The Cottage
by N Fourbois
Christmas dinner was over. It was just William, that is my husband, and me. We were half sitting, half lying, together in each other's arms on the settee sharing that marvellous feeling of having enjoyed a good meal without being over full, that mellowness after a drink or two without being drunk, experiencing that contentment of being together and in love without the immediate need to express our passion in the bedroom. We always spent Christmas by ourselves. Boxing Day we would visit one family, New Year the other, but Christmas Day was ours. After all, it was the anniversary of our commitment, of our exchange of rings, a totally private affair which we repeated days later in front of our families and friends and when the excitements of the season were over we did our best to regularise it with our solicitor. We never called our life partnership marriage; neither of us wanted to out of respect for what marriage is and is meant to be. We called ourselves lovers or partners or life partners in public, husbands only in private. We were extremely happy and never considered we had to wave the rainbow flag or make any social or political comment. We had moulded our lives together and were simply content to be allowed to lead them in our own way.
Still, this story is not intended to be a soapbox, but a celebration of our being together or, more to the point, of how we came to be together. We were recapturing our childhood as we talked our shared contentment. That was when we first met all those years ago on the wild and rocky coast of the south-west, where, if you knew your way around, you could find the solitude of a desert island half a mile away from the populous sands congested with emmets and grockles, the seasonal visitors. But weren't we emmets and grockles ourselves?
My parents owned a large cottage painted white close to the shore where my mother took me and my younger twin sisters at the beginning of the summer holidays, where my father joined us for the weekends and a couple of weeks' holiday and which we only left the weekend before school was due to start again. It was a double cottage, semi-detached in other words, one half of which we rented out to holidaymakers, except that for the school holidays at least it was always rented to the same family, William and his parents, who arrived within days of us and departed promptly on the last day of August.
And so in a sense William and I grew up together, if only for six or seven weeks of the year, he an only child and me an only boy. In those days the summers only ever consisted of fine days of warm sun beating down on golden sands and blue sea and at that period in our lives of freedom and few worries we boys were allowed by and large to get on with whatever boys do, starting the summer Persil white and ending it with a suntan of deepest brown without a care about the ozone layer or factor 15 sunscreen. We had learnt to swim in the sea at an early age, the beaches were safe, and so we were trusted to go off on our own and naturally at that age we thought no more about it. Our entertainment consisted of made up games, of pretence and imagination, and perhaps most important of all, of discovery, and it was one of these discoveries which led us to finding our own little hideaway, not without tears the first time.
As with so many of the beaches on that north facing coast a road led down a valley to the shore where the beach flattened out under the protection of cliffs. Once by the sea you could walk in either direction sheltered from the prevailing south-westerlies. By our cottage the beach consisted of sand. Miles of it spread up the coast, much of it empty in high season until you reached the spot where the next combe would bring a road and a path down to the sea. However, if you walked in the opposite direction under the cliff the shore narrowed until in about half a mile you came to a natural barrier of rock and if you had the natural curiosity to clamber up those rocks you would find a natural cove again with a sandy shore and a path which led up the cliff to a cave. The shape of the cove caused the tides to dredge the sand slightly deeper than on the other side of the rock barrier. We were ten when William and I spent the first summer together. Because my family owned the cottage I knew nothing different from spending the summer holidays there; only that it used to be for a much longer time before I started school. First of all it had just been mother and me, but as Annabelle and Suzanne came along our family group got bigger. The next door neighbours meant little to us. I was accustomed to seeing them arrive and leave a fortnight later. They were always referred to as our summer guests. I knew nothing of their contributions to the family income through rent, and there was no reason why I should. It was just that when I was ten new summer guests moved in at the beginning of the holidays and stayed there until the end. So during that particular summer I met William and we immediately became friends, promoting ourselves by the end of the summer to best friends and after that, it never altered.
William had straight black hair, which he wore long by the standards of those days, and contrasting blue eyes. I on the other hand had short curly fair hair and blue eyes without the contrast. We were both slim, but unlike the present day, an obese child was a rarity and should you come across one, your mother always told you it was rude to stare. We seemed to live in our swimming costumes, unless we were going out on an excursion for the day, occasionally at the beginning of the holidays enhanced with a white tee shirt and white floppy hat to avoid sunburn until we were acclimatised with a proper tan.
And so one morning while playing together on the beach by the cottage William and I decided we wanted to see what was down the beach. Without a care we wandered towards the rocks, laughing and joking and ragging one another as we went. The rocks which made up the natural barrier were large and easy to climb and once we reached the summit we were surprised to see the untouched inlet with its beach below us.
"Josh, are you up for it?" asked William.
"What?" said I.
"Going down onto that beach."
"Sure I am."
"This must be the only way in 'cause the cliffs on the other side go out into the sea."
"Look," I said pointing across at the cliff face, "up there. Can you see that cave?"
"I've got it," said William "and there's a path leading up to it."
"Let's go and explore."
"You're on."
We scrambled down the rocks much quicker than we had climbed them. We tingled with excitement as our feet made the first imprints on the virgin sand.
"Hey, Will," I said. "Look, there's no one around. Why don't we take off our bathers and swim in the nude?" William didn't even answer, but took his sandals off, shook off his swimming costume and ran into the sea with me not far behind.
"You know we've forgotten our towels?"
"Oh, no! I'd forgotten that. Doesn't matter. We'll soon dry in the sun." We splashed about in the warm water of the Atlantic without a care in the world, playing tag and ducking one another. Finally we went back onto the shore and lay down on the sand to dry out. We noticed how the white silhouette of our Speedos contrasted with the tan on the rest of our bodies as we manipulated our dicks to get them back to normal size after they'd shrivelled in the water, not that normal size was much to write home about at the age of ten, and our balls had taken shelter up inside our bodies. In time everything relaxed as the sun dried and warmed us.
It is difficult for ten year old boys to keep still for long and we were soon up on our feet again.
"Time to climb up to the cave, Will." We put on our sandals, leaving our costumes where they were on the sand. We'd collect them on our way down. As always the distance up a mountain or a cliff face is farther than it looks and it must have taken us half an hour to reach the mouth of the cave. As we looked down we noticed that the tide had come in a little, but paid it no more heed. At the entrance to the cave was a ledge. We lay down on the ledge to get our breath back after the strenuous climb. You could look out to sea, but only see the beach if you stood up and peered over. We must have dozed off for some minutes, but felt good when we awoke.
"Hey, Josh, can you do this?"
"What?" I asked.
"Look," and he started stroking his dick until it grew stiff and longer.
"That's nothing. I can do better than that. Watch this," and I lay with my hands behind my head and eyes closed, letting my imagination work as I thought of myself sat cross-legged with my hands tied behind my back and that was enough to trigger me off. "See. No hands!" and we both giggled as we sat there displaying our small, and definitely prepubescent erections. "Can I touch it, Will?" I asked.
