The Call chapter 3

Here is Chapter 3. It is sort of a filler chapter, so not much happens. A little bit of happy stuff before the rest of the story.


The weekend came quickly for Nick. He stood in front of the mirror inspecting his bruises. He had managed to avoid his dad all week, and now most of the bruises were faded and barely visible. Sighing in relief, Nick pulled his shirt back on, grabbed his keys, and left the room quickly. His dad was still out, luckily, but Nick did not want to take any chances so he was leaving the house early. He planned on just driving around and killing time until it was acceptable to go to the beach and meet his friends.

At around noon, Nick turned his truck towards the lake. When he arrived, he immediately saw many of the expensive cars the other Warblers drove. He always felt self-conscious when parked next to them with his beat up pick-up truck. He had barely shut the door to his truck and pocketed the keys when he was nearly tackled with the force of a hug. Turning his head, he saw it was Jeff with his arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

"Jeff, you're suffocating me!"

"Sorry," the boy replied, loosening his hold on Nick. "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"I know."

Just then, some of the other Warblers came up to Nick and hugged him as well, although not as tight as Jeff had. They then led Nick to the beach where the rest of the boys were already waiting.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" David yelled as they arrived, pulling Nick into another round of hugs and greetings. Nick thought he would get more bruises from the number of hugs he was getting.

"Come on guys, let's play some volleyball!" Blaine shouted. They quickly spread into two teams, with some of the boys preferring to sit out and either tan, relax, or swim.

The boys spent the game arguing over the ball being out or not and Wes threatening violence if they didn't just play the game. Nick spent the game and laughing at Jeff as he tried to spike the ball over the net, but failing most of the time.

David sighed, exasperated. "Come on, Jeff. You are plenty tall enough to get it over the net. Blaine's sets are nearly perfect."

"I'm a dancer not a volleyball player!" Jeff argued back, waving his arms around in emphasis.

"John's a beat-boxer, and he's still beating you at it," Nick teased.

Jeff glared at him and opened his mouth to continue the argument, but Wes stopped them before they delayed the game even more.

"Jeff, I will concuss you if you do not shut your mouth. I want to swim at some point today, so please keep quiet."

Somehow, Jeff managed to stay relatively quiet for the rest of the game.

The Warblers spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, eating, and talking, and occasionally breaking into song.

"If I hear one more Katy Perry song I'm going to choke somebody," Trent complained from where he was laying in the sand.

Blaine pouted and grabbed another bag of chips.

"And no more Pink either!"

The rest of the Warblers laughed at Blaine's expense. The boys began cleaning up, putting coolers away, picking up any trash, and taking everything to their vehicles. Not wanting the day to be over quite yet, they decided to get ice cream.

After everyone received their orders, they crowded the picnic tables outside the ice cream shop. Their ice cream was almost gone when Wes stuck the remains of his cone on David's head, who then returned the favor by flinging a spoonful of his chocolate ice cream at Wes, but it missed and hit Trent instead. An all-out ice cream war broke out, with most of the boys involved. Only Nick and Jeff stood outside the reach of the carnage.

"I just don't understand it," Nick shook his head sadly.

"What?"

"How they can go from being proper school boys to five-year olds in about ten seconds."

Jeff laughed, agreeing. Their friends were definitely special.

"What are you kids doing out here?!" The manager of the shop came storming out, anger clear in his eyes. "Get out of here and quit making a mess!"

The boys scrambled to the driveway, laughing guiltily. They said their goodbyes and hugged each other, promising to meet up again soon.

Jeff rolled down his window, getting Nick's attention before the other boy could drive away. "Do you want to meet up again next weekend?"

The brunette smiled. "Of course. Text me the details." He waved as he pulled out of the driveway, heading back to his house.