Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 02:02:51 +0000
From: rich h <palouse1@hotmail.com>
Subject: Seal Rocks Part 2

    He must have dozed off a little.  Why not, he'd come
like a damn faucet.  He shook his head to clear the cobwebs
and stood up, his boardshorts piling around his feet.  Got
to clean up, he thought.  So he stepped out of the
boardshorts and strolled down to the water.  It was
unusually warm even for San O in July, and felt pleasant
against his legs as he stepped in.  He waded out a little
and dove under the next decent sized wave that came his way,
surfacing behind it with his streaky blondish hair flat
against his scalp.  He rubbed his chest and belly, wiping
the dried semen from his skin, rubbed his face with wet
hands, and idly splashed about.  When would Mike be back, he
wondered, and what do I do when he gets back?

    "He's staying with his cousins in Santa Barbara for
another week or so," Mike's mom had told him.  "They're
going up towards Santa Cruz to surf some of the breaks." The
news had relieved and bothered him at the same time:
relief because it postponed the inevitable next meeting, and
bothered because - well, why exactly was he bothered?  HE
sighed, fell back full length into the water and floated on
his back for a few seconds before standing again to walk
back to his chair.  He was utterly un- self conscious; few
if any people ever came down this far, and San O down here
was de facto clothing optional anyway.  Better him naked
than some fat hairy 60 year old, he thought to himself as he
reached the shallows.  At least he was decent to look at.

He stopped and regarded himself.  He was up almost to
5'10" now, angular.  It'd take years to grow into his
shoulders, he knew, especially since he only weighed about
135.  His skin was hairless - he barely even had pubic or
underarm hair yet - and tanned, though not as dark as Mike's
he thought fleetingly.  His limbs were slender, long and
(though he didn't realize it) graceful.  He ran his hands
through his hair, squeezing out some of the water.  The
warmth of the air made his cock unshrink after the cool
water, another pleasant feeling that had him involuntarily
smile.

    He turned to his chair and saw, to his surprise, that
he wasn't alone.  A man, perhaps thirty or so, was standing
behind his chair, hand in pockets, smiling and watching him.
He blushed - not being self conscious about being naked was
one thing, but being inspected by some stranger was another.
Besides, he know the reputation of this stretch of the
beach:  that gay guys came here to sunbathe nude, to hit on
each other, to climb back into the barranca and do who knows
what with each other (actually, he realized with a jolt, I
guess I know now what it is they do - some of it anyway).

   He had no choice but to walk back to his chair, though
his towel and shorts were there.  And making a big thing
about his nudity would only make the situation more awkward.
So he walked as calmly as he could, eyes firmly on his
chair, to his towel, and wrapped himself in it before
looking up.

     The guy had dark, almost black hair, longish, tossed in
the breeze.  He was smiling slightly.  His chest was smooth,
defined without being grotesque - a surfer's body.  His
shorts rode low on his flat belly, and his legs were tanned
and smooth.

Jesse felt he had to say something - the guy's calm steady
gaze on him, even through the sunglasses, was disconcerting.

    " `Sup,"  he finally grunted.

     "Not a lot.  Just walking."  The guy's voice was light,
friendly.  "How bout you?"

    "Um, swimming," Jesse said, vaguely gesturing toward
the water behind him.

     "I noticed."  The guy smiled more broadly.  "Sorry if I
embarrassed you."

     "No, not a bit, no prob," Jesse said a bit too quickly.
"Just - y'know - cooling off and all."

     The guy laughed.  "Sorry.  Can I ask how old you are?"

     Jesse's blush deepened.  Oh shit, this guy wants to hit
on me.  "Fifteen," he answered quietly, looking down at his
chair as if to inspect it for rust. "Fifteen last month."

     "Cool.  Happy birthday - late."

     "Thanks."  Jesse felt an intense desire to get the hell
out of there, but wasn't sure how to do it without being a
jerk.  He reached down for his boardshorts and started
pulling them on beneath his towel.  "So you walk the beach
here much?"

     "Some.  I usually work weekdays, but today was too fine
to waste inside," the guy smiled, tilting his head back a
bit to catch the stray breeze.  "I usually come here
weekends more."

     "Yeah," Jesse said with a grunt.  "I, uh, I hear stuff
about weekends around here."

     "Does that bother you?"

    "Bother?  No, I - I guess if you like that it's cool.
I just come down here to be alone, and, like think and
stuff,"   he added hastily.   Of course the guy's hitting on
me, look where I am.  He took off his towel now that his
boardshorts were properly secured around his hips.

     "It's a good place for that, I think," the guy answered
in a gentle voice.  "Relax.  I'm not asking anything of you,
OK?"

"Oh no, I - I didn't think, y'know, um . . ."  Jesse
spluttered.

       "Of course you did - why wouldn't you, down here?"
The guy smiled.  "Too bad you're not 18," he added with a
grin.

     "Oh - yeah, yeah right.  Too bad."

     "Relax.  My name's Ernie."

     "Jesse."


