Hedon

Hedon - Chapter 9

  Caston hadn't realized how fucking hot Malachi's teammates were until they were shirtless and glistening in the sun.
  When Noah proposed a game of football, Caston's immediate reaction was to reject him, gag in his face, and say "I'd rather choke on a grape and receive mouth to mouth from an old lady. By the way, I hate grapes. And old ladies."
  He ended up quite pleased that Malachi had forced him to play when the result was a bunch of attractive, sweaty, shirtless men tackling him to the ground.
  Despite their seemingly heartfelt discussion earlier this morning, Malachi was still acting weird. Caston wouldn't dare to flirt with Malachi in front of his teammates (mainly because Malachi had explicitly said "Don't flirt with me in front of my teammates or I'll cut your tongue out and shove it up your ass"), but every time he got within a few feet of Malachi, he backed away or ran off.
  Caston wasn't hurt, he was just confused. And quite horny, so the fact that Malachi wouldn't touch him for even a second was making his skin feel like tiny needles were poking him constantly.
  As much as he tried not to think about it, he couldn't stop hearing Malachi's voice in his head.
  "I have never worried about you hurting me. Ever. Because I think you're scared of how you might feel if you did."
  I think you're scared of how you might feel.
  The fuck is that supposed to mean? Caston? Scared? Feeling? What a sack of shit. If anything Malachi is the one who's scared of his feelings. He's the one who always backs away from his advances.
  Caston is a simple man. All he wants is sex. And right now, that's the one thing Malachi won't let him have. It's the only reason he came to this damn camp and he's really starting to regret it. Maybe he can sneak away and fuck James again. Oh that sounds nice and relaxing and a hell of a lot better than staring at a bunch of hot guys that he can't touch.
  "Cas, go long!" Malachi yelled.
  Just as Caston was snapped out of his vivid daydream, the football collided with his face.
  "OW! FUCK!" Caston clutched his nose, feeling and tasting blood.
  "Oh shit!" Jax laughed.
  Malachi ran over, reaching up to hold Caston's face. "Shit, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
  "The fuck does go long even mean?" Caston exhaled, wiping his hands on the front of his shirt (that was actually Malachi's).
  "I'm sorry, Cassy. I thought we went over it all." Malachi said, looking closely at Caston's face with furrowed eyebrows.
  "You two making out over there!?" Jax shouted, then half jogged across the field.
  Caston could've kicked him in the jaw. Malachi was finally standing close to him. He was finally touching him. And then Jax had to open his damn mouth and ruin it.
  "The way you were holding his face looked kind of gay, Chi." Jax clapped Malachi on the shoulder. "Not turning on us, are you?"
  "Choke on a dick, you ass-faced fuck." Caston rolled his eyes.
  "Ew. I'd rather-"
  "Jax, stop being a fucking twat and let's get back to the game. We don't have long until we have to get back to the campers." Eric said, placing his hands on his hips and panting from running across the field.
  "The ball's bloody now." Jax cringed as he picked it up off of the ground.
  "Yes because the blood on the ball is way more concerning than the blood still running down Caston's face." Caleb said.
  "Yeah, you should go to the nurse, man." Jay said, eyeing Caston's bloody face with concern.
  "It's just a little blood." Caston said, wiping his nose for the nth time, yet again smearing red on the back of his hand.
  "Dude, go to the fucking nurse." Jay shoved him gently.
  "Fine, whatever, I'm going." Caston sighed, grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it up to properly wipe his face.
  "That shirt is going to be red by the time you're done bleeding." Malachi said.
  "You're coming with me? Don't you think that's a little gay?"
  "I'm just making sure you don't pass out or something." Malachi sighed.
  "Is that what you told your jock friends so you seem less faggy?"
  "Okay what is wrong with you?" Malachi huffed.
  "What's wrong with me? You're the one avoiding me just because fuck-fungus Jax threw a couple of middle school insults at you." Caston scoffed.
  "I'm not...avoiding you."
  "Right. And my nose isn't fucking bleeding." Caston rolled his eyes and threw open the door to the nurse's office.
