Bailey

By Rory M

Chapter 14

Bailey was lying prone on his stomach, yet again. If anything, this summer was turning into a calamity of ailments for the teenager. His back was a flaming red, which in the morning would no doubt be stiff, sore and possibly even blistered. But none of that was on his mind as he lay in the dark trying to go to sleep.

Caleb, laying not six feet away, was having similar thoughts. The last few weeks had seen the two become closer and closer friends, but there was no secret there was something else each of them was feeling.

Caleb was warier of his feelings towards Bailey. He knew Bailey’s fears of being outed, and he also knew Bailey had little to no experience. There was also a fragility and a sensitivity about Bailey that made him feel uneasy.

There were things he did not understand about the other boy, something mystifying about his personality that he was intrigued about. He shrugged it off. He figured he had only known him for a few weeks. In time Bailey would feel more comfortable about talking to him.

His attraction to Bailey was growing steadily, however, along with these apprehensions. Thoughts of being with him would trickle into Caleb’s mind every so often, and, as he tried to sleep, and smelled the aloe lotion still on his hands, the thoughts crept into his mind again. It was also no secret to him what had happened moments before, and a new thought occurred to him. Did he get hard?

Bailey, on the other side of the room, was thinking of what it would actually feel like to be with Cal. Fears and desires ran circles in his mind, just as they were in Caleb’s, but around different things. Unlike his image of naiveté, Caleb had shared some of his more intimate experiences with Bailey during late night discussions about home and people they knew.

Bailey was taken aback about some of Caleb’s sexual exploits, but tried not to let on how exciting and new stories like these were to him. Caleb had also expressed his desires for the future to him, which Bailey wished he could only be a part of. Caleb had had enough of random hookups; he wanted a boyfriend, plain and simple.

Bailey never judged or shared what he wanted out of guys, because, in all honesty, he didn’t know. But now, more than ever. He wished that he could be with Caleb but the thought of acting on it scared him, and now he lay still with these thoughts, and the fear that Caleb had possibly noticed his erection from moments earlier.

Both wrestled with these thoughts as they slowly fell asleep. Eventually they did sleep, and in the morning they went about their groggy routines as friends, not letting the other one into what each other was thinking. Bailey’s back was red and sore for a few days, but like any other ailment it faded and healed. But unlike that nasty burn on his back, the tension between the two would remain.

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By late July swimming, as well as religious lessons, had come to a close, allowing the older campers more free time in the late afternoon to roam the camp, while the younger children were given more options on activities. The now good group of friends found themselves going to the docks to hang out, or an abandoned bon fire site not too deep into the woods between the dining hall and the lake. The six teenagers would sit around a talk for hours after dinner, and Caleb played his guitar until it got dark and they had to report to the bon fires with the other campers that they all so deeply loved.
On this night in particular they found themselves at the smaller of the two docks that the camp owned. It was simple but sturdy, in the shape of an L, with a railing lining the side that faced the shore. There was also a bench that wrapped around the banister, allowing a few people to sit on the benches and others to sit facing them or the water from the deck floor. There were 4 life vests draped haphazardly over one side of the railing, covering the sign that read, “No boats may be taken by junior campers and without wearing life preservers.” There were only 4 vests provided for the 2 small rowboats that were docked.

“I’m….so bored,” Liz, always the brilliant one.

“Then do a dance for us, and while your at it, get me a drink,” Trina was getting to that point in the summer, like she did every summer before, where Liz seemed more and more irritating by the day.

“Alright…I’m taking the boat.” Jared, in his infinite wisdom, randomly stood up and started to buckle himself into a safety jacket. The rest of the group laughed at him, but then realized he was serious, “Well, are you assholes coming. I’m not rowing this bitch by myself.”

“I think I’ll pass on that one…” Cal said half laughing at the ridiculous image Jared made in the vest that was probably 2 sizes too small.

“What the fuck man, it’ll be fun.”

“Come on guys, the lake is just waiting for us,” Trina said as she belted herself into a second vest.

“There are only 4 vests anyway.....but you kids have fun.” Bailey was not a big fan of the rowboats. They weren’t that sturdy and rowing wasn’t exactly his favorite activity.

“Fine, suit yourselves.” Jar shrugged the other two boys off and brought a coy smile to his face, “Ladies?” There was definitely an advantage to being the only straight guy in this situation, although none of them knew about Bailey, yet.
Trina and Amy hopped slowly into the second boat, while Jared followed Liz into the first, a little too hastily for the fragile state of balance the small boat was in. He flailed his arms and almost fell backwards into the boat, in turn almost capsizing himself and Liz into the murky water of the lake. All of them laughed hysterically, except for Liz, who shrieked and threatened Jared’s life.

