Page 6 of Something Like Summer
Ben eyed them warily for amoment before turning his attention back to Tim, whose Adam’s applebobbed in amusement at something Bryce was saying. There had beendays when Ben questioned his recent obsession, dismissing it astemporary insanity induced by raging hormones. Crazy or not, seeingTim again rekindled those stalker’s flames. He was everything,absolutely everything, that Ben looked for in a guy. From theoutside at least. His choice of company cast doubt on everythingelse.
“Timmy!” squealed a voicethat would test even the patience of pigs. Krista Norman boundeddirectly in front of Ben on her way to ‘Timmy.’ Despite herunfortunate voice, she was one of the most popular girls anddrop-dead gorgeous. She ran over and took Tim’s hand in her petitelittle paws, and beamed up at him. Tim returned the million dollarsmile, much to Ben’s disgust.
“Hey, faggot!” Thesecharming words were spoken by none other than Bryce Hunter himself,who had noticed Ben standing there and staring.
Any chance of resisting theoncoming blush was ruined when Krista added, “He really is, youknow.”
Ben risked a glare at Bryceand a sarcastic little wave to Krista as he walked away. Figuringthere was nothing more to lose, he glanced at Tim one last time ashe went. Tim appeared amused, returning Ben’s funny little wave.The gesture was genuinely cute when he did it, which made Ben twiceas angry.
Why couldn’t people’sinsides match their outsides? The world would be such a wonderfulplace if the nicer someone was, the more beautiful they became.Jerks like Bryce and Darryl would be disgusting, pus-coveredtrolls, and everyone would see them for what they were. Tim, too,if these were the sort of people he chose to hang out with. Insteadof the princely appearance, he would be ugly, hunched, and sowretched-looking that Ben never would have noticed him. Or if Benhad, he would have at least known right away that Tim wasn’t worthall the emotions and fantasies that he had wasted onhim.
* * * * *
Ben was having one of thosedays, a parade of unpleasant events that began in the morning. Hewas stuffing his backpack into his locker before heading to the gymwhen something wet splatted onto his neck. Ben turned around tofind a spit wad almost as big as his fist lying on the ground. Thehallways were still full of kids, but Bryce’s massive form was easyto pick out of the crowd, a satisfied leer painted across hisface.
At least Tim wasn’t withhim, which was something of a small miracle. Allison having spottedhim had indeed broken the curse. Over the past two weeks Ben hadrun into Tim at least twice a day. Each time Ben hastily avertedhis eyes and cursed the flush that came over his face. He hoped hisred cheeks were mistaken as angry instead of bashful. After all, hehad nothing to be embarrassed about, since Tim was clueless as toBen’s former crush on him.
The fun-filled daycontinued in gym class. Leon was having his wisdom teeth removed,which meant at least a week of misery without his company. Worst ofall, they were playing baseball, a sport very difficult to gounnoticed in. His first time at bat, Ben cussed loudly after histhird strike. This infuriated the coach, the bald one with thetwisted nose, who commanded that Ben run the two-mile trail throughthe woods that nestled against the school. At least this was anescape of sorts. Ben slowed to a walk as soon as he was hiddenbehind the trees and wondered if he could get away withself-inflicting this “punishment” until Leon came back. He wouldrather run alone every day than play baseball.
Then there was asubstitute teacher in Spanish, which of course meant that theentire class was misbehaving. Ben usually enjoyed that, but one ofthe boys asked the teacher how to say “faggot” in Spanish. Forwhatever incomprehensible reason, the substitute decided to answerthis question, and“mariposa”was happily parroted throughout the remainder ofthe class, with a number of pointed looks in Ben’sdirection.
Lunch should have brought awelcome break from the day’s hardships, but Ben was greeted withAllison’s announcement that she and Ronnie were now boyfriend andgirlfriend. Ben callously responded to this news by saying, “That’sretarded. You haven’t even been on a date yet.”
The look of hurt onAllison’s face made him regret his words. Benwashappy for her. Mostly. Ronniewas a nice guy. Dates, romance, and possibly hot kinky sex weresure to follow in due course. That’s what rubbed Ben the wrong way.This was Allison’s fourth boyfriend since they had been in highschool. In the past three years, Ben hadn’t had so much as a mildlyflirtatious encounter. The ease in which she found someone stirredthe green-eyed monster inside of him.
What could he do, though?He wasn’t old enough to get into a gay bar, and the localnewspaper’s personal ads were almost strictly heterosexual, exceptfor a few placed by men older than his father. Even Ben’s meagersex life had been cut off when he came out of the closet, adecision that he was beginning to regret. An unreciprocated blowjob at this point sounded as meaningful as marriage.
