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“Do you want to go surfing?” He asked, using his straw to mix the ice and his juice.
“Are you kidding me?” Jason asked, squinting, looking up from the cell phone in his hand.
Percy chuckled “No! I want to go surfing with you again!”
“Did you forget about the disaster last time?”
“It wasn’t that bad” Percy tried to encourage, but gave up when Jason glared at him. “Yeah, okay, it was pretty bad. But that’s the point. You could be better,” he offered.
“I’m listening” Jason looked back at his phone.
“I could teach you,” Percy said, smiling.
Jason looked back up “You do realize this could go wrong in a million different ways, right?” he continues before Percy has time to argue. “I mean, from you laughing at my inability to stand on a board to not surfing and just making out in the water right?”
“I had not thought about that possibility yet” Percy lied. It was topic number one on the “pro” list. “Besides, you look great in a wetsuit” he complimented, looking away and blushing a little.
Jason smiled. “Fine, I’ll do it.” He agreed, putting his phone over the table. “You found out about my greatest weakness, and I’m doomed I can feel it” he said, dramatically.
“It’s not like I’m going to use every day” Percy lied again.
“You are a terrible liar”
“I know. I’m sorry,” he laughed. “I’ll stop by your house tomorrow,” he promised. “Your mother will be there?” he added, as an afterthought. Ever since the first afternoon, Percy couldn’t get comfortable around Mrs. Grace again; he always felt like he had betrayed her confidence and was driving her sons to the paths of the sins. Even though that every time she saw him she had been nothing but courteous, he still was nervous with just the possibility of being around her.
“I don’t know,” Jason shrugged. “With my mom we never know.” he said simply, and Percy hoped the luck was on their side.
“He’s here.” Mary called, when she saw Percy knocking on the front door. “Jason, come down.” she yelled again, and then went to the door, to let Percy in. “Hello, dear”
“Hi, Mrs. Grace” Percy wanted to dig a hole and bury himself, to never ever come out of it again.
Similarly, Mary didn’t know how to behave around Percy. She saw them together in the pool holding hands a few times, when they thought that no one was looking, and Jason was planning a dinner with Percy and his mother, which he was making sure it would be amazing. She wasn’t sure anymore if he was just The Pool Boy or her Son-In-Law.
“So, how have you been doing?” she asked, gesturing to Percy to sit on the couch.
“I’ve been great.” He replied, looking a little more embarrassed than before.
“Do you know what will you do when summer is over?” As soon as she said, she regretted asking, because the pain in his face was so visible, from how many times he had already tried to answer that question. “Jason!” she called out once again, trying to end their awkward moment as quickly as possible.
“I don’t know yet. I think I’ll have to find a job. A full time one” he said, shrugging, like it didn’t matter, but both of them knew it did. Percy was internally freaking out, because he had no idea of where his life was going.
“I’m coming” they heard Jason screaming back from the upper floor.
“Finally” Mary said, sitting on the couch.
“Sorry” Jason apologized, coming down the last steps. “I lost track of time.” he threw the t-shirt on his hands over one shoulder and backpack on the other.
“Are you ready?” Percy asked, standing up.
“Yep” Jason nodded, trying to not look too scared. As much as he hated admitting, the main reason he was even trying to surf was to a) impress Percy and b) spend more time with Percy.
“Okay, let’s go.” he clapped his hands, excited.
“Behave, boys.” Mary counseled, smiling at them.
“Mom” Jason groaned.
“I said behave.” Her smile grew. “And have fun.” She was glad to see Jason doing something other than completely freak out about senior year.
“Can we pick a less crowded place?” Jason asked when they went to the backyard to grab his board. “I mean, it’s terrifying trying to learn anything with a thousand people staring directly at you.”
“Works for me” Percy agreed, “But you don’t have to be scared.” He said, while Jason made his way back to the pickup “I mean it’s just me. It’s not like you have a full jury who will grade every movement of yours”
Jason proceeded to imagine a jury made of four Percys looking at him, disapprovingly every time he fell in the water. It was somewhat comic. “It’s embarrassing anyway,” he complained.
