by Andrew Grey
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out on our hike,” Foster said. He’d envisioned them being together, walking through the woods, talking and laughing. He hadn’t expected to get surrounded by every insect in the state.
“You’re sorry?” Javi said in disbelief. “I ruined it. You were being nice, and I went off on a tirade of self-pity.” He turned away. “Not very cool of me.”
Foster looked around, thankful the park was pretty empty. Then he scooted closer to Javi. “You know, it’s okay. You can be angry with your family. I get upset with mine too. God.” He looked around. “I used to dream all the time about getting away from here. I wanted to live in a city with a fancy job and a cool apartment, high up, like you see in the movies. Don’t know what I was going to do to earn it, but that was how I saw myself.” Foster took another drink from his can.
“Why didn’t you?”
Foster shrugged. “All I know is that you need to work and figure out how to get away if you don’t want to do what you’re doing anymore. But I never figured out how to leave home. I went to college for a few years, but it wasn’t for me. I passed and all, but I didn’t do super well. I thought about driving a truck or something like that, because truckers can earn good money, but I didn’t do that either. What I did was stay where I was and work the family farm because it’s what I know.” He closed his eyes and rested his head on Javi’s shoulder. “So I’m one to talk about getting out and making things better and shit. I’ve done none of it, and I spouted that crap to you. No wonder you got mad.”
Javi began to laugh. Foster wasn’t sure why, but the sound was big and warm. He lifted his head, caught the mirth in Javi’s eyes, and smiled, turning his hands over as a sign of confusion.
“We’re a pair, aren’t we?” Javi asked.
Foster chuckled. “I guess we are.” He got to his feet and tugged Javi to his, then picked up the soda cans and the cooler bag. “Let’s wander over there.” He pointed to the other end of the park, past the playground equipment.
“Okay,” Javi agreed.
They began walking, not quite touching, their hands brushing together occasionally. It was nice, having a friend.
“Do you want to chance it?” Javi asked, indicating a path. The trees weren’t as thick, and more sun illuminated the way.
“Sure,” Foster said with a smile. He drank the last of his soda and threw away the can. Javi did the same, and then they took the plunge.
The insects seemed to be leaving them alone. This trail led along the near side of the creek. It was better maintained than the previous trail, but still secluded, and they were very much alone.
Javi took Foster’s hand, squeezed his fingers, and then released them. “It’s so quiet,” he muttered.
“I bet it’s quieter at night out where you are,” Foster said. “There aren’t many cars that take that way.”
“It is, but with Mom and Dad, Daniela and Ricky, there’s enough noise. Dad snores, and Ricky tosses and turns. He has bad dreams sometimes and wakes up screaming. But otherwise it’s quiet. I think here I was referring to how I feel, right now, with you. It’s quiet in my head. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
“You’re relaxed and content,” Foster offered, trying to understand what Javi was trying to explain.
“That’s part of it.” He turned and stood right in front of Foster, pulling him into a kiss. “I’m happy here with you. I can be myself, and I don’t worry about being judged.” Javi closed his eyes, kissing him again. “I don’t want to think about it or second-guess it. But I’m happy.”
Voices nearby forced them apart. “There aren’t many places to go for fun around here.” Foster tried to think of a place where they could be alone for a little while, but he wasn’t going to take Javi to someplace tawdry. He didn’t want him to think that he just wanted sex.
“It’s all right,” Javi said and led them farther down the trail for a while. It made a large loop, so they ended up at the other side of the park and headed back to the truck. They got in, and Foster pulled out and began driving back toward the farm.
“I didn’t expect to be returning this quickly.” He probably should have planned this outing more carefully.
“Do you have chores at home?” Javi asked.
“Not that I have to do immediately. There’s always work, but I have the day off, so to speak.” Then it hit him, and Foster made a turn a few miles from the farm, taking a road that headed north.
“Where are we going?”
“There,” Foster said, pointing toward a hill dead ahead. “I used to go there as a kid when I wanted to see everything.” He turned onto a dirt road that wound around and then went steeply up the tree-covered hill.
