Page 15

Sydney

AXEL

We knew it was coming, and we tried to ignore it as long as we could. But suddenly, it can’t be ignored any more.

Justin is going home to Melbourne tomorrow.

We’ve spent nearly every day of the last two weeks together – mostly at the beach, sometimes lounging around watching movies at his grandparents’ house (strictly no touching while there’s anyone else at home, except for maybe sneaking the occasional kiss when we’re sure no-one would walk in on us) or hanging out at mine when my parents are out.

We’ve spent a lot of evenings together too. We’ve had dinner out, seen movies, had quiet, very platonic dinners at the Beecham’s house and even the occasional night visit to the beach.

But now it’s over.

I want to go out to dinner with him, but Justin tells me it’s customary for him to spend the last evening of his holidays with his grandparents and any change might arouse suspicion. He manages to wrangle me an invitation to dinner however.

I arrive on my motorcycle in my black leathers. I know Justin finds them sexy as hell, and right now I want to do everything I can to ensure I’m firmly in his mind when he’s gone.

Dinner is more subdued than usual, the prospect of Justin’s imminent departure weighing on everyone. I can see how much his grandparents enjoy having him visit and that they’ll be sad to see him go. I can’t help thinking it would be so much better if he could be his authentic self around them, but he’s told me that’s a no-go. Would they love him less if they knew? I think even the most loved of us are afraid of that when we come out. Sadly, for some it’s the case.

Suddenly Justin says to his grandparents, “I’m thinking I might come up again in the next school holidays. Would that be okay?”

Mrs. Beecham smiles widely, suddenly looking a lot cheerier.

“Yes, of course it would, dear,” she responds happily, “we’ll be here, and you’re always welcome.”

Justin shoots me a quick look across the dinner table. The hint of a smile plays at the corner of my mouth, though I try not to be too obvious. He can tell from the look in my eyes how much I like this idea, though.

“When’s that? March? April? The beach is still decent at that time of year. Look me up if you want some company,” I say, trying to maintain a steady face and not give away how delighted I am.

“April.” Justin flashes me his shy smile. The one that makes me melt. Yeah, he’s cute and sexy and gorgeous. I’m going to miss not having him around.

After dinner we sit and talk for a while, until Justin’s grandparents decide to call it a night.

“It’s only 8.30 and it’s my last night,” Justin tells his grandmother. “It feels way too early to go to bed.”

Then he turns to me. “Do you want to stay a bit longer, maybe watch a movie?”

“Sure. Or we could go down to the village and see what’s happening maybe?”

“Yeah, that could be fun.”

Justin turns to his grandparents and says, “We might go out. Don’t wait up for me…it could be a late one.”

“Don’t get in any trouble,” she cautions him.

“Don’t worry, Mr. and Mrs. Beecham, I’ll make sure he’s safe.”

That seems to placate his grandparents and they bid us goodnight. After they retire for the night, Justin and I look at each other and grin.

“Let’s go!”

Justin grabs a couple of things and then drags me out the door.

“Ooh! I get another ride on this beast,” he’s almost salivating over my motorcycle as we get ready to mount it.

I nearly say something completely inappropriate but I bite my tongue in time. No need to get ahead of myself.

We helmet up, get on the bike, and take off. We go for a long cruisy ride around the curves and down around the beaches, enjoying the feeling of freedom and being together. Justin is warm against my back and his arms around me feel so good. As wonderful as it feels, there’s a heaviness weighing on my heart, but I shove the feeling down deep. Time enough for that later.

We ride all the way to the village and of course we both have hard-ons by the time we’re getting off the bike. But we’re not shy with each other anymore and there’s no-one around to see, so we share a smile, a quick kiss, and don’t worry about it.

As it’s a midweek night, not much is open.

"Gelato?" I suggest as we walk along the deserted street. "The pizza restaurant should still be open."

"Okay," Justin smiles as I take his hand. His fingers feel delicate, his skin softer than mine.

The restaurant is just around the corner and sure enough, when we get there the lights are on although there are no customers left.

As we enter, Justin drops my hand.

"Is that your ex?" he whispers, a slight dip of his head in the direction of Gio whose mass of black curls obscures his face as he busily wipes down the counter.

