Page 26 of Summer of the Boy

We laugh because what else are we supposed to do? And he presses his forehead against mine.

“My mom’s not going to stop. I should probably get home.”

“Yeah,” I agree.

Although it makes me feel great when he admits, “I don’t want to go home. I want to stay with you all night.”

“Few more weeks Rid. Like eight at most. Then we’ll be together all the time. We can hold out.”

It’s only then that we roll apart to pull up our shorts and tug back on our shirts. I hate to see that chest disappear. Fully dressed, he no longer looks at me but out at the blackness of the ocean. There aren’t too many stars in the overcast sky tonight, so the water appears even blacker than usual at this time of night.

I walk up and press my front to his back, wrapping my arms around him I murmur, “Thank you. For tonight, babe.”

He doesn’t reply at first but turns his head to kiss me again. Sweet. Too short. Though completely fine with me because he murmurs back, “I love you, Leif. If sex gets better, I think my heart might explode. That felt so good.”

“Yeah, it did. I hear it gets better. Though, I don’t have any experience with that, not with a guy.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Ridley seems to contemplate my words for a couple of minutes as we both keep silent. “We can be our first times together,” he finally answers, still standing with his arms down at his side locked in my embrace, staring out into the infinite blackness.

“No rush. We’ve got time. I want you to be comfortable with me, to know deep in your heart that I’d never hurt you. And some dudes never do. That’s cool too. Just as long as we’re together.”

Rid gives one more quick kiss to my cheek. “We can be our first times together,” he repeats himself then abruptly moves to walk back up the beach. Autistics. What do you do?

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