I Hate Summer (6 page)

“What’s the drooling sleeping beauty done this time?” It was a testament to how out of it I was that I hadn’t heard Jorja arrive and I hadn’t even managed to make tea. I’d just been staring at the gray horizon.

“Huh?”

“Ye look worse than the time ye realized ye couldn’t marry Theo,” Jorja said with a smirk, and I gave her a playful whack across the arm.

“I was eight; he’s all yers these days.”

“I know. That wasn’t what I meant. So? What’s up?”

I shook my head absently as she took the initiative to make the morning brew. Jorja and I were close despite the age difference, and it wasn’t as if I’d never talked to her about guys. Hell, when she decided to have sex for the first time, it was me she asked. Apparently, she figured anything that happened to her couldn’t possibly be more difficult than my first time—she was almost certainly right, but that’s a story for some other day. Still, this felt a little different. Trystan was straight, and even though he’d been fine with me up until last night, I couldn’t quite get over the boy he had been.

“I’m fine, just didn’t sleep very well. Too hot, then too cold.” It was the truth in both senses of the interpretation—but Jorja did not look convinced and her blue eyes darted over to where my tent was pitched.

“Ye sure? ’Cause I spoke to Josh, and he said he’d swap with Trys.” My eyebrows flickered up my forehead as I recalled the youngest Jackson.

“That boy is a little too curious for me to be sharing a tent with him—he has ‘jailbait’ written in those chocolate truffle eyes of his,” I said quietly.

Jorja’s spluttered laughter almost caused her to miss the flask and pour the just-boiled water all over the grass.

“Ye sure Josh is gay?” she hissed when she had stopped laughing. No one else was up, but tents didn’t exactly make for private conversations.

I shrugged. “Maybe not, but he’s certainly curious.” I thought of the way he’d touched me back on that first evening by the lake. Often when he was talking to me, he had a puzzled frown on his face. “But he can go find someone else to be curious with.” I had enough problems with one inappropriate Jackson, and I was certain Jerry wouldn’t take a son of his being interested in guys as easily as my dad did. I did not want to be the cause of some family rift.

“Hmm, he did seem oddly keen…. Aw.” Mischief danced through her eyes as she grinned at me. “Ye should be nice t’ him, Ide.”

“Oh yeah? I should be nice to the underage boy, should I? Yer a pervert, Jorja.”

She whacked me affectionately. “I don’t mean like that. But if he is gay, it must be hard in a family like theirs. There isn’t a lot of estrogen.”

“Yeah well, if he wants to talk to me, that’s fine. But there’s no way in hell I’m getting in a tent with him. His brother is bad enough and he definitely likes girls.”

Her smile faded a little as she was reminded of our original topic. “So then,
I
can swap with Josh, he can have my tent, Trys can share with Vince, and I’ll come in with ye?”

“What’s this? Palming me off, Idrys? And I thought we had a connection.” I grunted and almost spilled boiling tea over my lap as Trystan’s words were accompanied by a heavy chest draping itself over my shoulders.

Jorja looked genuinely confused as I blushed—I honestly don’t remember the last time I blushed. Trystan chuckled and straightened up to get himself some tea.

“Thank God it’s finally cooled down, eh? I thought I was going to boil last night. And there is no way in hell I’m sharing with Vince; that boy farts so bad I’d rather sleep in your coffin tent.” He sat down cross-legged on the ground next to me and brushed sleep from his eyes. “Seriously, how do you sleep in that thing, Jorja? I borrowed one from a friend once and I woke up thinking I was buried alive, and it wasn’t even half as hot as it was last night.”

Jorja gave me a puzzled look and turned back to Trystan to answer his question, leaving me to watch and feel slightly bewildered.

“You spacing out again, faggot? Didn’t get your fill of me last night?”

I jumped as I realized I’d been staring at him with the same bewildered frown on my face for the past five minutes. Jorja had gone to brush her teeth and the rest of our families were stirring but out of hearing distance.

“Ye for real?” I asked quietly.

He rolled his eyes and looked slightly pissed off. “You asked me that before. What’s your problem? Fair enough I didn’t expect you to actually go through with it, but I did ask you, so why would I be bothered?”

“Because yer straight?”

“Yeah, and I still am. A mouth is a mouth, idiot, and now that I’ve apparently tried both I can tell you that there isn’t that much difference.”

