The Maple Effect

by Madeleine Cull

  Instead, speechless and thrilled, June caught Aaron’s hand as it left his knee and threaded their fingers together much the way he had a few nights ago. He squeezed hard, trying to convey how much he appreciated the tickets without using actual words because if he opened his mouth now, he would just babble. Neither of them needed that kind of nonsense.

  June lifted Aaron’s hand to his lips and pressed a firm kiss to the back of it. His stomach gave a little jump at the smell of Aaron’s body spray filling his nose. He kissed the hand a second time just for good measure. Watched the goosebumps rise across Aaron’s arm.

  The teen’s eyes twinkled with satisfaction and pride. Cheeks stained pink. “It’s not too much?”

  “Too much?” June exclaimed. “Aaron, its Warped Tour! I-I can’t get enough! Emo and punk music? Mosh pits? Delinquents!”

  “Better than Disneyland?”

  “This is Disneyland!”

  The road stretched on several hundred miles ahead of them; through delicately groomed farmland and messy, crowded cities. And at the end of that road lay a venue full of things June loved. Things that made him feel alive. He had no idea what lengths Aaron might have gone to buy the tickets (or keep Angie quiet about this), but he was incredibly grateful. No doubt, if the tables had been turned, June’s date idea would have been infinitesimal in comparison. He’d never felt less deserving of Aaron Valentine. Of anyone, actually.

  Alternative rock music accompanied them for hours. With the sun rising, and Aaron’s collection of CDs spread wide over June’s lap, they were quickly making up for the rough start of their date. June was all smiles—real smiles—since Aaron had given him the tickets, and it was so warm and contagious he regretted not telling June a week ago. If he had, then he’d have gotten to see June excited for much longer.

  They took turns playing different music to set the mood for their adventure, sticking heavily with bands from the Golden State itself. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Greenday, even Motley Crew (when Aaron promised he would only play one song and then never again). He sang along to all of it, occasionally drumming his hands against the steering wheel and impressing June with his level of rhythm and vocal range.

  They talked about how much Aaron had wanted to be a musician or singer when he was younger, and June carelessly encouraged him to follow that dream. He boasted loudly about how life was all about following your dreams. Living in the moment and such. All words Aaron wasn’t used to hearing from June. He liked it. Reveled in his enthusiasm and fearless nature. It reminded him a little bit of his cousin, who had always encouraged him to pursue a career in music.

  Aaron briefly considered it. Considered how at this point he probably didn’t have a job at the radio station anymore. They had never called him, and he wasn’t stupid enough to believe they still would. It was a scary thought—to be nineteen and losing steady income—but it also opened a whole new world of doors. Aaron could, by all means, start signing up to play local gigs around Portland. Sit in some cushy coffee house with an acoustic guitar and a microphone and see where it took him. He imagined himself loving that life, but also worried it would not love him back. Crowds with serious expectations were a hurdle he’d yet to jump, and he didn’t know if he had the backbone to take public criticism. Or worse, rejection.

  All that being said, with June in the seat next to him, the wind in his hair, and summer hot on his shoulders, he couldn’t be bothered by the future. For the first time, it felt years away from him. As someone who had spent a large portion of their life fretting the details of adulthood, Aaron found this newfound ignorance to indeed be blissful. He felt less like a responsible young man, and more like the way a teenager should feel. Today, all that mattered was this moment and this highway.

  June—tone deaf as he was—sang along with Aaron to Drive by Incubus, and they were free.

  Sometime later, when hills turned into brilliant cliff sides and shore, Aaron realized they had made back their time and could afford a small detour. The smell and color of the Pacific called to him. Wrapped him up in colorful memories and he couldn’t help it. He had to stop.

  He parked his car just off the highway, maybe a half a mile from the water, and stepped out to stretch his legs.

  “I’m much more of a lake person,” June commented, twisting this way and that and adjusting the aviators to sit on the top of his head. “But maybe that’s because the West Coast has way better beaches than the East Coast.”

