Here, at last, is the next part of the story. I've had life intervene here in rather extreme ways, and this has sat unsubmitted for nearly two years, for which I apologize. I hope you all have some continued interest in Jesse and Mike, who by the way are, like all the other characters, entirely fictitious. I do use some real places to lend some authenticity, but that's not implying they'd like being in this sort of story either. If this isn't legal or appropriate for you, please log off it now. I of course welcome comments, and look forward to getting this thing moving forward again after far too long.
Seal Rocks Part 15
That night, Jesse dreamed. It wasn't a fantasy dream, the usual sort of mixed-up collection of random synapses and Freudian symbols that normally populate the night, but a very specific memory.
He was 11, and just starting to develop towards puberty. He was on his bed, playing with himself, reveling in the newly found feeling of pleasure that he could bring about by making his "weenie" (as he referred to it then) grow big, especially since he'd started to get a few downy hairs growing at its base. Occasionally, he could even make himself spasm gloriously, emitting a small trickle of fluid that didn't look like pee at all - a phenomenon that fascinated him. The ocean air was blowing in the window, making his bare sparrow chest tingle.
His father walked in without knocking, which wasn't unusual for him - he was accustomed to going wherever he wanted in what he regarded as his house. Jesse, however, had not considered the possibility of such an intrusion. He sat up as the door opened, terrified, and yanked the covers up over himself.
"You cold or something?"
"N - no, I - I just . . . I was, y'know, . . .cozy."
His father looked at him for a long second. "We need to go get gas for the mower. Ben's off surfing again, he'll never get his homework done at this rate. Let's go."
He had seen - Jesse could tell by the tone of his voice, his set expression. He was in big trouble, and he knew it. The trip to and from the gas station passed in silence. As Jesse stepped out of the car back home, gas can in hand, his father said, "Let's go inside a minute, all right?"
Heart sinking, Jesse followed. They sat at the kitchen counter on the barstools, his father turned to face him, Jesse staring frightened at the Formica. "Jesse," his father began, "you need to know that what you were doing was wrong." Jesse nodded, his cheeks burning. "As you grow up, your body changes. You know all that, from school, from Ben. Hell, from every God-damned filthy show on TV, you know that. And - and part of those changes is the sexual stuff - that you can masturbate. You know that word, don't you?" Jesse nodded again. "Well, it's a real temptation, to masturbate, because you make yourself feel good for a little while. But afterwards, you'll find that you feel ashamed - because you gave in to an animal temptation, because you didn't keep faith with the family you want to have someday."
This confused him; he looked up. "What?"
"You need to preserve yourself for your family, son. If you waste yourself on self- pleasure . . . well, what do you say if your baby winds up deformed or mentally retarded, because you wasted yourself when you were younger? Could you live with that?"
Jesse blinked. "D - Dad, that doesn't happen - they told us in school that you - your - sperm, it keeps getting made like all the time. It - regenerates," as he remembered the proper word.
His father's face flushed. Jesse had never seen him get really angry before, but he was angry now. "God damn it boy," he whispered through clenched teeth, "you aren't listening to me!! You need to be responsible - to exercise some God damned self- control! Self control!!" His voice began to rise, his finger jabbed at Jesse's face. "If there's one thing I will teach my sons it's self discipline and self control. They are the essence of being a man!!! You need to control yourself - your emotions, your fear, your wanting things - for the greater good, or indulgence will destroy you!! You need to understand that, Jesse!! You cannot let your desires destroy you - your life, your career, anything! And they will if you don't exercise constant self discipline!! There is nothing more important for you to learn, son." He was perspiring a bit now, his voice loud and a bit hoarse.
Jesse stared at him, terrified, as if he was witnessing the uncoiling of some feral thing. As his father ran a hand over his face, Jesse knew he had to say something, do something. "I - I'll try, sir," he whispered.
His father's eyes were narrow and hard. "You will succeed, young man, or it's your butt!! Am I very clear?"
