.