Once in a Lifetime
by About A Boy
Chapter 5
Eric suddenly awakened from a bad dream. When he opened his eyes, the room was still relatively dark, and the soft moonlight that was filtering in through the window was providing the only real illumination in the room. He reached out to the bedside stand to check his cell phone; which revealed it to be just shy of four thirty in the morning.
Yawning tiredly, he lay back on the bed and moved his hand idly, letting it come to rest on the smooth warm skin of his bare stomach; which suddenly reminded him that he'd gone to bed completely naked.
He lay there a moment trying to recall his dream, and without thought, he slid his hand downward to encompass his soft boyish genitals, giving himself a purely innocent squeeze. Turning his head slightly to the left, he looked at the sleeping, silhouetted figure of his best friend Zach; and he thought back to the previous evening when they'd gone to bed, and he and Zach had touched each other, sexually experimenting for the very first time.
Eric shivered at the recollection, remembering how they had mutually masturbated each other; which had certainly been fantastic, and a first for either boy... He rolled onto his side now, propping his head on his hand, and he looked over the sleeping adolescent boy, who was lying facedown on the bed beside him.
Zach was naked as well, and Eric's eyes roved over his dimly lit figure. Eric had been trying to talk to Zach for the past few days; wanting to reveal himself. To tell his friend that he had special feelings for him.
But it never seemed to be the right time, or, Eric just couldn't bring himself to do it. He cared very deeply for Zach, and the last thing he wanted to do was to ruin their friendship. In the dream that Eric had just awoken from, it had been just that. In the dream, he had confessed his feelings to Zach. But his best friend had shunned him, ruining everything.
Eric lay there now deep in thought, studying his sleeping friend. Feeling a need, he reached out his hand in the dark, timidly touching his fingers to Zach's shoulder blade. He swallowed dryly. The warmth of his friend's skin made him shudder with inner delight.
Ever so slowly, he trailed his fingers down the gentle slope of Zach's teenage back. His skin was smooth and taut; like warm silk covering the boyish muscles that lay beneath. Erik closed his eyes to savor those feelings. Slowly, lightly, his fingers traced up the beautifully rounded curve of Zach's bare bottom, and he shivered again.
Zach was a heavy sleeper, and now feeling drawn to him, Eric slid himself closer, rolling slightly so that his naked body rested gently against that of the other boy. Even a fourteen-year-old can know the satisfaction of human touch.
Eric lowered his cheek to the pillow and closed his eyes, he sighed quietly as he gently, almost lovingly spooned against his naked friend. All thoughts faded with his sleepiness, and soon Eric was drifting off again; Zach's gentle breathing seducing him into sleep.
There was daylight in the room now, and Eric woke again to the feel of gentle movement alongside him. He opened his eyes to discover that he was lying nearly face to face with his friend Zach.
In fact, having just rolled over, Zach's cheek was resting lightly against his shoulder, and his left arm was draped loosely over Eric's bare chest. Still somewhat groggy, Zach opened his eyes as well, and looked up with mild surprise at Eric.
"Oh... Sorry..." Zach breathed, pulling back slightly. "I didn't mean to crowd you. I must have just rolled over on you." Eric smiled softly at him.
"That's alright Zach, I really don't mind. It, it felt kinda cozy, to be honest." The boy's looked sleepily at each other for a moment, then both closed their eyes again, allowing another minute or so to fully wake up.
After a time, Zach rolled out of bed, and shuffled into the bathroom for a much needed morning pee. Eric joined him in the bathroom moments later, where he stood at the sink looking tiredly at his naked reflection in the mirror.
"You look tired." Zach observed, as he finished at the toilet and shook off.
"Yeah, a little I guess." Eric agreed, turning on the faucet and bending slightly, he scooped cold water up to his face in an effort to wake up.
Several minutes later both boys were dressed, and standing outside in the courtyard near the pool. Erik's dad had gone into the village, and brought back breakfast for the boys. As planned, the adults were heading into Montpellier this morning to spend the day in the city; while Zach and Eric had been invited to spend the day with the two English boys they had met at the beach.