Jesse's eyes were tearing up. His father had never spoken to him so harshly before. He lowered his head and nodded, trying not to show his wet face. His father sat for a moment, then stalked out of the room. Jesse heard him rummage in the wetbar - he never drank so early in the day - and by the time Jesse had the nerve to walk back towards his room, his father was sitting in the recliner, his back to Jesse, watching a news talk show and grumbling, a tumbler of scotch in his right hand.
His father was never the same towards him after that day. Where he had been kindly and guiding, he now became terse and nitpicking, scolding and shouting at him daily about some failing or other. He would barge into Jesse's room in the morning to wake him up, refusing to leave until Jesse had gone into the bathroom. On days when Jesse inevitably awoke tumescent, he would force the boy to rise and walk across the room regardless, barking at him about his lack of self control. "God damn it, you're weak! I am going to make you a real man if it's the last thing I do!!" Even after Jesse's mother intervened on his behalf and at least lessened his father's intrusions, Jesse would feel the heat of his father's gaze on the back of his neck whenever he was home, and often elsewhere too.
Only at Mike's did he feel safe.
Jesse sat up in bed as this realization came to him. He stared frightened for a moment out at the cloudy night, his father's angry voice demanding self control ringing in his ears. He realized he was crying. It took a minute or so for him to calm down, using his sheet to wipe his face. He padded across his room to the open window. By some trick of the wind and cloud cover, the barking of the seals was distinct over the constant undertone rumble of the freeway.
It was cooler outside, and the dewy grass felt sparklingly alive beneath his bare feet. He froze once in mid-step, afraid he might step in dog poop, before remembering that Tina was gone. That started him crying softly again, as he wandered to the far end of the grass and sat in a small chair by the hot tub. The town below was indistinct, wrapped in coastal fog. He'd failed his father. He'd failed the test of self control. He'd surrendered to the basest instincts of his body, reveled in them, drunk them down like water. So how would he be destroyed? Would his mother learn of his depravities - not just with Mike, but the web filming? Would his brother? Would he be arrested as a prostitute or something? Would Mike's family exile him from seeing Mike - the thought gave him his worst panic, he knew he couldn't live without Mike. It would happen, he had failed and he would fail, and down he'd fall into iniquity. He buried his face in his hands, hopeless.
A hand lightly touched his shoulder. "That was a bad one, huh? I heard you for like half an hour." Ben's voice was barely audible. Jesse looked up, eyes wide with fear, and flung himself into his brother's arms, sobbing. Ben held him gently, rocking him back and forth, pulling him down to sit on his lap and petting his damp hair. "It's OK, Jes," he whispered, "it's OK."
Jesse's face was pressed into the crook of Ben's neck. "He hated me. Why'd he hate me? He used to like me, but then he hated me."
Ben let Jesse cry himself out for a few minutes, and spoke only after Jesse lifted his head to look into his brother's face. "Dad didn't hate you, Jes. He - he hated that we grew up. This is - complicated." He sighed. "He loved us as boys, as kids without a clue about life or anything. It was grown ups he hated - the idea of us being grown up, and - and under all the stuff he had been under. It was like he wanted to keep us from any of that, and when he realized he couldn't he hated it. Hated himself, like he'd failed us."
"I failed him. He told me to - to exercise, like, self control, self discipline. But I didn't. I haven't. I - I've done bad things."
Ben smiled crookedly. "Bad things? You and who else?" His eyes dropped for a moment and went far away. "We all do bad things, Jesse. And good things, too, that people tell us are bad. It - it's hard - knowing the difference, and all. You never know which is which. Well, mostly," he added with a snorting laugh. "I mean if you axe murder a guy you pretty well know that's bad, right?" Jesse had to giggle a bit.
"What - what did he want to protect us from?" Jesse asked. He felt like he was five again, asking about deep and mysterious things.
