Like Magnets, We Attract

by Jaye Valentine

  "I'm Dan by the way.” He reached out his wet right hand and I managed to offer a weak handshake.

  "Ted."

  "Ted, I'm serious about the lessons. If you're interested, I'm here everyday. I've never met a truly hopeless case."

  "You just did. He shook your hand two seconds ago."

  I looked at him and could see laughter bubbling up behind his smile, the smile that sent a jolt to my gut.

  "Think about it okay, Ted?"

  With that he walked away, heading back out into the water like a natural. I saw Greg walking toward me with two girls in tow. They were both barely covered in hot-pink bikinis and hanging on Greg's every word.

  "Hey, dude. You okay? Looks like you had a rough time out there."

  "Fine. No thanks to you."

  "These lovely ladies want to take us out tonight. You game?"

  I looked down at their giggling faces and realized this was yet another trip I had no control over.

  * * * *

  I woke up with a start, forgetting for a moment where I was. Then, it became clear. Well, sort of. We were at one of the girl's houses, but I couldn't remember which one. Greg's reluctance to set up actual accommodations on this trip led to a lot of couches and in this case, floors. Every muscle in my body ached, and my head throbbed like someone had kicked me in the temple. Rolling over, I saw the remains of the previous evening. Beer cans, bags of chips, the odd joint crushed into overflowing ashtrays. Last night started coming back to me. Greg had convinced me to leave the bar early and spend the night at Jenna's. Or was it Jessica? Jana? Regardless, it didn't matter. I knew the drill. Greg wanted to get laid, which meant I had to spend the night on the hard floor while he slept in a nice warm bed with a girl. But for once on this trip, I hadn't wanted to leave early.

  Following Greg and his harem around to several bars was tiresome, and I had no choice but to drink alone. Until we got to the last place, and I saw Dan standing by the wall flanked by three other guys. I sat at the bar, nursing my latest beer, trying to build up enough courage to go over and talk to Dan. He probably wouldn't even remember me. Hell, knowing my luck he wasn't even gay. I hadn't been too lucky lately. As I poured the last drops of my beer down my throat, my courage swelled just enough to get me off my stool. As I turned to head Dan's way, I noticed he was gone.

  Since I was already up, I headed toward the bathroom. Greg was holding court by the pool table, two girls by his side and a gaggle coming and going as he talked. I hated him in that moment; how easy it was for him. I turned my head away from Greg just in time to run straight into Dan. He blinked twice as if trying to find me in his memory. His smile appeared quickly, and his hand was back on my shoulder like it had been that morning on the beach. My stomach lurched, and it wasn't from the beer.

  "Hey, Ted. G'day. I almost didn't recognize you."

  "Yeah, I look different when I'm not choking on sea water."

  "That must be it. Having a good time?"

  "Well, it gets a little tiring following Greg around, but he's trying to score us a place to crash tonight."

  "Well, it's good to see you. How about another pint?"

  "Sure."

  I sat at the bar for the next few hours with Dan, drinking and talking. He was funny, smarter than I thought he would be. The stereotype of the dim surfer clearly didn't apply to him, but it still seemed like more of a friendly drink than a date. Just as the bartender set down the next round of drinks, I saw Greg trying to get my attention. I excused myself and walked to a very impatient Greg.

  "Dude, I'm getting the green light, you ready to go?"

  "Not exactly. I'm having fun."

  "Well, these ladies want to take the party to their house. We gotta go."

  "Give me a minute."

  I turned back to the bar, and Dan. He smiled at me from across the room. Typical Greg. But I guess if I wanted a place to sleep, I had to go.

  "Dan, I have to go. Greg found us a crash pad. They want to leave now."

  "Well, okay. Hey, I'm serious about those surf lessons. Meet me tomorrow morning at the point. We'll get you straightened out."

  "I don't know. I told you, I'm a lost cause."

  I turned to go, and Dan shocked me by grabbing my wrist. His thumb ran over the inside of my arm, gently caressing while my throat threatened to close.

  "Meet me. Please?"

  "Okay. I guess I can give it one more try. I'll see you tomorrow."

