A couple hours later, Derek got bored with playing video games. "Let's go swimming."
"I don't even have a suit here." I said. "And I'm not skinny dipping with you. Not after last time."
Derek laughed. "I forgot about that. You got burnt to a crisp."
"Because stupid Shelly gave me sunscreen that was SPF 10. My ass was so sore, I couldn't sit on it for a week without wanting to cry."
"Well, lucky for you, I'm always prepared." Derek got up from his gaming chair and ran into his walk-in closet. He returned with a pair of swim trunks I recognized. He'd bought them for me years ago to leave at his house so that I never had an excuse to say no, which I was prone to doing. "Now you can keep your precious lily white cheeks as pasty as ever."
With a groan of dismay, I heaved myself out of my chair and stalked over to snatch the shorts from his hand. I changed in his bathroom, lathering on plenty of sunscreen. I came out just as he was leaving the closet wearing his own trunks.
I followed him downstairs into the kitchen, where he started mixing up margaritas using his father's most expensive tequila.
He scooped his finger through the concoction and tasted it. "We should invite some people over. Have a low-key party."
I sat on the stool at the counter, watching him adjust the mixture. "What people? We're the only two even in town right now. Everybody else is off having lives in better places."
"Shelly's in town."
"How do you know?"
"I saw her arriving at the barbecue when I was leaving with Brittany." He poured more tequila into the blender before starting it up again. "I didn't speak to her, but it was definitely her. I mean, how many people do you know with electric blue hair on only half their head?"
She had hair on more than half of her head. In the last picture I saw of her she just had the one side buzzed up to where she used to part her hair, back when her mother could still forbid her from cutting it all off with threats of taking away her phone.
I wondered why she hadn't called me. We used to be very close. Almost as close as me and Derek. She started off as a third wheel, but quickly became our missing link. Our third musketeer.
"Call her." I said.
"I already did when you were changing. I messaged Brittany, too."
"Thanks for the heads up."
"I knew you'd say yes." He gave a slight shrug, not at all apologetic. "You should call your man. Get him over here."
I picked up my phone and did just that.
"Hey, sexy." Elian said. "I was just thinking about you."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
As Derek started up the blender again, I stuffed my finger in my ear and walked into the living room for some peace.
"What is that awful sound?"
"Derek's making margaritas."
"Sounds yummy."
"Want to come get one?"
"Are you sure? I thought you wanted to hang out with him, just you guys. For old time's sake or whatever."
"I did. And we did. But now he wants to have people over. I was hoping you could be one of them."
"I'm not really big into parties. Unlike you, Rave King."
"It's not a party. It's just a few people. You can meet my other best friend. You'd love her."
"Is that the one you said used to roll joints for you?"
"The one and only."
The phone crackled as he sighed. "Okay. Send me the address. I'm on my way."
"Oh, hey, bring a swimsuit. It's kind of a pool party."
"Jesus! I must really like you."
That made me smile. "See you in a bit."
Derek walked into the room, holding the blender pitcher in his hand. "Come on."
I sent the address to Elian and jogged over to Derek.
As we passed through the kitchen, I noticed the tequila bottle was empty. Derek poured the contents of the pitcher into a crystal punch bowl, which he hefted in both arms. "Grab the door for me."
I hurried ahead of him and opened the French doors to the brick terrace. He set the bowl on their outdoor dining table before scooping out a glassful for himself, and one for me. He handed it over and knocked our plastic cups together.
"Your mom is gonna kill you if she sees you using that punch bowl." I said, taking a sip of my drink. It burned my throat. I had to cough. He really didn't skimp on the alcohol.
"That's hardly the biggest reason she's gonna have for wanting me dead. School, the band, the fucking a guy." He ticked each one off on his hand. "Take your pick."
"Come on, now. Your mom is not homophobic."
"Please! My parents go to church like three times a week. Do you really think they actually like gay people?"
"I've never heard them say anything against gay people."
"Because they're polite. But don't mistake it, dude." He poked me in the chest to punctuate each of his words. "Polite and supportive are not the same thing."
I definitely needed a drink after hearing all of that. I gulped down nearly half of my cup and let Derek refill it.
I always thought our town was more or less accepting. I never really took the time to consider if it was all a facade to keep up that small town charm aesthetic that everyone around here seemed addicted to. It actually made me sad to think there were people I knew like that.
