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Riding the Waves By: Sean Roberts
-- Chapter 8 --
Everything went back to normal faster than expected. Tyler did not speak to Dylan at school, but they met secretly twice a week to study. Tyler even went back to making snide comments about Dylan whenever someone else was around. So in swimming against Trinity, Dylan knew that he could get back at Tyler by swimming better than Tyler could ever hope to.
Dylan took a deep breath and dove into the pool. In a burst of pleasure, he rushed forward like a bullet. The world around him slowed and his heart sped. Nobody had ever seen him swim this fast—the opposing team was knocked out of the water. When he came out, he ignored the boy from the other team struggling to get finished. He had eyes only for Tyler. He found the team captain staring at him with an expression both angry and humiliated. Though he should have been happy, Tyler had not gotten used to being upstaged. He angrily mumbled "dick" as Dylan walked past him.
Dylan's parents were preparing breakfast, and they asked why he ran off so quickly after the meet, instead of going out with his friends.
"I was planning to meet them," Dylan lied, "but when I got home I just fell asleep," he said, grabbing a strip of bacon from the plate. His mother poured him some coffee.
"How's the contract going dad?" Dylan asked. The happiness the evening before came from him beating Tyler; he wanted it to happen again.
"Very well," replied Mr. Lewis. "Speaking of which, how are you liking it here?"
"It's alright I guess."
"Well," said Mrs. Lewis. "After this one's over, your father was thinking of only accepting contracts around here, or maybe finding something permanent, so we can stay."
"I'll be at college next year anyway."
"You'll be home to visit. And I'm really enjoying the weather here." Dylan had to admit that the warmth was nice. He wanted to stay as well, despite Tyler.
"By the way Dylan, the Bennett's are coming over for dinner tonight. I can't remember if we told you," Mr. Lewis said.
"No, you didn't mention it. But I don't have plans anyway." Dylan was glad for the upcoming distraction. He went up to his bedroom and found a piece of paper. He had not thought about Jack in a while, and he stared at the handwriting, remembering his old friend. He took out his phone and called the number.
Ethan and Dylan excused themselves after dinner and drove down to the beach. They rolled and lit up the weed Dylan bought.
"So what was the deal last weekend?" Ethan asked. "Something has to have gone down; I'm not even supposed to tell Alice. And really bro, I've seen them together—Tyler tells her everything. He had covered for them both without asking questions. Dylan and Tyler had agreed on what to tell Ethan if it came up.
"It was just team stuff. And you know, because of our parents, it's a bit weird for us to be hanging out."
"Gotcha," Ethan said, taking a big hit. "So you dudes are like secret friends now?"
"Hell no," Dylan said. They both started laughing. Dylan suddenly saw a pair of hands fly around Ethan's neck. He jumped and looked over. It was Alice.
"How's it going," she said, hugging Ethan.
"Yo," Ethan said. "Come join us. Where's the tie man?" She said a more rigid hello to Dylan, who handed her the joint.
"He's parking the car. Didn't realize you guys were here."
Dylan continued looking into the darkened water, listening to the waves.
"What the fuck is he doing here?" Tyler said to Alice, pointing towards Dylan.
"I brought the weed," Dylan said with a smirk.
"And it's good," Ethan chimed in.
"Just ran into them hun," Alice said. Tyler sat down beside Alice. Dylan would have left, but he was Ethan's ride. When the first joint finished, Dylan stood up, took the second one out of his pocket, and walked down a couple of steps. He handed it directly to Tyler, looking into the boy's eyes. Tyler took it and looked away; Dylan took a walk.
Dylan went along the beach to one of the food trucks and brought everybody back cheese fries. They all thanked him, though Tyler's gratitude was somewhat inaudible. Dylan ate his fries, staring into the water and listening to the other three talk about surfing. Dylan kept himself out of the conversation, once again feeling like he did not belong.
--
Dylan effortlessly outswam Tyler during the next practice. He took his time getting into the locker room afterwards, and while the rest of the team was showering, Dylan took out his phone and pretended to be texting someone for a few minutes. Tyler came into the locker room after finishing with the Coach. He gave his usual "good practice" speech, and then went into the shower himself. Dylan put away his phone and followed him. He chose the semi-private stall just beside Tyler's; they were the only two there.