  "Hello! What can I- oh my!" The nurse, whose name tag read Janice, scurried from behind the front desk.
  "Yeah, so..I'm bleeding." Caston said.
  "I see that. Come back and I'll sort you out." She motioned him over to one of the doors.
  Caston turned to Malachi. "You don't have to stay. Go tackle your hot jock friends."
  "You sure?"
  "Yes, I don't need fucking emotional support. It's a nose bleed for fuck's sake." Caston rolled his eyes, then followed the nurse into one of the rooms.
  She quickly solved the issue, giving him self care instructions that went in one ear and out the other.
  Caston jogged over to Hill House to quickly change his shirt. Maybe he'll get back mid-game and he'll just get to watch.
  On the way back to the field, however, he ran into James. Or rather James stopped him with an outstretched hand.
  "Caston, I need you to change your shirt." James said, eyeing the short, black article of clothing intently.
  "Why? Is it because it's a crop top? Am I too sexy and distracting?" Caston smirked, stepping closer to him.
  "Um..no," James chuckled, gently holding Caston's arms. "Because it says fuck and it's promoting Ouija boards. Those are banned at camp."
  "Well that's boring. It's not a successful summer if you don't try to summon a demon with a bunch of children." Caston rolled his eyes.
  "Just...change it please." James exhaled.
  "James, if you want me to take my shirt off, all you have to do is ask." Caston smirked.
  He grabbed the right side of his shirt with his left hand and pulled it off in one swift motion. James rolled his eyes and backed up.
  "Thank you. Now put on a more appropriate shirt, you have arts and crafts with your house in an hour."
  "Wow..not even gonna drag me to a secluded location and whisper in my ear about how crazy I'm driving you? Not even gonna pull me close and act like you're gonna kiss me only to back away and dramatically whisper I can't do this. This is wrong, further increasing the sexual tension between us until one of us snaps?" Caston inched closer with every word. James stared at him, his mouth ever so slightly parted. Caston clicked his tongue. "What a waste of an hour."
  "Well, you're not wearing a shirt, so I can't grab the front of it and pull you against me like I've been waiting to kiss you for years." James said smugly.
  Caston turned his shirt inside out and tugged it back on. He held his hands out, "What are you waiting for?"
  James grabbed the front of Caston's shirt and harshly pulled him forward. Their mouths were almost touching, but he didn't kiss him. "I can't kiss you out in the open like this, Caston. It would look bad on me as head counselor."
  Caston scoffed and rolled his eyes as James turned and walked away without another word. Great. Another guy who won't kiss him in front of other people. Why does it seem like everyone he fucks around with is afraid of a little PDA? It's about to drive him to murder...again.
  Caston walked slowly back to the field, suddenly not so eager to stare at more hot boys he couldn't touch.
  "Yo, the queer is back!"
  "Jax, shut the fuck up!"
  "What? Look at his outfit!"
  "Make one more gay joke and I'll kick you in the dick so hard it'll come out your nose." Caston said harshly.
  "Damn okay. Sorry, man." Jax said with an awkward laugh. Caston could tell he was trying not to seem scared, but he didn't say anything else to him for the next hour.
  Although the few hours he was with the beefy football boys were quite rocky, Caston would've preferred a Magic Mike style strip tease from Jax over spending the next hour in a room full of kids and glitter glue.
  Malachi was standing in front of the kids, reading from a clipboard. Caston suddenly felt like he was back in school and easily tuned him out.
  "Mr. Caston, can you help me?" Aaron looked up from his paper.
  "With what?"
  "I can't trace without the paper moving. Can you hold it?" Aaron asked.
  Caston sighed. "Sure."
  He sat down next to Aaron, straddling the bench and placing his hands on the edges of the green paper.
  Aaron placed his hand on the paper and traced it with his tongue sticking out. "Okay. Got it."
  "Now what?" Caston asked.
  "I cut it out." Aaron stared down at the paper, then looked back up at Caston. "I don't know how to cut it out."
  "You can't use scissors? Aren't you like twelve?"
  "I'm seven."