“Are you sure this is okay?” Javi asked as Foster slowed to keep them from getting bounced all to hell.
“Yeah. I used to come up here all the time. A guy bought this place a long time ago. He was going to build a house up here, but the first winter made him realize he’d never get up or down in the snow, so he gave up. All that got built was the driveway.” Foster reached the top and parked at the edge of a small clearing. They got out, and he took Javi to the edge of the clearing. “This is where he wanted to build the house, I guess.”
The view was spectacular. Foster had always understood why someone would want to live up here. “The farm is over there, and if you follow the road in front—” He continued pointing until he saw the speck of red in the field. “That’s your van. Muskegon is that way, and Grand Rapids is over there. I always wondered if you could see them from here if the weather was just right, but I never have.”
“It’s like a map.”
“Yeah, it is.” The wind blew steadily around them, whistling in their ears. “When I learned to drive and got mad at Mom and Dad, I’d come up here to think. Of course I never came up with anything. But it gave me a chance to cool down and have a few minutes for myself.” He tugged Javi closer, then turned to him, kissing him hard.
“Is that why you brought me up here?” Javi asked. “Should I be worried about my virtue?” Foster didn’t know what to say and was about to back off, but then Javi laughed and kissed him back. “I was teasing.”
Foster colored and turned his head. “I guess I brought you here so we could have a few minutes alone.” Now he didn’t want to make a move, or Javi would think he’d brought him here for sex or something. Javi placed his fingers under Foster’s chin, turning him so they faced each other once again, and kissed him.
The heat from the sun was no match for the pure fire that radiated from both of them. Foster gathered Javi to him, holding him close; hell, he’d have climbed him if he could. Javi tasted awesome, rich and warm, and felt even better. Before Foster realized it, they were moving, doing some weird tiny-stepped dance until the truck pressed to his back. Javi broke away, leaving Foster gasping for air and getting out of the way as Javi lowered the tailgate. Taking his shot, Foster pressed Javi to it, lifting him until his butt rested on the edge. Then he worked open Javi’s thin jeans, parting them. Javi stretched, and Foster used that to his advantage, getting the clothes out of the way enough that he could get access to the grand prize within.
Fuck, it was beautiful: long, thick, tanned, head weeping a little. He parted his lips and sank down on it. The flavors he’d tasted during their kiss burst on his tongue as salt, sweet, a touch of sweat… amazing. He took as much of Javi as he could.
Javi quivered and shook. “Holy God,” he groaned.
Foster smiled and sucked harder. He ended up gagging a few times until he got the hang of it and figured out how much he could take. By then he was really into the way Javi’s cock slid over his tongue and the sounds he made that got carried away on the wind.
“I never thought… it… could… feel so good.”
Foster hummed. He had a terrific imagination, but this had been beyond his scope. Fuck, sucking Javi was hot. He pressed him back, working a hand up under his shirt so he could pet Javi’s rippled bel
ly and then up farther to work his perked nipples between his fingers.
Javi quivered and held his breath, blowing it out between his teeth. “God, not going to last.”
Foster sucked harder, taking as much of Javi as he could, pulling him over the edge and swallowing as Javi came apart, yelling at the top of his lungs out to the entire valley below.
“Damn,” Foster murmured after Javi slipped from between his lips. “That was hot.” He smiled and climbed up on the tailgate, kissing Javi, sharing his release with him. “I taste like you.”
“Like both of us,” Javi corrected, thrusting his tongue between Foster’s lips.
Foster was so excited he thought his head was going to blow clean off. When Javi grabbed his jeans and slid off the tailgate, Foster watched every move. Soon Javi had Foster’s jeans open, and Foster leaned back, shaking with anticipation as Javi pushed up his shirt.
“You’re huge, man,” Javi moaned, licking along his length. “Damn.”
“Is that bad?” Foster asked.