  * * * *

  I stared at the ceiling of the girl's house, water-stained and cracked. Nice. Greg really knew how to pick them. The sun wasn't even fully up over the ocean, and I remembered Dan's words about teaching me to surf. My body screamed in protest at the thought of going into the water again, as I winced merely sitting up. I was pretty sure it wasn't just the surfing he was really after; it was the company. While Greg had spent most of the trip ‘getting to know’ the locals, I hadn't. Dan was the first promising guy I had met the entire trip. Dragging myself to the bathroom, I decided I had to find out.

  My stuff was still wet from the day before, and dragging the wetsuit over my tired legs proved enough of a challenge. I slid the glass door open, quietly leaving the rest of the party to sleep. The path from the house led straight to the beach, still quiet except for a few die-hard surfies who apparently rose with the sun. I hoped that Dan would be there to meet me.

  The sand felt cold and wet. I sat on my board and looked out into the water. Envy swept through me as I watched one surfer get up effortlessly on the crest of a wave and cut through the water. When the wave finally broke he didn't come crashing down, he just slipped below the surface and reemerged unfazed. As he paddled back to shore, I realized it had been Dan. I couldn't help but stare as his wet body came walking toward me on the sand. I didn't even mind when he dripped cold water on me.

  "Hey. I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

  "Me neither. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm doing here. I never thought I had a death wish, but I suppose I'll take you up on your offer of a lesson."

  He stared right into my eyes, and that flutter in my gut from last night returned. As I stood, he took another step toward me, our faces just inches apart.

  "Come on, we both know why we're here, but let's surf first."

  His smile was still so bright, even at dawn. Knocking sand off his feet, he looked out into the water. I faced the waves, still terrified. His arm around my shoulder did little to calm my nerves. I wanted to live long enough to kiss him.

  "Don't worry. I'm a lifesaver. If you start to drown, I know mouth-to-mouth."

  Another provocation, another flirtation. They were doing my head in. I was about to nearly kill myself because this cute boy liked me. Somewhere, my rational mind screamed in vain to get me to reconsider. The rest of me was strapping my board to my ankle. I followed Dan to the water and prepared for more embarrassment, this time with a hot guy there to watch.

  Dan, luckily, had the patience of a saint. I tried in vain to follow all his instructions, but still found myself hitting the water after a few seconds. After one particularly harsh wave, I came up gasping, my board bobbing next to me. Choking on the salt water that burned my throat and lungs, I felt like throwing up. I willed my stomach to calm down, to not pick this moment to humiliate me so utterly. Dan paddled up as I managed to haul myself onto my board. I felt his hand on my back as the last of the Great Southern Ocean left my lungs in an excruciating hack.

  "You okay, mate?"

  "Uh, yeah. I guess. I told you I was hopeless."

  "Your balance is off, that's all."

  "Look Dan, I appreciate your confidence, but I think it's safe to say now that I am a lost cause."

  "You just need some practice. Trust me; one good ride and you'll never be the same again."

  His hand on my back moved behind my neck. I hadn't realized until then that we were the only ones in the water. He pulled me toward him, our boards bumping together. Before I could react, he was kissing me. I leaned
forward awkwardly, trying to keep him close, but wound up bumping my forehead into his nose.

  "I guess you were right about my balance being off."

  He laughed, rubbing his nose with his hand.

  "Ted, maybe we should paddle in and find some other way to pass the time this morning. But this isn't over—I'm not giving up on you. If I have my way, you'll surf yet."

  While Dan surfed into the shore on a gorgeous wave, I chose a more sensible route, paddling and wading my way through the rising surf. When we met on the shore, Dan didn't say a word. He just started up the sand path that I had traveled from the crash pad. It turned out that Dan lived just a short walk from Greg's latest conquest. It was eerily quiet, which was expected so early on a Sunday morning. We seemed to be the only two people silly enough to be awake at this hour. After the boards were dropped outside, we walked through the entryway, which—like everything else in the house—was covered in sand. Dan turned and looked at me. His eyes were so golden brown; it was like the sand had gotten inside them from him spending so much time at the beach.