Derek shook his head. "Whatever. I learned to tune them out years ago. I just don't give a crap anymore. And neither should you." He patted my shoulder. "I'll be right back."
Derek took a sip of his drink and set his cup down. He ran around the pool and ducked into the pool house for a moment, returning with the giant inflatable swan that he gifted to his mother five years ago for Mother's Day. When she abandoned the poor thing to the back of a closet in its box, Derek and I rescued him and named him Salvador. I don't know why.
He tossed Salvador into the pool and returned to fetch his drink. The doorbell chimed. A second later, Derek's phone did as well.
"Shelly's here." he told me. He went over to the intercom and said, "Door's open."
"Hey," he said, lowering his voice. "Can you not mention the bi thing to Shelly or anyone? I just don't want to have to think about that anymore today."
"Of course."
A moment later, Shelly burst through the back door in lemon colored shorts and a tank top that read, "I'm Here, I'm Queer. F*ck Off If You Can't Deal With It." It was punctuated with a hand flipping the bird in place of an exclamation point. Her blue hair was much brighter in person than the photo I saw. The color looked great against her copper skin.
When she saw me, she ran up and threw her long arms around me, squeezing with impressive force. I'd forgotten that she was almost as tall as meâa sore spot for her when we were growing up. "You stupid fucker. I've missed you so much."
A short, stout girl stood at the door, holding her arms in front of her, eyeing everyone anxiously. Her cheeks burned bright pink.
Shelly waved the girl over. The girl slowly walked forward, standing very close to Shelly. Shelly wrapped her arm around the girl. "Nathalie, this is Testicle One and Testicle Two. Also known as Derek and Steven. Dick wads, this is my girlfriend, Nathalie."
"It's nice to meet you." I said.
"You, too." Her voice was so high, but also very soft. Quite the opposite of Shelly's brash, brassy tone.
"Care for a drink, ladies?" Derek waved to the punch bowl. "Help yourselves. It's made with the good stuff."
Shelly scoffed. "What in your house isn't 'the good stuff?'"
"Excellent point, Shell." He raised his glass to her.
My phone buzzed on the table. I went to pick it up. Elian had arrived.
Rather than yell at him through the intercom as Derek had, I slipped inside and rushed to open the front door for him. He was also sporting a tank top, though his had no writing. He also wore bright pink shorts. He lifted the sunglasses off his eyes, resting them on top of his head before moving in for a quick kiss.
I noticed Brittany getting out of her car, primping her platinum hair, so I waited for her to get to the door before leading the way to the party. I slipped my hand into Elian's as we walked onto the terrace.
Brittany immediately ran to Derek, throwing her spray-tanned arms around his neck and planting an inappropriately graphic kiss on him. It looked like her entire tongue went into his mouth. She squealed in delight when he grabbed her butt and lifted her off her feet.
"Bitch face!" Shelly yelled from the other side of the pool where she and Nathalie sat, their legs dangling in the water.
Brittany jerked back from Derek, staring daggers at Shelly. "Who are you calling a bitch?"
"Him." Shelly pointed at me. She beckoned me over.
I tucked my arm around Elian and led him to the other side of the pool. I introduced him to the girls.
"Damn, bitch face, you really set the bar high for your first time out."
I looked over at Elian, who met my eyes. The sunlight made the golden flecks stand out. I smiled at him. "I did pretty good, huh?"
"I think I'm the lucky one." Elian brushed his hand across my cheek, which grew hot after receiving such a compliment.
"Shelly was our rock in high school." I said, pivoting the attention away from me.
Shelly leaned back and tilted her face toward the sun. "Those two chuckle-fucks would've been lost without me."
I couldn't disagree. "She pushed Derek to embrace his hedonistic tendencies, and she helped me to stay true to myself, even when I got scared."
Shelly shook her head and stared at me with a single brow arched. "I don't know why you worried so much about people picking on you. You might be the gentlest, sweetest guy I've ever met, but you were the tallest boy in our class until tenth grade when Danny Diaz shot up five inches out of nowhere. Plus, you're built like a linebacker."
Elian rubbed his fingertips up and down between my shoulder blades, giving me chills. He whispered, "A very sexy linebacker."
I couldn't help but blush. I'd never had the couple experience in front of my friends. Even Shelly had her fair share of girlfriends. For some reason, we had a very large lesbian presence in our school.
