Whisper by theindigojackalope
Tristan rides in the bumpy back of a pickup truck. The warm breeze lovingly presses his hair away from his eyes, caresses his jaw. He closes his eyes, and the sun paints the insides of his eyelids red. A whisper of love in the summer wind- that's all he's ever wanted to be.
He opens his eyes, flinching slightly against the sudden dryness, and looks around. There's a row of sunflowers dosing against one another in the late evening light, turned a burning orange by the sun. Chris reclines in the opposite corner of the truck, lazily pulling music from the air with his guitar pick, dreadlocks swaying with each bumping jolt of the road. He sees Tristan watching him, and smiles wide, flashing him a wink. Tristan's cheeks glow strawberry hot, and he looks away. The plants near the edges of the dirt road bow to the dusty heat whisked up by the truck's tires.
Manny, leaning in the driver's seat, steering with one hand, drinking bubbling orange soda with the other, glances at the rearview mirror. He notes how far away Tristan sits from Chris and rolls his eyes.
If the boy won't make a move, Manny will have to make it for him.
So, he takes the next left turn extra hard, so hard that Tristan is almost sure that Earth's gravity is inverting, and Tristan goes tumbling across the truck bed. Chris catches him with calloused hands, arm wrapped around his waist.
Tristan looks up to apologize, flinches when his nose hits Chris'. Chris smiles his hundred-watt smile and gives Tristan an Eskimo kiss. When the boy turns tomato red, Chris laughs, throwing his head back over the edge of the truck, and his hair is all tangled up in the airborne dirt, but he doesn't much care.
Tristan sits up a little straighter, lips tilting upward at the edges. The laugh is all of the freshly picked strawberries Tristan's ever eaten in his mother's garden bundled up into a sound. He wants it to go on forever.
But, Chris' laugh eventually finishes dancing with the cornstalks whizzing by, and he sits back up.
"Hey." Tristan focuses on the boy in front of him. "I love you."
Tristan blushes, opens his mouth. But, he never has enough words to say anything more than once. So he flings his arms around Chris' neck, holding him close, making sure he can hear.
"I love you too."
A whisper of love floats off into the summer wind, tumbling and unfurling and full of light.
***
YOU ARE READING
Summer Shorts - Anthology
Short StoryThe sun is shining, the days are getting longer and the nights warmer; it can only mean one thing, summer is here. And what's a better time to get your shorts on? But if you're not quite ready to show off your legs just yet, how about you read summe...