Cory and Liam who were both twelve, had invited the boys to go to with them to a large water park in Cap d'Agde, another town along the Mediterranean coastline. It was nearly nine am, and Zach and Eric sat finishing their breakfast in the courtyard, while their parents finished loading up the rental van.
Zach's dad gave the boys some money, so they could pay for whatever they needed for the day, and last minute instructions were given. With that, both sets of parents loaded into the van and rolled off for the city.
About twenty minutes later, another vehicle, a large cream colored Range Rover pulled up to the Villa. "Oye…" Liam called out, as he and Cory piled out of the backseat, and greeted the boys in the courtyard.
"Hey…" Zach and Eric called back in greeting.
"Nice place. You've got a pool and everything..." Cory observed, looking around at the pool and courtyard."
"So you guys ready to go then?" Liam asked, anxiously.
"Yup... Just need to grab our day packs." Zach said. He quickly went into the condo, and grabbed both bags. He locked up, and joined the other boys standing near the Range Rover. The four boys piled into the back, with Liam quickly taking the seat next to Eric in the back row of seats.
"Got everything you need then?" Cory's parents questioned from the front seats.
"We're good sir." Zach replied. And with that, they pulled out along the coastal road, heading west toward Cap d'Agde. The boys began talking anxiously amongst themselves, talking about the day ahead, and wondering what the Aqualand Water Park was like.
"It's cool." Cory offered. He was the only one of the boys who'd ever been there before. "Huge waterslides, a wave pool, even some man made beaches with volleyball courts and stuff. There's all sorts of stuff, you'll see..." The other boys were quite anxious now to see the place.
"So, what's this surprise you teased us about?" Eric wondered. Cory and Liam exchanged glances, and smiled slyly.
"Just have to wait till we get there, won't you..." Cory snickered.
"Awe man.... That's not right." Eric whined, as the two English boys laughed.
"You'll like it, I promise." Liam said, grabbing hold of Eric's arm. With that, the boys all started chatting boyishly amongst themselves. Cory and Zach were talking together in the second row of seats, and in the back, Liam looked questioningly at Eric.
"So?" he asked in hushed tones. "Did you talk to Zach yet?"
"No." Eric whispered back. "I tried but... You know, it's just hard." Liam shook his head.
"You just need to do it." Liam said. "He's your best friend, he'll understand. Okay?"
"I know." Eric said. "I'll do it soon." He looked at Liam's doubtful expression, "I will..." he said again, more firmly.
The boys continued chatting as they drove through Cap d'Agde, until Cory pointed out that the Waterpark was just up ahead. They all looked out the windows as the Range Rover finally turned off the main road and into a large parking area. "Whoa..." Liam breathed, "Look at that..."
There were banks of huge water slides, curling and looping around one another. Several had quite a vertical drop, and a few were fully enclosed. The boys stared wondrously at them as Cory's father parked the Range Rover in one of the lots.
The boys all but tumbled out of the vehicle, in their excitement to go in. There were quite a few people milling about; some coming, some going; and the group of them gathered their things and headed for the park entrance. Cory and Liam grinned at each other as the neared the gate, and the sign that was posted there.
Zach and Eric were looking around at everything, until they reached the sign. Written in French, and again in English it read; 'Jour De Naturiste Annuel', which of course translates to, Annual Naturist Day.
Eric looked at Zach, then the two of them turned to look at Cory and Liam, who were grinning sheepishly beside them. "What the..?" Eric questioned.
"Every summer, the park has two weekends where the Waterpark is clothing optional." Cory explained. "Which means, we get to use the park in the nude."
"Whoa... That's pretty cool." Zach beamed, looking at Eric; who seemed just a bit bewildered. They all joined the queue at the entrance, and after paying the entry fee, they went inside. It was quite amazing actually; and the huge water park was divided into various areas.
