Page 2

Chapter Two

Pouting on his leather sofa, Jovian complained in a long stream to his best, and surely, only friend, Ciana. “He says I can’t go back to the club, or any club! Ci, how can I deal with this?”

“What’s this camp like? I went to a camp when I was little, and it was fabulous. It was near Taho, gorgeous boys were everywhere. I had a good time and had my very first kiss there.”

“I’ve had my first kiss, thanks.”

Ciana was like him. She’d been raised in a pleasant house with parents that could afford to give her a good life without stress.

There was nothing wrong with that, but he was hated for it by all the jealous queers at all the clubs.

They all thought they were better than him because they’d struggled.

He struggled too, just not in the same ways.

With so many jealous of him, he’d had a hard time making friends all his life.

Ciana was the only one who truly understood him.

She was beautiful too, with long chestnut hair, large eyes that were the perfect shade of cornflower blue. She’d had them professionally colorized, so she’d know what shade of blue to wear to the important days of her life, like prom.

“Jovian, please, just do it. It might be fun. I’m headed to Italy for the summer, and you were going to be here alone. This way, I’m not worried about you.”

Jovian would be lonely, he knew. And without the club to even get sex, he would be miserable. “It’s expensive.”

“Ask your mom. She’s fine with helping you.”

“I know. I’d rather save up my asks for things I’d actually enjoy, though! I mean, camp? Oh, big fucking deal, there are cabins. Cabins! One very tiny step up from sleeping in the dirt. I don’t think I can do it, Ci, I just don’t! Bugs, and other people in the same room? People I won’t be fucking?”

“How do you know? Maybe you’ll find a bunch of men on fire, and out there in the woods, doing nasty stuff.”

He’d never had a wilderness adventure, but then he thought of the bugs and dirt and blanched. “Ew. Dirty up my ass does not sound like Insta story material.”

“Could be a fun TikTok series, though. A clip of each place you have dirt while you’re at camp getting plowed by tanned, muscled beach bodies.”

“It’s a lake, Ci. They’re not beach bodies, they’re dad bods, sipping cheap beer and sitting by their fishing poles.”

As she rolled her eyes, she slammed the rest of her wine and grabbed her bag. “I’m out. You’re boring me right now.”

“Traitor.”

“Go to camp! Get laid. Do something,” she said as she opened the door. “I’ll see you when I get back, and I promise, I’ll bring you something grand.”

“Bring me itch cream for all the bug bites I’m going to have,” he yelled as she disappeared out of his apartment on her way to her ride share.

Pouting was his thing. It had always worked for him. One look at his pouting face and his parents had caved to all his demands. So, it didn’t work as well away from home, but he refused to stop trying. One guy would adore his pouty face and drown him in fabulousness. He was sure of it.

Picking up his phone, he stared at it while considering calling his mom. “I could have asked for a trip to Italy with Ci, but nooo , instead I have to go to a camp.”

After getting his mom’s line ringing, Jovian stared across the room into the big mirror he placed behind the two fake plants his mother had gotten him after his real ones died from neglect. He was wearing his purple robe, the one that brought out the pink on his cheeks.

“Jovian? Hi, baby! How are you?”

“I’m upset, Mom.”

“Oh, honey, what happened?”

As much as he wanted to whine to his mother about it, she didn’t need to hear about Chaps. Her little baby into kink and hunting for a daddy wouldn’t exactly win him any points. “Just…jealous people. Like usual.”

“Baby, I’ve told you for years, as handsome as you are that’s going to happen. Let Mama help. Would you like a new duvet? I saw a pretty one online today.”

He’d actually love one, but what that cost could get him to the camp three times over. His mom only shopped at the best stores. “Mom, that would be really great, but I have another favor to ask. Um…it’s kind of expensive…”

“Oh, stop that. What is it, honey?”

Preening for the mirror, Jovian pursed his lips and let the robe slip from his bent leg, revealing his thin but shapely thigh. The long pause was mostly for dramatic effect, and it always worked.

“Jov? Honey, are you okay? Do you need me to come get you?”

He’d love that too, but it wasn’t necessary. “Mom, there’s this…camp. It’s called…” he snatched the brochure from the glass and oak coffee table and looked at the cover. “Pride Camp.”

“Pride Camp? Oh, honey, you’d like to go be a counselor?”

“No, Mom, it’s not for kids, it’s for adults and I don’t know, we’re supposed to connect with people in our community that maybe aren’t in our community.”

