Because Of You

Fifteen- The Gay Sex Magnet

"You should have brought him along!" I laughed at Becca as she sat and tried not to gush too much about how much she actually seemed to really like this boyfriend she had.

"We'd only been together like a month when the holiday was arranged." She shrugged hiding her face behind her glass as she lifted it to her lips, but I could still see her blushing cheeks.

"You better introduce us when we get back, that's all I'm saying." I smiled innocently at her as she just chuckled and lifted her glass back to the table nodding and smiling back at me.

"You still could have brought him." Dan said with a sad smile.

"What so he could tag along with five people he doesn't know?" She laughed, "No this is our Waveney holiday, to reminisce on old times." She added as she looked around the table which was now only covered with glasses, we'd long finished eating.

"Well," Phil shrugged, "Next time."

She shrugged in response and for a moment everybody fell quiet.

It was getting late, it was dark out so it must have been at least half past nine, but we were still all buzzing, and there was always something to say. Well actually Gerard wasn't buzzing and he didn't really have all that much to say, but I hadn't expected anything more of him. After I'd left him at the pool earlier that afternoon he seemed to act just like he always did; as though nothing had happened and he was fine. When I looked back at him he was sat reading his book like he had been before I had disturbed him in the first place.

Oli and Becca had come back from the town by the middle of the afternoon and we all decided to head down to the beach. Again Gerard just sat down on the sand and read his book. Becca sat with him and read her own book for a while, while Oli and I challenged Dan and Phil to a sandcastle competition. Gerard and Becca judged and picked the winner; Oli and I won, but Dan and Phil spent half of the time bickering or throwing sad at each other, just being Dan and Phil.

Then Gerard walked down the beach with Dan and Phil, leaving me to have a very in depth discussion with Oli about tattoos. When they returned everyone bar Gerard headed down to the water. Gerard stayed with his sketch book and his book and I didn't have the energy or the inclination to even try to convince him to join us. Everybody asked him if he was sure, but they all let it go pretty quickly, because we all knew Gerard couldn't swim.

Of course I knew that actually it had nothing to do with that whatsoever, I'd been to the beach with Gerard enough times to know that as nervous as he was in water, he still liked the sea. He liked to let the water swish around his ankles, he liked to push himself and let me slowly usher him in until he was waist deep. Never had he ever let go of me for more than a few minutes, or let me get further than arms length away from him, but he liked it. We'd had plenty of fun at the beach in the past. But he wasn't himself. I wasn't going to push him; he wasn't my problem unless he wanted to be. And he didn't.

Once we'd spent the late afternoon on the beach we all cleaned up and headed out onto the terrace bar and we'd eaten. I'd pretended not to notice how little Gerard ate; I'd tried to be as subtle as I could constantly watching to see how much he had eaten. I mean he had eaten, he'd eaten enough, it wasn't like he'd just poked his food around and only had a few bites, he'd eaten, just nowhere near as much as anyone else. Less than he used to eat.

"What about Oli?" Becca said to distract the attention from her. "Why is nobody grilling Oli about his girlfriend?"

"Yeah," Dan nodded in agreement, "Why is nobody grilling Oli about his girlfriend."

"Because Oli doesn't want to be grilled." Oli laughed, but I think he knew it was his turn.

Oli didn't get what he wanted; Oli got a lot of questions, questions which ultimately resulted in him having to explain virtually every detail about his relationship. We heard the story of how they met, we heard all about what they had in common, how she did a load of his tattoos, how their first date went and how they'd bought a dog together. Just like Becca, he had to explain exactly why she wasn't on holiday with us. Honestly I think everyone was still slightly shocked that Oli had tied himself down to one girl, even though we'd all known they'd be dating for over a year. It still seemed a surprise, the Oli we had once known was all about the idea of not tying himself down.