Ben sighed. "I'm not sure - not all of it, anyway. Dad kept a lot of stuff inside, right?" Jesse nodded. "I think there was a lot there that hurt somehow, and he wanted to keep that from happening to us. But - but growing up hurts, Jes. Hell, being a fucking human being hurts. You can't avoid it. When we were little - when we were little he loved it, because we were in his little cocoon, and he could keep us safe. But when we started to grow up, he knew that was over, and it ate at him. Worries, fear, all that."
Jesse had slid down so his head was against Ben's chest, as if he were listening to a bedtime story, feeling the heartbeat against his cheek. "How do you know all this?"
Ben sighed again. "I don't. I'm sort of trying to figure it out myself. But I know he changed when I got to about 12 - toward me, and then toward you too." Another sigh. "When I was in high school, when he was still being so nice to you while he rode me all the time - God, I hated you. I envied you, that you still had him and I didn't. And when he started in on you, it felt so good. Like comeuppance or something. And - and I saw how it hurt you - I knew how it hurt - and I didn't do anything. Say anything. I was like smug over it - ha ha, Jesse's getting his now." Ben's voice was thickening now. "I should have said something, done something. I left you to hang there alone, Jes. That was so wrong. Shit."
They sat together for several minutes in silence.
"Ben?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you fall in love with him?"
Ben smiled. "With Brent?" He shrugged. "I guess, at the time. There was a lot of, y'know, lust too. Horniness and all. It just - shit happens when you're young, and horny, and you've got a friend you're really close to . . . I mean not all the time, but a lot more than people admit. Y'know, college, and rooming together and all." He looked away with a slight regretful smile. "A lot more than Dad could admit, that's for sure."
Jesse licked his lips nervously. "How - how'd he find out?"
Ben chuckled. "I told him. He heard me on the phone with Brent talking - stuff I probably shouldn't have been saying. When I hung up, he asked me what was going on, and I was a good Marine, like he taught us. I told him the truth." He looked down. "He actually was calm at the time - I tried to blow it off as just two normal teenagers, being horny and stuff. He seemed to buy it then. It was a couple of days before he went off." He winced a bit at the memory. "But boy, did he ever go off." He sighed.
"It - it's not right, y'know, to be in a fistfight with your dad - especially him. He was gonna beat some sense and all into me, and I wasn't gonna have any of it. And we both got hurt - he taught me hand to hand too well. So then he went into how he was gonna cut me off and make me go into the Marines right then, and I said fuck you to that. Finally it came down to I had to do ROTC and serve after college or he'd cut me off. He kept saying how the Corps would make me a real man and pound the faggot out of me." Now Ben's eyes were moistening. "I did love him, mad as I was, and I kind of wanted to serve too - part of me did, anyway. He knew that. He played it - played me. Well," he sighed. "maybe I let him play me."
"Why did it get him so mad?"
Ben shrugged. "Typical military thing, I guess. Y'know, don't ask don't tell, the whole tough guy bit. Dad really believed in that. Probably that's why he wanted me to serve - he thought it'd like cure me. Like it's cureable, right?" He looked at Jesse with a sardonic smile.
"I don't think it is. Not what I feel, for Mike. I mean no way. How - how can you cure your heart?"
Ben's smile softened. "Your heart does amazing things, Jes. Unexpected things, y'know?" Jesse nodded. "You look at something - at someone - and maybe you've looked at them for a long time, but all of a sudden you see them. I mean really see them, for the first time. And, you just fill up." He sighed. The first time I saw Brent like that, I was so scared. And I knew he saw it - what I'd seen. He recognized it. And he was cool with it, which just made it that much stronger. Cuz like he'd never done anything - like that - before, either. It just, it happened. Clicked."
"Do you miss him?
Ben looked down. "Yeah, sometimes. I mean he really got into it - he wants to fuck everybody all the time, and it was like the other half of the human race had all of a sudden become available. Not enough time to get to everybody." He shook his head. "I didn't want to be like that. I - I just wanted to be with him. Scared as I was of what that meant."
