Teenage Fever

Playful Banter

This was exactly what I needed right after work. I gave a dap to Damario for constantly looking out for me. We hoped out of his car from the parking lot that overlooked the beach. The place was pretty packed and looking at the water was a beautiful sight from up here.

"Shit."
Damario laughed at my reaction.
"Welcome to Section 1, baby!"

We head on to the sand in our cargo shorts and sleeveless T-shirts, having changed back at his place. The sand felt so warm and the sun wasn't too hot. It was the perfect hour.

I recognized KJ jogging over to us.
"About time y'all got here."
He gave us both dap.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Your hands looking real empty."
I immediately caught Damario's gist and started laughing.
"You really are an alcoholic!"
"Listen—"
"Nah, nigga, nah!"
"I had a long day too, bitch."
"You coach a basketball team."

We were all laughing. Damario was an assistant coach for a middle school team.

"Them boys will drive you to drink," Damario defended his alcoholic ways.
I shook my head.
"I need to stop associating myself with you."

Damario playfully shoved me and I came back at him with a shove. Shortly we found ourselves play fighting.

"Y'all niggas done?" KJ asked.

I kept knocking Damario back down each time he tried to get up out the sand. We were cracking up the whole time.

"Yo, a volleyball game starting," KJ said out of nowhere and ran off.

I roughly shoved D one more time before sprinting off. He came chasing right after me. I ran straight for the ocean and dived right in. Damario put the breaks on his running.

"Nigga! When you learn how to swim?"

I swam out, Damario's voice falling into the backdrop. I swam around for a little bit, enjoying the water.
I wasn't too far off from the beach but I still stayed in the water, floating.

"Can you teach me?"

That voice.

I immediately stood up and turned around.

It was him! It was Tahj.

I don't know why it felt so weird seeing him in broad daylight as if he was some mythical creature. He still had that same drawl and he was smiling at me.

"You pretty good at what you're doing."

He wade his way into the water closer to me, the water coming up to his chin.

"Where did you go the other night?"
I almost wanted to slap myself to see if I was dreaming.
"I'm sorry for dipping like that. Something came up and I had to leave."
I moved closer to him as well. "Thought about you a lot though..."
"Oh really," I say.
He started to circle me, slowly and I reciprocated.
"Yeah."
"I was actually hoping to continue the conversation."
"I don't even remember what we were talking about. I was too busy watching you."
He stood directly in front of me, the closest we've ever been.
"I can say the same."
"Les!" I turned to the voice.
It was Damario still on the beach. "Fuck you still doing in the water for?"
"I'm coming!" I shouted back.

Oh shit.

Tahj.

I looked back to where he was before hoping he didn't disappear again. But he was actually still there smiling at me.

"Come on," he said and started to walk back to shore.

I followed him, relieved that he was still in my sight. I realized that he only wore swimming trunks, his chest bare and exposed. He had some muscle on him. He looked back at me with his attractive smile. I looked away from it and saw Damario heading our way.

"D!" I shouted and indicated to Tahj, like, Tah Dah!
Damario looked Tahj up and down.
"You must be the lost and found guy."
Tahj laughed with his eyes.
"I guess so."
D looked back at me.
"You in or naw?"
"I'll play," Tahj says before I could answer.

Damario gave him a single nod before walking back to the game.
I don't know where all these people came from but suddenly we had a game of 5 people on each side of the net. I glanced back at Tahj and noticed him smiling at me mischievously.

"Let's make this interesting," he said before walking over to and under the net; onto the other side's team.

Okay.

The guys on my side briefly introduced themselves to each other and me. Then the game started.
I don't play volleyball much and by that I mean not at all but it's not a game that takes rocket science. One person serves, other side sets and tries to spike it with a whole lot of bumping in between.

I may have watched a volleyball game or two back in high school.

We had a good game going, Tahj was a beast though. He especially came through with the good serves. I wasn't sure if I was playing against him or just watching him play.

Damario was on Tahj's team. After a while of playing I caught glimpses of Damario looking from me to Tahj, facial expression emotionless. It kept reminding me that Damario didn't know about me. For all he knew I was straight. That's going to be a nice little conversation.

Guys kept falling down into the sand repeatedly. Playing in this sand definitely didn't make the game easier.

"Shit, I'm out of shape," Damario says out of breath.
"How?" I ask over the net to him. "You coach a basketball team."
He gave me the finger.

A watching crowd also started to form. Mad pretty girls showed up to watch us play. I guess that was a confidence booster that some of the guys needed.
The game got intense after a while because it was coming to an end. My team was tied with Tahj's. I spotted him always eyeing me down but in a seductive manner. I was already by the net but I moved closer. Tahj got the hint and walked over, the only thing between us was the net. My fingers hung from the net rope's holes.

"If you let my team win I'll take you out sometime," I say.
He gave me a sweet, amusing expression.
"Oh? But what if I like winning? What if I want to win?"
"You don't consider a date with me as winning?" I give him a side look.
He gave a deep chuckle, making my dick twitch again.
"Real smooth," he says.
I shrug.
"So if I win, no date?"
I gave the impression that I was thinking long and hard about it which only made him laugh.
"I don't know."
He just smiled at me, catching my banter.

We broke up our talk when we noticed the last play was starting. I was in front of the net between the middle and right side when our team took its serve. It went over to their side then back to our side where I bumped it back over. Quickly, it came back over to our end and made it back over. But then the ball moved between three players, the third being Tahj who spiked it over the net, gaining the point.

I looked at him in mild surprise, mouth wide open but he just smirked at me in return. Next thing I know Damario is screaming in my face.

"Yeahhhhh! How you like that!"
"Nigga, fuck off!" I laughed.
"I think I want you to cook dinner tonight," he said while rubbing his chin.
"No. I ain't cooking you a damn thing."
"I won," he said point blank.
"Nigga, I don't owe you anything!" I was still laughing.

We got back into a playful mode of shoving each other until I remembered Tahj. Damario had pushed me onto the sand, I started looking around and didn't see him anywhere. Damario was still trying to attack me but I diverted him, stood up and was looking all over the beach.

He seriously vanished again.