  "Here." Caston smacked his hand over to paper and pulled it towards him. He grabbed his pocket knife out of his pocket and flicked it open. He drug the blade along the hand shaped line. Once it was cut out, he pushed it back to Aaron. "Now your turtle is cooler than everyone else's. It's edgy."
  "Thanks!" Aaron smiled, picked up the jagged, green hand shape. "Now he needs a head."
  "On it."
  Caston used the scrap paper to cut out a turtle-like head.
  "Why is it square like that?" Aaron asked.
  "Because everyone else's is round. Keep up, cheesy." Caston said, putting the oddly shaped green paper back down on the table.
  "I need glue."
  "What am I? Your personal assistant?"
  "You're supposed to be helping me."
  "Helping? I'm doing everything."
  "Nuh uh. I traced it."
  "I held the paper and cut it out. I made that head from scratch."
  Aaron raised his hand, making Caston quickly push it down.
  "Alright, no need to bring Malachi into this. I'll get your damn glue." Caston sighed, standing up.
  "I want the pink one!"
  "You'll get what I give you!"
  "Cas, would it kill you to be nice to him?" Malachi sighed, crossing his arms.
  "I just cut out his fucking turtle and now I'm running errands for him. If this is mean, you would hate to know what I'm repressing." Caston said, opening the metal cabinet.
  "Oh I know what you're repressing. I'm talking about what you say to him."
  "First no profane shirts and now I can't speak my mind? This is the worst summer camp ever." Caston grabbed a clear container that was filled with glue, markers, and what looked like an assortment of buttons and colorful gems.
  "I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just making a suggestion." Malachi said.
  "Good. Cause I wasn't gonna listen anyway." Caston smiled, then walked back over to Aaron. "Here you are, pasty. All the glue and shit your little chubby fingers could ever need."
  "Cool! Buttons! I'm gonna use those for the shell!"
  "Awesome!" Caston faked enthusiasm and threw himself back down onto the bench with a heavy eye roll.
  He watched in boredom as Aaron glued buttons onto his turtle, gave it a face, and then flipped it over. He grabbed a small tube of glitter glue and wrote his name. He then pushed it towards Caston.
  "What?"
  "Put your name on it."
  "Why?"
  "We made it together." Aaron smiled, holding out a tube of purple glitter glue.
  Caston sighed and reluctantly grabbed it, scrawling his name next to Aaron's.
  "Alright, everyone! Five minutes until lunchtime! Quickly put the finishing touches on your turtles and then line up in front of me."
  Caston stood quickly and walked over to stand by the door. A few kids lined up, but most of them were still intently working on their hand shaped turtles.
  Caston pulled a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket, leaning against the wall as he lit it.
  "Cas, you can't smoke in here!" Malachi hissed.
  "Ugh. Fine." Caston rolled his eyes and kicked open the door. He stood on the small porch and leaned against the building as he took long, slow drags.
  "I'm not hungry. Are you good to take them to lunch by yourself?" Caston asked as Malachi led the kids out of the art cabin.
  "Considering I do ninety percent of our joint responsibility, yeah, I think I'll manage."
  "Cool. Bye." Caston flicked his cigarette onto the gravel and crushed it with his foot as he walked away.
  Part of him was hoping to run into James or some other boy he could hook up with and another part of him was just wanting a few quiet minutes to himself.
  He walked down to the lake, kicking sticks and rocks on his way. The wooden pier creaked beneath his boots and was soon covered in his discarded clothes as he impulsively decided to jump in.
  He almost swam to the other side of the lake, but he totally underestimated the size of the lake and turned around half way. The feeling of the water against his skin reminded him of when Malachi taught him how to swim. The memory felt weird in his brain, so he pushed it away. He climbed out of the water and used his shirt to dry his hair, then tugged the wet locks into a painful messy bun.
  Now damp, but slightly more relaxed, he made his way to the dining hall. He stood behind Malachi and leaned over him to steal half of the sandwich on his plate.
  "Holy shit, Cas, you scared me." Malachi jumped and turned slightly to look at him. "I thought you weren't hungry."
  Caston shrugged. "I wasn't. Now I am. Keep up, gorgeous."
  Caston could've sworn he saw Malachi blush, but he figured maybe he was still a bit sun blind.