"Mike's not like that," Jesse said sharply. "He's different."
"I'm not saying that. I know he is. Look, you guys really are still kids. Things change, people change. I don't know what I'm going to like, or be like, in maybe six months. So like who died and made you all-seeing so you can know that? You just accept that things change, and whatever the changes are you'll be OK with them."
Jesse blinked, his eyes watering again. "I don't want it to change. Not with Mike."
Ben's hand ran into Jesse's hair. "It might not. You just have to know that it might, and that it all works out." He stood, with Jesse sliding off his lap onto the chair. "C'mon, it's damp out here. We gotta sleep." He held out his hand to help his brother stand. "You gonna sleep now?"
Jesse took his hand and rose. "I guess. I hope."
Ben smiled over his shoulder as he headed back to the house. "If you have trouble, jerk off. Knocks you right out."
"Perv."
"If you got anything left, that is." Ben ran the last step or two to avoid the flip flop Jesse threw at him. They both tried to stifle their laughter, which carried unnaturally in the night air, as did the dull thud the sandal made as it struck the house.
Jesse slept in late the next morning, aware only dimly of the bustle of his mother and brother leaving for work. The sea breeze was back, and the clouds lingered, making his room cool and being under the covers deliciously cozy. He drifted in and out of slumber for a long time, enjoying the coolness across his face.
"Hey dude." Mike was standing over him, smiling crookedly.
"Hey yourself," Jesse mumbled, stretching languorously. "How'd you get in?"
"I know where you guys hide the extra key, Jes, c'mon." He sat on the edge of the bed and rested a hand on Jesse's chest through the covers. "You OK?"
Jesse nodded. " 'Specially now," he whispered.
Mike smiled and bent over to kiss him. "You need to brush, dude. Salsa last night?"
Jesse pulled away. "Oh shit, Mike, sorry." He scrambled groggily out of bed, his boxers halfway down his hip on the left side.
"Don't worry, I've smelled worse. Not recently, of course . . . "
"Fuck you."
"I hope so."
When Jesse returned a couple of minutes later, mouth freshened and bladder empty, he found Mike under the bedclothes, his bare shoulders peeking out. "This is nice, dude. Warm, cozy. You should try it." He grinned.
Don't mind if I do," Jesse answered, shucking his boxers off and sliding in alongside. They rolled into a casual embrace, on their sides, their hands in each other's hair. "Thanks for coming by, this is cool."
"I know, it is." They kissed, and all talking ceased for a while as they moved slowly over and against each other. "Mmmmm," Mike finally sighed into the hollow above Jesse's collarbone.
"What?"
Mike looked up at him. "I'm like greedy, that's all. I - I want to kiss you, and suck you, and fuck you, and get fucked, and I want it all at once. Everything. Like I wanna wear you or something."
Jesse smiled. "You try skinning me for my hide, I'll waste your ass."
Mike pinched the skin on Jesse's side. "Not thick enough to keep anybody warm. Never sell it." He lifted his head to look directly into Jesse's eyes. "Don't you feel like that, at least sometimes?"
Jesse nodded gravely. "A lot of the time. Mike -" he gulped; this was the moment of truth - "I think I like love you. I mean really love you, dude. I - I never felt like this, ever. I like think about you, and dream about you - " he decided not to describe his latest dream to Mike just then - "and I want you with me all the time, and when you're gone I like go crazy, and - "
Mike stopped him, mercifully, before he made any more of a fool of himself, with a kiss.
After they had both come, Jesse was giddy. He smeared both their bodies with their ejaculate, making their smooth skin glisten. "There. Now we can wear each other."
Mike pressed slick chest to slick chest. "I may never shower again." As they kissed, they both began deliberately smearing spit and leftover come from their mouths onto each other's faces as well, licking at each other until they were both drippy and laughing. Mike finally rolled away, their bodies making a distinct peeling sound as they separated. "OK, that's getting too messy now," he laughed. They lay on their backs and let the air dry them off.
