Chapter 6
Spring Break, Clarkson University
Brady
One year ago
The chickpeas sizzled in my cast-iron pan, caramelizing into perfect road trip fuel while my phone lit up with another notification from Margo in the group chat: Last chance, Brady!!!! Saint Martin Villa! Nicky Van Buren, spinning at Orient Bay!!! Daddy’s PJ leaves in an hour.
Three years running, I’d spent spring break at beachfront villas, dancing until sunrise covered in glitter and flirting with, well, everyone. But senior year I chose a fifteen-hour road trip in a beat-up pick-up truck. The sight of Hayes Carter bending over an engine was better than any sunset.
I portioned the chickpeas into a cute set of rainbow-striped eco-friendly containers that I knew Hayes would roll his eyes at and pretend weren’t adorable. But he’d secretly love them. Hayes had the sum total of one plate, one fork and one glass in his kitchen. He needed me.
I looked out my window to see if his truck was on its way to the sprawling townhouse I shared with eight of my friends, all of whom would be at Margo’s family villa except me.
She was right. It was my last chance. By the next year, everyone would have a job or some other adult commitment that came without a required hedonistic vacation week.
Everyone except me.
By spring break of senior year, I still didn’t know what I would do after graduation.
My parents had threatened law school if I didn’t land on something by May.
But I still had a few months to figure it out, I told myself.
It was so much easier to live in the moment and be the good-time party boy everyone expected.
My phone buzzed with a text from Hayes.
Be there in ten. Don’t pack your entire closet. Smiley wink.
I texted back.
If you want me naked you just have to ask. Peach emoji.
He texted back:
Tongue emoji. Miss you. Can’t wait to see you. This is going to be
epic.
A few weeks earlier, I found out Hayes needed to get to Chicago during spring break for the final interview for a medical school scholarship.
I had suggested we both go. “My parents will be in Chicago for some board meeting. Maybe you could meet them.” A big step, but I was ready for it if he was.
I let the offer hang there and hoped he wouldn’t be scared off.
“That sounds great. I’d love it.” He opened his laptop, and his fingers clicked across the keyboard searching for last-minute flights.
But I watched his smile drop as folded his arms in front of him.
“Cheapest flight is six seventy-five. That’s no luggage, no seat reservation, probably no access to the bathroom.
” But then he put his hand to his chin, and I could tell he was reviewing all evidence, searching for a solution to the problem.
The smile returned. “We could take my truck.” He opened his laptop again, this time with even more enthusiasm. “It’s only fifteen hours.”
“That’s all?” I said, trying to hide my shock. Hayes already had a partial scholarship to North Boston University’s medical school, and that was top on his list, but Ellis University was dangling a full ride, so I wanted to make sure he had a shot at it.
“Let’s do it,” I said, and stood behind him with both hands on his shoulders, gently massaging them. As my fingers started digging more deeply into his muscles, suddenly a brilliant and/or stupid idea came to me.
“I’ll document the whole thing. Two queer guys on a road trip with some fun detours.
I can find cool food and we can stop at LGBTQ history sites and take pictures of it all.
I’ll use it for the final project in Media Ecology.
” I figured it would help me finish a class assignment and allow me to get tons of pictures of Hayes under the pretense of academic work.
Even if it added a few hours to our journey, I didn’t care because we would be spending that time together.
Hayes tilted his head back to look up at me and squinted his eyes. “Do I have to be in the pictures? You know I hate that stuff.”
“Yes, you have to be in them.” I tapped his nose with my finger. “If I’m bumping my ass along the interstate in your truck, you can get your picture taken.” I leaned down and kissed him with a quick peck, hoping that would be enough to seal the deal.
He sighed. “Why does the cutest, most outrageous boy at Clarkson have me wrapped around his finger?” I shrugged my shoulders and pouted my lips. “Fine, whatever you want.”
I came around from behind his chair and threw my legs over his thick thighs, so I was straddling him, my arms now resting on the front of his shoulders. “Thank you,” I whispered in his ear, using the exact tone I knew would allow me to feel him get hard under me.
“Beep. Beep.” The sound from Hayes’ truck snapped me back to the present and I finished putting the last of the snacks in their containers for our road trip. I waved from the window. I couldn’t wait to get started, and I knew just how to kick things off.