A Beautiful Lie

Bryce woke up on a bright Saturday afternoon to his phone ringing. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and reached over to his nightstand to grab it. “Hello.” He grumbled into the receiver as he brought the phone to his ear.



“Yo, what the fuck you doin’ sleepin’, jerk?” Michael scolded him.



Bryce smiled to himself. He never liked being woken abruptly on the weekend. But it was okay if the person doing the waking was Michael. He settled back in bed. “I like sleeping in on Saturdays, it’s the only time I get to do it.”



“I know, I know. I really can’t tell you why I woke up so early. But maybe it was Patrick jumping around on my bed, just to be a little prick. Or maybe it was Caitlin crying to me about how Keira ripped off her doll’s head because the little brat woke her up first. But who couldn’t sleep through that, right?” Michael sniped.



“Ok, I get it.” Bryce sighed. “My life is perfect compared to yours.”



“Better fucking believe it. You only have one brat to deal with.” In the background you can hear a child’s voice yelling to Mrs. Shaughnessy because Michael cursed. “I’m gonna kill you, ya little cunt.” Michael yelled.



Bryce laughed to himself, covering the receiver so Michael couldn’t hear. “Let me guess, you wanna get the fuck out of there.”



“How can you tell?” Michael seethed. “I’m coming over. Get ready to go swimming.”



Without any warning Michael hung up the phone after a loud noise and his mother’s angered voice. “Michael Liam…”



Bryce laughed at the beep-beep of the other line being disconnected. He placed the phone back on the cradle and hopped out of bed. He walked to the bathroom and turned on the water in the sink, splashing some water in his face to help wake up. After wiping off his face with a towel, he walked back into his room and started disrobing.



He rummaged through his dresser to find his bathing suit and put it on. He caught his reflection in the mirror above his dresser and looked at his body. Bryce never really did that before, concerned himself with how his body looked. But for some reason he felt a strange need to impress someone.



He was always fine with his body before but now he couldn’t help but compare himself to actors and models, he didn’t think he could compete. He definitely looked like a teenager, his chest wasn’t defined at all, his stomach was flat but not toned, and his arms were tiny. For once he looked in the mirror and didn’t like what he saw. Why was he doing this? It’s not like anyone was really looking at him that way anyway.



Bryce\'s thoughts veered from the mirror when he heard the doorbell. He ran down the stairs to find his mother opening the door to Michael. He really got there quickly. He must’ve ran, Bryce thought.



“Well, have fun you two. I’m gonna go pick up Angel at dance class and then we’re going for pizza. You want me to bring you something home?” Mrs. Lawson asked.



“That’d be great, mom.”



“Ok, I’ll be back.”



“Bye, mom.” Michael said jokingly. It always made Bryce’s mom laugh when he said that.



Michael walked in and closed the door behind him. He was completely ready with his swimsuit and towel. Bryce met him at the bottom of the stairs and they went out to the backyard.



“So, I see you made it out of the house in one piece.” Bryce joked with him.



“I’d rather not talk about it.” Michael said.



Bryce dipped a toe into the pool and watched as Michael took off his shirt. His Irish friend seemed a bit more developed than he remembered. Michael’s chest seemed a little bigger, his stomach tighter, his arms more defined then before. Bryce couldn’t help but feel insecure.



Michael kicked off his shoes and jumped in the pool. When his head popped up to the surface he looked up at Bryce. “Aren’t you coming in?”



“It’s a bit cold.”



“Come on. Don’t be a sissy, just jump.” Michael taunted him.



“Have you been working out? You look different.” Bryce couldn’t believe he said it, but once he heard the words came out of his mouth he couldn\'t take them back.



Michael cocked an eyebrow at him. You’re not changing the subject that easily.”



“No, I wasn’t trying to change the subject.” He said, timidly stepping further into the pool.



Michael watched him walk in slowly, smirking as Bryce stopped once the water hit his waist. He grabbed his crotch and winced as he walked in further. Bryce noticed Michael watching him and Michael looked away to keep from laughing.



“Yea, I have been working out a bit. Fergie let’s me use his weights and shit when he’s not using them.”



“I should really start doing that too.”



Michael turned to see Bryce floating next to him now. “You don’t really need to but if ya want I’ll see if Ferg is ok with letting you use them too.”



“That\'d be great.”



Michael smiled as he started swimming backwards to the deep end of the pool. “Well, now that you’re all the way in the pool, let’s race!” Bryce rolled his eyes before giving in and meeting Michael in the deep end.



***



“How about Ashleigh Court? She’s kinda hot in a dorky way.”



“No, she’s got that weird overbite.”



Michael brought his hands up to the surface and splashed Bryce with a big spray of water. “Bryce, you don’t see to like any of my ideas for prom. When did you become so damned high and mighty? Do you have something against the girls at St. Peter’s? Or just something against girls in general.”



Bryce went white. He felt suddenly sick. “No.” He said quietly. “They’re just all sluts and you deserve better,” he quickly replied. He was proud of himself for being so quick on his toes.



“You know, you really haven’t had a girlfriend since Missy Gaynor in 7th grade.”