“You’re not making sense, Jovian. Are you that distraught?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. I really want to go to this camp, Mom,” he whined while rolling his eyes hard enough to hurt. “I need to make friends.”

“Honey! Just tell me how much to send you. I’m on the app now.”

“Twelve hundred, Mom, but maybe a little extra. I’ll need new clothes.”

“Two thousand enough?”

“Three would be better…”

After the whirlwind shopping trip to buy clothes for the camp, Jovian ordered a coffee while waiting on the email that he’d gotten into the camp. He had to be recommended, for fuck’s sake. Recommended to go live in the dirt for a month and a half.

Gary had given his recommendation before Jovian even asked him for it. He was laughing on the phone, too. Jovian wondered where all their respect for him was, that they always wanted, but it was what it was.

He got the email just before midnight and two days later, he was on his way to the mountains.

South, then west, he traveled in his silver Chevy Camaro, the one that he’d gotten brand-new for his last birthday. Twenty- five, halfway to thirty, and closer every single day, already inching to being an old man.

Once he lost his looks, he’d be alone forever, he knew. All he’d had all his life were his cute face, tiny body and smarts. Only having smarts wasn’t something to look forward to for him. He had to lock down a rich daddy while he had the ass up high and tight.

When he arrived, he was horrified to find the parking lot next to the camp. It was dirt, no attendant, and anyone and their uncle could try to steal his car. He planned on giving the owners a piece of his mind about it, especially after stepping out of his car and into a puddle.

Three-hundred-dollar sandals, ruined after being at the camp for ten seconds. It didn’t bode well. “I am going to strangle Gary when I get back to Denver!”

As he stood shaking his foot, a woman shouted out to him then walked to him. “Hey, you okay?”

“I stepped in this puddle, so no, I’m not okay. Who do I speak to about reimbursing me for my shoes?”

Her laugh was brief, as she cut it off by biting her lips together.

“You think this is funny? These are new!”

“Sorry. It’s just, why would you buy such nice things to wear to a camp?”

There were about a thousand things he could say to her, but she was obviously a lesbian, with her cropped blue hair and flannel sleeveless shirt, and couldn’t begin to understand fashion. “Do I have to be here in rags?”

“You have got to be Jovian. I got a call, warning me about you. I’m Lou, by the way, if you care.”

“Excuse me? Warned you?”

His temper was about to explode, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll help you with your bags. We’ve got you set up in Cabin C.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

A long, exaggerated sigh came from her thin lips that could use some touch of color. “Let’s…go and I’ll show you around.”

He’d brought only four bags, but she seemed to think that was a lot. Jovian dragged the two he had, dragging them even though they had handles and wheels, but wheels weren’t meant for the terrain at the camp. Dirt lot, then grass, interspersed with rocks and plants.

There were people everywhere, all different queers in one place, like a Pride parade exploded. He had little use for any in the community except cute gays like him, or the older, cultured daddies he sought. It would be tedious at best.

Hair in every color, clothes covered in rainbows, there were even a few skipping. He felt like shouting at them to have some pride, but he supposed they thought they were, being at Pride Camp and all.

Two lines of facing cabins were just past a few other buildings, and he noticed one of them was called the Mess Hall. His entire ass clenched at the name. Mess. That was what the next six weeks were about to be, a damn mess.

The gangway between the cabins was muddy in spots too, but he didn’t avoid these spots. Why bother? His shoes were ruined.

Like she was reading his mind, she told him, “Probably better to wear sneakers. Mosquitos and snakes, after all, like bare toes better than those covered.”

“S-snakes? There are snakes here?”

“This is the country. I get it, you’re not used to being off concrete, but country means animals. Around here you’ll find everything from field mice to big brown bears. That’s why we suggest no one wander off alone or take the hiking trails alone.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it!”

Bears, snakes, bugs, and dirt. The misery he was already expecting doubled, quadrupled, in the space of five minutes.

But it only got worse when he saw the cabin interior. There were beds lined up in three rows. Three rows of four.

Twelve people in one cabin. That meant eleven other people in the cabin with him, sleeping, spreading their breath and germs…

“Not even…I don’t know, room separators?”

“Did you bring one?” She mocked.

“Funny. I would have, given any knowledge of the situation!”

“Boy, the warnings were not hard enough,” she mumbled as she set his bags in the middle of the room.

“Three are taken, you’ll see the bags under or next to them.

More people are arriving all the time, and a bus is coming in an hour, so I suggest you choose a bunk that will…

not have you whining any louder and make yourself at home. Welcome to Pride Camp.”