  “Have you ever seen the Northwest Coast?” he asked, bending to untie his shoes. He didn’t care if he’d have to drive barefoot the rest of the way to the venue, it would be worth the feeling of sand under his toes.

  “No. I’ve only ever vacationed here.”

  “Well, the coastline in Oregon is mostly mountains, but it’s really stunning. Arco and I try and take day trips out there whenever we can.” He peeled off his socks and stuffed them into his shoes. Set them under his seat.

  “Sounds better than North Carolina,” June mused, walking away from the car and him. “Too humid.”

  “Maybe you can come see it sometime!” Aaron called, making sure his keys were safely in his pocket before following. He stepped lightly between the shrubbery, watching where he went so he didn’t tread on anything sharp. “I’d like that, you know?”

  “Mmmhmn.” Still walking away from him.

  “I’d like to show you Portland too.”

  “Mmnh.”

  “June?” Aaron looked up, confused at his uncaring tone. He stopped, looked around until he saw the general shape of June between a collection of tall, pointy bushes with purple flowers. “What are you doing?”

  June didn’t answer him, but it was obvious once Aaron got closer.

  “Are you peeing?”

  “We were driving forever!” June turned farther away from him. “Go away.”

  Aaron surprised himself by laughing. It wasn’t often he caught June flustered, but this was exactly the kind of thing he should have expected. June could be impolite at times. Part of Aaron felt bad for choosing not to stop in the last few hours, but he figured June also could have said something if he’d really had to go.

  “What, you’ve never pissed outside before?” June snorted, shaking his head. “Give me a break.”

  “I haven’t!” Aaron insisted, keeping his eyes focused on the ocean rolling up the shore. “My mother would be furious.” And now that he thought about it, it was kind of silly. His parents had always been relentless when it came to manners. They’d have his head if they caught him forgetting to say please or thank you, let alone doing something as uncouth as peeing in a bush.

  “Tight leash, huh?”

  Those words hit a little too close to home, and Aaron glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to see him. He accidentally caught June’s blue eyes between a snarl of branches and scooted farther away from him.

  “Yeah. Really tight leash.” Aaron popped open the button on his jeans.

  This summer was turning out to be full of firsts for him. First time at his parents’ cabin, first time kissing another man, first time going to Warped Tour. First time whipping his dick out without the safety of a urinal in front of him.

  June gave him an embarrassingly loud round of applause for his commitment to being naughty, but Aaron, in too high of spirits, bowed and thanked him as if he’d won an Oscar. They cackled like seagulls the whole walk down to the water.

  Seaside Park, Ventura, California is a whopping sixty-two acres of sand, concrete, and boardwalk. Dotted with towering palm trees, dabbed with patches of dry grass and colorful with tourists. The park ran alongside the ocean both careless and carefree. On most summer days, you would find college students rolling down the streets on their longboards, perhaps stopping to toss a crumpled dollar or handful of change into the open guitar case of a street performer. Or a young teenager busy walking several dogs for the sake of earning enough money to take their crush on a date. Kids sucking the juice out of snow cones befor
e the sun had time to melt them. Surfers popping up over whitecaps, hooting and howling with joy. Men and women and children. Delinquents, nerds, stoners. Black, white, Mexican, Asian. Everything in between. Together.

  If there was anything to say about California, it was the level of solidarity here far surpassed anywhere else in the United States. Maybe even the world.

  Today, a crowd usually found loitering in the shadows had infested Seaside Park, creating a mass of black and dark grey. Studded belts and dyed hair with the bangs that fell over half a face. Various degrees of eye makeup and of course, piercings. Tons of piercings. June had three silver rings pierced into the cartilage of his left ear, and somehow still felt left out.

  The line to get into Vans Warped Tour 2004 was a chaotic, dizzying march. People shuffling past one another with drinks (some alcoholic and some not). People blaring music from their portable Mp3 speakers. People yelling, cussing, spitting. People laughing. People kissing. People fucking (only one couple behind a dumpster, but June found it noteworthy nonetheless).