“You assholes look ridiculous,” Cal said from the bench of the dock. Bailey and he sat side by side, enjoying the comedy before them.

“Shut the hell up you. At least we’re trying something. Now Amy, where the hell is the on switch?” Trina barked at Caleb, and then back to her shipmate, who was struggling to get the oars into the ruts on the side of the boat.

“It’s called paddle, now start cracking,” she retorted, shoving both into Trina’s chest, making the rest laugh again.

“You guys are ridiculous, I’d be surprised if you could make it away from the dock,” Jared was cocky, but all in good fun. The others knew he would never say anything that wasn’t in a joking matter. He also looked like a fool…so how could one get mad at him?

“I’ll bet we could waste your sorry ass getting out of here,” Trina fired back, while Amy’s eyes bulged out of her head, thinking of the only time she had actually seen Trina in one of the boats, and how perfectly it went around in a circle.

“Oh yeah??”

“YEAH!!!””

“Fine then,” Jared barked. “You’re on!” Each boat frantically tried to row out of the dock, banging into each other, and Jared’s boat bouncing right back into the dock…which it was still attached to. The small calamity, and all the thrashing, sent Bailey and Cal into an uproar of laughter watching their ridiculous friends. Eventually, each boat made it away from the dock, each barking insults at the other, but neither moving that far away or in that straight of a route.

Caleb couldn’t help but scream commentary at the events that were taking place in front of him, at least until they were out of ear shot and struggling in them middle of the lake.
“You people are a disgrace to the Olympic committee…you should be ashamed of yourselves for soiling the reputation of the Special Olympics!” He sat back down on the bench next to Bailey, and unconsciously laid his head on the smaller boy’s shoulder.
Bailey enjoyed the touch and both were still laughing and enjoying the scene in front of them, but as they caught their breaths and they paused in a natural silence, Caleb realized what he was actually doing, and jerked his head back quickly, creating a brief but intense moment of awkwardness. Bailey blushed, wishing that the other didn’t have such a reaction. He also wished that he could jump into the lake and join the others in one of the boats.

“I kind of wish we had a third boat…we’d make them look like fools,” Bailey quipped nervously, trying to stay in the previous moment.

“Why do we need to make them look like fools? They’re doing a pretty good job of it by themselves,” each of them chuckled, and the tension seemed to dissipate between them.

“Liz looks like she’s going to kill him.”

“Nah, she just wants the attention. Look at her, every time she shrieks he pays attention to her. It’s like positive reinforcement for a hungry dog,” Cal kicked a rock off the deck into the water as he analyzed his friends.

“Ouch…so cruel, Freud,” Bailey gave him a mock glare and then looked back out onto the water.

“I’m just stating the obvious,” he said a tad too defensively.

“You can give it but you can’t take any editorials at all, can you?” Bailey smiled at him, making Caleb’s defensive posture fade slightly. For some reason the low lighting of the setting sun made his eyes seem brighter.

“Ehhh, sue me.”

For the next few minutes the two fell into a comfortable silence, each looking out onto the lake, avoiding eye contact. Their thoughts were far from the choppy scene on the water. Caleb was internally kicking himself for showing such outward affection towards Bailey, something that he hadn’t done ever since the night he had put lotion on Bailey’s sun burn. Bailey on the contrary had wished it had lasted longer.

The two boats brought both of them out of their reveries as the race had turned into a game of bumper boats. When both ships seemed to have stabilized, Jared thought it was in his best interest to stand up in the boat. Both stared on, waiting for disaster to strike.

“I AM THE KING OF THIS LAKE. NOW STEP OFF OF MY BOAT!” Just at that moment Trina rammed the side of the small vessel with her paddle, knocking Jared extremely off balance, and eventually over the side of the boat. Everyone laughed hysterically, even Jared, after he stopped sputtering. Liz, on the other hand, could not stop screaming at the top of her lungs about what an idiot he was, and how he’s not going to crawl back into the boat because it will flip.

“Ok,” was the only response that Jared gave, and he quickly started to swim back to the dock.

“Wait a minute!!! I can’t row this thing back myself! JARRRRRRR!!!!!” This, however, did not stop his swim back to the dock. Trina and Amy started to row back in, leaving Liz in the middle of the lake, where she awkwardly started to row herself back to shore, slowly. Once the boats were docked, Liz took a charge at the sopping Jar, who ran up the deck and into the woods in front of her.

“Well, that was fun…I don’t think I’ve ever seen Liz so pissed off. That was beautiful!!” Trina laid herself out on the deck in front of Bailey and Cal, while Amy put her vest back and neatly tied the boats up, as if they had never been used. Amy was probably the most quiet in the group, but she was probably also the most responsible.

