Bare-Back Mountain

Chapter Three:

I sat in disbelief, sat next to my best friend Eve. We sat on a cleaned bed, a cleaned floor, and Eve was newly dressed in fuzzy pink slippers and a long shirt.

"I'm sorry I misunderstood you, Ray." I shook my head. I could feel tears well in my eyes. Damn puberty. "Really Ray, it's ok..." I felt her hand make contact with my back, slowly moving up and down in a gentle, rubbing motion. "It's ok, really..." She said weakly. I didn't even know if I was gay. Maybe I had eaten raw fish... or, or maybe I was just nervous. A tear trickled down my cheek and gulped down a lump in my throat. "Will you talk to me?" Her magenta eyes were raised in a fearful manner, her brow deeply lined with worry. Her soft hand was rubbing my back, underneath my shirt. She rocked back and forth with me. "Ok... so you don't want to talk." I shook my head. I felt sick again, my stomach taught and angry, my muscles tense. This was too much. This can't work. Can't happen. I trembled under this new information, under her touch. Damn genes. I knew something was wrong with my dad. I sniffed, a small laugh surfacing. A tiny, crazed laugh.

"I'm sorry, Evie." I whispered, using her nickname and leaning into her perfumed skin. Her hand found the back of my head and we fell, flopping onto the bed together.

"So... what are you going to do..?" I laughed quietly, a small, sick laugh.

"What would you fuckin' do if you found out you were attracted to the opposite sex." I meant it as sarcasm but I swear to god, she actually considered it.

"Well... probably get lai-"

"Eve I'm serious!" I shouted, looking disheveled and weak. "I don't want to be gay!"

"Then don't." She whispered back, her hand on my face. Those eyes met mine again. Those alluring, loving eyes. Those horny slut eyes! I snapped my eyes shut and turned away from her. "Ray..." She moaned. "I'm sorry! You know I didn't mean it like that! Ray!" She pulled my shoulder, wanting me to face her. I tugged away from her grip.

"Leave me alone." I sounded like a child. A brooding, homosexual child. Then I heard her laugh. "Bitch." This made her laugh harder.

"You're the one acting like a bitch, drama queen." She shot back.

"You little slut!" I sat up on my knees, grabbing a pillow. Oh shit. I am a bitch. A pillow-fighting, guy-horny, bitch. She grinned and grabbed a pillow. "I'm not going to hit-" That fuckin' bitch just whomped me over the head with a pillow! "You bitch!" I breathed. She giggled and again, the pillow zinged through the air.

A successful block and she got what was coming to her.

We stood on the bridge, staring into the sullen water, a dreary rain misting around us.

"Eve... You know I have to leave."

"Leave? What the- why?"

"I don't know." I sighed. "I just... I have to. "I leaned over the bridge, wanting sympathy but not like this.

"Please don't leave! You're my best friend! Please?" Those pleading pink eyes. I sighed. Who can resist Eve?

"I don't want to be gay." I said firmly. Then I leaned down. I closed my eyes. And our lips met. Eve's pink eyes shot open and her mouth softened to my touch. She made a small 'mm' sound, confused, then slowly worked into my kiss. I'm kissing Eve. I pulled away, my eyes lowering.

"You're still gay...?" She murmured.

"I don't know, Evie." I leaned over the bridge again as she placed her hand on my shoulder.

"I really wish you weren't." Her eyes were clouded with pain and for once, I swear I don't think she was thinking about Dan. Not now. Not after that.

"I don't know, ok?" I shook my head. "I don't know..."

"Rainy days suck, huh?" Joe threw his line out towards the dock's edge, a long cast. I admired it for a moment, then cast my own out, just falling a few feet farther than his.

"I win."

"Damn." I sighed, slowly winding in the line. He concentrated, furrowing his brow as if to lead the fish toward him. "Hey Ray, you know that the Fireworks festival's coming up soon?" I nodded. "I mean, you're kinda new here, traveling around." I nodded again, pulling my line in a little further. "I'm probably going with Katie. You thinkin' of asking Eve? I mean... you were kissing on the bridge and all..." At this point, my concentration broke.

"Eve? No. We're just friends." Joe laughed, nudging me.

"Oh I get'cha! Eh?" He raised one eye brow and made a rude gesture with his hands. I blushed crimson.

"No! It- it's not like that!"

"Oh no? Then what is it like? This?" Another rude gesture, this time with a little bit of sound effects.

"JOE! What the-?" I glanced around. No one was around but still- this was embarrassing! "Man, quit it!" My frown broke and a laugh escaped. "You suck!" I shoved him, who pushed back.

"Boning Eve- man that's luck!"

"I'm- not- boning- EVE!" I said, finally taking one final shove. He fell back, a "WHOA!" crying out from between his lips, a surprise expression written across his face. He grabbed my belt, bringing me down along with him. We landed in the water, choking and sputtering.

"Sorry man."

"Naw it's fine." I shook myself off, standing up. "I'm soaked!"

"You needed some cooling off, horny bastard." He laughed and I shoved him again, not quite so hard as to land in the water once more.

"Saw you flirtin' with Joe." I blushed. Eve saw everything. I sighed, looking down at the newly polished tables, my own melancholy expression facing me.

"I wasn't flirting..." I mumbled in misery. "Listen: I really don't think I'm gay. Maybe I was just sick! It was... a fluke- that's all. I can't be gay! I'm just... nothing. I don't like girls or guys. I'm a..." I stopped to think of the word.

"Anti-bi-sexual?"

"No... I think that means 'against bi-sexuals'."

"Oh... then... uh..." We both thought hard.

"You guys look constipated." Duke remarked from behind the counter. At this Eve broke into a fit of giggles and I smirked sheepishly.

"Maybe I'm just nothing." I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "How're you and Dan coming along?" I took a sip of warm lemonade.

"He's amazing in bed." I choked, sputtering on the sour juice. She reddened and laughed softly. "Well he is..." I smiled and shook my head, taking another, considerably smaller sip.

"Has he asked you to the Fireworks Festival?"

"No." I took a deep breath.

"Do you think he's going to?"

"What are you implying, Ray?" She tossed a loose piece of hair out of her face with a flick.

"I don't know." I leaned on my knuckles, elbows on the table. "Just wondering."

"Oh..." She took a deep breath and leaned further back on the chair, which groaned in protest. "You could always go with Joe." At this she laughed.

"Cold bitch." I stood up and left, shaking my head and looking for Maria.

Maria would have to wait, as Theodore just entered the library. Theodore despised me. Ray, the hobo, the fisherman who didn't buy a single plot of land and mooched off fellow businesses by making friends with the owners. I'm river muck to that man. I sighed and slumped onto a bench in the main square. I could hear the distant ocean waves lapping against the shore. A swift breeze came up, the scent of summer clinging to the wind. Summer. Fireworks festival. Girless again. I laid down on the bench, staring up at the crystalline sky, clouds suspended in a sea of blue. Think about it... the blue summer sky so beautiful it gained its own name because it was so indescribable. Sky blue. I breathed deep the air, my mind clearing. If I had a color named after me, I wonder what it'd be? Thinking of nothing, I closed my eyes, satisfied with the world yet still confused about my potential life partner.

I'll visit Maria tomorrow. My eyes remained shut on the sky blue world, the wooly clouds thickening and thinning out with the changing of the air pressure, the grass bowing to the lightest breath. I sighed and sunk into a peaceful sleep, no thoughts disturbing my deep relaxation.