Other than myself, Michael, and Terrence, there were no openly gay male students. Although a few came out after moving away. Maybe they'd experienced the bullying and prejudice that I'd somehow evaded all these years. Perhaps it was like Shelly said, I avoided it because I was a tall guy with broad shoulders and a deep voice that no one wanted to mess with. I also kind of have a resting bitch face, hence Shelly's lovely nickname for me.
"Although, there was that one time with Quentin Porter." Shelly said. "Remember, Steve?"
I nodded.
"What happened?" Elian asked.
"It was the first time I ever painted my nails at the pharmacy." I glanced down at my current pastel duckling yellow polish. "Shelly came in and saw it, and she convinced me not to clean it off before school the next day. I waffled about it all night, but when I showed up with my hot pink nails, she got the biggest smile on her face, and it made me so happy."
Shelly jumped in, taking over the story: "Then that asshole Quentin came up and grabbed his hand and lifted it up to show everyone." Shelly gritted her teeth. The muscles in her jaw tightened. "He said, 'Look at Malibu Barbie over here with her pretty pink nails. Are you getting all dolled up for your date with Ken? Is he gonna give it to you real good, sweetheart?'"
Elian let out a guttural grunt. He sounded sickened. He clung tighter to my side. "What did you do?"
"I pulled my hand back and walked away."
"You didn't say anything?" He almost sounded offended.
I rolled my eyes, sighing. "I didn't give a fuck about what Quentin Porter thought of me. He was a crackhead with teeth like corn."
"I was not so forgiving." Shelly said.
"What'd you do?" Elian asked, enthralled.
I was also curious. I didn't know she'd done anything.
"I told the principal I saw him smoking a glass pipe and pretended I didn't know what it was." She looked at Elian. "Now, back then I had this long silky brown hair, and I could really work the cute, Bambi doe-eyed thing. They searched his locker and found his crack pipe hidden in a pencil case. He got expelled. Then he ended up in jail a few months later for armed robbery at a gas station."
Maybe Shelly was the reason nobody ever bothered me at school. That incident with Quentin happened only a few months after I came out.
Shelly and Elian switched to discussing lighter topics. Like their majors. Derek ran screaming toward the pool. He jumped off the edge and tucked himself into a ball as he sailed through the air and crashed through the surface of the water with a tremendous splash that caught us all to varying degrees. Shelly got the worst of it.
When Derek surfaced, laughing, Shelly stood up. "I'm gonna kill you." She dove in, headed straight toward him, a torpedo slicing through the water with incredible speed.
Nathalie got up and shuffled back to the patio to refill her drink, leaving Elian and me on our own.
"Well, since we're already wet." Elian shrugged and stripped off his shirt, tossing it onto a lounge chair. He held a hand out to me. "You jump, I jump, Jack."
I took his hand. "Does that make you Rose in this scenario?"
Elian cracked a smile. "Are you asking because you want to draw me like one of your French girls?"
I cracked up. "If I could, I would totally draw you. Alas, I can barely draw a stick figure."
"Well, we can always skip the drawing part and jump straight to the steamy backseat hookup."
I pressed my body against his, enjoying the feel of his warm skin on mine. "I like the sound of that."
Elian hung his free arm around my neck, pulling me in for a slow, lingering kiss.
I broke the kiss, which was getting too steamy for a crowd. "I'm pretty sure I'm more of a Rose than you are." I joked, trying to dilute the sexual tension between us. Now was not the time for that.
Elian laughed in disbelief. "Please! I'm so the Rose."
Derek screamed for help as Shelly dunked him under the water with a warrior yell to make Xena proud.
I shook my head, ignoring them. "But I'm the innocent, sheltered ingenue with alabaster skin, completely inexperienced in life and love." I reached up to stroke his cheek. "Until I met a gorgeous rogue who taught me the ways of the world and took my virtue."
"A gorgeous rogue, huh? I can deal with that." He nodded thoughtfully. "But I don't like the taking your virtue part. That implies I stole it or something."
"You're right." My arms snaked around him and held him tight. I leaned my forehead against his. "I gave it freely and wholeheartedly."
"And I gratefully accepted." Elian gave me a series of small kisses.
That urge to tell him I loved him cropped up again, but I didn't want the first time I said it to have an audience, even if they weren't paying us any attention.