Charles and Richard Chapter 23

For that reason, Charles didn’t go to pick up his mother on Friday. As soon as school ended, he slung his bookbag over his shoulder and got on the bus just like that. When he arrived at the lake, it was a little early. The lakeshore, with no one there yet, was quiet and peaceful. Charles lay down on the landing and sunbathed.

As summer deepened little by little, the increasingly harsh sunlight actually felt good. Even with his eyes closed, the sunlight blazing through his eyelids, and the heat that quickly made the backs of his knees and armpits damp, left no room for gloomy thoughts. Charles rolled his body this way and that, soaking up the sun alone. Today he had escaped to the lake like this, and starting tomorrow was the weekend, so he could avoid things for three more days, but clearly he couldn’t keep avoiding Richard forever. He had to face Richard. He had to hear him out and put an end to everything. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. If everything were as easy as thinking and he could act as he pleased, he wouldn’t be this depressed. If Richard liked him, he wouldn’t be this sad….

Just as tears were about to well up, he heard people’s voices at the lakeshore. Charles sat up. A boisterous group of boys and girls had appeared at the lakeshore. Charles recognized them. They were kids who lived in the village by the lake. Since he often hung out with them, Charles naturally exchanged greetings. Charles deliberately pushed thoughts of Richard aside, took off his shirt, and dove into the lake.

While playing around with the boys and girls, Charles soon spotted the boy he had once petted with. Charles didn’t avoid the boy’s gaze. The boy swam over to Charles.

Boy: Hey.

C: Hey.

Boy: When did you get here?

C: A while ago.

Boy: Came to swim?

C: Yeah. It’s hot.

Boy: Right. It’s hot.

As the boy echoed him, his hand slipped beneath the water’s surface and naturally tugged at Charles’s shorts. Charles stared at the boy for a moment, then tossed out a casual remark.

C: Wanna race?

Boy: Sure.

The two boys swam slowly across to the other side of the lake. It was a remarkably leisurely swim for a race.

On the other side of the lake was the landing where Charles had tossed his bookbag, and next to it, a willow tree with drooping leaves and soft, dense reeds made it hard to see their spot from the lake side. If you came onto the landing and turned your head sharply, you could see the two of them, but the willow’s long, slender branches partially concealed them. That spot was where Charles and the nameless boy had set as their finish line for the swimming race.

Thanks to the willow, it was shaded there, making the water particularly cold and mossy. They planted their feet on the slippery gravel and pressed close to each other. Charles didn’t stop the cold hand from slipping inside his shorts. His own hand had already eagerly slipped inside the boy’s shorts, too. The other’s hand was cold, but his penis was warm. The boys stared intently into each other’s eyes, breathing raggedly. Their cheeks slightly flushed, exhaling hot breaths.

Charles gazed into the boy’s brown eyes and impulsively kissed him. The boy’s lips were stiff and cold, as if tense. The boy held his neck rigid for a moment, then soon followed Charles’s lead. They parted their lips and clumsily tangled their tongues. As he neared climax, Charles closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the boy’s shoulder. They reached climax almost simultaneously. They stayed like that for a moment.

The boy grinned sheepishly and planted a loud, smacking kiss on Charles’s cheek. That sound crumbled the tension between them. Charles lifted his head and kissed the boy’s cheek. With their underripe lips and boyish, mischievous eyes, they looked exactly like a pair of playful boys, except for the fact that they were trembling in the afterglow of climax.

Boy: By the way, what’s your name?

C: Not telling.

Charles replied teasingly and kissed the boy again. The boy tugged at Charles’s nose.

Boy: I’ll let go if you tell me.

C: Guess.

Charles answered in a nasal voice. The boy grumbled. When Charles just smiled silently, the boy gave up. He let go of Charles’s nose and kissed him once more. As the boy pulled back, this time Charles followed and kissed him. They laughed again, like a pair of mischief-makers.

Boy: I like you.

In that moment, Charles couldn’t stop Richard from surging uncontrollably into his mind. He suddenly felt disgusted by the kisses, the caresses, the hand-play he had just been doing with the boy. It came to him because of the boy’s confession and the boy’s laughter. How special Richard was, how much he loved his smiling face. How thrilling that brief kiss on his lips had been, the kiss whose sensation he couldn’t even remember…. As Charles quietly gazed at the boy’s smiling face, he impulsively kissed those lips once more. Just like he had done with Richard, he pressed lightly, then tilted his head and kissed a little deeper. He had suddenly wondered if it would feel the same as with Richard.

But the boy shoved Charles away roughly. The boy left Charles there and swam off. Charles stood alone in a daze among the willow branches and reeds, then pushed off the moss-covered gravel and climbed up onto the lakeshore. And then Charles understood why the boy had suddenly run off. Richard was standing on the landing where Charles had thrown his bag. He was holding Charles’s bag in one hand, looking around for Charles, and when he spotted him through the willow branches, he froze.

Charles stood rooted to the spot. He could hear the sounds of splashing and noisy play from the lake, but they seemed to come from very far away. Charles couldn’t move a muscle. How long had Richard been standing there? That single question swirled endlessly in Charles’s mind. He felt no sensation at all. Neither the warm sunlight beating down on his chilled body, nor the droplets running down his skin, nor the soft grass and earth beneath his feet, nor even Richard. Though Charles saw Richard, at the same time it felt as if he couldn’t see him at all.

It was Richard who broke the moment that felt like it would last forever. With a fierceness Charles had never seen before, he hurled Charles’s bag down and strode toward him. In the blink of an eye, Richard was close to Charles. Up close, Richard’s face looked like he was about to burst into tears. Richard roughly grabbed Charles’s arm and yanked him. He pulled Charles toward the willow, shoved him against it, and kissed him.

The moment Richard’s lips touched his, all sensation came back to life as if by magic. Charles was still as stiff as a wooden dummy, but he felt Richard’s body heat with astonishing sensitivity and sharpness… Richard didn’t even part his lips. In fact, he seemed at a loss. To be honest, Richard didn’t seem to know what he was doing. He squeezed his eyes shut, pressed his lips tightly to Charles’s, and stayed that way for a while.

Ah, but it didn’t matter at all. Their tongues hadn’t even touched, but Charles was certain that Richard’s clumsy kiss was the sweetest thing in the world. It was unbelievably soft and warm. If he could just keep kissing Richard forever, he felt he could sacrifice anything. Charles wanted to caress his sides and back and embrace him. If only Richard hadn’t been gripping Charles’s arms so fiercely, he surely would have.