Jesse eventually stood. "Gotta piss, be right back." Mike nodded with a soft smile. In the bathroom, Jesse looked at himself in the mirror: faint streaks of white crisscrossed his chest and stomach. I really am wearing him, he thought. It looked good, he thought. He liked it.
Mike had dozed off. Jesse stood over him, noticing that he too was faintly coated with their dried fluids. Desire overcame him, and he softly lay down between Mike's splayed legs and took him into his mouth. He swelled almost at once, his hand slowly moving into Jesse's hair as his breathing deepened. "Dude," he whispered hoarsely after a couple of minutes, "that feels good."
"Good," mumbled Jesse without removing Mike's erection from his mouth. "Got 'nother idea." He hopped up and straddled Mike's lap, aiming him upward, and sat down. Mike slid into him slowly - the pain of first being penetrated was finally starting to fade, but Jesse liked to start out slow. Mike's hands went to his hips as Jesse impaled himself. When he was all the way down, and Mike had responded by pushing himself upwards, Jesse let out a long breath. "This's so good, Mike," he breathed, his voice tight.
They moved together for some time like this, Jesse rocking back and forward sinuously on his ride, Mike's hands alternately holding his hips still to facilitate his own thrusts and then caressing Jesse's belly and chest. Eventually Mike rolled them both over, somehow not breaking their connection, and took control, his movements becoming more insistent as his desire overcame him. They kissed, and touched, and fucked, and spilled and spilled, until they slumped down into each other's spent arms, more fluid squeegeeing between their bodies.
What Erick saw about twenty minutes later, when he slipped into the house and found his way to Jesse's room, confirmed all his suspicions. Mike and Jesse were asleep in a tangled mass of arms and legs, the room still redolent with the aroma of their sweat and semen. He stood there only a moment - long enough to take several pictures with his camera phone. When he emerged from the house, his face was flushed. He would spend the next quarter hour in the basement men's room at Mr. Pete's burger place downtown, masturbating furiously.
Jesse woke a bit later to the ring of his cell phone. He fumbled for it amid the pile of both their clothes alongside the bed. "Hey Jes," Kate's voice rang out, "What's going on."
"N - not much, um, just - y'know, hangin' out and all," Jesse answered, feeling a bit self conscious, since Mike was yawning altogether too loudly for his tastes.
He heard what he thought was a giggle. "Ya, well, I thought I'd hit Lost Winds again this afternoon - You and Mike up for it?"
Jesse blushed. "Sure - sure, I''ll, um, I'll call him and check it out."
" 'K. Laterz."
"Right." He snapped the phone closed as Mike rolled against his hip. "You were loud, dude, I think maybe she heard you."
"Would that bother her? I mean she like knows and all."
"Dunno." Jesse had the image of Kate's body, the feel of her touch, in his mind, and her voice had brought that back to him. Did he really want her, and what did that mean about him and Mike?
"She really had me hot yesterday," Mike said with a long stretch. "Never had a girl touch me like that before."
"I hear that," Jesse answered absently. "What's it mean - that we like her, and her doing that, and all? That maybe we're not queer after all?"
Mike smiled and pulled himself closer to Jesse. "Who cares? Who gives a shit what, like, label you put on yourself? Queer, straight, AC/DC, all that crap. It feels good, you care about the person." He pressed his face into the crook of Jesse's neck. "You give pleasure. You get pleasure from giving it. Nothing wrong with that."
Mike's breath against Jesse's throat gave him goose bumps. "I guess." His nose pushed into Mike's hair. "It just seems you oughta like be one way or the other."
Mike lifted his head to look at Jesse. "Do you want to be one way or the other?"
"Dunno. I just want to be like this, with you. This is all I want."
"Then the rest is bullshit, forget about it." His hand slid down to caress Jesse's penis, which responded predictably.
