Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

DAVID

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spent an afternoon at the beach doing absolutely nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. We’d done some more planning for our trip and then talked about some of our favorite places.

I told Joel about the waterfalls in the Gerês National Park. I’d been there with Isaac and Alexandre a few years ago. The landscape in the north of Portugal is absolutely stunning. I wanted to go back but hadn’t had a holiday in such a long time I’d forgotten about it.

Joel told me about his favorite places in New York. There was a particular bookstore he couldn’t get enough of. Maybe one day I’d have a chance to visit New York, and Joel would show me all these places.

I was thinking about our afternoon yesterday when a text from Joel came through.

Joel : “Ladybug is back!!! She’s good to drive. Do you want to help me give her a wash?”

David : “Hell, yeah. I’ll be there in twenty.”

I’d already been in the process of leaving the café for the day so hugged Aunt Teresa goodbye and then walked out the door. I stopped by my apartment to change into shorts and a T-shirt before I joined Joel at his grandparents’ house.

The first thing I saw when I walked around the house toward the back was Ladybug standing proud, ready for her next adventure. I hadn’t noticed yesterday how the wheels still had mud stuck on them, probably from a trip through the countryside on a rainy day. I wondered what stories that mud could tell.

I couldn’t wait to see the real red color of the car and the silver of the wheel trim shining through. It didn’t look like there was any damage to the body of the car, so hopefully, it wouldn’t be difficult restoring her to her former self.

I saw Joel behind the car, kneeling next to a set of buckets, sponges, car detergent, and a garden hose with a nozzle sprayer. He was wearing cargo shorts and a tight T-shirt that showed his slim torso perfectly.

“Hey,” I called

“Oh hey, David. I got all the stuff we need ready. My grandparents went out, but they’ll be back in a couple of hours, so we can all have a snack together once we’re finished polishing Ladybug here.”

“Sounds great. Where should we start?”

Joel got up and took off his shoes and socks. I guess there was no point in them getting all wet, so I followed suit.

We started by cleaning the interior of the car. I got all the mats on the sidewalk, brushed them with detergent and a brush, rinsed them with the hose, and put them up to dry while Joel vacuumed the interior and then polished the dashboard.

While the mats were drying, we closed the doors again so we could get rid of the first layer of dirt, using the high-pressure setting on the nozzle.

I stood back while Joel was doing that and took the opportunity to admire him. He was relaxed and happy. It looked like he hadn’t done anything to his hair other than run his hands through it this morning, and it looked so good on him.

As he went around the car with the hose, I noticed he actually had defined muscles. Yes, he had a flat tummy and was the typical tall, slim guy, but he told me he liked to run, and I could see that in the definition of his long legs.

I realized I was just staring at him, so I moved to fill the buckets with water before he noticed I’d been perving. There was another hose nearby, so I used it to fill the buckets up while I added some detergent to them.

“We can see the color already with just that layer of dust gone,” Joel said, proud of his efforts.

“Yeah, Ladybug is going to be a stunner.”

We each started at one end of the car with a bucket and soapy sponge, working through all the curves to make sure they were clean.

The midafternoon sun was scorching, and I really wanted to take my T-shirt off to cool down, but I felt self-conscious about it. I didn’t know why. After all, we’d been at the beach yesterday, and we’d both been in shorts, but somehow, in this situation, it just felt different.

“Fuck, it’s hot, isn’t it?” he said.

“Yeah, let’s get this done so we can cool down in the shade.”

We’d soaped our way toward the same spot and found ourselves side by side. I could feel the heat radiating from his body, warmer than the air that surrounded us, and suddenly, I felt like I was combusting from the inside out.

“I bet my half is better than yours,” Joel teased.

“No way. With those skinny arms? I bet I’ll have to redo your half.” There was nothing skinny about Joel’s arms. They weren’t as muscular as mine, but they were defined and suited his shape perfectly. And why was I bringing his attention to my paying attention to his arms?

A wet sponge landed on my face with a splat.

“What the—”

“How skinny do you think they are now, jackass?”

The sponge fell to the floor, and I had water dripping from my face onto my T-shirt, blobs of soap hitting the floor with a splatter. “Okay, okay, I deserved that.” I chuckled.

I grabbed the big hose to wash the car down and turned on the sprayer. I didn’t realize the setting on the nozzle had changed because one moment I was pressing on the handle to release the water, and the next I was struggling to contain the water flow as it went in Joel’s direction.

“Fuck!” he shouted.