"What are you doing you perv?" Tyler asked.
"Showering. How did I do in practice today?"
"Fuck off Lewis." The stall walls came up to around their stomachs, so he was able to reach over. Dylan grabbed Lewis' arm and pulled him, hard, backwards against the stall. He grabbed Tyler's second arm, and reaching over the wall, had him pinned. He put his face close to Tyler's ear, his lips grazing Tyler's hair.
"I thought we were going to try to be nicer to each other," Dylan whispered. He saw, with no surprise, that Tyler had an erection. Tyler struggled, but Dylan was holding him firmly.
"Let go Lewis," Tyler said. "Please." Dylan stopped smiling as he heard the desperation in Tyler's voice. Tyler was not trying to fight him; he was pleading with him. He felt Tyler begin to tremble. Dylan let him go.
--
He had been so close. His lips had been right up against Tyler's ear; he could have tasted it. He could have licked it and he could have bit it. With his free hand, Dylan squeezed his own ear, remembering what it felt like when Tyler kissed him there. He stroked himself to completion, opening his eyes, seeing that he left his bedroom door ajar. Glad that neither of his parents were home, he stood up from his bed, shut it quickly and cleaned up. Dylan pulled out his books and started on his homework. He could not shake the feeling of Tyler trembling under his grip.
Dylan's mother called him down for dinner at the same moment that his phone started to ring. It was Tyler. He said he would be down in a minute and answered his phone.
"Hey Dylan," Tyler said.
"What can I do for you?"
"You know that stupid English essay we have due tomorrow? I'm completely stuck."
"I feel for you man," Dylan said, "but this isn't our day to study. Plus, you haven't been keeping up your end of the deal."
"How does assaulting me in the showers mean you're keeping up your end of the deal?"
"Guess it doesn't. Anything else I can do for you?"
"Yes. Help me with the essay. I killed that math test yesterday because of your help on the weekend. And I need to do well on this, I mean really well, to get my average up." Dylan sighed to himself.
"Fine. Come over in an hour, okay? Call when you're here, I'll sneak you in."
"Thanks Dylan. I'll see you."
When Tyler got there, Dylan's bedroom door slammed shut as he pushed Dylan up against it. He felt Tyler's hand inside his jeans, squeezing. He could not breathe; there was a lot of pain. Tyler kissed him, briefly, then grabbed his bottom lip with his teeth, tugging on the delicate flesh.
"If you ever fucking touch me again Dylan, I swear I'll rip them right off." Tyler let go of Dylan's balls as Dylan tasted blood.
Dylan was breathing heavily. He touched his fingers to his lips to feel if they were still bloody. Tyler stepped back. Dylan wiped his mouth without taking his eyes off Tyler. The boys were watching each other; sizing each other up. Dylan again remembered Tyler trembling under his touch earlier.
He lunged. He grabbed Tyler's belt and they kissed as he pulled it off. Tyler allowed himself to be pushed onto the bed. They kept their lips together as they undressed each other. They were quiet so Dylan's parents would not hear them. They lay beside each other, kissing and stroking each other slowly, their bodies covered in small beads of sweat. When they were close, they allowed their lips to part and they opened their eyes. Dylan looked into Tyler's soul as he finished him, making Tyler moan. Dylan exploded at the same time. He smelled the strong scent of a teenage boy with whom he had fallen in love. An English essay was not going to be any fun after this.
--
As Dylan walked through the corridor on his way to biology, he was getting pats on the back from the guys; the girls were looking at him and then giggling to each other. Winning again against Trinity made the school forget that they were on team Tyler and not on team Dylan. Lisa clearly did not approve of the looks he was getting from the other girls.
"Hey Dylan," she said, walking up to him in the hallway. "Come on, we're going out for lunch with Tyler and Alice."
They drove together in Dylan's car. Alice made a "nice car" comment and insisted on riding shotgun. She sent Lisa and Tyler inside to get a table and asked Dylan to take her for another spin around the block. Lisa took the odd request in her stride, but Tyler and Dylan were confused. Still, Tyler did as he was told. Dylan was about to start the car, but Alice stopped him.
