"CANNONBALL!" Drew screams as he runs into the water. I laugh quietly to myself and shake my head. I will never understand how he can go from dealing with me having a crisis better than anyone in my life, to whatever the hell this is. I take a few steps back and jump in right next to him, causing water to splash all over him.
There aren't a lot of us here, we tried to keep it smaller so we don't get in trouble. There are like 12 of us here. Unfortunately, that includes Henry, who I've kind of been avoiding since this morning. I really haven't meant to, I just keep getting too anxious to talk to him. Drew's been telling me to talk to him but I just can't. Maybe tonight will be the night.
"GUYS! WE SHOULD DO A CHICKEN FIGHT! EVERYONE PAIR UP!" Drew announces to everyone there. I hop onto Drew's shoulders since I'm physically a little smaller than him. He looks up at me to make sure I'm okay while someone else starts talking.
"So you guys wanna do two teams at a time? Someone isn't gonna be paired up so they can be ref," Cody asks the group. He's on the basketball team but he and Jack have become good friends while sharing a room.
"I don't really feel like playing right now," Henry speaks up from the dock. He hasn't gotten in the water yet, he's just been sitting up there observing. "I can be the ref for y'all so no one has to sacrifice themselves." Everyone nods and starts discussing rules.
It doesn't take long to form a list of rules considering it's a pretty simple game. Drew and I get chosen for the first fight, against Isaac and Bobby. Henry counts us down starting from five. Once he hits zero we both charge at each other, Isaac and I shoving at each other as best as we can. We have a couple of close calls, but Drew and I have played this enough with both of our siblings that we've gotten really good at catching ourselves. In the end, we win, after about a two-minute fight.
The next fight is Jack and Cody against James and Charlie. James and Charlie are some of the nicer guys on the football team. They're both a little quieter than the rest of us and way more respectful to people in general. They've never really had a problem with anyone on the basketball team so I'm not really sure why they're here. They're usually in their own little world, but they open up more in smaller groups which is why they're participating more right now.
After chicken fighting for around 30 minutes, we all started to get bored. Someone suggested truth or dare and although it originally got turned down we couldn't think of anything better to do.
We all get into a circle on the beach. Someone brought a case of beer 'just in case' so the first dare was for someone to chug a bottle so we can use it as a spinner. No one really jumped at the opportunity but after careful consideration, I decide I deserve a beer after the last 24 hours. I've also secretly been practicing my chugging ability so this was a chance to show off.
Someone set a timer and I managed just over 3 seconds, which I like to believe is pretty impressive. Once I'm done I put the bottle in the center of the circle and take a spin since I was technically the first to go. The bottle lands on James who looks pretty uncomfortable. I had both a truth and a dare in mind but decided to go easy on him since he looks a little nervous. "James, truth or dare, dude?" He takes a second to think before finally deciding on a dare. "Okay, um. Perform a 30-second ballet dance."
Someone found a song for him to dance to and timed him. It was really funny watching him act like a ballerina, he was really confused. Once he was done he went up and spun the bottle himself. This time it landed on Bobby, who also chose a dare.
"Okay, Bobby. I dare you to call your mom and pretend you're drunk." We all listened to his conversation with his mom, who was really pissed at Bobby's convincing performance. Everyone cheered when he finally hung up and he went to spin the bottle.
After a few more spins, it landed on Henry, who still hasn't participated much. Maybe he'll finally get his head out of his ass and join the group. "Dare, I guess."
Isaac had an evil glint in his eyes when he said, "Henry, I dare you to spin the bottle, and play seven minutes in heaven in the woods with whoever it lands on." Something flashed over his face while he crawled over to spin the bottle. He glanced at me as it spun and then back at the bottle while it slowed down. Everyone's eyes were glued to the bottle as it slowly spun, getting closer and closer to stopping. Getting closer, closer, and finally stopping. Right. On. Me.
Of course, because this is just my luck. I sighed, grabbed another beer, and got up with Henry, chugging the beer on my way to the forest. Everyone laughs and goes back to the game. "So."
"Ethan," He says, voice low and hot. This is the cruelest joke the guys could play on me. "You've been ignoring me."
"I know," I mutter, not wanting this conversation to be happening right now. "Can you give it a second for the beer to kick in? I really can't do this conversation sober." He rolls his eyes, sitting down on a log from a fallen tree.
"No, I can't. Why have you been ignoring me? We were fine this morning." His eyes are sincere, he's watching me like a hawk. I kick a stick, something I often do in situations that make me nervous, and shove my hands into my pockets.
"I swear I didn't mean to." I stop, trying to give him as little information as possible, but his eyes and that look. Quite honestly, it makes me weak, despite trying to fight it. "This is all just a lot for me and it's happening really fast and it's making me really anxious. Two days ago I was straight, and now I don't know what I am and I'm dealing with all these feelings for the first time, and it's just a lot. And holy shit that beer kicked in fast." I take a seat on a log that's right across from him and try to breathe.
"I know what you mean, this is happening unusually fast. Even for someone who has known they're gay for several years at this point. And I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stress you out like that. We can go slower if you want, we don't have to do anything if you aren't ready to." I fidget with my hands, mindlessly playing with them and moving them in and out of my pockets.
"That would be better, I think." I gulp, trying not to seem too nervous, although I think I'm already well past that point. "I've never even had a crush before, so this is really weird to me. I did have a girlfriend for like a week, but we never did anything and I don't think I had any feelings for her." He nodded.
"Melanie, right?" I smile at the fact that he remembered.
"Yeah, that was her." We talked for a few more minutes before they called us back, telling us our time was up. They cheered and whooped as we came back as if we'd actually do anything.
The night ended pretty soon after that when someone on the camp staff found us and told us all to go back to our cabins or he'd tell the coaches we were drinking. That was a pretty easy decision for most of us.
YOU ARE READING
Wait... Together?
Teen FictionEthan is the wide receiver on his school's football team. Henry is the point guard of his school's basketball team. After a decade-long feud between the school's two best sports teams, the coaches have had enough. It's time to end this feud once and...
