Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 8

climbed over the barriers. It was rough going, with the rounded sandstone ridged and furrowed by sharper slabs. Trey stumbled as his foot caught in a crevice, and swore as he felt the rasp of stone against his ankle. Josh caught his arm and steadied him. "Go back?"
    "Not yet," Trey grunted. A dozen steps later it was his turn to catch Josh and he almost reconsidered. Then the boulders spaced out enough to cradle a tiny arc of beach. Between the rough fingers of rock extending into the waves, the little bay sat calm and deserted, just fifteen feet of dry sand lying between wiry weeds and the rolling crash and ebb of the breakers.
    "Wow, not bad." Josh lowered the cooler.
    "Did you know this was here?"
    "Nope, I just hoped for something more private."
    Trey kicked off his sneakers and walked into the water until it hissed and curled around his feet. The ebbing waves tugged the sand out from under his toes as if trying to pull him off balance. The salt stung in the scrape on his ankle. He bent and inspected the damage. It was superficial, and he splashed water on it to get rid of the blood, ignoring the little jolt of pain.
    He turned back to the beach. Josh had pulled a thin towel out of the top of the cooler and spread it out above the highest reach of the waves. He took a beer from the cooler and held it out toward Trey. Trey paused in the shallow water to just look at the man and the beach, the smooth sand at his feet, the scrubby trees behind him moving in the strengthening breeze, the mellow light of evening on Josh's face.
    "What?"
    "Nothing." Trey took the few steps back and accepted the beer. He glanced down at the towel. "That's a pretty poor excuse for a beach towel."
    "It fit in the cooler. I figured we'd want to sit close together anyway."
    Trey laughed, popped his beer can and took a long draught, before lowering himself onto the thin terrycloth. Josh sat beside him, their hips a scant inch from touching. Trey opened the paper bag with the sandwiches. They were only a little battered from being smacked against the rocks in the scramble. He handed one to Josh and they ate silently, in appropriate appreciation for the locally-baked dense chewy bread, the salty ham, sharp cheddar, and good mustard. Each bite grounded Trey, making him feel a little less hollow and off balance. Eventually he finished the last crust, crumpled the bag into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around his beer. Beside him Josh licked his fingers, but it seemed unconscious, not a come-on. Didn't stop it from being sexy though. Trey bumped their shoulders together, and Josh glanced at him, then smiled and picked up his own beer.
    They both looked out over the water, drinking the smooth bitter brew. The clouds were thick and grey, but suddenly a line of gold peeked through, catching the tops of the waves to fire. Then with another gust of the breeze it was gone again. Trey shivered, and Josh's arm came around his shoulders. Trey leaned into Josh's side.
    "Remember tenth grade, September?" Josh's voice was almost too low to be heard. "We used to come down to the beach and drink beer then."
    "I remember." They'd come back from Aunt Julie's farm with some of the mad and sad worked out of them, but school had been hard. Everyone knew about Felix, and there were some of the guys who were angry on Coach's behalf, claiming the whole story was made up or that Felix had asked for it. Others who were just assholes threw the words "fag" and "cocksucker" around to stir up shit and get Josh mad. Felix ended up having to be driven to a new middle school across town, but Trey and Josh still had to go back to their old high school. Almost every week they got into a fight with someone who called Felix a faggot or a liar or both. It had been a long, long year.
    "I was so glad it was the two of us together. I don't think I'd have survived without you."
    "Not if you'd jumped Donny O'Reilly by yourself, you wouldn't have."
    "Yeah." Josh took another sip of beer. Trey could hear him swallow.
    Josh drained his can and took another, without moving his arm from around Trey's shoulders. "How did you do it, Trey?"
    "Do what?"
    "How could you stand to be with me while I called people like you every bad name under the sun? When I didn't fight Donny because he called gay people faggots but because he dared to suggest my brother was one of them?"
    Trey shifted uncomfortably. "I guess I just put things in separate boxes. I locked the gay part of me up pretty tight. I