"If you want to, but be gentle." His dick felt hot beneath my fingers as I gently closed my hand around it and I noticed a shudder go through his body as I touched him.
"Now do the same to me," and as his hand softly wrapped itself round my rampant cock a similar shudder shook my body, except that rather than just hold it William stroked it in the way he had been stroking his own.
"Did you like that, Josh?" I nodded as I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Come on," he said, "let's explore this cave."
It was not very deep and if it had been we had no torches with us to go in farther anyway. There were bits of wood lying around which we took to be driftwood, but in our games the cave had already become the haunt of smugglers and pirates. Our stomachs told us it was time for lunch and we hurried down the path to the beach only to stop suddenly in our tracks. The tide had come in and the beach had disappeared under the waves.
"What do we do now?" cried William, his eyes filled with tears. I put my arm around him and so infectious was his sudden fear that I burst out crying as well. We held on to one another which made us feel better. The tears dried themselves in the sun and we could feel the salt deposited on our cheeks. Inside I felt a little ashamed of myself. This was William's first stay by the seaside, but I was a seasoned campaigner and I should have thought it all through. Yes, I'd noticed the tide coming in, but paid no attention to it. And as the tide comes in, it surely goes out again although we might have to wait a little for that to happen. I explained all that to William and said the other alternative was to swim for the rocks and then the most mortifying aspect of the whole affair dawned on us. Underneath the waves, or more probably miles out to sea by now, were our swimming trunks. Whatever choice we made, we were going to turn up at home naked apart from our sandals and have to explain that away as well as why we were so late for lunch.
By now we had calmed down and we walked on as far as the edge of the water. The telltale line of wetness in the cliff edge showed that the water had come as high as it was going to on that flood tide and had started to ebb. I was game to swim for it, for even at the age of ten I had been swimming in the sea for some five or six years. Although competent, William was not so confident. We were in this together and so we decided to sit it out. It was better to divide the shame of two of us returning home naked, rather than one and then another one later. Our patience was rewarded for within what we estimated to be an hour we could paddle across the shore, reach the rocks, climb over them and then run as fast as we could for home.
When we reached the cottage there were two worried mothers and two panicky girls waiting for us. We expected to be in deep trouble and a little later we were, but at the time we were scooped up by our mothers and kissed and cuddled and welcomed home. After that they rushed to fetch us some clothes. We hadn't noticed. It was my sisters who pointed it out laughing and giggling. Where our bathers had been it was no longer white, but salmon pink as the sun had burnt our skin. Backsides like a baboon's. Now we had shorts on it was starting to hurt. We were both fed and watered at my house while we told our sorry tale. It was impressed on us how worried everyone had been. At least we weren't banned from visiting the cave again, but at the age of ten we quickly learnt what a tidetable was and how to read it. The real punishment for our rashness came later that day in two forms: the soreness of our sunburn which calamine did little to alleviate and we were going to have to replace our bathers out of our own pocket money. Thank goodness we hadn't lost our sandals.
The next day our bottoms and lower stomachs were still sore from sunburn. We wore loose shorts hoping the material would touch as little skin as possible. It was torture to sit. We were taken to the nearest town to buy new swimming costumes. Even at that age we had a sense of fashion and designer labels, and as we were paying for them we made sure we bought genuine Speedos, me light blue and William bright red. For the rest of the summer the cave above the inlet became our hideout. After a couple of days the redness on our nether regions turned to brown as the skin peeled and on our private beach we made sure we would never have the white silhouette again that summer. Eventually August turned into September. William and his family had left and a couple of days later we left too. It would be ten and a half months until we were to meet again.
* * *
Mid-July the following year school broke up. We waited until the Monday before heading south-westwards for our annual break at the seaside so that we could avoid the worst of the holiday traffic. Our family had increased by one - one dog, that is, a blue roan cocker spaniel we named Holly. She was supposed to be a family dog, but in fact she was mine, or rather I was her human. To test her out from time to time we would start as a family group, then the five of us would split up and walk in different directions. After an initial bark of protest at losing her pack of humans she would always come with me. Even if I went off and hid before the others split, she would use her nose to find me. This was all the more surprising as it was Mum who fed her, although it was most likely me who took her for walks.
When we arrived late in the afternoon William and his parents were already there. They came out of the cottage to greet us and when William saw us he rushed towards me and took me in a great bearhug which made me feel good, but Holly had to get in on the act and had to be introduced. Was she jealous or was any friend of mine a friend of hers? Either way her excitement showed she approved of the increased pack. The ten and a half months since we had last met simply melted away and it was as if we had never been separated. Now we were eleven year olds and both of us had grown a couple of inches, but otherwise we were the same as we were a year ago. Mum had all the work of opening up the cottage, unpacking and making it our home for the next seven weeks. To help the Kents nextdoor invited us in for supper so that was one thing mother didn't have to worry about. The following day was as always a working day. We had to take the car into the nearest town to stock up at the supermarket. By the afternoon we could at last consider ourselves on holiday and it wasn't long before William and I had stripped to our Speedos, him in red, me in blue, my top covered by a white tee shirt, and we made our way along to the rocks, our private beach and the cave, except this time the tide was on the way out, we took torches with us, we'd told our mothers where we were going and Holly wasn't going to miss out.
We had quickly got ourselves into a routine from the previous year - over the rocks, down the other side, off with our Speedos and skinnydipping in the sea of our private lagoon along with one dog, who, being a spaniel, was impossible to keep out of the water when she was not on a lead. Then, still naked as nature intended up, to the cave and whenever the mood took us we'd make our dicks go stiff, even turn it into a race at times.
"You know, Josh, I'd only ever do this with my best friend." I felt the blood race through my veins as William declared that we were best friends. Who was I to argue? I had friends at home and at school, but the way I felt towards William was different, special. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach and my already stiff dick ached as, outside my control, it tried to become stiffer. We lay on the ledge with our arms round each other in utter contentment. On one occasion William came to grief as he had not washed the sand off properly after our swim and it dried on his body. When we reached the cave and we started our little demonstration of masculinity, he got the coarse grains under his foreskin and had to suffer until we got down to the water's edge again and he could wash himself off.