  "Yo, are we allowed to leave or is this like a hostage situation?" Caston asked, after swallowing the last bit of Malachi's sandwich.
  "We're allowed to leave for necessities, why? Got a sneaky link you wanna meet up with?" Malachi rolled his eyes.
  "No, but you just made me wish I did. I wanna run out and get a few things for the cabin. You know. For the boys."
  "You wanna drive an hour into town to get things for the children?" Malachi asked slowly.
  Caston nodded with a half shrug.
  "You, Caston Nathanael Hill, want to do something for others? With no ulterior motive?"
  "For fuck's sake, am I Satan? I have to spend the next week and however many days with these shit wipes, I would like for them to not be unhappy campers." Caston exhaled.
  "Alright. I believe you. Sort of."
  "So can I take your truck?"
  "Well, you don't have your motorcycle."
  "How dare you bring that up!"
  Malachi laughed. "The keys are on my bedside table."
  "Keys? Where are you going? Can I go? I'm so bored and I want to see people who aren't children." Noah appeared next to Caston.
  "Good idea. I don't want you alone with my truck." Malachi said.
  Caston gasped dramatically. "Rude! Do you not trust me?"
  "Absolutely not. Would you trust me with your motorcycle?"
  Caston scoffed. "I wouldn't even trust a mechanic with my motorcycle, much less you, who nearly cried when you got on it for the first time."
  "I did not!"
  "Guys, this is a lovely debate, but we should probably go and get back. Both House Counselors have to be present for activities and the next one is in a few hours." Noah said.
  Caston and Noah left the dining hall, stopping at Hill House for the keys. Caston better dried his hair and changed out of his damp clothes, now in another one of Malachi's cut offs and distressed black jeans.
  "Why'd you get all dressed up? We're just making a snack run, right?" Noah asked after Caston exited the cabin.
  "I didn't get all dressed up, I changed because my clothes were wet." Caston rolled his eyes.
  "Right. And freshening up your eyeliner is just a necessity for everything."
  "It washed off in the lake."
  "What were you doing in the lake during lunch?"
  "Trying to drown myself."
  "Shame you failed."
  "Shame your mom failed at aborting you."
  Noah gasped and fake cried. "My mother loves me!"
  Caston rolled his eyes and hopped into Malachi's truck. The smell of him was overwhelming the second he sat down. Fuck Noah for butting in on his trip or he could have a lot of fun in this truck.
  "What music you like?" Noah asked as Caston pulled out of the parking lot.
  "We don't have to make small talk."
  "Oh I don't plan on it, but I am not sitting in silence for the next two hours. As a DJ, I am considerate of my fellow passengers. I'm not gonna play a bunch of music that you hate."
  "I like a lot of stuff." Caston shrugged. "Mostly alternative, I guess. Just..no women and for the love of whatever you believe in, no BTS."
  "Are you saying that because I'm Asian?"
  "No, I'm saying that because I fucking hate BTS."
  "Really? Not even their old stuff?"
  "I just said I hate them and you expect me to know what the fuck that means? I don't like any of it."
  "Have you even heard their old stuff?"
  "I've heard enough."
  "Maybe-"
  "Continue this discussion and I'll drive into a fucking lake."
  "Alright. What about-"
  "Just play something so I don't have to hear your voice anymore."
  "You're such a charmer. I can see why Malachi likes you." Noah said, his voice devoid of any emotion.
  After what felt like hours to Caston, they finally made it into town.
  "Why are we at a Walmart? I thought we were just getting snacks." Noah questioned.
  "We can get snacks at Walmart." Caston said simply, getting out of the truck and not waiting for Noah.
  "You obviously have something up your sleeve and I am very interested to find out what it is." Noah caught up to Caston, shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket.
  Caston made a beeline for the board games, muttering "aha" when he found it.
  "Really? A Ouija board?" Noah raised his eyebrows. "You know those are banned at camp, right?"
  "Why do you think I'm getting one?"
  "Is it your goal to wreak havoc constantly?"
  "Yes."
  Caston shoved the box against Noah, making him jump back.