“Fuck no,” Javi answered with unabashed delight, grinning before surrounding him with searing wet heat.
“Yes,” Foster moaned softly, clamping his eyes closed as he was surrounded and sucked deeper. Few things in life had prepared him for the sheer joy and ecstasy of being taken this way. He held his hips still even though every instinct in his head said to thrust and move.
“Hell, I love this,” Javi said, backing away and taking a deep breath before sucking him hard and deep once again.
Foster had little comparison, so he had no idea if Javi was practiced or not, but every touch of his lips or hands set Foster on fire. He wanted this so bad.
He’d been looking up at the sky, but shifting his gaze to Javi, watching his cock disappear between his luscious lips, was nearly enough to send him over the edge. He wasn’t ready, wanted this to last, but he knew it wasn’t going to. Everything was too new and too special for that to happen. “Javi,” he whispered between clenched teeth, trying to hold back the pressure that built with each movement and every use of that teasing tongue.
Within seconds he was coming, mind-numbingly hard, gripping the edge of the truck bed to keep from falling backward, quivering like a leaf.
Javi stood, smiling like the sun, and pulled him up. Foster’s pants pooled around his ankles as Javi kissed him. The sun shone on his ass, warming it while Javi did his best to heat the rest of him… and he more than succeeded.
“I wish we could stay up here forever,” Foster said softly. “Think about it: no chores, cows, families, fathers…. Leave everything down there alone. Just the two of us here, above all the cares that wait for us.”
“You’re a poet,” Javi teased.
“No. I’m just a guy who spends a lot of his time wishing for things that will never come true.”
“See? They don’t do us any good,” Javi said, reiterating what he’d said by the creek.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Foster argued, stepping away to pull up his pants. “Without dreams I’d have nothing. See, I dreamed that someday a handsome guy would come into my life and sweep me off my feet, showing me what was possible. Someone like me, so I wouldn’t be alone all the time. And here you are.” Foster fastened the catch of his pants. “I know I sound kind of dumb and innocent, but that’s what I feel.”
“But I’m going to have to leave, and then you will be alone,” Javi said. “I’ll be alone too.” The longing in his words reached to Foster’s heart, touching it before retreating again.
“But I had my dream, and I’ll be able to remember it. Besides, if it came true once, then some of the others will as well.” He leaned back against the bed, tugging Javi between his legs. “If mine can come true, yours can too.”
“I told you, I can’t have any dreams. They don’t come true for me.”
Foster caressed Javi’s cheek. “Doesn’t this seem like a dream to you? Did you ever think you’d be here with me… up here… alone?” Cold slowly crept into him. What if this wasn’t as important to Javi as it was to him? They were young guys with raging hormones. What if this was just that for Javi and no more? Foster released Javi and stepped back. “It’s all right.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. None of my dreams ever come true. I stopped letting myself think of anything but tomorrow and what we’re going to need to survive. If I dream of lovers and happy homes, they aren’t going to come true and I’ll only end up disappointed.” Javi came closer. “But if I did allow myself one dream, it would be you and me, here, right now. There wouldn’t be tomorrow or even this afternoon. It would be just now.”
“I think that’s sad,” Foster said.
“That’s probably true, but it’s what I need to do to survive from day to day. Anything else is a waste of my time and energy. Dreams are definitely for those who can afford them.” Javi’s expression was granite hard, but it softened as he turned to follow Foster’s gaze.
Foster turned him around, pulled Javi in front of him and peered over his shoulder. “That’s bullshit and you know it.” He felt Javi tense but held him tight. “Close your eyes and think of the one place you want to be more than anywhere else in the world. Not tomorrow, but right at this very second.” Foster grew quiet and felt the tension drain out of Javi. “Where is that? If you could be anywhere at all, where would you be?”
“I don’t know. Someplace where it’s sunny, warm, and there’s no work to be done. My mother is happy, singing like she does sometimes when no one is around, and Daniela and Ricky are laughing, playing with other kids in a park like we saw today instead of in the dirt.”