I spluttered a little at that. I was offended and my indignation was overriding my uncertainty.

“Isn’t much difference?” I asked archly. He shrugged but the reluctant irritation that passed across his face gave me a warm glow of satisfaction.

“Top three. Happy?” he grumbled beneath his breath.

“Ha, yer kidding me?” There was no way in hell that there were two random girls who were better at head than me.

“I didn’t say which position.”

My smug smile was wiped away by the sudden realization that we were having this conversation at all—never mind the fact we were having it within speaking distance of our families. Not that mine mattered, but his did.

“Anyway, I can’t switch with Josh,” Trystan started again after a moment, returning to his usual unfazed attitude. “That boy has an unnatural interest in you that I don’t think should get the opportunity to develop while Jerry is in shouting distance.”

“D’ye think I’m an idiot? And never mind yer dad, has it slipped yer mind he’s only fifteen?”

“Josh isn’t a virgin; he’s slept with girls before. I’m just starting to think maybe he’s not that interested in them.”

“That doesn’t change the fact it’s still
illegal
. What kind of brother are ye?”

“The kind that thinks that if my brother is gay it would be better for him to find out with a friend who I trust than getting his ass ripped open by a random guy in a club.”

I blanched at that because of how close to my own first time experience it was. I ran a hand through my tousled hair and downed the last of my now lukewarm tea in a gulp. I was a morning person, but really, this was too much for so early in the day. And had Trystan just implied I was his friend?

“Look, ye can tell Josh he can talk to me, but I’m not going t’ sleep with the boy now or when he’s actually legal.”

“Don’t swing that way?” He smirked.

“I do both, depends on my mood,” I cut back and kept my tone deadpan. “Would ye sleep with Jorja?”

“Different.”

“Nope, it isn’t,” I replied firmly. “I’ll talk to him, I’ll introduce him t’ some nice guys if ye want me to, but that’s it.” I wondered what had happened to my life that a guy I’d just blown was trying to get me in bed with his brother. It was going to be a long rest of the week if shit like this didn’t settle down.

“Give me your number, then,” Trystan said.

“Why?” I asked, genuinely puzzled.

“Because you’re probably not going to be able to talk to him this week with Dad and Vince around, so I’ll give him your number when we’re home and he can call you if he wants to.”

I considered him in silence for a moment.

“That is
honestly
”—I shook my head as I tugged my shatterproof/waterproof/lifeproof phone from my pocket and dropped it in Trystan’s lap—“the lamest excuse to get my number I have
ever
heard—and I’ve heard a lot of shitty excuses.”

“Huh?” He looked up blankly from my phone, and it was my turn to smirk as I dropped my head in close to his.

“If ye wanted me to blow ye again, ye just had to ask,” I whispered then stood up and left.

“I wasn’t—” Trystan shouted after me, only to cut off just as abruptly. Ahead of me Josh was just emerging from the tent he shared with Vince. Josh offered me a smile, but Vince was looking beyond me; he stared at Trystan, a sour expression painted across the features he shared with his brothers.

I
T
WAS
kind of amusing now that I had gotten used to it. Trystan was a cocky and egotistical jock, and he was almost impossible to faze except for every now and again. Over the next couple of days, those few and far between moments brought me a sense of smug satisfaction.

“So?” My sister’s tone was pointed.

I looked up from the pot I was stirring and met Jorja’s curious and frustrated stare. It was our turn to cook and we were on our own around the stove. Our parents were chatting with Jerry and Samantha on the other side of the camp where the sun still lingered. The Jackson boys were playing football, and the last time I’d looked up she’d been stealing envious glances in their direction.

“So what?” I asked.

“So when did ye and Trys sort yer shit out? Did ye chat or something? And why didn’t ye tell me ye were going to? I thought ye were waiting until we were alone, but well, we’re alone and yer irritatingly schtum.”

“Huh?” I said absently as I turned to follow Jorja’s gaze to the topless football players.

“Oi! Don’t burn the food, you two pervs!” Trystan called over when he turned and caught us both staring. Jorja and I stuck our fingers up at him in return. Our respective parents called some admonishment, but it was halfhearted as tonight was a wine/beer night in recognition of the lazy day we had planned tomorrow that always came halfway through our holidays.