There were large multi tube slides, a wave pool, a large pool for floating, wading pools, and a long river run for inner tubes. In addition to that, there were food courts, and expansive lawns with picnic areas, and a several large beach-like areas.
Once inside, they went into one of several change rooms, and secured their extra gear into two of the lockers. They headed outside and found a spot on one of the grass lawns, where Cory's parents laid out their beach towels. This would be the meeting spot, and Cory's mom would be there most of the time, watching their stuff.
Eric looked around at everything, and everyone. Almost everyone in the park was a naturist, just as it had been on the nudist beach. Cory and Liam wasted no time in stripping off their shirts and shorts, leaving them naked as well.
"Well..." Cory prompted, looking at Zach and Eric. "You joining in or what?" Zach smiled and quickly stripped off his clothes; followed a little less enthusiastically by Eric, who felt a little shy again for some reason. At the beach, it felt different somehow, but this was a man made park; and it just felt a bit different being naked in this type of environment.
Never the less, Eric stripped off and followed the other boys toward the slides. The line wasn't too long, and Eric looked around at people as they mounted the stairs to the top. Most everyone was naked, and they all seemed to be having a good time, paying no interest whatsoever to Eric. Accordingly, it didn't take long for him to relax, just as he had done at the beach.
"Come on Eric." Liam shouted, "Go down this one with me. Liam sat at the entrance of to one of the large polymer water tubes, and he urged Eric to sit down and tuck in right behind him. "Put your legs outside of mine, and lets go." Liam instructed. They pushed off, and the rushing water swept them speedily down the steep slide.
Eric clung to Liam, and both boys hollered joyfully as they shot down the enclosed tube, swirled around the loops, and eventually flew into the splash pool at the bottom. They laughed gleefully, as they clambered out; only to hurry back up the stairs for another go.
The four boys tried all the slides multiple times, singly or together. They tried several times to climb the slip-n-slide, where water constantly rushed down the ten foot wide sloping ramp; but they were always swept off their feet, and washed down into the splash pool, where they'd regroup to try it again...
Eric was having a wonderful time, and the frequent body to body contact with his friends certainly made for some enjoyably wild excitement. Being naked, you raced down the steeper slides at exhilarating speeds, and at times would nearly get a water enema if you hit the splash pool with your legs spread apart.
The boys all took a break after a time, going back to their spot on the lawn to lay out in the sun and rest. Cory's mum and dad went off to buy everyone some food, leaving the boys alone together.
"This is so much fun." Eric beamed, as he sat on the beach towel between Zach and Liam.
"I know right." Zach agreed, and the boys lay back casually on their towels.
"No one back home would ever believe we're doing this." Eric stated. "I mean shit... Look at this place. Hundreds of kids and adults here, and mostly everyone is butt naked."
"I know. I don't think you'd find anyplace like this in America." Zach said. "Not even in Southern California."
"Could you imagine a Naturist day at Disneyland, or Magic Mountain?" Eric laughed.
"Oh, that would be so awesome..." Zach agreed.
"You lads go to Disneyland often?" Cory asked.
"Yeah, only a couple of times a year at most." Zach said. "It's still quite a long way from Sacramento to Anaheim."
"I'd love to go there some time." Liam pondered.
"Sure, come visit us." Eric suggested. "It's only like, five thousand miles or so." The boys all laughed, but each of them thought it was a cool sounding idea.
"I need to use the toilets." Liam mentioned suddenly, "Wanna' go with me anyone?"
"Yeah, I'll come with." Eric offered, sitting up. The two of them hopped up, and headed off toward one of the locker rooms together.
"This place is fun huh?" Liam touted, as he walked side by side with Eric.
"Uh huh..." Eric agreed, and he felt compelled to put his arm around the younger boy's shoulders. They found the nearest toilets, and went in to pee, taking care of their needs, then stepped back out into the park. They spotted a bench in some shade, which stood off a ways by itself, and Eric steered them towards it.
"What's up?" Liam asked as they sat on the secluded bench.
