Always Summer Read online

  I grabbed my skateboard and headed out the door to head to the Starbucks off of Fort Salonga road, where my friends were waiting. The day was pretty nice, hitting around 75 degrees; it was perfect weather for skating.

  *

  Upon reaching my destination, I noticed Blake first; I mean it wasn’t hard, since he had dyed his hair pink after a failed dare with Julie, and he was tall. The roots of his hair were already at a quarter of an inch long, but they didn’t detract from the overall effect. His pink hair was still a shock, albeit a funny one. His 8th grade graduation photos would forever show him with pink hair... his parents were less than impressed. His normal hair color was actually a nice sandy blond shade and hung in his eyes; it was lengthy in the back in a messy, surfy guy kind of way (though he was definitely not a surfer). His eyes were an indigo blue; his skin was pale and crystal clear, and he liked to look good, as in male model runway looking good. Yes, he was very good looking, and getting better as he aged.

  But, he wasn’t a jock... he was an artist; painting and drawing incredible artworks. Recently, his voice had begun deepening, as per normal for a fourteen-year-old guy. But the gay label was getting more and more ingrained.

  Picking up my board, I headed to our booth and slid in next to Blake. Julie was currently dating a guy named Jordan, and they were busy on the other side of the booth, engulfing each other’s faces.

  “Thank God you’re here.” Blake announced loudly, his distaste clearly written on his face. My own was increasingly becoming evident as well.

  I raised my eyebrows at the oblivious couple, and I drummed my fingers on the table in front of them... they were clearly ignoring me.

  “Hey guys.” I said.

  “It’s no use,” Blake stated. “Their faces are stuck together!” He then raised his voice slightly, “It’s disgusting!” he said.

  Turning to Blake, I winked at him. Blake looked puzzled momentarily; before understanding dawned... we often talked dirty to each other to garnish a reaction from his sister.

  “Blake, let’s give it a go!” I said silkily, twirling my hair around my finger and giving him a shy yet seductive look.

  “You want me to stick my tongue in your mouth baby?” he said suggestively, looking down at me with a knowing look.

  “Yeah baby... and I want you to touch my boobs while you do it!” I purred, sliding my finger down my cheek and into my mouth, all the while staring at him through hooded eyes.

  “Nice...” Blake replied, grabbing my finger out of my mouth and putting the tip in his own mouth.

  We both looked over at Julie and Jordan, and despite noticing them smiling, they failed to cease their activity. They were obviously too used to us.

  Pulling my finger away from his mouth, I leant into Blake to confer... He whispered into my ear...

  “I really don’t think they believe us.” He suggested.

  “That’s because we wouldn’t do it.” I whispered back.

  “So let’s freak them out.” He stated.

  I pulled back; to look him in the eye... he was serious!

  After a quick glance back at the disgusting pair, I leant back in to him and muttered,

  “But we’re friends!”

  “Yes, we are!” he said.

  “You’re supposed to be gay.” I said flatly, not very convincingly.

  Still... Blake actually did a double take on this... “I don’t know if I am or not, I haven’t had the opportunity to find out!” he flatly reasoned back.

  “I’ve never been kissed before.” I reasoned back.

  He sighed, “I haven’t either, hence the not having the opportunity to find out comment!” he whispered fiercely.

  “We are in the middle of a Starbucks.” I said, trying hard not to laugh.

  We both looked again at the icky couple.

  “How long have they been making out?” I asked.

  “Ages!” Blake muttered into his chest.

  I shook my head, “They’re so gross!” I whispered. He just nodded his head, looking reflectively at the shirt that he’d helped me buy.

  I sat back and cleared my throat, “Ahem...”

  It didn’t seem to work. I tried again... still no response. My lip curled in disgust. I looked at Blake again. He just did the shifty eyed shrug of dismay.

  “Maybe we should just leave, let them suck each other dry.” I suggested, back to whispering.

  “I want a coffee, a chat, and the experience of hanging with cool company!” Blake whined.

  I knew he was playing this up, but it was stuff like this that made people think he was gay.

  “Okay,” I breathed deep, and steadied myself. “But I can’t believe we are going to do this... we are all going to be kicked out you know.” I said.

  Blake sighed.

  “I’m scared, maybe we shouldn’t.” He reasoned, suddenly looking as unsure as I was.

  I stared at him, his eyes flicked up to mine, and a sudden irrational confidence flared up in me. I could do this, I could definitely do this.

  “Blake... don’t suggest, then plead and then retract. It isn’t becoming!” I stated.

  “You suggested it first.” He grumbled.

  I shook my head, before taking a bold stance.

  “You in?” I asked louder.

  Maybe I wasn’t so confident after all, but I still maintained just a little bit of brave and ignored the pounding in my chest. Within seconds his look changed; some level of confidence surfaced and he smiled.

  “Okay, but be gentle.” He said with a smirk.

  “No titty,” I said, leaning in before my mind changed again.

  “No fun.” He returned, bridging the small gap that remained between us.

  Blake was 5ft 11in; he had a massive growth spurt over the last year, so there was a slight height discrepancy. To counteract this, he tilted his face down and I tilted my face up.