Buoyed by the confidence of our deepening relationship we kept an eye open for emmets and grockles of our own age on the beach. They never stayed as long as us. Sometimes they were only there for the day. We would play on the beach with them, frisbee, beachball, tag-swimming, whatever. Only if we really liked them would we take them to our cave, but of course that had a price: they had to be prepared to go skinnydipping in our private lagoon and not one of them ever refused. Looking back it was easy for us now to realise what was happening. We didn't befriend just any summer guest our age, but between us we had a way of sizing up the 'right' boys. At first we did this automatically. We never discussed it beforehand, but after it had happened a couple of times we did talk about it. We had a good opportunity, for one particularly warm night we were allowed to sling two hammocks between the trees at the bottom of the garden and sleep out in them until we grew too cold. Naturally Holly was curled up asleep under my hammock. We were told to go for a swim first and let the sea water dry on us as the midges didn't like the salt. Two boys together we could talk about such things without the rest of the family hearing. Although we didn't say it in so many words, this was the first time we realised that we found other boys interesting - attractive, even sexually attractive, would have been a more accurate description, but that was the beginning and end of it. At the time and in our naïveté we didn't even realise that there was anything sexual about it. It was no big deal. However, afterwards we found that we became far more picky about who we would play with.
One carefree morning we decided to go hunting, as we called it. It was about ten o'clock that I knocked at the cottage nextdoor. That was another thing since our initial episode, we wore watches, cheap waterproof ones. We'd already decided that we were 'on the pull' that day. We walked along the shore for a quarter of a mile to a point near the carpark and unrolled our large beach towels at the top of the beach where we could look out for the day trippers. It did not last long until we spotted first a pair of yellow and red Speedos and then the body in them. He was about our age, tall, slim build, hardly any flesh on him, dark straight short hair. Later we noticed a scar over his right eye, but a blind man would have been pleased to see it. He looked a bit French, if you can look like a certain nationality, but he wasn't. However, we've left the best till last like the meat at Sunday lunch. It was his packet. It was no larger than ours, but it was nicely shaped, aesthetically curved I can say now looking back over all those years. It was just neat. I nudged William.
"What do you think of that?"
"What?" answered William as a tease because I knew he was just as interested as I was.
"Red and yellow Speedo."
"God, Josh, you're a complete and utter perve!" he exclaimed trying to grab the moral highground because he hadn't mentioned it first.
"That's why we're best friends," I reminded him. He blew a raspberry which signified he had lost the argument.
We could see our quarry with his family, mother, father, sister and a much younger brother. Suddenly we had our chance as a frisbee sailed in our direction only to be caught by the ever alert Holly.
"Good girl, give," I said as the hound obediently brought me her catch. We got up and walked over to the family, one dog barking and jumping beside us looking for a game.
"Thanks a lot," said our friend-to-be as I handed it over. "By the way, I'm Adam." We introduced ourselves and Holly, explaining that we lived in the white cottage along the beach, and said hallo to the rest of the family. "Would you like to play frisbee?" asked Adam.
"Excellent," said William answering for both of us.
"But I think you'll find it'll be us three versus Holly," I added. I knew my dog and as we threw the frisbee one to another Holly tried to catch it, often succeeding. In the end we sat down exhausted with the family.
"Would you boys like a drink?" asked Adam's mother. She produced three cans from a large coolbox and we sat chatting and drinking. William gave me a knowing look and I nodded.
"Hey, Adam," said William "how would you like to see our secret beach and cave?"
"Can I, Mum, Dad, please?"
"How long will it take?"
"Probably a couple of hours. We've got to be back by then or we'll be cut off by the tide for an hour or two." You see, I had come prepared.
"Okay, Adam, but take your mobile just in case. Lunch is at one."
We went off back along the beach, called in home to say what we were doing, to introduce Adam and to give Holly a drink, then made our way towards the rocks. He was good company, chatting away about where he lived and his family, about the new school he was going to in September which made us talk about our new schools in turn. If we hadn't been so busy checking him out and throwing a stick for Holly to retrieve we might have noticed that he was doing a bit of checking out himself, but at the time that simply went over our heads. We soon clambered up the rocks and, monarchs of all we surveyed, we pointed out the abandoned beach and the path leading up to our cave. As we climbed down the on the other side of the barrier we explained that we always went skinnydipping when we were there and he said he had no problem with that, except he did. We reached the sandy beach. We knew the tide was coming in, but as long as we kept to our schedule we would be okay. It just meant stripping off our bathers a little farther up the beach which William and I did without any further ado. Adam had his back to us and was obviously holding back on removing his swimming gear. Holly was already in the water looking at us expectantly to follow her.
"Come on, Adam," I called or we won't have time to show you our cave.
"I'll be with you in a minute," he replied. "It's just... it's just that..." Meanwhile we'd run past him in our dash for the water and looking behind us we noticed him red faced and sporting the most enormous boner, still trapped in his bathers.
"Don't worry about that," exclaimed William. "The water will soon make that go down."
"And if you're very, very good we'll show you ours when we get up to the cave," I added and we carried on into the sea ignoring him until he joined us in the waist high water.
After our swim we picked up our costumes rolled them in our towels and put them in my lightweight backpack which we stowed by the path above highwater mark. Adam had recovered his composure and no longer embarrassed he said
"Sorry about that, guys. It happens at school sometimes and the others take the piss something rotten."
"No worries," I said.
"Happens to us all the time," exaggerated William to make him feel good. We reached the ledge outside the cave quite quickly. Interestingly, though, it was only Adam who was out of breath. We must have been getting quite fit. Of course, Holly was way in front of us, lying there, wagging her tail as she waited for her slowcoach humans. One thing we noticed, but hadn't had a chance to mention to each other, was that Adam had started to grow hair. We'd never thought about hair before, just the two of us, but from talking afterwards we admitted we were just a bit envious. We showed Adam what we could of the cave. We hadn't brought torches that day. Not that he missed much for it was not all that deep. Then we lay down to get that all over tan. Luckily we thought to remind Adam not to sunbathe too long after our experience of the previous year. If he got burnt, he might have to explain to his family how, which could spell an instant end to a beautiful friendship.
"Hey, what were you two guys going to show me when we got up here?" piped up Adam.
"That we get stiffies too and they're no big deal," answered William at which he started to rub himself for an immediate result. I just had to look at Adam's incipient pubes in order to perform my 'look-no-hands-trick'. Of course once we started moving about Holly got interested and before I could stop her she licked my hardened cock and then licked my face.
"Get off, Holly," I yelled, pushing her away amidst laughter from the other two. Meanwhile Adam had stiffened up too and now we could both see what had been stretching the material of his bathers so earlier on, and he stole an inch or so on us two. While this was going on I could not stop thinking how pleasant the feeling was when Holly licked my dick. I just wished she hadn't licked my face as well.
William looked at his watch and said it was high time we got back. We made our way down the path, Holly ahead of us. When she reached my backpack, she stopped and guarded it until her humans caught up. We pulled on our Speedos and made for the rock barrier, climbed over and walked eastwards. When we reached the cottage, we said goodbye to Adam. He was only staying till the weekend, but if he wanted to hang out with us again he only had to knock on the door. Unfortunately it was only a day visit to that beach for his family and we didn't see him again, but he lived on in both our memories.
