Something Like Summer (14 page)

“
Yeah, all right. Sounds
fun. Thanks again for covering for me.”

“
No problem my
man!”

Ben hurried to English
class with a weight lifted off his chest. Despite the potential
ramifications with his parents, he felt glad not having to worry
about showing up for first period anymore. He would have to find
something to do, though, now that Tim wasn’t accessible. He kept
his eyes peeled on the way to class, not certain if Tim would be in
school today or not.

In English they had a test,
which meant an unwilling competition with Daniel Wigmore, who
finished early and spent the remaining time gawking at Ben while
mentally timing how long it was taking him to finish.

In Spanish class a few of
the kids had come up with a broken Spanish sentence that referred
to him as a fat and ugly
mariposa
. This irritated Ben more
because of its stupidity rather than its offensiveness. He might be
a
mariposa
, but
there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him and he certainly wasn’t ugly
when compared to the perpetually awkward idiots who were trying to
get a rise out of him.

Lunch was a singularly
trying experience too, since he had so much he wanted to tell
Allison, but couldn’t without other students overhearing. Keeping
things under wraps was crucial if he wanted to have future fun with
Tim, and that was one promise Ben was determined to keep. Luckily
there was choir, providing them with uninterrupted free
time.

Allison was the ideal
audience as he spilled the details, gasping and exclaiming at all
the juicy parts and asking all the right follow-up questions.
Reliving the details with her triggered a longing inside of Ben. He
wanted to see Tim again or at least call him, but part of him was
reluctant. What had happened between them had been intense, and now
Ben felt it prudent to back off a little. He didn’t want to scare
Tim off. Plus, it would feel extra satisfying if Tim made the first
move.

Making the transition back
to sixth period wasn’t the struggle that first period had been
since Ben genuinely liked Ms. Hughes, even though he wasn’t looking
forward to explaining why he’d been skipping. He searched his mind
for a believable excuse during class, and she kept her eye on him
as if he would raise his hand and confess at any moment. By the end
of the period, Ben was considering slipping out with the rest of
the students when she asked him to stay behind at the last
moment.

“
Well?” she asked, sitting
on the corner of her desk.

Ben took a deep breath.
He’d already been caught by his parents, so that wasn’t a worry,
but he could still get in trouble with the school. Then again he
didn’t have a good story prepared.

“
There’s this guy,” he
began. “Tim Wyman.”

Ms. Hughes nodded. “I have
him in my second period. He thinks he’s Tom Cruise.”

Ben laughed and nodded
before all the details came pouring out of him. All of it. Even his
parents didn’t know about Tim’s parents being out of town or the
ankle injury. Ben was also open with his feelings, hesitating only
when he reached the part where they slept together.

“
I think I can imagine the
rest,” Ms. Hughes said. She was quiet for a moment, making Ben
wonder if she was doing just that. Then she said, “Sarah
Niles.”

“
Sorry?”

“
Sarah Niles,” Ms. Hughes
repeated. “She used to copy off my tests during freshman year. Dumb
as a post, but beautiful.” She paused, gauging Ben’s reaction and
continuing when he nodded with encouragement. “Sarah was my first
love, ever since she kissed me behind my parent’s rose bushes at a
birthday party. I would have done anything for her, and I did. She
never would have passed Physical Science if it wasn’t for me.
Unfortunately, like your Tom Cruise, she wasn’t exactly comfortable
with herself.”

“
So what
happened?”

“
She promised we could go
to the dance together. I knew we couldn’t openly go as a couple,
but single girls go together all the time and end up dancing
together, and no one thinks anything of it. Sarah was popular and
liked to keep me a secret, but still she promised. The night of the
dance, I showed up on my own. We were supposed to meet there, but
unbeknownst to either of us, some of Sarah’s friends had decided to
fix her up with a guy. She was dancing with him when I showed up.
Young and brave as I was, I intended to cut in. But then Sarah
shook her head.”

Ben swallowed. “And
then?”

“
And that was it,” Ms.
Hughes said, straightening up. “Love isn’t meant to be hidden away
and life is too short for shame. I was lonely a good couple of
years, but I met someone just before graduating.”

Ben thought of the teacher
he’d seen Ms. Hughes kiss and wondered if it was her.

“
You’re too bright to ruin
your academic career for a guy, Ben. I hope you can bring him
around to seeing things your way, but being held back a year isn’t
going to seduce anyone.”

Ben laughed. “So what’s my
punishment? Cleaning the chalkboard?”

Ms. Hughes assigned him an
essay and went over the details of a test he would have to make up.
She could have demanded Ben drop and do pushups, and he would have
gladly complied. If only every adult in his life was as cool as she
was.

After school Ben went
directly home. He made sure to be a social part of the family for
the entire night, helping with dinner, washing dishes and even
being civil to his sister. He wanted his mom to see that she had
made the right decision in cutting him some slack. Of course,
staying close to home was good too, just in case Tim decided to
call. By midnight, when Ben was climbing into bed, it was clear
that this wasn’t going to happen. As he fell asleep, Ben couldn’t
help picture Ms. Hughes, young and passionate, striding across the
dance floor with determination but being stopped dead by the
shaking of Sarah’s head.

* * * * *

Wednesday rolled around,
and even though it had only been two days, to Ben it seemed like an
eternity. Waiting for any sort of signal from Tim was driving Ben
crazy, so he decided to try to catch Tim in the hall where he had
seen him the first time. There was no sign of him there, so Ben
tried again the next day. His persistence paid off. Ben spotted him
as he rounded the corner of the hall. Tim was much further down,
surrounded by the same snobs and jocks as before. Bryce Hunter was
there, repeatedly pointing at his own legs and pantomiming throwing
a football and then a tackle. Tim was laughing at his story while
leaning on one crutch, his other side occupied by Krista Norman who
had wrapped herself around him like a python.