"I really did try to tell Zach you know." Eric confided. "It's just a hard thing to bring up."
"I know." Liam smiled. "It took awhile for me to tell Cory that I thought I might be gay. But I'm glad I did. And even though he's not, you know, like that, we still mess around and experiment and stuff for fun..." He offered, glancing at Eric.
"Yeah, we kinda did some stuff too." Eric confessed, looking around. "Last night, well... We kinda jerked each other off." They looked at each other and smiled impishly.
"Wicked... Did you like it?"
"Well Yeah." Eric said with some emphasis. "It was kinda' messy though, the way we did it, but yeah, I really liked it." Liam looked at Eric thoughtfully for a moment.
"I wish we..." he said, half to himself, but stopped.
"What?" Eric pressed. "Come on. What do you wish?"
"I wish you and I could mess around like that." Liam confessed, blushing slightly. Eric looked at him a moment, and smiled softly.
"Yeah? You'd really want to do that kind of stuff with... With me?" Eric wondered.
Liam nodded quietly, and both boys sat silently for a moment, wondering. Eric had to press his wrist firmly against his crotch, trying to stave off the beginnings of a stiffy. Liam noticed this of course, he blushed slightly, and then had to do the same thing.
Both boys calmed down after a moment, and smiled awkwardly at each other. "Guess we better get back." Eric suggested. "Maybe we can... Talk more about this later."
As all this was going on, Zach and Cory had been sitting back on the beach towels on the lawn, enjoying the feel of warm summer sunshine on their naked bodies. They had been chatting about various things as well; and Zach even suggested that maybe one night, Cory and Liam could spend the night at the Villa with he and Eric. They could all swim in the pool and such, which sounded like a pretty good idea to the two boys.
"We can suggest it to the other two when they get back." Zach decided, as he glanced around, looking for them. "I uh... I kinda' noticed that Liam really seems to have taken a liking to Eric." Zach observed, quite casually. "So... I'm just curious, is Liam, like, into boys or something..?" Cory glanced at him with a knowing smile.
"Yeah, well, it's not really my place to say, is it... But, I wouldn't worry too much about Liam..." Cory remarked in a matter of fact tone, "Besides, Eric seems to fancy you I think, not him." Zach looked at him sharply.
"Huh... What does that mean?" Zach questioned.
"Oh. Didn't you... Uh, sorry... Nothing." Cory recanted. But Zach was totally curious now, and pressed him.
"Wait," Zach persisted, "Do you really think Eric likes me in that way?" Cory only looked at him and shrugged.
"Look, I don't know." Cory conceded. "You two are best mates; and you do get on quiet well, so who knows. Anyway, Liam might have mentioned it to me, is all..."
"What? Wait, how would Liam even know something like that?
"I don't know. Look, I shouldn't have said anything." Cory admitted, "I don't really know anything for sure, now do I?"
Zach sat thoughtfully for a moment; thinking about Eric. Thinking back at how shy Erie had always been, and all the times Eric had wanted to talk to him about something. Even the few times they had showered together, how Eric had volunteered to wash his back. He looked curiously at Cory, still trying to figure it out.
"Wait, Liam's only twelve." Zach pondered, "You can't really know if you're into guys or girls at age twelve, can you..?" Cory looked at him and laughed.
"I don't think it works that way mate." he chided. "You're kinda born that way aren't you. You either are, or you're not." Cory informed him . Zach sat considering this for a moment.
"Yeah but... I'm fourteen, and... Well, I don't even know for sure what I'm into." Zach said. Cory looked at him with a smile.
"Oh you know." Cory predicted. "You may not have accepted it either way, but you kinda know, don't you..."
Just then, Cory's parents walked up with the food they had purchased. Sandwiches for everyone, bags of chips, some fresh fruit and strawberry lemonade for all of them. The boys helped them set everything out on the beach towels.
"Where's the others?" Cory's mum questioned.