     "Very glad to meet you Jesse."  Their hands shook;
Ernie's was thick, warm, soft.  "So what do you come down
here to think about?"    "Oh, y'know, stuff."  Jesse sure as
hell wasn't going to share with this guy.

    Ernie nodded.  "Understand. Not easy being a kid, I
know.  I used to come down here a lot and stew over things,
even when I was older."

    Jesse nodded.  "Well, I should book.  Gotta get home and
all."

    "Of course.  Thanks for talking to me - it's nice not to
be regarded as some kind of pervert."

    Jesse laughed weakly.  "Nah," he said nervously, "we
were just talkin'."

    "Exactly.  You're not walking back to town are you?"

    "Nah, I got my bike stashed in the barranca up near the
trail."

    "Mind if I walk with you up that way?"

    Of course he minded, he felt nervous and vulnerable
already.  "Sure, no big deal."

    "Thanks."  Ernie watched as Jesse broke down the beach
chair and slung it over his back.  He threw his towel about
his neck, slid into his Rainbows and started off, Ernie
falling easily into step beside him.

    "So," Ernie said after a few minutes of silence.  "You
know about this beach - what goes on and everything - but
you come down here anyway?"

    Jesse tried to avoid his gaze.  "Well, I never met
anyone down here before, and I - I just like it, y'know?"
His voice tailed off uncertainly.  Why, of all the beaches,
did he come to this one - especially given what had happened
with Mike?

"Yeah I guess it is pretty empty most weekdays.  It's
nice that way."  Jesse glanced over to see Mike looking
lazily around the beach, as if he were imagining it looking
different.

Jesse's curiosity got the better of him.  "Are there a
lot of people here on weekends?"

    "Sometimes.  Depends on the weather, and the Marines get
mad at the nudity sometimes, but most nice weekends there
are probably a hundred or so scattered around."

    Jesse nodded and walked on for a bit.  "They're not all
men," Ernie added.  "Quite a few women like to sunbathe nude
too."

    "I - don't do that."

    "I could tell.  You looked a little, um, burned," said
Ernie with a smile.  Jesse stopped, and,overcome by curiosity, pulled
his boardshorts outward a bit to look inside.  Sure enough he had some
disturbingly pink areas on his lower belly, where his shorts usually
were.  "Shit," he muttered, forgetting that Ernie stood beside him for
the moment.

    Ernie's laughter brought him back.  "You'll probably want to put
some aloe on yourself when you get home," he suggested.  "Otherwise
it'll hurt."

"Um, right," Jesse whispered, blushing again.  Was his cock sunburned?
That would suck . . .

They had reached the trail up the bluffs.  "Well, I go up here," Jesse
said, relieved that he hadn't been propositioned.  Or was he?  He
looked at Ernie, who still had his shades on, his dark hair tousled by
the wind.

    "OK," he said, nodding.  "Well, nice to meet you Jesse."

    "Yeah.  Me too.  Can I ask you -" he burst out suddenly,
"Do - do you like meet guys and - and do stuff here?  On the
beach, in the barranca and all - "

    "Not anymore," Ernie said with a smile back.  All this
guy ever does is smile, Jesse thought.  "When I was a kid, I
did sometimes, but not now.  Too old and cautious I guess."

    "Yeah, I mean like that'd be weird and all - doing stuff
in the open and all."

    "Making love on the beach is very erotic," Ernie said
calmly.  "I'd recommend it."

    "Right.  Well, I mean I don't - I don't like do that,
y'know, with -"

    "With guys?"  Ernie raised his eyebrows a little as he
completed Jesse's sentence.

    "Um, right, with guys.  Don't do that."

    Ernie's smile crooked a bit to one side.  "You must have
some other interesting things to think about then," he said.
"Given the way you got yourself dirty enough to need a swim
in the first place."

    "Oh shit," Jesse cried before he could catch himself.
"You - you saw me, um,  . . ."

    "Jerk off?  Hard to miss that."  Ernie's smile was wide,
open, and very pleasant, despite Jesse's mortification. "I
liked the way you covered yourself after.  I have to say, it
sort of got me going."  He jerked his head towards the
bluff.  "I was walking up on top of the bluff and saw you."

    Jesse looked up, as if he expected to find hordes of
people with high powered binoculars atop the bluff spying on
his every move.  "Shit," he muttered.  "I never thought of
that."

    "It's OK, Jesse," Ernie said reassuringly, placing a
soft hand on Jesse's bicep.  "It was a very beautiful and
erotic thing.  I was lucky to see it."

Jesse had no idea whatsoever how to respond to that,
except by blushing.  "Thanks," he finally managed to
whisper.

    Ernie smiled again.  "You can come down here and do that
any time you want, as far as I'm concerned.  Long as I can
watch."  He winked at Jesse, who felt like his cheeks were
about to spontaneously combust.

    "OK."  Jesus, why did I say that??

    "You better get going," Ernie told him.  "It's a bit of
a ride back into town.  Sure you don't want a ride?"

    "No thanks, I - I don't think that'd be a good idea."