"Th - that's not just bullshit," Jesse murmured as the first tingling feelings rolled over him.
"I know. Isn't it great?"
The afternoon was blisteringly hot, even on the beach. None of the usual sea breeze to soften the sun's heat. Jesse's feet felt like they were burning even though he was wearing flaps as he slogged through the hot sand to Lost Winds. Kate hadn't arrived yet, and the beach appeared almost deserted. Erick was the only person in sight, out surfing a small left break. He waved to Jesse and Mike as they set their towels and boards down and started applying sunscreen. They were unaware that Erick had come in until he spoke up from just behind them.
"Good sleep this morning?" Something about his tone of voice made Jesse cringe slightly.
"Ya, excellent. Slept late," Jesse answered with as casual an attitude as he could muster. "What about you Mike, when'd you get up?"
"Late," Mike answered. He didn't look scared, he looked almost angry. Jesse turned to look at Erick, who was smirking.
"You guys looked real cozy when I got to your place, Jes," he said, and the boys knew they were screwed. Erick held up his cell phone. "This thing takes great pictures, y'know? If it weren't so glary I'd show some to you." He was grinning openly now.
Mike stepped towards Erick, who kept grinning but gave ground. "OK, so? What d'you want, dude? I thought you were a friend, not some fucking peeping tom perv."
Erick's smile wavered for only a moment. "I'm a perv? I'm a perv?? Mike, you and Jes are the ones fucking each other's brains out. I just stopped by to see if I could get the shortie again, let myself in like we always do at our houses, and there you guys were."
"So you took pictures? What d'you want out of us, dude?"
Erick began sauntering easily around them. "Not sure, actually." He'd clearly worked this all out in advance. "Don't wanna fuck you guys, I know that - sorry." He enjoyed his joke; Mike and Jesse remained silent. "Not my thing, y'know? I like chicks."
"You've never had a chick, because you're such an asshole, Erick," Jesse said in a low voice.
Erick shrugged. "What I do is my business. I just haven't had the right chance yet. But I think you guys can help me with that." The boys remained silent. "Sandowski," Erick said with a dreamy smile, and Jesse's stomach turned. "You guys help me get Kate wasted enough so I can do the deed with her - y'know, some scotch, maybe a roofie - and all is forgotten." He looked at them as if proud of himself. "She likes you guys. She trusts you. You start drinking with her, she'll go right along, and I'm in."
Jesse's fists had balled up without his being aware of it. Erick glanced down at them and took another step back. "I mean look, I could spread these pics all over school, MySpace, friends' networks, you name it. That would fuck up your whole lives. But this, this is just one night - maybe she's mad after, but it's not like her whole life is screwed."
"Sez you, motherfucker," Mike breathed. "You really expect us to help you rape Kate?"
"It's not rape, she'll be drunk and ready, especially if she's with you guys."
"She won't be ready for you, though," Jesse snapped.
"Same difference," Erick smiled. "They're all big and hard - you guys know that, right?" He picked his board up, tucking his cell into a pocket of his shorts. "Think about it, OK? We'll talk later."
"Fuck you, Erick," Jesse snarled.
Erick's face darkened. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, faggot?" He turned away. Mike started after him, but Jesse held him back by his shoulder. "Think about it, ladies. Your call."
"Let me, Jes," Mike hissed. "Please let me kick his ass."
Jesse tightened his grip, using both hands. "Won't help, Mike. He's sleazy but he's not dumb. He downloaded the pictures already onto his laptop. You gonna erase them too? He's got them, and we can't change that." He sagged. Every fucking body in the world is taking pictures of me having sex, he thought. What's that about . . .
Mike turned away and kicked at the sand furiously. "He is not gonna use us to get to Kate!! No fucking way will I -"
"I know, Mike, I know. We just gotta figure a way around." They looked at each other blankly for a minute.