Ben stooped down to fumble
with the contents of his backpack while trying to casually keep
track of them. Eventually Krista and Bryce left in the opposite
direction, while Tim and Darryl Briscott headed down the hall. Ben
stood, shouldered his backpack, and began walking toward them.
Darryl wore his standard vacant expression, every available brain
cell dedicated to keeping him upright and walking. That left Tim
free to notice Ben’s stare. Tim held up a hand to his face, one
thumb by his ear, pinky in front of his mouth; the universal sign
for “call me.” Ben grinned and nodded before he broke eye
contact.

Abandoning subtlety,
calling was the first thing he did when he got home. The phone rang
and rang, and just as he was about to hang up, it clicked and Tim’s
voice was on the line.

“
Hey,” Ben said, having no
idea what to say next.

“
Hey,” Tim echoed. “You
have to come get me. I’m totally sick of it here.”

“
I don’t have a car,” Ben
reminded him.

“
I think you’ve driven
mine more than I have. Get over here.”

Ben rushed over to Tim’s
house, trying not to run. He didn’t want to arrive sweaty and
disheveled. Tim was waiting for him in the driveway, standing
between his car and a white SUV that hadn’t been there last week,
meaning that at least one of his parents was home.

“
Let’s go,” Tim said,
voice tense as he handed Ben the keys.

“
Everything all right?” he
inquired.

“
Yes!” came the impatient
response. “C’mon.”

Ben felt uneasy as he
unlocked the black sports car and took a seat. He glanced over at
Tim, who still hadn’t smiled or shown any sign that he was glad to
see Ben. Only after they were a few blocks from the house did the
tension evaporate, allowing Tim to act like his old self
again.

“
Everything all right at
home?” Ben asked.

“
Yeah,” Tim said. “I’m
just sick of being there, that’s all.”

Ben knew there was more to
it than that, but he didn’t want to return Tim to his foul mood by
playing twenty questions.

“
So where do you want to
go?”

“
I don’t know.” Tim leaned
over and checked the dashboard. “Gas station, first. The tank is
empty.”

“
Sorry about that. I
didn’t have any cash to fill it up last week.”

“
It’s all right.” Tim
pulled out his wallet and slid a plastic card from it. “Gas card.
My parents pay for all of it.”

“
Wow! That’s generous of
them.”

Tim shrugged.

“
Well, if you have all the
gas in the world, I know exactly where we should go. When do you
have to be home?”

“
Anytime is fine. They
won’t even notice that I’m gone.”

After refueling, Ben drove
to Interstate 45 and cranked up the music as they headed south.
Occasionally Tim would turn the volume down and ask where they were
going, but Ben would only grin and turn the music back up. After an
hour of exceeding the speed limit, they were traveling though
landscape that began to give way to water and palm
trees.

“
Galveston?” Tim read from
one of the signs.

“
Yeah,” Ben confessed.
“Ever been there?”

“
No. What’s it
like?”

“
This is pretty much
it.”

They were crossing the
two-mile-long causeway now, a tremendous expanse of road that
spanned the huge body of water below. They continued across to
Galveston Island, which did its best to appear as a hot tourist
attraction and failed, coming across more like the trashy cousin of
Miami.

“
Looks pretty cool,” Tim
commented as they passed garishly lit restaurants that were just
starting to see an influx of patronage.

They turned left onto the
last stretch of the seawall boulevard. Ben kept Tim distracted and
looking away from the small area where the Gulf of Mexico could be
seen and continued driving until they reached the Bolivar Ferry.
The stars were shining favorably on Ben that day. The ferry was
docked and cars were pulling onto it. Tim sat up, looking more
enthusiastic. Once the car was parked, they left it and walked to
the front of the boat for a better view. To the east, water
stretched out and disappeared into the horizon.

“
Is that the ocean?” Tim
asked excitedly. “That is, isn’t it?”

“
Yup,” Ben said. “Well,
the Gulf of Mexico anyway. My dad always calls it the poor man’s
Atlantic.”

“
It’s all the same water,
right? This is so cool!”

They stayed on deck during
the twenty-minute ride, Ben singing sea shanties to make Tim laugh
as wind blew through their hair and mist from the waves chilled
their skin. When Bolivar Peninsula came into view, they hurried
back to the car and impatiently waited for the other cars to
disembark ahead of them.

They didn’t drive far
before finding a decent beach. Tourist season was starting to die
down, and while it was impossible to find complete solitude, they
did find an area unpolluted by sunbathers. Tim’s crutches kept
sinking into the sand, so they backtracked to solid ground and
parked themselves there, enjoying the view. The sky changed its
flavor to tropical orange as the sun steadily made its descent,
seagulls calling out to each other above the crashing
waves.

“
This is the first time
I’ve ever seen the ocean,” Tim said. “Or gulf or
whatever.”

“
I guess there’s nothing
like this in Kansas,” Ben replied. “I figured that you traveled a
lot with your parents, though.”

“
Not really. They like to
take trips on their own, but I have been to Mexico City half a
dozen times. My mom’s family all live there.”

“
What’s it
like?”

“
Beautiful. Very different
from here. That’s what I like about it.” A far-away look came into
Tim’s eyes as he remembered. “I always make them take me to the
volcano,
Popocatépetl
.”

“
Popo-what?” Ben
snorted.

“
Popocatépetl
,” Tim
repeated.

This sent Ben into a fit of
laughter.

“
That’s what it’s called,”
Tim insisted, before starting to laugh himself. “I guess it does
sound kind of goofy.”

“
I love how you say it
with the accent and everything,” Ben said once he had calmed down.
“Can you speak Spanish at all?”