“That’s ’cause we haven’t,” I said as I turned my attention back to the pot. After yesterday morning’s incident in the tent, we’d just returned to normal—or what I’d thought was normal. This morning, I’d once again woken with my personal space invaded and carried on as usual. Trystan didn’t seem bothered, so I’d decided to chalk it up to an odd game gone wrong, and I’d spent the last two days as I’d spent the first couple: enjoying the countryside while being the brunt of jokes and trying not to get sunburned. That had been it.

“Seriously?” she pressed.

I gave a small shrug. “Yeah, we chatted about Josh, but I guess it just took me this long to get used to the new Trys.” Although if I was honest, I wasn’t at all used to him. The only inappropriate thing he’d done so far was proposition me—oh, and try and set me up with his brother—yet despite the evidence that he really wasn’t bothered, I sometimes had to resist the temptation to flinch and hurry away when I caught him looking in my direction.

“Ye chatted about Josh?” Either my sister missed the undertones of puzzlement in my voice, or she was resigned to my reluctance where the eldest Jackson brother was concerned.

“Well, yeah.” I chuckled as I looked round at her. “He wanted me to sleep with him, I think.”

“He
what
?” she shrieked.

“Shh,” I hissed, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the outrage on her face. Despite her perving, my sister was a bit old-fashioned where sex was concerned. She tolerated my less than wholesome attitude toward it, but she would never be happy with the idea of a one-night stand, never mind that Josh was almost six years younger than me and still a minor. “Weird, right? And if
I
think it’s wrong, that’s saying something.”

My sister spluttered and she was looking at me with a mixture of amusement and condescension, which I thought was a bit unfair—even I drew the line at sleeping with anyone underage, at least knowingly.

“Well, yeah.” She had clearly decided that she was going to have to spell out for me whatever was going on in that “only have sex with someone you love” head of hers. “But it’s weirder because Trys has been flirting with ye.”

I considered her across the camping stove.

“Ye got some vodka in that wine o’ yers?” I asked archly as I eventually leaned over to see how much my sister had drunk. The cup was still half-full, and as I reached over and gave it a mocking sniff, I confirmed that it was indeed just wine. She snatched it back.

“Are ye blind or just stupid?” She cocked her head to one side, looking genuinely puzzled.

“Neither, as far as I’m aware. I don’t tend t’ pay much attention to straight men, t’ be honest, and Trystan is just a tease.”

“Well I’m not denying he’s that. But he’s hardly had his eyes off ye for the past two days straight. Honestly, it’s enough to break ma heart.” I raised my eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes. “Not like that; just on behalf of the female population in general.” Her gaze drifted back over my shoulder, and she dropped her voice again. “Right, there he’s doing it now! He’s staring over here with a weird look on his face.”

“He’s probably wondering why yer staring at him, idiot.” I kept my voice droll.

“Or he’s looking at ye to try and work out why he suddenly finds ye so dashingly attractive; ooh, it’s like a manga.”

“Except shouldn’t one of us look like a kid, then?” I commented dryly as I thought of the yaoi Jorja had showed me—specifically the doe-eyed jailbait that usually ended up being half raped by a straight guy who suddenly found himself unable to control his suppressed gay impulses any longer. Trystan and I were both a similar height—if anything I was taller—and while I wasn’t as ripped as him by any means, I was not stick thin, either. Plus, I generally liked to top.

“Not in all of them,” my sister replied, completely unfazed. “There’s this one called—”

I interrupted her. “I don’t need to know, Jorja, real-life gay guy, remember?” She pouted but stopped elaborating and continued to look at me as if I was a bit simple.

“Fine, let’s
assume
yer right.” I made sure she knew I thought it highly unlikely. “Now can ye please explain to me why was he trying to get me to sleep with his brother?”

She flicked her gaze over my shoulder with a little frown on her face. If anything, Josh fit the manga profile much better: he was shorter than both his brothers but still shared their pleasant coloring and good looks. Each time I caught him staring at me, I swear there was more and more being said by those gorgeous eyes of his. It was as if each morning he woke up a little more certain, a little more interested, and a little more dangerous. If we were anywhere else, if I didn’t know how old he was, I would definitely go there. Without a doubt, without hesitation, I would enjoy devouring him, taking his first time for myself, making it amazing for both of us. I shivered slightly at the thought. But we weren’t anywhere else, we were here, he was still fifteen, and there was no way I was going there.