The rest of their meal wasaccompanied by awkward silence. Ben knew he would have to makeamends later, but he was in too foul a mood to back-peddle orsmooth things over at the moment. The rest of the school day passedwithout incident, but the grumbling thunderstorm outside helped tofuel his sullenness until the last period was over.
The rain had at leaststopped by the time he was buckling on his Rollerblades. Allison’scar had made it out of the shop for two whole days before breakingdown again. Ben had abandoned his bike and decided to start usingthe inline skates he had begged for and received last Christmas. Hewasn’t very good yet, but he managed to do everything but stopgracefully. A meandering bike path that wasn’t used much was hischoice of route today. The detour would take him longer to gethome, but it would also help him avoid other students. He justwanted to make it home to the comfort of mindless TV and theleftover cookie bars his mom had baked the night before.
Trees became a blur as Benskated faster than he usually dared. He was finally getting thehang of these things! The woods gave way to a manmade channel clearof foliage. Here the ground dipped low and then high again, windinglike an empty river through the woods. Ben always wondered whatpurpose it served, until one hurricane season when it rainednonstop for two weeks. The ditch took the excess rain water andmoved it safely away to somewhere less civilized. That was the onlyyear he had seen the ditch full of water. Otherwise it remained adry but green miniature valley.
Ben was beginning to feelbetter as he zipped along the path that ran along the ditch. That’swhen he saw Tim. He was further along, wearing his usual joggingoutfit except this time with the addition of a backpack. Obviouslyhe had decided to jog home rather than taking his Richie Richsports car. Instead of the usual wave of hormones Ben experiencedwhenever he saw Tim, this time he felt only irritation. He didn’twant to be reminded of the things he couldn’t have. He wantedsolitude.
“Get the fuck off mypath,” Ben muttered under his breath as he thrust with his legs andincreased his velocity. He felt like a bullet shot from a gun, andright now he wanted nothing more than to barrel into Tim and knockhim aside without even so much as a backwards glance. Why the hellnot? He was sick of being the victim of everyone else’s barbs andlunacy. Why not strike back? He wouldn’t knock Tim over, but hecould at least give him a scare by cutting directly in front ofhim, maybe jostling him a little bit in the process.
Ben grinned with wickeddetermination as he neared, but at the last moment he began topanic. There simply wasn’t enough room on the path to pass bysafely, at least not at this speed. Maybe a skilled skater couldhave done it, but Ben was still too green. He was more likely toveer off the path and injure himself. Tim was less than ten feetaway when Ben decided to abandon his reckless course of action. Hetilted his left foot to brake, before realizing that the brake wason the other skate. In his panic he tried to turn, but his leftfoot was still tilted, causing Ben to trip over his own leg. He wasairborne for the briefest of moments before slamming into Tim,knocking the jogger off the path and into the ditch.
Impacting with Tim hadmostly halted Ben’s flight through the air. He landed with a thudon the grass next to the paved path, shaken but otherwiseunscathed. From the gasp of pain and long string of cursing, it wasclear that this wasn’t the case for his victim. Ben pushed himselfto his knees and looked over the ditch’s edge. Tim was sitting up,supporting one leg in the air. He lowered it tentatively to theground. As soon as the foot touched grass, Tim hollered hoarselyand lifted it back up again.
“Oh, god! I’m sorry. I’msorry!” Ben sputtered as he stood and slid down into theravine.
Tim’s face struggled with amixture of confusion and anger. “What the hellhappened?”
“I don’t-- I’m just aklutz.” Ben had reached Tim’s side and stretched out his arms as ifhe intended to pick Tim up before he realized how unrealistic thiswas. “Is your leg broken?”
“Leg’s fine,” Timanswered, turning his attention back to the bloody limb that lookedanything but okay. “My ankle, maybe not.”
Ben dropped to his knees toget a better look. The ankle might have been a little swollen, butthe flesh torn away from the shin was worrying. There wasn’t anysign of exposed bone, thank god, but it was bleeding way toomuch.
Ben couldn’t take his eyefrom the injury. “We have to get you to a doctor. Can youwalk?”
Tim lowered his leg asecond time, managing this time to only hiss in pain instead ofscreaming. “You’re going to have to help me,” he said.
“Wait.” Ben unsnapped thestraps on his skates and starting digging through his backpack forhis shoes. The five most awkward minutes of his life followed as hestruggled to get them on and tied, Tim watching him silently theentire time. “Right,” Ben said as the final lace was tied. “How dowe do this?”
Tim craned his neck aroundto examine the steep slope they would have to ascend before theycould get him to his feet. “You pull me up there, Iguess.”