"They'll be right back," Cory replied, "Off to the toilets, both of them..." They all sat down on the towels and divvied up the sandwiches. Liam and Eric strolled up just about then, walking across the grass lawn.
"Oh yum, food..." Liam remarked hungrily, as they sat down with the others. Eric sat next to Zach, and smiled at him. Zach smiled back, and looked at him curiously for a moment.
It wasn't long before they had pretty much wolfed everything down, and they were all resting for a moment, before heading back to the water slides. "Oh, mum..." Cory said suddenly remembering. "Zach wanted to know if Liam and me could maybe have a sleep over at the Villa with them?"
"Mm, well... Not tonight I think. You'll have been together all day." Cory's dad replied. "Perhaps tomorrow, if Zach and Eric's folks approve."
"Oh, that's a cool idea." Eric responded. "We can ask our parents when we get back."
After ten minutes, the boys all got up and headed back to the water slides, picking the fastest ones to ride again and again. Zach had a lot on his mind, and he seemed a bit distracted at first, but within minutes he was too busy having fun to wonder about things. It was a discussion he'd have later with Eric.
Several times the boys made a chain, the four of them sitting in a row tightly behind one another, whipping down the longest slides like a four man bobsled team. It was massive fun; they slid super fast as a group, and the body to body contact was plentiful.
Zach did catch himself wondering about his best friend, as Eric clung tightly to him from behind, scooted up closely in a row with one another, with no real space between their naked bodies.
They continued playing boyishly for hours, having great fun. On the river raft ride, they passed under a foot bridge, which had water canons mounted on top of it. As the rafters swirled by underneath, other kids would man the cannons, spraying generous amounts of cool water upon the rafters below.
On another ride, Eric laid himself out like superman on his stomach, wanting Zach to go with him. But when Zach hesitated, Liam hopped on, lying on top of him, and they splashed down the slide like tandem superman...
The boys took another break in the afternoon, going back to the towels to rest for a few minutes. Cory's mum and dad were having a great time as well, and his dad had even joined the boys for a few turns down the slides. Mostly though, the adults just relaxed on inflatable's in the large pool.
Cory and Liam took off for a moment, coming back with various 'Slushie' type iced drinks for everyone. The boys all shared theirs, passing around the various flavors to see which ones they liked the best.
"This is fun huh..." Eric said with a grin, as he sat comfortably near Zach.
"Yeah it is." Zach answered, looking contemplatively at Eric as they exchanged Slushies.
"What..? Eric questioned, with a curious smile. Zach shook his head.
"Nothin... I'm just thinking is all." he replied casually. Cory's mum suggested that everyone should put on some sun screen. Even though all the boys were fairly well bronzed by this time; several shoulders appeared a bit reddish.
She passed around a large tube of sun gel for the boys to apply. They used the gel liberally. "Want me to do your back?" Eric asked of Zach, after using it on himself.
"Uh, yeah, sure..." Zach replied. Erik reached out and smoothed some of it onto his friends back as they sat on the towel.
"Need some on your bum as well?" Eric asked.
"No, no I'm alright." Zach answered, feeling slightly uncomfortable with everyone else around. Cory glanced curiously at Zach, thinking back to their conversation. The two English boys helped each other with the sun screen, and finally finished, the four boys all headed back toward the slides.
They hung about and played in the wave pool for a long while, bobbing about, and trying their best to body surf the small waves. Being from California, Zach and Eric were pretty good at this, and they spent some time helping Liam and Cory to catch on to it.
The boys hit all the slides a half a dozen more times, and ended up in the giant float pool; lying atop their inflatable mattresses in a small flotilla, enjoying the late afternoon sun. "Doing alright then..?" Cory asked of Zach as they floated side by side.
"Yeah... Yeah sure." Zach answered. "I'm fine. Just drained from the long day is all."
Cory nodded at him and smiled. They spent another half hour just floating, and finally the four tired boys headed back to the beach towels in the lawn.
"Right... That about does me in." Cory's dad mentioned as the boys returned.
