by Matt Zachary
Once inside the cabin, Billy drank the last few gulps of his drink and quickly pulled his shirt off. He was definitely feeling the alcohol and hoped it wouldn’t inhibit his performance.
“Now you,” he told Jessica Leigh after he unzipped and removed his pants.
“Why don’t you help me undress?” she asked in a pouty voice.
Billy didn’t have to be asked twice. He slowly removed the bathing suit cover up she was wearing and kissed her neck. Next, he took off her bikini top, and kissed her perky nipple as they both reclined back on the bed.
He didn’t know if it was the alcohol or what, but for some reason he was just going through the motions. He had his smoking hot girlfriend in bed, half naked and he couldn’t even get aroused. His mind kept thinking about Stuart. He was still worried about him. The more he thought of Stuart, though, the more aroused he began to be.
“I can’t do this,” he finally said and stood up. “I’m really sorry. I’m just too drunk.”
He was lying but he wasn’t about to tell her the truth. There was only one person he planned on telling that to. After checking to make sure the hallway was clear, Billy slipped out leaving Jessica Leigh lying across her bed feeling humiliated.
Once he made it back to his own floor, Billy ran down the hall and put his key card in the door’s lock. He opened the door to find a dark room. At first he thought maybe Stuart wasn’t there, but as the door closed, he could see the outline of Stuart in bed.
Without turning on the lights, Billy made his way to Stuart’s bed and took a seat. “Are you awake?” he whispered.
“Yeah,” Stuart answered with a scared voice. He figured he knew what Billy wanted to talk about and hoped that they would still be friends after everything was out in the open.
“I need to tell you something,” Billy whispered. He probably wouldn’t have had the courage to do or say anything if he hadn’t been liquored up, but before he could change his mind, he leaned down and pressed his lips softly against Stuart’s. “I think I love you,” he said after a passionate kiss.
At first, Stuart didn’t say anything. He assumed he must have still been dreaming. The kiss felt so real and he never wanted to wake up.
“Did you hear me?” Billy asked, finally starting to feel nervous.
“I think so,” Stuart answered, afraid to repeat the words in case he was wrong.
“And? Do you love me too?”
“More than anything,” Stuart whispered back. And, as he did, Billy leaned back down for another kiss…only this time his kissed travelled from Stuart’s lips, to his neck, to his chest, to his stomach.
Before the night was over, Stuart confessed everything about jacking off with Billy’s shirt and both boys experienced many new things. After making love a variety of ways, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter 14
Stuart woke up first the next morning, and quietly slid out of bed after kissing Billy lightly on the lips. He knew Billy had been a bit drunk the night before and wasn’t sure if his confessions of love would suddenly disappear now that he was sober. At least he would have that one last kiss if that was the case.
After taking a long, hot shower, brushing his teeth and fixing his hair, Stuart emerged from the bathroom to find the bed empty. At first, he thought maybe Billy had already left the room, but then he noticed the man he loved was just outside on their balcony. He was afraid to go out and join him, though. He didn’t know what Billy’s reaction to the previous night would be or if he would even remember it at all.
Billy stared out at the land as he breathed in the fresh air. They were officially in Mexico. Since it was only a four-day cruise, it was their only stop on the trip. Originally, the teachers and school officials wanted to opt for another trip. They didn’t think going someplace like Cozumel would be wise since it’s essentially a party place, and several of the students were old enough to drink there. In the end, the students got their way because Cozumel offered so much in the way of excursions and beaches.
Just as Stuart’s back was turned towards the closet so he could grab some clothes to change into, he heard the balcony door open. He froze…not able to turn around. He didn’t think he could stand to see Billy avoid his gaze in shame at what they had done the night before.
Without a sound, though, Billy came up behind Stuart and kissed him on the neck as he wrapped his arms tightly around Stuart’s waist. “Good morning, Sunshine,” he said as he placed another kiss on Stuart’s ear.