  We touched our lips gently. I was keeping my eyes open so I didn’t crash into him; I noticed that he did the same. Catching each other’s eye at that close distance, nearly brought us undone, as smirks crossed both our faces.

  “Close your eyes.” Blake hissed, his lips barely touching mine, before he put his hand behind my neck and held me gently to him.

  I closed my eyes.

  We pressed our lips together softly. Then he started to move his lips, in soft puckering movements. The rhythm felt good, and little butterflies were beginning to dance across my belly. Ever so slowly, I loosened my lips and allowed the tip of my tongue to trace the top of Blake’s bottom lip. Without hesitation, he too loosened his lips and slightly opened them. So, boldly now, I traced both his lips with my tongue, and felt him shudder. I was uncertain whether it was a good shudder or a bad one; but since we were teaching his sister and Jordan a lesson, I soldiered on.

  Blake drew breath through his nose, and then let out a slight moan, so I lifted my hands and cradled his face, holding him to me. The butterflies in my stomach were now tingling in my breasts and causing my body to seriously wobble. It was right about now that Blake found his stride, and the sweet kiss turned into something else.

  Blake returned my tongue action over my lips, before slipping his tongue inside my mouth. The pattern of our kiss changed into a passionate exchange. I returned his passion with more passion; our hormones drew strength from our hunger, our tongues were sliding across each other, and little moans were escaping us. We became completely oblivious to our surroundings, and when he put his other arm around my waist and drew me in to his body, I considered climbing onto his lap and dry humping him in public.

  “What are you two doing?” Julie snapped, pulling her brother’s arm off my back and shaking me by the shoulder.

  We broke away, panting... looking at each other... still hungry for more...

  Julie and Jordan were now accosting us. Blake and I just burst out laughing.

  “Damn...” Blake whispered, sighing and nodding in approval at our kiss. He trailed the backs of his fingers dow
n the side of my face, before turning his hand and sweeping my hair back across the shell of my ear. The impact of this movement messed with my breathing. He noticed.

  Blake leant in to whisper directly in my ear, “Not gay! Definitely... Not... Gay! So can we dispense with that joke now?”

  He leant back and looked at me knowingly; he’d felt it too. But before I could say anything, he was leaning in again to continue,

  “I really want to do that again sometime... but perhaps for the sake of our friendship... um... perhaps we shouldn’t! I don’t want to lose you.” He whispered, before turning his face to kiss me sweetly on the cheek.

  I blushed, I was in shock at realizing that I’d just experienced my first kiss, with my best friend, and it was amazing! I agreed with him too... after all, was making out worth losing my best friend?

  Julie remained standing behind me while we finished our intimate conversation; her arms folded and looking incredulously at both of us.

  “What was that?” she pointedly asked Blake.

  “I just pashed Summer.” Blake said matter-of-factly, leaning back away from me.

  “Well, I can see that!” Julie stated, returning to her seat, but keeping her arms folded as she slumped into her side of the table, next to Jordan.

  Jordan just looked like a dead fish, mouth open, gawking.

  “It was an experiment.” I suggested.

  “A nice one!” Blake offered.

  “Blake Austen!” Julie seethed. “You are gay! Why would you do this to her... she’s our friend!”

  “Why does everyone keep suggesting that I’m gay?” Blake whisper shouted back to his sister.

  “Dude,” Jordan stated, “I mean, dude!”

  “What’s that even mean?” Blake argued.

  “You’re like, all prissy and stuff.” Jordan tried to explain.

  “By whose definition?” Blake growled.

  “Well, by every straight guy I know!” Jordan suggested.

  “I’m not gay! This stupidity has to stop! I am artsy, fashion conscious, maybe even good looking, and I’m really good at humanities; plus I’m open minded... but I. Am. Not. Gay!” Blake suddenly fumed, completely at odds to his normal demeanor. This was a side to Blake I rarely encountered.

  Julie sighed, held her face in her hands and leant across the table towards us, before resurfacing.

  “Blake, for years you’ve acted like you were gay, you just don’t completely know it yet.” Julie reasoned.

  Blake’s face gave her a look of utter contempt...

  And thus the argument began.

  The quarrel between the twins and Jordan quickly lost its novelty.

  I went and ordered the coffee for everyone, paid for it and turned to watch the theatrics. I looked at Blake from across the room, watching his exchange with his sister and her man.

  Thinking further about what Blake was saying and analyzing his actions, I noted that I’d never noticed him drooling over celebrity guys, or mentioning what he liked in a guy for that matter. The only exception was when discussing male physical merits objectively; however, I had noticed him mention what he liked about some celebrity women.

  Wow, he really wasn’t gay... I was right to be skeptical. It hurt me to watch Julie defend her belief at the expense of her brother’s feelings.

  I loved Blake, I mean, I cared... heaps; he was my best friend! However, it was becoming increasingly apparent that he was confronted with unjustified prejudice on a daily basis; and I hadn’t defended him...

  Right now he was navigating around his sister’s spiteful arguments by himself with ease, and I really knew what he was saying was true. He didn’t need to convince me, and I was uncertain why he needed to convince her, or why she’d even demand it.