“What about for you? Where are you?” Foster realized Javi had included the others, but not himself. “Your mother, brother, and sister are just fine and happy. Where are you?” Foster clarified, and Javi leaned back into his embrace. The wind slowed to a breeze, swirling around them, and Javi placed his hands over Foster’s.
“I’m right here. This is where I want to be.”
Foster nodded and said nothing. He didn’t want to press Javi for more. Instead, he closed his eyes, rested his chin on Javi’s shoulder, and stayed still, not wanted to break the spell he’d woven. There was nothing to interrupt them. They were above everything for a little while, and if being here gave Javi the peace he seemed to need, then he’d stay up here as long as they could.
FOSTER DIDN’T move until both he and Javi were sweating from the heat between them. Then and only then did he slowly move back so the air could circulate. “We should go back.”
Javi nodded, saying nothing as he stepped away. Foster put up the tailgate and then opened his door to get in the truck. Javi did the same, and Foster started the engine, holding Javi’s hand while the engine got the air-conditioning going. He didn’t want to say anything that would pop the bubble of contentment that he felt, so he simply squeezed Javi’s hand and then leaned over, kissing him softly. Then he straightened, put the truck in gear, and slowly began their descent back to reality.
They went back to the farm, checked that everything was okay, and then had some lunch before getting back in the truck to take Javi back to his family. He wasn’t sure why he was anxious about it. Maybe it was because he was happy that Javi seemed to be happy.
As he drove, the contentment that had surrounded them dissipated like fog in the sun, and by the time he made the turn toward the Ramos family van, Javi was as keyed up as Foster had ever seen him.
Foster pulled to a stop and got out. Javi was already ahead of him as Carlos Ramos rounded the front of the van under a head of steam, his expression thunderous.
“Where were you?” he demanded.
“I was at the farmhouse.”
Mr. Ramos’s face became redder, his eyes darkening. “I rode up there on my way back from town, and they said you had gone to the park with….” He turned to Foster. “You said you were going up there to work, not spend the day running around the countryside.” He broke into Spanish at that point, but Foster did
n’t need to speak the language to know what was being said. The tone told him everything. Then he said in English, “You lied to me and to your mother.”
“I was only having some fun,” Javi said weakly in the face of his father’s anger. Foster wasn’t close enough to tell for sure, but he wondered if his anger was fueled by some form of alcohol. “You know, what you have when you take the van into town to drink, leaving the rest of us here.”
The hand movement was so fast, Foster barely saw it. The slap rang out over the land. Javi jerked back and to the side at the sting and the power behind it. Foster stared, unable to immediately process what had happened. Javi’s father had slapped him, hard, and he was rooted to the spot. Javi turned away from him, and Foster averted his eyes, but not before he saw Mr. Ramos seething in front of his son, spitting rapid-fire Spanish at him.
Foster couldn’t move. He could hardly believe what he’d just witnessed. His hands clenched into fists to strike him back and then relaxed once again. The last residual glow of sex still lingered in him, and he wondered if all that anger had been because Mr. Ramos had seen something in them. If Foster stood up for Javi, would that confirm Mr. Ramos’s suspicions? That thought, mixed with embarrassment for Javi, made him turn away, wishing something would happen to break the tension and give them all something to change the center of attention. Javi must be humiliated right now, and Foster wanted to do something—anything—to make that go away and to somehow not make it worse. Anger, fear, resentment, and confusion all mixed together, warring inside him for a few seconds as he tried to figure out what to do. This was Javi’s family, and he didn’t have a right to get involved. Yet Javi was his friend and he had been hit. Foster’s heart pounded as the basic fight-or-flight war took place inside him.
He took a step back and then another. He wasn’t worried that Mr. Ramos would hit him, but he thought that if he left, maybe the fuel for Javi’s father’s anger would go along with him. Their day had started out so wonderfully and now it was ruined. He turned and reached the truck in a few steps, reaching for the chrome door handle. But not touching it.