  "Ay! I'm not touching that!"
  Caston rolled his eyes. "You're one of those bitches? It's wrapped in plastic. You're not gonna get possessed just by carrying it through the store."
  "Okay, then why won't you carry it?"
  "I'm not having this discussion. Carry the fucking box or I'll run to car and leave you here." Caston sighed, pushing the box into Noah's hands.
  After they accumulated junk food and alcohol (Caston had to kick Noah when he started to question how the fuck he was able to buy it so easily).
  "For fuck's sake have you never illegally purchased alcohol before? Don't fucking ask me about it in front of the cashier, you fucking nitwit." Caston huffed as they exited the store, bags in hand.
  "Sorry. I was confused. I thought you had like a legit looking fake ID or something, but they didn't even card you."
  "Yeah, almost no one does."
  "It's because you look like you'd kill them if they did."
  "Aww, thank you."
  Noah ran off to his next activity the second they got back, leaving Caston to carry the six bags by himself. It wasn't difficult, but it was loud. He somehow managed to smuggle everything into Hill House unnoticed.
  He had to look at the schedule taped to the wall to figure out where everyone was at the moment. He suddenly wished he had driven slower when the schedule said Music. The last thing he wants to do is sit in a room with a bunch of kids, who have access to objects they can purposefully make noise with.
  Not even two minutes after he stepped into the music room, Malachi told the kids to put their stuff away and line up by the door.
  "Damn. Talk about perfect timing." Caston chuckled.
  "Are you gonna be like this the rest of the summer?" Malachi sighed, crossing his arms.
  "Like what?"
  "Leaving me to do everything while you fuck your way through the entire camp and find any way to ditch me."
  "The fuck are you on about?"
  Malachi looked at him sharply, then back to the kids, motioning them into a line.
  "For fuck's sake, is this about James?" Caston rolled his eyes.
  "Caston, please stop swearing in front of the kids." Malachi sighed again, then turned to lead the kids out of the cabin.
  Caston walked after them, holding back his impulse to kick the children. He caught up to Malachi, who was purposefully looking anywhere except at Caston.
  "Stop being so immature."
  Malachi scoffed. "Oh I'm being immature?"
  "Yes, you are."
  "I'm the one doing all of the responsible things while you run off with the head counselor and have a dramatic swim in the lake and then leave camp right before an activity. I'm hardly the immature one out of the two of us."
  "I left to get things for everyone. You act like I didn't even come back. And you sent me with a fucking chaperone."
  "Did you really?" Malachi turned to Caston, his eyebrows raised. "What'd you get then?"
  Caston rolled his eyes. "I'm not telling you."
  "Don't be a child. Just tell me."
  "Okay." Caston leaned closer to Malachi, their sides pressed together. "But you'll have to fuck it out of me."
  "Yeah, I'm not doing that. We're taking the kids to the zip line right now."
  "There's a fucking zip line?"
  "Cas, stop swearing." Malachi huffed.
  "I will not. They can't even hear me. Right, little shit heads? See?"
  "I can't stand you."
  "Right. That's why you invited me to this camp with you. And that's why you promised me two weeks of sex, which you are doing a shit job of upholding by the way because we're almost on our fourth day and we've only fucked once."
  "If you're so desperate, go hook up with James again." Malachi walked faster, making Caston almost run into the children.
  He rolled his eyes and caught back up with Malachi. "Are you seriously mad about that?"
  "I'm not mad that you hook up with other people. I am however a little weirded out by the fact that you were kissing him in the middle of the fucking camp."
  "Were you stalking me?" Caston raised a brow.
  "No. You were out in the open. Literally anyone could've seen you." Malachi said, not looking at Caston.
  "We weren't even kissing."
  "Oh that makes me feel so much better."
  "For fuck's sake, Malachi, we're not married. You won't kiss me or fuck me. You won't even stand next to me with your friends around. Can you blame me for trying to get with someone else?"
  "Can we talk about this when there aren't a bunch of children around." Malachi sighed, turning around and stopping as they had made it to the zip line.
  "You, me, a conversation about sex, and no children? Fuck yeah." Caston exhaled.