“It’s just me,” Percy repeated, trying to make Jason feel better. “Come on, I’ve heard about a great place.” he smiled and jumped inside the pickup. Jason followed him, slightly less excited.
They drove for about forty minutes, twenty on the road plus twenty on an unmapped smaller one. Percy was confident and seemed to know what he was doing, what made Jason slightly less nervous. Of course, he still had to try to surf again, and this time really try, after so much time. At least he was glad to know that there was no audience. As soon as Percy parked on an improvised parking lot, he saw that there was no one else, at least in no place he could see.
“This is a nice place” Jason commented, leaving the pickup and taking off his sunglasses.
“Yeah. A friend brought me here one time.” he said, but quickly changed the topic. “Are you ready to do this?” Percy asked, smiling, taking off his shirt.
No. “Yes” Jason said, hesitantly, watching the other boy.
Even though he wasn’t a magazine cover muscular type Jason couldn’t help but stop and appreciate Percy’s body. Sure, he had skinny arms and a flat stomach, but it seemed to fit him. Jason couldn’t imagine Percy being a giant pile of muscles. Plus, he spent most of his afternoons shirtless on the beach, so he had a tan that made Jason wonder about the tan lines hiding under Percy’s underwear. He shook his head, trying to shake that thought off, and went back to change too.
“Come on,” Percy grabbed the boy’s shoulder “It’s not gonna be that bad!” He was so optimistic that it forced Jason to believe in it, at least partially.
“Yeah, thanks for the support” Jason mumbled. The big problem was that he was trying to impress Percy, on a moment he was almost sure he wouldn’t. But it was too late to give up, so he complained and put on his wetsuit.
Percy finished dressing and sat on the pickup, watching Jason.
“I feel like you’ll hunt me any minute now,” Jason said, kicking off his shoes.
“Why you say that?”
“I don’t know. The way you are looking at me. It’s like…” I am a fucking masterpiece and you can’t touch me, like I’m the center of the attention and you can’t look away. Like I am the most beautiful thing in this place, but he wasn’t brave enough to say any of those possibilities out loud. “I don’t know, I can’t explain”
“It bothers you?” Percy leaned forwards, his feet dangling over the back of the car.
“It’s sort of creepy,” Jason agreed. ”But I don’t mind”
But Percy was nice enough to appear to look busy during the entire time while Jason changed.
“Okay, I’m ready.” he announced, pushing up the zipper. “Let’s do it’
Percy smiled. ”Yeah, that’s how it goes!” he grabbed his board. “Let’s fucking do it!”
Jason had no other option but to follow him. Feeling a little more excited, however. Maybe happiness was contagious after all.
“You know the basics, right?” Percy asked, once they were closer to the water.
“Yeah” Jason nodded “I mean, I used to surf all day when I was fourteen or something, but now I’m just really out of shape”
Percy raised an eyebrow. “I never knew that could happen”
“Well, it did. You saw it” Jason shook his head. “Besides, it’s not like I had any reason to surf in the last three years. All my friends moved away, so I had no one to go with”
“So you are basically saying I gave meaning to your life?” Percy asked, grinning from ear to ear.
“I did not say that.” Jason defended himself. “You think very highly of yourself, don’t you?” he furrowed his brow
“You didn’t deny it either.” he pointed out, and ran before Jason could argue against that.
“Now SWIM!” Percy screamed, sitting on his board, with his legs side by side on the water.
The wave hit Jason in the face, throwing him in the water, for at least the tenth time that day. Swimming up, with a frown on his face, “Can I give up yet?” Jason complained, struggling to sit on his board.
“Did you manage to stand up once?” Percy asked, tilting his head
“I hate you” Jason muttered between his teeth and gave up trying to sit. He rested his head on both of his arms over the board. “Why did I even agree to try this?”
“Because you said I look good in a wetsuit” Percy smiled, cockily, and Jason blushed and took a mental note to never compliment the boy again. Ever.
“I see now that it wasn’t worth it” Jason replied, moving to hold Percy’s board. They weren’t deep enough and he could easily touch the ground, but he hated walking in the water because it made progress too slow, so he swam.