"Me too." Liam said tiredly. "That was super fun though, thanks for taking us.
"No doubt." Eric added with an enthusiastic grin, "Thanks so much for bringing us along. It was totally awesome." Zach and Cory both agreed, and after they all relaxed for another ten minutes or so; the group of them gathered their things, and wandered back to the locker rooms.
The boys popped under the showers for a few moments, to rinse off, and cool down a little; then they wandered back to the lockers and dried themselves, and for the first time all day, they pulled on their shirts and shorts, and stepped back into flip-flops.
The group of them headed out to the Range Rover and loaded everything up in the back, then crawled in to the hot vehicle, waiting for Cory's dad to fire up the air conditioner.
Zach and Eric sat in the back row this time, as they pulled out and onto the main road heading back. It wasn't long, lured by the rhythmic hum of tires on pavement, before the boys had all closed their eyes, tiredly snoozing a little. Eric inadvertently slumped a little to the side, leaning gently onto Zach's shoulder.
Zach opened his eyes, and glanced at his best friend, thoughtfully for a moment. He chanced to look up, and notice that Cory was looking back at them from the other seats. Cory smiled softly at him, then closed his eyes again. Zach sat quietly looking back at his slumbering friend. He smiled lightly to himself, and then closing his eyes he drifted off for a little nap.
Some time later, Zach felt someone shaking his arm. It was Eric, who was shaking him lightly, trying to wake him up. They were just pulling in at the Villa, and everyone else was awake now.
As the boys all got out of the Range Rover, and were unloading their stuff when another vehicle pulled in alongside of them in the parking area. It was the rental van, with both Zach and Eric's parents. They were just returning from their day of exploring in Montpellier. Zach glanced urgently at Eric.
"I hope no one mentions that this was a 'Naturist' day." He whispered.
"I know. Not sure what the parents would think about that..." Zach nodded, as their parents began getting out of the rental van.
"Hello everyone." Eric's mother greeted them, with a smile. "I hope our boys were well behaved." she remarked.
"Most certainly." Cory's mother affirmed. "It was wonderful having them dear, and our boys were thrilled to have them along."
"Good to hear." Zach's dad replied. "Did you have fun?" he asked, looking at Zach.
"It was awesome dad." Zach beamed. "The water park was huge, and we had a blast."
"Yeah," Eric concurred. "We went on all the slides a bunch of times, and all the other stuff too. And Cory's folks bought us lunch. It was great."
"Oh well," Eric's dad said, "You shouldn't have paid for lunch. The boys had money."
"Not a problem." Cory's father laughed, "We enjoyed doing it.
"Well, the least we can do is to take you all out for dinner in the village." Eric's father continued. "I insist."
They all discussed this for a few minutes, and in the end that's just what they did. They drove both vehicles down the hill into town, and found an informal restaurant, where they could eat outside on a large deck overlooking the sea.
Everyone enjoyed a nice, leisurely meal and conversation; and much to Zach and Eric's surprise, nothing was mentioned about them being naked all day at the water park. The boys even asked about Cory and Liam possibly spending the night tomorrow. The parents all agreed to this, noting what a wonderful experience it was, for all the boys to find new friends from a different country.
It was getting on in the evening, and all the boys were tired after a long day of activity in the sun. They all said their goodnights, and Zach said he would call Cory the following day, so they could get together, and then spend the night.
Of course the only downside was, that both Zach and Erik's parents invited Cory's folks to come over and spend the day as well. And, perhaps all the parents could go out for dinner and dancing in the evening, leaving the boys to their own devices.
"This can't end well..." Eric whispered. You know it's going to come up, about them being nudists and stuff. Zach just shrugged with a wry smile.
"Well, I suppose it won't be that bad if it does. It's not like we're doing anything wrong. We can just say we didn't bring it up, cause it didn't seem like a big deal." With that, the boys exchanged brief casual hugs with Cory and Liam, and everyone headed for home.