    Ernie nodded.  "I understand.  I'm not so sure either,
though I'd love it.  See you again sometime maybe."  He
shook Jesse's hand long and softly, his left hand running
lightly on Jesse's arm, before turning and walking on up the
beach.

    Jesse took about five seconds to recover from this.
Then he shut his sagging mouth, blinked hard and took a deep
breath before starting the steep climb up the hill.

    Ernie didn't stop walking, or turn around, until he was
certain the boy had rounded the bend of the path and was out
of sight. He turned then with a sigh and a wistful smile,
reaching into his pocket to pull out a small digital camera.
He began sifting through the pictures.  Wow, he thought.

    Jesse pedaled through the park, up onto Christianitos,
and back over the freeway onto Presidente.  He had decided
to stop in at Rivvy to see if any of his buds were there.
The idea also took his mind off his meeting with Ernie, his
imagining Ernie having some indeterminate type of sex with a
bunch of anonymous guys.  The image stayed in his head no
matter how hard he tried to push it out, and he realized
that he was hardening as a result.  No way to get off the
bike and walk, he thought, so he tried hard to turn his
thoughts to the traffic on the freeway alongside him, the
bumps in the road, anything.  By the time he walked his bike
down the last steep hill to Riviera he was at least only
half hard.

    The beach was fairly empty.  A few guys out north of the
flag, trying to squeeze rides out of the small surf that
existed.  He was a bit overheated, and decided to go in for
a little before heading on home.

    He had been in the water only a few minutes when a
familiar mop of brown hair appeared through the tunnel, a
shortie under his arm.  Mike was back.  Jesse felt a moment
of mild panic - the moment had arrived.  What to do?

   There was, of course, nothing to do.  Almost before he
knew it Mike was in the water and coming towards him,
walking his board alongside him and smiling.  "Dude, `sup?"
he called out.

    "Nada," Jesse called back, pleased beyond reason to see
Mike again.  "Why'd you bother with the board, the break
sucks today."

    "Gotta hope, right?"

    "Whatever."  They stood facing each other, both unsure
what to say. "So, uh, how's up north?"

    "We had fun - stayed a week in Santa Cruz and hung out."

    "Surf?"

    "Yeah.  Fun stuff.  I forget a lot of the break names
but it was nice.  Cold though."

    "I bet"

    Mike glanced around them, making sure they were out of
others' earshot.  "Dude, are we cool?"

    Jesse couldn't stop himself from smiling. Mike's face
was so grave, so scared.  How could they not be cool.
"Yeah, no prob Mike.  Relax."

    Mike's grin fairly split his face.  "Excellent.  So how
you been keepin' yourself?"

    Jesse shrugged.  I, uh, I've been hanging out at San O a
lot - way south.  Just - hangin."  Jesse shrugged
dismissively.

    Mike searched his face a moment before responding.
"Yeah, I guess.  Things sorta were sketch there when I
left."

    "No, it's cool.  I just - I don't know what to do,
Mike," Jesse blurted out, the fa‡ade of teenage cool falling
away.  "It's like you're my best bud and I - I like you and,
and I liked what we did, but - "

    "Jes," Mike said quietly, "you think I know what the
fuck to do?  I been like guilty for two weeks that I fucked
up my best friendship and all."

    "That can't happen," Jesse said with more fervor than he
realized.

    Mike smiled again.  "That's kind of what I decided, but
I didn't know what you'd think."  He looked out towards the
open water, towards Seal Rocks not quite a mile offshore, to
see the size of the swell approaching the beach.  The
barking of the animals on the rocks came distantly to their
ears in the quiet outside the breakers.  Jesse thought for a
moment how momentously happy he felt - to be in the water,
with the seals and the dolphins and the pelicans, and Mike.
It was perfect.  He had a sudden urge to embrace Mike or
something, which he suppressed.  He realized he'd been quiet
too long, and looked over to see Mike regarding him with a
broad and understanding smile.  "Let's hang tomorrow, OK?"

    "Coolness.  Love to.  Your place?"

    I think we gotta go someplace else, my mom's gonna be
around a lot.  What about San O, where you been going?  That
sounds good."

    Yeah - private," Jesse nodded.  Except for the
occasional guy walking by when you're naked, he thought.

    "Cool.  Let's hit there then, OK?"

    "Deal."

    They smiled at each other for a long moment.  Jesse
noticed how Mike's dark nipples stood out from his chest in
the cool water, how the droplets ran down his upper arms
sparkling.  How his wet hair tangled hopelessly atop his
head.  He inhaled sharply.  "OK, I gotta head.  Round 10?"

    "I'll be there."  Mike started to push further out on
his board, but turned and looked back at Jesse.  "Dude, I'm
glad to be back.  And that we're cool."

    Jesse's heart leaped, a combination of elation and
apprehension.  What was he getting himself into?  "Me too.
Manana."

    "Later."  And Mike was off, paddling out as Jesse
watched his legs and butt lying on his board.  He dunked his
head to clear it, and went back to shore, feeling light and
energized.