“Now I’m offended” Percy faked a hurt look. “I thought my anatomical assets were enough to catch your attention for a few hours while you at least tried to surf but considering you gave up…”
“What are you going to do?” Jason dared, stopping between Percy’s legs. “Put on baggy pants?”
“I would never take that pleasure of you,” he ran his hand through Jason’s wet hair “But I would probably clean the pool with a shirt on”
“If that’s what you call blackmail, you are failing” Jason laughed and threw water in Percy’s face. “I’ll try once more,” he announced. “And that’s the last one”
Surprisingly, Jason managed to stand on the board for a few seconds, even after the end of the wave. He raises his arms, smiling victoriously.
“Yeah” Percy claps smiling too. “See how it wasn’t so bad? Now you’ll want to try again”
“Are you kidding me?” Jason jumps in the water. He comes up and pulls the board to his chest. “I will leave winning” He laughs. “I did once, and that’s enough”
Percy mumbles and complains, but follows Jason out of the water.
They change in the empty parking lot of the beach. It was a secret place that can only be reached through a small and unmapped road, but at least it gave them some time alone. Halfway through Percy has the brilliant idea of going after Jason with his wet towel, and they start running around half-naked and laughing like two idiots.
“Do you want to go home?” Percy asked, finishing to messily throwing everything in the back of the pickup.
Jason puts on his shirt while he decided how willing he is to make his life look like a romantic comedy “Do you want to go somewhere else?”
“I don’t know, I thought we maybe could go out for ice cream or something like that.” he shrugged, clearly trying to sound like he hadn’t been over this in his head several times before.
“Sure” Jason replied simply, but inside he was jumping of joy.
“And then there is this amusement park by the beach” Percy said as if meant nothing. “Maybe we could go there too.” he suggested.
“If there is a Ferris wheel, I’m in” Jason smiled.
When they get to the amusement park the sun is slowly setting, there are screaming children everywhere and Percy is finishing his second ice cream, being careful to not get his shirt dirty. He always does that and ends looking like a tall child. Jason insisted on buying, but Percy argued that he was the one that had a job, so he should pay it. Jason complained, but accepted, blushing a little.
Jason behaves like a child himself, buying cotton candy and dragging Percy from side to side, forcing him into playing games to win prizes. Surprisingly Percy is very good at the game and wins a huge teddy bear, which neither of them had the courage to carry around, because it was too uncomfortable to even hold it.
“But it’s yours!” Percy complained, forcing Jason to carry it when they stopped at a bench, deciding what to do with the prize.
“No, but you won it. It’s yours by right”
“I won for you. You carry it”
Jason rolls his eyes and held the teddy bear. “I hate you, you know that?”
“No you don’t,” Percy smiles “And I know how to make you do things for me now. Just be remotely romantic and you’ll be too embarrassed to say no”
Jason hated that it was true. “That’s a lie” He never handled romantic people very well, because he always felt like being one step behind them in every sense. “I’m doing this because I’m a gentleman”
“No you’re doing this because you got too embarrassed to say no when I said I won it for you”
“That’s also a lie,” Jason said, rolling his eyes and looking away.
Percy grabbed Jason’s chin and forced the boy to look him in the eye. “Say I’m lying”
“I can’t when you are so close. I don’t even know why people do this, it’s not how you know someone is lying,” he complained, trying to move away from the subject. “Besides, you’re not all of that”
“You’re doing this,” he said slowly, marking every word, “because you are embarrassed to say no” he finished with a grin.
“No, I’m not.” he tried to push the teddy bear into Percy’s arms to prove his point.
“You look cute when you’re embarrassed” Percy mocked and Jason blushed, of course. To end this torture, Percy pulls him into a kiss, and for a moment, they even forget about the giant teddy bear. “Happy now?”
“I was happy before,” Jason shrugged “but it’s not getting worse, I give you that”
“Good, good.” Percy let go of him. “I suppose we should put the bear on the car?”
“Yeah, good. We can’t ride the Ferris Wheel holding that”
“You really want to ride the Ferris wheel?” Percy looks at him, surprised it wasn’t a joke. “How old are you again?”
“Shut up and smile.” Jason stood up “You’ll enjoy it, I know”
Percy followed Jason, grinning like an idiot and wondering if this counted as a date.