Meet Me in the Water

Chapter Two

When I finished unpacking, I met the others out by the lake. Brad was at the grill while the moms were talking over a glass of wine. Nicholas appeared to be on babysitting duty because he was sitting on the dock, watching over the girls as they swam in the lake. Taking in the sight, that was the image of what an upperclass white family in America looked like. Well, at least in the eyes of the working class. Though the lake house was small, every time I was there it put into perspective how big of a financial debt my family was in. Mom had trouble paying rent on a two bedroom apartment. These motherfuckers had two houses.

  Kyle was drinking a beer and talking to Brad at the grill. My only sources of conversation were either coming from gossiping with the moms, my gay ass pretending to understand sports with Brad and Kyle, or throw myself in the lake on hope for the sweet release of death to come for me. Looking around, the later would have been the best option.

  "Seth," Isla called from the water. "Come swim with us!" She was floating in the water with an orange floatation device on and Elmo floaties on her upper arms. All thanks to Mom. She'd have us wear that getup in the water until we were twelve.

  I could use a swim. It was as hot as balls and I could feel my skin burning. Nicholas didn't look at me as I stepped onto the dock, taking my shirt and sneakers off. "Do you girls think you can make a bigger splash that me?"

  "I know I can," Isla exclaimed from the water. 

  "I think I sense a contest forming," I said, rubbing my hands together. I stood beside Nicholas and got ready to jump in the water, only for him to immediately stand up and walk away. But right as I made my leap, Nicholas pushed me. Making me land in the water with my limbs swinging all around me.

  When I resurfaced, he was looking down at me from the dock and the girls were laughing. His arms were crossed over his tan chest and his face... I couldn't fucking read his face. "What the fuck, Nicholas?" I yelled, pushing back the damp hair that fell in my eyes.

  Nicholas knelt down on the dock and leaned forward to eye me down. "It's Nick." Now he was pissed because I didn't call him by a stupid nickname? I only ever knew him as Nicholas, mostly getting the habit from hearing our parents call him that. Before I could make a witty remark, he walked away, leaving me on babysitting duty.

  The girls didn't seem to notice the tension between Nicholas and me. They were laughing, thinking we were only joking around, and then they attacked me, dunking me into the water. I played along, laughing with them and pretending to be a sea monster. But my eyes managed to take a glimpse over the dock several times to see Nicholas had settled back into his lawn chair, ignoring everything that was going on. Even when his dad asked for help serving the table.

  By the time dinner was ready, I was hungry enough to eat a horse. The girls rushed to the table and were given their food. I grabbed a plate and walked up to Brad, asking for a hamburger. He placed one on the open hamburger bun on my plate and I thanked him before taking a random seat at the picnic table.

  Nicholas was the last to take a seat and the only open spot was across from me. He had a hotdog and I had to look away every time he put it to his mouth. I was trying so hard to get my brain to stop going to those nasty thoughts straight away, but it wouldn't listen to my pleas.

  "Seth," Brad said from across the table, grabbing my attention. "Do you know where you'll be studying next year?"

  My brother tried to conceal a rude laugh. "I'm taking a gap year," I told Brad. When I told Kyle that I was going to take a gap year, he thought I didn't want to put in the effort to better my education. He said something about how I will find myself stuck in a dead-end job. I planned to prove him wrong. "Work and earn some money. Then I plan to study abroad." I wanted to get out of the states for a while and explore a different part of the world. The places I was hoping to go were Italy or England. But there were many more places I would had loved to see.

  "Do you know what you'll want to study?" Brad asked.

  I shrugged, biting into a potato chip. "I'm undecided at the moment."

  "Nicholas is studying law," he told me, pointing his own potato chip towards Nicholas. Why did parents do that? Just throw their child's achievements in the face of the undecided. But of course that walking dickwad was studying law. He probably went to please his dad even though he had nothing to worry about because he'd one day get a great position at his father's law firm with the help of something called Daddy's Money. "Maybe he can help you figure something out. Go through the studying options and whatnot."

  I turned to Nicholas to see he was taking a bite of his hotdog. Damn. "I'm sure Nicholas will be more than willing to help me," I said sarcastically, mostly to annoy Nicholas. Also because if he didn't remove that hotdog from his mouth I was going to have a brain aneurysm.

  "It's Nick," he mumbled through his hotdog. Was he trying to kill me? He swallowed and I immediately started thinking up an excuse to leave. "Oh, I'm sure you can figure something out on your own." He matched my sarcastic tone and kicked me under the table right in the shin.

  "I insist," I replied between clenched teeth and kicked him back even harder. "You are the golden boy after all. Maybe I'll learn something from you." I could fantasize about him all I wanted, but at the end of the day, as soon as he opened his mouth, he was a little shit.

  He kicked me back. Now it was war. "Do you have an off switch?" I knew he meant that as a way for me to shut up but my mind immediately went to something else. I hated how my mind seemed to turn something as innocent as that into something dirty. "Because I really want you to shut the fuck up."

  "Nicholas!" Jen exclaimed, shooting up from the table. "We don't swear in this household."

  "You're an asshole," he whispered to me so his mom wouldn't hear.

  I picked up a handful of coleslaw from my plate and chucked it at Nicholas with no warning. His mouth gaped opened as he looked down at where the coleslaw smeared across his bare chest. Some got in his hair and some got on his face. "Don't call me that," I told him, wiping my hand with a napkin.

  "Seth!" That time, my mom was the one to shoot up from the table. "What is the matter with you?" So many things, Mom. So many things.

  Nicholas scooped up a handful of coleslaw from his own plate and threw it at me, getting it all over my face and chest. "Oh, I thought we were going for a new look."

  "Boys, knock it off!" Brad yelled, but we ignored him.

  "Grow the fuck up," Kyle muttered from beside me as I wiped off the coleslaw from my face and chest. 

  Ignoring him, I turned back to Nicholas. "You are annoying."

  Nicholas chuckled and stood up from the table, his fists wrinkling the cloth. "Wow, aren't you good at witty comebacks. Is that the type of thing you will tell an opponent during the presidential election?"

  I stood up, towering over everyone at the table. "No, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves. Because I don't do arrogant white boys."

  Brad hit a fist to the table, hard enough that it rattled everything on it and got some of us jumping. "That's enough! Both of you! Sit down and keep your mouths shut!"

  Nicholas and I sat back down. Brad was a nice guy but you did not want to get on his bad side. He was like a deadly golden retriever. 

  "How's football going, Kyle?" Brad asked my brother, acting as if nothing had just happened.

  I ignored most of the conversation for the rest of the meal. By then, it was mostly small talk about things I didn't care about. They were speaking about school and politics. I told myself then and there that if the conversation got to topics regarding LGBT-plus, then I would put my two-sense in. Maybe that would be the perfect way to come out to the Masterson's. Wait for them to say something homophobic and be like, "Surprise, I'm gay!" Then I would go get frozen yogurt. Great plan. 

  Maybe if I could only get past dinner first.