  All in all, it was a type of insanity he could get used to.

  Aaron looked a little stressed by the mayhem and pressed closer to June any chance he got, but the smile on his face never faded. He still looked striking in his new clothes, and June still hated how attracted he was to him. The hole he had fallen in seemed endless.

  As they got close enough to the venue entrance to see the sign with the bands listed on it, Aaron snagged June by the elbow, breaking him out of the people-watching trance he’d fallen into.

  “Hey, can we take a picture?” He held the same disposable camera June had so desperately wanted to destroy. The one with his Beyoncé evidence on it.

  “Uh…I guess.” June shrugged because he didn’t hate photos, despite what some people might tell you. It was kind of charming Aaron wanted to capture time with him in it. Not to mention at the end of summer it might be the only proof he had left of them together.

  Aaron turned to the nearest stranger, hesitated, and then cleared his throat to interrupt. “Excuse me? Hey.”

  A girl wearing a cat-eared headband with Sharpie whiskers drawn on her cheeks turned around. “Hi?” her voice was a high soprano. Almost forced.

  “C-Could you take our picture?” Aaron asked with a flash of his teeth. Completely endearing. June wondered what kind of thoughts ran through her head as she smiled back at him.

  “Oh, sure!” She took the disposable camera from him with a bounce and a wiggle. Took a few steps back and left the two of them in front of the Warped Tour sign to figure out their placement.

  June had no idea what was an appropriate way to take a picture with another dude. Had it been Angie or his sisters posing with him, he would have thrown an arm around them no problem. But Aaron was taller than him and needless to say their relationship wasn’t quite that simple. They made awkward, forced eye contact for half a second, and then settled on either end of the sign, not close enough to be anything more than buddies at a concert. For good measure, June flipped off the camera a before it flashed.

  Aaron would probably scold him for it later, but that was fine. He’d look forward to it.

  The cat girl handed the disposable back to Aaron and returned to her group of friends eagerly. He fiddled with it for a moment, then reached out and caught the bottom of June’s drawstring bag. Tugged him around until he could slot the camera back into it.

  “It’s probably awful.”

  June snorted. “Let’s never do that again.”

  Waiting to get into the venue dragged on several more minutes—most of which they spent rocking back and forth on their heels and leaning against the sign impatiently. At one point a band must have walked through the parking lot because all the people lined up around the corner behind them started screaming and clapping. June didn't bother trying to get a closer look. He would wait until he could shove his way up to the front of the stage for that.

  Just as the group of teenagers ahead of them stepped up to the security booth and June was about to dig out the bottle of sunscreen he had packed, Aaron surprised him. Arm flung out blindly and gripping his elbow. He jumped.

  “No way!” Aaron gasped. “It’s Arco!”

  “Wha—”

  “ARCO!”

  And then he was gone, dashing away from him with more enthusiasm than June had ever seen. The majority of the crowd around them turned and stared, following the guy with mild curiosity and confusion. June was bewildered, left alone, and expected to approach security with the tickets any moment now. A pained sound escaped him.

  “Hey, Hey! Go ahead of me.” June pushed past the cat girl and her group of friends and scooted another few lengths back in the line. Peered around taller individuals to try and see where Aaron was headed.

  June spotted him just as he reached his cousin. He watched him grab the guy by the bicep and turn him around. Watched both their expressions light up in pure, unabashed happiness. Watched them hug—hard like they hadn’t seen each other in years—and then bump foreheads. Their hands clasped around each other’s shoulders. June wasn’t close enough to know if there were tears shed, but by the looks of it, he wouldn't be surprised.

  What did surprise him, however, was how shamelessly the two young men cared about each other. Even after they pulled out of their hug, they stood closer than some might find socially acceptable. It was a meeting fit for, say, an airport. Not a concert venue. Certainly not Warped Tour.