“I just haven’t found any girl that I was interested in. Or at least was interested in me.” He lied.



“I think you’re bullshittin’ me, Brycey. Maybe you have like some gay crush on me and you jerk off everyday to a shrine you made of me.”



Bryce swallowed hard and tried to forget the weird yet somewhat accurate description. “You’re so full of yourself.”



“Ah, whatever. Are you getting cold?” Michael asked.



“ A little bit.”



“I’m gonna go pee and get that towel you forgot. I swear what would you do without me, Bryce.” Michael snickered as he got out of the pool.



Bryce took a deep breath and followed Michael out of the pool. The light haired boy wrapped his towel around his waist and walked into the house.



Bryce got into the hammock under the trees by the pool and lay there as he waited for Michael to come back. He closed his eyes and his mind drifted to that forbidden place. He started remembering his usual dream of Michael and him playing football. But this time when Michael tackled him, he started undressing Bryce. He didn’t even put up a fight in this dream. He let Michael strip him until he was naked. Then Michael leaned down and kissed Bryce on his pillowy lips. It started to feel real, a little too real.



Bryce was starting to get too excited so he opened his eyes. He wondered if he really woke up at all. There was no way Michael was really leaning over him, kissing him. Bryce pulled away and noticed his swimsuit out of the corer of his eye. This was real.



“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I just did that. You just looked so peaceful…” Michael hastily tried to explain.



Bryce looked confused. “Why’d you do that? Really.”



Michael was hesitant, avoiding Bryce’s eyes. “It just seemed like the only logical reason why you’d be keeping something from me. I thought this was why you were acting weird lately. Unless I completely misread everything. I’m hoping I’m right, though.”



Bryce didn’t respond, he just stared off into the distance with a dumb look on his face.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, Bryce. I promise.” Michael put his head down, ashamed.



“No… do it… do it again.” Michael looked up at Bryce who was staring at him.



“Are you sure?” Bryce couldn’t get the words out so he just nodded his head. Michael smirked a little and leaned in again. The Irish boy took his friend’s lips again, softly but firmly. The cool metal on Michael’s lip a sent a chill down Bryce’s spine, just like he imagined it would. Bryce relaxed more and more with every movement of Michael’s lips. Michael decided to test the waters and let his tongue slip past the raven haired boy’s lips.



“Wait!” Bryce pulled away quickly. “This is wrong, isn’t it? We’re not supposed to be doing this.”



Michael looked shocked but his features slowly softened into a sympathetic smile. “Who says?”



Bryce thought for a second, squinting his eyes a bit. His friend watched in amusement. “Well, there’s our parents, the church…”



“Is that it?” Michael laughed. “Our parents don’t want us to be gay because they want us to carry on their name and give them grandkids. And screw the church, they interpret the bible however they please just to make themselves feel better. God doesn’t hate anybody. Anyway, who gives a shit? Life is what we make it, Brycey.”



Bryce smiled, shyly. “You’ve got a point.”



“Yea, don’t let anyone ever tell you how to live and who to love.” Michael said, with a certain sparkle in his eye.



Bryce grinned even bigger. “Do you love me, Michael?”



His friend smiled fully, something Bryce hasn’t seen a while. “Yea.”



The raven-haired boy jumped out of the hammock and tackled his friend to the soft spiky grass. Michael looked up at Bryce, contented. “If this isn’t love I don’t know what is.” Michael said, holding up his newly crooked pinky finger.



Michael reached his hands up to comb through his best friend’s hair. He pulled the boy down to kiss him again. Bryce let Michael casually slip his tongue inside his mouth. He raised his tongue a little to meet Michael’s even though he wasn’t quite sure what he was doing.



“I’m sorry. I never used my tongue before.” Bryce confessed.



“What you and Missy never made out? I thought she was this big time whore.”



“Nah, she didn’t become a whore until 8th grade and she was over me by then.”



Bryce rested his head on Michael’s broad shoulder. His friend continued to brush his fingers though his wet hair, giving him a kiss on the forehead.



“Well, you don’t have to know anything. That just means I’ll have more fun teaching you.” Michael beamed. “I can’t believe it turned out like this. I half expected you to slap me when you opened your eyes.”



“Then, why’d you do it?”



“I had to do something. I couldn’t live like that anymore. All closed off and just faking it.” Michael admitted.



“Well, honestly I was thinking of you kissing me and I opened my eyes to see you actually doing it." Bryce said, incredulously.



“That’s weird. But that just means that this was meant to happen then.” Michael paused. “You know sometimes when you get déjà vu or you can trace someone you just met back to something that happened in your childhood. They say that is how you know that you’re following the right path. I think we’re on the right path, Bryce.”



Bryce felt relieved. All the feelings of doubt and uncertainty were wiped away. Michael was absolutely right. He was starting to feel like he really was on the right path. Bryce picked his head up to look Michael in the eyes. Michael lifted his head and met Bryce’s lips again.

***





Please review. I really shouldn\'t be writing this because I\'m working a much bigger project but I just had to update. Let me know if you want more!