After taking some food on sticks to the kids, Bailey somehow found himself drinking a beer or two and that led to him being dragged off to dance with Matt. He never danced unless he had a few drinks in him, but for Matt, he might have made an exception even if he was completely sober.
The bonfire blazed high, the sand shifted under their feet, and the two of them moved to the music. It was such an amazing feeling to dance with Matt, almost unreal.
Deciding there was too much space between them, Matt put his hands on him, sliding them down his sides to his hips as he stepped up to him. Bailey was dizzy with the feeling of it, the fire, the music, everything was more intense as he was pressed up against Matt. The night sky was spinning above him, and it wasn't the beers. It was like Matt was some powerful drug and just a little bit of him was already too much for him.
At best, Bailey was hoping to see Matt dance, but this was so much better, hotter. Having Matt so close, his blue eyes reflecting the fire and locked on him, there was a real chance that Bailey would lose his head.
Then it happened. They were on the other side of the bonfire, between the flames and the ocean and Matt grabbed him around the waist and kissed him. Bailey stroked his face, his hair, pressed himself tight to Matt's incredible body. But then Matt stopped kissing him and said breathlessly, "We should sneak off together, find a place among the dunes."
Bailey froze. He wanted to. He wanted to so much. But...
His hesitation was enough. Matt stepped back and hung his head. "Sorry. I got carried away."
"No, Matt," Bailey told him. "If there was anyone I wanted to have a summer fling with, it would be you."
Matt raised his head. "A fling?" Matt's frown told him that wasn't the right thing to say. "Is that all I am to you?"
"You are like something I might have dreamed about," Bailey confessed.
"I'm real, and I..." Matt stopped himself and now Bailey had to know what he was going to say.
"Tell me," he said.
Matt let out a heavy sigh. "I want you to think of me as being real, like I matter."
"Of course you matter," Bailey said stricken at his tone and his words but Matt walked away.
Chapter 14
Bailey hadn't actually refused to go off with Matt to someplace more private, but all that night, he felt like he had rejected him. Maybe he would have, or at least he might have told Matt they had to wait. If only Matt hadn't backed away so quickly. And what he said about wanting to be real and to matter.
Maybe all of that was a sign that Matt wanted to take back his offer. That it was an impulse he regretted. Bailey didn't know. Matt left too quickly.
Bailey told himself he was right not to jump at his invitation, but at the same time, he wished he had grabbed his chance with Matt. Thinking about what he missed out on, imagining what they might have done if they had gone off into the dunes left Bailey sleepless for half the night and dreaming of Matt when he did manage to get some sleep.
He was groggy when he woke up and desperate for coffee. Getting his first sight of Matt in the kitchen that morning, Bailey had all sorts of flashbacks real and unreal. They had kissed and this time Matt wasn't drunk. If he got another chance, Bailey told himself he wouldn't throw it away.
"Did you forget about it?" Matt asked.
Bailey had no idea what he was talking about. He must have missed something while his imagination ran wild. Then he realized he had completely forgotten that they planned to go on an outing to Schooner Point. Bailey didn't feel up to it but Joey was already talking very enthusiastically about it as he drank his orange juice.
"Why is he so excited?" Bailey asked as Matt poured him a cup of coffee.
"I might have mentioned that they have boats that take people out for sightseeing trips, and that we would ask you if you wanted to go," Matt said kind of apologetically.
Bailey did not want to go out on any boats, but he didn't want to say no when Joey was already looking forward to it. "Sure. Why not?" he said.
"You look wiped. You didn't have that much to drink," Matt said. He had leaned in to whisper and Bailey was hit by a wave of memories and sensations that almost made him groan out loud.
He did have a little more than usual to drink last night, but he couldn't tell Matt that he was the main reason he was in this state. "I just woke up with a headache. I'll be fine once I have a coffee or two."
"I can drive," Matt volunteered.
"Yeah. Sounds good," Bailey told him. He noticed that this morning, Matt was his usual self, like nothing happened. What did he expect, for him to be dejected, disappointed, heartbroken?
After they had breakfast and went for a swim, they got ready and got on their way. On the drive, Joey got to use his tablet to take pictures out the car windows. So many blurry pictures, many of them of the backs of Matt and Bailey's heads.
"What's this?" Joey would ask and hand the tablet to Bailey in the passenger seat.
