Milo & Judah

Chapter 5 - Judah's First Beach Day

With no access to a car, Milo suggested they take the bus. There was a stop near his house for the Beach Express. Milo gave Judah a pair of his own swim trunks. All of them were subdued solid colors as opposed to the bright neon floral printed board shorts Mercer preferred. Judah looked much better in the dark red trunks than Milo ever had.

Thudding down the stairs, Judah wore the shirt he had on the day before. The same one that Milo woke up cuddling.

"You're wearing that again?" Milo asked, timidly.

Judah yanked on the material and released it. "I figured I wouldn't waste a clean shirt. It's just going to get all sandy when I take it off at the beach anyway."

Milo nodded, opening the door. "Right. Makes sense."

Milo allowed Judah to go first. He grabbed the strap of the backpack he had prepared and followed Judah out, taking a moment to lock the door. Milo jogged to catch up to Judah at the end of the driveway.

Judah snickered at something and looked down at the shirt. "It's a good thing you don't drool."

Milo's stomach did somersaults. He thought he might throw up. Finally, he found his voice. "What do you mean?" He tried to sound casual, but he didn't think he'd managed it.

"I guess I dropped it on your bed last night when I took it off. You were hugging it like a teddy bear this morning." He glanced over; the side of his mouth lifted into a half smile.

"Ha, ha. That's weird. I don't remember that."

Judah laid a hand on Milo's shoulder and gave it a gentle rub as the bus pulled up to the stop. "Don't worry about it. I thought it was cute."

Judah climbed aboard, leaving Milo standing stupefied on the curb.

"You coming, kid?" the driver asked.

Milo rushed up the steps. He nearly ran into Judah's back. His tall, broad frame seemed larger in the contained space.

Judah surveyed the seating options. They had almost the entire bus from which to choose. "Do you prefer the front or back?" Judah asked.

Still unclear about how Judah felt about him, Milo had the bright idea to sit in the center of the sideways bench running along one side of the bus. That left plenty of room for Judah to sit as far away as he wanted.

Despite the three feet of empty space on either side of Milo, Judah sat right next to him, close enough that their legs brushed against each other.

Milo wouldn't take this as any sort of confirmation. Maybe Judah just didn't think about that kind of thing. After all, people generally sat near the person with whom they were traveling. Right?

Milo spent the rest of the bus ride more confused than ever. He stared at Judah. He wanted to come out and ask Judah how he felt. Last night, at dinner, Judah winked at Milo. Watching the movie, Judah had practically laid against him. Then this thing with the shirt.

But Milo could never be so brazen. Much as he might want to.

"I think this is our stop," Judah said, staring out the window with a wide smile.

The bus clangored to a stop, jostling them against each other. The bus hadn't picked up many people, so the trip didn't take long.

"Come on." Judah grabbed Milo's hand and pulled him to the front. He was practically bouncing as the bus doors slowly opened with a hiss of compressed air.

Dazzled by the sight of the ocean, Judah's eyes gleamed, almost as bright as the sunlight off the water. His lips stretched into the widest grin, showing all of his pearly teeth—one of which Milo noticed was slightly out of line with the others.