  In his bedroom, the evidence of a surfer's life was everywhere. My eyes focused on the big map on the wall with red pushpins sticking in it like a voodoo doll. Every single pin was right on the edge of a country—a country, no doubt, with great surfing.

  Dan spun me around, his lips back on mine, tasting as salty as the water I had swallowed that morning. Our hands fumbled with the thick zippers of the wetsuits still standing between us. The thick neoprene felt even more uncomfortable with my cock straining against it, and the drying rubber proved a stubborn opponent to our activities. Finally, the material gave way, and we both stood naked in the center of his room. His hastily tacked-up curtain obscured the early morning light, but enough rich sun got through to show me how hot he looked.

  He was tanned and gorgeous, well muscled and fit. By comparison, he made me feel average, but any reluctance I had vanished when he dropped to his knees in front of me. My wetsuit was still around my ankles, and he made quick work of getting rid of it. My last bit of sense disappeared when I felt his mouth on my cock. His warm lips, the lips that had tasted so salty, slid down. A gasp caught in my throat, a vain attempt to stay quiet. I didn't want to wake anyone else who might be in the house; there had been six surfboards outside. Dan was making it hard to keep quiet. His hands gripped my hips, his mouth pulling and releasing my dick in a steady rhythm. Despite my best efforts to control myself, I felt myself getting dangerously close to coming. Trying to delay, I pulled him to his feet and kissed him again. He took my cue and pulled me onto his messy bed. I felt sand between the sheets, clinging to my legs. As our tongues twined together, I wrapped my hand around his cock, feeling the swell of excitement in my palm. As I slid my hand down, his tongue dove even deeper into my mouth. I pushed him onto his back and started kissing my way down his chest. His encouraging hands eased me lower and lower until I let my tongue swipe over the head of his swollen dick.

  He twitched and jerked as I swept my tongue over the ridge under the head of his cock. His whole body tasted salty; it probably always did. I closed my mouth around the plum-velvet head and slid my way down. I could feel blood racing under his skin, veins pulsing as I sucked him off. His hands were in my hair, still wet from the ocean. I could hear his moans getting louder, and I didn't care a bit about roommates anymore. If he let me, I could have gone on for hours sucking his cock, but he had other plans. Pulling me back up, our mouths came back together as I slid onto the bed next to him.

  His hands started fumbling with the nightstand drawer next to us, searching for protection. His eyes lit up in a way that told me he'd found what he was looking for. I hesitated. Dan stared at me expectantly, his hand moving up and down his hard cock, waiting for me. I don't know where I found the voice.

  "You sure about this?"

  "Don't worry, Ted. I told you, I know mouth-to-mouth."

  He kissed me hard, one last time before pushing me toward the wall until my back was facing him. His mouth lightly bit at my shoulder, and I felt his hand run down my back. He paused, letting his fingers wander over my hip, before reaching over me to touch my cock. His big hand wrapped around me, gently jerking me until I was hard as a rock. I felt his other hand move down to my ass, his finger gently easing my cheeks apart. Suddenly, I felt the cool wetness of his lubed finger pressing against my ass. I tensed up, but as he kissed my neck, I started to relax. His teeth gently rasped over my earlobe, pulling and sucking it into his mouth. I let him inside, his finger gently pushing into my ass.

  He was patient, just like he was in the water. One finger became two, and slowly I relaxed into his thrusting fingers. I heard him tear the condom open with his teeth, and for a moment his hands left me. I looked at him over my shoulder, and his eyes met mine. His lips curled into a smile before kissing me deeply. I felt the head of his cock pushing me open, his hand back on my cock. I moaned into his mouth as he eased in, just the tip of his dick filling my ass. He stopped, his mouth releasing mine just in time to let my cry of pleasure come out. I pushed back against him letting myself relax as he inched into me a little further. I felt his teeth scrape at my back, and I gasped as the pressure gave way and he slid all the way inside me.