"Mm-hm," I confirm as I step toward the counter. For a minute I can't decide whether to take his hand again. I don't want him feeling insecure about my exes. He has nothing to worry about! And Gio was hardly a boyfriend, anyway.

At the last moment, I decide not to. Justin's not out and the township is small.

"Hey, Axel!" Gio greets me looking up, finally noticing he has customers.

"Hey, Gio," I reply, leaning in so we can kiss each other on the cheek. "Are we too late? Are you still serving? We were hoping to get some gelato."

"I'm cleaning up for the night, but I'll serve you anytime," he winks at me saucily.

"This is Justin," I say, waving my hand towards Justin who's standing there awkwardly, a couple of lines disturbing his brow.

"Hey, Justin," Gio nods and runs his eyes appreciatively all over Justin, and I prickle a little. I don't say anything though. This is just Gio. I'm used to his flirting and he does it with everyone... male, female, young or old. It's part of his persona and I guess it helps sell to customers, but it feels a little different when it's my boyfriend he's flirting with.

"What do you want?" I put my hand on Justin's shoulder and steer him towards the refrigerated cabinet where all the stainless steel tubs with their colorful contents form a kaleidoscope of colors.

Justin's eyes flicker over the selection. Finally he looks up with a touch of pink in his cheeks.

"Just a ball of mango in a cone," he says. I admire that he's looking Gio straight in the eyes as he gives his order, despite the red stain creeping up the back of his neck.

"And I'll have strawberry. In a cone," I tell Gio.

Despite our requests, Gio piles two balls of gelato onto each cone, smashing the top ball down with the back of the scoop so it won't fall off.

I raise an eyebrow at him as he places them in the plastic holder on top of the counter while I pull out my wallet to pay.

He shakes his head. "My treat tonight. I can't have you telling people Gio only gave you one ball to lick."

A soft snort beside me is hurriedly stifled.

"Jesus, Gio. You never stop, do you? But, thanks," I replace my wallet in my pocket. Justin hands me my gelato and we move towards the door.

"For you, anything," Gio singsongs and blows me a kiss.

I shake my head and walk out the door, Justin trotting after me.

"Sorry about that," I apologize.

"Is he always like that?" Justin asks.

"Yeah, pretty much. He's a bit of a shit-stirrer. He doesn't mean anything by it though. I think he has a girlfriend at the moment."

Justin raises his eyebrows.

"He's bisexual," I tell him. "Out and proud."

"Okay. Just so long as he's not still into you. I wasn't sure."

I shook my head. "Nah, we're mates now. Like I told you, it was a pretty casual thing."

He drops the subject, which I'm glad of because I don't want the evening to be about Gio.

We walk around the quiet streets, looking in the windows of the closed shops, gazing up at the stars, feeling the breeze as it ruffles through our hair. The air is warm, and it still feels like summer.

I appreciate a little too late that maybe ice-cream wasn’t such a good idea. Watching Justin’s tongue sweeping over the cone and his lips sliding over the top of it, is highly distracting. And because it’s warm, the ice-creams melt faster than we can eat them. Justin has a trickle of gelato running down his hand. I catch hold of his wrist.

“Your ice-cream’s making a run for it,” I tell him. “Let me help you with that.”

Before he can say anything, I lick the runaway sweetness off the side of his hand.

“Ooh,” Justin shivers as my tongue slides over his skin. He nearly drops his cone when I playfully suck two of his fingers into my mouth.

He narrows his eyes at me.

“There wasn’t any ice-cream on those.”

I half-smirk, half-smile, but say nothing.

“Two can play at that,” he mutters, holding his ice-cream out to the side and stepping right in close. Stretching up on his toes, he leans towards me and his tongue gives a leisurely lick at the corner of my mouth. The heat of his body close to mine and the wet slide of his tongue against my lips stirs me down south.

“Mmm,” he hums, "strawberry."

“Jesus.”

I’m undone. I pull him in close and plaster him to my hips, where he can surely feel how aroused I am.

“Let’s get out of here,” I mutter. My voice or my face or maybe simply my hard dick, betray my urgency because Justin gives me a flirty, mischievous smile and saunters off. But he’s heading back towards where we parked the bike, so I guess he’s onboard with this idea.