That summer passed too quickly. I was going to say it was the last summer of innocence, but as I look back I realise we had gradually begun to lose our innocence our first summer together even though we might still have ninety percent of it left, but by the time we were no longer children we had probably lost it altogether. As usual on the 31 August William and his family packed up and left, as per contract, and mother made the other half of the cottage ready for the next visitors. A couple of days later we were home and I was preparing for my new school.
* * *
It was odd. William was my best friend. That was signed, sealed and delivered, but I only thought of him sporadically when I was at home as if he weren't part of that world. Indeed, to be honest, he wasn't, but that sounds so uncaring and callous. We rang each other and e-mailed from time to time, but it wasn't the same as being together down at the cottage. The school year passed as the school year does. I settled into my new school and I liked it far more than my old one. It was more grown up. The work was challenging (posh word for harder), but I approved of that. We played rugby rather than soccer and I got into that, eventually playing for the school. It seemed only a twinkling of an eye and July and the summer holidays came round again.
The first Monday of the holidays we made our journey down to the southwest, only this time Dad took his annual leave at the beginning of the stay, which meant the family travelled down in two cars. I went with Dad, and Holly of course, while my sisters rode with Mum.
"Looking forward to your holiday, Josh?" asked Dad.
"You bet. I always do."
"You wouldn't like to go somewhere else for a change?"
"Not in the summer. At some other time of the year maybe. It wouldn't be the same. Not without William..." I caught my breath as I realised I might have said the wrong thing. "... and chilling out with the family." I couldn't make it sound as if it weren't an afterthought.
"You and William are good mates, aren't you?"
"That's right. Even though we don't see each other for the rest of the year. We're best friends."
"I know what you mean. I had a best friend when I was your age."
"Are you still best friends?"
"In a way. He was my best man when I married your mother, but he's dead now. Got killed in a motor accident." The atmosphere in the car had become a little grim.
"I'm sorry, Dad." I didn't say any more. I just couldn't get out of my head what might happen if William suddenly died. I think Dad must have read my thoughts.
"Come on, Josh, cheer up. There's a café about a mile ahead. We'll have a break and get a snack. Will egg, chips, bacon, sausage and beans do?"
"What about mushrooms as well?"
"You drive a hard bargain, son."
We were the first to turn up at the cottage. We never drove in convoy. The Kents had obviously arrived - we knew that anyway from the cottage bookings - but they must have been out. Half an hour later a car drew up. I looked out of the window and it was William and his mother. I ran out of the house to greet them, Holly dashing after me, and we hugged just like last year, except this time he planted an unmistakable kiss on my cheek. Father came up behind and welcomed them, adding he was just about to make a cup of tea and that he'd had a call to say Mum and the girls would be along in five or ten minutes. I looked at William. He had already started to tan, grown another couple of inches and his voice was deeper. I simply melted when I saw him again. Holly had got all excited when we hugged, not knowing whether it was friendly or whether her man was being attacked. I'd never known such a protective dog. I calmed her down and once she had sniffed William she greeted him as a long lost friend. Just as the tea was brewing Mum and the girls drove up and we had our grand reunion in the kitchen.
Routine and the tides dictated that it would be a couple of days before William and I could visit our old haunts. After two summers they held such memories for us. We left the house at nine together and of course Holly had to come too and, naturally thinking she was boss dog, led the way. Because it was early in the holiday I was still wearing a tee shirt over my Speedos, a new pair this year, royal blue and gold. I could see William admiring them, or was it me, but he would have to wait until we reached the other side of the rocks for that. I knew the tee shirt was acting as a tease. Once we were down at the bottom of the barrier it was into our summer routine. Off with our kit, but instead of running straight down into the sea William put his hands on my shoulders, looked me up and down and said
"My, Josh, you have grown over the last year." I looked at him and said
"So have you." He was no longer a twiglet for not only had he gained in height, but his body had taken on some shape, broader at the shoulder and the chest, still narrow, and flat at the midriff while he sported a neat tuft of pubic hair and I could confirm from what I'd gleaned from the bulge in his Speedos his dick was longer and chunkier while his balls had grown and hung lower. But what I couldn't take my eyes away from were his nipples. Last year you hardly noticed them. Now they had darkened, become more distinct and were sticking out. Of course all this had the predictable effect and I felt myself hardening up.
"I'll take that as a compliment and a sign of approval," William laughed "and you haven't done so badly yourself, either," he added as he grabbed my stiffening dick. It was only that night in bed as I was going through the events of the day that I realised that, while I'd noticed the difference in William because I hadn't seen him for ten months, as you see yourself every day you don't notice what's happening to you.
We heard a bark and looked round to see Holly already in the water and impatiently waiting for us to follow. We swam and chased and ducked and dived for half an hour or so and then it was time to make our way up to our cave. We took our towels and gear with us for protection against the sun later on. For the first occasion of the year it was hard work climbing that path, except that our four-legged friend was way ahead of us. When we got up there we were surprised to discover that the odd pieces of driftwood had been tidied up and stacked in a neat pile. There was also a beer crate and a few candle stubs. So it wasn't our cave any longer.
"Still there's only us here at the moment and we'll soon see if anyone comes up the path," I said.
We spread our towels out and lay down on them to sunbathe. We automatically put our arms round the other's shoulders as we'd so often done before and would have dozed quietly, but either out of a fit of jealousy or simple companionableness Holly snuggled inbetween us, still wet, wanting to be one of the boys. At first we just lay there, silently absorbing the sun's rays, but after a bit William started up.
"Josh, can I ask you something?"
Dozily I answered "You just have."
"No, something else, prat."
"I love you, William, when you treat me rough."
"Shut up and listen. I'm being serious."
"I'm listening."
"You know when you turned up on Monday I gave you that kiss? Did you mind?"
"Noo... why?"
"I just wondered."
"I admit I was bit surprised and when I thought about it later in bed that night I got a stiffy."
"Did you enjoy it?" "Which? The kiss or the stiffy?"
"The kiss."
"That as well."
"Josh!"
"Hard to say. It happened so quickly, but funnily enough when I was thinking about it I felt in some way... well... honoured."
"What do you mean?"
"It's hard to explain," I replied.
"You see, the only other people that have ever kissed me are family... like Mum and Dad and my sisters and aunts, you know, that kind of person, and so what I thought was that you were treating me as if I were family."
"And do you like that idea of us two being family?"
I thought for a moment. "Mmmm, I think I do."
"Can I kiss you now?"
"If you want," and William leaned over and gently kissed me on the cheek. I felt a certain tenderness flow into me from him. I also felt the blood flowing into my dick for the second time that morning, but William was way ahead of me and had a fullblown erection.
"You know it's not a proper kiss unless it's the lips, don't you?"