Stuart turned around and smiled brightly. “Good morning, I was afraid you would…,” he began but Billy silenced him with another kiss, this time on the lips.
“I meant what I said last night, Stuart. I love you. It wasn’t the alcohol talking,” Billy assured him.
“I love you too,” Stuart replied honestly. He wasn’t able to get the plastered smile off of his face.
Once Billy was showered and ready, both boys headed up to the breakfast buffet to meet up with everyone. As Stuart expected, Billy was a bit more distanced around everyone else. He knew it was for the best, but it still stung a little.
“So, did you and Jessica Leigh hook up last night?” Colton, one of Billy’s friends from Lacrosse asked before the girls arrived.
“Not exactly,” Billy answered, trying to keep it vague. Luckily for him, the girls showed up so Colton became preoccupied.
“Let’s sit over here,” Jessica Leigh told her girlfriends and opted to sit at a table on the other side of the dining room.
“Ouch!” one of the boys at Billy’s table said. “Burn!”
After eating, Billy checked his watch and realized they were almost late to meet up with the chaperones. “Come on guys, we have to go,” he ordered.
Each chaperone was responsible for one group of kids, all of whom had picked a specific excursion for the day. Billy and his friends all picked Mr. Rodriguez’s, an all-inclusive resort. It had all you can eat food and drinks as well as a water park, the beach, kayaking, snorkeling, wave-runners, parasailing and a bunch of other activities.
Yell ‘HERE’ when I call out your names,” the chaperone commanded before reading aloud the list of twenty names. As Jessica Leigh answered to her name, she gave Billy a sneer.
“It’s going to be a long day,” he whispered to Stuart.
As soon as they were off the boat and had taken the shuttle to the resort, she started in on him. She had probably only waited that long so she wouldn’t be overheard by their chaperone. “So, you don’t think you owe me an explanation?!” she yelled from behind Billy and Stuart.
Billy tried to just ignore her, mainly for Stuart’s sake. He knew he owed her an explanation and felt guilty about how he treated her, but he also knew it wasn’t the time to discuss it. He hoped that maybe after they got home and she had cooled off, they would be able to sit down and discuss things.
“What?! You don’t have anything to say to me? Too busy hanging out with your lover?” she yelled as Billy and Stuart headed toward the beach chairs along the shore. Billy turned around and looked at her. A part of him wondered if Jessica Leigh was drunk. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. They were still surrounded by all of their friends…it wasn’t the time. “Yeah, you heard me!” she continued. “I called you a homo!”
Realizing that her rampage wasn’t going to stop and would likely ruin the entire day in Mexico, Billy did something impulsive. He turned around, smiled and replied loud enough for everyone to hear, “You know what? I am a homo, and I’m here with the guy I love.” He then pulled Stuart to him and gave him the most passionate kiss he could. “Anything else?”
Jessica Leigh just stood there with her mouth open. She was stunned, as were several of the guys. As Billy took a seat with Stuart, he heard a few of the girls comment that their kiss was the sexiest thing they had ever seen.
“I’m sorry if you weren’t ready for that,” Billy whispered to Stuart.
Stuart wasn’t, but it was done. He w
orried about the backlash it would cause, but for reasons he couldn’t understand, he was happier than he had ever been. The hottest guy in school, a guy he had grown to love, had just professed his love to him…in public!
Chapter 15
Surprisingly, after their hot, steamy public kiss, no one had a negative word to say to either Billy or Stuart. Even Jessica Leigh left them alone once she started flirting with Philipe, a dark, tanned, muscular waiter from the resort.
“Come on, let’s go swimming!” Billy yelled back to Stuart as he got out of his beach chair and charged for the cascading waves.
Stuart followed, but wasn’t quite ready for the taste of the salt water. He had never been to the beach and, as he dove head first towards the water, he wound up swallowing a mouthful of the super salty seawater. As he scrunched up his face and started coughing uncontrollably, Billy couldn’t help but laugh. “Why didn’t you warn me?” he cried after he had regained his composure which just started a second round of laughing from Billy.
