Page 83 of After the Siren
‘This is Stavs,’ Jake said. ‘One of my teammates.’
‘Jake hasn’t mentioned you,’ Kyle said. ‘New to the team? I’m Kyle.’ He held out his hand.
‘I know,’ Stavs said. He looked at Kyle’s hand like it was covered in dog shit. ‘Jakehasmentionedyou.’
Keeley made a soft, choked-off noise that might have been the beginning of a laugh. Kyle looked genuinely taken aback. It wasgreat.
Stavs kept his arm around Jake’s shoulders, and Kyle was forced to let his hand drop.
‘You done chatting?’ Stavs asked. ‘I can bring a coffee back for you if you want.’
‘Nah, we’re done here,’ Jake said. ‘Good to see you, mate,’ he said to Kyle, and turned away. He didn’t bother looking back. It was easy with Stavs’ arm warm across his shoulders.
Keeley was almost skipping beside them as they walked up towards the kiosk. Jake knew that Stavs was a bit of a coffee snob, so the kiosk was going to be a problem for him.
‘Wow, that wasrude,’ Keeley said to Stavs when they were out of earshot.
Stavs shrugged. ‘He deserved it.’
‘Hedid.’
Keeley bought them all coffee and handed Stavs his with a look of profound approval. Stavs did not look at the coffee with the same level of approval once he’d taken a sip, but he couldn’t have expected much. The coffee machine had made him visibly upset.
They watched the ocean as they drank their coffees, sitting by the kiosk. There was a cluster of surfers out beyond the break. Stavs was looking thoughtfully in their direction.
‘Are there ever sharks?’ he asked.
Keeley started to laugh. ‘Not usually.’
‘Hmm.’
‘I don’t want Kyle to get eaten by a shark,’ Jake felt moved to say. ‘He’s not ... it wasn’t all his fault, you know.’
‘You’re entitled to your opinion,’ Stavs said.
They split a bag of hot chips and a couple of potato cakes between them. Keeley actually gave Stavs the last chip.Gaveit to him. She would have put a plastic fork through Jake’s hand if he’d tried to take it.
Jake let himself wonder what it would be like if Stavs was here as his boyfriend and not just the friend he’d been fucking daily. Then stopped, because he’d always been pretty good at just not thinking about things. He’d messed that up, at the end, with Kyle. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again, no matter how good it felt to be sitting beside Stavs, their thighs pressed together, here in his favourite place in the world.
He wasn’t smart, but he could learn.
By the time it got to dusk, Theo was tired in the satisfying way that came from being outside and active all day. As he’d suspected, he was definitely never going to be a surfer, but it had been fun. Surprisingly fun. He’d been so focused on trying tostand up on the bloody board that it had wiped his brain clean of everything else.
They’d collected Paddy and Xen, driven back to shower and then gone on a long walk along the headland. Jake had scorned sunscreen and gotten slightly sunburned on the walk. Sunburn should not have made him more attractive.
And yet.
They were barbecuing for dinner. The weather was cold but clear, and Debbie and Lydia had a couple of outdoor gas heaters that were keeping everyone toasty. A random assortment of people had arrived to join in. Theo had no hope of remembering who everyone was, except some of the children were Keeley’s niblings, and everyone was very loud. Still, they were loud in the friendly way that made it easy to drift on the edge of the gathering without feeling left out.
Theo was perched on the steps, drinking a Sprite and watching a maelstrom of children swirl around Jake, who was clearly a favourite. Keeley came to join him and they sat in companionable silence as Jake, Paddy and Xen corralled the kids into a chaotic game of Marker’s Up. Theo would have guessed that Jake would be great with kids after seeing him with Riley, but there was guessing it and there was seeing Jake hoisting one of his honorary niblings into the air so she could grab for the ball, screaming with glee. It made him realise that for all Jake’s energy and confidence, in some ways he held himself back, just a little. You didn’t notice it until he truly let go andreallylaughed.
He’d been laughing like that the night they’d first kissed.
Keeley held out her Corona and Theo touched the base of his Sprite to it.
‘So, you and Jake,’ she said.
Theo took a sip of his drink to avoid answering for a few seconds.