"But boys don't do that sort of thing," I countered.
"Some do."
"Prove it," I said and was somewhat taken aback at the ambiguity of what I had said.
"Do you mean it?"
The throbbing organ between my legs answered before my brain could get a word in. "Of course." William leant over again and his dry lips met mine when suddenly Holly started barking and looking at us. When she stopped we could hear footsteps on the path. We hurriedly stood up and pulled our swimming trunks on, but in our hurry I had grabbed William's and he had picked up mine. The footsteps were quite close now and there was no time to change back. We were both battling to fit our stiffies inside the costumes anyway, which in my case was made worse by the thrill of wearing William's Speedos.
I put Holly on her lead.
"Hi, young fellas."
"Hi," we said in reply. It was a man's voice.
"So you've discovered the cave?"
"Yeah," said William "we've been coming here for two years now. We usually have a swim, then come up here to chill out and sunbathe."
"Have you ever been right inside?"
"No, we didn't think you could," I said.
"Well, the entrance used to be blocked up. It was a landslip, but we're working on opening it up a bit. I saw you climbing up here through my binoculars..." 'Uhuh,' I thought 'we've been caught with our trousers down' "... and thought I'd better come and warn you. It could be dangerous. You boys could quite possibly get in there now you're still small enough. You'll be all right here, but don't go in any farther. If you really want to, wait until we're working on it and we'll put you in the right gear and take you in and at least someone will know you're there. We mainly work at weekends. Are you local?"
"Half and half," I replied. "My parents own the white cottage back there." I pointed with my thumb. "So we spend the summer here. We're still grockles, I suppose." The man laughed. I let Holly off her lead, we picked up our stuff and all three of us walked down together. As we arrived home for lunch my sister blurted out loudly in front of everyone
"Josh, why have you got William's swimming costume on?"
One of my chores each evening after a day on the beach was to hose Holly down to get the salt out of her coat and to groom her. She always treated it as a great game although she would have taken a dim view of it if we'd given her a proper bath, and she knew she was going to get a doggy choc at the end of it. I took some time to go to sleep that night as I was mulling over the day's events in my mind. The advantage of being the only boy was that I had a room to myself whereas my sisters had to share down here at the cottage. First of all it was interesting about the cave. We'd lost our privacy. Could we still go skinnydipping? That man must have known we climbed up there naked. But then I started to think about William. I was confused. If a boy at school had tried to kiss me, I'd have fought him off. No doubt. But everything about William was different, from best friends onwards. I didn't mind him kissing me. In fact I'd even enjoyed it. And then we got hard together. With anyone else I'd have been shy, ashamed, embarrassed? I got hard wearing his Speedos and finally, and it was just dawning on me, I was getting withdrawal symptoms when I wasn't with him. At that point Holly nudged open my bedroom door, wandered across to my bed, nuzzled her wet nose against my cheek and climbed up onto my bed, although strictly speaking she was not allowed to do that. I fell asleep with her in my arms.
The following morning Mum came in to wake me up.
"Oh, Joshua, have you got that smelly thing in bed with you again?"
"You can't help it if you smell a bit doggy, can you, Holly?" and I stroked her.
"She must have crept in in the middle of the night, Mum."
"And of course you didn't wake up and send her away?"
For the next couple of days we had excursions arranged. After all these years we would quite often combine with the Kents, especially if it was during the week and our fathers were at work. Then three days of wet weather set in. When it decides to rain in the southwest there are no half measures, and so while William and I spent time together, no way could we go off up to the cave. Just the weather for the Eden project, though. Time came when Dad's annual leave was up and so Monday to Friday it was just the four of us. The night at the end of the third day of rain I was lying in bed, thinking rather than going off to sleep, and I suppose waiting for the soft pad of four paws followed by a cold nose on my cheek. Admittedly I did nothing to discourage her, but it would have been more than my life was worth to encourage Holly to spend the night with me. Anyway, there I was thinking, thinking about the last time William and I had been alone up at our cave, sorry, the cave. I could not get the idea out of my head that something momentous was about to happen between me and William, had we not been disturbed by our impromptu visitor. Over the past few days we had had no time alone to talk about what was happening to us, between us, and that added to the frustration. I could not get over the way William and I looked at one another when we were naked, nor how we reacted, nor the tingle that went through my whole body when he kissed my cheek. Thank God for William, for otherwise when our fathers were away during the week I was completely surrounded by females. Even the dog was a female. My twin sisters were growing and they had started having their periods. I didn't smell the dog, but I could smell the wrong day of the month and it really turned me off. Added to that was being taken aside by Mum and told in hushed tones that Annabelle and Suzanne were not feeling too well and I mustn't tease them, or if they were bad tempered I had to understand. My thinking went one step further. My sisters were old enough to have children and there was I fifteen months older and hadn't yet produced my first seed. And really William was the only person I could talk to about this. Not that, as an only child, he fully understood. I must have fallen asleep at that point for the next thing I knew it was light, I had pins and needles and was sweating like a pig from the heat of having a now full grown blue roan stretched out across me.
I could see through the curtains that the sun was making an effort to shine. I chucked Holly off my bed, ignored the resentful look and got up to shower before Mum came in and found her there. Over breakfast I asked
"Mum, can I go up to the cave today with William?"
"Have you checked the tidetable?" I got up and took it down from behind the clock on the mantelshelf.
"Sh..." I exclaimed.
"Language, Josh!"
"Sugar," I finished off, giving Mum a grin. "The tide's up this morning."
"Anyway, that'll give the sun a chance to dry things out and you can come and help me with the supermarket run or there won't be any lunch."
"Okay, Mum. Can I go in and see William first and find out what he's doing?"
"It's only twelve hours since you last saw him and it's just half past seven. They won't be up yet. Finish your breakfast and wait until eight at least." I didn't have to wait until eight as it happened. There was a rap at the door and William came wandering in, cheerily greeting Mum and me. He sat down at the kitchen table and Mum gave him a cup of tea while we made our plans for the afternoon.
Two o'clock and free at last. The sun was warm, which was a blessing after three dismal days and we were soon over the rocks and stripped off ready to swim.
"Do you think we ought to make sure we're not being watched after that man said he saw us through his binoculars?"
"I don't care if we are," answered William and we ran off following Holly into the water. After the usual fun and frolics we came out and dried ourselves. Then William suddenly said
"Hey, Josh, have you seen yourself?"
"Of course I've seen myself," I answered without really understanding what he was on about.
"No, I mean looked at yourself."
"Not really. Why?"
"Well, look now," and he pointed at my groin. I looked and I looked again. It was feint and I rubbed my fingertips over it to make sure, but there was no mistaking it. There undeniably was a slightly darker patch on the skin above my dick. My pubic hair had started to grow. "Josh, you're a man," said William grabbing me and we did a little dance across the sand with Holly barking at us wanting to get in on the act. "We must celebrate this."