“I thought you knew the ocean was salty and not to drink it,” Billy cracked up.
After they swam a little, they signed up for parasailing. “I’m afraid of heights,” Stuart confessed. Billy was too, but he had been parasailing before, so he knew it wasn’t that scary.
Since the resort was crowded, there was over an hour wait for the parasailing. “Maybe we should check on the wait for the wave runners,” Stuart suggested. They found out there was a wait for those too, but they were able to reserve the next available spot.
“Let’s just go grab some lunch,” Billy suggested when they weren’t able to do any of their activities for close to an hour.
“Can we join you guys?” Marcus and his girlfriend, Cheryl, asked just as Billy and Stuart were seated in an outdoor sitting area that had a roof made of palm fronds. On the sides of the sitting area, swings were hung from the wooden beams, giving kids a fun way to relax out of the sun but still have a great view of the fun.
“Sure,” Billy answered, looking to Stuart to make sure he didn’t object. Their table overlooked the tables on the beach and there was more than enough room for four people.
“”I think it’s so cute that you guys are together,” Cheryl offered.
“Yeah, I want you to know, you are both cool with me,” Marcus added. When they had breakfast earlier that morning, Stuart thought maybe Marcus was the typical douche bag jock. He was glad he had a chance to see a more serious side of him. From what he could tell, Marcus was being completely genuine and it meant a lot to him.
“Okay, enough of that sappy talk,” Billy announced, never one to like conversations that were too serious or intense. “Let’s order some food!”
Everyone at the table agreed that everything on the menu either sounded delicious or interesting, so they just ordered a bunch of food for the table to share.
After the waiter brought out their drinks which consisted of sodas and actual coconuts that were chilled and cut open so the water could be consumed, he brought out the nachos, grilled whole red snapped, coconut prawns, and fajitas.
Before the next set of food arrived, almost everyone at the table was stuffed…everyone except Billy. “How can you keep eating?” Cheryl asked when the civiche, tacos and guacamole and chips arrived.
Billy just winked and replied, “I worked up quite an appetite last night. What can I say?”
“Eww, gross!” Marcus chimed in, realizing Billy was referring to having sex with Stuart. “I said you were cool with me…that doesn’t mean I want to hear the details!” Everyone at the table laughed.
“We’ve got to run anyways,” Billy added before taking a bit of the last coconut prawn. “We’ve got a parasailing appointment.”
They arrived at the edge of the beach just in time for the speed boat to arrive that would take them to the parasailing boat. “Whoa!” Stuart yelled as the boat took off at warp speed, hitting every wave along the wave. It felt like they were on a roller coaster. He was surprised he didn’t get motion sickness.
Once they were on the parasailing boat, they were the next two to go up. “Do you want no dip, a little dip or a surprise?” the boat’s captain asked Billy and Stuart as his assistant hooked them up to the harness.
Stuart looked at Billy quizzically. “What does that mean?” he asked.
“We’ll do the surprise!” Billy answered for the both of them before telling Stuart he’d fill him in once they were up in the air.
“Can you guys take a few pictures of us when we’re up there?” Billy asked the other couple on board as he handed them his cell phone.
Stuart held his breath as they were hooked to the parachute. He wanted to close his eyes, but Billy talked him out of it.
As the wind caught the parachute and lifted Billy and Stuart up into the air, Stuart was surprised at how smooth it felt. “This isn’t so bad,” he chuckled as he looked down towards the boat.
“We’re not all the way up yet,” Billy told him. They were only at about two hundred feet and they would be flying as high as double that.
Stuart was scared and held the straps of his harness tightly, but was amazed at how turquoise blue the water was from up in the air.
“I’m sorry I told everyone without asking you,” Billy said in a serious tone once they were all the way in the air.