"Listen, Dylan, I just wanted to say that, well, I haven't been the nicest to you. I guess nobody has, really. I know you've been spending some time with Lisa, and she really likes you. Tyler's been getting kind of distant though. We were talking and he mentioned that you've been helping him out with stuff. I thought I didn't hear him right, you know, because of how he hates your guts." She let out a tense laugh. "Except that, well, I guess that isn't true. And I asked him what it was, and he said not to worry about it." Dylan could see tears forming in her eyes. "I don't know what it is that you could be doing for him that I can't, or why he can't tell me, but if after everything you're being a friend to him ... I guess I really just wish he could tell me what's going on. I don't know why he keeps me so distant."
Dylan stared at her, flabbergasted. He could not believe that the girl who seemed to dislike him as much as Tyler did opened up and confided in him. It was more surprising that Tyler told Alice they were becoming friends. Dylan needed to change the subject and take the focus off of whatever it was that he and Tyler were doing together.
"Alice, you have friends, right?"
"What?"
"You have friends, other than Tyler, right? Who you talk to?"
"Yeah, of course. What does that have to do with Tyler?"
"Well, I'm sure you don't tell Tyler everything you tell your friends. And it's not because you're hiding stuff from him; it's just because. He really does care about you. Umm, from what I can see anyway."
"You're right," she said, still teary. "I guess I'm just being stupid."
"Of course you're not being stupid. You're just worried about him. I guess you really like him." Dylan's heart sank when he said those words. Looking into her eyes as he spoke with her, Dylan realized it was almost unbelievably true.
"Hah. Are you sure about that?"
"I think this is a conversation you should be having with him. But what I can tell you is that you shouldn't feel stupid for caring. Just let him handle whatever's going on the way he needs to."
"Sure, yeah, I can do that. But if he would only just tell me what it is, then maybe I could help."
"You know that I can't say anything. It wouldn't be right. I mean I'm sure he'll tell you when he's ready. But trust me, you have nothing to worry about."
"Yeah. Thanks Dylan. Again, you know, after everything, you're a really sweet guy. I'm sorry for—"
"Forget it, okay? You already said sorry, and I appreciate it. I know you were doing it to support Tyler. It's all in the past."
"Thanks. Hopefully he'll come around. But you know, with our parents, things are kind of complicated."
"You're telling me," Dylan said, opening the car door. They went inside and joined their friends for pizza.
--
After school, Dylan sent Tyler a text message to meet him at their coffee shop.
"Harris, what we did yesterday, it has to stop. Don't get me wrong, I don't want it to. But it's not fair to Alice. She really likes you, you know. She talked to me about you yesterday, about how I'm helping you with something. She wanted to know what it was. I think she feels bad that you aren't telling her what's going on."
"Come on Dylan. What am I supposed to say to her? That I'm flunking out of school, and that I can't keep it in my pants when I'm around you?"
"Well, when it comes to the school stuff, you probably should tell her. About the other thing, obviously you can't tell her. But you can still end it. I don't feel right about continuing anything with us unless you do."
"You don't understand. She thinks I'm perfect--"
"I'm sure that isn't true," Dylan said.
"I don't mean it that way. It's the families, they're all happy for us. And we're both captains of the teams; Alice is super smart. There's the family businesses which might become the family business, well unless your dad fucks it all up." Dylan sighed, but let him continue. "It isn't that easy to tell her stuff like I'm flunking, or the other thing."
"I know. The situation sucks and I'm not trying to tell you what to do. We just have to call it quits."
"And by calling it quits, do you mean that you will no longer wait to assault me in the shower?"
"As long as you're amenable to not ripping off my balls."
"What's the point Dylan? I mean, there's no harm in a little fun on the side is there?"
"Again, not fair to Alice. Or to Lisa," Dylan said, suddenly realizing that Tyler was not the only one who was stopping them from being together.
"So you want me to break up with her?"
"That isn't what I'm saying. I don't know what I want from you, or where this is going. I don't want you to make any decisions because of me."
"Fuck Lewis, why do you always have to piss all over everything?"