"How are we going to do that?" I asked. "Mum," I mocked, "will you bake a special cake for tea because my pubes have sprouted?" and then in a different voice imitating Annabelle "That's not fair. You didn't bake a special cake for us when we started our periods!" In my euphoria I had a momentary flashback back to school dinners where we called rhubarb crumble 'period pie'.
"Josh, you're such a fool at times and that's why I love you." I crashed back down to earth. '... and that's why I love you,' echoed through my head as time stood still.
"And do you mean that, William?" I enquired in a hushed tone.
"Of course I do." He had uttered the words that I knew in my heart, but had never brought myself to think, let alone say, but the moment was swallowed up as William took me in a huge hug and we danced across the sand again, chased by a game dog.
The climb up to the cave was rather subdued in comparison. Our relationship had changed, it had become closer. While I was thinking, I realised that I still had not spoken those magic words which William had said to me. 'I'll do it as soon as we get to the top.' As we climbed the steep path he took my hand to help me up and didn't let go. I felt some magic entering my body through the grip. When we reached the ledge, we tentatively looked round the cave in case our local friend should materialise. The angle of the sun lit the back of the cave and we saw for the first time the hole he had been talking about that led farther into the system. Another beercrate had appeared, this one full of empties. We laid out our towels and spread ourselves out to sunbathe in our normal embrace, but this was different. Even Holly had a sense of occasion and curled up to go to sleep in the shade of the cave.
"Will, you know what you were saying the other day just as that man came up the path?"
"What?" said William leading me on.
"About it not being a proper kiss unless it's lips."
"Mmm."
"Can we do a proper kiss?" William leant over me and we stared into each other's eyes, both melting. I felt his finger gently running over the fuzz of my newly acquired status symbol as he lowered his lips onto mine. Do you need lessons in kissing or will instinct direct a first timer to do the right thing? As his lips met mine I automatically opened my mouth and traced his lips with the tip of my tongue. His lips parted, our tongues met and then a gentle duel took place with my tongue victorious in exploring the contours of his teeth and mouth while my expanding and throbbing dick and coursing blood told me we were doing the right thing. Finally we had to come up for air. All my inhibitions had been released, my tongue now metaphorically as well as literally loosened and I could look into William's blue eyes that contrasted so with his beautiful black hair and say huskily
"William, I love you too."
How long we lay there I knew not and it didn't matter, but the direction of the sun told us it was time to make tracks for home. As we moved Holly stirred, the silent witness of our first mutual declaration of love. The mood had passed and on our descent we returned to our usual guise of two fun-loving twelve year old boys out for a laugh and enjoyment. Before we crossed the barrier back into the real world we put our kit back on and made for the cottage.
"Hi, Mum," I said as we both went in through the backdoor into the kitchen.
"Hi, boys. Have you had a good afternoon?"
"Nah," I said tongue in cheek, "boring as ever," but she knew from the glint in both our eyes that that was far from the truth.
"See you after tea, Josh," said William. "Bye, Mrs West."
"I can see we're going to have to take you two to the local hospital and have you surgically separated," Mum tutted. I couldn't wait until the weekend to tell Dad I had 'hair'. 'In fact, I'll ring him tonight.' I wasn't going to discuss such men's matters with the womenfolk.
As I went to bed that night and Mum had come in ostensibly to say good night, but in reality to check that Holly wasn't lurking there, she asked
"Josh, have you got a sore throat?"
"No, Mum."
"It's just that you sound a little hoarse. You can suck a Fisherman's Friend if you like."
"No, it's okay, thanks, Mum. Good night."
"Good night, love. Pleasant dreams. It's going to be another nice day tomorrow." I heard her disappear downstairs. Then the bedroom door opened as if blown by the wind and I felt a wet nose on my cheek. I made Holly stay on the floor. I knew she would be on the bed before the night was out, but I needed the bed to myself right then, although I could have been persuaded to share it with one certain other person. I lay there thinking about the day gone by. 'Yeess,' I thought. 'All good things come in threes. My pubes appear, my voice starts to break and William and I declare our love for one another. If only I kept a diary...'
The rest of the school holidays passed too quickly. Inbetween family arrangements William and I always kept ourselves busy. Our visits to the cave became more significant. We still went 'hunting' with the usual price to pay for being allowed to visit our private beach and the cave. One highlight was the night we were allowed to put William's tent up in the garden away from the house. We had a comfortable airbed and our sleeping bags. That was the night we went a little further than 'proper kissing' and William helped me discover that I was indeed a man. Needless to say, who should be sitting outside the tent in the morning guarding it? The 31 August came too soon. The Kents, mother, father and son, packed up and went home. We would follow the next day. However, this time parting was different. It wasn't a question of summer guests leaving until next year, nor friends, not even best friends, but boyfriends, declared lovers. William's and my hearts were about to be torn apart. We couldn't talk to our parents about being in love. Even if we'd been girl and boy (Heaven forbid!) I couldn't imagine it being any easier to talk about. In either case we'd have simply been dismissed as twelve year old kids. But I do get it wrong for as the two families said their farewells and we watched them drive off William leant out of the window and shouted
"See ya half term, Josh." Had I heard right? Usually it was 'See ya next year.'
* * *
As it was a weekend Dad was down with us and we had the same arrangement for going home as for coming, that is Holly and I travelled in his car while the girls went with Mum. Now we had the dog and we three kids were growing up it was a bit of a squeeze to get all of us into one car comfortably, especially for a long journey plus the luggage. Indeed, over the summer Mum and Dad had been talking about buying a space wagon, a people carrier.
As we left the carpark after our first break Dad said
"You're rather quiet, Josh. Are you okay?"
"Yeah... Dad, it's just..." But I didn't finish the sentence. He left it there for a couple of miles.
"You're missing William, aren't you, and you don't know how you're going to face a year without him?"
"Something like that." Another couple of miles. "Dad, you know when the Kents left yesterday, William said 'see ya half term'? Was that a slip of the tongue?" I giggled involuntarily at the thought of a 'slip of the tongue' from William.
"Not exactly, but we weren't going to mention it to you two boys until the details were worked out, but the Kents obviously said something to William. This not a promise and you mustn't be too disappointed if it doesn't work out, but there's the distinct possibility of your going on holiday with William and his parents and of our doing something similar for him early next year."
"That's wicked, Dad."
"Don't start counting your chickens yet, and don't ask any more questions for the moment as nothing's fixed." Another couple of miles. "Don't take this the wrong way, Josh, but your mother and I have noticed that you and William are more than just friends." I wondered what they had found out. Had they been talking to the man from the cave? "So have William's mum and dad. It's just the way you look at one another and inter-react. You see it when people first fall in love..." I blushed deeply, but Dad was keeping his eyes firmly on the road. I wanted to sink through the car seat and disappear. "Don't worry, son." He put his hand on my knee. "We understand."