When they got back to the Villa, both sets of parents headed inside the condos. The late evening air was still warm, and Zach and Eric decided to sit out in the courtyard for awhile. They kicked off their flip-flops and sat down near each other on the coping at the edge of the pool, dangling their legs into the cool water.
The boys sat quietly for a few minutes, tiredly looking up at the stars in the night sky. Zach glanced thoughtfully over at Eric, who was leaning back and propping himself up with his hands as he stared up into the darkness.
"That was really fun today, huh?" Zach mused, looking back at the water in the pool.
"Yeah, it was epic." Eric agreed. "This whole trip has been pretty amazing so far."
Zach looked pensively over at his friend again.
"So... I guess you've been wanting to tell me something for the past few days." Zach began. "You wanna' maybe talk about it now?" he offered. Eric looked down shyly, then glanced momentarily at Zach.
"I don't know." Eric sighed. "Today was so nice... I... I don't want to ruin it." The boys fell to silence again for a minute. Zach finally looked over at him, and in the darkness he thought he noticed a tear roll softly down Eric's cheek.
Zach's throat tightened. He could tell that Eric was worried; struggling to start a conversation that he was frightened of. "Are you alright?" Zach asked in a soft tone.
"I... I don't know." Eric replied, a tiny hitch in his voice. Zach sighed, and instinctively he put his arm around Eric's shoulders.
"What ever it is..." Zach started, "You know you can tell me. We're best friends Eric, and we always will be." Eric glanced at him, then looked down again. "Look, you don't have to talk about it right now. It's kinda late, and we're both tired. Wanna' sleep over again." Zach offered innocently.
"I guess." Eric whispered. The boys got up slowly, and picking up their flip-flops, they padded barefoot across the courtyard to Zach's parents condo, where they slipped quietly inside, and walked back to Zach's room.
The boys were exhausted from the long day in the sun, and leaving the light off, they walked over to the bed, where both boys wearily peeled off their tee shirts. Stepping out of his shorts, Eric left his underwear on and crawled into the bed. Zach followed his lead, and leaving his undies on as well, he crawled in on the other side.
Eric lay on his right side near the edge of the bed, his back to Zach; while Zach lay quietly in the middle of the bed for several long minutes, deep in thought, and looking over at the darkened silhouette of his friend, listening to his soft breathing. He knew that his friend was struggling, and he wanted to comfort him but...
But he didn't really know how. Zach was struggling, and confused with feelings of his own. Eric was his best friend, and he cared a great deal for him. Their experiences of the last few days had opened some doubt in his own mind. Doubts about himself... And now, if it was true that Eric might be attracted to him in a sexual way... Well, what did that say about Zach?
"Eric..." Zach whispered softly. There was no answer. "Eric..." he tried again, but apparently Eric had already drifted off to sleep. Zach rolled onto his side, and gently scooted himself more closely to Eric. Feeling a little awkward, he reached out tentatively, putting his hand on Eric's bare shoulder.
"It's okay." he whispered into the darkness, seeking to comfort his sleeping friend. His fingers softly rubbed Eric's shoulder in a soothing manner. This kind of intimacy was new to him; as it might be for any newly turned fourteen-year-old boy.
He lay that way for a minute, with mixed feelings. He wanted to do more, but he felt conflicted with his own thoughts. Finally he scooted himself even closer, wanting to comfort his best friend; but at the same time he was testing the waters of his own inner secrets. Zach spooned himself snugly to Eric's warm body.
He reached out, hesitated for a moment, then put his arm over his friend's torso, holding him gently as he lay quietly cuddled up to him. It felt different than he'd expected. It's one thing for a boy to wrestle and tousle about with another boy, to have rough physical contact with each other. But this... To lay skin to skin, in a deep, and tender moment. This was most certainly different.
He lay that way, his confused thoughts slowly melting against the pleasant warmth of his best friends bare back. In moments his breathing softened as well, and feeling oddly content, he dozed off into his own dream filled slumber for the night.
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