  Before he started moving again, I felt him pulse and grow inside me. Not wanting to wait another second, I eased away from him, feeling the pull of his thick cock as he eased out. He fucked me slow and hard, his hand stroking me in time to his thrusts into my ass. I knew I wasn't going to last long despite his easy pace. The feeling was so intense nothing else could get through. His body pressed full into my back. I felt every inch of him riding against me, just like he was on his board in the water. His hand slid back up to the head of my cock, his fist twisting around me. I lost all control, and I felt my body start to tumble over the edge. This kind of falling I could get used to. He fucked me faster as my come shot into his waiting hand, the hot sticky liquid rubbing all over me as he continued to stroke.

  With a fierce series of thrusts, I felt him come, his twitching cock squirming inside me as he bit into the tender skin of neck. We lay there, a sweaty, sticky mess. He moved away from me, passing me a towel before throwing the condom in the trashcan by the door. The towel was damp and felt like it had sand all over it. I shook it a few times, but the grit remained. He chuckled as he lay back down.

  "Sorry, mate. Sand is kind a hazard of the job around here."

  He rolled toward me, his mouth warm and soft on mine. A loud pounding startled us both. A voice from behind the door boomed out.

  "Dude. It's breaking overhead. We gotta go."

  Dan looked at me, smiling that smile I knew I would never forget.

  "Be right there, mate.” He got up from the bed, grabbing his wetsuit from the floor. As I sat up and watched, he paused for a second. “You coming?"

  I just laughed.

  "Nah. I think I've had my fill of surfing. Have fun."

  "Maybe I'll see you around, Ted. Work on the balance, okay?"

  With one last kiss he was gone. I picked up my limp, damp wetsuit from the floor and stepped into it. I stopped and glanced at his map, the diary of his world travels. Finding a loose pin, I stuck it to the middle of Ohio, where I lived. It was the only pin in the map without a coastline next to it, but it was one more wave conquered.

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  Fire and Water

  by V. Greene

  Sir Campion's saddle smacked him on the bottom as his horse shied. He returned the favor smartly between the brute's ears, his armor clattering. He missed his last warhorse, much better trained and much better tempered, but Red had taken a lance's splinter to his hind leg and bled to death on the spot six months ago. This one, he was about to give up and rename Dinner.

  Dinner, here, wasn't going to be much use on the current quest if quest there was. Rumor had come of a dragon near a village, toasting the livestock and demanding the usual parade of virgins. Campion had experience with rumor. He ful
ly expected a large adder. Still, a young knight could hardly scoff at the orders of his king, so here he was—getting spanked by this brute of a horse for days on end. His squire had abandoned him two villages ago, there one minute and gone the next. Campion now hoped the dragon was only an adder. Not all his armor could be put on without help, and some clanked in rigged-up ties to his saddlebags.

  He was getting close, if the dodgy map was any good at all. The hills came together just so, and the stream flowed beside the road more or less as promised. He could see a campfire's smoke ahead and wondered if some other knight had beaten him to the scaled menace whether dragon or snake. The sun was getting low, so a campfire and the company it promised was all the more welcome to him.

  He would have preferred an inn, and a willing innkeeper's daughter—or son. Being a squire had taught Campion not to be choosy; being a knight had taught him it was better to give than receive. Perhaps whoever had the campfire would be in a cooperative frame of mind, and they could pass a bit of the evening—Campion snickered to himself—playing Hunt The Adder.

  He pressed on, leaving the road to wind through the scrubby trees. They seemed stunted and often made him crush himself down beside his horse's neck. The smoke was no longer visible; the sky itself was barely visible. He'd set himself on a good course, though, and felt confident of his direction. He began to smell his goal.

  The growth grew thicker, full of the plants that like more sun. Though Dinner balked, Campion heeled him sharply through the blackberry canes. The infernal beast had a breastplate for protection, after all. The horse broke into a clearing of tumbled stone. Before Campion could fully register what he was seeing, it screamed in panic and reared. Its left hind hoof slipped on a stone. Campion was thrown free, thanking his lucky stars in the instant before he met the ground that the horse seemed to be going the other way. His helmet rang with the impact against a rock, rang right through his skull, blackening out the world. He had an instant to think he hurt, and then nothing.