* * *
Going back to school was different this year. I now inhabited two different worlds and ne'er the twain shall meet. I worked hard in my present one in order to lessen the pain and the yearning of being temporarily deprived of the other one. It also helped to keep my parents onside. The main difference was the evening phone calls confined to my mobile from my room and the e-mails. Buying phonecards was stretching the finances. I had to talk to Dad about that. I could never talk to Mum about my relationship to William. She never mentioned it although I'm sure Dad kept her up to date. I was longing for half term as the details were worked out and it emerged that I was going to join the Kents on a trip to Florida to top up on sun before the English winter closed in, and of course the holiday was to include visits to Disney World.
I had no idea how much Mr and Mrs Kent knew about our relationship, William and me. From what Dad had said in the car coming back home from holiday they obviously knew something. Half term came along and I'm only going to mention the relevant parts. First of all was the great meeting at the airport, the inevitable bearhug, but this time I distinctly felt his dick press against mine through our light cotton trousers and the tears welling up as he kissed me on the cheek. From our point of view the hotel arrangements were fantastic. We were given a separate room containing two huge beds. This was the first time we had slept together in the comfort of a bed. Our night in the tent was primitive by comparison. We formed a contingency plan to save embarrassment in case one of William's parents came to wake us up in the morning. Should there be a knock on the door, William would slowly get up, put on his shorts and go and open it. Meanwhile I would get my shorts on and tuck myself up in the other bed. But it never came to that. His parents were more clever. They used the telephone. They didn't appear to worry about our sharing the same room. After all, we were still only twelve, both due to be thirteen before the end of the year. Either they were blissfully naïve or they assumed we would do stuff anyway and it would be better to accept the fact and then ignore it. It would have been nice to know which. As William said, parents would have more to worry about if their daughter were sleeping with her boyfriend than if their son was sleeping with his. I made the mistake of abstaining from jerking off three nights before I was due to leave. We learned the meaning of premature ejaculation the hard and messy way. During that week we discovered a lot about our own and each other's bodies as we extended the boundaries of the stuff we got up to, but neither of us felt ready for the ultimate act in our lovemaking. We could give each other intense and satisfying pleasure without that. We returned to England with a top up of suntan and a deepening of our love for one another, which made it more difficult to settle down into routine again, but we had planned to spend time together between Christmas and New Year and at February half term we enjoyed the other half of the bargain when William came with my family for a week in Madeira. Easter holidays and summer half term it was taken as read that we would spend time together and then a year had gone by and we were due to meet again down at our cottage on the coast in the southwest.
* * *
This year it was Mum driving us down in the new space-wagon, so there was plenty of room for me and Holly in the third row of seats. As we neared our summer residence the excitement inside me was building up as I hadn't seen William since the beginning of June, nearly six weeks. When we drew up outside our half of the cottage, I saw the Kents' car parked outside theirs. Naturally I was expecting William to run out and greet me as a long lost friend, as well as a parted lover, and only partially registered my disappointment when this didn't happen. Perhaps they had gone out for a walk. After all they were on holiday and only the day, not the time we'd turn up could be guaranteed. The three of us children helped Mum to unpack the space wagon and we were about to make a cup of tea when there was a knock at the backdoor and Mrs Kent walked in. She must have noticed how my face dropped to see her alone. I have always found it hard to disguise my feelings even if I said nothing. After the normal courtesies and the difficulty of a mere male getting a word in edgeways among four women I unsubtly asked where William was.
"Josh, I think you'd better come nextdoor," said Mrs Kent.
"I'll only be five minutes," I told my mother and sisters.
"I'm sorry, Josh. I know this is going to put a dampener on your holiday..." I tripped over a wheelchair by the backdoor.
"Oops!" It still didn't sink in.
"... but William had a bit of an accident." I began to imagine the worst, a car accident, maybe he was dead. "He jumped down from a tree and landed badly. We didn't tell you, partly because we didn't want to worry you, but also because it was touch and go whether we would be able to come down here." By this time we had reached the sitting room and there laid out on the sofa was my loved one with his foot and lower leg in plaster. For some inexplicable reason tears were welling up in my eyes and starting to roll down my cheeks. I rushed over to the settee and did my best to put my arms round my boyfriend and forgetting where I was firmly planted a kiss on his lips.
"I'll leave you two together," said Mrs Kent. "I'll just be nextdoor." At least we waited until we heard the backdoor close, but then we both burst into tears, crying our hearts out. Whether they were happy tears caused by our reunion or sad tears at the state of William's ankle and the thought of what we wouldn't be able to do this summer, I do not know to this day. Here were two thirteen year olds blubbering our eyes out as if we were half that age. As best I could I put my arm round William and holding his hand I tried to comfort him, although of the two I was probably the worse and needed the TLC more. We hardly spoke for the first five minutes and then I could finally ask him how it happened. All being well arrangements had been made for him to go to the local hospital for a check up and perhaps have the plaster removed, but that was in three weeks' time at the very earliest. Mrs Kent must have told Mum how badly I had taken it for they came back together to take me home and promised I could come back to see William after supper.
Over supper I started to talk to Mum about how we might help William enjoy some sort of summer holiday. The girls as usual thought I was OTT and started making stage yawns and exaggeratedly stuffing their fingers down their throats. 'One day they'll learn what it means to be in love,' I thought. Judging the situation Mum said
"Josh, we'll discuss this after tea while Annabelle and Suzanne are doing the washing up." 'That put them in their place,' I thought.
"That's not fair," protested the two in unison.
"Well, you shouldn't draw attention to yourselves in such an unpleasant way over the meal table."
"Mum, I want to make sure William has a really great holiday, which he won't if he's got to sit and lie around all the time while he's got that plaster on his leg."
"What are you thinking of?"
"I could take him down to the water's edge while I go for a swim with Holly."
"Have you ever tried wheeling a chair across dry sand, or even using a pair of crutches on it?"
"Oh, I see what you mean, Mum. Can we take him on all our excursions?"
"That's up to him and Mrs Kent, but as far as I'm concerned, yes. We've certainly got room in the new car for him and his wheelchair. If you're going to see William this evening, you'd better go now or it'll soon be bedtime."
When I went round to nextdoor, Mrs Kent invited me in and said that if we needed her she would be chatting to my mother. It was her way of leaving us alone. William and I talked about the accident, the last six weeks and what we were going to do over the holidays, how I would look after him as much as possible.
"You might have to take me to the loo, Josh."
"I'll cope with that."
