Page 76 of Rhymes with Metaphor
Joel looked at him, half laughing.He had never looked so innocent and so fetching.
“Now listen,” said Reg, holding him by the shoulders.“I am going to take you on every ride until you’re so dizzy, you’re toppling, and then I’m going to stuff you with greasy, wonderful food.And then I’m going to bring you home and take shameless advantage of you.”
And Reg did as he’d promised, and after the last ride, with Joel weak and wobbly, Reg took him for gelato at the ice cream parlour.
“Peach,” said Reg, handing the cup to him.
They ate on the promenade overlooking the beach.
“Good?”said Reg.
“This is the best day of my life,” said Joel.
Reg felt absurdly pleased.
There was now blackberry juice and peaches and sweet cream around Joel’s mouth, and Reg couldn’t help himself.He reached over and wiped him clean with a napkin, and Joel laughed like a child and leaned against him.
After the fair, they walked home along the causeway in the early evening light, the sky like blue-grey chalk and the music of the fair behind them.
“I can smell woodsmoke,” said Joel.“Let’s see where it’s coming from.”
And he ran along the road with Reg in tow, and when they found the house with the chimney gushing smoke, Joel asked why someone would burn wood in the summer.
“Comfort, I suppose,” said Reg.
Joel took Reg’s hand in the gathering dusk.They went back along Blackberry Lane.Midway, Joel stopped and pressed himself against Reg.They both leaned in together and kissed, hard, intense, with increasing urgency as a freight train grumbled and squealed along the top of the embankment behind the lane.Reg had never desired anyone or anything as much as he wanted Joel right then.After a time, their mouths broke apart with a hard pop, Joel taking surging breaths.
“Touch me,” said Joel.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Now.Please.”
“If you insist,” said Reg, checking to make sure they were alone before he kissed Joel again and put his cupped hand between Joel’s legs, startled to discover how hard Joel was, the material of his trousers tight against his palm.Joel jumped at the contact.
“All right,” said Reg.“You don’t want to come in the lane.”
Joel pressed himself against Reg’s hand, begging to differ.
Reg withdrew his hand.“I’ll give you head again if you like.But I’m not doing it here.”
They practically ran home along the lane behind the back gardens, and Reg unlocked the garage door.The garage smelled of nutmeg and oil and old pennies.Joel scrambled after him and barged against Reg as he opened the garage door into the back garden.
“Do it here,” said Joel.
“Try to exercise some restraint,” said Reg mock sternly.
Reg put his arm around Joel and pressed his lips to Joel’s forehead, inhaling him hungrily.They went along the garden path, the tiger lilies crying sweetly, open-mouthed in the dusk, the colour of Joel’s shirt.
At the side door, Joel put his arms around Reg and tried to shove him against the wall, but Reg outweighed him, and Joel couldn’t budge him.
“Here,” said Joel.“Against the wall.Come on.”
“You’re that desperate, are you?”Reg got the key out of his pocket, unlocked the side door, and they fell into the kitchen.Reg caught Joel and pinned him against the wall in the kitchen and held him there.
“Who the absolute fuck are you?”said Reg, “And how did I find you?”
“You find me as I am, sir,” said Joel, putting his mouth against Reg’s and tried to keep speaking as they laughed, muffled against each other until a seriousness overtook them, and the kissing became urgent, then frantic.Both of them fumbled at the laces of Joel’s fly, but they got in each other’s way, and Joel had tied the knot too tightly, and he was too close and, in a moment, it was too late.Joel’s knees buckled, and Reg caught him as he slipped down the wall.