“There’s something wrong with it,” I shouted back in a panic, thinking I’d broken Joel’s granddad’s hose. “It won’t turn off. It’s stuck!”

Joel came over and took the hose from my hands. He managed to fix it and turn it off, but not before he managed to soak himself further.

“Fuck you, Lima. You’re going down.”

Up until that point, I’d been fairly dry, but Joel’s revenge was served in the form of a hose-down. I ran to the other side of the car, but the sprayer had a long reach, so despite my best efforts, I was getting wetter by the second.

I saw the smaller hose I’d used for the buckets and decided to retaliate. I pinched the ends of the hose to add pressure and create the same effect as a sprayer and pointed it over the car to the other side, hoping it would hit Joel. I heard his scream and congratulated myself for hitting my mark.

“This is war, Peterson!” I declared.

“Fine by me.” I felt a wet sponge that he must have thrown go sailing past my head.

“Hey! My face is my best asset!” I crouched and went around the car to catch him, but he predicted my move.

“No, it’s not. It’s your ass,” he said as he used a wet towel to whip me in the butt.

I lost balance as I was trying to defend myself and tried to grab hold of Joel. We both fell on the grass by the car in a fit of giggles. We were drenched from head to toe.

The water had definitely been a great help to cool me down, but I wasn’t sure for how long. Joel positioned himself so that he was lying on the grass next to me shoulder to shoulder. He looked at the blue cloudless sky and then turned to look at me.

His blue eyes were so much lighter in the sunshine and shiny from the beads of water on his eyelashes. His full lips stretched into a small smile, followed by a grin.

He whispered, “David, it’s raining.”

Drops of water fell on us like a rainstorm, cold against the warmth of the sun above. I hadn’t realized that Joel was still holding the hose with the sprayer when he fell down. He’d simply pointed the sprayer up and made it rain on us.

We smiled until we were both laughing out loud. When we were kids, we loved playing with water, although it had always been me who started it by whispering, “Joel, it’s raining.”

Of course, we’d been scolded by Joel’s grandparents each time and sent home with burning ears. Afterward, we always agreed that the scolding had been worth it for the fun we had.

We still had a car to finish up, so we got up off the grass and went back to work. In the midst of our hose wars, we actually managed to get Ladybug hosed down too.

I picked up some clean clothes to dry the body of the car, but when I turned around, Joel had discarded his cargo shorts and T-shirt. What the fuck? He was standing in front of me in his tight black boxer shorts.

“What are you doing?” I said in what I was sure was a too high pitched voice.

“My clothes are wet.” He shrugged.

“Fuck,” I muttered as I ran my hand over my face. I was going to need a lot more cold water to keep my lust at bay.

And if things couldn’t get any worse, Joel’s grandparents turned up. I saw them out of the corner of my eye and willed them away with the power of my thoughts, but when I looked back up, they were still there. In height order, from left to right: Great-grandma, Grandma, Granddad.

I instantly jumped in front of Joel to cover him up, which earned me a giggle from behind me and a grin from Vovó Deolinda. I turned around and told Joel to put some freaking clothes on.

“No.” He challenged.

“Your grandparents are looking at you in your underwear!” I clenched my fists on my sides.

“You’re the only one looking at me in my underwear.”

I turned around and saw that all three grandparents had retreated inside, and now it was just me and a nearly naked Joel standing in front of each other, mere inches apart.

“Fuck it,” I said. I took my T-shirt and shorts off, bending over to place them on the ground, and turned around. I heard a sharp intake of breath. Yeah, two could play this game.

After that, we carried on cleaning the car, and by the time we were finished, our clothes were dry. I could say I kept my eyes to myself all the time we’d been waxing and polishing Ladybug, but I’d have been lying.

It had been a real effort to hide my erection from Joel. I was glad my navy boxer shorts were dark and tight enough, but if he came any closer, I wouldn’t be able to deny my arousal. His body’s movements as he worked the wax and polish on Ladybug were simply stunning.

Ladybug was a very lucky lady indeed.

When we finished, we stood back to appreciate the results of our hard work. Ladybug was standing proud, clean and shiny like a pearl. Her headlights were like a clear pair of eyes staring back at us.

We got dressed before we went back in for coffee and sandwiches with Joe’s grandparents. After we ate, Joel’s Granddad gave us a short lesson on how to drive Ladybug. The gearshift was tricky, but we got the hang of it in the end.

We were going to test her out tomorrow for the trip to the Sanctuary, and I could barely contain my excitement.