Ares joins the other guys to play ball as Gregory walks over to us.
“Tropical beauties!”
That brings a smile to my face. Gregory is so energetic and cheerful that he reminds me of Carlos. Samy offers him a drink.
“How come you always have so much energy?”
Gregory drinks and exhales noticeably. “It’s the strength of youth,” he says, sitting on the sand in front of us. “What were you talking about? You had serious expressions.”
“Nonsense,” I say, rubbing his head as if he were a puppy. “Who’s a good boy?”
Gregory barks and sticks out his tongue.
Samy rolls her eyes. “It’s because of you that he doesn’t grow up,” she says.
Gregory gives her a hurt puppy dog look.
“I’m not going to rub your head.” Gregory continues with his eyes, and I can only watch with a smile on my face. Samy sighs. “Good, boy,” she says and rubs his head.
Gregory sticks out his tongue and licks her hand. “Ah!”
“The sun’s about to set,” Sami points.
“We should build a campfire before we lose the sunlight,” I suggest. Why do I always come up with ideas like this?
Eight walks in search of firewood later . . .
In the movies, lighting a campfire isn’t that complicated; it looks easy. Well, welcome to reality. It’s fucking hard. We’re all sweaty and darkness is already upon us, but finally the campfire is lit. We sit around it with the reflection of the fire on our faces.
I sit next to Ares, leaning my head on his shoulder and watching the flames, which have blue sparkles. It calms me and gives me a sense of peace. The wind on the beach, the sound of the waves, the boy next to me, the friends around me, it’s a perfect moment, and I pay attention to every detail to keep this memory in a special place in my heart.
“I’m going to miss you,” Gregory breaks the silence, and I think he’s saying what we’re all thinking.
Apolo throws a piece of wood into the fire.
“At least you’re going to college, too, Gregory. I’ve got to stay in high school by myself.”
Dani stares at him. Her feelings are obvious. I wonder if mine are this obvious when I look at Ares.
Of course they are, I mentally growl at myself.
Marco returns from his car search with bags of marshmallows in his hands. The food has arrived. Samy helps him with the bags.
“Yes! I want to eat something sweet so badly.”
Gregory coughs. “Marco can give you something sweet, you know, to suck on.”
Samy grimaces. “You’re the worst.”
Dani gets the wonderful idea to talk.
“Besides, that’s not sweet.”
“Ohhhhhhhhh!”
I can only cover my face. Dani blushes as she realizes she just made a serious mistake. That’s what I like to call verbal suicide. They’ll make fun of her forever and ever with that.
While they tease Dani, Ares whispers to me: “Want to walk along the beach?” God, I love his voice. I straighten up and look at him.
“Only if you promise to behave.”
He smiles openly at me.
“I won’t make promises I can’t keep.”
“Ares.”
“Well, I promise not to do anything you don’t want me to do.” He takes my hand, a mischievous smile dancing on his lips. I narrow my eyes.
“Nice try. You already used that strategy once. I won’t fall for it.” He pouts in mock frustration.
“I didn’t think you would remember.”
I tap him on the forehead. “I remember everything, Greek God.”
“That’s obvious,” he says, rubbing his forehead. “Who would forget the wonderful fuck I gave you that morning? You moaned so much and—”
I cover his mouth.
“Okay, let’s walk.” I stand up abruptly. “We’ll be back,” I say quickly to the group.
Ares follows me silently, but I can feel his stupid smile even though I don’t see him. We reach the shore, and I take off my shoes, holding them in my hand, and letting the waves wash over my feet every time they lap the shore. Ares does the same. We walk together, our free hands intertwining, and the silence feels so good. We both know we have a short time left together, but we don’t talk about it. What’s the point of talking about it? I’d rather enjoy every second without having conversations that will only cause us pain.
As my mom would say, Don’t suffer before it’s time. When the time comes to cross that bridge, you will.