"You know I'm right."
"You're only half right. What about Lisa? What's your plan there?"
"I don't know. I have to end it with her at some point. I can't be with her when you're around." He took a sip of his coffee, looking away to the side. "Get a tutor," Dylan said. "A private one. The only time we have to see each other is at practice, or if a bunch of us are hanging out. And even then I'll stay away from you as much as I can."
"Yeah. Sounds like a plan, Lewis," Tyler said.
"Good."
Tyler stood up and left without saying another word. Dylan waited a few minutes to make sure he would not run into Tyler in the parking lot. He drove home slowly, knowing that once he reached, he would have nothing to do with himself. He only wanted to be with Tyler. He wished he had never gone to that fucking beach house. --
They were everywhere; seemingly more so than before. Dylan felt a pang of jealousy every time he saw Alice. He pushed the feelings aside, knowing he had no right to be upset about any of it until he dealt with his own situation with Lisa. Tyler did not hire a tutor; he wanted Dylan to continue helping him. Dylan agreed, and even worse than seeing Alice everywhere was looking forward to seeing Tyler twice a week, and then feeling disappointed when they did nothing except study.
They did not slam each other into walls or use words like `fuck' seductively. They stayed as far away as possible from each other in the locker room. As Tyler had promised, he never said anything impolite to Dylan. The animosity had gone from his tone. Dylan was miserable.
Tyler was running practices differently, teaming up two people to swim against each other. He kept sticking Dylan with the slowest swimmer. This defeated the purpose of improving the weakest swimmers, because this seemed to only serve to discourage them. When they met to study, Dylan did not ask Tyler why he was doing this.
Two days before another meet with Trinity, it was the start of another practice. It almost seemed like a meet. The whole school showed up to watch. As always, Tyler seemed to want to get rid of Dylan as quickly as possible. "Lewis, Steinmore!" he called.
"My ankle's acting up," Dylan said blithely, not moving from the bench. "I'm going to have to sit this one out." Tyler shot him a look of death but moved on, re-pairing the boys exactly as Dylan knew he would, forced to leave himself out at the end. Practice was over and Dylan stood up.
"You know," he said, "I'm feeling much better. How about it Harris, you haven't had a turn. Why don't you and I do it?" Some of the students who had come to watch started to clap. Tyler apparently could not think of any way to refuse, and he nodded. They stood just beside each other, choosing to swim in the two centre lanes instead of at the ends.
"Twenty laps, Lewis."
"Make it thirty."
"Deal." Coach Baker blew the whistle and launched them. Before diving in, Tyler lifted his arms in the air, looking like some sort of injured butterfly. This resulted in Dylan getting pushed to the side, and Tyler getting a head start.
Dylan let the water wash over him. He pushed off from the wall and caught up quickly. He levelled off his speed, staying just behind Tyler for the first three laps. A quarter way back during the fourth, as Dylan brought his arm back underneath the water, he let his fingers grab the bottom of Tyler's shorts. He let go as soon as he felt the smallest tug. Tyler was forced to slow down as he adjusted his trunks.
Tyler managed to catch up and pulled a similar trick. But instead of pulling, he made sure his hand touched Dylan's leg, rubbing it up his thigh. Dylan tripped in the water, insofar as that is possible to do, inhaled some water, and his head popped up to the surface to cough and breathe. He recovered quickly. He was behind for the next two laps, but he settled back into the rhythm and caught up again.
This time, Dylan's hand landed back in the water on top of Dylan's head, pushing the boy's head down into the water. Tyler caught on and allowed himself to be flipped over. He caught Dylan with his foot on the waistband of Dylan's shorts, knocking some of the wind out of him and making him sink as well. They grabbed each other, steadying each other. They were holding each other's arms under water, staring at one other through their goggles. They could hear, faintly, the sound of a whistle blowing frantically. They counted down three seconds and then released. They kept swimming despite the coach yelling at them to immediately get out of the water.
The race stayed close. They stopped touching each other; they just swam. They kept on passing each other, but in the end, Dylan was ahead. He climbed out of the pool; Tyler still had almost a quarter lap to finish. There was clapping. Despite the mishaps, they both made record time.