“Its fine,” Stuart replied as he bravely removed a hand from his harness strap and entwined his fingers with Billy’s. Something about spending the day without having to hide their feeling for one another just made the day in Mexico that much more perfect.
After parasailing, they rode on the wave runners and snorkeled which were also both firsts for Stuart. By the time they made it back to the boat, the both of them were completely drained. “How about we stay in the room for a bit?” Billy suggested with a wink.
Chapter 16
After watching the boat pull away from the shore from their balcony, Billy lured Stuart into the shower where they took turns washing each other’s muscular, tanned bodies. By the time the shower was over, both boys were so turned on that they moved to the bed without even drying off first. After a night of talking and lovemaking, they cuddled together and watched a movie on the television.
He wasn’t sure when they fell asleep but, just after midnight; Stuart woke up to use the bathroom. As he tried to get out of bed without disturbing Billy, he tripped over the blankets that had fallen to the floor and crashed to the ground.
“Are you alright?” Billy asked as he tried to get his eyes to adjust to the dark.
“I’m fine…go back to sleep,” Stuart apologized but Billy claimed to not be tired anymore. After using the bathroom, Stuart checked the hallway, and found it empty. “You know, we could go check out the pool,” he suggested.
The ship had a small adults-only pool in the Serenity Spa area, and every time Stuart had passed it, it was always empty. Around the pool were these really big cylindrical chairs that could easily hold two people while also giving them privacy from any prying eyes.
“Let’s do it,” Billy replied. Luckily their room was right at the end of the hallway near a set of stairs. They only had to sneak into the stairwell unseen and from there they could just go to a floor that didn’t house any of the students on the trip.
Everything went smoothly. They only played in the pool for about an hour. At that point, they saw someone coming, so they hid in one of the cylindrical chairs. Then, after kissing and groping each other for another thirty minutes, they decided to grab an ice cream cone from the self-serve station and head back to their rooms.
As they got ready for bed, Stuart’s face took on a sad expression. “What’s wrong?” Billy asked, concerned that maybe he did something wrong.
“I’m fine. I-I’m just sad that tomorrow’s our last day on the cruise,” Stuart explained. It would be one thing if they weren’t graduating and would still see each other every day at school. But, for them, the school year was virtually over. They only had two weeks left of cla
ss and then that was it.
They had never discussed future plans. Stuart had a scholarship to the local university, but he assumed Billy would be going off to some Ivy League school somewhere far away.
“We’re just going to have to make tomorrow great!” Billy decided. “But, we’re still going to be seeing lots of each other. Besides, now that everyone knows about us, we’re free to be together whenever we want.”
Even as he said it, though, Billy’s expression changed. Maybe everyone in their class at school knew about them, but their fathers didn’t. He didn’t worry as much about his dad because he was almost never even home. But, he wasn’t sure Stuart’s step-dad would even let them talk anymore if he found out.
“Okay,” Stuart agreed, “Let’s make tomorrow great!” He tried to sound cheerful but Billy’s words were weighing heavily on him as well.
Keeping their promise to one another, Billy and Stuart made sure to pack their last day on the cruise full of fun. They spent some time in the casino playing a cash-crane type machine, played a handful of trivia contests, one of which Stuart won, climbed the sky-ropes course, raced on the waterslides, and enjoyed the pool for the last time.
“I really am happy for you,” Jessica Leigh told both Billy and Stuart towards the end of the evening as she and one of her friends came to join them in the pool.
Billy wasn’t exactly sure if she meant it or what to contribute her quick turn-around towards, but he asked Stuart for a minute to talk to her alone. A hint of jealousy surged in Stuart’s mind, but he understood. “Yeah, take your time.” He trusted Billy, and that was all that mattered.
Billy walked Jessica Leigh to a set of lounge chairs far enough away from all the commotion before beginning. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t know about my feelings until that day,” he professed, though even he thought it sounded ridiculous.