  Returning to the table, I sat down beside Blake and looked toward his sparring partners.

  Julie was my height. Like me, she had shot up early, yet she had strawberry blond hair, cut short in a pixie style, to suit her slim face. She shared her brother’s eye color and skin, but Blake was definitely prettier, with a strong profile and great cheek bones, another reason they perhaps all thought he was gay. He still carried the young boy roundness in his face, and he had yet acquired the need to shave, although he did, to remove the bum-fluff he hated so much.

  Julie was a little plumper than me, perhaps two sizes larger. But this was because she had the coveted pear shape of decent booty and slim waist I was so jealous of. I on the other hand was android shaped; although my rack was developing quite nicely, I was never going to have booty to accentuate my slim waist.

  Jordan Myers, Julie’s boyfriend of four months, was short and stocky. He was all muscle, despite his age. He had hopes to be on the football team in High School, and despite his current height of 5ft 6in, he most likely would reach greater heights, since his brothers were all hitting 6ft... He had time to grow. He had messy, chestnut hair that refused to be tamed, and his deep brown eyes were soothing, giving him an authentic appeal. He was freckly, much more than me, but then he did spend a lot of time outside, running after odd shaped balls.

  I returned my attention to the conversation that was rapidly turning into a serious fight. I could swear Julie wanted a gay brother!

  Did she harbor dreams of having a gay opinion on all matters bitchy?

  It wasn’t long before the orders were up, so I went back over and grabbed them.

  “I’m sorry about that,” I apologized to the barista, nodding my head towards the table I was unfortunately returning to.

  “Huh,” she huffed, “That’s nothing yet; we get all kinds of loud conversation here. Though I’m glad you’re all finished with the kissing... God!” she shivered, then smiled.

  I returned with all four coffees and placed them in front of each of us appropriately.

  “How about you start kissing and fucking girls so you can be sure you’re heterosexual.” Blake spat at his sister.

  Julie stopped dead at this argument; her mouth agape and her body rigid. I looked confusedly at Jordan, who shook his head and lifted his shoulders, equally as perplexed. But I had to admit, it was a fair call, just not an argument I’d have considered in the middle of Starbucks.

  What was really going on here?

  Julie looked as though she might cry, perhaps even turn around and bolt out the door.

  “I just don’t understand, what makes you think you aren’t gay?” Julie asked, with her voice somewhat lower, more reserved. I was finding her earnest argument shocking, annoying and totally unbelievable... what was her problem? If sexuality was a choice... he’d made his!

  The final straw had now been drawn; the joke had long ago lost any humor... Blake was now beside himself in fury. I could feel it emanate off of him. He was boiling. I had never, ever seen him this angry... and I had known him for several years.

  I wasn’t sure whether normal fourteen-year-old conversation played out like this. On television, fourteen-year-olds talked about stupid stuff... like what they were wearing and how so and so said something bitchy to so and so; they danced to stupid music and argued about icecream flavors... they never discussed life altering moments that distinguished sexuality in the middle of a crowded Starbucks.

  Right then, I was also thinking that Jordan had reassessed his opinions, and was now firmly on Blake’s side, judging by his body language and perplexed expression.

  The absolute anger rolling off Blake right now was sufficient to fuel a team of wrestlers. The look in his face was fierce.

  “Let me enlighten you...” Blake vehemently began, ticking-off each point on his fingers, “Firstly, I have never found a guy attractive enough to want to go there, secondly...”

  “But you talk about guys bodies all the time!” Julie interrupted.

  “So does Jordan!” Blake clenched his teeth in reply.

  Jordan nodded his acquiescence. Julie went to go on, but Blake held his hand up.

  “I have gone along with this stupid supposition long enough!” Blake announc
ed.

  Supposition??? Big word!!! Pity I was the only person there likely to know what it meant.

  “Now,” he continued, “let me finish... Secondly, I am innately attracted to girls, especially girls who are easy going and pretty!” he was seething. He breathed a moment, held up his hand, and had a sip of his coffee. I took the opportunity to do the same. He continued, “Thirdly, I have laughed and joked about the possibility of me being gay for the last few months because I am not a Neanderthal, or afraid of gay tendencies and people! And at first, I thought it was funny.” He pointed out. I knew this about him, he wasn’t scared or prejudiced about that stuff, I wasn’t either, and it didn’t make me gay.

  Julie was behaving completely weird, because she still looked as though she wanted to argue her point, when there was no real point to argue. She didn’t know what went on in his head... He chose his own destiny, made his own decisions; it was not the other way around. Blake saw her expression of dismissal, and began to rise in his chair.

  Pointing a finger at his sister he finalized his opinion on his own sexuality.

  “And lastly, Jewels... I have never had the opportunity to kiss someone till just now. But I have thought about it, dreamt about it and wished for it repeatedly. And my first kiss with a very attractive GIRL,” he emphasized ‘girl’, “was fucking incredible...” I took another long swig of my coffee waiting for his next words that may or may not reduce me to tears or tantrum, “and resulted in me getting a massive hard on for a GIRL!” he emphasized the ‘girl’ word again, pointing at me.