  June felt a wave of second-hand embarrassment for them. The staring hadn’t stopped, and he worried if he didn’t get over there soon, they might start embracing again. With a frustrated growl, he left his place in line and sauntered through the crowd.

  Arco Valentine, from a distance, was a few inches taller than his younger cousin, and mostly a different range of colors. Aaron was warm with his honey-colored hair and light ocher skin, and Arco was a crisp, pale olive tone. He had very dark hair and eyebrows, and his lips were naturally pink. June’s eyes narrowed as he rounded a lamppost and stopped, just out of earshot, not sure if it was okay to intrude on their moment yet.

  From up close, Arco Valentine was…a strange and unconditional type of beauty. He and Aaron had the same facial features. Slender and long noses with definite brows. Hard, angular jawlines and neat chins. Pretty lips and even prettier eyes rimmed with dark lashes. Looking at the two of them in profile was kind of like looking at the flipped silhouette image of one another. From their necks up to their foreheads, they were almost identical.

  However…

  Arco Valentine was gifted with incredible ice blue irises and dark charcoal colored hair. And instead of looking soft and fluffy like Aaron, he looked rougher. Firmer. His hair was not the same wind-tousled mess, but instead a neatly groomed and trimmed collection of locks. He had thin sideburns that ran down his jaw, fading carefully into five o’clock shadow. In the corner of his right eyebrow was a small silver piercing. Two tiny studs that told a story of mischief and adventure.

  All of that and it was only his face. June felt weak. Arco was broad with strong muscles. Biceps bigger than both of June’s put together and a chest he longed to place both his hands on and squeeze. Just to feel how hard his pecs were. With a narrow waist, perfect ass, and shoulders crafted by God himself, Arco was truly the perfect specimen. A brilliant, corded black panther strolling down a sidewalk of misfit toys.

  June’s first thought (when his brain finally started working again) was that one Valentine boy was already too much to handle; he couldn’t begin to imagine the impact two might have on him. His second thought was that this completely explained Aaron’s quiet nature. He must be used to being pale in comparison. Always just a shadow alongside the sexier version of himself.

  It took some asshole shouldering June to get out of the way for him to snap out of it and stop staring. He blinked rapidly, trying to reverse the heat growing under his skin. It was ridiculous that he felt intimidated by Aaron’s cousin. He’d heard only good things abo
ut him.

  Arco was laughing loudly when June approached, and Aaron had to do a double take to realize he’d followed him. For a moment, he looked surprised. Then he just looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

  “Oh! Oh! June!” Aaron beckoned him over. “June, this is Arco! Arco. June.”

  The man’s eyes turned on him; slow and sultry smirk parting his lips, revealing immaculate teeth—the kind of teeth where you could see the definition in his canines. It was predatory.

  “Oh, I’ve heard about you.” Arco stuck a hand out to him, and June took as confidently as he could. If his voice wasn’t so low and teasing, June might have felt more brazen.

  “Ditto,” he murmured, not sure if he liked how huge Arco’s palm felt against his own. He took a step back toward Aaron when they let go. A safe distance.

  “And this…” Arco went on, turning in a half circle to someone on the other side of him. Someone who wasn’t even paying attention until he was thrown into the spotlight. “This is my roommate and partner, Brynn.”

  June’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. His voice catching in his throat and coming out in a weak squawk. “P-Partner?”

  Brynn reeled, waving his hands around as if to erase the words out of thin air. “No!” he shouted. “No! No!” His face burned red. “Not like that! We’re just partners in the internship!”

  Arco chuckled, completely unphased. “That’s right. We’re forced to be joined at the hip for the entire summer.” He seemed quite content.

  June’s head bobbed back and forth between the two of them, trying to imagine them in essentially the same situation as him and Aaron. Granted, they were part of an internship—they had duties and classes and who knows what else to keep them occupied. But what might they spend all their free time doing? His gaze narrowed at Brynn.