"Josh, you might think this really weird, but there's something I wanted to ask you." I don't know why, but my imagination ran riot. He wanted me to tie him up when we did stuff together, or even worse.
"What's that?" I asked.
"When you're not here, I really miss you, specially as I haven't got much at the moment to occupy my mind. If I give you one of my tee shirts, I want you to sleep in it for a few nights and sweat so that it really stinks of your BO."
"I'm cool with that," I answered rather nonplussed as to why he should want me to do it.
"It's just that I adore the smell of you and I miss it when you're not there." I lifted my arms in turn and sniffed my armpits.
"I do use deo, you know."
"I know. That's all part of it. Sorry, I shouldn't have said BO. It gives the wrong impression, but when we're doing stuff together, I smell you and it's a real turn on and I wanted some in reserve for when you're not there."
"Only if you'll do the same for me."
"It's a deal," and we shook hands. Only William pulled me closer until I nearly fell on top of him on the settee. Then we kissed... properly. He looked me straight in the eyes and said "Josh, it's only my ankle that's broken. The bits and pieces between my legs are still in full working order. Without further ado I stroked the inside of his thigh and slowly slid my hand up the leg of his shorts.
Lying in bed that evening I wondered how I could best help William through these boring days. Although I didn't use the word to myself, I was going to 'dedicate' myself to him over the coming weeks. Somehow we were going to have fun together, but how? I'd accepted the fact that we wouldn't have as much 'private' time as we would have done up at the cave. Oddly enough, sex was not my motivation at that moment. Love certainly was and I wanted to care for him. At that point I felt a cold nose against my cheek and I realised I was neglecting the other love of my life.
Next morning was to be spent in town stocking up with provisions. My presence would be required to help and anyway I needed to do some shopping of my own, two brand new souvenir tee shirts and and a game or something for William for when we couldn't be together. Not that easy a choice as our cottage was television and computer free as a matter of family policy. I think the Kents might have had a portable TV set there. When we got inside the supermarket I said
"Mum, I just want to go and get something for William he can play with himself."
"Is that one or two sentences?" interrupted Suzanne as quick as a flash. I blushed deep red, suddenly realising what I'd just said. Mum gave Suzanne a glare while Annabelle giggled.
I found a two-pack of tee shirts with a 'Kernow' motif, but as for something else I was at a loss and ended up buying that month's edition of GY magazine. A bit limp wristed, I thought, the idea for a present, not the magazine, anything but, going by the teenage hunk on the cover. After lunch I turned up at William's, handed over one of the tee shirts and told him we would use one of these each for his little idea and also gave him the magazine still in its brown paper bag. I helped William up and he manœuvred himself into the wheelchair. I wheeled him outside, stopped outside our house, carefully remembering to apply the brake, while I went in to fetch Holly. Along the top of the shoreline was a path, a rough one as we found out with the wheelchair, but I coped better than William as he got bumped along. He was grateful to be out of the house and removed his tee shirt to let the sun get to his body. As we went along, if there was nobody about and I could still control the chair, I took my hand off the handles to stroke one of his nipples.
"Josh, you know you're making me hard doing that? Carry on." We had known each other long enough to know how to get the other roused. I looked down at his shorts as the bulge grew and realised how much both of us had grown 'down there' since last summer. Then suddenly crunch and a yell of "Ow" at the jolt as I pushed the chair into a rather solid signpost. I had been concentrating too much on William's shorts.
"Sorry, Will, but you shouldn't distract my attention like that."
"Like what? You started it."
"Started what?"
"By playing with my nipple."
"Oh, that." While we were arguing we'd reached the point I was aiming for, a concrete slipway used for launching boats. I could wheel William down to the edge of the water and park him up there. Because of the slipway and road access it was a popular place for families to come and in the afternoon it became quite crowded. But at least while Holly and I were swimming, there was plenty of eye candy to keep William entertained, and then it occurred to me what sort of present I could give him, one of those use-once-throw-away cameras. We couldn't go 'hunting' while he was in plaster, but we could do the next best thing. I played around in the water with Holly. William would throw her a ball in the water and she would go and retrieve it. When we got fed up with that, I went and dried myself off. Holly trotted after me, stopped in front of William and shook herself, spraying water all over him.
"Holly!" he shouted. "Geroff!"
"Good girl," I said patting her and laughing. It was good to see ourselves finding some fun in life at last after a rather dour twenty-four hour period.
And so that became one of our regular activities over the next three weeks, punctuated by several excursions, some with our whole family plus William and his mother, others with me joining the Kent family. Then the day of the hospital appointment came. I asked if I could come along and finally the good news as I saw William hobbling on crutches out of the fracture clinic without his plaster.
"I see you've had it off, Will."
"Really? Must be the damp patch on my shorts." Mrs Kent disowned us, pretending not to hear.
"You mustn't go mad, William," his mother warned later. "You've got to build up strength in that ankle."
The following weeks I looked after William and watched as his ankle strengthened and we at last felt we could make the pilgrimage up to the cave. We followed our routine of clambering over the rocky barrier, stripping off our Speedos and skinnydipping, followed by the climb up the path on the cliff face to the cave. Imagine our surprise as we neared the entrance to see an aluminium fence around the ledge with a locked gate. We were about to climb over it when we heard voices and were astounded to hear the approach of a guided tour of the caves. So they had opened them up and within seconds a party was going to reach the ledge and peer over at the view of... two stark naked, but good looking, perhaps hot, even if I say so myself, adolescents who had left their swimming costumes at the base of the cliff face! Holly was barking at the frustration of not being able to squeeze through the railings while unintentionally drawing attention to us. All we could do was sit down with our bare backsides on the gritty path, hugging our knees, backs towards the mouth of the cave until the grockles moved on, not that with the way our bodies were developing we had anything to be ashamed of, but we didn't really want to be accused of an offence against public decency. With this discovery another little idyll of our youth had passed, but we still went skinnydipping on our private beach and if the binoculars of the grockles were trained on us, then weren't they the lucky ones. However, the aspect not immediately apparent to us was that we no longer had a permanent spot where we could share our love. Strangely, for the rest of that summer camping became a very popular pastime with us two.
Such were our formative years. The holidays in the southwest continued while we were at school and our regular visits to each other during the other school holidays went on one way or the other. As you grow older your responsibilities and commitments increase and our commitment to one another deepened. We never had to come out to our families. It wasn't necessary for they had watched us growing up together, growing together and it was accepted. It was therefore no coincidence that on leaving school we went to the same university, different subjects, stayed in Hall together for two years, sharing a flat in finals year, got jobs in the same city about halfway between our parents' homes and on the first Christmas Day after graduation, and after starting to earn some money, we made our life commitment to one another. And the tee shirts, you ask? That idea was fine until six months later Mum found mine, more precisely William's, and decided to put it in the washing machine!
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