"The pictures only are a problem," Mike finally said, "if we're scared over 'em. If we don't care, he hasn't got shit."
"So, what, you wanna like come out or something? I thought we didn't want to do that - at school, to our parents, and all."
Mike frowned. "Well, sure, I don't want to," he said, "but if it's between that and letting him rape Kate -" Jesse shushed Mike, realizing that Kate was approaching.
"Hey guys," she said with a smile. Her body glowed from the sunscreen she had applied before coming down, and her suit left very little of that body covered. "Sup? Erick the creep gave me a big smile just now as he was leaving. He finally getting some from some poor girl?" She gave an exaggerated shudder, and Jesse knew what he had to do.
"He's feeling real superior 'cuz he found Mike and me this morning together. Sleeping." Kate's eyes widened. "We were - y'know, together. Naked, and all." He cleared his throat, embarrassed at the admission. "He - he wants us to help him to get you drunk and have sex with you or he'll show the pictures he took to people."
Kate stared at him for a long moment, her mouth open, her cheeks reddening. She looked over at Mike, who nodded, his head down.
"Th - that bastard!! That absolute piece of shit . . . " Her voice trailed off as she turned to look at where Erick's form had shrunk to a speck in the distance, wavering in the heat rising from the sand. She threw her towel to the ground and started walking briskly after him. "I'm gonna kill that little pervert - "
"Kate, wait up," Jesse called, running after her. "That won't help. He'll still be after you, and he'll have our asses. We - we have to turn this on him somehow. We need your help," he said pleadingly. "I don't want my mom and everybody at school knowing about this shit. Not yet anyway - when I'm, like, ready. C'mon," he added, pulling her gently around by her arm so she was no longer staring daggers at Erick's vanishing shadow, "we're smarter than him, we can figure it out. Together, OK?"
Kate ran her hands through her hair; Jesse couldn't help noticing how it glistened in the sun. "Yeah," she muttered thickly, and Jesse could see she was crying now. "Yeah." Then the floodgates opened, and she fell against Jesse, sobbing. He held her gently, his hand behind her head, petting her hair. Mike came up and held her as well, and the three stood motionless (except for Kate's heaving shoulders) for several minutes. "Such a shit," she muttered repeatedly into Jesse's shoulder.
When she finally lifted her head up, her face was set, however tear-streaked it looked. "So, any ideas?"
"Aside from castration, you mean?" Mike asked, and they all started laughing. Kate started making wild slashing motions with her hand, making the boys back off and exaggeratedly cover up their crotches. This quickly evolved into their being chased around the empty beach as Kate shouted "You pigs!! Boys are pigs!!!" until they all were winded and sweaty. By silent agreement they headed down to the water then, and dove in to cool off.
Jesse moved over close to Kate after several minutes. "You OK?"
Kate nodded. "Yeah. I'm pissed off, but I'm fine. Thanks - thanks for telling me, Jes."
"We had to, Kate," Mike said as he joined the group. "We couldn't let - y'know . . ."
Kate nodded and smiled wanly. "It's just so gross and all." She rubbed Mike's bicep, and he blushed. "So, he caught you guys fooling around, huh? How'd he do that?" Jesse explained about the hidden key and their being asleep. "You have to be more careful than that, you know. If you want people not to know, you have to be more careful. People notice things when you're together - you realize that, don't you?"
The boys blinked. "They - they do?" Mike stammered.
Kate smiled. "Not blatantly - most of the time, anyway. Just like,'Geez, Mike and Jesse are like joined at the hip these days' sort of stuff, and then it gets into gay jokes. You know how it goes."
"Yeah, too well," Jesse said. He'd told enough queer jokes over the years; he remembered how he suddenly didn't find them so funny. The memory of Erick calling him "faggot" was eating at him, and from it came an idea - a cruel, angry idea. He pulled Kate and Mike into a hug. "We got things to do." Their foreheads rested together awkwardly, and Jesse explained.