Chapter 12
Santa only comes once a year. This year, it was because of me.
THE ENDPoolside
Perched in the lifeguard’s chair high above the college’s Olympic-sized swimming pool, Kevin Chase stared across the water and kept an eye on the students splashing below. He’d grown used to the summery smell of chlorine and raucous shouts that echoed off the tiled walls. Now only an hour from the end of his shift, he held his whistle in his fist and twirled its lanyard around and around his hand, first one way, then the other. Only an hour, and then he’d close the pool and have the place to himself. Sure, he had practice tomorrow with the rest of the swim team, but he savored the opportunity to get in a few extra laps with no one else in his way.
The gym doors squeaked open and boyish laughter drifted in as a handful of young men pushed each other into the pool room. Tell me that isn’t…Kevin lifted his sunglasses to get a better look. Shit. Danny Santos.Suddenly he wondered how suspicious it would be if he dived off the chair to hide in the water below. Danny. Here. Tonight. Why?
* * * *
Danny and Kevin lived on the same floor in the freshmen dormitory, but the similarities ended there. Kevin was slim and tall and impossibly blonde, and Danny…well, wasn’t. He was a stocky guy with dusky skin and dark hair that fell to his chin. He wore it in a half-ponytail, just the top and sides pulled back, and lived at the opposite end of the hall, as far away from Kevin as possible without going into the next building. During the first semester they didn’t say two words to each other—the only reason Kevin knew Danny’s name was because it was taped to his door like everyone else’s. He was a rumored pothead; Kevin joined the swim team and worked part-time at the pool. They were, quite literally, worlds apart.
Then two weeks ago came spring break. Most students left campus immediately after their last class, but Kevin had a big swim meet Saturday morning and stayed to practice. Late Friday night someone knocked on his door—he opened it to find Danny lounging in the doorway. “You know it’s just the two of us left?” he asked without preamble.
Somehow one thing led to another and by midnight the two of them were twined together in Kevin’s bed. The taste of pot on Danny’s tongue burned Kevin’s mouth with an unfamiliar sting, and he couldn’t remember how Danny’s hand had found its way down the front of his pants. “I like to watch you in the shower,” Danny purred as he stroked Kevin’s growing erection. “Those curtains don’t close all the way, you know? Sometimes I sit on the bench outside your stall and watch you lather up. Watch you jerk off. I like the way you bite your lip and whimper when you come.”
“I don’t whimper…” But it was a feeble protest because he did and it was that tiny detail that made him realize Danny wasn’t lying. This was the first time he had been with a boy, ever, and his heart fluttered every time Danny moved against him, his head felt drugged and cloudy, his lips burned with a desire that had nothing to do with marijuana. The thought of where this might lead nearly suffocated him.
Out in the hall, something banged against the door to their dorm with a loud thudthat startled them apart. As Danny’s hand slipped from Kevin’s shorts, he wanted to pull it back, shove it between his legs, hump against the strong fingers until he came. You said I whimper, he thought, wondering if that would be enough to get him back. So close, so close. But when Danny went to check on the noise, Kevin knew the moment was gone. “Julio,” Danny called out, his voice loud in the empty hall, “you fucker! What the hell you want at this hour?”
As Danny went to open the door for his friend, Kevin skulked in the opposite direction, heading for the bathroom. There he splashed cold water on his face and neck, rinsed the lingering taste out of his mouth. Voices drifted down to the other end of the hall, and Kevin waited until he heard Danny’s door slam shut before making his way back to his own empty room. Since then, he’d avoided Danny. He didn’t know what made him angrier—how easily Danny blew him off or how difficult he was to forget.
* * * *
The lifeguard chair shook slightly beneath Kevin, then someone leaned over the back to breathe down his neck. “So here’s where you’ve been hiding.”
Kevin jumped at the closeness of Danny’s voice. Scowling, he shook his head as if Danny was an annoying fly and refused to look his way. “Get down.”
Having climbed up the back of the lifeguard station, Danny now stood on one of the crossbeams between the chair legs, hands on the back of Kevin’s seat. As he spoke, he pulled against the chair, which jerked beneath his weight. “Where’ve you been?” he wanted to know. “I haven’t seen you in the shower lately.”
“You shouldn’t be watching in the first place,” Kevin said, his tone curt. “Stop that.”
Another hard tug and Danny threw his arms around the back of the chair. Exasperated, Kevin sat forward to keep from touching him. “Get down, will you?” he asked. “I’m on duty here.”
Danny ignored him. “I miss seeing you,” he whispered, one finger brushing along the bottom of Kevin’s short hair. Kevin shook his head and Danny pulled away, only to start again when Kevin stopped. “Don’t you want to pick up where we left off?”
Despite the way his blood stirred beneath Danny’s touch, Kevin snipped, “No.”
As if he hadn’t heard him, Danny trailed his hand over Kevin’s shoulder. Kevin shrugged but Danny was stubborn and his fingers trickled down Kevin’s chest. “Where werewe?” Danny murmured. His hand moved when Kevin tried to slap it away, then came back to rub over his tanned stomach. Lower, lower… “Right about—”
Kevin caught his wrist before Danny reached the front of his shorts. “Stop. Just stop, alright?”
“I’m only playing,” Danny started.