“Do you guys want to head back? I smell like those vests and the lake… I kind of want a shower, “ Amy asked politely.

“Yeah, I’m feeling that,” Trina got up and looked towards Cal, figuring that the two would follow them back to the lodge.

“I think we just kind of want to chill here for a few minutes. But by all means, you two reek,” Caleb chided.

“Fine, see you kids later,” Trina gave Cal a swat upside the head and a wink. For the past few weeks, he had confided his confused feelings about the Bailey situation with Trina. She was probably his truest confidant…and she had already given him some sound advice.

Unfortunately, Cal took none of it, and instead seemed to just come back and bitch about his confusion every time their conversations took that direction. If he didn’t do something soon, she was going to lock them in their room until it happened. Thankfully, it looked like Cal might be actually making a pass, so she started to make a quick exit up the hill into the woods with Amy.

”Oh my God! They’re fucking crazy,” Caleb said lightly, trying to seem natural. In reality he was more nervous than usual about being alone around Bailey, who seemed to be innocently peering out onto the lake.

“Yeah…sometimes I wonder about the sanity of the people who go to this camp.” Bailey seemed to not be avoiding eye contact, making Cal a little frustrated and anxious about the conversation he wanted to have with Bailey, but couldn’t bring himself to actually speak the words.

Both of them fell into another silence, but unlike the first one, this one was deafeningly awkward. Bailey seemed to be getting more and more nervous. He felt tension in the situation, and he also felt Caleb’s eyes on his face as he stared out onto the lake. The lake that was becoming harder and harder for him to focus on.

Eventually Bailey looked into his face, just to prevent himself from jumping into the damned lake, a feeling that was becoming very familiar to him on this late afternoon.

“Soo…” Well, no one said Bailey was a great conversationalist!

“Yeah…”

“Great.”

There was another pause, but this one of was brief. They both looked into each others face and burst out into a chuckle at the absurdity of the moment and the lack of conversation they had just had. Bailey looked at Caleb, searching for a reason for why they were there. All he got was a stupid smirk back, and Caleb now took a stance of looking out at the lake.

However, as he turned his body, he moved closer to Bailey, to the point where their knees were touching as they sat on the dock, facing the scummy lake that had given them so many memories already that summer.

Caleb again turned back to his thoughts, Why is this becoming so ridiculous. He looks so scared; I think he’s catching on. Damn Trina! She convinced me that he liked me. Does he like me? Fuck it, I’ll just kiss him and find out.

But what if he doesn’t like me and it freaks him out? I’ll have to live with him. Well, camp is over in another 3 weeks, but I wanted us to be cool and chill after. Why the hell is he just sitting there, why isn’t he smiling anymore? Fuck it, I’ve got to try something.

Caleb quickly jerked his head and upper body backwards to face the woods behind them, as if he had heard something coming. As Bailey reacted to the startling motion and looked back, Caleb made his move. He brought his left hand up to cup Bailey’s cheek as he searched the empty scene behind him, it was now or nothing for Caleb, and the sudden caress brought Bailey’s full attention to Caleb’s face.

His eyes were wide and questioning. He had fantasized about this moment so many times before, but now that he was actually here he was scared out of his mind, like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck. His bottom lip quivered as Caleb’s hand slid up his cheek, forcing him to bite down on it quickly. Caleb took one last heroic breath before he sealed his fate for the rest of the summer.

He slowly moved his face into Bailey’s, giving enough time for the other to back away if he really wanted to. He could feel Bailey’s face shaking in his hand, and decided to brush his face up against his, softly. Yes, it was a hesitation, but the feel of Bailey’s forehead against his, and then the brushing of his cheek, was almost good enough for him. But then he brought himself back into the moment.
Caleb moved his lips softly across the other boy’s, who was still biting on his lower lip. Bailey gasped, releasing his bite and signaling Caleb to fully kiss him. It was soft, and very hesitant on Caleb’s part. Bailey had no clue what was going on, but after the initial contact, a feeling of extreme warmth flushed through him, and he relaxed into Caleb’s advances. Caleb only lingered on the other’s lips for a few moments, not making any real advances or strong movements. The kiss was soft and sweet, just how he had wanted it.

He backed away slowly from Bailey’s face, not yet opening his eyes for fear of the other boy’s expression. When he did open them, Bailey was peering straight into his face with his light gray eyes, a slight smile on his face. Caleb’s hand was still on the side of his face, and could still feel the shaking of the other boy. He laced his hand back into Bail’s soft curls, just smiling back into his face.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he said to Bailey, in barely a whisper.